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by Renee Fellows

March 25, 2008 — I’ve spent a good portion of my career promoting small and medium sized businesses. Some of them were great companies with a tremendous amount of character and personality and some were complete duds that needed an ‘extreme marketing makeover’ in order to accomplish the goals at hand. The most memorable campaigns included not just catchy tag lines and good creative but also had one thing their competition didn’t. They had a great leader or a sold team of experts that we could use to help propel the company ahead of the pack.

Branding a person is a much different tact than creating a ‘character’ like the Geico Gecko or my favorite, the M&M guys, Yellow & Red. While they are adorable and quite attention getting, they sometimes lack the true credibility that a Lee Iacoca from Chrysler or Danny Thomas from Wendy’s brought to the table. Branding an individual means many things on many levels but can be a highly successful strategy if a few guidelines are followed before, during and after the campaign is launched.

Know your Client

I mean really, really know your client. If that client is you, then have someone outside the organization take a hard, honest look at how you would be perceived by the consumer. For a representative other than yourself, take the time to do some background checking, vetting and other pertinent digging in order to fully understand the person you are about to brand to a regional or national audience. While the comedian Carrot Top may be a funny guy, it may not necessarily qualify him to become the ‘face’ of Racing Automotive on radio and television ads. Celebrity spokespeople are everywhere. Jenny Craig has used them for years and continues to bring on new faces like Valerie Bertinelli when their campaigns have run their lifecycle. You can bet that their agency does many focus groups to test the likeability and sincerity of a potential spokesperson months before they ever make it to your television screen.

When considering a celebrity or even the company’s own leadership as a marketing tactic, ask yourself and your client if the person sitting before you has the charisma, public speaking skills and expertise to adequately represent the company and support the brand to a large audience. Will consumers be able to readily relate to this person? Is he likeable? Will he be able to convince customers that the product or service is far above that of the competition? If you find yourself coming back with some maybe’s and no’s then you may need to rethink your strategy a bit. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a ‘spokesperson’ but perhaps there is someone in the company who would better fill the shoes of a public personality.

A case in point is a high tech software client that was taking their most exciting product national for the first time. They had no real ‘face’ outside of their region and were seeking to make a good impression in the market for a potential buy-out offer from a corporate giant in their field. We brought all of the employees together in groups for several brainstorming meetings to rewrite the company’s mission, vision and values. In the process we asked each group what was so unique about the software product they had to sell. The answer resounded loud and clear. It was not just their product but also the chief information officer, his team of systems engineers, and the round-the-clock customer service center that had spent the last four years developing and servicing the software. The CIO also had pages of credentials and was highly respected in the industry for his knowledge and abilities. Another asset – he was attractive and extremely articulate.

We quickly began drafting a campaign where the CIO became the face of the product and the organization. We scheduled speaking engagements and media interviews at trade shows for him and his team to talk about the new technology and its development. On the marketing side, we developed full-page ads to run in the industry’s most visible trade publications featuring the CIO. Direct mail postcards mirroring the print ads were sent to potential clients offering beta demonstrations in each region of the country. We created a trade show booth around the product and his leadership in its development.

Sixteen months after the campaign launched, the company we had targeted for a possible purchase made a bid for the company and our mission was complete. We had successfully branded the organization in a way that was identifiable to our customers, decision makers, and our ultimate audience, our buyer.

Educate, Educate, Educate

Once you’ve found your company spokesperson write a backgrounder and biography (or even a curriculum vitae), have a headshot taken and start drafting all media communications in the spokesperson’s voice. That means you’ll need to spend some time talking with your new point person and learn how they speak and what makes them unique. I don’t mean that you should write in their local colloquialisms (at least not for print), but rather that their personality and spirit should be present whenever you quote them, write a speech on his or her behalf or even when speaking to journalists to pitch a story idea. The entire company should radiate this individual’s personality.

When Subway restaurants heard about a customer’s dramatic weight loss achieved by eating at their shop and incorporating physical activity, they knew they had been given a rare gift. Jared Fogel was asked to do a commercial spot for the franchise and so began the campaign to promote his dramatic weight loss of 240 pounds. The company initiated a full line of ‘light and healthy’ sub sandwiches that were low in fat and had increased vegetables and became a fast food alternative. Jared quickly rose to stardom and became a pop culture icon. Through their campaigns, Jared helped consumers focus on healthier eating, changing their lifestyle just one sandwich at a time, and what you could do if you just put your mind to something. All great messages on which to build a campaign and launch a fast food revolution. Subway and Jared took their story to the next level by supporting cause-related marketing on childhood obesity, physical fitness and active healthier lifestyles. They formed strategic partnerships with the American Heart Association, Little League Baseball and even developed the Jared Foundation to help educate and support youth to lead healthier lifestyles. What began as a life change for one man became a healthy cause that swept the nation for millions. And Subway couldn’t be happier about it.

You have to love it.

Like Jared, it’s important to really love your job especially if you’re going to be the representative for your company to the world. Authority alone can only carry the company and its messages so far. Without real passion for what you do, the messaging will fall flat on your audience’s ears and worse yet, it will come across as trite and insincere. Wally Amos of Amos’ Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies said it best in a recent Wall Street Journal interview.

“ Too many people get in business to make money. You have to make money. But if that's your single motivation, that's not enough. It's important to have fun. If you don't have fun, I don't give a damn what you're selling, you're not going to be successful with it. I know a lot of people who have a lot of money who are miserable. And I don't want to be one of them. ”

Selling is a contact sport.

To really connect with your customers understand that people buy from other people. Yes, we all shop for bargains at the big impersonal box stores, but if we had a choice between big impersonal box store #1 and the local green grocer whom we know in our community, all things being equal the choice hands down is the local green grocer. Why? Because we like to feel good about the purchases we make. If we know that the local grocer supports charities in town, coaches soccer and has the freshest products, we may even drive ten minutes out of our way to patronize his store. Once inside the store, the owner recognizes you, says hello to your kids and even offers you some of your favorite apples that he just picked that morning. In today’s highly impersonal superstores, this type of experience is darn near nirvana.

What has our green grocer done right? Just about everything and the big boys can take a lesson from him. Corporate doesn’t have to mean impersonal. By localizing and personalizing your customer’s experiences big companies can become ‘smaller’ and engage with their consumers. Branding the store manager, allowing time for her to volunteer in the community and truly ‘be the face’ of the company on a local level will pay big returns for that store’s bottom line.

No matter whom you decide to use to represent your brand, remember that they must be passionate, articulate, and personal. Create your marketing and public relations efforts to be as personal and engaging as possible and always encourage your spokesperson to speak about the company and its products from the heart rather than a tightly rehearsed script. That means that you both must do your homework and truly know your products and services. To learn more about using a spokesperson to promote your business, talk with Renee Fellows at ClearPoint Marketing Communications at 603-434-9433 or visit the web site at www.OneClearpoint.com.

Renee Fellows is the owner of ClearPoint Marketing Communications in Derry, New Hampshire. She works with small business clients to develop marketing and public relations strategies that bring business and customers closer together. She can be reached at 603-434-9433 or via email at Rfellows@oneclearpoint.com.

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