Can Branding Be Augmented Without Working At It?

The answer in most cases is NO. Branding takes a very conscious effort on the part of the brand manager/ entrepreneur. Sure there is always an exception to the rule; however, it doesn't mean the principles of branding were not present, it just means that the manager did not have a specific plan. The brand has to stand for something to build the perception in consumers mind that it is worthy. The best approach for branding is to take charge, understand your brand, and make sure that your brand tells a story.

How do you do this? A few assignments to get you started might help:

• Vision, Mission, Core Values. There is a direct correlation between your brand, its success, and these components. If you haven't already, write down your vision, mission, and core values. A vision statement is based on where you want to be in the next 5-10 years. This is usually derived from several factors but most importantly - strategy. Do a SWOTT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, Trend, and Threat) Analysis and you might learn more about your industry and the direction you need to take in order to achieve long-term growth. The mission statement should determine how you are going to get the internal and external audiences to achieve the vision (5-10 yr. plan). Core values are typically 5-7 attributes that you and your staff can buy into to achieve your goals. For instance, integrity, sustainability, environmentally responsible, etc... See www.bp.com for excellent examples of how to establish strong values to drive your brand.
  
• Tell a story. Once I understood that every brand tells a story, a light bulb went off for me. Explaining to clients what branding is can be difficult and the concept of telling a story makes sense to most people. If you aren't sure, put on your journalistic hat and write down what you 'think' your brand's story is and see if you can develop a compassionate story line to weave in the fabric of your brand if you haven't already.
  
• Express your brand. If you have found the story of your brand and you know where you want to be in 5-10 years and beyond - it's time to express yourself. Create copy, collateral, and ads that represent your brand from the inside out. Your brand should connect the dots for consumers. Your brand is competing with over 2000 messages a day your audience is exposed to on average. It has to be simple, make sense, and tell a story.

Learning more about branding is critical for the sustainability of your brand. You can learn more about branding here on this blog or read the Seven Myths About Branding. It's your responsibility to know as much as you can about how to build your brand efficiently and effectively.

A good example of this: Cingular, BP, Coca Cola, and Starbuck's.

Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has nearly 20 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. "Inspired by growth" from its inception, Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing. She can be reached at trisha@augmentgroup.com

Is Your Design Balanced?

The "Magic Box" by Trisha Ahlman

Here's the test. In advertising, there is a theory called the "magic box". It's the place where you want to draw the consumers attention. I like to use no more than three (3) focal points (in most cases) when designing a piece of collateral. Do not over do it! This is difficult because we are tempted to get our logo, the message, the promotion and all the other important facts in our ads.

In order to find the "magic box", you need to draw a box around the item you want your audience to notice first. For instance, if you're Coke it might be around the coke can. If you are selling diamonds, perhaps it's the hand with the diamond that is prominent. Then draw a horizontal line and a vertical line (I like to off-center the magic box). If there are other objects fighting for my attention, there are several techniques that work. All other objects outside of the "magic box":

1. Create smaller text and use a lighter color (i.e. gray so that it's not too prominent)
2. Keep it clean and take some of the other objects out all together
3. Using a graphic design program, make the "magic box" object more prominent
4. Make other objects smaller from a perspective point of view
5. Ask friends and colleagues if they think the ad is balanced for a quick field test
6. Off-center the focal points (I prefer asymmetrical design)
7. Blur out background images so the focal point is more prominent
   

Some graphic artist say that balance is achieved through symmetry... I say, achieving balance doesn't mean that you have a perfect, symmetrical ad or design - it just means you need to find the "magic box" and make sure that your focal point isn't fighting for real estate from background noise.

Always follow the rule K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid). Sorry to be so brash, but I see too many great ads that over do it when it comes to layout. Can you find the magic box in the ad posted here?

Trisha Ahlman has been marketing for nearly 20 years. Out of high school, Trisha Ahlman was awarded a four year art scholarship in which she won from an impressionist painting she entered into a contest by the Houston Art Society. She has a team of designers and artists that work with her and is creatively directs nearly every project. She now teaches Visual Communication part-time at the Jesse H. Jones School of Business at Texas Southern University. Her company, Augment Marketing consults hundreds of businesses on marketing, branding, layout, and design. For more information, visit www.augmentgroup.com.

Are You a MicroPreneur?

