Brand Of The Day
Posted on May 7th, 2012
Part of this online journey I enjoy so much is the interaction I have with you. For my end, I try to be open and transparent as we explore this brave new world of branding and online communication together and you’ve held up your end of the bargain with enthusiasm, support, and the appropriate virtual ruler to my knuckles when I’ve made a mistake or gone too far.
So allow me to let you in on what I’ve been thinking about lately:
As I see it, there are two keys to success in this blog thing — having something to say and having a critical mass of people to say it to. The rest of the requirements — modest technical proficiency and an ability to write reasonably well, for example, are as much cost of entry as a decent computer and an Internet connection. But to have people to communicate with — ah — that’s the beauty part.
So it should come as no surprise that I spend part of every week thinking about ways to attract new readers and continue to please and delight my current readers (that’s you!).
Here’s my latest thought: We are going to post a daily branding tip on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. Each tip will be titled (brand-tip-of-the-day is the working title), numbered (87 of 365, e.g.), and include a link to the website where they’ll be compiled. At the end of year one we should have chronicled 365 tips and an untold number of interesting comments that will be repurposed as a book, flashcards, a calendar, or who knows what. Plus, each posting will allow interested readers to sign up for more information that will create additional readers for this blog as well. Of course, I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going so you can use a similar (but different) technique to enhance your online promotions.
With all this in mind, I started working on compiling the initial 365 branding aphorisms. The first 67 came easily. “This is a breeze,” I thought. “I’ll be done in no time.” Of course, pride goeth before a fall.
The next 40 were tough. It took me hours and hours to reach 100. I flashed on the story of the guy who wants to lift a 2,000-pound bull onto his shoulders. He started with a baby calf, which is relatively light, and then continued to pick up the animal as it grew, day by day, pound by pound, into a bull. But even with his incremental approach, there’s a reason why no one can lift a full-grown bovine.
But I stuck with the project just the same. The harder it got, the more resolute I became about slogging through. And every so often I’d come up with a new way of looking at the problem that rewarded me with numerous entries.
How about citing other famous people’s thoughts on branding? Oscar Wilde, Bill Bernbach, Mike Tesch, Steve Jobs, and others much smarter and more eloquent than me gave me a gaggle. How about highlighting great brand lines throughout history? BMW, GE, Evernote, and more also increased my census.
As you would imagine, some days are better than others. But, because of tried and true mantras such as “any job worth doing is worth doing well,” and “you can accomplish anything if you just stay with it,” I kept plugging. And the fact that I’ve spent the last 30 years creating great brands for our clients did give me a lot to draw on. Maybe I’ve even reached the 10,000 hours of practice that Malcolm Gladwell suggests is necessary for true mastery of any activity.
But with the finish line well in sight, I’m starting to run out of steam. Which is why I thought of you. After all, the first word of social media is “social.” So why not reach out to my legion of faithful readers (that’s you!) for help? I’m sure you’ve got a few great branding tips to share, after all, I wrote an article on Bill Talbert’s 10 great micro branding tips and he’s already given me 10 more for the next article. If we crowd source branding tips, we should be able to easily surpass the additional posts needed.
So here are the rules of the game: All posts must be original or attributed to the original source. Each must be no longer than 76 characters including spaces, quote marks, and other hazarai because we need space for the title, post count, link, and room for retweeting. They need to be about branding. They need to be profound, clever, brilliant, useful, educational or hilarious. In the case of duplicate entries, I’ll credit the first person who sends the idea.
Send them to me via the comments link at the bottom of the blog or as a private email. Send them as you think of them or compiled on one page. But send them. Because together we can learn from one another and build something of value.
Thank you!
