Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Westminster College as they have researched and worked on coming up with a new tagline to capture and convey the college’s unique mission and marketing position. Congrats on a job well done to Westminster’s Kris Lensmeyer and her marketing team. They unveiled their new tagline this week: Educated to Lead. Inspired to Achieve.

Westminster empowered a team of outside help and inside staff to develop the words that will best carry the institution forward in the years to come. Regardless of your business’s size, taking a step back to assess your strategic positioning is crucial for success. The words you choose give focus – they lead  staff and stir clients and customers.

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind …

Your tagline and mission should not be written in stone. Running a business is a journey. You change, the market changes, your customers’ needs change. Make sure that you adapt and stay in tune.

Talk to your customer. Set up focus groups to find out key points about what your customers need and want, so you can then evaluate how well your company is serving them. Send out a survey to reach even more people. Using a third party can help you get honest feedback, but even if you simply ask some questions informally, find out how they see your business and why they are loyal to you.

Talk to your staff and supporting partners. How do they see your business? Bring in their voices – again, utilize focus groups, surveys, interviews. You’ll gain even more perspective and empower your team to take ownership of the work you collectively provide.

Words matter. A tagline may be short, but you want it to be powerful. Test out your ideas. See what is the best fit.

Considering taglines and missions isn’t just wordplay. Raise your head and take a look at who your business is and what direction it is going so you can steer the way.

I recently saw a QR code in a spot I never expected to see one: on a billboard on Interstate 70. 

I wanted to take a picture to show why it is a bad idea to have a QR code on a billboard, but I couldn’t. It’s on a major interstate. Not a good idea to drive and try to use your phone’s camera at the same time – which is precisely why you shouldn’t put a QR code up on a billboard.

QR codes are good for offering an easy link to something special, but you have to put them in a situation where they are easy to scan. Driving by high speeds is not conducive to scanning. Think how the QR code can add real value to your marketing or communications plan, instead of just using as a high tech way to say “Look at me!”

For example, instead of embedding a QR code with a link to your web site on your business card, link to a vCard so that all your info goes straight to the scanner’s phone with no fuss, no muss, no typing.

All flash and no substance doesn’t take you far, so think about if you have a viable purpose for your QR code before you use it.

Does your spa have a social media presence?

Can you define the purpose of that presence in one sentence?

Can you look at your social media accounts and clearly see that purpose revealed?

How do you know that your social media presence is supporting that purpose?

“Social Media Ruined Everything,” a recent blog post on WebsiteMagazine.com, points out the need for accountability in social media participation. A couple of key points deserve to be reiterated:

(1) Businesses (and consumers) are confused by social media.

“Information management software company Endeca released results of its 2011 E-Commerce Analytics Survey recently and found that 61 percent of respondents admit they are currently making decisions based on half or less than half of data available to them. To make matters worse, nearly half of the survey respondents reported that they were using multiple tools (at least three ore more) to support business intelligence (BI) decisions.”

If prospective clients or guests are researching spas in your area, how is your social media presence helping them make that decision? If the only see half of the picture, what information are you giving them upfront and fast? How does your presence make you stand out from your competition?

Look not just at your own social media profile, but also that of the competition. Look at where you are represented, where they are represented, and make sure you have all bases covered.

(2) Too many businesses spin their wheels with social media.

“If you’re not on top of your game when it comes to your enterprise’s specific social media participation goals, you’ll be lost in a sea of competitors all clamoring for attention and loyalty from the same audience — and have nothing to show for it. “

But what does it mean to be on top of your game? If you don’t know why your business has a social media presence, it’s hard to evaluate how well you are doing.

If you want your Facebook page to be a place to drive last minute spa deals, then you should have a pretty clear picture of how your posts correlate to making the phone ring for appointments.

But if your goal is to build community and awareness of your spa, you can’t just limit your tracking to a quick look at how many times the phone rang today. Are you driving your online fans to your web site to sign up for e-news or to check out more information? Is your spa’s business finding more loyalty from your online fans? Slow and steady can still win the race, so don’t look solely at social media as a quick fix-all.

