Build Your BrandBuild Your Business

By Susan GuneliusAuthor and President & CEO of

KeySplash Creative, Inc.

www.KeySplashCreative.com 1

January 20,2011

What is a brand?

What a brand is NOT.

A brand is not a logo.

A brand is not a product.

A brand is not a slogan.

A brand is not an ad.

A brand is not a company.

A brand is a promise.

• A brand promises something to consumers.

• A brand sets consumer expectations.

• A brand meets those expectations in every consumer interaction and experience.

Brands that don’t keep their promises fail.

What is a brand?

The Elements of Branding

TangibleLogo

Color palette

Typeface

IntangibleImage

Messages

Promise

Brand Perception

Tangible Brand Elements

• Elements of a brand that consumers can see and touch such as logo, typefaces, and colors.

AT&T uses Pantone Process Blue as the primary color and the AT&T Clearview font for its corporate identity, logo and marketing materials.

Intangible Brand Elements

• Elements of a brand that consumers indirectly attribute to that brand and anything that bears that brand name or association such as messages, image and promise.

Harley Davidson communicates messages related to freedom and has an image of camaraderie.

When combined with the tangible elements of the Harley Davidson brand, the brand promise is clear and consistent.

3 Steps to Brand Building

• Consistency – messages, image, and so on must be consistent or consumers become confused and turn away from the brand.

• Persistence – brands are not built overnight.

• Restraint – don’t be tempted to go too far.

Brands are built by consumers, NOT companies.

• Companies put out the messages and nudge consumers in the desired direction, but consumers create brands through experiences and emotions.

It is essential that building your brand is a

top priority for your business!

Brands are built from consumer perceptions.

• Communicating consistent messages

• Setting consumer expectations

• Delivering on those consumer expectations every time

Branding affects every part of your marketing strategy.

Strong brands develop over time.

• The strongest brands OWN a word or phrase in consumers’ minds.

• That is the brand’s position relative to other products on the market.

What word does your brand own?

Owns Inexpensive

Reliability

Luxury

Performance

Owns

Owns

Owns

If brands were people, who would you rather hang out with?

There is a reason the Mac Guy vs. PC Guy commercials are so successful.

BRAND POSITIONING

Take the Brand Perception Snap Shot

• What 5 words do you use to describe your brand today?

• What 5 words do your customers use to describe your brand today?

• What 5 words do you want consumers to use to describe your brand in the future (i.e., your ultimate brand goal)?

Find the gaps and fill them!

How to Build a Brand

Know Your Competition

• It’s not enough to know what you’re doing.

• Research your competitors and know them as well as you know yourself.

Exploit their weaknesses

Differentiate your business from theirs

Establish your unique niche

Position yourself against them

Seek out opportunities

Develop Internal Brand Advocates

• Your employees are your most powerful brand advocates.

• Educate them about your brand.

• Give them a reason to want to advocate your brand.

If your employees believe in your brand promise, they’ll want to advocate your brand.

The Role of the Brand Champion and Brand Guardian

What do you think of when you hear the names:

• Hugh Hefner• Martha Stewart• Steve Jobs

The best brands have powerful brand champions and brand guardians

behind them.

The 21st Century Brings Us …

The Chief Brand Officer

Building Brands Externally

Remember,

consumers build brands,

NOT companies.

You must set and meet customer expectations, or people will be confused and your brand will be meaningless.

Building Brand Loyalty

When consumers’ expectations and feelings about a brand are continually met or exceeded, they become loyal to it, knowing it will continue to meet those feelings and expectations in the future.

They develop confidence, trust, and security in the brand and choose it over other brands.

Brand loyalty can evolve into a cult brand.

Cult brands are loved by specific groups of die-hard brand loyalists creating a sub-culture of society.

Cult brands can grow into relationship brands.

• Relationship brands are built on experiences.

• They often fill a void.

• Consumers self-select how they want to interact with the brand by choosing from brand experiences.

• Often those experiences are shared among groups.

Relationship brands are powerful.

People look for new ways to experience and share relationship brands.

People talk about the brands they love.

• Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful.

• Loyal brand advocates are every brand manager’s dream.

