Sonnhalter is excited to announce the release of our Birmingham Insider’s Guide! This new resource is your key to exploring the Iron City, filled with restaurants and fun activities.
Discover Birmingham’s diverse dining scene, featuring restaurants led by James Beard award-winning chefs, and immerse yourself in the city’s renowned music culture. Whether you’re hitting the golf courses or exploring local museums, our guide highlights everything you need to make the most of your trip.
Did you know that National Tradesman Day is every third Friday in September? Here’s the back story on how it became a nationally recognized holiday.
This holiday was founded in 2011 by Irwin Tool, a company that specializes in selling high quality tools. It was created in an effort to recognize and celebrate those in the trades. Every day, the hard work and importance of tradespeople goes overlooked and underappreciated. If we didn’t have plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs and carpenters, making our lives easier, our society wouldn’t function as smoothly or efficiently
So next time your sink gets clogged, or your power goes out, be sure to generously thank those who are getting you out of that problem and wish them a happy holiday this September 20.
Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
Let’s say your company just went through the rigorous process of crafting the perfect mission and vision statements (or a combo of both which is perfectly acceptable). Or it could be your values, purpose, manifesto, or any other term that describes why you exist, what drives you, what differentiates you, or what you aim to achieve in the long term.
Now what?
Those words are often then posted on walls, websites, and communicated to employees to help remind them why they are here and where the company is headed. Then the dust settles. Has anything changed over the next few months or a year? Sadly, at times nothing meaningful has changed.
Lack of change often comes down to these reasons:
CEO and the leadership team are not leading the way. Yes, everyone in the company is responsible, but you can’t expect a bottom-up approach to have change take hold. Leadership must empower the team and lead by example.
Lack of a robust activation plan. Communicating the statements is not a plan. Just like your brand, every element of the company from manufacturing to marketing, sales, operations, and service must look at their actions and make necessary changes to align with the statements.
Having a short-term view. Change does not come fast and if it means true change, it may not be easy. The actions must be consistent and continuously applied. Your statements and the behaviors expected from them are at the root of your company’s culture and that takes patience to evolve.
A tale of two companies
A classic example of where words didn’t mean anything was the resulting debacle from a company which had values of “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence” and further stated their mission as, “We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves….We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don’t belong here.” That was Enron. Founded in 1985 and went into bankruptcy in 2001.
Alternatively, Patagonia which updated their core values in 2022 on the eve of their 50th anniversary is guided by the values of Quality, Integrity, Environmentalism, Justice, and Not being bound by convention. These are just the titles that are followed by more detailed explanations for each value (https://www.patagonia.com/core-values/)
When it’s time to update your values, mission, and vision statement, be prepared for the hard work that comes afterwards. You may end up doing more harm than good if they are simply words that makes everyone feel good in the short run. The power of these statements resides in their continual and steadfast application. Do what you say.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved, surpassing its original concept to becoming a driving force behind marketing across industries.
From personalized customer experiences to data-driven insights, AI has revolutionized how businesses engage with their audiences and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing. Let’s look at the evolution of AI and explore how it is reshaping the strategies and tactics employed by marketing professionals today.
Personalization
In recent years, AI-powered marketing tools and technologies have empowered businesses to streamline operations, enhance efficiency and deliver results. Automated email campaigns, analytics and chatbots are just a few examples of how AI is revolutionizing workflows, enabling businesses to automate repetitive tasks, optimize campaigns in real-time and engage customers with personalized content.
Insights and Analytics
In an increasingly data-driven world, the ability to extract insights from large volumes of data is vital to success in marketing. AI-powered analytics platforms leverage machine learning algorithms to analyze complex data, identify patterns and uncover valuable insights for preferences and trends. These insights empower marketers to make data-driven decisions, optimize marketing strategies and stay ahead of the competition.
Customer Engagement
In 2024, consumers expect personalized experiences tailored to their preferences and needs. AI-driven personalization platforms leverage algorithms to analyze customer data and deliver targeted content across multiple channels. Whether through website content, personalized product recommendations, businesses can create seamless, relevant experiences that resonate with customers and drive engagement.
