Stop Selling and Let Your Brand Sell Itself

This is for my small business owners who are out there doing it on their own or with a few partners or employees. If you are having a hard time getting new customers with your traditional marketing efforts, stop focusing on mass marketing. If you have poured time and money into print, television, radio, or even the Internet creating, producing and distributing marketing material and advertisements, but they aren’t working for you, change your focus. If you are disheartened or confused by all the new internet strategies, no matter how much I may preach or recommend them, refocus your strategy.
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Tags: Branding, sales, value based relationship

Is Your Personal Style Getting In the Way of Your Message?

This fun, fresh and clean new look for Coca-Cola was designed by Turner Duckworth and won a first ever Design Grand Prix award at Cannes Lions. You may think that there isn’t much difference in the product design, but a professional product designer would say the difference is huge. You may say it doesn’t matter because Coke is already well branded and known world wide. A professional brand manager would say that they still have to protect their brand by doing those things that will keep the brand at the top.

Why did Coca Cola, after years of adding to their product design and branding Coca-Cola with cute polar bears, go back to a simple design? Because the market is crowded with flash and bang and people are tired of being yelled at. Coca-Cola trusted Turner Duckworth to simplify the brand and bring Coke back to the essence of its brand. Simple, if it doesn’t add anything to the brand, take it away.

To be unique, try being quiet, softer, less flashy, turn off some of the noise. Say what you mean, get to the point, be simple. Let your brand and your message take center stage and speak in a unique tone to the market. Offer what your audience is looking for. Stop wasting their time with fluff and get to the meat they are looking for. Be honest, be real, be strategic and present your brand in a manner that few companies truly understand and you will find that your message will be better received. Realize that your brand goes beyond how it looks and you will find that you are getting more and more customers (read Not So Secret Key to Branding Your Company). › Continue reading

Tags: Branding

Not So Secret Key to Branding Your Company

Wikipedia states that a brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity. Your brand is expressed as a promise to deliver unique value. Your brand defines the difference between you and your competition. There are many books, articles and blogs dedicated to branding, but I think most of us, as business owners, forget one important thing about our brand. It is a promise to DELIVER.

How do you deliver unique value? What experiences and associations do your customers connect with your business? Are you true to what you want your brand to be? If you say you are the best at something, do you really deliver the best? If you provide the cheapest price, best quality, exclusive service…will the market call your company a liar? You can’t please everyone. From time to time, you will face challenges that will cause you to deliver contrary to your brand promise, but in the end, do you deliver consistently on your brand promise?

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Tags: brand, Branding