September 13th, 2009
A great successful brand has a plan for various uses of their identity. No possibility is too small or too out there to be considered. Implementation of branding at every level is key to closing the sale when you can’t be there for the hard sale. The sale is in the details and if you’re not there too then you’re losing out.
In today’s increasingly cluttered landscape consumers are vigilantly filtering out their attention. In order to grab a hold of their subconscious and conciousness minds your brand needs to be subtly placed. All the better if you do it a self-referential ironic or unforeseen way. Bonus points for collaboration.
I’m on the train. I’m listening to music. I’m reading a book. I’m playing with my multimedia phone. I’m writing something. I’m doing ALL of this at once. I’m doing all this to block out outside influences on my way to wherever I’m going in my one last area of zen in the outside world. Your advertising and constant bombardment has forced me to put up my defenses. So how do you as a successful brand break through that barrier?
Any type of countermeasure must be done with the most delicate of hands. I’m already guarding against the big in-your-face branded gestures. By the time a sneak attack is realized it’s already too late. My defenses are down and I’m thinking about your brand in a different light.
By taking the time to invest in the details I realize that you’ve taken the time and money to invest in me. As a savvy consumer I know that every little bit of branding costs money. I appreciate it especially when you do so with a fine brush rather than a spraygun.
Even when I’m not conscious of these small details, on some level I’m registering it. That’s the most important part of this whole journey- the soft sell, the long tail, buying a customer’s mindshare. If your brand is interesting enough in a way that I can’t get you out of my head long after your ingenious piece of branding is gone then ultimately you’ve won.
It could be something as simple as having your brand colors be represented on something as trivial as a straw. Regardless of what it is for you just realize that there IS something there for you. If you don’t do it be sure that someone will do it and is probably already doing it.
Tags: advertisers, advice, benefit, bombardment, bonus points, collaboration, communicating, communication, communications, consumers, core values, costs money, different light, feelings, gestures, goals, ingenious piece, interaction, interactions, journey, knowledge, landscape, life, little bit, mindshare, network, networked, networking, personalities, personality, productivity, savvy consumer, sneak attack, social, taking the time, time and money, Value, zen
Posted in branding, business, featured | No Comments »
September 12th, 2009
You are not Chris Brogan, Brian Solis or Gary Vaynerchuk. You’re not Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki or even Robert Kiosaki. And neither am I. You’re you and I’m me. You’re not a rockstar. The moment you come to terms with that then you can truly live and love your life.
All of these men mentioned above aren’t overnight successes and don’t just glide along in life. They have been plugging away day in and day out at their claim to fame for years. Practice does indeed make perfect.
These are ordinary men who have achieved success by having passion about something they believe in on a consistent basis. Keywords – passion, believe, consistent. There’s a lesson here in which they are to be admired but by no means deified. Take a page from their books, literally – all of these men are published authors as well.
To paraphrase Gary Vaynerchuck, if everyone would stop consuming so much media and produce more content then we’d all be that much richer. Stop being so concerned with what certain rockstars are doing and be more concerned with what you’re doing.
Find out what you do well and do it, a lot. This may sound simple enough but in today’s media saturated society we increasingly have fragmented attention spans. Cut everything else except one or two things that you love and excel at. Now become legendary in your niche.
As Einstein once said ‘Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration‘. If you’re any sort of inspired genius you’ll learn to perspire and love it, then your fans will love you for the rockstar that you truly are.
Tags: advice, benefit, brian solis, chris brogan, claim to fame, communicating, communication, communications, consistent basis, core values, einstein, feelings, gary vaynerchuck, genius is 1 inspiration and 99 perspiration, goals, guy kawasaki, inspiration, interaction, interactions, knowledge, life, network, networked, networking, niche, ordinary men, overnight successes, paraphrase, passion, personalities, personality, productivity, robert kiosaki, rockstar, rockstars, s media, Seth Godin, social, Value
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June 27th, 2009
Michael Jackson is an icon of our time who will always be remembered as the King of Pop. Pepsi is the King of (Soda)Pop, especially in social media. The combination of these legendary icons resulted in a series of commercials that will go down in branding history as a marriage made in heaven.
Here is a sampling of their work together:
Pepsi continues to be influenced by Michael Jackson even today and is primed to make the most of their heritage:
If Pepsi can create a Jacksons World Tour can back in ’84 they surely can create a
Michael Jackson Tribute can. This is an epic moment in history for everyone especially them:
Generation Y.
Millenials.
Me, I’m a part of the Pepsi Generation.