Ethical Considerations
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into marketing, it is essential to consider the ethical implications. Navigating the ethical landscape of AI in marketing requires a thoughtful approach that prioritizes transparency and accountability. Moreover, while AI can automate many aspects of marketing, the human touch remains essential. Authenticity, empathy and human connection are qualities that cannot be replicated by machines and are crucial to building meaningful relationships with customers.
The Future of AI in Marketing
As we look to the future, the evolution of AI in marketing shows no signs of slowing down. It is crucial to remember that AI is a tool and that the human touch is essential. The success of AI in marketing hinges not only on technological ability but also on human ingenuity and creativity. By embracing AI, professionals can unlock new opportunities and shape the future of marketing in 2024 and beyond.
Following is a guest post from our friends over at Long & Short of It, masters of ideation, customer insights and market research. They like to say they “dig and find lots of data and then turn it into actionable insights.” Following is their guest post.
There’s always been a sort of pendulum that companies go through with their marketing between a focus on brand vs. product-based marketing. Both have an important role and require completely different approaches and expertise to do them well. Each company will have their unique level of investment between the two and that will change over time. It’s a normal requirement to balance short-term revenue goals with long-term brand sustainability and the necessity to continuously innovate to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving market. However for brand marketing, there also comes a time when it needs to be refreshed or even completely updated.
But how do you know what and when it’s time?
Whether you call it repositioning, refreshing, or a rebrand, all of which may or may not include a design update, if it’s been more than several years, it’s time to take a look. The fact is that your target audience, competition, and the market landscape is constantly changing. If you are standing still with the same brand voice, positioning, messaging, appearance or customer experience, then the world is moving past you. The need to stay modern, relevant, and agile never stops.
Beyond simply time, some signs that your company may need to rebrand include flat or declining sales, stagnant marketing metrics, competitors that are taking larger market share or growing faster than your company, or realizing your messaging is not saying anything new that is relevant and distinguishing. A simple logo or design change won’t do the trick. Read more about why your logo is not your brand here: https://www.lasoi.com/points-of-view/2018/4/29/your-brand-is-more-than-your-logo
What does rebranding entail?
Rebrands vary widely in approach, effectiveness, and ultimately cost. Established brands must modernize without losing their identity. Reaching a new market or target audience requires a better understanding of the target audience and crafting new messaging along with rethinking the tactical marketing approach. However, this can be tricky because you never want to erode the core essence of your brand and alienate loyal advocates of your brand.
So, what is a company to do?
It starts with assessing where your brand stands today and the perceptions of your brand vs. your brand aspirations. It’s basically an audit, or in simpler terms, a reality check on the current situation. The good thing about starting with insights is that it will reveal areas of improvement, potentially discover new opportunities, and most importantly, help determine if the brand just needs some updating vs. a larger rebrand effort. Most fall into the former category.
Once the scope is determined, the next step is to dig deeper by gathering more insights from customers, the market, and perhaps an even deeper dive into your company than the initial audit. These will serve as the basis for defining the brand and messaging, and also determining any potential changes to the visual identity and marketing plans (both brand and performance based). One other critical item to keep in mind is that once the brand work has been done (let’s call it the plan) – it must be activated. Otherwise like many other efforts, it will just be a document and wasted money. The depth and potential cost of implementing the changes can vary widely and are important to discuss and understand prior to beginning the brand work.
How can success or improvement be measured?
There are a number of ways to measure how effective your branding efforts are paying off. Though you can’t directly attribute only brand marketing directly to sales, that is obviously a strong indication things are going in the right direction. Other ways to measure effectiveness include a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
One in particular that comes up is fielding a brand awareness and perception study. This can stem from a need, though often more of a desire, to have metrics associated with their branding to get some numbers behind the investment. That typically takes the form of a before and after quantitative brand awareness and perception study. We often advise against this unless it is absolutely necessary. A company must have a clear plan on what to do with the data, be committed to both the pre and post study (which should be at least a year after the rebrand is implemented), and have the money – it’s expensive. These studies are generally reserved for larger companies where the rebranding will result in far reaching downstream strategic and tactical changes based on the results of the insights. And, important for communicating to stakeholders the result of the overall investment.
Regardless of the type of branding effort required, if it’s been a few years, are experiencing flat or declining performance metrics, or it is simply clear that your company or products are losing relevance, it’s time to assess, gather your insights, and determine the best path forward.