I often work as a liaison between my client and other vendors, working to communicate needs, wants and realities between both parties. The client has ideas and the photographer has ideas, and I try to bring those two planes of thought together to deliver what will best serve the client’s needs — striving for fabulous, specific to the particular spa experience and functional.

When working with photographers, here are a few things to keep in mind for your spa photo shoot.

Preparation is key. Photographers are not mind-readers. Before meeting with a photographer, make a list of the shots you want and find images from other photographers (look through magazines or stock photography sites or check your own photographer’s photo gallery) that are similar to what you want. Think about composition, light quality, style, etc. Even if you don’t know why you like a particular photo, clip it and show the photographer you are working with. You don’t have to know the technical terms, but you do need to have an opinion and examples in order to get what you want.

Think about what is available in stock photography before you start, and about what images you have seen before. If you want some images that are more abstract, consider if those shots are already available via stock photography. If so, how can you make those images be specific to your spa? Try to capture essences of your facility, to connect the audience with what your spa delivers. A lot of images in the spa industry are oft-repeated … so how can you tweak it just a bit to make it your own?

For example, the hands-on-the-back massage photo. Can you work in a bit of the background of your massage room, if it speaks of your spa experience? Massage photos are great at putting the audience in the experience so that they think – I want to be that woman on the massage table – but try to keep the photo as specific to your spa as possible.

Stay involved during the shoot. For a photo shoot, unless it is a photographer the spa has a long-standing relationship with where you know they clearly understand what you want, stay with them as they shoot. Find a balance between micro- and macro-management of the shoot, where you offer suggestions or catch detail issues but don’t hinder the photographer’s ability to work or his/her creative license. Be closely enough involved to be able to contribute constructively to the shoot.

For example, shooting at Spa Shiki, we were getting photos of the model in the meditation room. Most of the photos were from behind, focusing not on the model, but looking over her shoulder, almost as if eavesdropping on the scene to convey a sense of privacy and quiet. I asked for a different angle, moving the photographer to shoot her feet/ankles crossed, to capture the row of chaise lounges – hoping to go for the same feel, but in a more unique way than we’ve seen before. I didn’t have this angle on the initial shot list, but got a glimpse of the possibility in the photo shoot.

Consider both ad and editorial uses. Creative angles are great, but make sure you also have more standard photos of your facility for when you need them for the media.

Behind the scenes photos from Spa Shiki photo shoot with Pro Photo’s Chris Hollaway and Rebecca Rademan.

Guy Kawaski posted a list of 10 ways to be more likeable online: http://www.openforum.com/articles/10-ways-to-be-more-likeable-online?extlink=em-openf-SBdaily

This list isn’t just about how to be likeable online, however. The recommendations are good reminders on how to network and interact with customers in person as well. It comes down to my marketing mantra: It’s not about you. Your presence in your industry and the marketplace has to be about your customer and what they need. Your value is tied to how well you meet the customer’s needs, so listen to your target market. Be nice. Listen. Say thank you often. Don’t ignore people. Be real. Be you.

It’s a little bit of “everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten” but the truest lesson in life are universal.

Here’s Kawaski’s short list (view full blog for details):

1. Listen first and never stop listening

2. Engage, don’t sell

3. Offer value

4. Respond to negative comments

5. Respond to the positive comments, too

6. Surprise and delight

7. Ask questions

8. Share stories

9. Be honest and transparent

10. Don’t sell

Last week I spent two afternoons working with small groups of faculty, staff and students at Westminster College to facilitate brainstorming for a new college tagline. Trying to come up with a phrase that encompasses the essence of an organization, particularly one with as many dynamic and significant facets as a college, isn’t easy, and it was interesting to listen to what each group came up with, to follow their trains of thought, see where different groups came together and hit the same point and where they diverged. One thing that came up in more than one group was not a tagline, but evidence of leadership at work: “I like what Barney says …”

More than one individual offered tagline suggestions based on something they had heard President Barney Forsythe say, from “Blue Jay Nation” to “It’s a great day to be a Blue Jay.” It was great to hear the faculty and staff key in on and repeat what they had heard the president say. Their brainstorming revealed how Forsythe makes an impression on his team at the college. He is talking – and his words are real, full of vision and passion for Westminster College and its students – and his team of faculty and staff is listening.