RIP MJ.
Tags: brand, branding, commercials, consumer, consumers, core values, design, generalities, generation y, heritage, influencer, interactions, jacksons, king of pop, legendary icons, marketing, marriage, marriage made in heaven, media, michael jackson, mj, origins, pepsi, pepsi generation, personalities, personality, sampling, selling, social, soda pop, tribute, video
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June 18th, 2009
On June 8th 2009 Microsoft took an unprecedented move in advertising their new search engine Bing. They subsidized all commercials on Hulu for a limited time period. In exchange for that they produced something akin to a telethon meets an infomercial- the Bing-a-thon. The Bing-a-thon is something that has never been done before online.
Microsoft is getting it right with the marketing of Bing. They understand that search should be easy. They understand that in order to learn about something it should be fun. People don’t want to be lectured. We want to be entertained. Disguise learning in entertainment and you have just created an educated consumer. Here’s what some of you took away from the Hulu Microsoft Bing-a-thon:
Some of you were:
Compelled
destroytoday The Bing a-thon is like a gruesome car accident. I keep wanting to look away, but can’t seem to close the window: http://bit.ly/zHpPT
RobLaughton is bing-a-thon really made by the one of the most powerful company in the world? It’s sooooo bad, yet strangely compelling……
latitude46 Bing-a-thon is simply terrible, but I just can’t look away. God help us all.
JaysonElliot Watching the live “bing-a-thon” on Hulu right now. I can’t tell if they’re attempting irony or not. It’s all too self-referential.
Informed
mariogvasquez watched the bing-a-thon on hulu.com. Sudeikis is funny Olivia was hot. Fred Wilard was awkward. Did learn some cool stuff about bing.com
aznsclboi Bing-a-thon over… I’m not sure I’m smarter for watching this… but eh, at least I know how to Bing now.
Repelled
johnyjuice OMG….wth #bing-a-thon that is time spent I WILL NEVER get back! Thank you #Google for not EVER doing that!
jbruin @AlexBurdz I’m really hoping that MS spent most of that 80/100 mil on ads cause bing-a-thon was an epic disaster
Interested
arturot the Bing-a-thon is awesome, haha so cheesy but actually very fun. I hope they make the entire event available later on.
bajanx What an idea by Microsoft having a Bing a Thon on such a recognized website like HULU. How much will this help popularize “THE BING”?
{The interesting thing to note here is that Microsoft made it easy to share the telecast in Facebook and Twitter AND the message that was shared was updated according to what was happening on the Bing-a-thon. Notice the same bit.ly link.}
Promoters
Radums I just made some dude eat like 40 cupcakes. Go to hulu and check out the Bing-a-thon. http://bit.ly/avTj0
yotobari288 I just finished watching the Bing-a-thon with Olivia Munn, Jason Sudeikis, and Fred Willard. It’s running again on hulu http://bit.ly/avTj0
lakkineni Olivia Munn is live on hulu’s Bing-a-thon right now. Come watch it. You’re welcome. http://bit.ly/avTj0
{Of note here is that some found such value in the automated shared message that they reshared it. Some (myself) changed the message & left the automated link only to have others share that message as well.}
Sharers
SanjayJain369 RT @astanton: Fred Willard from Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman is on hulu’s Bing-a-thon right now. Come watch. http://bit.ly/avTj0
katriord RT @db It may not be ‘cool’ to like Microsoft but they get relevant marketing = Live Bing-a-thon http://bit.ly/avTj0
My conclusion? Microsoft made the right decision to market Bing the way they did. People were clearly informed. These are the people that are likely to use Bing over and over again. The people who were compelled (as well as the promoters/sharers) are likely to tell their friends of the funny cool thing they saw and interacted with. Bing has a funny name. It can make you think of Friends’ Chandler Bing or evoke a sound. The bottom line is this: Microsoft wanted to educate its consumers and brand Bing’s personality at the same time. Mission completed.
Only time will tell if people adopt Bing as their default search engine. Right now people have turned the proper noun ‘Google’ into a verb by saying ‘google it’. I can definitely see people adopting Bing in the verb sense. They may say ‘bing it’ if someone wants to know specific information about something or ‘bing’ as a verb may just eclipse ‘google’. Google may provide tons of search results but that’s also its downfall. Microsoft may not say Google in their ad but they might as well, as I’m sure many of you have felt the same frustration:
Microsoft’s differentiator? Their tagline: “It’s not just a search engine. It’s the first ever decision engine, from Microsoft.”
