The 5 Questions With… series has been a popular addition to the site. In this edition, I am excited to highlight another Charlotte, NC based business. I hope you enjoy these 5 questions with Matthew Petchel, marketeer extraordinaire, friend, and Founder of Brand Target, a full-service branding and marketing agency.

Michael Dunn:  Tell us about Brand Target.  What services do you offer?

Matthew Petchel:  In simple terms, Brand Target is a full-service branding, advertising and marketing agency focused in the dental industry. The agency is really just me – and for the most part, I do everything a big agency does.  I just do it more efficiently since there are fewer people between the discovery kick-off of a project and the final deliverable. If you think about the traditional agency model, there are a lot of layers, duplication, and people sitting around not working on your projects.  I’m a big fan of efficiency.

MD:  How did you start Brand Target? What was your “a-ha” moment?

MP:  My a-ha moment was in 1986 when I first heard the song ‘Take On Me’. I was sold. That joke probably went over everyone’s head. Seriously now, it all started 14 years ago when I landed as a partner and Creative Director at an agency that had a few clients in the dental industry. Then after a few years of learning the industry, I decided to hang my own shingle and go it alone. So, for the past 8 years, I’ve been running Brand Target as a creative, marketing agency focused in the dental industry.  I’ve worked with companies that only have a few million in revenue all the way up to billion dollar corporations.  As a matter of fact, one of my favorite projects last year was helping to launch the KaVo Kerr Group brand in the US. That project showed all of my capabilities – visual identity, printed collateral, photo shoots, video, direct mail, email, live event, and more.  That was a massive project in scope and importance for my agency.  I was really fortunate to work on it.

MD:  What makes Brand Target unique compared to similar vendors?

MP:  I’m carving out a niche delivering super-high quality, insightful creative faster than just about anyone around. That goes back to the earlier comment about efficiency. It’s not uncommon that I have the ad campaign or overall strategy figured out before I leave the initial sales call or discovery meeting (not always, but more often than not). That’s not to say, I have everything figured out, but the hamster wheel is definitely spinning before I get back to my office.  Conversely, in a traditional agency, often the guy who sold the job has to translate it to the account rep who then writes up a brief and gives it to the Creative hipster who then orders some intern to start thinking. You can see how it’s not hard for messaging to get off track and it to take a long time in that scenario.  One of the things I love most about what I do is that I get to work with manufacturers of different shapes and sizes.  For some clients, I handle all of their marketing (advertising, video, media placement, and more) and for others, I’m a special project/product launch specialist. The way I explain it is – I help companies launch new products and market existing ones with marketing strategy and execution.  I am creative & marketing horsepower.

MD:  What trends do you think will have the biggest impact on the dental industry in the next 5 – 10 years?

MP:  There are so many exciting ways to answer that question.  For me, the answer is using customer data and business intelligence to gain more insight into consumer behavior and then develop a content marketing strategy to connect with your customers.  I’d probably call it Insight Marketing. For example, find out why a dentist chose a KaVo handpiece over an NSK, then develop content that speaks to that reason. Many marketing folks are so caught up drinking the corporate Kool-Aid of features and benefits they’re not even listening to what the consumer/buyer is saying.

Research is a great way to gather insight, but done right, it’s very expensive and takes a long time. To help get insight faster and easier, I now offer a monthly service that helps manufacturers get feedback from their customers, then turns the feedback into online reviews and at the same time, gains valuable brand insight. It’s called Review & Reputation Insight, and it’s pretty unique. At the end of the day, you get two services in one. First, you get online reviews of your product (think 5 star ratings) that help buyers make decisions. Second, you get insight into what they like about you and your company/product. Every manufacturer, distributor, and service provider can benefit from this.

MD:  What’s next for you and Brand Target?  What can we look forward to?

MP:  I just wrote a book that I’ve been working on for 2 years. It’s called Branding In Practice.  The essence is that a dental practice should treat their practice more like a consumer brand – and less like a doctor’s office. They should invest in their brand because premium brands can charge more for the same product or service than weaker brands for the exact same thing. The book is a short, easy read that is appropriate for any dentist or office manager – whether just getting started or getting ready to build a new office. I can honestly say there is no other book like it in the dental market. Check it out – For your readers, I’m offering the book at 50% off – use this code – 69QXKENV.

It’s also available on Amazon – without the discount code.

To learn more about how Brand Target can help your marketing endeavors, give Matthew a shout. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you. And, if you have any suggestions for other companies to feature on 5 Questions With…, please let me know. Thank you for reading.