Transmission Wire

Branding alone isn’t enough these days, people want experiences, they
want magic moments and memories to enrich their lives with. To create these
experiential moments requires you to identify and appreciate what creates the
magic for your consumer and enhance it at every ‘touchpoint.’

So how do we go about the daunting task of packaging experiences? Job
number one is taking an honest unbiased look at your brand offering to define the
experience opportunity that makes the most sense. You will need to assess your
brand and how it fares in each of the five core brand components (your brand
should have at least one of these components):

• Transformation
• Optimism
• Individuality
• Involvement
• Adventure

Transformation
Transformation occurs when a brand takes you from one state of mind to another.
The health and beauty category is all about selling transformation (use our cream
and you will look years younger). Transformation brings a very positive, personal
and emotional feeling to a consumer. This in turn equates the brands value.

Optimism
This component of an experiential brand conveys the feeling of pure happiness
with a brand. They give the consumer a reason to smile and expect the best from it.
Optimism can be achieved by the point of view a brand may have. For instance,
every time you purchase brand X, money is donated to a charity. Maybe brand X
uses no chemicals and therefore makes you feel good about using it. Optimism is
the hope that is instilled in the consumer by a brand.

Individuality
Individuality makes the brand a unique, one-on-one connection with the
consumer. One way brands achieve individuality is through consumer customization
(selecting a color or custom build). Another can be the way the individual feels
about the brand (one person feels safe while another feels elite). The point is that
each person takes away something unique from the brand offering.

Involvement
Brands that invite consumers to indulge in a sense of influencing and shaping the
brand experience are at the heart of involvement. Involvement is a more recent
trend in experiential packaging. One brand that became very successful by
concentrating on the involvement component is Jones Soda. By allowing the
consumer to create the labels for the sodas, the consumer became involved in
building the brand, similar to the way consumers were allowed to vote on the next
new color of M&Ms.

Adventure
Lastly, adventure represents the component of brands that convey ideas of
excitement and exploration. Adventure can be the Hummer vehicle promising you
adventure off-road (which is how often?). From a more true experience standpoint,
you would be better advised to take a cue from Edoc Laundry. Edoc has developed a
line of shirts with hidden codes that eventually lead the consumer to a murder
mystery online. Adventure in a brand is especially useful for creating a buzz and
viral marketing.

These five components provide the creative inspiration for developing brand
messaging and communication. Once they are thoroughly uncovered and
understood, consider the following:

• Which experiential components fit with my brand?
• How well are these currently communicated?
• What are some innovative ways to utilize design as a tool to create and extend
  the experience?

It is one thing to know what your brand components are, it is another to
communicate them to others and live up to their promise. In part two of Packaging
Experiences, we will discuss the importance of experiential packaging and the
application of a brand across all of its touchpoints. Until then take a good honest
look at your brand through the eyes of others, you may be surprised at what you
find.

Jim Stringer is the Creative Director for XO Create! which provides expertise in
packaging experiences. XO Create! assists organizations with branding,
positioning and moving product through compelling packaging solutions. To
contact Jim call 678.319.4242

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Most people would have a hard time selecting the best small software company in America. But if we asked Global Shop Solutions customers to vote, they would have no trouble identifying their top pick.

I recently had the great fortune of working with Global Shop Solutions in Houston. Their business works well on a lot of levels, but the most remarkable thing about the company is the tremendous value it creates for its customers.

Global Shop provides comprehensive EPR systems to small- and medium-sized manufacturers. It helps those manufacturers automate their entire business from the initial quoting of a project to cash collections and everything in between. The primary benefits to customers are increased productivity and profitability, along with improved customer deliveries. But most customers would say that Global Shop has taken their business from chaos to order and given them tight controls.

Global Shop has emerged as the market leader in its category by focusing with laser-like precision on delivering the basic value proposition of “best total solution.” In fact, it is executing the business strategy of customer intimacy as well as any company I have worked with. As a result, Global Shop now has more than 1,000 installed customers and has grown at a sustained annual rate in excess of 25% for the past several years.

Differentiation Through Training

When prospective customers build a short list of possible vendors in the ERP software space, they quickly see that Global Shop offers the best total solution. This makes a huge difference because the ERP space is littered with failed attempts and implementation failures. Automating every aspect of a manufacturing business is a daunting task, yet Global Shop enables companies to achieve success where most have failed in the past.

How does Global Shop offer a better solution?

For starters, the company’s training resources go far beyond the industry standard, and their customers know it. Not only does Global Shop excel at every point of touch, they also offer a variety of training options that allow customers to quickly build and maintain their software skills in a manner that fits each company’s unique needs.

