Tag Archives: brand

How to Avoid the Most Common Branding Mistakes

6 Rules of Brand Revitalization

 

How do you keep a brand relevant?

 

If you are looking to develop a strong global brand, you will find two names consistently mentioned as “go-to” experts: Larry Light and Joan Kiddon. They have just released a second edition of their book on branding, Six Rules of Brand Revitalization.

If you need to revitalize a brand, or if you are looking to avoid the pitfalls others have made, this book is a blueprint to follow for building a brand.

 

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“Without trust, there can be no brand loyalty.” -Light / Kiddon

 

I recently spoke with the authors about their new book and the rules of branding.

 

6 Rules of Brand Revitalization

 

1. Refocus the organization.

Where do most corporate leaders get it wrong?

They tend to believe that “refocus” can happen through tools and templates and HR seminars. Refocus is more than filling in the blanks and talking the talk. When there is a conflict between strategy and culture, culture wins. A commitment to change requires refocusing of the cultural mindset that emanates from the top down. Merely embarking on a training program to encourage a focus on new tools, templates, and techniques can distract from the need to accomplish both the behavioral and attitudinal modifications that foster culture change.

 

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“Refocusing an organization around common goals is the first step for brand revitalization.” -Light / Kiddon

 

6 Rules of Brand Revitalization

Rule 1: Refocus the organization

Rule 2: Restore brand relevance

Rule 3: Reinvent the brand experience

Rule 4: Reinforce a results culture

Rule 5: Rebuild brand trust

Rule 6: Realize global alignment

 

What tip would you provide to a leadership team in the midst of this refocus?

Leaders are different from commanders. Commanders manage by telling people what to do. They create acceptors. Leaders create believers. Acceptors go through the motions complying with the new processes and behaviors. Believers have true commitment that this refocus is a better path to a successful future. Acceptors are not the same as adherents. The leader must be the one to set the tone and drive the change for all to see and emulate. Leaders must demonstrate commitment if they expect people to become believers in the new world.

 

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“The leader must set the tone and drive change.” -Light / Kiddon

 

  

2. Restore brand relevance.

What are the best ways to stay on top of changing customer expectations?

Stay up-to-date with all available information. Read a variety of sources, not just in your business’ field but also across many disciplines. Include regular market research reports. But also include what is happening in the world around us. Be observant. Be informed. Be open to new ideas.

In this world of access to “big data’” there is now a focus on data analytics. Analysis can tell us about what is happening today. Analysis is about the decomposition of data. But real insight does not come from analysis. It comes from creative synthesis. Analysis is about taking data apart. Synthesis is about putting together disparate sources of information in original ways. Synthesis is about detecting patterns that others fail to see. Keeping a brand relevant will involve both analysis and synthesis. Make sure that the organization is open and conducive to creative synthesis.

 

3. Reinvent the brand experience.

How do you define a brand experience?

The total brand experience includes consideration, shopping, purchase, use, service, online, offline, brand communications, handling of customer complaints, and so on. Every touch point with the customer is a part of the total brand experience. It includes every aspect of the brand promise: functional benefits, emotional and social rewards, solutions to problems, and so forth.

 

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“Every touch point with the customer is a part of the total brand experience.” -Light / Kiddon

 

How fast can a brand innovate and reinvent?

Does Your Organization Have The Right Attitude?

What’s Your Organizational Attitude?

What distinguishes great customer service?

Is your website easy to navigate?

Would customers describe the experience with your organization as amazing?

Some companies are leveraging the power of the Internet in such a powerful way they are increasing market share, earnings, and revenue at an incredible rate. Others are struggling, not fully realizing the potential or understanding what it takes to win with today’s technology.

 

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“Net attitude is a state of mind.” –John Patrick

 

It’s All About Attitude

What differentiates winners from losers?

John Patrick’s answer is that it is all about attitude. He says companies with a “net attitude” have an extraordinary advantage over those who don’t.

Having a net attitude “makes constituents happy,” says John Patrick. Because your “website is your brand,” it’s important to make it accessible, easy to use, and focused relentlessly on a positive customer experience.

 

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“The prescription starts with a single word, attitude.” –John Patrick

 

Beyond this, John indicates business vocabulary needs to change to adapt to a new mindset.

John believes we are only using about 10-15% of the power of the Internet. The potential represents an extraordinary opportunity ahead.

Money and scale are not enough. It takes the right attitude. And any entrepreneur or company who adopts a net attitude has a sustainable advantage that will propel them to greater success.

 

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“Think big, act bold, start simple, and iterate fast.” –John Patrick

 

Copyright John Patrick, Used by Permission Copyright John Patrick, Used by Permission

6 Ways to Create A Magnetic Mindset and Attract Business

Build A Magnetic Brand

 

Why do some businesses overflow with customers while others barely make it?

How do you attract customers?

What are the growth strategies that leading businesses use to gain momentum?

