Category: a slice of STRATEGY

Pure, unadulterated strategy: marketing, brand positioning, & entrepreneurial wisdom. New trends with staying power. Old standbys with inarguable value.
What to embrace, what to avoid, and what to attempt — with steady discernment.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Open letter to all business owners and entrepreneurs

Posted on by Red Slice

Dear ambitious friend,

It pains me to see the money that you are wasting, not to mention the time lost and stress created, by turning to the wrong people for your marketing and branding needs. Just yesterday, I heard another tale from a friend whose client is taking branding advice from a website programmer. And it’s bad advice that will cost her way more money in the long run.

Think of your business like your house. Would you turn to your plumber to draw up architectural plans for your new renovation? Would you ask your cleaning person to re-wire your stereo? Would you consult your gardener for interior design advice?

Then why, oh why, do you continue to try to get all your marketing, PR and branding needs met by one person?  Web design, web programming, direct mail, brand strategy, PR, writing – these are noble and important skills that require expertise in specific areas in order to help you meet your goals. Each person is skilled in their craft and understand the nuances of it, to be sure. But asking a programmer what your logo should look like or an SEO expert how to create a brand positioning statement makes just as much sense as taking your sick dog to your dentist.

In the story mentioned above, this client claims she “likes” her web programmer. I’m sure she does. He’s probably awesome…at programming. But that doesn’t mean he understands how to  design a site well, or understand user interface techniques or even how to create a strong differentiated brand.

I’m sorry, but you can’t have it all. Marketing  – and business building in general these days – requires that you put together a team of specialists. When I worked in corporate, I often managed these people together as one cohesive team. And that is what I do for my clients: I am the brand strategist but I bring in designers, email marketers, or SEO experts to deliver on the client’s goals. I stitch the right team together for them to meet their needs. I can’t be all things to all people, and anyone who tells you that is lying.

When you need a business plan, go to a business planning consultant. When you need to communicate things visually, go to a designer first (who can subcontract a web programmer for you if you need to build a website). When you need to get schooled in the fine art of email marketing, go to an email marketing or online marketing expert. When you need a press release or want to get into the paper, seek out a PR consultant or publicist. And when you need brand advice, seek out a branding consultant or strategist.

Stop shooting yourselves in the foot and do right by your business – and save your sanity in the process.

Good luck!

Maria

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Passion plus purpose equals profits

Posted on by Red Slice

A fundamental advantage that small business owners have when it comes to brand is that they are so close to their customers. Usually, they started the business because of a personal passion or because they themselves felt a need and strived to fulfill it in the market. DRY Soda, a natural soda company, started out when the founder tried to find healthy, natural yet sophisticated beverages to have at a nice restaurant or a cocktail party.  Baby Legs, which provides signature stylish leg warmers for babies and toddlers, was founded by a young mom who needed to expose her baby’s diaper rash to fresh air while still keeping her daughter warm. These leg warmers protected her from the elements, made diaper changing and potty training easier, and protected her soft knees while crawling.

I had the amazing opportunity to facilitate a brand workshop for a tech company who is trying to clarify their messaging, build brand recognition and generally change the game in their industry. Exciting stuff. We clarified and gained consensus on what business they are truly in, who their ideal customers are, and what persona the company can authentically present to the world.  But all of this was just ‘business speak’.

Finally, in the early afternoon, I tossed my papers aside and challenged the CEO and others, “Let’s back up a second: What is the mission of this company? What greater impact do you hope your software and solutions have on the world?” The CEO didn’t even need a moment to think before articulating his passion about helping match candidates to employers, which leads to more jobs and thriving businesses, which leads to healthy economies – but on a personal level, finding the right job enables people to “send their kids to college” and make their lives’ dream come true.

The room came alive. Everyone from the CFO to the HR Director to the sales directors gave their own spin on this mission and what gets them out of bed in the morning. I pointed out, “See how the energy in this room just changed? This is the spark that will separate you from the pack, inspire businesses to partner with you, inspire talented employees to work for you, attract customers to do business with you. This is the essence of what you guys are all about.”

