The BIG Kahuna

I was recently introduced to a company through another blog called momspit. Yup, the name is momspit??

And it rocks (I mean the name). What do you instantly think of when you hear the name momspit? I know what I think of and good or bad that name evokes a feeling deep inside of you. Some will think that name is gross. Others will think that name is totally great (like me).

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Sure you could be one of the millions of companies that sells a similar product and just blends into the crowd but there is only one momspit now isn?t there.?

momspit has clearly positioned themselves and differentiated all in one naming swoop. Kudos for having the balls to go out and do it right.

The only downfall is when I went to their website it was very sterile and bland looking. I really wanted to see them get into and live their brand. They?ve started something great but there is big time room for improvement.?

There are 3 ?Chief Executive Moms? that run the company:??

http://www.momspit.com/aboutUs/foundingTeam.aspx??

The titles are another step in the right direction.?

Kudos to momspit, keep up the good work! Great start to a positve branding strategy.

As I travel the globe and speak to clients about branding one thing I find consistently is the lack of an internal branding strategy within organizations. Clients are still somewhat behind on external branding never mind internal branding.

How important is internal branding??Internal branding is and should be the backbone of your organization. You need to seriously consider developing a plan to roll out your brand strategy internally.

Here?s why.? Let?s hypothetically say that you?re Volvo and your brand positioning is safety. Everything you say and do to the public screams safety. You?ve covered yourself as far as external branding is concerned. But you?ve neglected your employees. Sure you say your safe but your employees don?t know what you?re talking about. They?re not part of the program so to them it?s all talk.? Eventually your employee?s lack of knowledge or understanding of the safety positioning will be undermined.

Soon customer service will have cracks in their armor and customers will start to form a new perception of your brand. Just because you say safety doesn?t mean you live safety.?Getting all employees on board is just as important as getting clients to perceive you as you want. Maybe even more important.

Here are a few tips that you can use to develop your internal branding efforts:?

1. Blog ? Develop a blog and invite employees to join and participate. There you can discuss your brand and the direction it?s headed.
2. Social Media ? Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace are great tools to form groups and share experiences. Use this to your brands advantage.
3. Newsletter ? Develop an e-newsletter where you showcase employees, case studies, wins and company happenings.
4. Brand Team ? assemble a group of employees that protect and represent the brand. This group will make sure customer?s interests are protected and that employees understand the promise of the brand.
5. Training ? A fun way to do training is to develop a name and brand it. Call your training (your company) University and give out certificates, diplomas etc. Employees will enjoy the training more if it?s customized.

These are just a few tips you can use to improve your internal branding efforts. But remember your employees need to understand and speak the brand.

The holy grail of search engine marketing is high rankings in the organic search listings in Google. Google continues to dominate search engine marketshare because their marketing is grass roots and persistent. Of course the influx of funding from Adwords and their stock issuance has put that into overdrive.

Big money does make a difference in the world of search engines and Google offers omnipresence for your company, brand and products. That is, if you?ve got the determination and budget to capitalize on that incredible marketing opportunity.?

We?ve created great successes in our organic search engine campaigns, but it is never easy. There are a lot of misconceptions about search engine optimization and it distracts everyone from webmasters to CEOs. These misunderstandings are the primary reason why some companies don?t achieve the success that is there for them — determination. The other reason is a lack of respect for the opportunity and what it takes to rank top ten.?

The time element is ignored by many in this industry. Google and Yahoo have a time element in their ranking algorithm. They don?t allow instant successes anymore because they don?t trust such immediate changes. Their powerful network of computers and storage power means they?re capable of assessing changes over time and they can nullify or dilute any site?s ranking power. That?s why consistent effort over time is needed.

You need to allocate adequate funds every month to continue your site?s growth in rankings and overall exposure. Skimp on that consistent effort and you won?t get the results. Try to get immediate wins and you?ll be disappointed. Remember, the search engines are watching every month because they?re looking for natural growth.? Natural doesn?t mean cheap or free, and just because you can?t see it doesn?t mean it didn?t take a lot of effort and planning to make it happen.?

