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May 14, 2013 by 4 Comments

What are you nuts? We can’t do that!

confusedOr can we?

In helping companies to position themselves, half of the challenge is inspiring them and the other half is encouraging them to embrace what may seem at first to be impossible. Much of what I do is listen to how your company works. What is it that your customers love about you? What would they miss if you were to disappear over night? I have to get into how you think. If you are an owner – the visionary of the company, your dynamic plays a large role in your brand. Your decisions have affected for a large part the reputation your brand carries into your marketplace.

Many times in developing the positioning strategy for companies much of what inspires the Bold Idea comes directly from the mouth of the company’s visionary – other times the Bold Idea is inspired by the visionary’s passion. How ever the idea comes, it almost always emboldens you, the visionary to do remarkable things with it. This is due to the fact that we are bringing to the table a very compelling proposition for the customer. My job in developing the Bold Idea Positioning Strategy is to find a marketable point of differentiation. Many customers have built a very good business being all things to all people. If they wish to go to the next level they must be bold. They must stand out in the customers mind as the clear choice, not one of many.

The very nature of a bold idea challenges and then inspires. Your competition will probably think you’re nuts (at least that’s what their hope is). Even they know that while a bold idea is what everyone craves very view have the fortitude to act on it.

The Bold Idea Positioning Strategy is your opportunity to show the real value of your company and its relationship with your customers and competition in a spectacular way.

No, you’re not nuts and YES you will succeed!

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Branding, Business
April 30, 2013 by 11 Comments

Gawd Brand It!! Do As I Say Not As I Do!

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I came across an interesting article today that smacks the face of good branding. It speaks to authenticity. Colby Sambrotto, the founder of ‘for sale by owner’ recently sold his home through a real estate owner. He even paid full commission. What does that say about his authenticity? The negative press will certainly hurt the DIY market. Read the story here.

Are you and your brand on the same page? Do you manufacture parts for GM but drive a Chrysler? You can’t have it both ways. We are all guided by our perceptions. I’ve met people who sold sales training packages but they themselves never used it in their sales efforts. I’ve met Dale Carnegie guru’s who never exhibited traits complementary to Mr. Carnegie’s principals. Hypocrisy abounds. It takes real effort to live your brand. To do otherwise shows that you don’t take branding seriously and put its value as so much spin.

Branding is not a slogan or an “I wish I was great.”

Branding is the reality of your company at this point in time.

It’s not what you wished it was or hope it could be one day. Real estate agents across the continent are going to be re-defining Mr. Sambrotto’s DIY brand for him over the next little while. He wrongly thought his personal and business brand were exclusive of each other. That kind of arrogance can be very costly and hard to back away from.

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Branding
April 24, 2013 by 20 Comments

Is Your Brand Image Up To The Challenges To Come?

pimp

Your brand image is the face of your brand. It is the first thing your target audience sees when first introduced to you. What do you suppose goes through their mind when they see your brand image? Are the colors and imagery resonating by correctly representing your brand values and personality? How about consistency, are you showing one message?

At the first introduction everything is riding on your brand image. If a business’s image is amateur, then they are doing immediate damage to sales goals. Their efforts to save money and get an image on the cheap, only shows their lack of understanding as to how the buying public formulates buying decisions. Their perceptions are the reality in the world of a brand. If a business looks like a small player, a person will have a more difficult time building a belief that the business can deliver for them. These perceptions and reactions happen in seconds. Building trust is huge in the sales cycle and so any distraction from that effort is critical.

Your brand image should also differentiate your company. Choose colors that not only represent your personality, fit psychologically but also are different than competing companies. Every aspect of your brand must be compelling to a prospect. Your brand image mustn’t be simply window dressing either. You have to walk the walk. There are so many things you have to remember in order to succeed, your image should be the wonderful wrapping to a tremendous gift inside.

Take this opportunity to look objectively at your brand image. Ask friends and customers for their opinions in a short survey. Use the results to address any deficiencies and make your job a little bit easier.

File under: Blogs & Blogging, Branding, Business, Communication
March 26, 2013 by 20 Comments

So You Want To Build A Brand.

brand buildingWhere does one start to build a brand? Do you just let nature dictate, or should you plant your own seeds and nurture it along? My answer has to be the latter. As I see brand as essentially your reputation, I often tell start-ups to determine what they’d like their brand to stand for and then to work to that end. I think that that’s a little easier than to trip along unengaged with who you are and what you stand for.

I also think that you should differentiate your brand from the get-go. If you use differentiation as a strategy, then you can analyze the competition and then do something different then they are doing. Use them as a “what not to do model.” The strategy here is to resonate with your customers by positively standing out. It’s not to be different for the sake of being different, but different by being better – a leader. Your brand image should reflect something other than them. Most industries use a follow the leader mentality. Look at the leading brand in a category, more often those competing against the leader use the same colour palettes, the same images and the same conversation.

You want to own the conversation and attract by your difference. Values you adopt and consistently abide by will see you go from start-up to flourishing. Your brand values define you and your brand. Who ever you decide to become, be sure to be authentic and passionate. Branding can be your friend and positively affect every touch point of your brand.