Harry Futch of MicroBiz weighs in (or visit MicroPreneur),

"Business blogs are very popular right now, but we intend to focus on the MicroBiz - and for our purposes that means less than 10 employees and a burning desire to compete on the level of much bigger companies. We have assembled a talented crew of guest writers from our local area (Houston, TX). As we progress, we will be asking some of our respondents to serve as guest writers also.

As the CEO of a microbiz (that’s Chief Everything Officer), I’ve spent hours on the Web searching for information on running my business more efficiently and effectively. I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by people much more talented and much smarter than myself. I have been, however, smart enough to get them to share information about what made them successful. I intend to pass along as much of that information as possible.

Unlike many blogs, this one does not have the feel of Holy Writ. What works for one business might not work for another. The importance of this type of exchange is to keep a free and open flow of ideas and techniques. Together we are more powerful than we are alone. Let us hear from you. "

For more information on how you can grow your business visit the MircoPreneur Blog

Inspired By Growth: Augment Addresses Advertising

A famous writer by the name of Roy Williams tells the best stories. He is literally THE guru of writing, marketing, and advertising. He created the Seven Laws of the Advertising Universe in his book "The Wizard of Ads" (excellent reading). I thought it would be fun to offer the perspective of the consultant or agency in this article. For One, I thought perhaps clients didn't know what it was like to be in our shoes and would want to hear this perspective. Secondly, I think that it will open your eyes to really great ideas that will manifest new growth in your advertising.

I have picked four out of seven key laws and made a comment after each describing the other perspective to illustrate how best to approach or think about the law.

1) An Energy of Words has existed since the day He said, "Let there be light." Learn how to use this energy. You are created in his image. Trisha's comment - with the internet growing by leaps and bounds daily, small businesses have no choice but to create presence on the internet. Some clients still have not taken the plunge believe it or not. Words are our energy. Begin writing. Develop a program or guide for your clients. Developing key material for your company is essential to your success. Let words augment your growth. Do not let fear of the unknown keep you from taking the first step.

2) Intellect and Emotion are partners who do not speak the same language. The intellect finds logic to justify what the emotions have decided. Win the hearts of the people, their minds will follow. Trisha's comment - this is soooo true in advertising. Some clients begin analyzing campaigns to death. I call this "analysis paralysis". Certainly, you will not augment growth if you never make a decision. Emotions or evoking emotive responses work very well in advertising. That isn't to say that you should not take an educational approach to advertising. In my experience, what works best is a balance between Education and Emotion. A winning combination.

3) Opportunity and Security are inversely proportionate. As one increases, the other must decrease. High returns are gained form low-risk strategies only through the passage of time. He who will cheat time must embrace the risk of failure. Trisha's comment - Again, Roy Williams is superb. Number three can go hand-in-hand with number two. If clients never take a risk, how will they have the opportunity to test the market. Creativity comes from the gut many times because it is evoked by emotion. Sure, one can fail utilizing all emotion and no logic, but isn't it fair to say that great ideas are often ideas that can come literally from a vision. It can happen that fast. I say that to say, take a chance.

4) Engage the Imagination, then take it where you will. Where the mind has repeatedly journeyed, the body will surely follow. People go only to places they have already been in their minds. Trisha's comment - I do think that the more you allow your advertising agency, your employee, your partner, or your marketing consultant to engage in creativity and use their imagination, the more often you will gain the best they have within them. Harnessing imaginations keep creativity from flowing. Allowing it to flow can create some of the most amazing marketing and advertising ideas ever to be produced. [This excerpt was taken from "The Wizard of Ads" by Roy H. Williams, renowned advertiser, marketer, and author.]

By no means, am I saying that all decisions are emotional, immediate responses; but, I am saying that in order for "juices to flow" to create ideas that will possibly enhance your image and increase revenues, it's a risk worth taking. Be creative, take chances, live on the edge. Cutting-edge, break-through ideas do not come around everyday. Thinking in the box will not get you there. You would never know when a campaign, a new logo, or a new tag would augment your company to an entirely new level.

Coming from the consultant side, I hope I've given "you" the entrepreneur or small business marketer some advice on how to work with consultants and employees to produce the absolute best results.

Inspired by Growth Blog is driven to gain insight for those seeking advice as well as receiving advice. Your marketing and advertising may be in the hands of someone else, but if you are the kind of person that is really, really good at what you do....let your consultants or agencies do what they do best and await the results. I promise if you step back, you'll be amazed at the results.