As a CEO or marketing manager, you know only determined people succeed, particularly when competition is intense. Competition is intense in search engine marketing. And why not? The end result from a properly executed search engine optimization campaign can be in the millions of dollars. You would never get big results from an impulsive, poorly planned advertising campaign and you won?t get high rankings without an effective, properly funded SEO campaign.

Your SEO campaign requires good research, planning, and a sufficient budget to ensure all factors are covered. When budgets are skimpy, ranking factors are not supported well and the result may be disappointing, particularly when competitors respect the market and make sure the project is funded properly.? With adequate funding, you can hire creative and innovative optimization experts and empower them to create lasting solutions.?

Look at top performing Web sites that have ranked for a very long time such as www.orbitz.com, www.cheaptickets and www.travelocity.com and you?re seeing an extended, well funded, search engine optimization effort as part of a strategic online marketing effort. Clients often ask ?why can?t we show up just like Travelocity??? Well, one good reason is that companies like Travelocity spare little expense in achieving good rankings and they continue month after month. They are omnipresent in travel searches because of their determination. They deserve their success.

??Top ranking web sites benefit from an extended program of optimized content development and acquiring links on other quality web sites. Their marketing program and unique value proposition generated awareness of their site and made it easy for web site owners to link to them. Their brand image in particular, clearly established them as the online site where people could buy airline tickets, vacation packages, hotel rooms, and car rentals. People linked to their web site because they were promoting everywhere. What looked free and easy wasn?t at all.?

When good sized budgets combine with expert search engine optimization, high rankings are going to result and huge online successes are created. If you?re considering a big effort in search engine promotion, don?t get too caught up in one or two keyword phrases you think will create some panacea. Big SEO successes are much more subtle and complex. With 9 years of SEO experience, we?ve learned how to plan for big successes, implement timely campaigns that agree with search engine algorithms, and deal with ranking problems.?

One client has enjoyed an incredible 3500% return on investment with a half million visitors who became aware that they exist. Sales generated via retail stores probably exceeded the online sales totals. Incredibly, they could have done more but the key point here is not greed, its determination.?

SEO or search engine optimization is simply the manipulation of words on web sites. That?s all web pages are to search engine robots ? collections of words. It is the skill in arranging those words in an html document that generates high rankings. To generate lots of links to your site, you need an organic linking strategy, particularly today when search engines are so stringent in what they?re looking for.

Think of your linking campaign as a PR campaign for search engine robots. And again, it?s the creativity and precision of how you create links on other sites that matters. Finding the right sites is critically important. Combine that with powerful optimized content on your corporate or ecommerce web sites, and you have everything you need to get the best results from Google and Yahoo.

I found this great article at Qucik Sprout on the difference between PR, Branding, Marketing and Advertising and I think it really holds true:

As you can see, the message in marketing and advertising originates from you. However, the PR message comes from a third party. And PR leads to branding. In branding, the prospective customer/visitor is interested in you because of what someone else said.It?s much more effective when other people talk about you in a positive fashion compared to self-promotion.

I thought it was very interesting and right on point.

Google just did one of their PageRank (PR) updates;?

PageRank: A proprietary measurement of Google?s proprietary ordering of pages in its Web index. PageRank is the most intense point of focus, speculation, observation, and desire in the Webmaster and optimization communities. More than any other single marketing factor, PageRank has the power to determine a site?s visibility. A high PageRank moves a page toward the top of any search results page in Google when that page matches the user?s keywords. Obtaining a PageRank high enough to break a page into the top ten is the primary goal of Google optimization. An approximate version of any page?s PageRank can be checked by displaying the page in Internet Explorer while running the Google Toolbar. Hover your mouse over the PageRank cursor to see the current page?s rank on a 0-to-10 scale.?

?A lot of website?s lost significant PR because they sell links on their website or blog. Google doesn?t want websites doing this because it ?artificially? increases websites PR and moves them up in the rankings. ?

Let me give you a hypothetical example. Blog ?Brand Experts.com? sells links. The blog is all about how big companies brand themselves. I?m a branding agency so I purchase a link (ad)?on the Brand Experts.com site and the anchor text is Branding Agency (that points to my site). That?s what we call anchor text or text links. Of course it makes sense for me to buy this text link ad?because we?re both branding firms. But Google in their wisdom doesn?t want any PR passed through. Huh? (p.s. if Google is reading this I?m only talking hypothetically now, please, please don?t crush me).?