While Google is focusing on Wave, Microsoft is taking this chance to make search more relevant. Yes, many of us are excited for real-time email etc etc BUT frankly I’m more excited with relevant search. The internet has become our default for information. I’m hard-pressed to find anyone who actually uses encyclopedias and dictionaries in dead-tree format. I already have Twitter for real-time info as well as instant messages. E-mail and document editing are fast enough for me now.
Make your customer’s life easier in a timely and relevant way and you’ve won their hearts. I’m sure Google has something up their sleeve for semantic web but until that day you can just Bing me.
Tags: attempts, automation, Bing, brand, branding, car accident, commercials, consumer, consumers, cool stuff, differential, disaster, disguise, email, event, excitement, Facebook, friends, frustration, fun people, god, Google, heart, hearts, Hulu, infomercial, interaction, interactions, irony, life, limited, limited time, marketing, Microsoft, noun, personalities, personality, powerful company, promotions, referential, relevance, tagline, technology, telethon, time period, twitter, unprecedented move, update, Value, video, wilard
Posted in branding, business, featured, technology | No Comments »
June 10th, 2009
I’m all for great branding, as you can see in one of my previous posts, Simple Branding. Branding should look, sound and feel good. It should be cool, catchy and let people know quickly what your brand is all about. But, there is another critical branding component that will make or break your brand. I call it The UN-Brand.
The UN-Brand is what evolves from your brand, rather unintentionally. It’s the culture, personality and tenor of your brand. It’s what people are left with after an encounter with your company, its people and your service. It speaks just as loudly as your masthead or logo, even more so. It can make or break your brand.
How you treat your customers, your brand voice, enthusiasm for your product, services and clients, how your employees and customers are valued, and other intangibles make up your UN-Brand. They are the unwritten, unspoken qualities that exude from your brand. It’s what people are saying about you once you walk away or after you’ve performed a service. It’s more than customer service. The UN-Brand develops from within and comes from the core values that your company and Brand actually embrace and embody. It’s the “how” behind the “what” of your brand. It’s the character of your company and how you get the job done that makes up your UN-Brand.
Your UN-Brand will reveal itself on its own. I’ve witnessed this with my own brand. My area of expertise is Strategic Communications and Relationship Building skills, specifically, Social Media, Business Communications, and Interpersonal Interactions. I teach and train people how to communicate effectively, position and promote their brand, attract customers and get great results. If you look at comments from customers and clients who interact with me, you’ll hear words like: dynamic, inspiring, joyful, open-hearted, motivating, insightful, authentic, transparent, and compelling. Not much to do with the what of my brand but a lot about how I get the job done.
Another great example of UN-Branding in action is the SAS Corporation. SAS is the definitive leader in analysis and business software. They are known worldwide for excellence in analytics. They’re also known for some amazing things that have nothing to do with their brand that clearly set them apart from other companies. SAS is known for how well they treat their employees.
I would argue that it is probably one of the biggest reasons that their products are great and they have such wide success without being a publicly traded company. In an article by 60 Minutes called “Working the Good Life“, you find that the company has only 3% turnover, offers employees a 90% discount to the company owned country club, has in-house social workers to help employees with problems and so much more. They’ve developed a culture of creativity, innovation and results through treating people as if they are a valued, trusted resource.
Some of the intangible qualities that make up the UN-Brand
- Trust
- Transparency
- Authenticity
- Empathy
- Outlook and Attitude
- Creativity
- Culture
- Community Involvement
- Charisma
How to develop a great UN-Brand
Ask yourself the following questions to develop a great presence.
- How do we want to be perceived by customers, suppliers, vendors and employees?
- What are our Core Values?
- How do we want employees and customers to feel as a result of a business relationship or employment with our company?
Allow these three questions to be the platform of developing your mission and vision statements for your company and your brand.
The ends do not justify the means. Attention to how we grow is just as important as the growth. I challenge people to consider how they want to be perceived in the marketplace and think of those intangible qualities that go beyond efficiency and numbers. Allow that desired perception to guide your brand as well. While numbers and results are critically important, none of it matters if you, your company or employees have poor interactions, communication and encounters with clients and customers.
