Truth is that branding is sometimes a hard thing for a management team to get its head wrapped around, so it get sidelined by things that are easier to get moving.  Branding is one of those things that some professional “experts” will make out to be a very mysterious and “art” like thing (sometimes to allow for bigger fees to be charged).  But in reality, while there is a part that takes a more subtle marketing skill, a lot of your branding strategies are logical and business oriented decisions to support your sales efforts in new ways.

Example: Training Company Fighting A Bigger Competitor

In a recent discussion with a training program manager, the challenge of fighting a bigger company with a recognized brand in training came up as a big problem for his company.  The issue was at the top of his mind and he was tiring of always having to compete on price because of a lack of brand.  We always treat these situations as an opportunity to unmask the “unmarketed” strengths of a company and then bring a focused approach to answering the question of branding strategy.

Better Use What You’ve Got
Ultimately, there are three levels at which a training organization can compete: brand, product, price.   Most sales cycles begin with a comparison of courses offered, benefits and value for the attendees/students.  But the moment a bigger competitor comes in the game switching to the other two and course / class benefits get sidelined.
When is “small” good? When its a brand.

Smaller training programs have some key advantages over larger organizations.  In the case of the training company mentioned above, there was ability to adapt more quickly to releases of new software editions.   Unlike, its more large scale competitors, this training school’s clients were more agile small to medium size businesses.  We were able identify that this segment adopted new software faster and so courses could be upgraded to focus on new release more quickly.

Building A Tactical Advantage With Branding
Our recommendation (which was implemented quickly) was to create a niche brand around the whole issue of training on the most recent software.   This included a new tagline, leading with some company background information in sales calls and sending out marketing emails built around the concept of an “agile brand”.   The recent feedback we have from the client is that two things have happened:

1. His company is no longer seen as the “little player” but rather the “agile training school”.
2. His discounting activity has dropped significantly because more attention is paid to the unique ability of the organization to deliver up to date training

There Are A Lot Of Angles On Tactical Branding

You can create, build and use brand is lot of different ways to help your training business driving towards its goals.  Our study of more than 1000 training companies and their online efforts has shown that there are three keys:

1. Know what your options
2. Understand how each tactic will impact key success measures of your business (such as Sales Results, Competitiveness or Saving Resources)
3. Have an expertise in how to determine the right options for your business based on its unique characteristics and the market environment it operates in.

Through years of bringing these three things to clients and our own businesses, we’ve seen and experienced visible benefits both in the smoothness of web operations and in the business results generated.

Starting next week, we’re launching an Article Series For Training Organizations:

Fast Start 2010 : Positioning Your Training Co For Success In The Coming Year

We’ll explore all the areas in our practice in the Training Industry:

• Driving Competitiveness With Your Online Presence
• Create Highly Effective Sales Engines Incorporating Your Website
• Driving Growth In Your Training Business
• Saving Resources With Web Strategy
• Better Understanding Your Training Prospects Using Your Online Presence
• Building A More Visible and Clearer Brand For Your Training Organization
• Engineering A Smooth And Powerful Process for Managing Your Online Presence
• Driving Financial Results Using Your Training Website

We’ve combined experience across industries with a research effort which has studied more than 1000 training websites worldwide.  Our goal: to bring you ideas and the framework to incorporate the right strategies into your training business to deliver meaningful business impact.  We know what you should expect from your online strategy: a broad impact on your training business’ marketing and sales efforts.

Watch for an update email next week with the first articles in the series!

So what’s the value of a dedicated senior resource focused purely on your online efforts?
The big roadblocks to a successful online strategy are ideas and a perspective/process for filtering through them.
A dedicated resource has (as a mandate) the job of understanding your industry and its practices and successes in using the online space. With enough online experience, they can filter a large number of ideas into coherent options for consideration by your management team. This type of focus allows your website to match the impact that leading competitors in the training industry are getting from their online presence.

Lets look at an example.
We came in contact with a financial services company recently which was precisely in the situation we’re talking about here:

• Fantastic business with a clear and distinct value proposition,
• Great team and solid services offering
• Great portfolio of happy customers.