If you create an authentic brand in pursuit of a higher purpose, you can connect to people as ‘people’ – not just employees, customers or partners. And this will gain you loyalty, attraction and revenue beyond your wildest dreams. It doesn’t matter if you are a ‘solopreneur’ or a 10,000 person company. And only if this mission is authentically lived out through everything your company says and does will it be embraced and believed – you cannot simply ‘slap a coat of brand paint’ on your business with the transparent singular goal of more profits.  If you start with the right intentions and a true passion that is executed clearly and consistently, trust me: the money will follow.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Two great upcoming SBA events

Posted on by Red Slice

Seattle folks, hope you can join me tomorrow, Thursday August 19 from 8 to 10 am at the SBA office downtown for a dynamic and interactive workshop Build Your Brand and Build the Buzz: Make Your Business Irresistible on Any Budget.  It’s through the WNET program, but men are welcome and do attend these sessions as well.

Discover the secrets of effective branding at this fast-paced workshop.  Follow some simple rules that will ensure your marketing and sales efforts are targeted and more effective than your competition.

You’ll learn how to easily create a strong brand strategy to: 

  • Inspire loyalty
  • Increase sales
  • Outrun your competition
  • Make smarter marketing investments 

Brand is more than just a pretty logo.  It impacts your bottom line.  It is your core promise, personality and the value you deliver to customers.    

Register now and join me. And coming up in September, looks like friend of Red Slice Stacey Anderson will be helping you get a handle on all the paper in work and home lives . Wasn’t technology supposed to make things easier? Sigh…I may need to attend that one…..!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

2010 Advertising Trends

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest blog by Red Slice intern, Suzi An

The advertising environment in 2009 was dark and gloomy due to the budget cuts, causing the industry to face a new reality and evolve. Mainly, businesses and brands hopped on the social network and consumer-generated media bandwagons to create more personal interactions with customers. Ultimately, this brought customers closer to a product or brand, just as marketers had hoped.

So how are businesses (and traditional marketing and ad agencies) expanding to reach all audiences and adapt to the changing world in which their customers live?

  1. Optimizing media convergence: As companies reduce their budgets in TV, radio and print, they will put more money and efforts into the online community where the metrics can be measured. To accurately measure activity and link online ads to offline purchasing is crucial in today’s marketplace. In addition, the increase in online shopping has many “old school” companies finally looking to advertise online. In order to deliver a better return on investment, companies will need to close the skill gap – or start hiring really smart people who get it – to more appropriately understand and harness the power of this media convergence.
  2. Adapting to smart phones: It seems that smart phones are slowly taking over the world. Almost everywhere we look, someone is jiggling around on his or her fancy sleek phone. So it’s more important than ever to understand in what direction media is headed and what customers are using in order to stay ahead of the game. If mobile media is where everything is occurring, then that’s where the industry needs to be. Meaning, advertising companies will customize campaigns to cater to smart phone media in a more innovative and creative way.
  3. Cross-media ad campaigns: In addition to mobile advertising, we see media shifting into new territories such as online and offline video games. In Grand Theft Auto, you may drive past a billboard for McDonalds or some other giant company brand. Because the video gaming community has seen rockstar growth, companies understand that this is a successful and innovative way to promote interactive branding campaigns across screens.
  4. Social media: Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t get away from social media. It’s taking over how we interact with anything and everything. This platform will provide a new sales channel for establishing brand and product awareness, taking campaigns further away from traditional advertising and text-based ads. Many of the rules are being made up as we go along, but tons has been written about the proper etiquette for “selling” in social media – and what communities will and will not accept.
  5. Valuable and innovative ads: Because this generation of consumers is always looking for something new and lives in a world of constant connection, companies are looking for more creative advertising and content for the online community. This is why we have seen an increase in viral ad campaigns.

What will the next year bring us in advertising? Please add your thoughts in the Comments.