Each week, the company holds training classes in Houston, where implementation teams immerse themselves in the requirements for successful implementation. Customers can send as many people as they want, as many times as they want — for free. Everything is included in the upfront cost of the software and the minimal annual licensing fee. The company also offers the best Web-based training in its category.

But what really differentiates Global Shop’s training is that many of their onsite training consultants are former customers who not only have a deep understanding of the software, they also intimately understand the inner workings of small manufacturers. They know the best practices of Global Shop’s diverse customer base, and can often make dozens of high impact, high leverage recommendations that lead to immediate improvements in the customer’s business.

Global Shop also has a unique way of keeping its software up-to-date. Every time the firm does a customization for a customer, that same customization is available to the entire customer base at the next upgrade — again at no extra cost. As a result, Global Shop customers know that every upgrade will contain the improvements they need to keep their ERP system at the cutting edge for the next 10 to 15 years.

Compelling Brand Personality

From a branding perspective, what impresses me most about Global Shop is its execution and presentation of its brand personality. A brand personality is the human characteristics we associate with a brand. It’s where we make the all-important emotional connection. It’s often the personality we identify with or the personality we aspire to. Global Shop’s execution of its brand personality would make most consumer brands envious, and it is proves critical in closing the sale.

Most of Global Shop’s customers think and act like small, owner-operated businesses, even those that have several hundred employees and an international customer base. Many are family owned businesses. These businesses typically operate under intense competition, with most feeling the pressure from offshore competitors. And despite their small size, these companies are complex operations that require heavy capital investment and expensive engineering talent and skilled labor on the shop floor.

I would characterize Global Shop’s brand personality as “sincere” because it presents itself as a financially strong, family owned business. Global Shop emphasizes the fact that it has been in business for three decades, and makes it very clear that it has no interest in selling out to a larger software company, as so many of its competitors have. Global Shop also makes customers aware that second-generation family members are being groomed to take over the company, and that all of the software code is developed inside the U.S. rather than offshore.

Global Shop has created a compelling brand personality that exerts a magnetic pull on potential and existing customers. Prospects and customers immediately conclude that Global Shop is “like me,” which leads to instant chemistry and a feeling of trust. One definition of trust is “the feeling of you being on my side.” Global Shop conveys this feeling from the moment you first meet them.

All of which adds up to a powerful software company with a powerful brand. I think their customers would certainly agree — Global Shop is the best small software company in the U.S.

Get your free whitepaper: The 10 Biggest Technology Marketing Mistakes… and How to Avoid Them

Rod Whitson serves Townsend as President and Chief Brand Strategist. Townsend is expert at helping organizations with innovative products and services develop differentiated, compelling value propositions. Townsend is the largest integrated marketing agency in Southern California. Rod has personally led recent branding engagements with Intel, BAE Systems, Merck, DowPharma, Marsh & McLennan, and the University of California system. He has also worked with a host of successful and not so successful early stage technology and life sciences companies. Since Townsend’s founding in 1993, it has helped clients create market valuation in excess of $80 billion.

Visit Rod’s blog, Branding the Complex

© 2006 Rod Whitson - All Rights Reserved Worldwide

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Your company is considering a merger or acquisition. You’ve explored the financial and legal ramifications. But do you know what your point of distinction will be post-merger?

Today, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are commonplace. They are strategic decisions grounded in geographic expansion, product and competency diversification, and brand leveraging. While businesses clearly address the associated legal and financial issues, they often overlook a critical componentbrand management. Effective brand management goes well beyond the basic marketing tools. It requires an integrated approach to ensure consistency of your corporate message and identity throughout all aspects of your business. Without careful brand management, your M&A effort is vulnerable to failure.

Simply put, brand management helps to secure stability and brand loyalty for your company. You may consider discounting its importance to the M&A process, but be prepared for the possible outcomes:

• Brands are managed inconsistently and brand equity suffers
• Management and staff send mixed messages, creating confusion in the marketplace
• Company image/brand loses value in the market
• Employee morale decreases and turnover increases
• Customers lose confidence and leave
• Competitors steal your best customers
• Shareholder price plummets

Why is brand management frequently overlooked in the M&A process?

• Companies lack the experienced resources to focus on it.
• Organizations don’t realize the need to address it until it’s too late.
• Business leaders neglect it because they are concentrating on financial and legal issues.

Hiring an outside brand management strategist can bring dedicated resources and an independent perspective to the process. That’s why successful companies make brand management a cornerstone in their overall M&A strategy. By incorporating brand management in the early discussions around a merger or acquisition, your organization will come out stronger and more focused. Best of all, shareholders, clients, employees and the public will remain loyal to your brand.