Brands and companies are made up of living, breathing people who are interacting with other people to provide a product or service. How your customers feel about the service along with the service itself keeps them coming back. By attention to the how everything gets done, your desired perception and how you want people to, UN-Brand
Tags: about, authenticity, brand, branding, business, business communications, commenters, communicating, communication, communications, core values, creativity, customer service, desire, encounter, feelings, follower, inspiration, intangibles, interaction, interactions, interpersonal interactions, job, life, masthead, media, media business, motivator, perception, personalities, personality, platforms, productivity, promotions, relationship, social, strategic communications, tenor, transparency, Value, walks, words
Posted in branding, business, featured | 4 Comments »
May 30th, 2009
Recently I had an encounter with @Just_Janie on Twitter. She told me she started a new account for her company @HouseofJerky. I proceeded to tell her that I’m not too big on jerky. She then offered to send me some of her jerky complimentary.
If you’re not always listening and paying attention as well as networking then you’re not doing enough. Janie Honeycutt was having a conversation with me on what was new with her. She wasn’t trying to force a product on me or sell me on it’s benefits. What she did was build upon a relationship and offer usefulness where applicable.
I could go into detail about each and every jerky but I won’t. I will tell you that the encounter and the person behind the company makes the product shine more. Running a business nowadays is all about timeliness and relevance. House Of Jerky took both of those into consideration when building on our relationship.
The key here is that this selling approach is a part of the long tail. She got to know me first. She sold me on me, me on her and ultimately me on our relationship. Once I buy into who you are I’ll definitely buy into what you have. Taking the time out to care about each and every one of your customers as they were an individual person ingratiates you in their hearts.
There’s no secret to this. This is about being a real person and wanting to connect. We all know we have something to sell. Take the selling out of the equation so the buying can exist more easily.
(notice the personalized 'Enjoy DB' card)
I haven’t tried jerky before so it was really thoughtful of Janie to send a House Of Jerky sampler. It included beef, buffalo, venison, ostrich, and turkey in hot, sweet & spicy, teriyaki, black pepper and exotic flavors. I recommend finding out which jerky you love by trying the All Flavors Jr. Variety Pack. It’s inexpensive ($36.99) as well as all-encompassing. The best thing about the jerky besides it’s taste (you’ve got to try the Teriyaki) is that it’s all-natural. I actually understand what I’m eating.
When someone gives me something I do not feel obligated to say anything about it. It’s only when I am truly impressed OR dismayed that I do. In the case of House of Jerky, Janie Honeycutt’s interactions with me laid the groundwork to allow her products to shine on their own merit. The interaction IS a part of the selling process. You’re fooling yourself if you think you can just push product alone.
With so many options of equal value, the great differentiator is real, open and honest interactions. A great product will sell itself but an even greater salesman will sell you on you. Care about the transaction from the start to the finish. Selling starts with the customer AND ends with the customer ALWAYS.
Tags: benefit, black pepper, branding, buffalo, business, communicating, communication, communications, consumer, consumers, conversation, conversations, differential, encounter, feelings, flavors, fool, heart, hearts, interaction, interactions, listening, marketing, network, networked, networking, ostrich, paying attention, personalities, personality, productivity, real person, relationship, relevance, running a business, selling, social, social media, taking the time, timeliness, turkey, twitter, Value, variety pack, venison
Posted in branding, business, featured | 1 Comment »
May 29th, 2009
Follow Friday is a plague on Twitter and social media. It’s a Trojan Horse. It’s a seemingly harmless interaction wrapped in niceties. Even giving in to it one bit is fueling the fire even more. You’re a part of the problem if you’re not a part of the solution. Here’s why those who participate in follow friday don’t get social media and never will.
Social media isn’t about sharing at all costs. It’s about sharing at the best cost. It’s about pull NOT push.
Let’s relate follow friday into offline terms. You’re at a party (I know, because social media is one big party) and someone walks in saying that everyone there MUST know Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane. Now that’s not exactly social is it? The person literally just disrupted the party to tell everyone who they SHOULD know. It doesn’t matter if you know the disrupter or not. What matters is that the disrupter decided that their opinion was worth more than yours. They didn’t think of you first.
Social media is about pull. Social media is about personalization. Social media is about those two things plus connections. Take out pull and personalization and you just have the old way of doing things- a connection based on me telling you what to do. When you act without thinking of others first you come up with a bunch of unintended consequences.
To those of you who are moving Follow Friday off of Twitter to other areas I have one word of advice to you: don’t. You are the worst type of person, the enabler. SOCIAL MEDIA ISN’T ABOUT YOU. Social media is about everyone else. Start thinking of them first, not yourself. Blanket recommendations are akin to stereotypes- you’re covering a large landscape and inadvertently encompassing those who shouldn’t be involved in the first place.