But no one was focusing on their online strategy in a consistent way.  There were smart people (who really knew their business) working with a top notch design team to maintain a nice looking website.

More than anything, their ability to transition to a business model which full integrated their online presence into their overall business plan was stuck for two reasons.

1. A lack of ideas on where to start and
2. No expertise to narrow the options to ones which suited the nature of the company and its prospects.

With the recent launch of their new online presence, this company now puts its online strategy at the front of it plans for growth both domestically and internationally.  We participate in management meetings with them (as part of an ongoing engagement with them) where their online presence is given equal footing to help address each business challenge they are facing.  What was previously seen as a “blackbox” is now a key competitive advantage and is allowing them to pursue an aggressive international expansion strategy.

We know its not always possible….
To have a dedicated online manager who has time to contemplate the future of your web strategy.  But that doesn’t mean your company shouldn’t have it at all.  With something like your website, which has the potential to impact your business across key areas like Sales Results, Saving Resources, Competitiveness and Financial Results, you can’t go through a period without any focused attention to your online strategy.

Consider the possibility of an outside resource to bridge the gap while its not possible to dedicate a full time internal resource.  Our model has been built to deliver big company online strategy and operations support to small and mid size organizations.  Companies like ours recognize that while budget is a constraint, not focusing on a critical strategic resource like your website, can be more costly. So the best external partners structure their offerings to provide both ideas and expertise/framework to support your online efforts.

We’ve done the same thing (when we were running other companies).  But thanks to years of studying visitor behaviour on websites we don’t do that anymore.  If you’re worried about your bounce rate, we have to tell you something:  your problem may not be what you think it is.

You’re Not Starting Where Your Prospects Are
The first thing a visitor is asking when they hit a training website isn’t “is this company good or its courses good?” They are trying to decide if they should even spend any time looking at your site — is it even relevant to them — “Is there anything here for me to look at?” is the actual question on their mind.

Its like the person walking by a shop peeking quickly in the window to see if they should bother to walk in.  Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer:

• Training is a competitive industry and they have several (if not many) options

• Their first challenge is figuring out what belongs on their “shortlist”

So how do you make sure you get on the short list for your key prospects?
The question itself has a lot of the answer in it: key prospects should be your focus.  The first step is to focus on the needs of your key prospect groups:

1. When they’re making a choice of which training options to shortlist, they’re looking for a range of characteristics to choose from.  Think about what those could be?
2. Let them know how your company gives them a unique and valuable option that’s distinct from others they’re seeing.  This is where having a clear competitive positioning strategy for your training organization goes a long way.

Your Website Isn’t That Different From A Sales Call
First you just have to get them to pay attention to your sales material, then you start educating and selling them. That first step, we call it “Connect”, is a very narrowly focused effort.  You’re just trying to get on their list — so they’ll give some real attention to your value proposition and course offerings.  Focus on that and you’ll see the effect on your bounce rate.

There are two things you’re going to have to do to get that budget

1. Capture all your random thoughts and organize them by business impact area.  Fill out each area of impact with a much relevant value infromation for your budget decision maker to see
2. Clearly establish the overall importance/impact at the company level of your efforts

Think like an MD/CEO or CFO

When CFO’s have to defend their budget allocations (to your online strategy), they need to be able to justify it at two levels:

1. why there was any allocation to the website
2. the amount and expected ROI from the allocation

You may have a very clear idea about how its valuable but you must give your efforts a value context beyond the latest or coolest website idea.

The Key
A clear understanding of the core business impact of key features of a website.

Here an example:
An interactive package building component that visitors can use to custom build a series of courses for themselves into a curriculum. Its value to prospects is obvious but would your budget decision maker connect the dots to core business value?
Value 1: Sales costs savings by allowing prospects to create their own course packages without speaking to a live person?
Value 2: Business growth by creating ways for prospects to sell themselves on multicourse packages?

The difference is clear — real business value versus a strong website feature.  Don’t leave it up to the higher ups to make that connection, get it clear in your mind and communicate it very clearly in your budget requests.