Nearly 50% of all mergers fail to sustain or bolster shareholder value. Why? Because they don’t realize that brand is not an event. It’s a process. A brand management strategy ensures that your business can withstand the challenges associated with M&A, both today and through future market fluctuations. Working with an outside brand management team can help you assess and manage your company’s brand in relationship to specific competitors and the broader industry a crucial part of any successful M&A effort.

Building Your Point of Distinction
Your company builds brand with every customer contact, planned or unplanned. And, every interaction (no matter how insignificant) makes a lasting impression. Each impression combines with all those that have gone before to create your brand. Every gesture, every action, every word every point of contact with your customer enriches or erodes your brand.

Whether you realize it or not, if you are in business, you have a brand and you must manage it continuously.

An effective brand management firm invests as much time in pre-planning as it does during the M&A announcement and post-announcement stages. They help companies by:

• Understanding the business and what the original brands were intended to represent.
• Aligning this knowledge with actual market perceptions to develop a strategic brand management plan.
• Identifying the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities associated with each company and assessing their impact on the “new” entity and existing business.
• Recommending brand management strategies that will drive the marketing and communication initiatives for the company.
• Researching and evaluating potential acquisition candidates or merger partners by answering questions like:
  • “How does the prospect’s brand compare to your company’s brand?”
  • “What is each brand’s strongest attribute?”
  • “How is the brand relevant to future customers?”
  • “Which candidate will best help reach strategic objectives?”
  • Should one brand dominate or should a new brand be created?”

• Determining the most beneficial identity for the new company. Maybe it’s keeping one name and getting rid of the other as Cingular did when it acquired AT&T Wireless. Perhaps it’s combining the names like Exxon and Mobil or creating a new name entirely as Verizon did when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged. All have their pros and cons. Cingular had the stronger brand recognition. For ExxonMobil, both companies boasted loyal customers. Keeping both names enabled them to retain both client bases. Bell Atlantic and GTE agreed to create a new wireless business with a single, national brand. In order to affect the change, the entity became known as Verizon.
• Assessing which brands to keep/eliminate and determining the appropriate investment in each. Retaining current brands isn’t always the most effective or cost-efficient approach.
• Implementing a PR/marketing strategy to communicate the merger to employees, clients, shareholders and the public. Brand policies and guidelines as well as training and compliance are critical in helping employees understand and effectively communicate the new brand. Your brand can be one of your most valuable business assets.
• Facilitating the process of merging two cultures. How will the cultures merge? What are the core values and competencies of the new entity? Will the mission or philosophy change? How will the companies leverage the best from each to create a strong point of distinction?

Brand management is the best investment merging companies can make. Done properly it can help the new entity:

• Increase employee, customer, shareholder and vendor loyalty
• Integrate two companies/cultures/brands effectively
• Influence the perceived value of the effort in the market
• Manage brands more cost-efficiently
• Ensure employee commitment and confidence
• Enhance profitability

Your M&A effort requires a significant investment in time and money. At this critical juncture, take into careful consideration one of the most critical aspects of this effort your brand. Addressing brand management as an integral part of the merger or acquisition process will help ensure your company’s success and competitive edge in the marketplace. And ask yourself, “What will be the point of distinction for my newly merged company?”

Laura Pasternak is President of MarketPoint, LLC, a brand management firm that helps businesses improve results by identifying, integrating and managing customer-driven brand equities and strategies. Visit http://www.yourmarketpoint.com or call 1.866.21POINT toll-free to learn more.

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1. Their guarantee. Only work with designers that stand 100% behind their work.

This is an easy way to identify if the designer is an expert and a reputable

artist - ask how he/she stands behind the work and service.

2. Their current portfolio - Does their portfolio have the quality of work that

you want and expect?

3. Past testimonials - What have past clients said about them?

4. Their willingness to educate you and your staff - Will the designer take

the time to work with you and your staff, and provide top-notch support and

service?

5. The value-added services they can offer (we offer content editing, custom

and stock photography, video services, photo editing, as well as assistance

in marketing/advertising) - If you might need these additional services you

may have to pay extra for them if the designer can’t offer them to you.

6. Their ability and willingness to research your business, your objectives

and your prospects - Without thoroughly knowing you and your business a designer

is not going to be able to design projects that will generate revenue and results.