The only way to break the cycle of me me ME is to think about you you YOU. If you care about the person you are promoting enough then TRULY care about them. Shouting to the world why they’re great is a step in the right direction but it doesn’t go far enough or stay true to social media. Personalize it.
Others and I have resorted to avoiding Twitter altogether on Fridays. The noise is so loud it drowns out the actual useful signal. I schedule blog posts around Friday now. If I’m writing about someone else they tell me to post it any day BUT Friday. This is the law of unintended consequences. It won’t be long until Friday is a day without any substance- the social media equivalent to junk food. It tastes good but you get sick of too much of it.
Remember, this is a party. What’s more meaningful- Having someone you may or may not know well proceed to tell the whole party exactly why Zoe is amazing OR having someone you know well introduce you two to each other because they feel the both of you would be a great fit? See the difference?
Social networking is a whole different ball game. Wait, no it isn’t. If you wouldn’t dream of doing what you do online in an offline setting then don’t do it. If you still think it’s okay to shout how awesome people are at other people (no matter how in-depth you get) then maybe you shouldn’t be in social media. Social media is about them not you. It’s not your time to shine it’s their time to shine. Be useful and thoughtful in all your interactions by micro-personalizing them.
THINK how your actions will affect another person before you do them. When you think of the other person first then it leaves little room for misinterpretation. Don’t be ‘that guy’ at the party and ruin it for everyone. Be the AMAZING party host that introduces two guests to one another. I GUARANTEE people will be talking about YOU before long.
Tags: advice, benefit, brand, communicating, communication, communications, conversation, disrupter, feelings, follower, friends, interaction, interactions, knowledge, landscape, life, media, network, networked, networking, niceties, personalities, personality, plague, promotions, social, social media, step in the right direction, stereotypes, thoughtfulness, trojan horse, twitter, unintended consequences, Value, walks, word of advice, words, zoe duncan jack and jane
Posted in featured, social media | 4 Comments »
May 20th, 2009
I usually don’t reblog anything but sometimes I come across something that is so on point that there’s no need for me to say it any other way. The following about core values is from the United States government National Park Service training website:
What are Core Values?
The core values of an organization are those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves. We have an entire universe of values, but some of them are so primary, so important to us that through out the changes in society, government, politics, and technology they are STILL the core values we will abide by.
In an ever-changing world, core values are constant. Core values are not descriptions of the work we do or the strategies we employ to accomplish our mission. The values underlie our work, how interact with each other, and which strategies we employ to fulfill our mission. The core values are the basic elements of how we go about our work. They are the practices we use (or should be using) every day in everything we do.
CORE VALUES:
- Govern personal relationships
- Guide business processes
- Clarify who we are
- Articulate what we stand for
- Help explain why we do business the way we do
- Guide us on how to teach
- Inform us on how to reward
- Guide us in making decisions
- Underpin the whole organization
- Require no external justification
- Essential tenets
CORE VALUES ARE NOT:
- Operating practices
- Business strategies
- Cultural norms
- Competencies
- Changed in response to market/ administration changes
- Used individually
By Way of Comparison
By way of comparison, here are examples of Core Values identified by other organizations.
DISNEY – to make people happy.
- Nurture and promulgate wholesome American values.
- Creativity, Dream, Imagination.
- Preservation and control of the Disney magic.
- Absolute, meticulous attention to detail
MERCK – to preserve and improve human life.
- Corporate social responsibility.
- Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company.
- Science-based innovation.
- Honesty and integrity.
- Profit – from work that benefits humanity.
SONY – to experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public.
- Elevation of Japanese culture and national status.
- Being a pioneer, not following others, doing the impossible.
- Encouraging individual ability and creativitiy.
U.S. ARMY
- Courage – Face fear, danger or adversity.
- Duty – Fulfill your obligations.
- Honor – Live up to all Army values.
- Integrity – Do what’s right, legally and morally.
- Loyalty – Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit and other soldiers.
- Respect – Treat people as they should be treated.
- Service – Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own.
Our Core Values are a statement of the framework in which we accomplish our Mission. They express the manner in which, both individually and collectively, we pursue our mission. When we are challenged in fulfilling our mission, our Core Values sustain us and guide us in meeting the challenge. - National Leadership Council, 2001
Tags: american values, basic elements, benefit, brand, branding, business, business processes, business strategies, collectibles, communicating, communication, core values, creativity, cultural norms, experiences, experiment, follower, government politics, guide business, happiness, imagination, integrity, interaction, interactions, justification, life, marketing, merck, meticulous attention, moral, national park service, nurture, organization, personal relationships, personalities, personality, politics, politics and technology, profitability, relationships guide, responsibility, social, strategy, technology, Tenets, united states government, Value
Posted in branding, business, featured, life | No Comments »
May 19th, 2009
What’s in a great brand?
