Category: Branding

17 MAY

Good Marketing Starts With the “Menu”

Imagine this: Your mouth has been watering all morning for a good fetucini alfredo. You quickly google for the closest italian restaurant and find a new spot called “Papa Mario’s” that’s just opened right down the street. Pulling into the parking lot you spot the sign with their logo (a smiling chef tossing a pizza crust in the air). Walking through the door you’re greeted warmly with, “Welcome to Papa Mario’s!”. You’re quickly seated. An usher takes your drink order while handing you a menu. When you open the menu you’re taken by surprise. You begin reading the menu items; Egg Rolls, Spring Rolls, Deep Fried Wontons, Egg Drop Soup, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Rice! Keep Reading

12 MAY

4 Ways to Maintain Your “Social Brand”

Based on the statistics, 9 out of 10 of the you that are reading this post are probably using either one or more than one of the following: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Friend Feed or MySpace. What you may not realize is that within those services rests the integrity of something that we call your “social brand”. Just like a corporate brand, your social brand is a public representation of who you are. Whether you like it or not, you live in a glass house when it comes to your online identity. Keep Reading

2 JAN

Are you having a bad hair day?

The news came out recently that Andre Agassi, the long-maned tennis player from the 90s, wore a wig. Yes, the guy who was known as much for his hair as his tennis ability, was actually a fake. (read more about that here)

Remember the commercials Agassi used to do for Canon cameras? “Image is everything”. That same motto has to be what motivates all those other hairless guys out there who insist on wearing a toupe. They act as if it’s real, but everyone else knows it isn’t. It’s Artificial DNA, and those guys are spending most of their emotional energy trying to sell it as truth. Then there is the guy we all know with the comb-over. Yes, it’s his actual DNA- but the alignment is all wrong. Again, it’s obvious to everyone but him that it isn’t working. Lastly, consider the mullet. We all still see guys wearing these. Yes, it was cool in the 80s and 90s… but that was 20-30 years ago. Times have changed. Even Billy Ray Cyrus figured that out- and successfully reinvented himself.

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10 AUG

We can lead a horse to water, but YOU make him drink

In it’s most basic sense, Successful Marketing lets potential customers/clients know about your products or services in a creative and memorable way. Your marketing should be well-thought out, purposeful in implementation, and focused in execution. That’s a no-brainer, right? But what happens when your marketing works? What then? Successful Marketing gets potential clients into contact with you. You (and your staff) are then charged with turning them into actual clients or customers.

Your worst case scenario is to successfully create a demand for your products or services when those products or services are not ready to be sold or offered. Or, as more often is the case, when those products or services aren’t as cool or professional as you marketed them to be. Think about it- We have all responded to good marketing that left us asking, “Is this all there is?” or saying, “This is not what I was led to believe it was going to be”. If that is the case with your organization, you have invested (or, rather, wasted) time, money and effort in telling your potential clients/customers that you care more about getting them than keeping them.

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23 MAR

Branded House vs. House of Brands vs. House Blend

In many organizations there is a silent war taking place. It may not even be a battle that you are aware of. It is the struggle between consistent branding and diversification. One side focuses on the categorization of a single branding while the other two focus of the branding of multiple categories. Believe it or not, you probably come into contact with all three branding architectures every day: Keep Reading