It’s that time of year again. Time to look ahead to the new year and makes promises to yourself about how to change your life for the better. Or in this case, change your brand for the better.

So here is the first of three ideas:

Resolution #1: Quit Bad Habits

Aside from losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking or other nasty habits is the most common New Year’s Resolution.  We all want to leave behind those things we do that may be doing us harm.

The same goes for your branding.  There are probably several marketing “habits” that you have that are harming your brand.  Maybe even killing it.  Perhaps you’re using a tired, old ad campaign from the 90s, or advertising in the same magazine or on the same radio station you have beeen for years.  Or maybe your Web site is hopelessly outdated.

This is the time to take stock of your marketing efforts and be honest with yourself about what is working and what isn’t.  And if it isn’t working, then it’s time to quit.  Cold turkey.

At the risk of making a painfully obvious observation, the media landscape is changing dramatically. It’s no different in the building & remodeling world, as trade magazines are cutting their staffs in an effort to stay profitable, or at least to ride out the current 7-point Richter Scale shake-up they are enduring.

As a result, many talented people are being let go, and I’m here to tell you that’s not such a bad thing, necessarily. It means these people are bringing their skills to bear in new and creative ways that will benefit builders, remodelers, manufacturers and others in our industry.

The latest example is Paul Deffenbaugh, who was relieved of his post at Reed (Professional Builder, Professional Remodeler) and has now started Deep Brook Media. Deep Brook Media offers digital marketing and business improvement services for residential contractors.

Paul is, as they say in my native Massachusetts, wicked smaht. If you’re in the business of providing home contracting services – or even if you’re not – I recommend checking out his blog. You might learn a thing or two, or at the very least be entertained by his witty prose.

So, the pool is getting crowded. More and more talented people like Paul are joining the entrepreneurial ranks and competing with me. So why would I recommend him? This is a great thing for companies, as more smart thinking is available at increasingly reasonable costs. And it pushes me to be better, smarter, more efficient, more innovative.

And, that’s just the kind of guy I am.

Photo credit: State Records NSW

A few days ago, I was out shoveling the driveway after another Wisconsin snowstorm when I was approached by a door-to-door salesman. The poor guy, walking around in freezing temperatures, was trying to “sell” free carpet cleaning services. When I said I wasn’t interested (we have hardwood floors), he asked me to fill out a form with my name and e-mail. “So my boss knows I was working,” he said.

Of course, I declined. I didn’t want to be getting unsolicited e-mails from this company. I felt sorry for the guy, but it is hard for me to imagine a less effective strategy.

First, if you’re going to interrupt people in their homes and make them open their doors to let in the cold, you’d better have a damn compelling pitch. You might also want to use a sales guy who doesn’t look like he’d rather not be there.

Second, even if you did have a good pitch, your chances of success are so low it’s hardly worth the effort. At any given time, the number of people considering getting their carpets cleaned is low. It’s probably lower in December when most people have just put up their Christmas trees.

Third, if you must bother people in their homes, you should make sure they know who you are. This company had no established brand and therefore no level of trust and familiarity with homeowners.

Finally, do not ask people to give their e-mails to you until you’ve earned it.

So you’re probably asking, “Okay, Smart Guy. What do you suggest?” Well, here are some ideas for introducing your company and service to the community, earning people’s trust and maybe even generating some sales.

• Assuming you already have at least a few customers, offer them a referral incentive – $5, $10, $50 cash for any new customers they steer you toward.
• Create a compelling Web site and make sure people see it.
• On your Facebook page (you do have one, don’t you) offer your free carpet cleaning deal to your “fans.”
• Join your local BNI Chapter.
• Create a simple brochure with tips for cleaning your carpet and keeping it clean for the holidays. Make sure it has your brand and your “free offer” on it. Put it on your Web site, hang it on doors, mail it to target neighborhoods.
• Offer a post-holiday free cleaning. If there is one thing people want, it’s help cleaning up the house after all the parties are over and the decorations are down.
• Partner with a maid service to share referrals and package services.
• Get involved in the community. Get to know people.

These are just a few ideas for a carpet cleaning company. Change a few things, and they might work for kitchen remodelers, heating & cooling contractors, roofers, landscapers, and many other home service providers.

Any other ideas?

Not long ago, I posted about focusing a brand on a single positioning and targeting that specific customer segment that defines your brand.  To bring the story home, I compared it to playing darts.

Not sure if the analogy worked.

Blogger Brett Duncan has a recent post that takes a decidedly more direct approach. He says Segmenting is Stupid. He’s right. He made a few points that my post didn’t.

The ignorant like “brand extensions” and “segmenting” because it doesn’t require a commitment. It doesn’t involve neglecting a market. It doesn’t force you to make a decision. It’s a crutch.

He also advises marketing consultants whose clients want to segment their brands to “slap them across the face.” Personally, I wouldn’t advocate violence, but I think we get his meaning.

As I write this, it’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The end of a long weekend for most people, myself included. But the notion of taking that time off is something of a fallacy if you operate a blog or are otherwise in the business of capturing people’s attention online.

This was driven home to me when I looked at the traffic to this blog over the last few days. I would have expected that on Thanksgiving Day, when most people are in tryptophan/football-induced comas, that traffic would have been close to, or at zero.

In fact, it was among the busiest days in the last few weeks. This could be an anomoly, but regardless I took a lesson from it: There are no days off in doing business online. In fact, these days might hold your best opportunities to reach people. If you think about it, they are likely not being bothered by the incessant phone calls and interruptions of a day at the office, and at some point in the day will steal away to their laptops or smart phones.

Looking at the blogs I read, many of them had new content posted on Thanksgiving Day, or at least on the days before an after. Now, they probably wrote that content earlier and simply scheduled it to go live on those dates, but the point is it was there.

It’s nice to take some time off. Just make sure your online tools – blogs, websites, etc. – are still working hard.