The brainstorming sessions produced a lot of great ideas, but it also served to engage the group members in the school’s branding effort and, in turn, the future of the college and its students. “What President Forsythe says” started that engagement, however, before we even came to the table and it shows how a leader that speaks and communicates his vision and goals successfully empowers his team.

Words can’t be empty air, and similar to the brainstorming session, you have to mean it when you engage your staff.  Let them take part in what you believe, see and work toward — raise them up to do more. That’s what Westminster is working toward, from the students listening and learning in the classroom to the faculty listening and learning in Barney’s office.

I love writing fiction, and Hemingway is one of those greats I love to read for the power of brevity, for packing things in with a punch and not overdoing it. As a marketing professional and an editor, I admire his writing for the same reason.

Click the link below to read copyblogger’s thoughts on the top 5 Hemingway tips for writing well:

http://www.copyblogger.com/ernest-hemingway-top-5-tips-for-writing-well/

But it really comes down to this:  When you pare it down to only what you really need, you usually achieve more when it comes to impact and meaning.

(Should probably turn this into a Twitter commercial, but I don’t think you always have to stick to under 140 char.)

CatchPhrase is proud to share the news that Spa Shiki at The Lodge of Four Seasons has been voted best spa at the Lake of the Ozarks for 2011 through an online survey conducted by Lake Media One. Todd Borron of Spa Shiki has been voted Best Massage Therapist. The winners will be announced in a special feature section in the May/June issue of Lake Lifestyles magazine (http://www.lakenewsonline.com/).

Spa Shiki was ranked in the top 10 resorts spas in the Midwest by Spa Magazine in 2010. They deserve every accolade! I have been proud to represent them for the past 10 years. Great spa, great treatments, great people.

Easy Facebook Tip

Tag your friends and favorite businesses in your post, by simply type the @ symbol before entering in a name. When you type the @ symbol, Facebook will drop down a prompt for you to type the name of someone or something, then populate a list of your friends and fan pages. When you select the right name, a link to that person’s or business’s page appears in blue (without the @ symbol).

For example, “Dinner at @Baxter’s Lakeside Grille was great tonight!” posts as “Dinner at Baxter’s Lakeside Grille was great tonight!”

Try it and give your friends easier connections to the pages and people you like!

If you want to create a social media presence for your business, consider these top sites for connecting with customers. While there are many more social media sites out there, these are great places to start and focus on.

Here are the top sites you should be on and how they work …

Twitter is all about the present – What are you doing right now? Users create posts of 140 characters or less about what they are doing, seeing and thinking and build a follower base. Following is a one-way street: You can follow anyone (whether you know them personally or not), but they don’t have to follow you. Only your followers view your “tweet” when you post it, but it can be re-tweeted, which allows other people to showcase your message to their followers and so on. Messages are short, sweet and short-lived but still powerful because of their potential for viral distribution.

Facebook answers the question “Who are you?” Users create Facebook profiles for personal use. Businesses create fan pages. When a Facebook user becomes a fan of a business, that fan status is listed on his or her profile page and becomes an element of their online personality. Facebook gives users and businesses the ability to showcase photos, videos and links and allows other users to take a look at what their friends are up to and where they’ve been — a greater slice of life than Twitter shows. People search for those they know on Facebook and then request “friend” status. Once you become a friend, both parties can see and exchange information.

What’s happening with your career? LinkedIn, a social networking site that focuses on the professional aspects of your life, is all about business. Create a network of colleagues, request introductions through people you know, post your current projects and join professional groups. Relationships are built through contacts, which adds credibility to the network. LinkedIn groups also allow you to reach outside your circle and join in conversations that pertain to your industry and professional interests.

2009 rankings showed YouTube as the second most popular search engine. While YouTube is not a social networking site, I am including it here because it should be included in how you market yourself on Facebook, Twitter, etc. YouTube is a great place to post “how to” videos for your customers. Create an account, upload your video and post a description. Videos are great tools for connecting with your customers and helping to answer questions for them or showing them something they didn’t already know. You can post videos that potential customers can find by organic searches, and you can also direct your fans to view your video directly, via a link from Facebook, for example.