• Remember that Breck Shampoo commercial, “And she told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on, and …”

Tools to Build a Brand

• Remember the 3 steps to brand building:

1. Consistency2. Persistence3. Restraint

Brand Promotions

• Sales, discounts, coupons, etc. are effective in boosting short term buzz about your brand and traffic to your business.

1. Consistency: ensure your promotions promote your brand promise rather than confusing it or undermining it.

2. Persistence: test promotional tactics to see which efforts drive the best results rather than giving up after one failed attempt.

3. Restraint: don’t let your competitors drive you to pursue promotions that run counter to your brand.

Marketing and Advertising Materials

• Brochures, point-of-sale collateral, signage, ads, direct mail, etc.– Consistency: Make sure your copy and design

match your brand promise.

– Persistence: Research and know your customers and target audience before you invest.

– Restraint: Timing and placement can make or break the effectiveness of advertising. Invest wisely.

Sponsorships

• Local events, organizations, teams, schools, publications, and so on.1. Consistency: Choose organizations to

sponsor that match your brand promise.

2. Persistence: Don’t invest in sponsorship and leave it at that. Extend your participation with advertising, promotions, event marketing, and more.

3. Restraint: Understand the audience related to the sponsorship to ensure it matches your target audience. Disjointed sponsorships won’t help and could hurt your brand.

Events, Trade Shows, Conferences

• Online and offline (virtual trade shows and webinars are growing faster than traditional training, professional events and trade shows)

• When the economy struggles, events, trade shows and conferences deliver highly targeted and motivated audiences.

Brand Identity Materials

• Logo, stationery, invoices, signage, etc.

• Make sure your brand promise translates into the tangible elements of your brand identity to ensure consistent and persistent communication of your brand to all audiences.

Publicity

• Press releases, local news, radio and television interviews and appearances, speaking engagements, charitable events, and more.

• Make your business newsworthy by establishing yourself as an expert in your field and making yourself available for speaking and appearances.

• Get involved in your community.

Social media marketing offers the single largest opportunity for

entrepreneurs, small businesses mid-size companies, and

large corporations to build their brands

and build their businesses.

Social Media Marketing

• Social media is a term used to define the online publishing and communications tools of Web 2.0 that are rooted in conversations, engagement, and active participation.

• Social media marketing is any form of direct or indirect marketing used to build awareness, recognition, recall and action of a brand, business, product, person, or other entity via the tools of the social Web.

The Proof

With a multi-million dollar budget to spend as she pleased, Cindy Gordon of Universal Orlando Resort instead told just 7 people about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

And within just 24 hours 350 million people around the world heard the news.

All by telling just 7 people.

Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary.tv

Gary Vaynerchuk grew his father’s local wine store in Springfield, New Jersey to a $50 million per year business with HALF of those sales coming from the Web.

How did he do it?

Through the power of the social Web.

Gary’s passionate and informative video blog posts on WineLibrary.tv quickly drew audiences from around the world as word spread about his contagious content.

Today, Gary is a sought after social media speaker, makes frequent appearances on television, and recently signed a multi-million dollar book deal where he will share his knowledge and experience of using social media tools to grow a small business.

And it all started with a blog.

Keys to Social Media Success

• Brand consistency in message and image.

• Set and meet customer expectations based on the brand promise.

• Let the audience take control.

The Marriage of Building Brands and Business through Social Media

• Consumers have more options than ever thanks to the ease of finding information online.

• The social web has created an online conversation that most companies still don’t know how to leverage.

• Social media presents a unique opportunity for companies to engage with a global audience, position the brand as a brand of choice, and develop an ongoing dialogue that ultimately creates loyal brand advocates and guardians.

What are the popular tools of social media?

• Blogs (Blogger, Wordpress, TypePad, MoveableType, etc.)

• Microblogging (Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk, etc.)

• Social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, etc.)

• Social bookmarking (Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc.)

• Podcasting (iTunes, BlogTalkRadio, etc.)

• Photo sharing (Flickr, Picasa, etc.)

• Video sharing (YouTube, TubeMogul, Viddler, etc.)

• Online chats and telephone (Skype, Google Voice, etc.)

• Mobile (foursquare, apps, etc.)

