Mirror, Mirror On The Wall
September 13, 2008
A recent study in Australia created a list of the most recognised brands by Australians. This study was not limited to products or commercial ventures. The survey asked of a tiny example of Australians, only 1000 of them (is that even statistically significant?), and then was judged by a panel of industry “experts”, but the criteria on which they were judged is quite a valid one
“A brand had to fulfill three criteria: whether consumers could easily understand what it stood for, if there was a clearly articulated belief, and whether there was behaviour particular to the brand, for example, people went to great lengths to defend it.”
Many start-ups use the whole vision/mission statement as more of a marketing exercise rather than articulating what makes them PASSIONATE and DIFFERENT.
Passion is a universal attractor, humans are wired to be attracted to someone who is excited about something. Think about it, you are an early human on the Serengeti Plain and one of your tribe runs up gesticulating. They have information you NEED to know because information equals survival. Instantly your attention on an intellectual AND emotional level is focused on this person. Whether that information was they had found a great place to catch dinner, or that something was coming that was going to make you dinner, did not matter.
Not many people/companies convey that kind of passion, and that is what drives the third step of the branding criteria. Particular behaviour to the brand.
Plenty of factors can ruin any chance you may have of building a good brand, let alone a great one. Bad customer service , the naked desire for cash, any form of incongruity between what is said and what is done spring to mind immediately, yet these things are often the trademark of internet marketing businesses (no wonder people think IM is the playground of shysters and scam artists).
Look at the Australian Top 20 and see if you know or agree that they fit your idea of great branding
1. Hells Angels
2. Apple
3. Star Wars
4. Dove
5. Moleskine
6. Smiggle
7. The Body Shop
8. Virgin
9. Alannah Hill
10. Ecko
11. Catholic Church
12. Nike
13. Free Hugs
14. Harley Davidson
15. Peter Alexander
16. T2
17. Bra Boys
18. Sunrise
19. Circus Oz
20. Boost
You can bet that branding will be one of the areas we will be covering in the SWBN.
To-Do or Not To-Do
April 26, 2008
While I see myself as being pretty good at getting the actions I need to perform down on paper, I can be very slack when it comes to checking back regularly to ensure I am staying on track.
Take the to-do list that I filed away somewhere about a fortnight ago, I had not checked back on it until yesterday. *slaps wrist, bad Allison!* .
Of the tasks left to do I have marked the ones in pink that I will accomplish this weekend.
That might not seem like much but I am having the hardest time articulating my vision statement.
To create my vision statement i have written down the beliefs and requirements me as “the business” will be working to in 5 years time. The list I have is
- fun
- innovative
- fulfilling
- intelligent
- quality
- rewarding financially
[several hours pass]
OK here they are
Luckily these are living statements and can be reviewed and changed at any time. But for the moment they are what I am striving for.
Tomorrow I will complete the plan-to-a-page and publish that as well.
None of this is as easy as it looks but it does help focus on what you truly want to get out of your business, rather than creating a rut by keepin the nose to the ground and going round and round in the same place without popping the head up to check if you really should be going in a straight line.
Road Maps
April 2, 2008
Although my wish is to leave corporate life, I have learned a great deal from the processes that I have encountered during my years in the cubicle. One of my favourite things to do is to convert my ideas into visual records of what needs to be done.
Mind maps are my road maps for action. Let’s look at what i have put down in writing for the next couple of weeks. 
Creating a visual reference is becoming more and more widely recognised as an integral tool in your business tool box. Ramping up to be a major best seller is Back of the Napkin Problem Solving
Back to mind mapping though. The above is a very very simple version. The large tasks have not been chunked down to the individual parts of the work that will need to be addressed. The chunking down part is VERY important. A great game to get into the habit of chunking is to work with a friend (though can be solo) and pick a random word and your partner tell you UP or DOWN and you think of the next word in the sequence of the bigger/smaller subset that your subject belongs to.
Chunking Exercise
Let’s start with the word Jupiter and chunk up
Jupiter -> Solar System -> Milky Way -> Universe
Chunk Down
Jupiter -> rings -> gas -> atoms
So working on an example from the above mind map let’s try chunking down Blogging
Niche Blog -> Topics -> Key Words -> …
Chunking Up
Niche Blog -> Communication Strategy -> Public Persona ->…
The point of chunking is that you do not lose sight of, or miss planning for the bigger picture or the minutiae. It would be a bugger if I posted 50 blog entries and did not include any of the key words or phrases I want to target. It would also be a shame if I went off the track altogether and tarnished my public persona by being someone I am not.
The goal is to remain as close as possible to the road map and measure progress and results as I go forward. So I better get cracking on getting the Vision and Mission statement up!
Recent Comments