7. Their background in business, marketing or advertising - if your goal is

to bring in revenue from your investment, it’s crucial that the image firm has

a foundation in business marketing and advertising. This one is critical! If

your goal is to bring in revenue and results, you’ll need a designer that firmly

understands your market and how best to reach them. You’ll only want to work

with business savvy designers who know how to weave proven marketing strategies

into your projects. Ask the designer what expertise they have in marketing and

advertising?

8. How they evaluate the success of your project. Many designers feel they’ve

done an adequate job by just creating something that they feel looks cool or

neat. Your goal will probably go beyond looking cool into gaining market share,

boosting revenue, more brand awareness, etc. Make sure the designers evaluation

of your project’s success is the same as yours. After all, design that doesn’t

bring in any results or revenue is just art - and unless you sell art, it won’t

make you any money.

9. Their demeanor towards you and their other clients - The designer should

function as your marketing and design department, so you’ll end up working closely

with him/her. Do you feel the designer has a good attitude towards you and your

business?

10. Value - notice value is listed here and not price. Smart business owners

know that value rather than price should dictate what decisions she/he makes.

Do you feel you will get results and a good value from working with the designer?

Do you feel you’ll get more than your investment back from working with the

designer?

Jeremy runs the only business savvy graphic design firm who helps companies build more confidence and credibility into their business identities. “I help you take your business’ vision and shape it into a company identity that will make you look better, feel better and have more confidence about your business.”
Like the article?

Email Jeremy today at comments@candographics.com for your choice of a free insider’s bulletin:

“How to Choose the Right Marketing/Design Firm for You” or “Top Ten Questions Designers Don’t Want You to Ask Them”.

You’ll also want to check out the “Can-Do Confidence Builder”. Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your marketing/design investments and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Remember to include in your email your name, which Insider Bulletin you would like to receive and any additional feedback.

Learn more about Jeremy and how you can gain a competitive advantage with a better brand by visiting http://www.candographics.com.

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Your website must serve as the mirror that reflects your company’s corporate identity. The principles it stands for, its products and services, its achievements and its unique features things that differentiate your company from your competitors. A strong corporate identity is the pillar to building a powerful brand image. This is very important especially for corporate website development.

Website designers and webmasters strive to create webpages that are attractive, interactive, relevant, and user-friendly. Web pages reflect your organization’s business identity. The design, color, and content enhance your brand equity, attract higher traffic, and generate sales. In short, bring in cash flow.

Professional website developers such as Orient InfoSolutions offer cutting edge web site development and promotion services are customized for developing brand websites that are based on an idea, concept or theme something that captures your customer’s attention instantly.

A good name is catchy and easy to remember. Ideally, your domain name should capture the essence of your business. One should decide on an appropriate domain name after intensive research that would best reflect your product or service.

There is more to identity than just a well-designed logo. A logo is your stamp of authority. Creating a logo that captures visitor attention, reflects your corporate philosophy or brand image and helps you stand out from the competition is an important part of internet branding. This should be followed by choosing a unique, powerful and memorable motto for your business.

Blending your company’s identity into your website builds customer trust. The company’s brand equity can be woven into every web page of your website with strategic placement of the logo.

Homepage development is an art in itself for it must reflect the image your company is trying to project, whether it is the company philosophy, e-business or e-training.

Professional website developers such as Orient InfoSolutions follow a well-defined set of guidelines as part of their website development checklist. These focus areas are important even when you are thinking of website redevelopment.

Web development is an elaborate process. The basic outline that is followed in developing any brand-website will include (1) Defining and Documenting the website business goal and objectives (2) Translating the objectives into web requirement and most appropriate architecture (3) Creating a unique design that reflects the business goals and objectives clearly (4) Setting standards for content design and user interface (5) Developing text and graphics content and client-side scripting (6) Developing server-side program content (7) Monitoring of usability component and value indicators.

You can visit OrientInfoSolutions.com for some in depth and comprehensive information of building brand websites.

Brad Jones provides all Web Solutions like corporate website development and e-business for details contact at Orient Info Solutions

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How to Give Good Sonic Personality©

We live in an age of metrics. Traditional and new media advertising
agencies often substitute metrics for understanding. Mathematical
models create the appearance of scientific analysis, when in fact they
are often manipulated to support a preselected agenda. We all know
data can be massaged to conform to almost any conclusion. Besides,
most small owner-managed companies can’t afford the expense of
these agency-driven number crunching solutions. The real question is,
do these metrics actually help us connect to our customers, who just
happen to be people?

Emotions Win Over Rationality

After all, we are dealing with people, and people react to information on
both a rational and an emotional level. If everyone bought goods and
services based on a strictly rational basis, we would all be driving Smart
Cars and wearing Old Navy jeans. People make decisions based on a
perception of reality, rather than a rational analysis. Without getting too
metaphysical, in business there is no reality, only perception. We
believe what we think is true, or what is presented to us as true.
Information is colored by who and how, the message is delivered.

