Serfwerks announced today that it has launched the new web site for Las Vegas-based Par 4 Golf Management. The new site promotes the golf courses operated by Par 4. It also contains a section featuring Par 4’s innovative approach to performance-based management of golf courses.

Par 4 Golf Management operates golf courses in Nevada, California and Oklahoma.

Library World, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of online library collection management services, has contracted with Serfwerks to develop a logo and brochure to be used in the development of a new product line. The details of the new product line have yet to be released.

Carlsbad, Calif.-based Heritage Properties has contracted with Serfwerks to develop its new Web site. The new web site will connect individuals and families with single-family homes available to purchase or rent in the inland region of Southern California. The site will feature a property management tool that will enable Heritage Properties to manage its portfolio properties. It will also feature an LMS search as well as loan and rental applications for prospective buyers and renters.

Every year after the Super Bowl, throngs of media outlets, advertising pundits and media consumers rate the ads. There appears to be no consistent standard by which the ads are rated. The standards seem to range from the highly subjective (e.g. whether the individual or entity judging likes the ad) to the slightly more objective (e.g. having a sample of viewers rate how much they like ads). One local advertising agency went as far as to hand out awards with witty names based on penalties in football such as the “Illegal Use of $$$” and “Should Have Punted.” Continue reading →

Salt Lake City-based analytical laboratory Chemtech Ford has hired Serfwerks to design the graphics for its display that will be used at various conventions and trade shows throughout the year. Some of the conventions for which the display will be used include the American Water Works Association, Rural Water Association, Water Environmental Association of Utah and several more.

Chemtech Ford provides analytical laboratory services to test drinking water, waste water, soil & hazardous waste, and other specialty analysis. Chemtech Ford is the only analytical laboratory in Utah to provide its lab results online.

Serfwerks has been selected by Par 4 Golf Management of Las Vegas, Nev. to produce marketing collateral for its upcoming golf convention. Serfwerks will be developing a brochure, business cards and a web site for the golf management company. The collateral will help Par 4 communicate its revolutionary golf course management model to golf course owners and superintendents.

Par 4 Golf Management provides golf course management services for courses in Southern Nevada and California. Par 4 specializes in making floundering courses profitable.

Where part two of this series focused on how the various companies cited in the study as being perceived to value position themselves within the mind of their various audiences, this article focuses on what other businesses can learn from these to companies to communicate value to their audiences.

A curious finding in the M/A/R/C and Integer Group study on the value brands found that value did not necessarily mean high quality at a low price. To the contrary, it found that respondents defined value as a good quality at a fair or reasonable price. In fact, those respondents who define value as quality at a fair or reasonable price were more than twice as many as those who defined it as getting the best quality for the least money (13% compared to 6%). Continue reading →

The M/A/R/C and Integer study on the top value brands included the likes of Walmart, Target, Sony and Kellogs. However, most companies can’t match the spending power of those listed in the M/A/R/C  and Integer study. In fact, each of those companies likely has an annual advertising budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not more. While the second in this series focused on using positioning as a strategy to build value, this article focuses on how companies without billion-dollar budgets can communicate that value to their audiences.

The communication of value is where the real trick lies. After all, Target didn’t get to be known for designer quality on a budget by getting lucky or stumbling upon something that worked. Effective communication of value is a product of three things: positioning, effective communication strategies and audience touch points. While the concept of positioning was covered in the second of this series, this article explores the latter two.

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A recent study published by the Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research (as cited by Straczynksi 2009) listed what they refer to as “top value” brands. Those brands that made the list included those most frequently cited by approximately 20,000 respondents as delivering value as well as those perceived to deliver the most value within their respective product categories. Wal-Mart topped the list, being named most frequently as offering value with 18 percent. Target (10 percent), Sony (nine percent), Kroger (five percent), and Kellogg’s (five percent) also featured prominently as top value brands.

Although published findings confirm that which we already suspected, they beget a series of other questions that deserve exploration. For example, what does value mean and how can that be translated to help other businesses? How did some of these companies come to be perceived as providing value? Does that value translate into success and on what levels? After all, these companies are not necessarily the cheapest vendor within their product categories.

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Data are the solution.

As good as creativity is, and believe me it is good, there is an easy solution for keeping it in check. The solution is appropriate data, both competitive and consumer or constituent, to drive the creative process. Michael Behe said, “The conclusion of design flows naturally from the data; we should not shrink from it; we should embrace it and build on it.” Data are the first step toward making marketing accountable as well as making it perform significantly better. Continue reading →