Panera Bread Co. recently reopened one of its Clayton-based stores, only with a twist...it's not just St. Louis Bread Company, it's St. Louis Bread Company Cares Cafe. It's a nonprofit! The store has taken a new approach—"take what you need, leave your fair share"—to attract customers and make a better name for the company. It seems to be working. Very interesting and innovative.
Read the story here >> Panera: Pay What You Can Afford
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Golf and Growth
We must be into sports analogies around here...first basketball, now golf! Check out this bit of insight and learned lessons that Dave (an avid golfer) shared with readers of the Ladue News.
5 Things I Learned Playing Golf Can Help Grow Your Business
I grew up in a little town in northern Missouri called Milan. There wasn't a lot to do in a small town growing up. But we did have a public golf course. I learned some valuable lessons playing with my friends. Here are five things I learned playing golf that can help you play a better round with your business in today's still-struggling economy:
First, think about your round before you get to the first tee. In other words, plan ahead. Think about what clubs you'll need, where you want to hit your shots, and where you can take chances. You can't expect your business to do its best unless you have a plan. That requires a clear mission statement, strategic plan, and marketing plan.
Second, "you drive for show, you putt for dough." My buddy John could hit the ball a mile, but he couldn't putt and rarely won our matches. Marketing is not about flashy commercials or fancy websites. It's about doing the things that are most important for your business. It's about delivering your brand story in meaningful ways and doing it consistently, and even under pressure.
Third, sometimes you can't choose who's in your foursome. Companies cannot control the marketplace or the competitive environment. You must be able to adapt and differentiate your company from the competition. It's about telling your brand story to the right audience in a compelling manner that makes people want to do business with you and no one else.
Fourth, use shot management to play the hole. You use the terrain, the wind, club selection, the best approach. The same is true in marketing a business. It needs to be a holistic approach with all the strategies and tactics working together. A tactic here and a tactic there makes for a very long hole.
And finally, use your score to help you improve. So, how did you shoot? Better than last round? Just like you keep score on every hole, you need to keep score with your marketing efforts. Measure results and see if they delivered as expected. Many companies don't measure, do the same things year after year, and wonder why things don't improve.
5 Things I Learned Playing Golf Can Help Grow Your Business
I grew up in a little town in northern Missouri called Milan. There wasn't a lot to do in a small town growing up. But we did have a public golf course. I learned some valuable lessons playing with my friends. Here are five things I learned playing golf that can help you play a better round with your business in today's still-struggling economy:
First, think about your round before you get to the first tee. In other words, plan ahead. Think about what clubs you'll need, where you want to hit your shots, and where you can take chances. You can't expect your business to do its best unless you have a plan. That requires a clear mission statement, strategic plan, and marketing plan.
Second, "you drive for show, you putt for dough." My buddy John could hit the ball a mile, but he couldn't putt and rarely won our matches. Marketing is not about flashy commercials or fancy websites. It's about doing the things that are most important for your business. It's about delivering your brand story in meaningful ways and doing it consistently, and even under pressure.
Third, sometimes you can't choose who's in your foursome. Companies cannot control the marketplace or the competitive environment. You must be able to adapt and differentiate your company from the competition. It's about telling your brand story to the right audience in a compelling manner that makes people want to do business with you and no one else.
Fourth, use shot management to play the hole. You use the terrain, the wind, club selection, the best approach. The same is true in marketing a business. It needs to be a holistic approach with all the strategies and tactics working together. A tactic here and a tactic there makes for a very long hole.
And finally, use your score to help you improve. So, how did you shoot? Better than last round? Just like you keep score on every hole, you need to keep score with your marketing efforts. Measure results and see if they delivered as expected. Many companies don't measure, do the same things year after year, and wonder why things don't improve.
Monday, March 22, 2010
March Madness Gone Mad?
The greatest time of the year for sports has begun. Only the NCAA Tournament can take over an entire office and bring productivity to a halt. March Madness demands even the attention of individuals that haven't watched a single minute of basketball all season long! Sixy-five teams battle to be the best in the nation. Sure, there are favored teams, but all it takes is one team to go on a run, become a "Cinderella," and capture the support of the entire country. So, what if the NCAA added a few teams to the tournament...say, 32 more?
The NCAA recently proposed increasing the pool of teams to 96. The theory behind the proposal is that more quality teams, who may have been left out due to an undeserving team winning its conference tournament, could make the "Big Dance."
I disagree with the NCAA's logic. First, I have a hard enough time picking from 65 teams in my bracket. I'd prefer to not have to pick from 96! More importantly, though, we have seen time and again that more is not always better. Should the NCAA increase the team pool, it would end up doing is diluting or de-valuing its product. Over the years, the NCAA has created exclusivity around the tournament. Teams work hard all year long to make the field. Conference tournaments have become a team's last chance to become "tournament-worthy." Increasing the fields will turn the "elite" into a Little League tournament--everyone gets to participate!
Many companies and brands have used this same strategy. Starbucks is one company that tried this approach by continuously expanding and adding stores, and it backfired. Once it had a store on every street corner (likely next to a Walgreens or GAP), the company started to add products, like breakfast foods. Then, the economy went sour, and Starbucks realized that it had overextended itself and had to cut back. As a result, its product had become devalued, and the company had lost sight of its mission.
