Tune in every Monday at 5:20pm to KPEL FM 105.1 on your radio or online at www.kpel1051.com for another installment of Brand Buzz. On this week’s episode of Brand Buzz we will be talking about how important branding is in the job market.
Whether your company is looking to attract the best and brightest through a recruitment campaign or you personally or on the hunt for a new job, the principles of branding are the best, and only, way of ensuring success.
If you would like additional information, please click here to download the free ebook and learn more about how important branding is to the job recruitment effort.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions for the show. If you haven’t already, subscribe to receive the Razor Branding Blog either via email or reader to receive daily updates and information regarding branding.
The state of Louisiana had a game changing play. The 44 year old Saints franchise won the Super Bowl. There are a lot of analysts on ESPN that will tell you about what this means to football. There will be discussion by the pundits for months to come about whether Brees is the greatest quarterback in the NFL right now. They seem committed to give that crown to Peyton Manning even though Brees has been ranked higher in completions and yards for the entire season. But that’s their conversation.
For the Saints to have won their first ever Super Bowl championship is a game changer for the people of the state. Three years ago Sean Payton became the head coach and he recruited Drew Brees to be his quarterback. They collected a string of players that had been late draftees or cut from other teams. But they believed. And so did we.
That first year was also the first year that the Dome sold out of season tickets. That first year they made it to the playoffs and it was a soul lifting experience for the state.
But this year was different. This year they started out 13-0 and everyone believed that after all of these years, the team didn’t have a winning season until the 22nd year, this was going to be THE year.
Even when they lost the last three regular season games, we believed.
Even in an overtime nail biter for the NFC Championship, we believed.
Even down 10-0 at the beginning of the Super Bowl game, we believed.
The Saints have inspired the state and we have inspired them. It’s a mutual love affair. And this is the beginning of a dynasty. These guys are young and they’ve only just begun.
There is celebrating in the streets throughout Louisiana and not because of Mardi Gras. This is economic development of the best kind. A state that has always been at the bottom of the good lists has made the top of some great ones lately. And a team that has always been one of the most losing in the NFL is now the Super Bowl champion. That isn’t a coincidence. It’s about community and support and believing.
Devil Eats First Snowball in Freezing Brees
And You Thought Walking on Water Was Big
Churches cancelled Sunday evening services so everyone could be together to watch the game.
Stores reopened after the game to sell Campionship merchandise.
People celebrated in the streets with strangers and popped fireworks.
This is a new day for this team and this state. We believe. And that means that anything is possible.
There is no stronger connection than an emotional one built on heart. There is no better way to re-brand, a team or a state, than through accomplishing great things and believing it is so. The brand of this team and this state has become greater than the sum of their parts. That is branding at it’s best. Not because of ads but from a great product.
Recently, Google implemented a new feature called “real time search”. With search engine optimization being the big prize that everyone is striving to maintain, this could really put a wrench in the works.
Now Facebook and Twitter status updates are a part of that record.
Google Real Time Search for Brand
Think about what that could mean for your company or product. Now anyone that references you in a Facebook or Twitter post, posts that they think might be only seen by their friends, will now show up to the world.
Inc. Magazine reported that 90% of purchases are made after online research. When your consumer goes online to research you, they won’t just find informed analysis, they will also find comments made by anyone, even your competitors.
Are you protecting your reputation?
If not, you have to start doing so now. Your brand is to value to have someone hijack it. It only takes one negative comment to turn off a potential consumer.
What do you do?
Make sure the names of your key executives, company, products, etc are all claimed on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Set up a “Listening Station” either through Google Alerts or a service like Radian 6 to know what is being said about you
Create your own messages. Be proactive with telling the story about your company and product.
Have a crises communication plan so you have a proactive solution ready if someone starts attacking your brand.
It’s not too late, but you need to start now. Prepare yourself.
It’s not just consumers that can be affected. What about your shareholders. How valuable will your stock feel to them if it is being trashed online? Ask United Airlines. They saw an 18% drop in stock prices during the week following the release of a consumer generated video ‘United Breaks Guitars’ on YouTube.
Building your brand is all about developing an emotional connection with consumers that is so strong it changes the conversation and turns them into brand advocates. Use the power of search engine optimization to help you build the brand.