• And many, many more

Multiple departments can get a piece of the social media pie.

MarketingCreate Content• Blogs• Twitter• YouTube• Digg• StumbleUpon• Facebook• MySpace• You name it!

Customer ServiceDirect Dialogue• Blogs• Twitter• YouTube

Public RelationsCommenting• Blogs• Twitter• YouTube• Digg• StumbleUpon• Delicious• Other social bookmarking sites• Review sites like Yelp and Epinions

ExecutiveThought Leadership• Blogs• Twitter

Human ResourcesNetworking• Facebook• LinkedIn• MySpace• Bebo• Niche networking sites• Blogs• Twitter• YouTube

Establish your core branded online destination.

BlogFacebook LinkedIn

YouTube

TwitterFlickr

SlideShare

ExecTweets

Page

YourGroup

Ads

OtherGroups

YourGroup

OtherGroups

Answers

Twellow

Profile

Sample Business Social Media Presence

Step 1: Find Your Best Audience

• The social web gets more crowded everyday.

• Your efforts are for naught if you’re not spending time in the right places.

• Take time to find the people you want to communicate with, and then join the conversation.

Example: Playboy

• Playboy U Social Network• Twitter• Facebook• MySpace• YouTube• MetaCafe• FriendFeed• Blogs• Mobile content• And more

Surround people with branded experiences.

Example: Roger Smith Hotel

• Effort to connect and engage with online influencers• Special Twitter discounts• Twitter kiosk in hotel• Special hotel welcome to guests who come from social Web

Step 2: Content is Key

• What you say is the most important key to success on the social web.

• Be human, be honest, be transparent, be you! Personality is important to engaging with others in social media.

• Give something extra or exclusive.

• Leave jargon and corporate rhetoric out!

Example: Red Bull• Facebook page filled with

content for target audience of teens and college-aged men and women

• Feeds from popular athletes• Games, polls, careers,

events• Special features like the

Drunkish Dials box and Procrastination Station

• Language matches audience with words like “stoked”

• Early 2010 = 2 million likes; Late 2010 = 14 million likes

Example: NakedPizza

• Twitter profile offers discounts and leads to direct sales.

• 68% of single-day sales at NakedPizza have come from Twitter.

• Twitter integrated into point-of-sale system.

• Twitter kiosks set up in stores.

• Previous direct mail newsletter content is now fed into Twitter.

“Direct mail is sent to a single address but there are multiple

people in those houses. We want to maximize and extend our marketing reach, and Twitter helps us do this

in leaps and bounds.”

-- Jeff Roach, NakedPizza co-founder

Step 3: Research, Research, Research!

• Check out what your competitors are doing.

• Find companies that are doing great things and copy them (no sense in reinventing the wheel).

• Find out what your target audience is looking for, what engages them, what keeps them coming back for more, and then give them more of it.

• Listen!

Example: Whole Foods

• Most of the Whole Foods Twitter stream is @replies.

• Targeted content adds value: Additional Twitter profiles for specific topics (e.g., @WFMCheese, @WFMWineGuys, @WholeRecipes), for specific metro areas, and dozens for specific store locations.

• The Whole Foods blog provides recipes, industry news, green tips, and more.

• Additional company blogs by the CEO, about special ingredients and food podcasts.

• On Facebook

• Flickr photo profile

• ALL adding value and giving the Whole Foods brand a personality and direct dialogue with consumers.

Example: Cakes for Occasions

• Publish pictures of customers’ cakes on Facebook

• Get customer testimonials from Facebook

• Publish “free cookie” and other real-time promotions

• Tweet cake of the week picture (often picked up by Boston media)

• Business grew 25% and saved $10,000 in marketing expenditures in 2010 thanks to social media

Step 4: Give More than You Receive

• Don’t just publicize company news. Give more by creating interesting, useful and valuable content that can’t be found on a traditional Web site.

• Be shareworthy.

• Answer questions, ask questions, be engaging and real.

• For every hour you spend “publicizing” through social media, spend at least 3 hours engaging with people in your network.

No one cares about you

• Define who you want to talk to.

• Find them and get involved.

• Learn what they want to talk about.

• Produce valuable content that they want to hear and share.

• Share their content, too.

