Category: Branding

We have all heard of stories where domain names have been "stolen". Sometimes it is opportunistic, sometimes it could have been avoided, and sometimes it requires legal action to sort out.

The importance of owning your own domain is becoming more important for all businesses. And if you are just starting a new business, then you run into the challenge of finding a domain name that has yet to be claimed. So, apart from all the usual challenges of FINDING a unique name for your business, trademark and business name registration requirements and so on, you also need to carefully think about your future Internet domain name.

Once you have your domain name, you also need to remember to re-register it. The last thing you want is for your domain name to lapse and come up for sale. And while this would be terrible, it would not be as bad as the situation described in this image:

1. this house is private property, its ownership has been stolen and illegally registered under another name on the internet. It is currently under investigation. do not enter, or face prosecution.

How many faces to you have? How many IDs? How many passwords? If you are like me, then you will have many!

I have user IDs and passwords for home and for work. I have accounts with Flickr, Yahoo, Typepad, news sites (in Australia and around the world), games sites, game makers, Amazon, eBay, blah blah blah. There are even subscriptions that I have forgotten about.

This is part and parcel of an online life, and something that struck me upon reading this article at Brandnoise.

But there is something deeper in all of this that is challenging for brands. This proliferation of identities, I suspect, has a huge impact on the WAY we choose to interact with brands. It also has a massive potential to transform our understandings of brands and the process of branding.

The range of web and other identities that we "own" can reflect parts of our authentic selves. And as these are INTERACTIVE and fluid, the manner in which we inhabit these IDs allow us to engage with brands differently. Through these IDs we enter an IMAGINARY brand space … where the we are able to PLAY with brands.

In a way, we are PERFORMING. And as performers, we also gain a critical insight INTO those brands and the ways that they position themselves in relation to the MANY FACES OF US. We are able to seek out the anomalies, the inconsistencies and imbalances of brands. And the more we play with brands and the more angles we take, the easier it is for us to see through the one dimensional brand.

The challenge for marketers is to open the brand out to this type of play and engagement. Some are doing this already through YouTube and opening branded content to open source communities … but there is still plenty of work to be done. How far are you prepared to go as a marketer? What about as a consumer? And do you go there as yourself or just as PART of YOU?

S.

It is hard to live up to your own idea of yourself. No matter what profession that we choose to follow, or path that we take in life, we can always fall into the trap of self censorship. On an artistic front we can hold back our best ideas or perhaps our "craziest" concepts, only to hear later that same idea pushed forward successfully. In business we can miss out on opportunities just because we did not step forward when the chance came … or we can suffer in our own failure because we did not ask for, or accept help, when it was needed. But, if you are nodding your head, then you are already a step ahead … you can at least recognise the situation.

There are, of course, other people who read this and cannot understand or relate to this problem. And for them, there are no amount of words that I can write to help them 😉

BUT then there are the REALLY scary people who actively work to deceive others. Like the hypnotist character from Little Britain, who is happy to work on stage, as a hypnotist, but rather than working WITH his audience, he works ON his audience.

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes. Not around the eyes. Look into my eyes. You’re under.

Rather than entertaining and engaging a SINGLE person, he turns his gaze on the entire audience and hypnotises them. Once under his spell he explains that "they will have had a great night, experienced a show of unparalleled entertainment and will tell all their friends about it". He then pulls out a chair and a book and sits down to while away the hour or so duration of his show — because he wants it to be AUTHENTIC afterall.

Why do I tell this story?

Because it reminds me of the way that a number of brands are using social media … they are busy making us THINK that they are engaging us, when all they want to do is use the same old brand building/advertising tricks that they have used for years. They think that by putting up a blog that they are part of the blogosphere.

Here is a case in point — Trixi. I know I am not in their target demographic, but seriously, the kids that are will sniff this for the fake that it is.

What makes matters worse is that it is perpetrated by companies that SHOULD know better. Seriously, if Yahoo! doesn’t GET web 2.0 and the whole need to be authentic … then there is bound to be a Yahoo v2 knocking on the door or jumping through the window any day now.

Look into my eyes? Don’t think so.

S.

Olivier Blanchard is "embracing his inner amateur" and has a nice summary of Tom Asacker’s tenth truths of branding. It made me want to explore more … and made me think about why branding blogs hold an interest for me. It comes down to perspective.

You see, I have always "read" things differently — whether it was a book or a situation, my view was often wildly different to the views of others. I used to think that made me strange. I kept my thoughts to myself. But then I started to like this difference … and began to voice my opinions. What I felt was "obvious" would be a revelation to others (admittedly this works the other way too).

