One thing we like to stress to the clients we work with, is the importance of cultivating brand loyalty.
Consumers are spending more and more time on the social web, and are becoming increasingly savvy over which brands are truly listening, engaging, and paying attention to their needs. Smart brands will recognize their consumers loyalty, encourage it, and ultimately reward it. Read more »
Heading back to Michigan for its 3rd year is Brand Camp University, an event that focuses on business and personal brand development.
The subject of personal brand inevitably brings up a long and heated discussion. Some feel brand can not and should not exist within the confines of online identities. That the pursuit of personal brand is nothing more than a platform to feed the ego. Many defend it. Recognizing that brand, personal or not, is a vital foot print in one’s overall marketing and communication strategy.
This year, BCU focuses on “Awaking your Inner ‘Prenuer’.
More than just a “this is how your brand yourself” workshop, BCU brings in some big names who share how businesses and individuals can reinvent their own professional brand identities. The speaker lineup is stellar, and range from hometown business owners, to industry experts across the county.
Marketing, business, communications, PR, SEM, SEO, Social Media, regardless the tactic; we can not deny that the web has changed they way we work. More and more, it has become important to adopt the flexible and innovative entrepreneur mindset regardless if you are small business or major corporation.
As we start to reinvent our own business mindset, we in turn empower ourselves to help reinvent our communities. If we are going to turn the corner, new ways of doing business are required. Innovation and brand development will go hand in hand. This will lead to new marketing solutions that will ultimately reinvent Michigan’s brand.
Brand Camp University is October 8th, 2010. 9am – 5pm at Lawrence Tech University. You can follow BrandCampU on Twitter, Facebook, and on the Blog.
re:group is happy and proud to be a sponsor of this great event.
Social Media is communication, and though I’m not a history major, I’m pretty sure people have been communicating since the dawn of time. Cave paintings were the first blog. Hieroglyphics the first tweets. We’ve always strived to communicate and have our message heard.
Communication is social media.
By communication I am referring to the internal desire to share stories, our history, news, what excites us, and what frightens us. These are human connections that drive our offline relationships, and it is the same connections that make up the social web.
The internet is simply the tool we use to communicate, and now technology has allowed us to break the 3rd and 4th walls into a new realm of connecting. You can talk to you neighbor down the street, or someone on the opposite side of the globe. Social Media defies geographic limitations.
Technology has enabled this to happen. But again, technology is not social media. Twitter, Facebook and other tools are inventions of technology. But they are just the instruments we choose to share our voice. The goal is still connecting. When Twitter disappears, rest assured we will find another way to connect.
I keep harking on this because I’m very passionate about communication and what the Social Web is capable of. I don’t like to see companies or organizations fall into the deep side of the pool because they didn’t take the time to discover the rules that govern the social web.
Just remember the rules of engagement and honest communication that govern our offline relationships, transfer online. If you can get away from thinking of the digital landscape as bulletin board, you will be in a better position to humanize your brand. Then you will be able to connect with a far bigger audience than you imagined thanks to the social web.
Last week I was very fortunate to speak at Tedx Lansing, an independently organized TED event. The conference showcase some of the regions brightest minds including, Bob Fish, Allie Merrick, and Karl Gude.
I wanted to share my passion I have for not only our region, but for Michigan as a whole. We’ve done a great job isolating ourselves, but now it is time to tear down our garden walls and reclaim our brand.
Below is my presentation. All presenters can be found at TEDx Talks.
I am the business development person here at re:group. Recently my friend, Bryan, came by and asked about by social life. You see my husband died several years ago and some people seem compelled to ask if I am dating.
Well, being a marketing professional, I take a strategic approach to these things, so I explained, “In the past I was sort of co-branded with my spouse, so right now I am the process of a brand refresh. It started with Discovery, you know, review of assets, competitive audit, and key stakeholder interviews with my closest confidants.”
He had an odd look on his face as I added, “Then I moved on to build the brand platform. I was surprised at key appeals that were uncovered! Now in the design phase, I am working on a new ‘look and feel’, new hair, lose a few pounds, get fit and make a few tweaks, as they say in the business”.
Bryan smiled. “Oh I get it!” Jan chimed in, “You should go on line!” Things were getting out of hand so I continued, “The plan is to role out the new brand this summer. But it will be a soft launch, the media plan calls for SEO, natural search, none of this SEM/PPC for me. But I do think social technology will play a big role, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook will be huge networking opportunities. Twitter is a must. My Space, nope.”
I look forward to sharing the ROI in the near future, good, bad or behind schedule.
I watch Mark Hodesh in the morning from the treadmill upstairs across the street. (He doesn’t know I am watching.) He goes about his early morning routine of opening his store, Downtown Home and Garden, putting out the plant displays, unrolling the awnings, washing down (or shoveling) the sidewalks, getting ready for the customers who stop in for bulbs, birdseed and Zingerman’s.
Mark is the consummate retailer. He has taken what was good about the old Hertler Brothers feed and seed store and grown it into a multi-million dollar business. While other businesses in town were moaning about slow sales, Mark enjoyed a sales increase in 2009. Authentic, quality merchandise, reasonable prices and good old fashioned service were probably responsible.
Mark’s windows match the season, or perhaps the season we are looking forward to. His rain barrels and seed sale are harbingers of spring yet to arrive in Michigan. Today’s display of metal art from Haiti reminds us of his (and Margaret’s) connection to the humanity of the world and the world of art. His values are as much on display as his merchandise. Whether intentional or intuitive, he applies all the core principles of building a great brand.
Your name is not your brand. Neither is your logo, or your uniform.
It seems that outside the marketing world, people think that a company or product name is, in itself, the brand.In fact, it’s not. A name does not represent a brand all by itself – it’s only one element of the overall brand architecture. A brand is the representation of an idea to consumers, partners, employees, press and the general public, while the name only acts as the introduction, or title, of the idea. The name puts a face on the product and makes an initial impression. Think about what you what you associate with Apple:
The word apple alone would not normally evoke the words above. The words that you associate with Apple as a company is the work of branding. It takes a mix of elements like products, product design, promotion, advertising, packaging, merchandising and more to create those associations. While the name is important it does not mean anything without the branding efforts behind it.
I watch Mark Hodesh in the morning from the treadmill upstairs across the street. (He doesn’t know I am watching.) He goes about his early morning routine of opening his store, 