• Be accessible and human.

• Absolutely no corporate rhetoric.

Think of it this way …

• If your social media participation is 100% self-promotional, then you’ll fail.

Imagine you’re in a conversation with a person and all he does is talk about himself. Imagine that he

never gives you a chance to speak throughout the conversation.

Is this someone you’d want to continue speaking with now or in the future?

Chances are you’d want to run away as far and fast as you can.

The same holds true for social media participation.

The 80-20 Rule

For every 20% of self-promotional content you produce,

create 80% that is not self-promotional.

Me, Me, Me!20%

Engage 80%

Southwest Airlines

• Blog and Twitter profile include non-official and entertaining conversations by real employees in their own voices.

Notice a REAL person is tweeting with you!

Southwest Airlines can be found all over the social web.

Example: Michael Sinkin, D.D.S.

• Blog with behind-the-scenes info and “banter from the chair”

• Blog linked to Twitter and Facebook accounts

• Uses tools like Monitter to find people in his area talking about teeth – reaches out with a tweet to answer questions

• No selling – ever!

Step 5: Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

• Diversify your social media presence to connect with a broader audience and build your network.

• Just be sure to remain active in all your social media ventures.

• Quality trumps quantity.

• All roads lead back to your core branded online destination.

Example: Dell

• Dell operates several Twitter profiles targeted at specific audiences (e.g., @DellOutlet, which generated $2 million in direct revenue in the past year).

• Dell runs a number of blogs targeted at specific audiences (e.g., Direct2Dell is a highly popular blog for Dell consumers).

• The Dell Community is the Dell customer social network.

• Dell is on Facebook and LinkedIn (a group for Dell partners).

• There is even a Dell forum.

Example: Golden Tee Golf• YouTube Channel connected to game – upload hole in one shots• Facebook page – answer questions, engage, user status updates – where

they’re playing the game at anytime• Google Alerts and Tweetdeck to join real time conversations

Social Media for Brand Building – A Two Way Street

• Brands and businesses get more exposure than ever thanks to the social web.

• By building a network through blogging, microblogging, social networking, and so on, your brand messages can be seen by a huge audience faster than ever before.

• Social media also gives you the opportunity to learn more about prospective customers and competitors than ever before by reading their online profiles, blogs, Twitter streams, and so on. It’s an incredible market research tool!

How ALL Small Businesses Can Benefit from Social Media

• How do you and most of the people you know find information about business, products, and services?

• A key benefit to building your brand online through social media is the enormous SEO boost your business website can get.

It’s about entry points!

1. Each new blog post is a new entry point to your website. If you published 1 blog post each day for a year, that’s 365 MORE entry points to your blog than your traditional website provides.

2. Google includes blog posts and Twitter updates in its search algorithm.

3. Your great social media content could get linked to by other social Web users through blogs, Twitter, and so on, which means even MORE entry points to your blog.

4. The more time you spend creating great content and building relationships with other people on the social Web, the more people will get to know you, trust your content, and link to it or share it.

5. All of that content creation, linking, and sharing means more entry points to your blog and website, which also boosts your site’s search engine rankings. And more traffic = more opportunities to build your brand and your business!

You can’t buy that kind of

access!

For branding building, every day you wait is a missed opportunity

• Start a blog. Leave comments on other blogs where your target customers spend time.

• Get on Twitter and be active!• Answer questions on LinkedIn.• Create groups and fan pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.• Create videos (upload your videos to your branded YouTube

channel or to TubeMogul.com for instant distribution to multiple online video sites and for tracking).

• Find online forums and social networks where your target customers spend time and join the conversation.

• Start a weekly podcast (you can set up an online radio show through BlogTalkRadio.com in minutes and automatically upload it to iTunes).

• Go mobile with foursquare.

Most important!

• Test various social media marketing tactics but remember, success comes from persistence and active participation over time.

• Ultimately, pursue the social media marketing tools that you actually enjoy and can stick with rather than spreading yourself too thin across multiple tools. Quality content and interaction is more important than quantity.

• Recruit employees to share the time investment. Just be sure to train them on your brand promise and messaging first! They can be your best brand advocates and guardians.

