The BIG Kahuna

Writing an effective headline for an article is the most important thing you can do. Next you want to tease the reader a bit with a witty description. I just placed an article on Digg with the article title ?Sex? and a description of:?You must be 18 years old to read this article. ?Of course it will be curious to see what we?re going to be talking about.

Alas, we are only talking about the effect that a headline and teaser description has on a potential reader. ?Next time you?re writing an article make sure you write a headline and teaser that will prompt a reader to want to read your article. It?s all part of delivering your brand image.

1. It “sells itself.” I don’t need to market.?

Okay, you might have a solid product or service. You might even routinely satisfy your customers. They might even send their friends and family to you. But wait. Is that your product or service selling itself? No (that is, unless your widgets have learned to speak). That’s one of your customers playing out-of-the-goodness-of-my-heart salesperson for you. Yeah, word-of-mouth is nice, and if it’s happening for you, congratulations! It’s a sign of a great product or service. But relying on it exclusively can hurt you. Yes, six degrees of separation and all that, but counting on those connecting conversations to consistently mention you, especially down the line, is a bad gamble. Word of mouth needs help. A kick in the butt: a reminder to your customers of their good experience with you and an enticing offer to potential new customers to give you a try. Providing this kick is what a well-conceived branding and marketing strategy should do.

??2. “One of these things…looks just like the other”?

You might sell red cars, and Johnny Big Wheel down the street might sell a similar blue car. But what’s under the hood? Even better question: what’s under the hood that makes yours better than the blue car? This is the essence of differentiation in the marketplace, and if you’re not playing up the things about you that make you different-and better-than your competition, your marketing is driving nowhere.?

3. Liar, liar, your business is on fire and up and smoke?

If you think word-of-mouth is powerfully working for you, it’s just a fraction of the punch a bad buzz can pack. The best way to a bad buzz? Over promising and under delivering. It will kill you. That’s why it’s important to be truthful in your marketing. Say what you can do. Not what you wish you could do, or might be able to do. If you must err, do so on the side of under promising and over delivering.?

4. One-trick marketing is like a no-trick magician?

It won’t do anything, and people won’t pay to see your show. To get your message to resonate in a 21^st century market, you need to make your appeal in every corner the market looks. Print advertising, direct mail, online, telemarketing, public relations, and in person. In every place, a consistent brand image and message.?

5. Microsoft Word clipart is for junior high book reports, not corporate identities?

A logo is the face of your company, so it must be unique and memorable. Not available for millions to place into whatever bake sale flyer they’re working on at the moment. But a corporate identity is more than a logo. It’s your company’s unique value proposition and its products and service…all instantly recognizable on sight of your logo, name and tagline.?

6. Don’t be visually absent?

Talk can be cheap if it’s not paired with a strong visual presence. Well-conceived visuals connected with your market makes your message stick, no matter the medium. Brand Identity Guru is an agency that can drench any marketing effort with huge vats of sticky visual honey, even if you’re currently bone dry.?

7. The typewriter and telegraph are cool machines, but not to use today?

A business owner by nature has to have a little bit of Evil Knievel in him, but when it comes to technology, he or she is often more of a cowardly lion. That’s understandable. You got into your business because you know it, like it and can put food on the table with it. Not because you like to tinker with every new business technological innovation that comes down the pike. However, cutting edge technology can be a powerful profit-generating tool for your business, especially when it comes to marketing. ?

8. If an employee’s 14-year-old son designs your website, it will be painfully obvious?

A website must have a nice look, but that’s a small part of a good web presence. You have to give your prospect information they need and close the sale fast. Otherwise, they’ll surf on by to a competitor’s website. In today’s digital marketplace, your website must be an integral part of your overall sales strategy. Not just a token presence. More than ever, prospective customers are researching their buying decisions on the web. If your site doesn’t substantiate who you are and your offerings, educate, inspire and finally motivate your visitors to buy, your online presence isn’t strong enough. ?

