Leveraged Promotion » brands

ebranding Techniques :: Is there too much Branding Hype?

Tinu — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:42:34 +0000

Fast company article takes a candid look at the amount of brand literature available offline today.

In a recent article called “Obessive Branding Disorder“, Lucas Conley writes about the common sense approach to branding, and speculates that there may be a bit too much chatter about branding and not enough actual common sense implementation.

“Smaller companies aren’t the only ones delivering high-quality products at good value that people love. Disney and Apple spend millions telling people who they are, but why? They’re strong brands because they offer distinct products and services. And they’ve done so for decades. When Disney and Apple have struggled, the root cause has always been that their products weren’t as good, service slipped, or they weren’t living up to customer expectations. Diverting attention away from business problems by calling any of it by a new name wasn’t going to fix it.

Remove the hype, and branding is just commonsense strategy, rebranded. To successfully build a brand, says INSEAD marketing professor Amitava Chattopadhyay, "is to communicate your key value proposition to the key customer segment, and do so in an integrated and consistent way." In other words, Business 101.”

While that message rings quite true, it seems that branding has not hit home the same way for entreprenuers and small to medium businesses as it has with large corporations. In bigger organizations the company identity is established long before the hip, young execs hit the door, where in smaller companies, the idea is being molded as the company grows and changes, often from a one-man entrepreneurial shop to a company with 25 – 2500 employees.

So just as in the self-improvement industry, which the author alludes to later in the article, the need exists to out-source the R & D on branding. And as long as that perceived need exists, common sense though it may be, people will reference those who have built their brands on business-know how in general, like Fast company, or those who have built brands specifically on the knowledge of branding, for answers.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul


	Fast Company :: Obsessive Branding DIsorder
	The simplest branding advice from an article that says there’s too many branding books being written.
	http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/99/open_essay.html?partner=rss

	Ask Us How the Right Blogging Choices Help Shape Your Brand
	One type of blog makes the statement “I’m only looking for search engine results, and my potential clients are an afterthought”. Another type of blog says “We’re the professionals who will provide the best solution”. No blog at all says “We’re behind the times.” What does yours say? Ask us how we can help you tweak your message – or create a new one.

eBranding Techniques :: Bob Baker on Branding

Tinu — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:42:44 +0000

Superb branding article I discovered through our briefing channels.

Bob Baker, author of Branding Yourself Online, has an excellent article posted to his site, entitled “9 Ways to Create a Rock-Solid Brand Identity Online“.

He leads in with a short summary of effective branding:

Effective branding is all about telling customers who you are, what you do and how you do it. Despite a sluggish economy and uncertainty throughout the world, more people are spending time and money online than ever before. That’s why it’s vitally important for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs alike to use the Internet to make an impact.

The strongest point he makes later in the article is bullet number four, in which he states ” Develop a fan-club mentality.”

That seems like it would not apply to an online brand, or only to consumer-focused items at first. However, with a little extra thought, you can probably remember purchases in your business and personal life that you made due to an emotional connection and later justified with logic.

Taking that strategy a little further leads right into the fan mentality.

It’s human nature. We buy books on self-advancement, for example, spending hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars a year improving ourselves or our businesses. And why do we want to go to their conferences, buy all of the author’s books, follow their “work”?

Because we’re fans.

And yet, we don’t think of them as a business, we think of them as people who fill the need for an area of our business, or a want for improvement, better than anyone else.

So why can’t we create fans in our businesses? Better yet, how can we?

We’ll revisit this question in the next segment.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul
www.leveragedpromotion.com




	Bob Baker’s Branding Site
	From the home page: “Big companies understand the importance of brands — if the product is recognizable, customers are more likely to embrace the idea behind the product and buy it. The same holds true for individuals. People not only listen more intently to a familiar voice, they become raving fans for life.”

Your Brand needs a Face

Tinu — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:08:55 +0000

The heart of branding is often visual.

When I first started out online, the one thing I was irrationally terrified of was having any part of my physicality associated with my business. I’m quite shy in real life, so I wanted to be a post office box with a pen name.

But one day I realized that every person I bought from on a regular basis… was a person to me, not a company.

I don’t shop at Walmart – in my mind that’s where the funny lady with the pigtails works. I don’t buy music, I get the latest Beyonce CD. Even with brands like Amazon, I’m going there in search of something within the collection of brands they resell. I want the next Toni Morrisson novel, not just some book by anyone.

I started becoming really successful online when I tossed away the shield of anonymity, and displayed my personage, flaws and all. If I can publish a picture with my articles, I’ll do it. When I can share my voice on audio, even better. Haven’t worked my way up to video, but I’m getting there.

And watch out when I do…

Sometimes, with larger, corporate brands, the “face” on the company isn’t a person’s. It’s a logo that invokes a personality trait. IBM has a certain personality. So does Dell, Gateway or HP.

If you’re running a smaller business, you’re not exempt from the need for a brand. At some point you must create an association between yourself and the person you want to influence, the results they want to have.

Smaller businesses especially need not just a face, but a voice. It’s part of why blogging is so successful. People buy from people, not from vague entities.

Your brand needs a face, a representative, a personality. Develop a brand and get closer to your clients.

And the “eBranding Oldie but Goodie” Blog Post Award goes to…

Tinu — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:09:07 +0000

In days to come, I’m compiling lists of branding resources. This series of posts on “self branding” has to be number one on the relatively-recent-and-relevant list.

Lea Alcantara’s blog often gives a light-hearted yet still serious view of many issues online businesses are concerned with, one of which is ebranding.

I am compelled to give her the “eBranding Oldie but Goodie” Blog Post Award for this post, called the Art of Self-Branding, Part III. Tongue-in-cheek but still true-to-life. Even comes with a free worksheet. Extra points for poetic license on the word “striven”.

See the link section below for a short quote.


	The Art of Self-Branding: Part Three
	“With the Art of Self-Branding series of posts, I?ve striven to shine some light onto how to evaluate your own brand.”