Social Media Employee Participation Tips

• Employees crave involvement and ownership.

• Allow employees to take control.

• Offer flexibility and leniency but within specific guidelines.

• Make it easy and non-threatening to participate.

• Create a 360-degree loop of information sharing.

• Be accessible.

• One sentence of corporate rhetoric will ruin everything!

Build your band of brand advocates across the Web.

• Network with your target audience and professionals with connections to your target audience across the Web for maximum exposure.

• Build relationships which lead to loyalty.

• Loyal followers will talk about you and your brand. They’ll advocate your brand, guard it, and promote it for you.

Bottom-line to social media success – active participation, relationship building, creating

amazing content and engaging other people who then become your band of brand advocates.

Whatever you do

• Take control of your brand.

• Make it their own.

• Self-select social media experiences to engage in with the brand, and

• Become loyal brand advocates and brand guardians.

Don’t be afraid to let consumers (and employees):

That’s where the power of your brand comes from.

But what if they say something BAD?

You have three choices:Use the 3 Fs of Social Media Reputation Management

FLIGHT

Ignore it.

FLIGHT

Ignore it.FIGHT

Join it.

FIGHT

Join it.

FLOOD

Bury it.

FLOOD

Bury it.

Dell’s Big Mistake1,730 Diggs,

422,032 views, and 77 pages of comments

3,672 Diggs, 149,963

views, and 142 pages of comments

• Don’t try to control the conversation.

• Admit your mistakes.

• Be transparent.

Example: Harry Potter• The Harry Potter brand was originally

built by consumers not marketers.

• Consumers shared it, experienced it and lived it, particularly on the social web.– Fan sites, blogs, forums, fan fiction,

fan art, music, videos, podcasts, and more

• J.K. Rowling and the publisher originally sent cease & desist letters but quickly learned letting fans take control of the brand on the social web was far more powerful.

Secrets to Social Media Marketing Success

• Forget everything you know about marketing.

• Think like a publisher, not a marketer.

• If you build it, they won’t necessarily come. You have to give them a reason.

• It’s not about you.

• Let the audience take control.

• It’s a long-term strategy. Be patient and persistent.

Protect Your Brand• Trademark your brand name, logo, packaging, etc.

– Contact your attorney or visit USPTO.gov for more information.

• Invest in a great logo, brand design, Web site design, blog design, marketing materials, ad design, etc.– Hire a talented freelancer through a site like iFreelance.com,

Guru.com, Elance.com, or Freelancer.com.

• Remember search engine reputation management. – Get your brand name in your domain name, Twitter ID, Facebook

page, and so on before someone else uses it!– Monitor your brand mention online using tools like Google Alerts

and Monitter.com.– Use the 3 Fs of Social Media Reputation Management.– Invest in legitimate SEO help through sites like SEOMoz.org or an

SEO consultant.

Google Alerts: www.google.com/alerts

10 Next Steps to Build Your Brand and Your Business

1. Identify your goal for your brand and its ultimate position in the minds of consumers and against the competition.

2. Determine the word or phrase your brand should own in the minds of consumers. That is the heart of your brand promise.

3. Create messages, experiences, and images that consistently communicate that brand promise.

4. Find your best audience (or audiences).

5. Communicate your brand promise through integrated marketing tactics.

6. Join the online conversation across the social Web and build your band of followers and brand advocates.

7. Allow them to take control of their brand experiences and the online conversation.

8. Be real, be honest, be accessible, be engaging, and be true to your brand promise.

9. Test, analyze results, and try again.

10. Be consistent and persistent while exercising restraint.

That’s how a brand is created and

that’s how you use the social web to

build your brand and build your business!

Most Important

JUST GET STARTED!

For More Information“…an easy, thoughtful, and strategic manual for your social media marketing success plan. Avoid reading this social media marketing guide at your own peril.”

– Dan Schawbel, #1 international bestselling author of Me 2.0.

I’m reading 30-Minute Social Media Marketing by

@susangunelius http://amzn.to/30minsmm

#30minutesmm

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Contact Susan Gunelius

Coming in 2011

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to WordPress

Books by Susan Gunelius (available through online & offline book sellers)

Website:

www.KeySplashCreative.com

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Email:

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