If you’ve listened to our past podcasts, you would have learned about Kelly McCausey. Kelly is the owner of SoloSmarts, a resource and podcast for small businesses. She’s always gives me something to think about and some fabulous action steps each time I talk to her, no matter how ‘old’ the topic seems to be. Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to get Kelly on the phone with me to talk about website statistics. It was such a good chat, we went over time. We covered things like: Why you’re missing out big chunks of free market research when…

When ever I sit down with owners of companies it is inevitable that the question arises, “When will branding help?” The easy answer to this is when the perception on the street isn’t what you, the leader of your company would like it to be. If your market doesn’t having a flattering opinion of you – branding can help. If your offering doesn’t differentiate itself from other similar competitive product offerings and you can only sell on price – branding can help. If your sales staff are tired and unmotivated – branding can help. If you’d like to freshen up…

As entrepreneurs, we often rush to get a project out and to market. Even though some parts of the process may not be complete but because they are not critical to the brand nor for sales, we launch the product with the intention of coming back later to complete or improve it. The problem is, later almost always never comes around and before you know it, we’re off to a new project or some other priority comes up. However, growing a business doesn’t always mean creating new things. It also means making what you have better. The thought of going back and…

Considering all the words I write on branding, essentially all I’m saying is that if you’re not playing, you’re losing. That’s not to say that you’re not successful, but that you’re not being the best you can be. I’m saying that marketing can be a little easier when you compete as a leader not a follower. Most companies advertise by using campaigns to inspire consumers to buy in the moment. They use any number of proven techniques to get the attention of you the consumer. A number of these techniques have even taken on a life of their own. Ie:…

• You use many inconsistent color schemes in your promotional materials. • You don’t always use your logo in your marketing materials. • You use many icons to represent your company. • Employees have differing opinions of what the company does to make money. • Suppliers don’t know what is expected of them. • Customers see your company as simply a commodity. (price only) • You have no relationship with your top customers. • Organizational communications are lacking. • Staff moral is low. • You have no brand values to speak of. • You have no idea what customers, suppliers…

I’m struck lately by large companies who say one thing but clearly speak out of the other sides of their mouth. It strikes me that some PR person or ad agency is advising them to put a great spin on everything. Say it enough times and the masses will believe them. Reality has nothing to do with it. It’s all about the spin. It’s also timely that it’s election season in the U.S. and many of the negative ads are also following this pattern. It doesn’t matter that Anderson Cooper is “Keeping them honest,” drive it home enough times and…

As I sit typing this month’s newsletter article, I remind myself that all my subscribers are experts in what they do. You may not acknowledge this fact, but frankly it’s true. Life gives us experiences. Entrepreneurs take those experiences and turn them into businesses. It is this knowledge base, and the ability to exploit it that makes you an expert that people want to learn from. In my weekly tips, it never ceases to amaze me that some of the simplest tips get me some fantastic feedback. What I thought to be a throw-away, was actually an ah-ha moment for…

Currently, the 2012 Olympics in London, England is playing to a world audience. Everyone is counting medals and having a great time watching the competitions unfold. Amidst all this good sportsmanship, there’s a commercial battle going on with rule #40. This rule disallows any athlete from wearing or exhibiting any commercial product except those sanctioned by the IOC. One headphone maker (Beats by Dr. Dre) had brilliantly (my opinion) high-jacketed brand awareness by giving a free set of head phones to every athlete. This effort has the athletes wearing them before matches, tweeting their gratitude and generally becoming willing advocates…

Chances are great that your competition is not taking full advantage of their time by promoting themselves properly. Take comfort in the fact that most people will not do the hard work it takes to succeed. If opportunity resists walking through their door, they blame the world for their failure to make an impact. This time of year is ideal for taking a step back and analyzing how you have done over the past year and what goals you will strive for in the near future. How you achieve those goals will be critical in validating new media you’ve taken…

If all you have to do to succeed was to provide a valuable to service to a waiting appreciative audience, it would indeed be a perfect world. But from the moment we walk into our offices in the morning the real world kicks in and provides yesterdays unseen challenges today. If only we had a crystal ball, we’d all be a little smarter. What I hope you will find useful are signs to watch for that your brand has challenges up ahead and that perhaps now is the time to strategize ways of pre-empting what I call: “Brand Bumps in…