24 thoughts on “Brand Of The Day”
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By Bruce Turkel
Okay so i’m not a branding brain by any means – that’s why I always read your posts hanging on every word. so, I don’t have a tip. But what I do have is a resounding THANK YOU!!! I CAN’T WAIT TO LEARN FROM YOU for the next 365 days!!! No, I mean it. We’ve been struggling with building a brand for 3 years and still feel like this whole thing is very over our heads. It’s really very helpful, reassuring, inspiring reading your posts regularly. So, thank you for your hard work at all of this. We take each word to heart, implement all of your advice and appreciate that you are here doing this. You’re like our branding teacher! Heeeeyyyy…. maybe you could have a raffle wherin one local small startup business gets a chance to win your expert branding services for a day???!!!!! Okay okay i’m pushing it. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work! We’ve been appreciating it!
When will you start posting these branding tips? Unless I’ve missed them thus far, or is launch date still TBD? Seeing a few examples should help get our mojo working!
You know your brand is a success when it becomes a verb. Want proof? Skype me. I’ll Photoshop it, make a Xerox and FedEx it to you.
@Dan… Right on!
Branding has always been an enigma to us, however we’ve been in biz for 26 years. A good demo reel & referrals are KEY in our business. My favorite, least expensive branding tool is the advertising “specialty” (tchotchkes) that you give out to your clients. Just make sure they are welcomed & hang around their desks and don’t go into that “round” file on the floor.
@Katie… I LIKE your idea!
A logo is not a Brand. A Brand is emotional, and exists only in the mind of the consumer.
You may have already thought of this tip, but I figured I’ll mention it to you anyway. Most clients I’ve done work for, spend a great deal of effort building a brand. But they build a brand for the exterior, and very rarely for the interior. A brand should not be a mask, it should be your soul. A brand should not be something you sing and dance about, a brand should be something you strongly feel for.
Thank you, Hugo. I’ll put them on the list!
A brand is a success when it becomes a verb. Brilliant! Thanks, Dan.
No worries, Barbara, we haven’t started publishing the tips yet. And once we do, they’ll also be compiled on a website day by day so they’ll always be available.
Thanks, Lane. A brand exists only in the mind of the consumer. I’d like to add the heart, too.
I think we need a new word for branding. When people call me about “branding”,they often mean name awareness or design. A new word might circumvent that discussion. (A new project maybe)
Branding is packaging the things you feel and believe internally in a way that communicates those values and that vision to customers, hopefully at every interaction point. It’s actions, not pictures or words.
Never respond to someone friending you on facebook by pasting a generic ‘Thanks for friending me and please go to my website http://www.douchebag.com / like my page at facebook.com/douchebag/ etc.’
Your actions demonstrate your brand. Only take these actions if ‘user’ fit the brand you are creating.
ps = It didn’t occur to me that ‘douchebag.com’ might be a real domainname. I was only using it to make a point .. I should’ve known lol
Also: While it takes more time to send a short, personal response to someone’s friend request on facebook, it helps make a stronger bond and establish the nature of your brand. It has people relate to you as a person, and feel related to as a person, rather than feeling you’re just hoarding as many facebook friends as possible. Which I suggest you not do. People smell that a mile away, unless they’ve just opened their first social networking profile. Remember these are live people who want to be related that way.
Branding is to a brand what bricklaying is to a wall.
Products, like people, have personalities. A brand tells the world who consumers are.
Emotional (hearts first), patriotic (hearts second), uniting, product driven (minds) and a hell of a brand slogan… Jeep’s “The Things We Make, Make Us.” In my opinion it’s not only a slogan but a branding affirmation that tells the customer we care about quality and our products. A branding effort that touches the heart and the mind.
Branding is the vehicle that drives a brand home. Home being long-term memory.
Hi Bruce, save a day for my favorite mantra of all time (Credit of course to our beloved Merrett Stierheim). “The Main Thing In Business Is To Keep The Main Thing… The Main Thing.”
Brings back a lot of fond memories no?
Business cards – Your brand in your hand.
Who gets credit for that one, David? You or Merritt?
‘Branding is as branding does!’ a Forrest Gumpism rebranded.
I’m your customer–where am I? Why? Now you know how to really reach me. {72 characters including spaces, quote marks, and other hazarai}
PS: Hearts then minds–Turkelonomics 101!