A little perspective goes a long way sometimes.


[Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has over 15 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. "Inspired by growth" from its inception, Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing. She can be reached at trisha@augmentgroup.com or www.marketingmyinternetbusiness.com ]

5 Easy Steps to Follow When Marketing My Internet Business

Marketing my internet business can be challenging, especially for beginners. Let's look at some terminology and basics to get you started. The results will inspire growth when launching your internet business. Follow these 5 easy steps to start:

Step 1) Find the best keywords and phrases: write down a list of keywords and phrases that best suit your business. Put yourself in the consumer's mind as much as possible. These are the words that consumers use for searching for products and services, so it's important to spend some time on this task and think it through. Think of direct keywords, keywords that provide solutions, think of key phrases not just words.

Step 2) Choose a domain name: Make sure your domain name is keyword driven or catchy. If you have a unique business name then you can use that as well. Three and four words are okay if they are short but easy to remember. Common names are hard to optimize as a beginner. If you have a business name like Acme, Omega, or Infinity, you're in for a real challenge to become visible on the internet. Research other ideas to make sure you make the right choice.

Step 3) Optimize your web pages: Again, focusing on keywords and phrases you are telling the search engines which keywords you want to be found. Rule of thumb - optimize six pages and each page should focus on one or two keyword phrases that are relevant to your product or service. It's helpful to have software or a consultant help you to find which keywords and phrases you should use to optimize based on your competition and industry.

Step 4) Optimize your inbound links: Links can be one of the most important factors for high search engine rankings. This includes links from other sites, links within your website to other key information in your own website, and links from internet directories. There is software that automatically registers inbound links for you that you can research.

Step 5) Submit your website: Submitting to search engines invites other sites to visit your website. If done correctly with optimizing web pages, you can move up in the rankings. It's also important to use your domain name when submitting your site and using a reliable web hosting service. Only submit actual sites versus a site that is redirected to another site. Last but not least, your url should not contain special characters for search engine submission.

Following these five steps will help your website move up in the rankings-- guaranteed! Is it going to be easy? The answer is NO. I've learned a lot of these steps by trial and error when marketing my internet business. It's become a daily ritual to keep an eye on my rankings to make sure that I'm becoming more and more visible on the net. Don't forget, there are a lot of "free" and organic ways to market your internet business on the net that I have revealed in this blog.

Most of all, you really just have to take the first step and that is to decide to become a part of marketing an internet business online. The reason - by the year 2010 almost every business will have presence online that includes some sort of e-commerce. Now is the time to plan for yourself and for your business. Don't get left behind.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.... For more information to obtain an online marketing plan, please visit www.marketingmyinternetbusiness.com. That site offers a free online marketing plan download.

Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has over 15 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing. She can be reached at trisha@augmentgroup.com .

Augment Marketing Speaks on the 8 Principles of Building a Strong Brand

We learned in a previous lesson that there are seven core values of a brand, according to Scott Bedbury, one of the leading brand managers in American history. He has worked with two of the largest brands in the world Starbuck's and Nike. To review his theory of building strong core values of a brand, in his book "A Brand New World", we look to build brand strength, longevity, and passion within the foundation of the brand. To recap, he states the seven core values being:

• Simplicity
• Patience
• Relevance
• Accessibility
  
• Humanity
• Omnipresence
  
• Innovation

Every brand has a core "essence" that gives the brand its substance. One thing that great brands have in common is the "experience" consumers have with the brand, but clearly you need more than that to build brand strength. It's critical to build your brand around the relationship between the brand, the consumer, and the stakeholders as a whole. As we begin to explore Bedbury's 8 principles of a brand, you should begin developing your own core values and examining each principle carefully.

1. Relying on brand awareness has become marketing fool's gold - This is the difference between brand awareness vs brand strength. Most brands think that building awareness is building a brand. Yes, building a brand from the ground up will include creating awareness some where in the plan; however, according to Bedbury, this is where relevance and resonance come into play. This is the core, the root of a brand and what it means. If you build your brand on awareness alone and the substance of the brand has shallow meaning, your brand will not survive. Building brand strength here is all about the consumers "experience" with the brand.
   