?Now if I?m a branding company and I?m buying links on say a Vitamin website then I could understand the thinking of Google because it?s really not relevant to my industry. But to advertise on relevant websites and get no PR residual is perplexing to me. Furthermore nothing addresses the branding/advertising dilemma in all this.?

At Brand Identity Guru we build our brand through advertising on the internet in relevant websites and blogs. This increases our brand awareness and visibility in the search engines. It?s a smart business decision. Our philosophy is always the brand first, not about acquiring text links.

And here?s the real dilemma. When we buy advertising the owner of the site we buy from determines if the text link is clean and direct. Not the customer. We have absolutely no say in it. After all we don?t write code for the site do we??

Google in its wisdom is asking everyone to report this type of activity. The ultimate rat out session (anyone reporting to Google should be ashamed of themselves). They spread the word that if you see a website buying links report them to us (very Big Brother). And we may or may not penalize them for doing so. Huh? How does Google do that? They are going to penalize me for advertising on a relevant website? Since the purchaser has no control over the link how can they penalize me? That makes no sense and is very scary to consider.

Maybe Google wants to scare people from advertising on other sites so we just advertise with them??

We all know there is much abuse out there but there will never be a solution to this problem. All these people that lost PR will now adapt and start to sell links within the copy of their site or figure out another way to beat the system. Trust me, link sellers will figure out a way. And link purchasers will move their link budgets to sites that haven?t been affected.

Seriously do you have any idea of how many different options there are? Too many for Google to consider for sure. Basically all that happened is a re-shuffling of money from one link selling site to another. And when they get the PR slap they?ll move their money again. How will Google stop that??

These are confusing times and I think Google is going in a direction that is very bad. Being the link police of the world is not Google?s mission. Crushing little people (like John Chow) who write blogs is not Google?s mission. Google has a cult, evangelist following and I fear that as they become the dictator they are hoping to be they will lose the brand they have built. But hey, who am I to argue with the ruler of the world??

Please don?t crush us?.we don?t sell links ever!

I?ve never been a fan of American Express. I?ve had nothing but problems and frustration with them. They spend millions of dollars a year on branding but yet fail at the most basic elements.

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Here?s my beef with American Express;?First and foremost don?t say there is no preset limit and then cut card members off when they start to really use the card. There is nothing more embarrassing then having your Platinum card denied at a client dinner because you?ve spent $10,000 this month and that?s new for you. No preset limit means just that. I should be able to spend $100,000 without a care.?

Not so and American Express is just plain lying about this. As soon as you cross a new threshold with them they suddenly want your tax returns for the last two years.?Next is their customer service. It used to be horrible. Now it?s horrible, pathetic and unimaginable. American Express now outsources their customer service to India. I?ve said it before and I?ll say it again. American?s don?t want to talk to any foreign customer service people. Especially when they barely speak proper English.?

Outsourcing to a foreign company is a brand killer. We all know you?re trying to save a buck and we all feel the same way?uncared for. When you outsource you are saying you don?t care about the customer experience. So why should we care about you??

Oh yea, when I call American Express customer service I?m assuming I?m talking to an American (hence your name). Not some Indian with a fake name they?ve been given like Bob.?

Lastly American Express is fat and happy. They?ve lost sight of the target market and have no clue as to what?s happening. They are arrogant and rude.? American Express, it?s time to look within yourself. Soon you?ll be a company no one cares for or recognizes with.

Greenwood and Brand Identity Guru Will Spearhead Awareness Efforts for Largest Independent Food Distributor in New England

Headquartered in Taunton, Massachusetts, Agar Supply is the leading provider of foodservice products to customers throughout New England. They are?New England’s largest foodservice supplier of meats, poultry, seafood and grocery items as well as non food items and janitorial supplies. Agar Supply has been supplying meat and seafood to New England food establishments since the 1940′s and has made their name as a full service foodservice distributor specializing in “Center of the Plate” solutions.

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“We are pleased to have David and BIG?s firm?s on board here at Agar,” stated Karen Bressler, Chief Executive Officer at Agar Supply. “We believe David and BIG have the skills, knowledge and experience to help raise our profile and promote the uniqueness of our company and we are confident he will bring about a new level of brand awareness around Agar.” ?

