Recognition of the value of a brand may not be a new phenomenon but you might be surprised to read what Socrates was writing about it almost 2500 years ago!

“Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of – for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear.”

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Another great event at Bournemouth University sponsored by RT. Watch our report on the evening’s proceedings which featured our colleague, Richard Mack and his new website, www.rtprmotions.co.uk. All candidates received a wide variety of opinions from the panel and audience.

Whilst everyone expects to get feedback some of the criticism can be difficult to accept, however well intentioned. As Richard said to me when reflecting on his mauling in the dragon’s den, “it’s their opinion I asked for it, but I have my opinion; I accept what they say, get over it and move on. I’ve got so much out of this evening and would recommend it to anyone who really wants to grow their business online.”

Laura McHarrie, from Business Link Wessex, on e-Den 2: “Highly recommended for any business looking to improve it’s online presence. Practical advice.”

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Don’t want a brand, you don’t have a choice! Your brand is the personality of your business, your only choice is whether you value it or not. Branding is about making money it’s that simple; what attracts companies to buy your product? Its about consistently communicating and delivering what you stand for in a profitable way, so that customers do business with you, not once, but again and again.

If you run a legitimate business, brand matters, it matters as a relationship, as a story, as an emotional reaction. Love it, nurture it and be proud of it. If you do, others will, they’ll tell your story and want to be associated with your brand.

Brand communications, emotion + logic…

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Designers design, writers write, planners plan, salesmen sell… the list goes on. Do we strive to do to many things just to save costs. I think the true value of experts in their chosen fields should not be underestimated. The costs caused by mistakes can all to often shadow the small saving you make. By doing too many things can we really be specialists in everything. And should we expect that?

It is important to recognise skills and weaknesses in all of us and then put processes and people in place to make sure your whole is more than the parts.

Don’t rely on your spell-checker!

Read the following to see why using a spell-checker alone is not enough – everything in this poem is spelled perfectly!

I have a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marks four my revue,
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key an type a word,
And weight four it two say,
Weather eye am wrong oar write,
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid,
It nose bee fore to long,
And eye can put the error rite,
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it,
I am shore your pleased two no,
Its letter perfect awl the weigh,
My chequer tolled me sew.

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Surely there are few brands as truly global as James Bond. In fact I read that about half the world’s population has seen a James Bond film. In the 1950s when seven of the original books were written, Ian Fleming bucked every trend; Britain was conformist and austere, Bond was everything but, he offered an escape.

Fleming did not write great literature, but he knew what his audience wanted; style and excitement were in short supply in post-war Britain so he wrote about exotic food & places, gadgets & machines, as well as sex snobbery and violence!

When times are tough, think about selling your tribe an escape!

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Too many people I meet think a brand is a logo… it’s not! A brand is term which covers everything someone uses to make a judgment on you or your company. Yes the identity is part of this from the colour you choose, to the name, the language in your copy. But opinions are formed from the personality of your staff, the messages and communications you send out, your prices, who else uses you and so many more.

However be careful, because if you are saying one thing and doing another then you are damaging your brand. That gut feeling your prospects and customers have about you.

Building a successful brand requires Integrated Brand Communication:

This is about effectively using the the marketing mix to convey a specific message to a desired audience. It’s both a process and a plan that looks at the needs and desires of the audience, the key messages to be imparted and then the most appropriate channels to communicate them. These channels can include sales, promotion, public relations, advertising and loads more.

This will lead to your best chance of influencing that gut feeling someone has about you. Their memory of what and how you do what you do. Then after awareness, understanding comes interaction and ultimately if you get it right recommendation.

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Creating an enviroment that is considered a great place to do work is a win win situation. We all know that we do our best work when we are happy. If we feel miserable, only firing on 2 cylinders chances are we will under perform. Finding a balance between meeting deadlines and having fun is notoriously hard in a creative company. It has been proven that happy staff work better, take less time off for stress and sickness and, as a result, benefit the company they work for.

So what makes a great company? A top payer? One that gives staff plenty of time off? Or is a great company one that incentivises staff with regular Friday night drinks?

While all those help, they’re not, perhaps surprisingly enough, the key factors that make one company great and another one not so great. The true signs of a great company are, on the whole, much more subjective.

Experts say we need to look again at how we work and learn to work smarter.

Five tips to find the right one…

(more…)

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As the advertising industry struggles more and more for revenue modern day, cinema, product placement gives advertisers the reach they cannot buy elsewhere and because of their demographic and geographic appeal Bond movies have become particularly adept at exploited this.

In fact as long ago as 2002, Die Another Day, was derided as one long advert for brands like Absolut Vodka, Omega Watches, Aston Martin & Jaguar cars, to name a few. In fact some 20 companies paid a total of £44m for the privilege of having their products up on the big screen and then small screen DVD and TV for years to come.

No surprise you may think when Ian Fleming wrote about supercharged Bentleys and Bollinger Champagne 50 years earlier. But what might surprise you is that many of Fleming’s contemporaries were doing the same John Betjeman, for one, albeit he was mentioning Hillman saloons and Ovaltine!

Novels, advertising, product placement, one rule doesn’t change: know your audience!

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I bet that, like me, you were taught in school that day-dreaming is bad; in fact it is an excellent thinking technique. Einstein famously came up with his theory of relativity by imagining himself riding on a beam of light off into infinity. He was day-dreaming.

Day-dreaming is a profitable pursuit; yet in our hectic 21st century lives many of us do not give ourselves time to think, let alone daydream.

As marketeers we think for our clients and get paid to do it, but what’s the point, why not just get on with it? Well as Edward de Bono put it, “we need thinking in order to make even better use of information that is available to competitors”.

Thinking is as natural as breathing and walking; so natural that most of us take it for granted; so don’t just think about it, think about it!

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Not always vices; use them to help you sell your product; some ideas to help you think:

Sloth – how can I earn more and do less?

Greed – sell, sell, sell – make more profit!

Envy – just imagine what the neighbours will say when they know I’ve got…that car…that TV…that holiday…

Gluttony – why not eat as much as you want, it’s low fat…

Pride – you can use our accreditation mark when you pass our course

Lust – perfume that will have you running for cover

Vanity – you know how gorgeous you will look wearing this…

What emotions do the sins arouse and how can you harness them to change the behaviour of your customers?

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