 

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“Great work is magnetic.” -Joe Calloway

 

Joe Calloway has studied businesses that consistently create positive experiences. His new book, Magnetic: The Art Of Attracting Business, is a look behind the scenes at the strategy, the people, and the art behind becoming a magnetic business. In these organizations, growth is a result of happy customers sending more and more business and referrals. Employees are happy, helping to recruit others. And the momentum continues unabated to create even more success.

I recently talked with Joe about what it takes to become a magnetic business.

 

Become a Magnetic Business

Would you share one example of a business that is magnetic?

Pancake PantryI think that the business pictured on the first page of the book is a classic example of a magnetic business. The Pancake Pantry has a line of customers in front every morning, rain or shine, sleet or snow. This truly is what every business of any kind aspires to: to have customers so loyal to and enthusiastic about your business that they’d be willing to stand in line, in the rain, to give you their money.

Pancake Pantry excels at the basics of what a restaurant should be and have, including a great location, great food, great service.  But here’s the lesson:  there are no gimmicks.  There’s no contrived “wow” factor.  They simply offer excellent value to their customers, and those customers tell other customers.  Thus, the line out front.

 

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“It’s very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better.” -Jony Ive

 

6 Factors to Creating a Magnetic Mindset

You start your book by recognizing that, “Becoming magnetic is a way of thinking.”  How do leaders develop the magnetic mindset?

I think there are a handful of basic factors at work that create a magnetic mindset:

  1. Always be focused on creating value for your customers.
  2. Simplify the way you think about your business.  Don’t overthink it.  Don’t over-complicate it.
  3. Never underestimate your competition.
  4. Be exceptionally easy to work with.
  5. Make sure that the other guy wins.
  6. Be consistently excellent.  Consistency of performance is the great brand builder.

If you let these factors guide your thinking, you’ve got a magnetic mindset.

 

Don’t Overdo Social Media

You teach and talk about the importance of social media but also about overthinking, overworking or overdoing its role relative to everything else. As I say this, what comes to mind as “magnetic advice” about social media?

Social media is vitally important in today’s marketplace and becoming more important all the time.  Of course you should participate on social media, but be selective.  You don’t have to be on everything – that would take up all your time and drive you crazy trying to keep up.  Where is your target market?  If they’re on Pintrest, be there with them.  My market is on twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, so that’s where I am.

But here’s the key:  What you say about yourself on social media is insignificant in importance and impact compared to what your customers/clients say about you.  No ad campaign in the world has the positive impact of having 100 reviews of your business with almost all of them being 5 Star reviews.

The way to use social media to grow your business and attract new customers is to do such a great job on a handful of vitally important things that matter to your customers.  That’s really one of the core messages in Magnetic: The Art Of Attracting Business.

 

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Nielsen: 43% of consumers more likely to buy when learning about it through social media.

 

What’s your version of win-win?

9781119147343.pdfThe Win-Win strategy is what has made me successful.  It’s the single most powerful strategy known and is the foundation of how any consistently successful business or individual relates to other people.

My version of Win-Win is to always think in terms of what kind of experience my actions will create for my clients and others.  How does doing business with me make them feel?

We all want people to love doing business with us, and if we are to create that, then we have to play Win-Win with them.

It’s the simplest and most effective relationship and business strategy known.

 

6 Factors to Create a Magnetic Mindset

 

  1. Always be focused on creating value for your customers.
  2. Simplify the way you think about your business.  Don’t overthink it.  Don’t over-complicate it.
  3. Never underestimate your competition.
  4. Be exceptionally easy to work with.
  5. Make sure that the other guy wins.
  6. Be consistently excellent.  Consistency of performance is the great brand builder.

 

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“When you say no to the wrong people, it opens up the space for the right people to come in.” -Joe Calloway

Key Benefits of Internal Brand Building

This is a guest post by Simone Smith, a writer at Online Courses Australia. She believes that inspiring company culture and work-life balance are keys to success.

Internal Branding Matters

Internal branding refers to the process of providing employees with the training and education they need to support, understand, protect, and advocate for your brand’s mission. A critical part of expanding a successful business is internal branding.

In fact, internal branding should matter to companies of all sizes, from the solo professional to the Fortune 500 company. The reason for this is very basic: If you and your employees can’t fully get behind and believe in your brand, how can you expect complete strangers to become lifelong loyal customers?

 

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“Strong brands are built on unshakable values and authenticity.” -Simone Smith


Here are some of the key benefits of internal branding for your company:

Develop a relationship between the brand and employees

With internal branding, you are essentially handing your employees the keys to unlocking the secret to the mystery of how they are integral to the overall company mission as well as the vision for the brand. Employees discover how the job they do affects how the brand is viewed by customers.

