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Entries Tagged as 'Branding'

Your brand’s foundation

by Drew McLellan

June 18th, 2011 · Branding

 

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How are you building your foundation?

A brand, much like someone’s personality, isn’t something you concoct or fabricate.  You can’t put it on and take it off at will.  It’s not window dressing, but instead it comes from within your company, the culture, the people, the vision and of course…the marketplace in which it exists.

 

You can, of course, amplify your brand by doing the right things with intention and frequency.  But…the foundation is already set.

In fact…you build your foundation with every choice you make as an organization and as the individuals who work for that organization.  David Ogilvy once said “every advertisement is part of the long-term investment in the personality of the brand.”  In today’s digital world where everything is archived by Google — it goes far beyond that.

Long before you are consciously on the radar screen of your target audience…you are creating your brand’s foundation with every:

  • Tweet
  • Facebook update
  • Snarly employee wearing one of your logo’d shirts in a bar
  • Branded truck driving carelessly
  • Sponsorship of an event
  • Comment left on someone else’s blog, FB, etc.
  • Advertising/Marketing offers

Think of each action as a log or brick.  Without meaning to — you are stacking each of those choices/actions together to create my first impression of you.  The foundation upon which I will decide if I want to keep interacting.

And by the way — your absence is as noticeable as your presence.  Those choices should be made as carefully as deciding where you do want to be seen.

Here’s my question.  How intentional are you being about your brand’s foundation?  Are you building it with a vision and purpose or is it just happening haphazardly?

 

Hat tip to Derrick Daye for reminding me of this Ogilvy quote.

 

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Brand truth: I don’t care

by Drew McLellan

June 13th, 2011 · Branding

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…Are they really the tree huggers you’d hoped?

…about what you wish I cared about.

Way too many brands chase the fad of the day, thinking they can jump on a swell of consumer sentiment and rise those profits into the sunset.  No so fast, my friends.

For your brand to be effective, sticky and enduring — it has to be about what matters to your consumers.  They have to genuinely identify with it/care about it.  You can’t make them love you.  (Nod to Bonnie Raitt)  No matter how hot the trend is or how passionate you might personally be.

Case in point — a recent study done by OgilvyEarth (I’m pretty sure David Ogilvy rolls his eyes from the grave on that one) shows that most consumers aren’t buying the whole “green movement.” In particular, men are not motivated or swayed by green marketing messages.  It turns out that their perception when they hear green is “more expensive.”

So playing to the trend is actually hurting those brands who hoped that men would be moved to pull out their wallets based on the green movement marketing position.

Time to do your own brand check.  Are you trying to force an idea, value or belief at your core audience?  Or…do you know yourself and your core audience so well that you know what brings you together?

And before you are quick to answer…be ready to tell me this.  HOW do you know that your brand is what truly resonates in the hearts of your core audience?

 

Hat tip to Kami Watson Huyse for tweeting the Ogilvy link.

 

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Your brand is out of control!

June 8th, 2011 · Branding · No Comments

When you look in the mirror, do you see what they see? Businesses big and small expend huge resources (proportionally) to build a brand they’re proud of and can live up to. Remember, our definition of a brand is a promise you make that differentiates and creates an image in my mind in terms of [Read more...]

Viva the underdog!

May 24th, 2011 · Books, Branding, Strategy · 3 Comments

  …a blast from our past…it’s Underdog Most of our clients at McLellan Marketing Group could be classified as underdogs.  Call them challenger brands, the little guy or the rising star — but odds are, they have a Goliath or two in their path. We love helping them topple the big guys and steal their [Read more...]

Apple is the most valuable brand

May 15th, 2011 · Branding, Web/Tech · 3 Comments

  In 2010, global technology brand Apple surpassed Google to become the most valuable brand in the world, according to “Brandz Top 100″ from Millward Brown and Optimor. Apple increased in value by 84% to $153.3 billion.       Interestingly, technology companies took four of the top five places, including the first three, on [Read more...]

Taglines that stick

May 5th, 2011 · Branding, Copywriting, Passion · 3 Comments

  I think most taglines used by businesses today are a cop out.  They feel good but promise nothing. A reader wrote and asked if I’d talk about the other side of the coin – what makes a tagline great? Creating and using a strong tagline takes real courage.  A tagline that will last for [Read more...]

Someone has to hate your brand

April 10th, 2011 · Branding · 13 Comments

A brand…if it is going to be effective, has to be bold.  It has to stand for something.  It has to plant a flag into the ground and stake out its territory.  A brand cannot be neutral. Your brand loyalists will love you. But, there’s no ying without the yang. In other words, if some [Read more...]

Is your mobile app about you or about me?

March 30th, 2011 · Branding, Trends · 9 Comments

It seems like just about everyone is jumping onto the mobile app (iPhone, Droid, Blackberry) wagon these days.  Most apps fall into one of four categories: They’re functional/useful (they help you do something you want to do) They’re about access/ease (they help you get stuff/information you need) They’re entertaining (they amuse us, keep us busy, [Read more...]

The Swahili take on branding

February 21st, 2011 · Branding · 2 Comments

Swahili proverb:  A boat does not go forward if each is rowing their own way. Any good crew team will tell you that they rely on the coxswain to keep them in synch.  During a race, the coxswain shouts commands, keeping the crew on course.  No matter how polished or experienced the crew, they would [Read more...]

Using personas to shift your focus to the customer

January 31st, 2011 · Branding, Customers/Clients, Love affair with customers · 11 Comments

If you look at most marketing copy — it's about the "thing" — whatever is being sold.  We get features and generic benefits but our focus and the thrust of the message sits squarely on the shoulders of the product or service. And it's no wonder.  When you focus on something, you tend to write/talk [Read more...]