9. You have a website, but don’t tell anybody?

Having a website is pointless if no one sees it. That’s why it’s just as important to drive traffic to your website as it is to have one. How do you do that? A great way is through traditional advertising like billboards, print ads, signage and printing the web address on all your marketing collateral. Online, there’s search engine optimization, banner ads, online advertorials, keyword purchases, links and cross-promotion strategies. A good mix of online and offline traffic strategies along with solid branding will drive traffic to your website.?

10. “I don’t need to be in the paper”?

On the contrary, editorial coverage carries more credibility than any kind of paid advertising you can do. Getting it, however, is difficult. Only a well-conceived public relations strategy that targets media outlets your prospective customers frequent will get the job done. But it’s not just about writing press releases. It’s about providing relevant information to the media outlets you’re trying to get into and cultivating relationships with key editors and journalists. If you’re successful, you’ll see your name in print and a bigger number on the bottom line.?

11. Branding done yourself is branding done badly?

Given the choice of doing branding yourself and not doing it at all, you may be better off not doing it all. There are few things worse for a business than an “amateurish” image, and that’s usually the result with DIY branding. Even if you know how to do some graphic design work or are a decent writer, good branding takes strategic know-how and the finesse and time to get it just right.?

12. If you think your employees aren’t part of your brand…?

You’re wrong. Your brand is the face of your company in every interaction with the outside world, and your employees interact with it quite a bit. On the phone, on sales calls, at schmoozing and networking events, or in informal settings, you must train your employees to represent your company in a way consistent with its brand image. Doing so can ensure you have an army well-groomed brand ambassadors out there.?

13. Failing to track your branding campaign’s success can lead to future failure?

If you don’t make your market’s reaction to your branding effort your business, your business will suffer mainly because you won’t know where to go next. Successful branding is a constantly evolving process, and if you don’t learn from your mistakes, you’ll continually repeat them-and make more! On the other hand, once you know what your most successful strategies are, you can build off of them. Any branding agency worth its salt will be able to effectively track the success of your campaign.?

14. Don’t forget the clients who got you here, keep good relations?

As businesses grow, they sometimes forget the little people who contributed to their success. Don’t. Those who got you here can be an invaluable resource to you even if their business isn’t as important as it was. Since they’ve known you for a long time, they can offer valuable counsel as to the future direction your company, such as offering their opinion on new products or services. They can also continue singing your praises as another satisfied customer. Plus, you never know when a little fish might eat a big lunch and become a big fish to you again.

Advertising on blogs is big business today. Believe it or not blog articles can range from $50 to $2000 per month. Blog reviews not only build valuable backlinks to your web site which increase your rankings in the search engines like Google but they also build serious brand identity and brand image.

How does this work? A blogger writes an article or review about your web site, product or service. Within that article are anchor text links. This is an example of an anchor text link. This link is targeted to your web site. When search engines come into the blogger?s web site and spider it they see the anchor text and associate it with your web site. Thus they assume that your web site must be important as it relates to this particular phrase. It?s like a vote for your web site about whatever the anchor text says.

The more of these anchor text links that you have the higher you?ll rank in Google, Yahoo and MSN. So if you wanted to rank for the phrase ?Branding Agency? you?d want to have a blogger write a review on their web site and include the phrase Branding Agency as a hyperlink.

The trick is to find quality blogs that are relevant to your web site. If you are a mortgage broker then you?d want to find a real estate blog or financial blog.

Blogs also drive a lot of traffic so increasing site visits and sales is a direct result of blog advertising. To learn more about blog advertising click here:

Blog Advertising

It amazes me when I go out to see clients to learn they have no marketing plan.? Business plan, yep. Marketing plan, huh? Sure we have one, then they spew off some marketing tactics. Ah, that’s not a marketing plan folks. A marketing plan is a lot more detailed than that. Learn all about how we develop plans for our clients by clicking on this link.

