This article over at Fast Company suggests that there’s too much time spent and money on branding. I agree wholeheartedly. Just look at these two examples from the article:
Consider that some of the most successful brands do little overt “branding” to achieve their status. Chelsea Milling Co. hasn’t changed the packaging on its well-known Jiffy mix boxes in more than 50 years. Though the company has never advertised, it dominates the muffin-mix category with a 55% market share by unit sales. Betty Crocker and Pillsbury have spent decades and untold millions trying to catch up.
The $310 million In-N-Out Burger chain, another iconic brand that rarely advertises or speaks to the press, has been putting the rest of the fast-food industry to shame for years. McDonald’s spent an estimated $1.5 billion on branding efforts last year, producing little more than one day’s worth of sales more per store than In-N-Out. Have you ever met anyone who’s had an In-N-Out Burger who doesn’t believe it’s one of the best burgers they’ve ever had? Meanwhile, just who, exactly, is really “lovin’ it”?
The lesson: spend your time creating great products and services that your customers love. The things we normally associate with brands — logos and advertisements — provide a simple way for your customers to recall their experience. They aren’t a substitute for the experience itself. Improving the taste of a McDonalds burger is where I think they should be spending their branding dollars.
If you’re an entrepreneur building a business don’t worry too much about your visual presence. Hire a Graphic Designer you trust and let her/him go to work. Your efforts should be spent listening to customers and then constantly improving your product/service to better serve them. Dazzle them. Give them something to talk about. That, in my opinion, is what brand building is all about.
Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, brand, branding, marketing, fastcompany
I’m collaborating with someone who has a passion for Web Standards. I’ve often been curious about people to get really passionate about standards. What’s the big deal anyway? I’ve always just thought of them as a way of tearing down the barriers to entry that proprietary formats serve so well. But truth be told, I don’t have the passion to fight against the dot doc format. So I asked my new friend Natalie what drives her passion for standards. Here’s her reply:
I got so into standards because they make the Internet work for everybody, from folks using dial up in Africa to jetsetters on their PDAs in NYC. In my humble opinion, the Internet is the great equalizer and makes worlds available that might not otherwise be (without the ability for so many people to share vast amounts of information very quickly). Barriers to that access just seem ridiculous and are fundamentally out of alignment with my commitment to a world that works for everyone with no one left out, no rock unturned. That’s why I’m intense about standards. And because it’s fun.
I think it’s an interesting perspective for those of us working in, on or around the Internet. If you choose to design and throw standards out the window, you are putting up barriers. These are barriers to potential customers, friends, vendors both here and abroad.
Technorati Tags: webstandards, opendocument, Internet
For the past couple of days, I’ve immersed myself in webcasts, articles and books about sales. The planning for the new business is coming along and it looks like I’m going to be front and center handling most of the client interaction.
One of the themes that keeps coming up is that to sell, you must listen: Listen in an attempt to truly empathize with another person. Don’t listen to judge, advise or advance yourself. Just listen to understand. (N.B. I think a lot of my ideas on this subject have come from Stephen Covey).
But there is one more step too. It was brought to my attention by Keith Ferrazzi’s webcast. You also have to share something of yourself along the way. Be vulnerable, be human. It’s your insecurity that makes you human – and it’s a trait that everyone can relate to. It’s hard to open up to someone who presents him/herself as pleasantly perfect.
After learning all of this wonderful information, I was talking to my brother today and instead of listening, I immediately started acting the big brother and giving him loads of advice – advice that I don’t think he was looking for. After I hung up the phone, I was frustrated with myself. Am I this boneheaded? Perhaps I am. I suppose old habits die hard.
All of this to say that listening is tough. Much tougher than you think it is. Don’t believe me? Try it tonight – don’t judge, advise, coach or anything else – just listen and see what you learn.
***
PS - One great resource I found was Tom Peter’s 111 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts On Selling. Enjoy.
Technorati Tags: listening, sales, marketing
For those of you who still aren’t convinced of the impending doom, I highly recommend you read Time’s Cover Story – Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever… More And More Land Is Being Devastated By Drought… Rising Waters Are Drowning Low-Lying Communities… By Any Measure, Earth Is At … The Tipping Point
Here, my friends, are a few choice quotes:
“What few people reckoned on was that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse.”
“Polar ice is so reflective that 90% of the sunlight that strikes it simply bounces back into space, taking much of its energy with it. Ocean water does just the opposite, absorbing 90% of the energy it receives. The more energy it retains, the warmer it gets, with the result that each mile of ice that melts vanishes faster than the mile that preceded it.”
“There will be no polar ice by 2060,” says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. “Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out.”
“We did not so much march toward the environmental precipice as drunkenly reel there, snapping at the scientific scolds who told us we had a problem.”
Good grief.
When you’re starting a new venture there’s really one question that you have to answer when it comes to your marketing: What do you do differently than all of your competitors? You may want to use a Positioning Chart to get you started.