Trying to Make ‘Senses’ Out of Life

We experience our lives through our senses. We see, hear, touch, and
smell. It is through these senses that we create what passes for reality,
and on that perceived reality we make our so-called rational decisions.

Left on their own, people will interpret what they sense in very individual
ways. What tastes good to you makes me gag. The woman I think is
beautiful you think is ugly. That is until we our told in some convincing
communication, what we should think.

Skinny, shapeless, superior super models are beautiful because we are
told over and over that they are, and ultimately we mostly learn to agree.
So what does this all mean: reality is a managed state of mind. We are
either the managers or the managed. Sounds pretty icky, doesn’t it, but
there it is, and I for one rather be one of the managers than one of the
managed.

Managing Perception

We have all been told from early on that ‘a picture is worth a thousand
words.’ How many times have you quoted this famous saying? And you
actually believe it, after all Confucius wouldn’t lie, would he? According
to Jack Trout, in his book ‘The New Positioning,’ what Confucius actually
said was, “a picture is worth a thousand pieces of gold.” Not the same
thing at all is it? There is actually no evidence that Confucius made
either remark.

The documented origin of the famous expression has been traced back
to a guy named Fred Barnard who sold tram advertising in the 1920s by
stating the claim in his advertisements. Originally he claimed it was an
old Japanese proverb, but later changed his story and issued Chinese
lettering with a translation in his ads. Who knows what the truth is,
maybe old Fred invented the expression himself, but most people
believe Confucius said it, and that’s reality, even if the damn thing was
made up.

What You See is Nice, But What You Hear You Remember.

People want to believe what they see is the most important element in
delivering a message, but I would argue that what you hear outweighs
even what you see. Think about it. Companies spend millions of dollars
on attractive logos and pithy corporate names, and I have no argument
with developing a proper logo or a great name. But successful company
names and logos have an element inherent in their design that goes
beyond how they look. It is how they sound. When you see a visual
brand representation, a signal goes off in your head and a little voice
whispers that company name. Try to think of a popular corporate logo
without the name of that company sounding silently in your head.
Sound, and more specifically the human voice, is the most under utilized
marketing tool we have at our disposal. And it’s ready to hit The Web,
big time.

The Web is Made for Sound

The Web is a multimedia platform and your website should utilize every
possible tool available to create your reality and to deliver your
marketing message. No one was able to stop the flood of images from
overtaking the Web, and soon audio will follow. Now I hear the screams
of some crying out against the multimedia pollution on the Web, and I’ll
agree that it will surely come. But here’s the thing, agreed most
companies will implement sound on the Web all wrong and it will be just
more noise, but if YOU do it right, you’ll be the winner. Your message
will get through the noise, and you will define reality, and manage the
perception of your audience. The question then is how do you effectively
implement voice-audio on the Web?

Audio - The Human Connection

I started this series of articles by stating that the way to break through the
liquid crystal barrier was with a human voice that delivers a Sonic
Personality© for your business. We’ve talked about how you must create
the basis for a business personality by first defining who you are, what
you do, and why you do it better than the competition. We’ve also talked
about focusing on the core values of what you want to do for your
audience, and not confusing them with all the things you can do. So now
we are ready to craft your Signature Voice - your Sonic Personality©.

Jerry Bader, is a partner in MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that
specializes in creating multimedia websites that enhance their clients
business opportunities by delivering their marketing messages using
the latest audio, video, Flash, and interactive techniques.

MRPwebmedia developed the Sonic Personalities© concept that
effectively conveys your brand, image and message on websites and
DVD/CD presentations using custom-crafted voice-overs.

For more information and sample sites visit
http://www.sonicpersonality.com or contact Jerry Bader at (905) 764-1246.

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When I hear the word pyschology, I think of Dr. Phil.

When I hear the word motivation, I think of Tony Robbins.

When I hear the word marketing, I think of Seth Godin.

And when I hear the word closeout, I think of my Dad.

Why?

Because each of those people are individuals who, in MY mind, have the most expertise about, and most association with a particular word. That’s called word ownership.

In terms of personal branding, however, word ownership is a great advantage to your business. It differentiates you from your competitors, keeps you in the minds of the people you serve and positions you an expert. Ultimately, it’s a fundamental key to entrepreneurial success.

Origination
In Al Ries’s famous book, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, he explains that if you want to build a brand, you must “focus your branding efforts on owning a word in the prospect’s mind. A word that nobody else owns.”