Source: http://www.gourmetads.com/blog/2010-advertising-trends

Source: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/talking-back-top-five-advertising-trends/

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Why I’m a walking billboard for Dave’s Killer Bread

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest blog post by Red Slice intern, Suzi An.

It’s 2 a.m and my boyfriend and I decide to do some late night grocery shopping. Normally, I shop at Whole Foods where I buy the same brand of whole-wheat sunflower bread. But because they close at 10 p.m., I ended up walking down the street to QFC.

“Suz, come look at this.” Roger is awkwardly holding a loaf of bread with bold colors on the packaging.

“What is that? That’s not my normal loaf of bread,” I say. I shrug my shoulders and continue to walk down the bread aisle looking for my sunflower bread.

“Suz. Come read this!” Fussy and defeated, I walk back towards him.

I grab the bright yellow bag from him and begin to read: I was a four-time loser before I realized I was in the wrong game. 15 years in prison is a pretty tough way to find oneself, but I have no regrets… Immediately I am hooked. Who is this guy spilling his life story on a loaf of bread? I continue reading and realize that this guy created his whole brand on his incredibly story. He was in and out of prison for drugs, assault, and robbery until he realized he needed to change his life: A whole lot of suffering has transformed an ex-con into an honest man who is doing his best to make the world a better place…one loaf of bread at a time. My heart sunk. I turn the bread around and see “Just say no to bread on drugs!” and I cannot believe how clever and fantastic this is. I see that the specific loaf that Roger had grabbed was called GOOD SEED. How cute. A loaf of bread named after Dave’s change. Ultimately, it is Dave’s story, a story that is personal and inspiring, that will make his business and brand successful. And the best part, his products live up to his brand promise. Heavenly Texture and Saintly Flavor. His bread is probably the most texturally pleasing bread I have ever tasted in my life. I practically devour the entire loaf in three days. I am beyond obsessed. As a strong supporter of the green movement and sustainable eating, Dave had won me over with his organic bread, compostable bags, the wind farms, and only providing the Northwest with his mouth-watering bread. He believes everyone deserves a second chance, so most of his employees are ex-cons as well. Dave, can you be anymore fabulous?!

I follow Dave on Twitter and I try to see him at almost every festival where he is present. I recently saw him at the Bite of Seattle where I bought six loaves of bread, a T-shirt, a coloring book, and had the opportunity to meet the guy behind the brand. I feel like a giddy ten-year-old girl! The only words that came out of my mouth were, “I am a huge fan and I eat your bread on a daily basis!” Really? How did I become a “bread groupie”? At least once a week, I tweet “How can I get on Dave’s PR team?” I have yet to receive a response but they seem to reply to everything else I tweet about them.

It’s brands like Dave’s that reaches out to interact with their customers, creates relationships, and has a clear vision of what it wants the brand to do that will be more than successful. I am proud to be a consumer of his bread and will follow Dave wherever he goes. So when can I start?

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Saddle Up! Brand Your Business workshop August 12 in Bellevue

Posted on by Red Slice

Join us on Thursday, August 12 in Bellevue, WA for a spirited and practical discussion on what branding is, why it matters and how to build a great brand on any budget. I’ll be the marketing and brand speaker at this Biznik event, hosted by partner-in-crime Lynn Baldwin-Rhodes of Power Chicks and Marketing Shebang (don’t worry, men, this is a “come one, come all” event focused on building a rabid fan base for your business, so please stop by – we’re after smart, savvy business owners and entrepreneurs, no matter which gender). I’ll speak to some business boosting basics and will also have my branding book on hand if you’re interested in DIY brand strategy. Hurry! A few spots still left but you need to RSVP.

Speaking of which, I’m loving this fab review I received from Midwest Book Review:

What makes your business unique, something hat stands out from the pack? “Branding Basics For Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget” is a guide to branding and how it can literally be the deciding factor on the success of business. Brands make connections with customers, keep your product in mind, attract employees, and keep a business strong. “Branding Basics for Small Business” is a wise and recommended read, not to be missed by any small business.