Prepaid Card Products – Versatile and Adaptable
Your company has likely considered new target segments or niches which could benefit from a prepaid card product.  The core capabilities of a prepaid card make it very versatile and adaptable to different applications.  Change of marketing and packaging can create a new offering without engineering a new core product.
So the first choice is pursuing new segments for your existing products.  But what’s the key to success in this endeavour: its pain based branding, packaging and selling.

In This Article Part 1: Pain Based Selling To Reach New Segments
New segments typically don’t connect your prepaid card products with their pains / needs.   This is particularly true if your product category is more strongly associated with other applications or segments.  So as prospects in new segments seek help for their pain areas, you need to reach them at the level of that pain.  When they search for solutions on search engines or other resources, your product needs to appear as a relevant option for them to consider.
How Does Your Company Undertake Pain Based Selling?
The two key components of Pain Based Selling are 1) reaching prospects using pain based messaging and 2) connecting your products to their pains using pain based selling.

1. Reaching Prospects Online: Starting with a strong set of options, your company should focus on selecting keywords which are most likely to be used by prospects in your new target segment.
2. Selling Through Pains: When prospects reach your website, they should immediately sense that there is a relevancy to their pain areas and needs.  This means that your content strategy should be specific not general and very tightly targeted to the areas of importance to the new segment of potential cardholders.

Pain Based Selling To New Segments: Start On Your Website
Your website is an ideal vehicle for Pain Based Selling (to an new segment).  It allows you to experiment and test new content around your existing products while creating targeted sections of your website for the new segments you are trying to reach. These focused new sections are very powerful for creating a specific experience — in contrast to taking them to the main section of your website which will continue their perception that your products are not connected to their needs.

This website (webstrategycompany.com) is brought to you by AftertheNet (www.afterthenet.com), a different kind of website services company.  We take an industry specific and research oriented approach to building expertise in web strategy.  To learn the four levels (ideas, planning, execution and fine-tuning) at which we can help you to achieve your business goals using your online presence, please visit www.afterthenet.com.

How is trust built by a Prepaid Card Provider?
Along with the standard perspective of proof of success (testimonials) with existing cardholders, a card company’s history with respect to a customer category can serve as a powerful trust builder with prospects.  We’ve seen many examples of financial companies using their history as tactical tool to position against both competitors and buyer skepticism.

A Useful Question To Ask:

What is the underlying aspect of buying behaviour which can be helped by presenting your history?

Often buyers are unable to fully assess the features of a product against their needs.  It might be the result of inexperience, lack of knowledge of the area or simply a lack of willpower.   As a result, they look for shortcuts in the buying process: one of which is trusting a company to provide the right solution for their situation.

Part way through a successful sales cycle, the mentality of a prospective cardholder can switch from resisting to being positive toward your products. They will look for reasons to trust your ability to deliver value  to them. This is the opportunity to utilize key elements of your history to demonstrate credibility:

1. Does your company have a long history with particular prepaid card customer segments?
2. Has your management team spent years decades in their field and bring a wide expertise in the financial services area?
3. Does your company history stand out from the competition in some areas  (even compared to larger competitors)?

Trust: From Enemy To Friend
The trust factor initially can be an enemy in your effort to secure new registrations. But when trust is built, it will lead some prospects to rely on your ability as a company to deliver.   That can often shorten the sales cycle as less emphasis placed on line by line assessment of  your training programs.

This website (webstrategycompany.com) is brought to you by AftertheNet (www.afterthenet.com), a different kind of website services company.  We take an industry specific and research oriented approach to building expertise in web strategy.  To learn the four levels (ideas, planning, execution and fine-tuning) at which we can help you to achieve your business goals using your online presence, please visit www.afterthenet.com.

1. Where they’ve been
2. Where they want to be

The power of this approach is that it connects your with your prospects at their most important level — pain.

Where Prospective Cardholders Have “Been:

”
There are several dimensions that describe where a prospect has been.  In the context of looking at a prepaid card offering, it usually implies a  negative “place”:

1. difficult situations like being unable to book a rental car
2. negative emotions like feeling left out of the financial system
3. goals (career or other) that are unmet
4. personal challenges stemming from a lack of financial access

If you study a good sales call or great marketing materials for a prepaid card, they inevitably include the effort to connect with the “place”  that a potential cardholder has been.   Why?  Because to build a prepaid card product which solves a problem, a company needs to understand to a good extent the  nature of that problem.