Once you’ve determined what you do differently, you’ve got to communicate that distinct offering to your customers. Keep it simple. Be as clear as possible.
All that’s left is to deliver the goods.
PS - I did a search on “What makes you different” and it turns out that it’s a Backstreet Boys song. Let me extend my apologies to any Backstreet fans that find this post in error. If you really want the lyrics to that song you’ll find them here.
PPS - Aphex Twin’s Untitled Track 3 (7:44) aka Rhubarb is one of the best ambient tracks ever.
Technorati Tags: marketing, positioning, differentiation, entrepreneur
I was at Del.icio.us today and happened upon Todoque. After reading the site once, I frantically looked around for links. I even pulled up the ol “View Source” to find some. Then I reread the site more closely:
- “Todoque is just a life, work and business attitude.
- Todoque is just a convention.
- The power comes in accepting the convention.
- There is nothing to learn.”
That last point is a bit misleading. I had to learn was that Todoque was one page and is not connected to any community, software or tools. In that way it is unlike almost every other site on the Internet. I also had to learn that it’s just an effort to create a convention. That’s all.
I don’t know about you, but I find this social experiment fascinating. Is this how conventions are created? Are people going to start using Todoquian language to communicate? What is it’s advantage? Why Todoque, why?
Technorati Tags: todoque, todoquian, usability, del.icio.us, convention
“Fewer and fewer people will want to be employees of corporations, because corporations don’t have anything to offer. Corporations don’t provide security and provide fewer and fewer benefits. People may find new ways to sell their skills. I can imagine eBay or the equivalent of eBay being in the business of letting people bid on work all day long. Office buildings may turn into housing, or maybe individuals will rent office space as you would rent a hotel room.” – Avram Miller at Fast Company
Perhaps I’m too much of an idealist, but I don’t think companies have to go down this road. My personal philosophy is that a company has to be a place that offers a chance for people to engage in shared meaning – to unite people and help them learn from one another. It should be providing products or services that its employees believe in and act as a support mechanism for your professional development, family and your other interests.
When corporations fail to provide security, community and support for people – they cease doing anything worthwhile.
Technorati Tags: corporation, meaning, purpose, values
“Mathematics, like English is also a language. It is constructed of symbols… symbols do not follow the same rules as experience. They follow rules of their own. In short, the problem is not in the language, the problem is the language” (emphasis in the original) – Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters p. 290
If you think that building your company is going to follow neatly from your business plan, you’re dead wrong. Business plans are based on a reality separate from experience. In creating a business plan, you are basically setting out to predict the future. And as some have suggested predicting the future is beyond the capabilities of most every entrepreneur.
So what’s an entrepreneur to do? The solution is to go out and build the future you want to see. If you think you need some more of anything to do just that, then read this post and listen to Jason Fried and Jim Coudal’s Opening Remarks at this year’s SXSW festival on this podcast.
Business plans are useful to get you thinking about some of the issues that you’ll face – but don’t think they’re going to get you very far. One of my old profs who started a VC fund said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that the business plan was just there to show them that the people had done some homework. He invested in people, not business plans.
Everyone knows the numbers and projections are BS. Don’t keep that in mind when you’re doing them. If you’re looking to start something – if you can – start small and learn as you go. There’s really no substitute for experience.
Technorati Tags: businessplan, experience, entrepreneur
I went to a seminar last year where Sean Wise was speaking. He’s a charismatic speaker with a forceful delivery. His (relatively) new column in the Globe and Mail is worth reading:
“The ability to pitch, i.e., to get your key message across in a meaningful, compelling, and concise manner, is one of the Entrepreneur’s most necessary skill sets. It is remarkable then, that it is also one of the skills most often missing.”
Read more here.
Technorati Tags: seanwise, globeandmail
Similicio.us is a pretty interesting site that helps you find sites similar to a selection of your choice. So try it out, put in your favourite site and see what happens.
(Don’t worry, I’ve anticipated your next move — here are the sites returned as similar to good ‘ol Festive.net:
Next?
I can think of a couple way to extend this service that may be useful: (1) a Firefox extension that incorporates Similicio.us in real time. When you’re surfing a particularly useful or entertaining site, you could find similar content without having to search and (2) a Similicio.us browser history analysis that would provide you a list of sites that you would currently don’t visit but might enjoy.
Similicio.us to stay
The success or failure of this service will depend on how well they adapt their service to solve real problems of everyday Internet users. The relevancy of the results is the most important factor here. If people don’t get good suggestions, then they won’t: (1) come back and (2) tell their friends. The second most important factor is figuring out how this service can really help people. Finding similar sites isn’t really at the top of my agenda most days. The service can, however, be extended to solve pressing problems. For example, I think my two suggestions above are decent because lately I’ve been unsatisfied with my Google results and would like to try something else. I still need to search for content. Perhaps Similicio.us can help me do that faster and better.
Technorati Tags: Similicio.us, similar, firefox, strategy
