The truth is that good products and good customer service are not enough.

Does any of this sound like you or your company?

You keep trying marketing and communications programs that
don’t really increase your bottom line.

You find it difficult to communicate why prospects should work with you,
and what makes you different from your competition.

Your “elevator speech” makes peoples’ eyes glaze over.

You’re attracting customers who are difficult to work with.

You’re attracting customers who don’t want to pay you what you’re worth.

You’re frustrated because your customers are constantly beating you up over pricing, or switching to your lowest cost competitor.

If you’re like most businesses, you’re good at what you do.

The problem isn’t with your products or services —
it’s with whether or not you’re connecting with
your ideal audiences.

I’m Marcia Hoeck, president of Hoeck Associates, Inc., a leading strategic branding and marketing communications firm, and I know what you’re going through. I own a business, and I have the same frustrations you do — marketing can be tough.

I started as a graphic designer in design firms and ad agencies, and also worked at a high-quality printing company, making proofs and preparing files for printing. Later, I took a job in the marketing department of a large corporation, and worked my way up to marketing manager. I was then in a position to hire and work with marketing communications firms, advertising agencies, and printers, directing the marketing for the organization, and I didn’t like what I saw from the other side of the desk. A lot of marketing agencies were really into chest pounding and winning awards — great for them, but I had to produce sales. The “marketing” they suggested just didn’t work.

I knew there had to be a better way to produce results from marketing, and I opened my company, Hoeck Associates in 1984. Since then, I’ve helped regional, national, and international organizations generate millions of dollars in revenue and save millions of dollars in costs by focusing brands and targeting and integrating communications. How do I know the amount? I asked clients for results and added it up, but after it got past the “millions” mark, I stopped counting.

I’m a lot like you — I’ve made plenty of marketing mistakes, and I learned the hard way.

It was in my last corporate position that I gained my real marketing chops, traveling with sales on customer visits and working the trade shows. “The integrity of the design” and expensive photo shoots can lose their allure really fast when you have to stand up and report your department’s progress against plan. In order to do my job well, I knew I needed strategies that would work.

By the time I started my business, I’d been in several levels of marketing positions and could see the industry from many perspectives — from the agency side, from the print production side, and as a client (the most valuable perspective). This represented a pretty well-rounded view of the marketing communications industry. Most importantly, I had learned what didn’t work.

So I know what it’s like to be you — I’ve been there. I’ve worked with agencies and had lots of frustrations when they missed deadlines and went way over my budget, then tried to fast talk their way into getting me to accept late and overpriced work that didn’t begin to solve the problem I hired them for in the first place. I knew that when I started my own company, I had to do it differently. As a customer, I just couldn’t connect with the companies I hired.

I built Hoeck Associates around my combined experiences. I brought along my agency knowledge, and added a good dose of reality after having been a client. I had honed my marketing skills with in-the-trenches corporate time, and knew my way around production for cost efficiencies. I knew my work had to really answer client needs in a transparent, authentic way that showed my dedication to their success, deadlines, and budgets.

And, with my own business, came the realization that I needed to market my own company — because I needed sales, too!

My no-nonsense approach to marketing has come from the circle of my experience, and the studying and process development I’ve done along the way. It’s what makes me “authentically” me. And it’s what makes Hoeck Associates, and everyone who works for me, authentic, as well.

You need to be authentic, too.

You need to connect emotionally with customers, with a point of differentiation that is unique to your business that your competitors can’t also claim. If you are authentically “you,” that’s something no other organization can be. And it won’t change or become obsolete with the next trend that comes down the pike.

Connecting emotionally with customers isn’t something most of us learned in business school or on-the-job training. And even if you master it personally, in one-on-one interaction with customers, transferring that authenticity to how your organization communicates with customers can be a daunting, confusing, and unfamiliar challenge — but that’s exactly what you have to do.

Instead of focusing so much on promoting products and services, your organization needs to start revealing more about “who” you are as an organization and how that relates to the product or service, so that customers can connect with you on an emotional level. The best known brands with the most loyal customers share their authentic characters and personalities with their customers, creating raving fans, standing out in the marketplace, and demanding premium prices.

But many organizations continue to hide their humanity behind thick walls, preferring instead to let their products and services do the heavy lifting.

This is a mistake.