A study by Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz, released in the February edition of The Psychologist, analyzes how people react to the same information when it is presented in different fonts. Beyond just the language of the message, the typeface used to deliver the message can have great weight subconsciously for the reader deciding whether or not the task is achievable.
As they explain, when people ponder a new exercise routine and whether it is going to be easy or difficult to do, the font used to describe the routine can determine the reader’s perception about the task:
For example, consider the identical exercise instructions. When they were presented in an easy-to-read print font (Arial), readers assumed that the exercise would take 8.2 minutes to complete; but when they were presented in a difficult-to-read print font, readers assumed it would take nearly twice as long, a full 15.1 minutes (Song & Schwarz, 2008b).
They also thought that the exercise would flow quite naturally when the font was easy to read, but feared that it would drag on when it was difficult to read. Given these impressions, they were more willing to incorporate the exercise into their daily routine when it was presented in an easy-to-read font.
Martin Bishop used the following example to highlight what Song and Schwarz were referring to:
image: Exercise Example by Martin J Bishop, Landor
Not only will the font determine how difficult they think the task is but also if and when they will attempt it.
They observed that 17 per cent of their participants postponed choice when the font was easy to read, whereas 41 per cent did so when the font was difficult to read. Apparently, participants misread the difficulty arising from the print font as reflecting the difficulty of making a choice.
Branding is a broad umbrella that covers all of the touchpoints that a consumer comes in contact with and summarizes how they feel about you after contact. The crucial component of branding is the consumer’s feelings. Their gut reactions to your company and product. As we tell your story and highlight how you benefit them so that they become truly connected to you emotionally, it is important that the story is told and shown in a certain way.
This study proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the science of design, the choice of a font, will have dramatic effect on what feeling your consumer has about you and more importantly what action they take after connecting with that touchpoint.
Do you make it easy for them to integrate you into their lives? When they read more about you will they leave with a feeling of ease or difficulty? These seemingly small choices, like font, have very big ramifications. Think before you ink.
Our purpose is to change the conversation to build an emotional connection that will drive consumer action. As this study illustrates, sometimes changing the conversation will start with changing the font. A seemingly small detail that you didn’t even consider to be important. You, or your design agency, picked that font because it looked good. But in the end, how it looks to you isn’t nearly as important as how your consumer will react to it. Will your font slow down their decision to love you?
Marketing used to be about ’set it and forget it’. Not just in the Ron Popeil ‘but wait, there’s more’ kind of way.
A company would create a newspaper or tv ad and run it for two or three or in some cases even ten years and their sales go up every year. There was no advertising clutter and very little competition to get in the way. Consumers wanted to hear about your product and were interested in its features.
Times have changed.
Now consumers have the power.
Now consumers only want to know about what benefit you can provide to them.
Now consumers will seek out the information they want and ignore everything else.
Now consumers are so overwhelmed by the clutter of advertising that they have to block it all out just to protect themselves.
It is no longer “if you build it, they will come”. Now, the consumer doesn’t need you or want what you have to offer because there are a dozen more just like you. Or at least that’s how it seems to them.
What choice do you have?
Don’t stop. No coasting. Keep your eye on the prize. If you are not a company that continues to evolve, then you will become extinct.
A great example of this is Tsunami, a sushi restaurant with locations in Lafayette and Baton Rouge (and in the interest of full disclosure - a client). Although one of the first sushi restaurants in Lafayette over a decade ago, they quickly became the hot spot. They truly changed the conversation. At a time when every restaurant was cajun or tex-mex they introduced a whole new concept. And quickly became the place to see and be seen. It is common to wait upwards of an hour for a table and patrons do so without complaint. Why? Because the experience exceeds their expectation. Always fresh. Always good. And it’s fun. The food is incredible. The service is impeccable.
That doesn’t come easy to them. They aren’t coasting. From the top down there is a team of attentive, caring, believers who go out of their way to keep improving. Not change for change’s sake but true improvement and adjustment and evolution.
There are 26 sushi restaurants now, yet Tsunami shows no signs of slowing down. Why not? Well, even with a competing sushi restaurant opening up right next door they have continued to do what they do best and their consumers keep coming back for more. That other restaurant? Can’t even get the people waiting for a table to come in. Tsunami has brand advocates - people who have an emotional connection to the restaurant and chose it above all others.
