Small businesses can often overlook the notion that their brand isn’t entirely managerially constructed. One may tightly govern brand communications, but in reality, how these are received is partially beyond our control.

Consider this – perceptions of your brand that exist within the four walls of your office may not be totally (or at all) aligned with those held by your customers. That’s right. Your brand identity not only exists on your business cards, website or brochure, but also in the mind of the consumer.

It is frightening to think that consumers may interpret your brand in their own very subjective manner, but at the same time, this realisation should also be seen as an opportunity to re-discover the various (and often unexpected) meanings attached to your brand, adapt your communications accordingly, and ultimately reap the rewards of becoming a business who truly knows their audience.

So how do you discover how your customers make sense of your brand?

In short, you ask them.

Qualitative research, principally involving focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, can be an extremely useful strategic tool for businesses of all sizes. Research is vital, and here are a few reasons why:

•    Provides a forum to explore and extrapolate ideas, which can act as an effective springboard to make your visions a reality.

•    Enables you to drill down and understand the specific needs of your different market segments, providing a creative environment for consumer optimisation.

•    Enables you to fully understand reactions to your marketing materials and packaging; identifying strengths, weaknesses, and uncovering any previously unmet needs of your customers.

•    Helps you make informed business and marketing decisions, with confidence.

•    Protects you from completely ‘missing the point’ with your brand communications, ensuring that you build a brand that strikes resonance with your target market.

Above all, it simply makes sense that a strong and current picture of your consumers’ mindset should underpin the strategic and creative process of building and maintaining a brand. You wouldn’t create a gourmet meal with your eyes closed would you? Well, you might try, but you would probably end up getting burnt.

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With our passion for all things digital we decided to close the studio for the day hire a mini bus and spend a day at the TFMA show. http://www.t-f-m.co.uk/
As both the show and RT celebrate this year our 10th anniversary we felt it was an opportunity not to be missed.

#tfma is the UK’s only integrated marketing event and delivers all the latest industry insight, trends and developments giving the perfect blend for truly integrated marketing & advertising campaigns. All 10 staff have chosen their seminars and keynotes to attend and we will be looking forward to the day of learning.

Check this post throughout the day for our live video feeds below. We aim to record snippets every hour or so, and with the chat feature direct on the live video feed you will be able to interact with us too!

If you want to find out how you can stream live video from a smart phone, integrate it real time on your blog plus feed straight to twitter, facebook and YouTube then contact us tomorrow when we are back!

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There aren’t many holidays that are left untouched by the world of social media, and Valentine’s Day is no exception.

This year, businesses are going all out to make a song and dance of the season, some quite literally. Even the world of confectionary has listened to consumer trends and included "Tweet me" as a new message on the American version of Loveheart sweets, Sweethearts

Amongst the many distinctly average attempts to create innovative ways of taking advantage of the day, I found a few gems:

The American greetings card company, amgreetings, has set up a daily Twitter contest in the run up to Valentine’s day, for its’ followers to produce the best romantically themed post. The winners are announced daily and have been winning up to $350 each. A costly use of the ‘free’ marketing tool, but they have certainly boosted their customer interactions.

Hallmark has created a line of Augmented Reality (AM) greetings cards. These are like regular paper cards, but when the image on the front of the card is held up to a webcam on a page on the Hallmark website it becomes a mini 3D animated world with sound and a fully rotatable stage. A bit of a gimmick? Perhaps. But a unique way to tell that special someone how you feel. See it in action here.

And of course, the iPhone has produced an impressive selection of the latest Valentine’s apps. The best of the bunch include virtual kisses that take an imprint of your lips and send it on, voice personalised e-greetings cards and even a two-person fingerprinting tool that can ‘accurately’ analyse the feelings between you and your loved one.

Who said romance was dead?

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Following last years growth of over 27% on 2008 we are delighted to welcome Richard Webley who joined us this week as a Digital Projects Account Executive.

As a marketing graduate from the University of Exeter whose most recent role combined lecturing and research at Bournemouth University, Richard brings with him a thirst for digital technologies and a passion for all things brand and marketing.

Having previously completed a Graduate Training Scheme at a global consumer research agency in London where he worked with a range of FMCG, media and public sector clients, Richard is extremely excited about the prospect of nurturing brands and growing businesses with RT Media.

Welcome aboard Richard.

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