Building the brand

Lauren Wilbert of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal has a great article about companies who have been successful building their brands through trade shows and other avenues.

Building the brand

Companies promote themselves via corporate events, trade shows, Web 

There’s no doubt that marketing, public relations and advertising can make a difference in a company’s success. But the strategies behind a communication method or campaign varies widely depending on the company. For our Fast 50 Diary companies, chosen from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing private companies, none of them go with traditional ideas of advertising, such as television or radio spots. Instead, the mix of publicity comes in the form of detailed Web sites for Ergotron Inc.’s resellers and partners, to podcasts from Salo’s two CEOs. The common thread for all these companies: Be patient with results from marketing and be open to trying new things.  TAJ Technologies Inc. As a computer consulting firm, TAJ Technologies Inc. is pretty clear on its target market. The company, based in

Mendota
Heights, spends its advertising bucks on ads in annual publications and for corporate events. “We don’t go for mainstream advertising in newspapers,” said CEO KC Sukumar. But there are exceptions. The company plans to make use of its 20-year anniversary this year to promote itself as a durable, dependable company, Sukumar said. “We survived through the year 2000 and the dot-com bust, and now we’re on a high-growth period,” he said. “We have to weigh the cost [of publicizing the anniversary], but 20 years is something to celebrate.” With two decades of experience, Sukumar knows that results from advertising and marketing take time to show up. Also, don’t discount one of the best marketing tools of any business — old-fashioned cold calling to potential clients and for referrals from current customers. “You always have to stay out front,” he said.  Ergotron Inc. Ergotron Inc., which makes adjustable mounts for computers, relies on robust channel marketing to resellers and computer manufacturers to drive its business.The Eagan-based company does little direct selling to consumers, so it decided to invest in a Web site for those actually selling its products rather than spend money on glossy print and TV ads. Ergotron launched the site (partner.ergotron.com) three years ago after changing its business model to sell through resellers rather than directly to large corporate accounts. “We understood we needed to give our selling tools [to them],” said Jane Payfer, vice president of marketing. The site includes a “quick find” feature for people who want to find a mount for equipment, and also a “partner training” section, which the company rolled out in January. “They see that our Web site is easy to use, and they buy our products and find that those are easy to use, too,” Payfer said. That has made resellers’ experience with the site enjoyable, which makes them more likely to recommend and continue to use Ergotron’s products, she added. Ergotron, which does all of its Web design, marketing and print work in-house, now has the challenge of translating the Web training feature for its overseas offices in Europe and
Asia.

  Venture Bank  It’s difficult to measure which marketing and advertising efforts really work, said Venture Bank CEO Michael Zenk, but such practices do serve a purpose in the big picture of running a business. “I don’t hear from customers that, ‘Oh, I saw your ad,’ but at the same time, it’s just another piece of the overall strategy,” Zenk said. If nothing else, it keeps the bank’s name out there, said Christine Young, commercial loan officer at the
Golden Valley headquarters branch. Young also is on the bank’s marketing committee, which includes several of the bank’s executives. The committee meets on a regular basis to plan how to spend the company’s advertising dollars. So far, a third of the money goes to print advertising in business publications, with the rest going toward event sponsorships, business development and general public-relations work. Sponsorships are a prime opportunity for Venture to tell its story to a captive audience. “[That] is what’s going to bring in the business,” Zenk said. The company also spends time on local marketing to chambers of commerce, community organizations and office complexes, for instance. The company has done all of its marketing work in-house until this year. It hired a customer to help with public relations as it builds its third location.    White House Custom Colour  CEO Michael Hanline said advertising and marketing has cost White House Custom Colour (WHCC) “a small fortune,” but in the end, the company sees it as a bargain. WHCC, a South St. Paul-based digital photography printing and processing company, began print media ads in 2002, keeping the designs simple and clean, Hanline said. But its logo brings the most bang for its advertising buck. The company has invested in keeping its logo front and center in the market, so much that the industry knows exactly what WHCC does as soon as they see the icon, Hanline said. WHCC also spends money on trade-show bags featuring the logo. “Everyone is a small billboard traveling around these shows,” he said. The company has done everything in-house, but just hired an outside firm to help further develop and refine WHCC’s marketing programs now that its services and brands are expanding.
Salo
Salo co-CEOs Amy Langer and John Folkestad know where their strengths are, and they’re not in creative marketing design, they said. That’s why the young company, an executive temp firm, hired public-relations and marketing professionals early on. Awards are an important marketing tool for the Minneapolis-based company, and its PR representative helps the executives decide which contests to enter. Salo doesn’t spend much on advertising since it gains business by word of mouth. Langer and Folkestad also spend a vast majority of their time meeting with clients and potential consultants to add to their roster. So far, that’s the company’s best selling engine, and one reason the pair have decided to embark on a high-tech marketing tool. They soon will launch quarterly podcasts to focus on driving Salo’s message to employees.

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