Where They Want To Be:
Along the same dimensions, there is a “place” where your prospects want  to be in the context of looking for a alternate card option.  As expected, this a positive “place” which reflects an ideal of some sort with respect to key dimensions like:

1. ability to make purchases not previously possible
2. positive emotions like inclusion and empowerment
3. benefits received including savings or special ofers
4. challenges overcome in sharing money with other family
5. goals met in life

In the effort to convey the “value” of your prepaid card products , your success will substantially be determined by the prospect connecting your courses to reaching  their desired “place”.  Describing credibly how  your prepaid card will take them from where they “are” to where they want  to be, will create the perception of value which  allows for more  new cardholders to signup.

This represents a key part of the fundamental perception shift of what a  prepaid card website is about.   In another article,  we’ve discussed the  new paradigm that successful online marketing efforts are built on: your website is not  about your training school or your courses, its about your  prospects and their needs.

This website (webstrategycompany.com) is brought to you by AftertheNet (www.afterthenet.com), a different kind of website services company.  We take an industry specific and research oriented approach to building expertise in web strategy.  To learn the four levels (ideas, planning, execution and fine-tuning) at which we can help you to achieve your business goals using your online presence, please visit www.afterthenet.com.

1. Where they’ve been
2. Where they want to be

The power of this approach is that it connects your with your prospects at their most important level — pain.

Where Prospective Students Have Been:
There are several dimensions that describe where a prospect has been. In the context of looking at a training program, it usually implies a negative work or life angle:

1. difficult situations like being unqualified for a task
2. negative emotions like feeling stupid or lacking knowledge
3. goals (career or other) that are unmet
4. business or personal challenges stemming from a skills deficit

If you study a good sales call or great marketing materials for a training program, they inevitably include the effort to connect  with the “place” that a potential student has been.   Why?  Because to build a training course which solves a problem, a training school needs to understand to a good extent the  nature of that problem.

The “place” where your prospective students want to “be”:
Along the same dimensions, there is “place” where your prospects want to be in the context of looking for training.  As expected, this a positive “place”  which reflects an ideal of some sort with respect to key dimensions like:

1. good situations achieved by greater knowledge
2. positive emotions like recognition or promotion
3. benefit received including financial reward
4. challenges overcome in achieving career progress
5. goals met in career or life

In the effort to convey the “value” of your training programs, your success will substantially be determined by the  prospect connecting your courses to reaching  their desired “place”.  Describing credibly how your curriculum will take them from where they “are” to where  they want to be, will create the perception of value which  allows for more registrations to be completed.

This represents a key part of the fundamental perception shift of what a training school website about.   In another article,  we’ve discussed the new paradigm that successful online marketing efforts are built on: your website is not  about your training school or your courses, its about your prospects and their needs.

How is trust built by a Training School?
Along with the standard perspective of proof of success with past students, a training program’s history with respect to a topic or student segment can serve as a powerful trust builder with prospective students.  We’ve seen many examples of companies using their history as tactical tool to position against both competitors and buyer skepticism.

What is the underlying aspect of  buying behaviour which can be helped by presenting your history? Often buyers are unable to fully assess the features of  a product against their needs.  It might be the result of  inexperience, lack of knowledge of the area or simply a lack of  willpower.   As a result they look for shortcuts in the buying  process: one of which is trusting a company to provide the right solution for their situation.
Part way through a successful sales cycle, the mentality of a prospective student can switch from resisting to being positive to your programs.  They will look for reasons to trust your ability to deliver value to  them.  This is the opportunity to utilize key elements of your  history to demonstrate credibility:

1. do you have a long history with particular training subjects?
2. has your training team spent decades in their field of training  and bring a wide expertise in the subject area?
3. does your history stand out from the competition in some  areas (even compared to larger competitors)?

Trust: From Enemy To Friend
The trust factor initially can be an enemy in your effort to secure new registrations. But when trust is built, it will lead some prospects to rely on your ability as a company to deliver.   That can often shorten the sales cycle as less emphasis placed on line by line  assessment of your training programs.