If you haven’t yet taken a bite of the book that I’ve been told people can’t launch a business without, please grab your copy today!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Monitoring your brand on social media

Posted on by Red Slice

A big welcome to Red Slice summer intern Suzi An, the author of this guest blog post.

Once a brand has been established, it’s easy to forget the importance of monitoring its impact. How do you know if it’s “working” or if the right buyers are responding unless you immediately see  a sales jump (not likely to happen immediately).  Many business owners and entrepreneurs develop a brand and expect it to work it’s magic. This is true to a certain extent, but it takes much more than just a logo to build a reputable status. This is why it’s important to monitor your brand so that you may see how people perceive it in addition to their reactions. This will give you the means to tweak the necessarily elements in order to create the brand that matches your identity.

There are many tools out there that can be used to observe who is talking about your brand and the exciting thing is that you have the option to monitor your reputation for free. Here a few free tools that are user friendly and can be customized to your liking.

1. GOOGLE ALERTS: The most popular as well as accessible tool that is buzzing around is Google Alerts. This tool sends you email updates daily, weekly, or on a real-time basis on the latest topics of your choice, or your brand name. You can even customize where you want Google to search for your name such as blogs, articles, videos, etc.

2. TWEETBEEP: Tweetbeep uses Twitter to email you updates every time someone Tweets about your keywords. The great thing about this tool is that you can set alerts up for what people are saying about your competitors in addition to your industry sector.

3. BLOGPULSE TREND SEARCH: This tool allows you to create graphs based on buzz trends for your keywords or phrases. BlogPulse gives you a visual on how your brand is doing online and you can easily compare and contrast results to your liking.

4. BRAND MENTIONS: This social media listening tool forages around user-generated content, which includes comments, blogs, events and tracks mentions of your keywords throughout these areas. Brand Mentions searches through Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, etc and emails you results. You may also choose to subscribe by RSS.

Though this is a relatively short list, there are more than hundreds of tools on the Internet whose soul purpose is to help businesses and entrepreneurs alike in securing their brand. Use these tools to your advantage, meaning collect your data, analyze, and take your next step in making your brand beyond everyone’s expectations.

This is a guest post from our new Red Slice intern, Suzi An.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

When charities attack…

Posted on by Red Slice

Whoa! Looks like someone may get strangled by a pink ribbon or left for dead with a yellow wristband around their neck. Check out this WSJ article on the legal battles brewing as non-profits protect their brands and trademarks.

Can’t we all just get along, you might think? Well, not when big bucks and big donors are involved. Susan G. Komen for the Cure has sued “kite fliers, kayakers and dozen of other themed fundraisers” for using the “(blank) for the cure” tagline in their messaging. And if you want them to see red, just try to use pink (their “signature hue”).

At first, you may have the reaction I had, which was “Geez, lay off the people trying to help other people!” But when I read further and thought about this more, I see the issue. One charity named Wounded Warrior Project is locked in a heated battle with another charity also entitled Wounded Warriors over using the URL www.woundedwarriors.org.  It seems many supporters got the two mixed up and have money to one thinking they were giving money to another. Lance Armstrong’s organization LIVESTRONG gave strict parameters to a woman who tried to use HEADstrong as her charity name, in honor of her son. She says she came up with the name before he dies in 2006 and that his nickname was Head, so that’s why she’s using it. LIVESTRONG is giving her some font and color parameters to ensure her charity is not confused with his.

This makes sense, especially when large organizations like LIVESTRONG and Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure have put so much money and time into building a strong non-profit brand. One lawyer in the article even stated that protecting these brands is about ensuring  donors’ funds are used and administered responsibly. I would agree with him. After all, if I’m spending money to support a cause, I want to ensure that their advertising and efforts don’t get diluted by someone else.

