Brand Regeneration: maintaining a meaningful, relevant presence in the marketplace where established brands continue to reach new audiences. Justin's latest presentation covers the process of Brand Regeneration - how we arrived at our current situation, how to find new customers, attracting a younger audience, the 7 Laws of Relevance, and some immediate changes you can make to your marketing efforts.
If you are interested in learning more about Brand Regeneration, give us a call at 208-841-3497 or drop us a note.
Above is a clip from my appearance last week on KTVB's Noon News with Carolyn Holly. My topic was the "Myths of Word-of-Mouth".
Here are the myths:
1) Myth: Word-of-Mouth is a tactic. A tactic is something you execute or do. Examples in marketing: media buy, creative, web, etc. All things you do. As such, WOM is NOT a tactic. It's not something you do; it's something you are. Of course, there are steps and processes to generate WOM, but WOM is not something you can buy.
2) Myth: Word-of-Mouth doesn't cost money. This may sound like a conflict with #1, so here's what I mean: It may not cost money to BUY word-of-mouth, but it certainly can cost money to CREATE it. The time, money, and energy that goes in to creating an interesting product or service is all part of the cost of WOM. That said, paying to be interesting can a lot less expense and for more sustainable than paying for attention. A portion of cost can also go towards grassroots marketing, creating sampling, conducting surveys, etc.
3) Myth: Word-of-Mouth means you don't need to advertise. WOM is often positioned as the opposite of advertising. In reality, they are two separate issues. In many cases, brands need to use advertising to create interest, perception, behavior, etc. Boring brands need to pay more to make this happen. WOM-driven brands can still use advertising - often to further enhance a competitive advantage. These brands use advertising to "fan the flames" of excitement. Think Apple, Southwest, or Harley. They aren't creating awareness, they are further stirring existing buzz.
I mentioned an ancient and timeless rule in the piece:
Being interesting = creating stories = generating word-of-mouth.
So if you wish you had more WOM and don't, see the first part of the formula.
If you think you are interesting, but aren't generating stories then either you are probably not interesting - or you are doing a poor job of capturing and re-telling stories.
If indeed you are interesting, then use your marketing dollars to tell and create stories - and it will create even more WOM!
Posted by: Today's Tip Contributor on November 18, 2010
Something I learned early on as an entrepreneur and small business owner is that starting and maintaining a successful business depends on how well you understand and tell your company’s story. It sounds overly simplistic. Still, identifying and staying true to your new company’s story creates the foundation for a strong and healthy business. Consider the following tips:
1. Determine your MIT (most important thing). Passionate and excited entrepreneurs are often sidetracked by all the things they hope to accomplish with their new company, among a seemingly endless array of possibilities. Clarity of purpose is critical in the first months and years of developing a business. This approach provides the structure for how you make decisions and adopt strategies. You must be able to tell your company story in one sentence or less. This is your MIT. Wal-Mart does this exceedingly well. The company pledges to deliver the lowest-cost products, period. FedEx promises to deliver overnight, guaranteed. Achieving this level of simplicity and clarity is fundamental to success.
2. Live your story. Take your MIT and build a story around it that explains, as briefly as possible, who you are, what you are doing, and why it matters. In many instances, the only reason someone will pay more for your product or service than your competitors’ is because they believe that the story about your product demonstrates that it has more intrinsic value than your competition.
This is a critical point. It is all about value and values. People make decisions on products and services based on enlightened self-interest. They will weigh the dollar cost of the product with the story they want to tell about their own lives and how the product you are selling contributes to, or detracts from, their life story. Ultimately, if your product story is compelling enough to that customer—if it contributes to the story they want to tell about themselves—you win.
3. Write the Next Chapter. Last, live the story you tell and allow it to evolve. As your business grows, you will find that some of your assumptions and hypotheses are no longer valid. This may affect the way you tell your story. Like a good book, your story will have unexpected turns and twists but be sure to embrace them and allow them to be part of your company history, even if they require admitting you were wrong, duped, or naïve in the past. If your intentions are good and people can see this, they will appreciate you all the more for the honesty and humility demonstrated by your willingness to learn and grow.
Richard Averitt
Founder
A Part of Something Big
Nellysford, Va.