He also and said, “Forget about the laundry list of wonderful attributes your product has. You can’t possibly associate them all with your brand name in a human mind. The key to getting into the consumer’s mind is sacrifice. You have to reduce the essence of your brand to a single thought or attribute. An attribute that nobody else already owns in your category.”

With that in mind, the first question to ask yourself is, “Do I already own a word?”

If so, congrats! You’re way ahead of the crowd. If not, that’s cool too. You’re reading the right article. (Odds are, you already DO own a word, you just don’t know it yet!)

To discover which word you own, ask yourself the following questions:

*If you looked up the word _______________ in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of my company

*If you googled the word ________________, the first ten pages would be my company’s website

*If was about to give a speech to 10,000 people and one of the audience members came back stage and asked, “So, what’s your speech about?” I’d probably say ____________________

*In my marketing materials, the one word you will find that no other company uses is ______________________

*If CNN called me for an interview, they’d want my expert opinion on _________________

*After people get to know me, they’ll never think about the word ________________ the same way again

*The reason my customers love me so much is because I always help them with _________________

*If people were talking about me behind my back, they’d probably call me “The ____________ Guy”

Obviously, the goal of this exercise is to arrive at the same answer for every question. Now, if can’t do that yet, here’s what to do. Ask those same questions to 20 of your closest friends, family members, customers and coworkers. They might match with some of your answers, they might be way off, they might even think of words that never occurred to you! But at least it will give you an objective perspective on your degree of word ownership.

Hey! That’s My Word!
Ok, now that you’ve explored some possibilities as to which word you own, you need to maintain that ownership. After all, that word is yours, baby! Nobody else in the world deserves to own it besides you! Here are some suggestions to make sure you keep it.

REGISTER IT: just for kicks, see if www.yourword.com is already taken. If not, get it! Domain names are like currency these days! If not, register a name with your word in the URL, i.e., www.thebotanyexpert.com or www.perfectfamilyphotos.com. This will better position you in search engines.

RESEARCH IT: find out everything you possibly can about your word. Search for books on Amazon with your word in the title. Go on Google, type in your word and spend an hour a week reading every entry you can. Look up the etymology of your word’s origin. Do anything you can to increase your knowledge because, after all, you’re the expert on that word!

RECORD IT: write and publish articles related to your word. Think of yourself as a syndicated columnist, whose weekly articles always have something to do with your word. And if you don’t like or have trouble writing, don’t worry. Just go online and search “article” + “your word.” Thousands of articles on your word will come up and that will stimulate your creativity.

REVEAL IT: once you’ve developed and positioned your expertise on your word, tell everyone! Use it your lateral materials, website, newsletter, public appearances, client meetings, face-to-face networking or any of your other marketing channels. Shout it from the rooftops! Over time, customers and prospects will recognize the connection between YOU and your word. And they will know that whenever they need help on (insert your word here,) there is no person in the world they’d rather call than you!

What’s Next?
Ok. You now own a word. The world knows it. Your customers know it. Even Google knows it! So the next question is: how will this word change your business?

I’m glad you asked.

Here’s a personal example of word ownership at its finest. It all started with a voicemail waiting on my cell phone as I walked off the airplane into the St. Louis terminal.

“Yes, Mr. Ginsberg, I’m one of the editors of Cosmopolitan Magazine. I’d like to set up an interview with you for an upcoming piece. Please call me back at the following number…”

When I returned her call, she enthusiastically replied, “Oh great! I’m so glad you got right back to me - my deadline is tomorrow!”

“So, what can I do for you?” I asked.

“Well, have you ever seen those little ‘quizzes’ that Cosmo runs every month?”

“Oh, right. My girlfriend used to take those things in college.” I replied.

“Exactly! Well, as the editor of the section, it’s my job to seek out experts to help create those quizzes. And in our upcoming issue for January 2006, we’ll be running a quiz called ‘How Approachable Are You?’”

“Reeeeeely,” I said.

“Yes. And in my research for possible contributors, I went on Amazon to search for books about approachability. And guess what? Your book was the first and only title that came up! So, we’d like for YOU to write the quiz. After all, you are the expert. Would you be interested?”

Um, are you kidding?! Me, write a quiz for one of the most widely read publications in the word?! I thought.

“Yes. Yes I would,” I said.

Word.

© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com

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We will discuss Brand Marketing for a minute. In this discussion we would like to talk about brand line extension and how to do it correctly. First we are not sure if you have been looking in the grocery stores lately, but you might have been noticing some very interesting things amongst America’s top selling brands, this has been increasing for about the last 5-years. For instance look at GE Light bulbs sometime. They have not only the original light bulb that GE is known for they now have; Soft Pink, Crystal Clear, Original, Standard, Miser (The energy saving light bulb), and of course Party Light Bulbs in colors of yellow, red, green, blue, and orange.

If you do not find this interesting perhaps you might find the line extension of Kingsford Charcoal interesting. 3-types now. What about Raid, the bug killer, they have it now for ants, slugs, flies and ants/roaches, Roaches only. Raid for the garage, for the bathroom, for the kitchen and for the garden. 7 different types. They own the entire space for bug killer on many a store shelf. And what about our famous Lego Brand? They already have all the Star Wars characters and hardware of spacecrafts, and structures.

Yes we are very aware of Lego Brands. Lego is very aggressive promoting their brand identity and expanding their customer base, they have something for everyone, We are on the leading edge of these trends and have read all the same books and sometimes it amazes me how many large corporations in America make such unfortunate mistakes with their brands. Lets look a Hot Wheels line extension. Garbage trucks, Fed Ex Vans, Over the Road 18 Wheelers, Skateboarders, SUVs etc. And Barbie, judging by their books, cars, houses and clothes-lines. Interesting that the founder died and they simply did what Wendy’s Hamburger did, use the PR to sell even more and extend the brand name even further, with books and video-tapes and newest lines. Look at Wendy’s launching a new hamburger early ahead of schedule. Who else is going for it on the grocery shelves of America’s largest chains? Windex with now 7 colors; Blue Original, Clear Vinegar, Purple Mountain Anti-Bacterial green, Aqua, no drip no streak. Lysol same thing. And 409 cleaner? Original green. Misty Breeze, Orange Power. We have brands everywhere and they sell too.

Now then if you look at the Fast Food Restaurant Corporations and their Multi-Brand Franchises in the QSR Sector, we see the leader McDonalds has diversified quite a bit. Recently we did a Multi-Brand Franchising Report Observation and we were quite interested in what we found. Well not everyone is aware that McDonalds also owns several other bands such as Boston Markets; 650 stores in 23 states, Chipotle Mexican Grill; 230 stores in 10 states, Donato’s Pizza 200 stores in 10 states, Pret a Manager 140 stores in 4 countries, Fazoli’s 400 units in 32 states and two countries. Of this the company derives 2 Billion in annual sales, this is not even counting McDonalds. Many people are unaware of this because McDonald’s has not connected the dots.

However other franchise companies, which franchise and have multiple brands have. The question shall always be do they co-market to the same customers or serve separate niches. Do they buy out their competition yet sell and take away an cannibalize their own same store sales? It depends, McDonalds seems to be targeting different customers although if you consider in the US people eat major meals 2-3 times per day and there are 7 days a week, we are talking about 14-21 opportunities to feed them, now obviously other than single males, most of our population will eat the majority of meals at home. However how many of those meals will be eaten out side the home and of those visits to QSRs how many can McDonalds pick up. Apparently after considering the additional 2 billion a year in sales, quite a few and remember McDonalds is in 141 countries thus far so perhaps the cannibalization discussed in the franchising industry is a US thing for McDonalds and is not affecting it’s other brands here yet or all of it’s overseas markets for it’s stead fast Mickey Ds Brand.

Think about it Pizza, Chicken, Tacos, Italian and Pretzels? Oh yah that Hamburger thing will never work? Sure, that is what they told Ray Kroc in the beginning, guess they were wrong. And today we see some interesting new factors to be considered namely; The New American diets and how these different food types are effected by the new perception of Atkins, South Beach Diet, etc.

Some stores allow for multiple brands inside the same establishment, this is prevalent in Fast Food, C-Stores and Auto-Service Businesses. We had recently did a small study on the Point of destination Theories or One Stop Shop Scenarios in Car Washes, C-Stores, Quick Lubes, QSRs or Other Auto Businesses and how they attempt to use the multiple brands to draw in customers. If you study Micro Economics of Multi-Revenue Streams Concepts and Co-Brands you will see this trend. In 1997 at the annual International Franchise Association Trade Show we saw that many break away forums focusing on this new rage at the time of Franchise Co-branding and as the moderators introduced the franchisors, Franchise Marketing Executives and Attorneys involved in some of these major projects of mini-franchises in side of C-Stores and Donut, Cookie, Pizza concessions in fast food locations, mom and pop shops, food courts, etc. they all admitted that about 50% of these deals failed when the franchises were owned by separate entities. However it was our observations that things like Starbucks, hair cut places, Mail Stops inside grocery stores were very successful and kiosks with low costs depending on the product did turn out to be profitable.