File under: Branding, How To
March 4, 2013 by 46 Comments

Are You Holding You Back?

stressedIs your brand continually evolving? Are you always watching for tools and education to put more opportunity in your cross-hairs? Just last year I fine-tuned my website. I really thought the look and functionality was exactly what my brand reflected. In the year or more since that re-do I recognized that to update or improve the sight I really should have not completed it in html (which I did myself). I am now in a major re-do porting the site to a WordPress platform. This is beyond me so I had to engage the services of a professional in this area. I’m anxious to get the flexibility that this platform allows.

Are you finding it easy to get the brand information and/or training you need to help you grow your brand? I’ve signed up for a few webinars and online lectures only to have them deliver generalities. I leave with more questions than answers. You come to realize that the webinar is really just a come-on in a complicated sales funnel. This can happen in a paid webinar as well. I set my sights low in many things that I attend. I am usually just looking for a nugget or two that can help me more effectively deliver my products. When I deliver to my clients, I often ask myself if this is how I would like to be treated? Is this price point something I would consider paying?

Do you monitize your services? Do you find it difficult to do? I’m curious to know what platforms you find advantageous and are you and your audience having an enjoyable experience working together? I’ve seen just having a book out there draws people to you and your brand experience. When you have a strong brand, you’ll find yourself in demand for your opinion. How many people offer to buy you a coffee to get your opinion on something? These questions are exacting the reason I found that the platform of my website was sorely lacking to allow me to quickly adjust to new revenue streams. I like to react immediately not six months or more down the road. My brand expects me to jump while the iron is hot. Who better to invest in than myself? A few thousand well-directed dollars can make a HUGE difference in how your brand develops.

How many people do you know, who whine on about the economy but do nothing to develop opportunities that will will positively impact their businesses? It’s as thought their answer is to ignore the problems and success will eventually find its way to them. I wish that were true but it’s never worked that way for me. I’ve always had to create my own opportunities. It’s like the old adage. “I seems the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

File under: Blog, Branding, Business, How To
February 25, 2013 by 17 Comments

You’ve Been Voluntold!

confusedIf you’re anything like myself – you do a great deal of local networking. At least two or three days a week, you might run into me at some event or another. Some are professional groups where my target customers lurk and others are general professional organizations local and national. In a few of these organizations I play a managerial role, (one I’m the president). As you may well understand this takes a great deal of commitment and effort. I absolutely believe that these groups help get my brand in front of the right people who desire what I’m offering. I have a strategy for my efforts and all involve being in control of my efforts. I’m proud that my brand commands the respect of my peers and as such I never have to suffer the the terrible affliction of being “voluntold.”

If you’re on a committee or two but fail to show up when you’re needed to participate, you will fall fate to joining efforts you are unaware of at the time you were induced. Some describe it this way – ” the fasted way to getting the worst job on a committee is to not show up at an important meeting.” At that critical meeting your brethren will take great pleasure in volunteering you, and if this happens – brother you’ve been VOLUNTOLD!”

Being Voluntold is the scarlet letter of organizations. If you’re Voluntold too many times your personal brand is going to take a beating. For the sake of your brand, be aware of the importance of meetings and your responsibility within a group.

You’ve been warned.

File under: Branding, Business, Employer Branding, Marketing, Personal Branding, Products & Services
February 16, 2013 by

Here’s What’s In A Great Marketing Tool Box…

toolboxYour brand is anchored in what differentiates you. Without that differentiator, you have to fall back on image or (god forbid) price. A good number of small businesses think to raise the bar they have to changes their logo, update their image and refresh that website. I’ve sat through enough meetings with graphic designers who still push this antiquated notion. My background is in graphic design so I have a healthy respect for the industry. But, I don’t rest the success of communication and sales initiatives squarely at the feet of design. Design from my perspective is the compliment to great branding.

Give me something that absolutely resonates with your customer and then wrap it up with great design so that your overall communication is outstanding and really positions the customer as a leader in their category. That’s a story worth telling. Graphic designers today have a tendency to not understand fundamental marketing. Most (that I know) have never taken a marketing course. Graphic design courses in this region don’t have marketing as part of their curriculum. To these isolated designers, it’s an us or them attitude.

How many presentations on social media have you been to where they compare social media to off-line media as if they were rivals. ie: doing this and this social thing will save you the cost of print, radio and TV. Email marketing is much more beneficial than direct-mail marketing. Stupid. It’s all about fit – NOT us or them.

The fact of the matter is, they are ALL tools in your brand tool-box. Online marketing is spectacular and combined with traditional media can be incredibly powerful. The Kardasian’s may have millions of Twitter and Facebook followers but without television and print coverage how long do you think they’d last. When the day comes and the public tires of them and they no longer exist in the visual media – THAT will be the true test of their brand power.

My promotional efforts include on and offline, and face to face efforts. And every single effort I put out there has to be absolutely consistent and powerful. My brochures aren’t printed on my office printer. My business cards to come in a sheet | have to tear apart. My web efforts weren’t developed for the price of a case of beer. But I didn’t spend a King’s ransom either. Everything involves a fit. What works for your brand. Overall what is it saying to your audience as opposed to what your competitors are saying. Are you leading or following?

Peer deep inside that tool box and foster a strategic plan than carries your brand along as authentic and as powerful as your marketing budget affords you.

File under: Branding, Business
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