Here is our BIGpicture Marketing Plan

What’s Included In Our Marketing Plan

1.??? I?ve yet to speak to someone that speaks English well enough to know our culture, humor, sarcasm and mannerisms. Life is different in the US so why send one of the most important elements of branding to a foreign country? The money you?ll save will be lost ten fold in the loss of unhappy customers.?

2.??? You are taking jobs from Americans that they actually want to do.

3.??? People don?t like to be tricked. Customers want to know you are reachable and that you care. Outsourcing across the globe says you don?t care.

4.??? Customers are smart enough to know you are being ?cheap?. At least it?s perceived that way and we all know what perception is?

5.??? Education is costly especially in a high turnover industry such as customer service.

6.??? Do you honestly think there is genuine concern for your business?

7.??? This is the number 1 reason: They will never understand your brand identity or positioning which means your clients will develop a brand image of you that is different than your brand identity and positioning.? Don?t spend a nickel to save a penny and ruin your brand identity, brand image and positioning. Think of your customers first before making any decision to outsource to India or any foreign country.

Okay, we’re coming into tagline season so we wanted to get this article out right away. So how important is a tagline? Well, it represents your brand identity and positioning. If it’s off target it hurts you and?if you don’t have one it hurts you. A tagline can be powerful and actionable.

Let’s play a little game. Which taglines do you know and associate with? If you know them and the company they belong to then they’ve done their job. Does your tagline measure up?

Tagline?Trivia

What brands are associated with these taglines?

1. You deserve a break today.
2. Be all that you can be.
3. Just do it.
4. It’s the real thing.
5. Where’s the beef?
6. It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.
7. We try harder.

Answers:

1. McDonald’s
2. U.S. Army
3. Nike
4. Coca-Cola
5. Wendy’s
6. Perdue
7. Avis

Check out some of our taglines/logos that we’ve created for our clients:

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Developing a tagline is a step in the right direction to building a strong brand identity.

First they keep changing their name, Washington Mutual, now Wamu . Then they come up with the wackiest, off target advertising I?ve ever seen. The latest features a bunch of old men naked. The preface of the commercial is that you can fill out their application so fast that you can do it before you could get dressed??Huh? Is that supposed to be funny? Because it?s not and I enjoy good toilet humor! Seriously it?s unfunny.

But who is it targeting, wrinkly old hags? Are they going for the 75-85 women demographic? Or are they going for the ?I need a mortgage in 7 minutes? client?? Hey executives at Wamu (what a horrible name)?time to fire your big ad agency and start talking about branding and targeting the RIGHT prospects. How about developing a real brand identity and positioning? Even better, fire your VP of Marketing and anyone that approved this ridiculous campaign.?

My bank is Citizens Bank and I can tell you their positioning right off the cuff, neighborhood service, and open 7 days a week. What the heck is Wamu?s??

Maybe it?s: ? For the naked old people to feel 65 again and be able to do at least one thing in under 7 minutes! Now that?s funny!?Good job Wamu, your branding is the worst I?ve seen in a long, long, time. Maybe as old as your latest actors!

So they just concluded some branding research that basically says this;?If kids had a choice between food(s) packaged in McDonald?s wrappers and non McDonald?s wrappers they will like or choose the food more if it comes from the McDonald?s wrappers. Even if the food is exactly the same.?

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They even like carrots more from the McDonald?s wrappers over other carrots. Yikes, that?s some branding folks.?? 70% of kids said the French fries tasted better in the McDonald?s box. Even though the fries were the same. That?s some strong mindshare people.?

So if you?re a parent and you want your kids to eat what you cook here?s what to do. Go buy lots of McDonald?s wrappers and packages (think of the money you’ll save). Cook your own food and tell them you went to McDonald?s for a treat. Sure, it?s okay, they?ll probably eat much better and you?ll get the credit for McDonald?s.?

Be the McHero!

Seriuosly folks, even though we created it, it’s the GREATEST BRANDING TEST EVER!!!!! All joking aside click on the link below and answer these easy qustions honestly and you’ll know if your brand is strong or weak.

???????Branding Test??

