Tag: branding

Show Your Brand Name

I scrolled through social media,
looking at author promo posts.

Half of the graphics
didn’t display the author’s name.

This happens
quite often.

We watch a commercial
and wonder what the commercial
was selling.

We see a print ad
and have no idea
who placed it.

That’s a waste of resources.
People are busy.
They are unlikely
to search for this information.

SHOW your brand name
on graphics
and other marketing materials.

Display your brand name prominently.
Make it easier
for prospects to buy from you.

Your Social Media Posts Could Be Reposted ANYWHERE

I posted a reply
on the bird site.

When I logged onto
the elephant site,
I saw someone
had reposted
my reply there.

This happens.
Often.

(And, unfortunately,
it is rarely
one of my book posts
that gets reposted.)

Assume that when you post something
anywhere,
it could be reposted
EVERYWHERE,
including sites
you would never visit.

Ensure your posts
represent
the branding or the person
you want others
to see.

To Kill A Mockingbird And Marketing

Whenever people talk about titles
and branding,
To Kill A Mockingbird
is mentioned.

Is it a good title?
A bad title?

Who cares!
It is an OLD title.

To Kill A Mockingbird
was published in 1960
for people who were likely
12 years old or older.

Was it a good title
for those readers then?
Clearly yes,
or it wouldn’t be a classic today.

But those people
are 74 years old now
and the 12 year olds today
are VERY different people.
What worked for their
great-grandparents
won’t work for them.

The book continues to sell
because it is a classic,
not because the title
works well with new readers.

This is the issue with many
classic brand names.

McDonald’s was founded in 1955, for example.
It was a good brand name THEN.
And McDonald’s is so well known now,
it works for the company today.

But it wouldn’t be a good brand name
for a new company.
(The apostrophe, alone, would cause
search engine issues.)

Brand names that worked
in the past
likely wouldn’t work today
for new entrants.

Ensure your brand name
appeals to YOUR target market.

You Are Not Your Business

I now publish
exclusively under pen names.

Why?

Because it is MUCH easier
to take criticism
(and hate mail)
calmly, rationally
when it is directed
at my pen name
and not directly
at me.

I tell myself that
the criticism doesn’t have
anything to do
with me.
It refers to X,
that dang writer of Y romance.
X is an entirely different personality.

I would do something similar
when I was working
the business gigs.
That kick a$$ business gal
was Business Me.
She wasn’t Me.

Seth Godin
shares

“When I say
I don’t like your idea,
I’m not saying that
I don’t like you.
And if we’ve been persuaded
by marketers and politicians
that everything we do
and say
is our identity,
then it gets very difficult
to learn,
to accept useful feedback
and
to change.”

You are not your business.
Criticism of your business
isn’t criticism of you.

And you are not
the role you were ‘playing’
when you were criticized.
That’s merely one facet of you.
Work you isn’t the full you.

Your Version Of Reality

Last week,
my best friend of over 20 years
accused me of doing
something I would never ever do,
something that wouldn’t even
be a consideration for me,
something that violates
my core values,
my vision of myself.

She knows me better
than almost everyone
and her version of me,
of reality
was much different
than mine.

Our customer’s version
of our brand,
our products,
our company,
ourselves,
reality
also varies greatly
from the version
in our own heads.

Part of the job
of marketing programs
is to try to close the gap
between the two versions.
It is to reinforce
the version
we want the world
to hold.

Don’t assume
your customers
view your brand
the same as you do.

Their view
will ALWAYS be different.

Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, And Branding

Love her or hate her,
Sarah Palin is in touch with her own style,
her own brand, and her own target market.

It irked me when,
upon her nomination,
she was set up to take the Hillary Clinton vote.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Yes, both are women
but they are completely different women and
they appeal to completely different voters.

Like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Both are colas
but they have very different brands.
Coke is traditional while Pepsi is edgy.
When Coke tries to be edgy,
they fail.
When Pepsi tries to be traditional,
they fail.

Is your product trying to be something it isn’t?