I stayed in one place for too long
Gotta get on the run again
I saw the one thing that I want
Hell bent, get out of bed

I’m throwing rocks at your window
You’re tying the bedsheets together
They say we are dreaming too big
I say this town’s too small

Dream, send me a sign
Turn back the clock, give me some time
I need to break out and make a new name
Let’s open our eyes to the brand new day
It’s the brand new day

I’ve taken hits like a brawler
But I’m getting back up again
And from the moment I saw her
I was hell bent with heaven sent

I’m throwing rocks at your window
We’re leaving this place together
They say that we’re flying too high
We’ll get used to looking up

Dream, send me a sign
Turn back the clock, give me some time
I need to break out and make a new name
Let’s open our eyes to the brand new day
It’s the brand new day

It’s the brand new day
I know it’s the brand new day
Come on to the brand new day
I know it’s the brand new day

Dream, send me a sign
Turn back the clock, give me some time
I need to break out and make a new name
Let’s open our eyes to the brand new day
It’s the brand new day

Dream, send me a sign
Turn back the clock, give me some time
I need to break out and make a new name
Let’s open our eyes to the brand new day
It’s the brand new day

Image via Wikipedia

Comment here.

Branding matters! People, namely your prospects, customers and the public, must be able to distinguish your offering without thinking about it from a sea of competitive products and other messages vying for their attention.

Does your brand stand out? Whether it’s your logo, company colors, voice, look and feel, use of language, sounds or other attributes – does it make a strong impression?

Here are five questions every marketer must answer to ensure that their brand makes a lasting impression. (It’s useful to start with these questions about your brand’s DNA.)

Source: How To Make Your Brand Stand Out | Heidi Cohen

Value add here. Comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…

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• Branding for the Social Brain (kaneconsulting.biz)
• Why your business needs a brand and how to create one (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
• Brand Against The Machine (twistimage.com)
• Distinguish Yourself from the Crowd: Ventureneer Hosts Webinar on Nonprofit Branding (prweb.com)
• Brand Extensions (prmarketingcommunication.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

To my business owners:

I’m thinking about corporate branding…yes, branding and beauty have a lot to do with each other and both of them are viewed differently by various types of people.  When building a company brand, whether branding a small business or corporate-scale image, I’m a firm believer in digging deeper into personality, quirks, culture, beliefs and goals of the “beholder” (the company) as your strategy.  Personify the company.  If ABC, Inc. were a person, how would they present themselves to friends, family, acquaintances, and people they first meet?  That’s what a brand should say without words.  When you look at a logo, icon, or any sort of identification graphic, do the descriptive words, feelings, and opinions of the viewer coincide with the personification choices you were going after?  And this viewer (your audience or target market) may feel differently than another.  I think it’s best to look at your target audience and personify them too. What is beauty to this person?  If people (potential partners and clients) are attracted to your (company) beauty (brand), you can potentially establish long and fulfilling (profitable) relationships with them.

Let’s look at a world renowned artist, Picasso, known for his intellectual portrayal of politics through the artistic style of Cubism. Some viewed it as beautiful and some not. (And I’ll stay neutral in my opinion of his work.)  It’s obvious that his artwork was his brand.  Although, on the contrary, the painter said, in a 1945 interview with Jerome Seckler,  “I am a Communist and my painting is Communist painting. … But if I were a shoemaker, Royalist or Communist or anything else, I would not necessarily hammer my shoes in a special way to show my politics.”

He built his brand by personifying his political beliefs by abstractly painting them. Without his works and personal portrayal of his political beliefs, his branding, we may not remember him today.   If you were a successful shoemaker, you WOULD hammer shoes in a special way to show your competencies (beauty)  in a competitive market.

Reflection:  Does your company brand portray its true beauty?  How can you build a beautiful brand that will produce chemistry with your specific target market?

…left your cup of coffee on the counter?

…you said goodbye to a friend, and THEN remembered what you wanted to say to them?

…you left your clothes in the washing machine?

…woke up late for work, or an appointment?

…you had to choose between two options, you pick one, and then meet your friends who ALL picked the same thing?

…forgot to set your clock(s) for Daylight Savings?

…couldn’t decide what to cook, and went out to eat, or ordered in?

…you looked every where for that ring, necklace, pair of glasses, and they were exactly where you always placed them?

Memories. Consideration sets. There are several events in our lives that resonate with a large group of people. What’s so awesome about memories is that they bring up different emotions within that group of people.

It is the function of the communications professional to show businesses and organizations how to use those memories and emotions and find a connection to their brand.

Doesn’t sound easy, does it? Good. Because it’s not.

Whether you call it “e-motive marketing” or “slice of life advertising“, it seems that many communicators have been too focused on being a part of the conversation and being engaged, many forget why it is important to be “engaged” in the first place.

There’s a difference in putting your brand everywhere online, and putting your brand where your target audience is going to see it…and why they are looking at the channel in the first place.

Engagement. Why.

A good communications professional can control a conversation. A great communications professional is in control of a conversation and the consumer thinks that they themselves are.

Perception.

FDR was noted to have the uncanny ability to control a conversation and allow the other person to leave thinking they won him over- when that wasn’t the case. I’m not advocating leading on the consumer, but as communications professionals, we should not completely let the consumer rule. With imperfect information comes imperfect decision-making and inferior products/services ruling the marketplace.

The MARKETplace.

Next time you close your browser and then remember why you opened it in the first place, or dialed a different number than you wanted and instead of “being rude” and hanging up, you talked to them anyway, think about inventive ways your brand can enter that conversation.

Doesn’t sound easy, does it? Good. Because it’s not.