Remember folks, answer honestly. Coke has a brand strength of 10, Pixar is an 8,??Safeway is a 6…?

What’s your brand strength?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the cave?

Darn, I just gave big props to Geico and it’s Caveman branding?campaign only to find out that ABC is making a series of the commercials.

I’m so bummed about the Gieco Cavemen. I think they are funny for 60 seconds but for a half hour? How much of the same stuff can you show? And how will this ultimately affect the branding campaign from Geico? What if this show bombs big time? Why would Gieco allow this? I guess ruining a great branding campaign is so easy even ABC Executives can do it!

Goodbye beloved cavemen, I will miss you and I fear this will totally ruin the fine branding campaign of the Geico brand. Why Geico would sign off on this is beyond me. The comercials were witty and funny but now I fear the effects will wear thin. Too bad, such a great branding idea.

As an officer of the brand police I am obligated to inform the public of less than reputable companies and the branding service they provide. Here is an example of a company called Mini Cooper Mats and they also go by Big Vitality Corporation, amongst other names.?

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To give me examples of poor service I?ve included an email string of a company I bought Mini car floor mats from. I ordered the mats about 6 weeks ago but here is the gist of it:?The story begins??

From: Scott White [mailto:swhite@brandidentityguru.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 2:55 PM
To: bill@minicoopermats.com
Subject: ?Where is my order 13? No response to any emails??

Scott White?

I guess I should have been nervous given that this was order # 13? What was I thinking??

From: William McCarthy [mailto:bill@bigvitalitycorp.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 3:03 PM
To: ‘Scott White’; bill@minicoopermats.com
Subject: RE: ?I am trying to find out what happened here ? please give me another hour.?I am terribly sorry about this but I need to do some research.?

Thank you,?Bill?

Okay, sounds like he might care? Let?s see?? He calls me and says the mats I ordered are no longer available. He?ll send me a replacement set of mats free until the mats I ordered come in:?

From: William McCarthy [mailto:bill@bigvitalitycorp.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 4:06 PM
To: ‘Margot Zirion’; ‘Scott White’
Cc: sales@bigvitalitycorp.com
Subject: RE: Phone discussion regarding mats Thank you again, Scott, for your patience.?Per our conversation, we are sending you these checkered flag mats for your Mini at no charge due to the latency associated with your order.? We deeply apologize for the trouble.?I will send you the Union Jack set as soon as I have them from the factory or ship directly from Germany depending on the timing. ?Obviously there will be no additional charges for either mat set. ?Thank you again and I will give you an update in the next few weeks.?

Bill?

That was a stand up thing to do.? So I got the replacement set right away. I did not use them because they don?t match the car. I got another set a day ago. Guess what I got? The same replacement set that I didn?t want.?

From: Scott White [mailto:swhite@brandidentityguru.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 6:54 PM
To: ‘William McCarthy’
Subject: RE: Phone discussion regarding mats I just received my second box of checkered flags? When is the Union Jack mats coming??

No response for 3 days:?

From: Scott White [mailto:swhite@brandidentityguru.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 7:33 PM
To: ‘bill@bigvitalitycorp.com’
Cc: ‘margot@bigvitalitycorp.com’
Subject: Phone discussion regarding mats
Importance: High Hello, again you sent me the wrong mats. When will I get the Union Jack mats I ordered along time ago? Please respond.?

And now the excuses and blame:?

I have not responded to you because of a family emergency.?You received two of the same mats because I told you that you would have them as soon as possible and, in my haste to fulfill your interim order, I sent you TWO of the same mats.?When we talked on the phone, I told you that it would be 3 to 4 weeks until the Union Jack mats come in.?You now have two free sets of mats and the promise of the correct mats when they are back in stock.? I am sorry you are so upset at receiving two free copies of mats, but I don?t know what else to do.?Sometimes it takes a day or two to respond to an email.?I have delivered everything (and more) that was promised to date.? As soon as the new mats come in, I will ship you them. ?Is there anything else that I can do for you at this time??

Bill?