And when it comes to branding, I am interested in those activating, empowering and challenging brands. I am not interested in lazy, narcissistic, complacent brands. I am fascinated by those who want to change the status quo … to make tangible change to the lives of people. Real lives. Real change. This is why I am interested in blogs and social media … it is why I don’t care for advertising and BIG ideas. And as Tom Asacker says:

Here’s your way out: Your brand! Understand and embrace your uniqueness, that simple, yet powerful emotional idea that distinguishes you and motivates clients. And then use your brand to inspire confidence and risk taking. Use your brand to attract attention. Use your brand to convey order and focus, and to achieve clarity, coherence, and commitment from everyone. Use your brand to instill a sense of belonging among your customers and associates. Use your brand to inspire sharing, open-mindedness and teamwork. Use your brand to bring creativity to life in the form of new and exciting products and services. Use your brand to prevent panic from creeping in during dufficult times, and to prevent arrogance from settling in during the good ones.

And if I could have said it any better, I wouldn’t have needed to quote it! It is always good to throw some light into the tunnel.

S.

I have never really had a great respect for defined job roles. My focus has always been on achieving outcomes … and if that means dragging the IT team into a marketing meeting or taking over the preparation of new project proposals, then that is what I do. Of course, this means that YOU (or I) have to take a leadership position … and you have to accept all that comes with it.

Often this means that you have to learn very quickly, think on your feet, and make decisions while consulting with your teams, stakeholders and executive/board management. You also have to fight against your own internal resistance — fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of knowing what you don’t know. And you have to maintain a focus on delivering the outcomes you were aiming for.

I remember working as an editor for a publishing company and thinking that there had to be a better way of typesetting all the content. There was massive doubling up of work. The editing was slow by hand and could be done faster on a PC. It was obvious to me that this duplication could be eliminated by using one of the new desktop publishing systems. But one of the problems was that doing the work in this way would make ME responsible for the editing AND the setting. And while I was happy to complain about the typesetting and the time it took in the production schedule, I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to take on the unions, the management and the mantra of publishing — "that’s the way we do it".

All these thoughts were prompted by this post over at Michael Wagner’s Own Your Brand blog. Mike points us towards an article by Monica Powers where she pinpoints the skills of a good marketer. I liked the way that Monica focuses on the strategic elements of marketing, not the tactical — you know, don’t hire a marketer to layout a newsletter. Actually, I was expecting the article to be in the blog style of "10 skills of a great marketer" … so loved that it wasn’t. Take a look to see what I mean …

But one of the important elements of this discussion was the need to push down the boundaries. Many marketers (actually most people) expect that opportunities will land in their laps. Even when you feel like you have good ideas or contributions to make, it is easy to sit back, throw a couple of comments into a meeting and then sit back and see what happens. It is much harder to volunteer to make something happen. This is partly what (I think) Mike Wagner means when he talks about owning a brand. BUT before you can own your brand, you have to own your own ideas. You have to have the courage of your convictions and a plan, and determination, to push them all forward.

If you are a marketer and you want to have input and impact on your company’s brand, then you have to put your hand up. It is easy to complain, but harder to take up the challenge.

So in the end, I pushed to take on the desktop publishing and the whole company held its breath. You know what, it worked. The editors were happier, the typesetters got rid of work they didn’t want, and the production schedules were cut in half. Our customers were ecstatic.

Think you can do a better job? Stop talking about it then, and step up and own your idea.

S.

Back in February I was looking at the way that emotion and facts combine to tell your brand story. OK … it was really just a bit of a rant, but following the link through to a Being Reasonable interview with Robert Passikoff was where the gold lay.

In marketing we love a ratio, or a series of bullet points, so "the 70/30 rule" sounds good. But this particular rule is better than good … it is a rule of thumb that has some credibility. But it is also quite frightening, because it also makes us accountable. Can the marketing work that we do create shareholder value? Can we measure it? We certainly can … but it is not a simple metric as Robert Passikoff explains. But until accountants begin to place "brand equity" on the balance sheet, it is unlikely that there will be much detailed focus on the monetary value of a brand.

All this aside, by focusing on the 70% of your brand story that is linked to emotion, it is clear that the ability to express a compelling story about your brand, your products and services requires a substantial investment in creative services. It also requires a substantial investment in those passionate evangelists who work in your business. Give your customers the facts by all means, but give them also a REASON to choose you over your competitor — give them emotion and passion — and then you will have a story to tell … and a way to measure it too!

S.

I was reading Olivier Blanchard’s Brand Builder blog this evening and ended up here. I am always up for a quick, 5-step-plan — but even better this one is five stops. Perhaps that means I can have a coffee in between each one.

What Mike Wagner focuses on with these five stops is that someone actually has to OWN a brand.  If you want to build a brand, you have to make it yours. You have to take it out into the world and give it an airing, you must risk the uncertainty of the market, you have to put your creative neck on the block and hope that the axe is a bunch of flowers. You have to be resourceful and you have to leave your ego behind — because you are only going to succeed with the help and support of others.

Read Mike’s post for more insight into the steps/stops … but it is clear that one of the fundamentals of this is to put your SELF forward (see the name of Mike’s blog). This is more than just "living the brand" … this is actively embodying the brand. So if you want to bring your brand to life, read the five stops and get to it. Good luck!

S.