Branding is Perception!

At every touchpoint my opinion of you goes up or down, there is no neutral. Scott Stratten. Unmarketing

When we think of brands we immediately begin to picture the Coca Colas, Apples and Sonys of the world but brands aren’t restricted to the “big boys.” Every business has a brand whether it is created on purpose or not.

Do you know what your brand is? Not what you say it is and have neatly typed in Arial font in your marketing plan, what it is in the eyes of your customer!

If you wanted to start running as exercise what brand of shoes would you go out and buy? More than likely your response was Nike. Am I right? But Nike isn’t the first choice of the more serious athletes (I’m not referring to the “I’m paid to wear these shoes athletes.”) Take an informal survey of the 47,000 runners in the New York marathon and you’ll find that they gravitate toward Brooks, Asics, or even Newton. Brands you probably never even heard of. Nike understands this and they are not phased by it. Rather they focus on the “newbie” market  orienting their marketing messages to the goal of community building and motivation through the use of mobile apps and social media integration. All the while setting the aspirational benchmarks through the use of their sponsored Elite athletes the likes of Mo Farah and Alison Felix.

Now back to you and your brand. Are you and your customers in agreement on what exactly you stand for and represent? Are your customers buying what you think you are selling?

A brand is built every day through every communication and action. Regardless of whether you consciously create and push an idea of what your business is to your customers, they will aggregate all of your actions and create one for you.

So what’s your brand really?

I agree with Nike

In the Nature vs Nurture debate I say Just Do it!

Background Info:

Opinion A-

Some people are born with the innate abilities and traits to become high performing and successful entrepreneurs. These traits are hereditary and are the results of genetics and pedigree.

Opinion B-

The environment  enables the development of entrepreneurial traits in highly successful businesspeople. These persons are the product of “Hooked on Phonics”, the best elementary, secondary and tertiary education, and they have the love and support of people who believe in their potential.

My opinion-

Business is learnt by doing. Skills are honed through practice. We will only become good at making tough, split second, or game changing decisions by making them and learning from the successes and failures, and the acceptance that these are both equally possible realities.

I say do it. Put yourself out there. Allow yourself to potentially fail. Learn what works and what doesn’t. And do it every day.

lights! camera! Action!

All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. -Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s words speak directly to businesses because we are all on stage. Everything that is done or not done is scrutinised by the audience (customers, competitors, critics) and directly impacts your success.

Do it like you’re doing it for tv (or stage). This speaks to quality in all areas; you will always seek perfection if you pretend that someone is watching your every move.

It is not enough to simply understand that you are on stage, in order to be successful you must perform! Each interaction with a customer is an opportunity to make an impression and should not be wasted “going through the motions.” Add some flair and energy and really captivate the imagination of your “audience.”

I stress this concept with my team, and our customer interactions are consciously richer than those of our competitors because we know that we are on stage!

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