?I have delivered everything (and more)? Ah, really? What about the product I ordered? How about sending me what I ordered? Call me crazy but if I order a steak and you give me fish for free is that okay??This reject actually thinks he?s doing me a favor by giving me a replacement twice. If I wanted that style I would have bought that style. Giving me something I don?t want is useless. Just like this dummy!?

My advice, avoid Mini Cooper Mats, Big Vitality Corporation and Zirion Inc. Unless of course you want stuff for free that you really didn?t want.

If you are able to make the ugliest shoe in the history of shoes would you? You would if they were comfortable right? They would have to be otherwise they?d be ugly and uncomfortable.?

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Well kudos to Crocs! They have made the ugliest shoe on the planet but it?s supposedly so comfortable that people buy them anyway. Apparently they are slip resistant as well but I?m not sure people really buy them for that reason anymore. I think people buy them because they are so damn ugly.? But why buy ugly shoes??

Well, because they are different and if ugly means being different then Crocs has pulled off some masterful branding huh. Everywhere I go I see these ugly shoes and wonder what the heck are these people thinking. Well, they are trying to be different.?Guess what? Soon Crocs will be so popular that they won?t be different. Then they will be a dreaded fad.

So Crocs, you better do something soon to keep your brand identity and brand image in place or you will be the next Kangaroos!

I was at an appointment yesterday meeting with a doctor about search engine optimization. On the way out I gave my slip to the valet and this man came out of the medical center. He was obviously in bad sorts as he was wheeling his IV and walking very gingerly.??

He strolled over to where the cars were dropping people off and another man got out of his car and handed the sick, wheeling IV man a pack of Camel?s. I couldn?t believe my eyes. Was this man about to smoke? Is smoking that important that even if you have an IV in your arm you can?t resist??Yes, smoking was that important and addictive.??

So as I was standing next to him, he took the cigarettes and hacked up a lung, lit the cigarette and smoked it, IV and all.?All I could think about was how powerful the branding was of cigarette companies. Even after all the years of educating and trying to get people to stop smoking the cigarette companies continue to keep their brand identity in place. ?I?ve never smoked a day in my life. I know it?s bad for me and therefore don?t do it. I know it will kill me if I started. But people that are addicted may have fell into the branding trap of the cigarette companies. I hope they can get out of that trap and help themselves!

Do you know that I actually expect to receive bad service? Receiving good service is so rare that it?s really just a second thought. It seems to me that Business to Consumer branding is a lost art.? During the course of an average day for me I will receive poor service two or three times. And here is where it gets even more dumbfounding; the owners and managers don?t care either! If you complain that you?ve received poor service your complaints fall on deaf ears. They are numb and frankly brain dead.??

Let?s go over some examples:?

When I got to the window I asked her why she was just rude to me. She couldn?t care less. The manager was directly behind her and came over. I told her what happened and at that moment the girl who took my order actually started to laugh. She though it was funny. The manager politely asked for my money. I said I would pay when this was resolved; the manager informed me I was holding up the line. I drove away and hit a Wendy?s.

But honestly that MacDonald?s couldn?t care less.?MacDonald?s is one of the leading brands of the world. But every location needs to deliver on the brand identity and a large percentage of them don?t. As customers they have trained us to receive bad service. Why do we put up with??that???

?Yesterday I called Sprint because my bill was very high. I asked the woman why my bill was high because I had just upgraded my plan last month to receive unlimited internet. She said let me look at the notes. She then came back and said, I see where you called in and talked about upgrading your service but it?s not on the notes that you actually did. I said, do you think I like to call in, sit on hold, find out I could get a better service for me and not do it? She said, if it?s not in the notes I can?t refund your bill.

She?s a robot who could care less. The manager supported her. They were nice enough to actually put the new plan in place this month?I think?? Sprint employees don?t care about their own brand identity so why do we put up with it? Just another day at the office for us, bad service that we just brush off.?

Will this trend of customers accepting bad service continue? Gosh I hope not!?