Customers are people, and studies prove that people, regardless of what they’re purchasing, still like to work with people, they like to relate to people, they like to buy from people.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my years of marketing is this — if organizations will be more like people when communicating, whether it’s to customers, shareholders, partners, or employees, the audience will respond.

An authentic brand that responds like a person — and is based on values — acts as a magnet to attract customers, connecting with them emotionally, gaining their trust and loyalty, so they won’t want to jump ship when a lower-priced supplier comes along. Your authentic brand — which includes your authentic products, services, people, communications, promises — will have won them over.

Creating Customer Connections

Over time, I developed a process for helping companies connect emotionally with customers and integrating that into the brand, which I’ve used to create connections with my own customers. Here are some of their comments — we’re aligned with our customers, and even though they don’t use those words when talking about our relationships, you can read it between the lines. Listen to how connected they feel to us:

And now, I’ve laid it all out for you.
For the first time, my Creating Customer Connections process
is available to you.

My clients hire me to walk them through each of the steps and give them my insights into their individual marketing challenges. And they pay me $25,000 to $60,000 for the privilege of working directly with me and my staff as we take them through the Creating Customer Connections process.

For the first time, I’ve taken the same processes I use one-on-one with my corporate clients and put them into an easy-to-follow system that you can take advantage of for a fraction of the price.

Don’t confuse “brand” with logo — your brand is your reputation.

Even if you already have your brand developed, this system will help you. Don’t confuse “brand” with your logo or your look — that’s just part of the picture! Think of it this way: another word for brand is “reputation,” and every company has one. The Creating Customer Connections system is about the strategies behind your brand, behind your reputation. The strategies that will put the finishing details on the marketing you already have in place, to make it more effective.

With this system, you’ll learn how to:

Bring strategic focus and clarity to the power of your marketing, giving it deep meaning and recognition

Align yourself and your business with the correct customers, ones who will see your true value and resonate with what you offer, giving you unique value to overcome price concerns

Clearly articulate your brand message so that customers, employees, and all audiences consistently feel they “know” your organization and what to expect from it, developing trust

Develop markers to determine your correct position in the marketplace, becoming more visible to the correct, targeted, qualified audiences

Develop clear, consistent communications that will foster customer loyalty and advocacy

Differentiate your organization, giving it strength to stand apart from your competitors

In a hurry?
Order the Creating Customer Connections system now!

Branding 101

Learn the ROI of branding

Learn why it’s important to control your organization’s brand, and what happens if you don’t

Learn how people buy, the difference between emotional and rational decision making, and how to stimulate both types and in which order to influence sales

Learn how branding takes advantage of the natural way our brains work, and how to use it to your advantage

Perception Balancing

Learn the difference between current and desired perceptions of your company and how to get from here to there

Learn how to get everyone on the same page and off the dime when decisions need to be made by a group, alleviating on-the-surface decisions made from personal bias and lack of understanding

Help non-marketing people make connections between the creative aspects of communications and the proposed solutions, creating group ownership to move your marketing forward without effort

Character and Personality

Uncover your organization’s brand values and attributes with simple exercises, gaining understanding of your organization’s core strengths

Test the values you uncover to make sure they’ll work for your organization in the long run with a simple test

Uncover the true character of your organization, giving you a strong base for your organization’s “voice”

Uncover the personality of your organization, adding depth and interest to the organization’s “voice” for key communications

Learn the six common mistakes most organizations make when determining their character and personality

Learn the four major questions you must ask to correctly develop your company’s personality

Competitive Analysis

Learn how to easily analyze your competitors’ brands for opportunities you can use to strengthen yours

Learn the secrets to truly standing out against your competition

Positioning, key messages, and action steps

Learn the positioning secrets of the pros

Learn how to craft your organization’s positioning statement to attract customers and stand out from the competition

Learn the six major positioning categories and simple ways to use them to guide your thinking

Develop a step-by-step action plan to support your positioning

Ideal Customer profile

How to identify your Ideal Customer

What you need to know about them to magnify the power of your marketing

Customer control survey

Learn how to test your positioning against a customer control group, gaining invaluable feedback on your assumptions

Uncover hidden customer thoughts, needs, and complaints, so you’ll be better prepared to address them