Dale Dixon, CEO of BBB-Snake River Region, brought this article to my attention. It is a simple, quick read that captures the essence of branding.
A few comments:
- All great brands are great stories. Great stories beat campaign slogans, tag-lines, media spin, and ad buys.
- Great stories can be compressed down to a 30 sec ad or a billboard, but you have to work at it. That said, great stories can be told in all mediums: word-of-mouth, a cardboard sign, a video, etc. If it can't be told in multiple mediums, it's probably not a great story.
- In today's hyper-transparent culture, you can't fake a good story or cover up a bad one.
- Unfortunately, the process of "getting your story out" has become commoditized and cliched. However, you still need a story - and it still needs to be told. The way to do this, as the article mentions, is to actually have a story. Go back and look at the definition of a story. It's not just a beginning, middle, and end. It's something captures the attention of the audience and holds them until a conclusion - then is naturally re-told.
Final thought ... if you don't know who you are (as a person or a company), there is no story. Start there.
Easy: memories. Our brains remember the recent and the extreme.
Recent:
We remember yesterday. We remember the drive home. We remember the last time we had coffee. We remember the recent memories because it is easy. It is top of mind. We really don’t have to work to remember it. These memories fade fast.
Extreme:
We remember the one time we went to and had this crazy (fill in the blank). We remember our last big play to win the game. We remember horrific accidents. These instances are easy to recall because they are so different. These memories often stay with us for life.
So What:
What are you doing with your marketing? Are you playing the recent game of “Don’t forget about us,” reminding us everyday that you exist. Or is your marketing trying to create an extreme experience where you delight us frequently by not telling us you are different but proving it.
Today, October 11, 2010, Tricycle is happy to announce that we are now accepting online applications to Tricycle University. Tricycle University is a one-year intensive program where you will learn how to grow, manage and develop your brand. Once accepted in to the program, you will be placed into a small learning pod with other professionals. Over the next 12 months, you will meet with your pod and your instructor both online and offline to go through the program in a cohort-style format.
Just thought we would fill you in on some of the changes that have been happening recently at Tricycle. Other than moving to 615 W. Hays Street, we also have some staff that you probably haven't had the opportunity to meet yet. Check them out below, we have some very cool and interesting people. You can contact any of us by sending a note to: info AT thetricycle DOT com We don't like spam, hence the funny formatting.
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
This week's scenario: A locally owned bank is losing customers. They have been in business for 50 years and have a $300-500 marketing budget. What should they do?
This is our seventeenth video in our "60 Seconds" series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the "60 Seconds" series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
Other than a noun and a verb... love has many defintions. At our most recent event, "You Can't Buy Love," you wrote down your defintion of love on an index card with a Sharpie. Remember, Justin defined love as a "100% commitment to another person's well being." As you read through the list of others' definitions ask yourself what would change if you started showing your clients, COINs, prospects, vendors and others love? Here is what you said:
Definitions
Unconditional acceptance from a God who loves me more than I could ever comprehend. Being able to share that with everyone I come in contact with.
Unconditional
Unwavering commitment to someone or something that brings joy and satisfactory to you in return
Concern for the well being of others and may include fondness
The emotional valuing of (humans, animals) animate and inanimate objects in varying degrees
Unconditional compassion & caring. Being passionate.
To care deeply about something to the point that it becomes a passion.
A willingness to sacrifice oneself on behalf of another
Sacrifice, putting others first
Love is my commitment to bring my most authentic self to relationships
Caring enough about someone or something to put their needs ahead of you own wants, desires or comfort
My life for yours
God is love. He is the author and example.
Deep connection to and close personal attachment to someone or something
Love is an attitude. You make a decision to love others even when they are unlovable.
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
Welcome to Tricycle's lifestream! This is a collection of our thoughts and ideas - along with useful stuff we find related to branding, social media, marketing, etc.
About Tricycle: The true purpose of branding is to inspire people to fall in love with you. When you inspire people to love your brand, you will have greater customer retention, higher marketing ROI, and a legacy that changes lives. Tricycle, a modern branding firm, was created to provide the expertise and systems required to communicate your brand with boldness, creativity, and discipline. For more information about us, visit www.thetricycle.com.
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Thoughts, musings, and useful stuff from the Trike Crew