 

Develop better relations between coworkers

Shared goals between coworkers are a proven way to bring people together to create a cohesive team. The same can be said for sharing a powerful brand vision. When employees share a strong belief in what they are working toward, productivity and morale go way up. Employees also become more vocal advocates for the brand.

 

Improve hiring and retention

Believing in the brand’s promise and feeling passionate about being an important member of the team that helps bring that brand’s promise into reality for the customers helps employees remain loyal to the company. When a company gains a reputation for having happy, passionate employees, it is easier to keep people from leaving to explore other opportunities. Likewise, it is so much easier to attract great talent when prospective employees know they will be treated well and enjoy working in an encouraging, community-like atmosphere.

 

Internal branding builds character within an organization

Strong brands are built on unshakable values and authenticity. When a brand spreads its message and vision internally, employees are encouraged to adopt the same values the company has shown that they prize. This makes it less likely that employees will act in ways that are counter to the brand’s accepted culture and values. This promises a more consistent brand experience for every customer who buys from you.

 

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“If you and your employees don’t believe in your brand, how can you expect strangers to become lifelong customers?” -Simone Smith

How to Create Repeatable Success and Endless Encores

Repeating Success

 

Ever feel frozen in place?

Have you seen something take off and then get consumed with worry about what’s next?

How do we create an encore worthy of that success?

 

Ken Goldstein’s new book, Endless Encores: Repeating Success Through People, Products, and Profits, tackles the difficult topic of creating continued, repeatable success. His various corporate roles make him uniquely suited to share his perspective on success. Currently, he is Chairman & CEO of SHOP.COM and previously he was Executive VP of Disney Online and Publisher of Broderbund.

 

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“All success resets expectations for what comes next.” -Ken Goldstein

 

How to Create Repeatable Success

You wrote a fictional story about a topic that seems to haunt many: repeating success. Why did you choose this topic?

I think there are two challenges that weigh heavily on our minds at work: first, how do we achieve success, and second, once we achieve some success, is that the last success we are going to have? In many senses, the second challenge is much more haunting than the first. When we’re initially trying to break through the noise and get noticed, we have nothing to lose, so our leaning toward risk is high and our openness to the unusual is ungated. We are open to helping others, and we welcome their help because together we are stronger. Once we have a reputation of any kind, fear starts creeping into the mix. No one wants to be a one-hit wonder, but often we become our own worst enemy and unintentionally box ourselves in. We worry about our next thing being compared to our last thing. That worry can filter our creativity, our bias to action, even our kindness toward others as competitiveness takes over. None of that negativity helps us win again at all, it just clouds the way forward. That’s why I chose this topic. So many people I know are consumed by it, overwhelmed by it, and sometimes frozen in place. The colleagues I’ve helped in person in a leadership capacity have continued to move forward with the new, and I thought if I could capture that spirit of innovation in a story with real characters, I could inspire others to keep looking forward and only forward.

 

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“Leadership is earned and recognized, not granted.” -Ken Goldstein

 

Why We Learn More From Failure

Why is success difficult to repeat? After all, if you did it once, you can follow the same process . . . or not?

Ken GoldsteinHere’s what I have discovered repeatedly: You can almost never recreate a success, but it is absolutely predictable that you can recreate a failure. That’s why we learn more from failure than we do from success. In failure, we learn what not to do again. It didn’t work, so put that on your list of things you don’t need to try again. In success, if we do the same thing again, or even a modest alteration, we will not create the same inventiveness or excitement that we did with the original. Something can only be unique once, and success is usually unique. That’s why it is so hard to repeat success, because no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, all that is in the past, and you must start from zero. It’s also why I say you’re not really failing if you’re learning, because the learning is what sends you back to try again. When we embrace the empowerment and humility of starting over, releasing defensiveness and facing the blank canvass with a set of trusted colleagues, we have the best shot at repeat success, which is the same shot we had at first success. Accept that and innovation is all you need to worry about (and that’s plenty).

 

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“Offer customers more than what they think they want.” -Ken Goldstein

 

Build a Mission That is More than Words

What’s the best way to have a mission that is “more than words”?

When a company’s mission statement is in a binder on the shelf or buried in the company handbook, it’s dead text — it means nothing and empowers no one. Shared values are what drive people to work together and innovate. A set of shared values allows a mission to be more than words, but only if those around us embrace the values with authenticity and conviction. We live in a cynical world where conflicting data and untested opinions are communicated broadly in real time. If we say “our people are our most valuable asset” and then lay off 20% of our staff because of a bad quarter, was that a shared value? If we say, “We cherish integrity here,” and then our CEO resigns for unexplained reasons around a publicly broadcast compensation scandal, what happened to our commitment to integrity? Walk the walk, lead by example, and you can get the people around you to rally to any cause you share, but you must share it as a set of consistent actions (emphasis on “consistent”), not a slogan.

 

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“Long-term leaders spend the majority of their thinking about talent.” -Ken Goldstein

 

3 Steps to Building a Winning Team