And they are always marketing. Not in a ‘bought a full page in the phone book’ kind of way. Every one of their touchpoints is in harmony. And most importantly, they are engaged in conversations with their consumers - not just broadcasting messages. They know the psychographics of their consumers. Tsunami gets inside their heads and their habits and knows how to stay appealing. They use this consumer insight to continue to provide the experience that their consumers are wanting.
Are you still tending to your garden? Do you market as hard as the day you started? Is your competition?
So often in marketing the focus is on the big idea. The big campaign. The big splash.
Step back and think small. Think of your consumer from a new perspective. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and see what need you can satisfy.
We recently stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Dallas and this is a picture of the room key. Now, some of you might think it is nothing more than crass commercialism to “sell an ad” on the back of the room key.
I think it is genius. Pizza Hut and Hilton both scored big on this one. Sure, I could have ordered room service. And there was a very nice vending machine full of yummy snacks just down the hall. Not to mention a well stocked mini-bar. But sometimes only a hot cheesy pizza will do the trick.
This local promotion put the product right in front of me at time when I might need it the most. As I opened my door to my room after a long day and realized that I had worked right through lunch. Now I don’t have to go to google to figure out who the local pizza guys are. I don’t have to use the map on my iPhone to track down the closest pizza place. It’s all right there on my key.
They made an emotional connection with me because they used good consumer insight. In so doing it improved the brand of both companies. This strategy is right on target and a great component in their marketing campaign.What could be the ‘key’ to your local marketing that you might be missing. Which neighbors could you partner with to provide more for your consumers? How can you better serve them?
Tune in every Monday at 5:20pm to KPEL FM 105.1 on your radio or online at www.kpel1051.com for another installment of Brand Buzz. On this week’s episode of Brand Buzz we will be talking about Plaxo and how you can use it to become a leader in your industry.
We will discuss why branding is so important in a B2B industry and how Plaxo can help. Plaxo provides an opportunity for prospects to gain information about your company and products. With regards to personal branding, especially during a job search, Plaxo is essential.
If you would like additional information, please click here to download the free ebook and learn more about how important branding is and how Plaxo can be an important part of your marketing mix.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions for the show. If you haven’t already, subscribe to receive the Razor Branding Blog either via email or reader to receive daily updates and information regarding branding.
Steve Jobs managed to overshadow the President’s State of the Union address with the announcement of the launch of the all new iPad.
Love or hate the product. Love or hate the name. The one thing everyone can agree on is that the announcement made a splash, got people talking online and off and overshadowed the state of the union.
The media reviews have been mixed. The Onion took pot-shots claiming that it was nothing more than nine iPod Touches taped together.
But the biggest buzz is about the name, iPad. It probably wouldn’t have been so scandalous if there wasn’t a comedy skit from 2006 that had already used the name, iPad. Naming experts from around the globe have gone crazy dissecting the name and pointing out all of the reasons why the name is the worst one ever. Sure, there have been thousands of jokes and puns about the name and it’s similarity to a feminine hygiene product - and some of the jokes have been pretty darn funny. Whether a name is good or not should be based on memorability and connection to the product - and once again Apple accomplished that tenfold. You all know the name and the company that released it, right - so mission accomplished.
Stacey Grow, Account Executive at Russo, had this to say:
There are lots of opinions already about the iPad. My favorites (aside from my own) are from a set of columns focusing on the 5 best and 5 worst surprises of the new gadget.
To quickly summarize my view of this device:
Best Pros:
Large screen for easier browsing and easy email reading
Price of device
Sharing hilarious videos around the table
Worst Cons:
Not enabled for flash
No camera
No multi-tasking ability
While this device is exciting and entertaining, I think Apple missed the boat on a few key components that would make up for the guilt of spending more money that would be better off saved, rather than spent on another fun, new technology. However, if someone wants to buy one for me to test it out, I’ll be happy to follow up this blog with a more in-depth review.
So, what say you? Did Apple pull off another coup? This is already being proclaimed as the biggest consumer electronics launch since…the iPhone. What do you think? Planning on getting one?