You are.
A bad brand pushes their products on you. A good brand sells their benefits to you.A great brand sells you to you.
- A great brand shows you how you are integral to them.
- A great brand personalizes your experience.
- A great brand draws you in because you see yourself there.
- A great brand compels you to share so your friends want to get involved.
- A great brand knows that the most important thing to you is you.
- A great brand is a great host.
- A great host makes sure that each guest is the center of attention.
A great brand doesn’t tell you how you need them.
A great brand shows you how they need you.
Terminate Yourself | Trek Yourself
via Adam Cohen‘s blog A Thousand Cuts Is User Generated Content the New Campaign Standard?
Tags: benefit, brand, branding, consumers, experiences, experiment, friends, integrity, networking, personalities, personality, productivity, selling, social, technology, Value
Posted in branding, featured, life | 4 Comments »
The UN-Brand
I’m all for great branding, as you can see in one of my previous posts, Simple Branding. Branding should look, sound and feel good. It should be cool, catchy and let people know quickly what your brand is all about. But, there is another critical branding component that will make or break your brand. I call it The UN-Brand.
The UN-Brand is what evolves from your brand, rather unintentionally. It’s the culture, personality and tenor of your brand. It’s what people are left with after an encounter with your company, its people and your service. It speaks just as loudly as your masthead or logo, even more so. It can make or break your brand.
How you treat your customers, your brand voice, enthusiasm for your product, services and clients, how your employees and customers are valued, and other intangibles make up your UN-Brand. They are the unwritten, unspoken qualities that exude from your brand. It’s what people are saying about you once you walk away or after you’ve performed a service. It’s more than customer service. The UN-Brand develops from within and comes from the core values that your company and Brand actually embrace and embody. It’s the “how” behind the “what” of your brand. It’s the character of your company and how you get the job done that makes up your UN-Brand.
Your UN-Brand will reveal itself on its own. I’ve witnessed this with my own brand. My area of expertise is Strategic Communications and Relationship Building skills, specifically, Social Media, Business Communications, and Interpersonal Interactions. I teach and train people how to communicate effectively, position and promote their brand, attract customers and get great results. If you look at comments from customers and clients who interact with me, you’ll hear words like: dynamic, inspiring, joyful, open-hearted, motivating, insightful, authentic, transparent, and compelling. Not much to do with the what of my brand but a lot about how I get the job done.
Another great example of UN-Branding in action is the SAS Corporation. SAS is the definitive leader in analysis and business software. They are known worldwide for excellence in analytics. They’re also known for some amazing things that have nothing to do with their brand that clearly set them apart from other companies. SAS is known for how well they treat their employees.
I would argue that it is probably one of the biggest reasons that their products are great and they have such wide success without being a publicly traded company. In an article by 60 Minutes called “Working the Good Life“, you find that the company has only 3% turnover, offers employees a 90% discount to the company owned country club, has in-house social workers to help employees with problems and so much more. They’ve developed a culture of creativity, innovation and results through treating people as if they are a valued, trusted resource.
Some of the intangible qualities that make up the UN-Brand
How to develop a great UN-Brand
Ask yourself the following questions to develop a great presence.
Allow these three questions to be the platform of developing your mission and vision statements for your company and your brand.
The ends do not justify the means. Attention to how we grow is just as important as the growth. I challenge people to consider how they want to be perceived in the marketplace and think of those intangible qualities that go beyond efficiency and numbers. Allow that desired perception to guide your brand as well. While numbers and results are critically important, none of it matters if you, your company or employees have poor interactions, communication and encounters with clients and customers.
Brands and companies are made up of living, breathing people who are interacting with other people to provide a product or service. How your customers feel about the service along with the service itself keeps them coming back. By attention to the how everything gets done, your desired perception and how you want people to, UN-Brand
Tags: about, authenticity, brand, branding, business, business communications, commenters, communicating, communication, communications, core values, creativity, customer service, desire, encounter, feelings, follower, inspiration, intangibles, interaction, interactions, interpersonal interactions, job, life, masthead, media, media business, motivator, perception, personalities, personality, platforms, productivity, promotions, relationship, social, strategic communications, tenor, transparency, Value, walks, words
Posted in branding, business, featured | 4 Comments »