Today I am sharing a blog post from my friend and associate, Les Stern of L. Stern & Associates. It is a look at four questions for business. I hope you enjoy reading and wish everyone a Happy Passover and Happy Easter.

This week is Passover.  Jews around the world will gather for the Seder to tell the story of Passover.  A central part of the Seder is the asking of “The Four Questions.”  Traditionally asked by the youngest participant at the Seder, the questions ask “why is this night different from all other nights?”

While conducting research for a client, I made the connection that creating positioning for any entity also revolves around four questions.  They are:

• Why do our prospects want/need the types of products/services we offer?
• What are the important purchase decision drivers?
• How do we as an organization rate on those drivers?
• Where do our prospects get the information they need to make decisions?

Let’s look at each question in more detail.

Question 1:  Why do our prospects want/need the types of products/services we offer?
For some types of companies, the answer is easy:

• Airlines: To get to my destination quickly
• Hospitals: To maintain or improve my health
• Plumbers: To fix a leaky faucet

For other types of companies, the answers might not be as simple, because the primary motivation might be different.  For example, if you are a golfer, your primary motivation might be exercise; it might be to spend time with friends.  It might be because you are driven to be a better golfer.

Or ask yourself why you are on Facebook.  Is it to connect with friends and family?  Is it to learn about products and services?  It is because you know you can get great deals?  Different motivation requires different positioning and messaging.

Question 2: What are the important purchase decision drivers?
To understand the purchase process, quantitative research (telephone interviews, online surveys, more sophisticated methodologies such as discrete choice, etc.) should be conducted to determine how important specific attributes are.  Attributes can include:

• Reputation
• Professional or personal referral
• Price
• Location
• Have specific features I am looking for
• Size of company
• Past experience

But also use qualitative research to ask open-ended questions.  For example, ask: how do you decide which airline you are going to use?  Or how do you select a construction company to do your home improvement?  While this qualitative research will not produce quantifiable results, the actual words you hear can provide meaningful input for the language you will use to create positioning and messaging.

Question 3:  How do we as an organization rate on those drivers?
Using the same attributes, identify how prospects perceive your organization, and your competitors.  These are natural follow-up questions to be asked right after you have answered Question 2. Some hints:

• Ask about your organization and competitors
• Distinguish between customers and prospects
• Keep the research anonymous.  You will get more honest answers that way

Answering these three questions should help you determine positioning and messaging.  What you are looking for are those attributes that are both important to your target market, and for which you rate high.  Those are the attributes to emphasize.

Question 4:  Where do your prospects get the information they need to make decisions
The final question helps you determine where to deliver the messages.  Quantitative research again is the best way to go.  Sources of information may include (and for each general category, be specific):

• Friends/relatives
• Mass media (newspapers, television, etc.)
• Websites
• Social media ( ask specifically about Facebook Twitter, Google+ Pinterest, etc.)
• Other

Now that you have answered the four questions, you will be able to create your positioning and messaging, and know where to deliver it.  Of course, you may want to conduct further research to test the positioning, messaging and creative concepts.  But that is another story.

To learn more about L Stern & Associates, go to www.lsternkmtg.com

Everybody talks about the “open rate” of your email. And of course that is incredibly important. I sent out an email announcing my redesigned website and used the subject line “Birth Announcement”.

It was provocative enough to get close to 60% of the recipients to open it and about half of them to click through to my website. An average open rate is 12.5%. 25% is considered excellent. Now, the subject line was clearly gutsy, but it followed directly with an interesting visual that completed the thought, and some text sending people to the new and improved website. The message here is clearly make your subject line interesting enough for folks to pay attention. I am still surprised that I get any emails with the subject line “News From…” I don’t care what your news is…I want something that I know is of interest to me. So here are my tips for writing effective subject lines:

• Make it interesting to the reader.
• Give a benefit if you can.
• Get the important information in the subject line
• Don’t make it too long or you will lose your audience
• If you are being purposefully vague, follow with an image or headline that finishes the thought.

Once you’ve gotten your audience to open, make sure to follow with concise, useful information. And, of course, make it as visually appealing as possible.

Welcome. It has taken me 18 months to finally redesign the iris b. website. I could have given birth…twice to little human babies…or once to an elephant! So I feel like this is a rebirth of iris b. branding & communications and how we present our brand to the world. What we do for clients is to help them develop their brand and communicate it out to the world. So…this blog will be a place to explore ideas that create brand identity, which starts with good design and writing.

It used to be that brand meant Proctor & Gamble …. Johnson & Johnson …. Kellogg’s….you get the picture. Large companies with large advertising budgets to put their brand in front of everyone and create a need to have it. Today, everyone has a brand. You can have a personal brand, a business brand or a combination of both. For most people in the arts and consultants, your brand is you and is reflected in how you personally communicate, how you dress, how you engage and how you treat others. If you are part of a larger company, there is a definite split between your personal brand and your company’s brand. The best company branding reflects the ideals of the people who run it. It’s extremely difficult to promote a brand you don’t believe in, as it is difficult to work for a company whose culture you don’t embrace. –