Apple is the example that every company should look towards to better understand the way to best build a brand. When everyone was wringing their hands about illegal pirating of songs online, Apple changed the conversation and built iTunes. Apple’s strategy has always been focused on building their brand through an emotional connection. They don’t develop consumers, they build brand advocates that border on fanaticism.
Few brands have been as troubled for as long as the New Orleans Saints football team. Founded 43 years ago, the team has spent most of their existence with losing seasons. For a large part of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the fans that bothered to attend games did so with bags on their heads with “Aint’s” written on the outside. At one point there was even a sign on a local highway that read “Interstate 10, Saints 0″.
Yet, despite all of that, we all stuck by them. In some ways, the losing streak of the team represented how we all felt about our state. It’s not perfect, but we love it anyway. This belief in ourselves and belief in our state manifested itself into a belief in the team we loved. Their brand wasn’t about winning - even though they were able to manage that occasionally. Their brand wasn’t about superstar players - although we had a few of those…Archie Manning. The brand of the Saints was about believing. Believe in the future. Believe in who we are. Believe in who we could become. The very definition of an emotional connection between a product and it’s consumer.
And now, so much is changing. Louisiana is starting to show up on the top of some great lists - “Happiest state in the US”, “Best place to start a business”, “Hot Market in a Cold Economy” and “Top 10 place to run a small business” as well as dozens of others.
We believe in ourselves. We believe in our state’s future. We believe in the Saints.
This video, The Soul of New Orleans, does an incredible job of capturing why we believe. Win or lose on Sunday, it won’t change how we feel. It won’t change what we believe.
We are a “Who Dat Nation”. This chant is a symbol of our belief. It’s been around for decades and is our greeting to one another. It represents the years we have all waited to be on the good list. The years we have waited for this team and this moment in time. Yet, now the NFL is sending cease and desist letters to vendors who sell “Who Dat” merchandise. Whether they have a legal right to the trademark of the phrase no longer matters. They don’t own our history. They don’t own our passion. They don’t own our belief.
fleur de lis
No matter what happens in Miami for the Super Bowl it won’t change how we feel. We believe in the brand. We love our team. Geaux Saints!
A long-time B2B client called me yesterday. He is a successful entrepreneur. Bought out his boss years ago and now runs the company. We have been working together for about four years now and whenever we discuss a new challenge that his company is facing, the conversation seems to go the same way. He describes the challenge, we strategize the solution, he tells me why it won’t work and that he thinks it’s too expensive. He’s just not sure how he can get a return on that investment. Every time. Same conversation. I’m used to it. Part of his resistance is that what we want to do is so different than what he has always done. Also, when we talk about ‘building his brand’, ‘changing the conversation’ and ‘making an emotional connection’ he feels the need to roll his eyes - says it sounds too new age-y.
So when he called yesterday, I was expecting more of the same and not at all prepared for what he said.
Knowing that his company was really struggling when we last spoke and his industry had been particularly hard hit during the recession, I asked how his year ended. When we last spoke, he was facing the most challenging time in the thirty year history of his company and when I didn’t hear back from him for a while I had begun to assume the worst.
He apologized for not calling me back sooner and told me that he had been really busy with new projects and that he actually grew last year. He went on to say:
“It got really bad for a while. So bad that I was going to have to lay off 40 people. I had decided which ones were going to have to go and even drafted the paperwork. These are people with families. Some of them have been with the company for almost the whole thirty plus years we have been around. I held on as long as I could but just couldn’t do it any more. Right before I pulled the trigger and fired them, I got a call from a new customer with a really big new project. He said that he saw the marketing materials that you created and hired us. Then I got a call from another one. In all it was $9 million in new business from that campaign.”
I thought about how much he had fought me when we shared the concept with him.
I thought about how much he complained about the price tag, which was .002 of the new business he had secured.
I thought about all of the times he told me that he had ‘done it all before and it didn’t work then so why would it work now’.
I thought about reminding him of that but instead I said, “that is great news. Congratulations. What’s next?”
We started talking about a new market that we thought he should go after. I explained the strategy behind the idea and he told me that he didn’t think it would work. And I was comforted to know that our relationship would continue on as it always has and those 40 people still have jobs.
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