It’s a fact of life that non-profits are finally getting on board the brand bandwagon. Non-profits who build strong brands much like consumer companies do is even mentioned in my book. I applaud their efforts to create an emotional connection with their audiences, and to stretch their marketing dollars further by clearly and consistently communicating that brand in everything they do.  Of course they want to protect that investment and avoid customer confusion. Yes, it’s all a bit silly when it comes to philanthropy but it does make prudent business sense. So if you have any ideas about using pink ribbons for your cause, just put it down and back away…..slowly.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Are you ready for a Big Turn Off?

Posted on by Red Slice

Yes, I know. We normally ask for people, places and things to turn us on, ignite our creativity, spark our inner muse.  But good friend of Red Slice and Guru of New Sarah Browne just unplugged and regained some sanity on her recent trip to Alaska. I loved what she had to say in this interview at The Big Turn Off and how she views the whole world of social media as a branding mechanism.  As a branding strategist, I 100% concur with her opinions: just because you can brand doesn’t mean you should.

I’m especially torn about the whole personal branding movement we’re experiencing. From Gary Vaynerchuk’s call to arms for following your passion and monetizing it to smaller players in a niche space, millions are flocking to their own platform. Part of me loves the freedom of self-expression that we are experiencing. As an actress, I’m all about telling stories and not letting old fuddy-duddy gatekeepers, networks or publishers prevent someone with an important message from getting it heard in the world (and especially when said-gatekeepers give wretched people like The Real Housewives and the cast of The Hills a voice). I love the niche interest sites, the recipe blogs, the wine sites, the inspirational communities that have been birthed in recent years.

But…

With any freedom, there is a quality-control price to be paid. People out there claiming to be experts who will “gladly share their secrets of success with you if you become a member, pay $5000 and attend my boondoggle conference in the desert every spring.” Exploitation comes in many forms and while there are those out there offering true value, many others are the digital age’s new used car salesmen or snake oil peddlers. Just because I can self-publish a guide at Kinko’s and spin it out via social media to the masses does not mean it’s high value or useful to anyone.

I’ve been skeptical now for a while of anyone whose personal brand comes off” infomercially.” If I see a web page with lots of exclamation points, testimonials, different size fonts, random use of color, and lots of words in BOLD, I tend to put my guard up. Again, some of this is very useful information to be shared and enjoyed but…..how can we tell the good from the bad? I don’t necessarily believe all content should be free either (that is for another blog rant). After all, someone has worked hard to research, filter and write useful content and I believe it’s not our God-given right to get everything in this world for free. But it’s a blurry line, isn’t it?

 

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about personal branding in the digital age? Are things getting our of hand? Do you need a break> Any platforms or gurus out there you really like who are bringing good stuff to the party? Share in the comments.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Now that’s what I mean by delight!

Posted on by Red Slice

I had the best car rental experience of my life last week. And that is a bold statement from someone who worked as a management consultant and in affiliate sales during her career and used to travel up the yin-yang.

I rented through Alamo at the Philadelphia Airport because they were the most cost-effective option on Expedia.  What I got was an amazingly friendly, professional and warm experience that far exceeded my expectations. I had doors held open for me at every turn. Everyone I passed greeted me with a smile and a “How are you today?” I’ll admit to being a little creeped out by this at first, as my expectations of a car rental brand are so low that they all look and sound the same. And this is coming from someone who is a Hertz Gold Club member.

Once inside, the gentleman who held the door open for me also ran around the desk to check me in. He bantered with his fellow staffmates as they ran around to get me the GPS I’d requested and then he showed me step-by-step how to set it up. I could tell everyone there genuinely enjoyed their work and each other – and it made me feel like I was in good hands.

Once outside, my car was blocked in by a rental bus. Immediately , two other staff members saw my dilemma and cleared a path for me without me even asking. It was like as soon as my problem materialized, there they were, solving it proactively.

That’s what I’m talking about, people. Delight. Happy, empowered employees who have a clear service mission leads to a happy brand experience for customers, which leads to me talking about this company on social media. Maybe they are helped along by my previous lackluster experiences or the low service bar in the industry -  who knows? Who cares? Bottom line is that I’m still talking about them. See how it works? Easy peasy.