Turning a Brand Into Revenue
12 Action Steps to Take Right Now

Since the Internet became a commercial marketing vehicle in the mid 1990’s, many firms have mispositioned their corporate business development by disproportionately spending their firm's funding resources on brand awareness instead of revenue generation programs.

Branding is not revenue.
Advertising is not revenue.
PR is not revenue.
Revenue is Revenue.

In a world where email press releases create public company stock spikes, and where some B2B companies are spending $3 to capture each $1 in revenue, the tactical process of generating business revenue has been lost on hype, inflated market valuations and instant visibility with no revenue.

The Internet is just a distribution channel. Yes, an extraordinary evolutional step for business, but still just a channel. Just like a direct sales force, a strategic reseller, an authorized distributor, or a private label (OEM) partnership, it has strategic and tactical value as well as an operating expense model that can be prohibitive.

Provided to Paul DiModica by eMarketer.com under contract.

So, what is a brand?

Depending what you read or who you listen to, branding is a strategic position which creates awareness in a buyer's state of mind to select one vendor over another.

Sounds great, but branding does not create revenue. We have all seen the Super Bowl commercials where flamboyant ads that cost millions of dollars display funky off the wall concepts trying to create market mind share with a target audience. Additionally, we have been exposed to irrelevant ads that do not show the product or service but display some artsy message.

Well it is time to change. As business executives, we need to recapture our operating business models back from ad agencies, marketing departments and business brand managers and start operating in the new economy based on old economy proven business revenue generating methodologies.

Prior to the aggressive expansion of the Internet in 1997, branding, marketing, PR and ad agencies were staff positions and advisors in a corporate traditional hierarchy. With the advent of the digital economy, these departments launched themselves into line position responsibilities. Instead of advising management on communication strategies, they implemented programs. So, an ad agency that was selling cereal and print placement in the mid-90's evolved into interactive media experts. Although this comment may not be well received by my agency friends, it is, in fact, accurate. Who pitches the unusual ads seen on TV to an executive steering committee of a growth directed firm? An ad agency. Who built entire companies' operating business plans around a company name with no supporting revenue model? A brand manager.

Does having positive client brand awareness help sales, yes of course. But is brand building the most efficient form of marketing budget expenditure you can make to create revenue for firm presently in a launch or growth mode? No. Especially if you are not a billion dollar worldwide player who as money to waste. Your revenue will be limited if you rely on staff departments who have never sold software, professional services or collected a million dollar purchase order for a truckload of blue shoes.

Accepting this fact, you are now on your way to increase your sales for your business.

Building revenue in this economy is based on implementing a business development approach to revenue. Prior to 1998, the concept of revenue capture was synonymous with the word salesman or account manager. But as the digital economy evolved, the element of revenue capture and department collaboration also developed. Today, the term revenue capture has matriculated into a hybrid business approach where sales, marketing and strategy are interactively linked together to generate revenue.

By using this approach to generate revenue, you combine old world sales methodologies and new world collaborative relationships to focus on tactical revenue generation. Successful, marketing leading companies today are all built on a persistent revenue capture methodologies, not branding.

To generate increased revenue for your firm, implement these actions steps.

12 Steps to Build Revenue and Reduce
Your Dependence on Branding Investments

1. Cut your advertising (not marketing) budget in half -- you're already probably spending too much.
2. Slow up on your PR. Most startup companies rush to market to "develop their brand and to create spin" as quickly as they can launch a press release. PR worked for Napster but it failed for Pets.com. Having revenue (and maybe even profits) first before the PR launch is a smarter play and will help create spin quicker. Great PR and minimal revenue is a component for potential disaster.
3. Get the very best VP of Sales you can find and afford.
4. Never let an ad agency or a marketing department convince you of running conceptual marketing and image programs. They rarely work and are usually more expensive than traditional campaigns.
5. Hire seasoned salespeople, not junior salespeople. The digital economy is a world of collaboration - you need seasoned talent who can strategize and partner their way to revenue. People generate revenue not a company name.
6. Launch or increase your telemarketing budget -- it works, it is effective and it helps reduce sales cycles by half. Multiple studies show that selling services and/or products to senior decision makers are positively effective when b2b companies implement telemarketing lead generation programs in coordination with other marketing expenditures.
7. Never let an ad agency sell you positioning marketing expenditures. If you increase your revenues and treat your customers well, you are building a market position and a brand.
8. For every market you identify, pick at least three strategic partners to help increase your collaborative sales.
9. Never add more partners than you can handle. Most firms love adding partners, but most regional BDM's bandwidth can only handle a certain number of relationships efficiently. Remember, strategic partnerships are not about Press Releases -- they are about increasing revenue.
10. Do not develop your marketing collateral materials in-house. Your communication materials need to be direct, informative and well executed. In-house productions nearly always look unprofessional.
11. When revenues in a regional area are flat, cut the sales staff territory (or market) in half. By reducing territory size, you force salespeople to find the hidden sales opportunities that get lost in a target rich territory.
12. Understand that if you are not selling the C-level executives (CEO, CFO . . .), or Vice Presidents and above in North America (and director and GM outside of North America) you are selling too low. In today's market, design your presentation (1st meetings, telemarketing script . . .) to meet the customer's Key Performance Indicators and they will listen. Talk about your features and functions . . . and you are out the door.

Following this outline will help you focus on true revenue producing opportunities and reduce misguided or misdirected marketing traps of making disproportionate brand investments.

Value first, Brand second.

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