Let me take a quote from Plato, because it maybe more than relevant to this situation and discussion. This quote is taken out of context although there were none of these types of businesses during that time period. However the theory has not changed and may not change with regards to business operators who leave core components of their business model to create a one-stop shop scenario in order to take advantage of the similar theory of a regional shopping mall or Wal-Mart store. Small privately owned businesses should concentrate on what they are good at first and think twice about co-brands concepts they are unfamiliar with, are hard to learn or not their specialty. Many businesses fail and recently I watched and reviewed such a business that is not long for this world which I will be glad to describe without giving names and allow you to see our point of this discussion. Here is the famous quote by Plato in the Republic, which rings through to the topic some 2300 years later. Could have been written yesterday. You may wish to copy it down and teach it to your off spring.

“the result, then, is that more plentiful and better quality goods are more easily produced if each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited, does it at the right time, and is released from having to do any of the others.”

There are many other later themes encompassing parts or all of this idea of specialization. Forget the equal pay for equal work communism or the socialist connotations that this might enter and think of the business aspects of free markets and core business models and current comments from fortune 500 CEOs to shareholders and of course the aspects of small businesses on relevancy. In Parenting too, for instance the quote you may have heard is “If you try to do everything, you will do nothing well?” Unfortunately this is used by many a lazy person to relieve himself of responsibilities of doing what is right or responsibilities he has already committed to or to get him out of responsibilities he is employed to do. In other words for excuses, however when used by a man of commitment to do what he says he was going to do, does it and then determines it to be something he should not be engaging his time in, in that case it is seen as a prudent insight.

I cannot tell you how many companies make obvious mistakes with their brand name, based on advise from experts, advertising agencies and academia, which in my opinion is always looking back, and has not a clue how to change the market direction midstream and take advantage of brand name value in opportunities right before their eyes, Service Master should be commended as they have done well, but they could do so much more really. I want to thank those students for their questions, which enabled me to formalize my worldly observations and enable me to define my theories on brand name.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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If you could have the secret recipe and all the manufacturing facilities of Coca Cola but not the Coca Cola brandor have its famous brand but no facilitieswhich would you choose? It’s not a trick question. But it demonstrates the power of the brand. Walk into any bank and say “hi I’m Coca Cola, how about a loan”!

Let me ask another way. If you could have all the products or services your company produces, but not its name and brand, are you confident they would sell? The truth is, people don’t only buy products and services. They buy promises and reputationswhat brands represent.

I’m the Brand Identity Guru. I’ve spent most of my professional life helping companies tap into the strength of their brands. Developing a strong brand identity is critical to any company’s success. Integrating brand-conscious thinking into communications is so critical, so synergistic, yet it’s seldom done by design groups and advertising agencies.

Why? It’s just not what they do. Graphic Designers don’t understand positioning or branding. And ad agencies are more interested in placing ads in the media. Or creating work that wins awards- for them.

A branding company’s total focus, their entire business practice, is based on the maxim that strong brands (new or repositioned) make companies more successful.

Pick the brain of a professional branding consultant. It’s bound to spur some powerful ideas. Whether you need to brand or re-brand products, services or the corporation itself, introduce new products or services or reposition existing onesthere’s a chance to lay a strategic foundation to re-energize your entire company.

Any qualified branding consultant can strengthen your company’s brand identity for sure.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

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Propose success, demand performance, and brand your market with appeal. In a world of costly business start-ups, expensive design tools, and rugged competition you can still beat the system. Success reins the process as our instructional tools are put to use building websites centered on content with focused keywords and performance.

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“My business promotes development and market branding for maximum business performance and success.” is a perfect conversation starter, and will bring interest to the business because it gives a basic definition of business without overrunning the conversation with a detailed description that begs discussion.

Design a logo that communicates your business identity to your customer. A single picture or group of words titling your business and replicating the purpose of your business is perfect.

“Coffee Clatter” titles a web log about conversations over coffee, the pictorial logo of a graphically designed coffee cup emitting steam implicates comfort, conversation, and energy. The web log portrays the logo. (You may visit the site at http://coffeeclatter.blogspot.com)

What’s your niche? Who is your market?

Think about the connection between your affiliate market and your business brand. Performance demands commitment and isolation of your choices.

Copyright © 2005 - Jan Verhoeff

Create a niche, using affiliate connections, links, and money-making clicks, brand your affiliate market with keyword content and high-search phrases. Be successful with functional design. Contact eBiz Brand Performance.

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