Greenwood and BIG will assist Agar Supply in promoting company news, significant business developments, positioning their expertise and help to raise the overall profile of the company in New England. David will work closely with leading branding?agency Brand Identity Guru? as well as key principals in charting a course to create substantial awareness for the company’s activities and brand.

“We?are thrilled that Agar Supply has placed their trust in our firms,” states David Greenwood and Scott White. “It will be an honor to represent a company that has such a rich history and we?re looking forward to telling their story.”

Barry Bonds says he?ll boycott the Baseball Hall of Fame if his ball has an asterisk branded into it. What a piece of work Bonds is. I must say he?s got a big set of balls. Well actually with all his alleged?steroid usage he probably has a small set of balls.

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Read the article here:?http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-bonds-halloffame&prov=ap&type=lgns?

“I don’t think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don’t think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk,” Bonds said. “You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can’t do it. There’s no such thing as an asterisk in baseball.” Says Bonds.?

Let?s break this down. Is there anyone in the world that thinks that Bonds didn?t cheat by using steroids? Does anyone think his head actually grew in circumference due to age? You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history? Ah, yes you can and we did!?

No, I think it?s obvious that Bonds cheated.?Next, Bonds could have bought the baseball from the current owner Marc Ecko but didn?t because the ball supposedly meant nothing to him at the time. Now he?s crying like a little school girl because there is going to be an asterisk branded into it. Isn’t branding powerful??

So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display? ?“I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never,” Bonds said. “Barry Bonds will not be there. “That’s my emotions now. That’s how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we’ll see where they are at that moment,” he added. “We’ll see where they are at that time, and maybe I’ll reconsider. ?

But it’s their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time.”??

Man, not only does he lie but he?s such a hypocrite.?

Lastly, the public (that?s all the fans Barry) voted to brand the ball with the asterisk. That?s the people. You know, we paid your horrendously rich salary over the years. We think you cheated and now we?re letting you know it. Aren?t the fans the reason for the game???

Here?s the deal. The brand image?of the Baseball Hall of Fame won?t jeopardize?itself because of a hypocrite like you Barry Bonds. They will take the asterisk ball and as fans we will cheer them. Trust me if they can keep Pete Rose out they sure won?t miss you.?

I hope Barry does boycott the Hall. Then we?d (and I mean the fans) all win. But if I know Barry he will flip flop yet again. That?s what liars and cheats?do.

A few weeks ago we wrote an article about why we don?t do spec work?now I?m following up with why we don?t want your RFP.?

RFP?s are the most inappropriate way to begin a partnership. You send out a 20-40 page document of meaningless jibberish in hopes to find the lowest cost provider. How can a meaningful relationship begin without being intimate with the branding agency you intend on working with?

Most of the RFP?s we get refuse to even take a phone call.? Why would we want to be your vendor? Sorry, we?re too good and value ourselves to much to be treated like a common widget salesperson. When you send an RFP you send a message. The message is you don?t even want to take the time to properly meet with potential agencies.?

What?s even more ironic is that we get RFP?s from purchasing departments. Like brand strategy is some kind of commodity? Sorry, you can?t go to Staples and pick up a pack of brand strategy.??

We recently received a 41 page RFP from Tennessee State. Finally on page 38 I found what they needed. A new logo and identity. 38 pages to ask for a logo? I deep sixed that RFP faster than it took them to lick the stamps.?

If you want to hire a branding agency call them. Get to know them. You?re making an invest and so are they. It?s a partnership not a dictatorship. Remember an agency that feels passionately for you will do a far better job than one that you push around.?

So as much as we?d like to?sign you and your business please don?t send us your RFP, you?ll only be wasting your postage.

As reported by WOMMA – Marketers predict that their social media spending will increase dramatically over the next five years, according to a study by TWI Surveys Inc. Eighty-one percent of marketers surveyed say their social media spending will meet or exceed their spending on traditional advertising, with a full 57% predicting that their spending on social media will trump their other media buys.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.centerformediaresearch.com/cfmr_brief.cfm?fnl=071031