2. You have to know it before you can grow it (cracking the code) - Sitting on several board's for strategic planning, I have had the honor to dig deep in the core of some very astute brands. Defining your mission, vision, and core values is just the beginning of cracking the brands genetic code. You need to clearly define your goals, your vision, a snapshot of your future and how success will be measured; including consideration for your customers, your potential customers, even your employees. This is where you tell the story of your brand to the world. Make it a novel.
3. Just because you can doesn't mean you should (the spandex rule of branding) - Yes, according to Scott Bedbury, just because you have spandex, doesn't mean you should wear it. While determining when and if you are ready to grow, you should be innovative, remain on the cutting-edge and plunge into growth if research supports it. It means building intelligent brandwidth -- ie. joint ventures, strategic alliances, acquisitions, but remember "every brand has it's limitations" according Bedbury. If you are building a solid brand, growth can be exciting. If your brand is built on sand, the foundation crumbles. Know your limitations.
4. Transcend a product-only relationship with your customers - This principle builds in the emotional experience between the brand and the consumers. What emotion does your product evoke? Perhaps individuality, longing, belonging, freedom, self-actualization, discovery. These concepts are what build substance into your brand and how consumers react. Think of Hallmark or Disney.
   
5. Everything matters - In essence, this is the environment in which you build your brand-- much like when raising a child. When you raise a child, everything you do and don't do will affect the child's ultimate outcome as a person. The same holds true for a brand. You should care about the customers, the environment, the employees, representation of the brand...everything. The dress code, the brand definition, the office space, the expectations. This is "brand excellence".
6. Being a good leader for your brand - This principle encompasses leadership, accountability, and motivation. Your brand is an asset to the organization and is just as important to protect as any other assets of the company. In many ways being a good brand parent is much like what the CEO is to the company or what the head of household is to a family. It's being the rock of the organization and leading the company to reach great things. Your role here is to live it, breathe it, and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. First and foremost, you must believe it and then you must teach others in the organization to believe it as well.
   
7. Big doesn't have to be bad -This is where the core value of omnipresence resonates. As you begin to grow and take over market share, you can be perceived as the Goliath-- the bad giant taking over the world. If your brand isn't about more than making money and taking over market share, sooner or later you will certainly have to fight off the competition, but consumers will see right through it. Their emotional relationship with the brand will emerge and the bad press or belittling comments from competitors will easily be overlooked. This isn't just important for larger corporations, but from a small business perspective as well -- its all relevant to the playing field. You may be considered fierce competition right now, but if your brand is more than just bringing in the revenues-- now you are building brand strength.
8. Building your brand future - Based on relevance, simplicity, and humanity, your brand's future will rise to the top of its category. Consumers relate to these components. Being simple and relevant helps consumers understand the brand. For example, Oprah Winfrey, is a huge brand and makes billions of dollars. The reason everyone loves her so much no matter how much this woman makes is because she's been so simple. She sits on her stage, a person that can now afford to buy anything she wants, and talks about buying an affordable good pair of jeans, what it means to be on a diet and work out like every other person in the world. Her audience can relate to her. Build a strong brand future on simplicity.

The ultimate goal for Augment Marketing is to help small businesses understand the values and principles in building a strong brand that will survive in a world of giants like Kodak, Coke, Disney, Starbuck's, and Nike. We can build strong brands that hold their weight in their own right, in their own category, and in their own markets. It all starts with the foundation. We'll continue to discuss this topic because there is so many details to cover. If you have a comment about building brands, please feel free to elaborate.

As we begin to dive deeper into building a strong brand, your first exercise is to write down your mission, vision, and core values. Augment's Marketing My Internet Business blog will discuss building a strong business online in the coming weeks to further expound on this topic.

Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has over 15 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. "Inspired by growth" from its inception, Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing. She can be reached at trisha@augmentgroup.com or www.marketingsoftwarebusiness.com .

Augment Marketing Makes the Headlines Again!

Augment Marketing Group discussed the many challenges of small business owners in a recent interview. The real news came when Trisha Ahlman, CEO spoke of online marketing trends for 2008. "It doesn't seem fair that small businesses have to keep up with big-time technology-driven trends this year. The fact is that without employing some of the latest marketing techniques like search marketing, social marketing, mobile marketing and others, entrepreneurs will not survive. Fact is, this years marketing trends are not going any where", explains Ms. Ahlman. She spent a lot of time deciphering the news for 2008. Viewing Trish's quick tips on our "Quick Marketing Tips Blog" will give you a brief synopsis of what we begin to break down over the next few weeks in detail.

Inspire, Learn, Grow...