For the NCAA, this is an obvious money-grab--more teams, more commercials, a possible move to two cable networks to cover the games, and more games being played. For the sake of quality basketball, I hope the expansion doesn't happen.
The next time you consider a product expansion, think of the NCAA or Starbucks. Ask yourself if the expansion makes sense to your company's mission and target market, and remember that more isn't always better. Once you de-value your brand, you may never get its essence back.
The NCAA recently proposed increasing the pool of teams to 96. The theory behind the proposal is that more quality teams, who may have been left out due to an undeserving team winning its conference tournament, could make the "Big Dance."
I disagree with the NCAA's logic. First, I have a hard enough time picking from 65 teams in my bracket. I'd prefer to not have to pick from 96! More importantly, though, we have seen time and again that more is not always better. Should the NCAA increase the team pool, it would end up doing is diluting or de-valuing its product. Over the years, the NCAA has created exclusivity around the tournament. Teams work hard all year long to make the field. Conference tournaments have become a team's last chance to become "tournament-worthy." Increasing the fields will turn the "elite" into a Little League tournament--everyone gets to participate!
Many companies and brands have used this same strategy. Starbucks is one company that tried this approach by continuously expanding and adding stores, and it backfired. Once it had a store on every street corner (likely next to a Walgreens or GAP), the company started to add products, like breakfast foods. Then, the economy went sour, and Starbucks realized that it had overextended itself and had to cut back. As a result, its product had become devalued, and the company had lost sight of its mission.
For the NCAA, this is an obvious money-grab--more teams, more commercials, a possible move to two cable networks to cover the games, and more games being played. For the sake of quality basketball, I hope the expansion doesn't happen.
The next time you consider a product expansion, think of the NCAA or Starbucks. Ask yourself if the expansion makes sense to your company's mission and target market, and remember that more isn't always better. Once you de-value your brand, you may never get its essence back.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Good Lessons Learned Early On
Sharing. Something you learned about even before kindergarten. It's good to share. It's the right thing to do. You like it when people share with you. And now, I'd like to share some information on how you can share this year. GO! St. Louis and MERS/Goodwill have teamed up to collect 20,010 pairs of gently worn athletic shoes in 2010. GO! St. Louis is a local, non-profit organization that promotes healthy lifestyles and fitness through various programs in the community. This year is the organization's 10th anniversary, and they thought this would be a great way to give back and share with the community. All shoes collected will be donated to MERS Goodwill to help fund its mission to assist local people to find work and live more independently.
Our team here at PSG Marketing Solutions likes to share, too. We shared our expertise with GO! St. Louis and MERS Goodwill to help execute the "Share A Pair" intiative. We shared our cool idea of a "shoe mobile" to collect all donated shoes, then had it designed and manufactured.
So, check your closets and under your bed, and find those shoes that you haven't worn in a year. You can share them with someone who needs them. The Shoemobile will be at Chesterfield Mall from March 1 to 14, and South County Mall from March 15 to 30, 2010. For more locations, head to the GO! St. Louis website or click on the link here: http://www.gostlouis.org/shoemobile.html
Oh, and one more thing... How about sharing this message with someone?
Tom Schmittdiel
Account Director
Our team here at PSG Marketing Solutions likes to share, too. We shared our expertise with GO! St. Louis and MERS Goodwill to help execute the "Share A Pair" intiative. We shared our cool idea of a "shoe mobile" to collect all donated shoes, then had it designed and manufactured.
So, check your closets and under your bed, and find those shoes that you haven't worn in a year. You can share them with someone who needs them. The Shoemobile will be at Chesterfield Mall from March 1 to 14, and South County Mall from March 15 to 30, 2010. For more locations, head to the GO! St. Louis website or click on the link here: http://www.gostlouis.org/shoemobile.html
Oh, and one more thing... How about sharing this message with someone?
Tom Schmittdiel
Account Director
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
We Love What We Do!
We're very excited to launch our new brand and everything that goes with it. That's because we love what we do! And, we hope that you can better see that in our new name, logo, and website. Now more than ever, we want to make sure that our brand clearly and concisely communicates who we are, what we do, and what makes us unique. Going forward, we will focus on five key services: strategic branding, promotions, advertising, training, and events. We are re-doubling our efforts to bring intense, creative passion to those areas, which will be even more effective in helping our customers grow their business.
Even the colors in our new log help define us:
Even the colors in our new log help define us:
- Blue stands for intelligent. It's a primary color that is often associated with two of the deepest, most expansive elements we have, the ocean and the sky. We dig for in-depth knowledge of our customers' business, and we work longer and harder to understand their situations.
- Fusion orange represents creativity. We ignite the best ideas and the most effective execution, and we bring them together with an intense, creative passion, all to meet our customers' needs.
- New green means growth, new growth from joining our customers' business with our team of professionals. Our ideas that germinate from cultivating diverse thoughts and exploring different positions will drive our customers' business upward.
We've been serving customers with intelligent creativity for over 21 years. Now, we've elevated our brand to better reflect it. We look forward to a great year in 2010, driven by an incredible staff serving remarkable clients. And, it's sure to be a lot of fun because we love what we do!
Dave Smith
President
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