Value Proposition

Learn an easy process to drill down to your organization’s core Value Proposition, and how to put that in a simple value statement you can use for marketing purposes

Conversational Marketing

Learn how to easily engage customers in meaningful conversations about your company so you can ditch your elevator speech forever

Learn how to uncover interesting things to talk to customers and prospects about

Learn how to talk to the “five-year-old” in every customer through stories and conversations

Develop a “point of view” that will make you memorable to your customers, prospects, and the media

Order the Creating Customer Connections system

Option 1: The complete Creating Customer Connections Basic system*
Nine-step Creating Customer Connections study guide with guided exercises
        Introduction: Branding 101
        Step 1: Lay the Groundwork
        Step 2: Discover Your Organization’s Values
        Step 3: Build Your Customer Profile
        Step 4: Define Your Position
        Step 5: Develop Your Positioning Action Plan
        Step 6: Survey Your Customers
        Step 7: Discover Your Value Proposition
        Step 8: Learn to Talk About Your Value
        Step 9: Tie it All Together
Creating Customer Connections Overview Audio CD
Forms CD containing all forms and exercises
Creating Customer Connections Road Map fold-out poster to document your plan

Option 2: The complete Creating Customer Connections Plus system**
Nine-step Creating Customer Connections study guide with guided exercises
        Introduction: Branding 101
        Step 1: Lay the Groundwork
        Step 2: Discover Your Organization’s Values
        Step 3: Build Your Customer Profile
        Step 4: Define Your Position
        Step 5: Develop Your Positioning Action Plan
        Step 6: Survey Your Customers
        Step 7: Discover Your Value Proposition
        Step 8: Learn to Talk About Your Value
        Step 9: Tie it All Together
Creating Customer Connections Overview Audio CD
Bonus: Creating Customer Connections Tutorial Audio CD
Forms CD containing all forms and exercises
Creating Customer Connections Road Map fold-out poster to document your plan
Bonus: “10 Powerful Ways to Supercharge Your Marketing” Special Report
Bonus: “5 Things You Must Stop Doing That Damage Your Brand” Special Report

Get your copy of Creating Customer Connections today and start connecting emotionally to your customers tomorrow!

*Creating Customer Connections Basic system
$97 plus shipping

**Creating Customer Connections Plus system
$147 plus shipping (limited quantity available)

Order either of the Creating Customer Connections systems

Thank you! I know you’ll be thrilled with the Creating Customer Connections system, and I hope to see you in Phoenix in June!

Warm regards and wishes of success to you,

Marcia E. Hoeck

P.S. Remember, the Creating Customer Connections system helps you become more visible to the right customers, connect emotionally with them to gain their trust, loyalty, and advocacy, and overcome price concerns so you can make more sales — easily, with me guiding you all the way.

P.P.S. If you’re interested in the Plus Program, with the Tutorial CD Bonus and two Special Report Bonuses, there are a limited number of those sets available at this time, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!

P.P.P.S. Studies show that customers want to connect with the organizations they buy from, and that people like to buy from people — people they feel they know, like, and trust. The Creating Customer Connections system will help you uncover your organization’s authenticity and its unique point of differentiation, with brand strategies that not only “fit” and create powerful connections with your customers, but also strategies that can be executed easily, efficiently, and economically.

P.P.P.P.S. You have nothing to lose. If you aren’t satisfied with the Creating Customer Connections system for any reason, I’ll refund 100% of your investment for up to one year. I’m so sure that you’ll get more than you expect from your investment that if you don’t think it works for you, for any reason, up to one year from date of purchase, I’ll return 100% of your costs.

Choose the Basic or Plus system
Sign up for my day-long workshop June 4 in Phoenix, Arizona
Click on your choices below
Your product will be shipped in 10 to 14 days

*Creating Customer Connections Basic system
$97 plus shipping

**Creating Customer Connections Plus system
$147 plus shipping (limited quantity available)

Order either of the Creating Customer Connections systems

Thank you!
Questions? E-mail mail@hoeck.net, with “Customer Connections” in the subject line

Hoeck Associates, Inc.
Visual Strategic Branding
& Integrated Marketing Communications
4461 West Alexis Road
Toledo, Ohio 43623

419.472.8808
mail@hoeck.net
www.hoeck.net

© 2008 Hoeck Associates, Inc.