Posted by Chris Brown on August 25th, 2008 in Marketing
Here’s a quick branding round-up of interesting branding stories that really made me think:
- First rule of branding: Focus on your position and become known for that one thing. Jay Ehret at The Marketing Spot calls out a major branding mistake in Barack Obama’s campaign: Everyone knew that Barack Obama stood for change.
- Even those who shun branding as being just for big business or deceptive or phoney find that they have a brand affinity toward products that they like. Jackie Huba of “Church of the Customer” in her post 10 questions with Rob Walker is surprised at the feelings she gets toward her Converse sneakers after Nike buys Converse. Hat tip to Tom Fishburne at Brand Camp on the Evolution of Marketing.
- Still not sure that branding makes a difference? Try looking at a series of logos for the gut feelings the logo evokes. Read Lolly’s “What Consumer’s Really Think of Your Logo” . She’s a ” Qually” — a market research professional in London who really knows her stuff. I prefer playing the brand versus brand battle mode. Who wins: HP vs Dell? Canon vs Kodak?
Posted by Chris Brown on August 22nd, 2008 in Marketing
Sometimes the lure of licensing a strong brand for the extra revenue it brings in because too tempting. Take the three examples that Robyn McMaster highlighted in her Obsessive Branding post:
Reebok Tennis shoes by Kool Aid
Cologne by PlayDoh
Romance novels by Nascar
Sure the wild colors make you take a second look, but does the marriage of Kool Aid and Reebok make sense? To me licensing a brand name to extend a product line really only makes sense when it’s a natural marriage of the two brands. Sometimes licensors get greedy for a little more of the pure profit that comes back when they put their brand name on another company’s products.
I think that they may be short sighted in terms of long term brand image.
Posted by Chris Brown on August 18th, 2008 in PR
Here’s a handle little tool for improving the effectiveness of your press releases. It’s called Press Release Grader and you just copy and paste your press release into the form to get suggested improvements. It will give you word count, number of sentences and links as well as the minimum education needed for effective reading of the release.
It also provides Search Engine Optimization tips.
Posted by Chris Brown on August 13th, 2008 in Marketing, tactics
The last two weeks of August bring trade show season right into the forefront. If you haven’t dusted off your booth in a while, now is the time to start planning. Don’t want to wait until a month before the event to discover that whoever packed the booth last time forgot to repack a crucial piece of equipment!
I like to know what trade shows are coming up, because we help our clients with their booths, hand-outs, give aways and the pre/post direct mail. Probably most importantly we help clients decide which shows they should attend to reach their customers. Here are some handy links if you are planning the trade shows for your company:
Trade Show News Network: TSNN.com is a powerful international trade show gateway. They’ve spent years compiling a global, qualified and up-to-date trade show database, including attendees, suppliers, vendors and exhibitors, outside North America. The Trade Show News Network (TSNN) owns and operates the most widely consulted event database on the Internet, containing data on more than 15,000 trade shows, exhibitions, public events and conferences. It also offers over 360,000 seminars through a strategic partnership. It’s a nice resource when you’re aren’t sure which trade show you should go to or when or where the annual trade shows for a certain industry are held.
Trade Show Week: A Showfloor With Style and Flavor written by Rachel Wimberly, who is associate editor of Tradeshow Week. She talks about the problems of getting attendees of an association meeting to actually visit the exhibits and how one show did it right! Check out their searchable directory of Trade Shows here.
Interested in Chicago Trade Show Displays? Here are the upcoming shows happening in the next few weeks in Chicago:
- Beauty & Hair Care International Hair & Nail Show Aug, 2008
- Publishing Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Annual Convention Aug 06 - Aug 09, 2008
- Apparel STYLEMAX - Holiday/Resort/Spring Preview Aug 09 - Aug 12, 2008 and Chicago Men’s Wear Collective Aug 10 - Aug 12, 2008
- Hardware Orgill Fall Dealer Market Aug 14 - Aug 16, 2008 United States Chicago
- Banking Defense Credit Union Council Conference & Exhibition Aug 17 - Aug 20, 2008 and Foreword Financial Expo Sept, 2008
- Manufacturing International Manufacturing Technology Show Sep 03 - Sep 10, 2008 and Sep 08 - Sep 13, 2008
- Medical & Health Care American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly Sep 10 - Sep 13, 2008
- Transportation BusCon Sep 15 - Sep 17, 2008
- Furnishings & Interior Design International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market Sep 15 - Sep 18, 2008
- Gifts The Chicago Market: Living and Giving Fall Sep 15 - Sep 17, 2008
How do you decide which shows you will attend? Do you go because you feel your customers will miss you if you don’t? Or do you go because you’re afraid the competitors will say bad things about you to your customers if you don’t go?
Posted by Chris Brown on August 11th, 2008 in Marketing
What role does your logo play in branding your business? I believe the logo, icon and colors provide the face of your business.
- Is your typeface fresh or stale?
- Are the colors strong or soft?
- Does your brand logo include an icon symbol, or is it just type, initials or words?
A logo needs to be recognizable. Familiar. The logo is a key element to your branding. A How many times have you heard (or said) “It’s hard for me to remember a name, but I never forget a face!” That’s what branding does for your business — it gives you the face.
Does your logo need a new hairstyle to freshen it up? News to trim the sideburns and add new glasses frames? What about update the colors? It’s difficult to look at your own logo without having pre-judged it.
As a business owner myself, I know the importance of strong branding to sales results. Branding reinforces every marketing effort to give your business a bigger sales impact.
How can you harness the power of consistent branding in your business to support your sales & marketing? These 3 branding rules may help:
1. Be consistent with your colors in all your marketing materials — but update when necessary. Think about the burnt orange of the 70’s — it’s almost back in style again!
2. Always use your logo and icon to visually brand your business — people remember the image longer than the words.
3. Focus on your core marketing message in every communication — stay focused!
Read more about this:
Color in branding
Visual Branding
Marketing Messages
