Bite-sized Branding Podcast: Recent Episodes
Bernard Kassab
On every Bite-sized Branding Live Show, we will unbundle three subjects in Branding, Marketing and Business in under 7 minutes each. Join us for the rapid-fire, crazy fun and edutainment!
Episode 84 features Charlie Winn of Orchard Coaching and Saurabh Phanse of TASO Consulting Group where both guests are in the consulting/coaching business.
Saurabh has been in the consulting space, working with startups who want to take their business to the next level, while Charlie is a business coach who focuses on leadership and scaling.
Niching involves many things in the marketing scene. For one, when Ucidity hasn’t come to fruition yet, everyone was giving us advice that we should go Niche-based and focus on a service. At the same time, the others advised us that e should not go niche-based so that our opportunities are endless.
Which way do we go
Let’s listen to our guests talks about the following topics:
- The importance of niching
- It’s a critical aspect of how they can differentiate themselves
- There are pros and cons to niching
- Pro: You can charge higher because you’re producing highly specialised results
- You need to understand every little detail
- You can niche based on the types of products you have
- Finding your niche at the start-up phase can be a bit difficult
- Niching is great but may not necessarily mean “profitability.”
- Find your brand value
- Find your expertise
- Don’t lose your brand value
When is a good time for a business to delve into different subsets of specialities/brands?
- What is it you’re trying to achieve?
- How does the market perceive you?
- Focusing the channel
Make sure to tune in to this episode as we unbundle the different parts of niching, its pros and cons, and how your business or brand can make a stronger presence.
Reach out to our consulting and coaching experts, Saurabh Phanse and Charlie Winn to find out how they can help your brand scale!
Episode 75 is a fun episode with Greg Smith from Send Handwritten, who helps clients get meetings with difficult-to-reach decision-makers using personalised & 100% unique, experience-based marketing tools and techniques to win leads offline and online.
Send Handwritten is a marketing strategy consulting specialising in making bespoke-design cards and envelopes. They use targeted, verified data and work with a team of appointment setters who follow every card up with up to 3 calls. Greg’s brand is a campaign concierge service that coordinates your campaign results with Handwritten & hand-drawn digi-stills, digi-time lapse and character expression cards by email.
Linkedin has become one of the most popular social media platforms for professional use. It’s so popular that when we do a Google search about somebody, it is almost always true that a Linkedin profile will come up. So one of the topics we will discuss is how you could optimise and bring more value to your Linkedin profile.
Episode 74 is action-packed because not one but two guests are joining us! Sara Marco and Rob Dawson join us in this super exciting show today. Sara Marco is the Managing Director of Inner Works Business Solutions, an administration and recruitment business that stores, sorts, organises, documents and helps build your business with online structuring, employment onboarding and ongoing recruitment.
Rob Dawson manages Myrtec, a Managed IT Services Provider, where they help companies build their infrastructure. Tapping into networking, cyber security and hel[organisation structure their data and information.
In this episode, we will talk about contributing to brand value in the market. Branding has taken over a huge chunk of organisations’ efforts and has changed over time. How you would deal with branding years ago would be significantly different today. Even how you answer your phone or the length of time you get back to your customers is now a part of branding.
But how do you increase your credibility, albeit doubt in your customer’s minds? An example is when you send them an email and ask them to check their junk folder already says a lot about your brand. But, unfortunately, that’s when people start questioning your credibility.
Make your brand credible and get ahead of your competitors!
For Episode 73, we are joined by Peter Solway of FSS or Founder Sales Solution, which helps Founders Scale Up B2B Sales - Sales, Team & Health. Peter started the business inspired by his own background, realising that many salespeople have sales skills but need more entrepreneurial skills. So he built his business to bridge the gap.
Let’s talk about how we will try to remove the stigma around “sales” and “to sell” in the sense that we will aim for people to stop being grossed out by “sales” just because of how it was packaged in the past. Traditional sales methods used to be really pushy and super assertive, sometimes even aggressive-so people, both targets and reps, veer away from it.
Little is known that sales can be empathetic, kind and inspiring simultaneously! Sales or any brand can be humanised! The reason why a lot of people move away from the sales bit of a lot of organisations is that they don’t see the human factor in the business. All that’s visible are the pushy reps who care about nothing but selling their product. Not anymore! Peter’s business, FSS, aims to give sales a new face by providing training and coaching to start-up business founders so they can humanise their sales strategy.
Getting Creative With Content
Episode 72 is graced by Emma Reeves, director of Excelerate Marketing, an innovator, connector and Marketing Professional.
She lives to discover creative ways to problem-solve for clients. She comes with an extensive network of contractors and experts in their respective fields and links businesses to individuals who provide the best skills and knowledge to execute and drive effective marketing campaigns.
Mindset of CreativityEpisode 71 is all about the mindset of creativity. We are joined by Nancy Trieu, an expert in creating content. She will also join Grant and Bernard in their "Meet the Brand-parents" workshop in September.
Creating Waves Through AuthorityIn the past episodes, we tackled marketing and some strategies to ensure sales and profit growth. Part of this is establishing a reputation and building a reputable brand. Today, we will be unbundling how it is to create waves through the brand authority that inspires our special guest, Amanda Williams from Yellow Panda.
Securing 7-Figure Opportunities
We usually talk about marketing and sales opportunities in our live shows but today is a different topic that everyone will surely love. We have great people who will help us unbundle some areas in our case today, Securing 7-Figure Opportunities. We have Peter Applebaum and Susan Werkner of Agency Accelerators, who are more than happy to impart their knowledge on what we will talk about today.
How do you target your audience on TikTok? Does your content have to differ depending on the profile of the brand?
Any brand, business or even a personal TikTok account will have a different following compared to what they have on other platforms. Some influencers asked Tommy why they have a low conversion, considering that they have millions of views on Instagram. TikTok's rhythm algorithm is different from other platforms.
Join us for another Episode!
Bite-sized branding has a lot of things happening. One of which is their East Coast tour in September. We call it "meet your Brand-parents." They will go around Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne. It is an on-the-road workshop where they will be engaging with the audience regarding their challenges with their brand. In this episode and the workshop, they will share insights on how they can measure value and enhance value because of communication, memorability and true brand promise in the sense that customers are buying from them.
Outsourcing is now a common practice in most businesses. It is an excellent way to get most of the tasks done without spending so much when getting work on shore. Bernard and Grant will discuss this with Clayton Navarro of VA World Outsourcing as they unbundle what is behind the fresh new look at outsourcing.
In today's episode, the boys will be joined by two great minds in the world of marketing and sales, Razz Khan of Fusion Brand and George Katsoudas of PPC Land. They will discuss everything involving marketing and its importance in business growth, from methods to strategies and conversions.
Bernard and Grant have discussed many topics about sales and how to convince your customers. Today, they are joined by Ucidity's Sales Manager, Maddy May and an extraordinary guest from The Authentic Sales Training Academy, Adam Bude. They will discuss how t convert a sales lead into money without forcing and causing your buyer regret.
In the past episodes, we tackled marketing strategies and discussed multiple sales methods. Today, we will discuss how psychology and sales work together with our special guest, Leanne Elich of Leanne Elich Consulting. We are also joined by Ucidity's outbound Sales Manager, Maddy May, to unbundle the topic and discuss The Psychology of Selling.
One of the internet's most entertaining and educational ventures is podcast episodes. Whether the topics are current events, personal stories or businesses, many enjoy their leisure time listening to their favourite podcast episodes. Today, Bernard and Grant will be joined by Ryan Fowler of Orion Media Group and Tim Beanland of Beantalking. Both are experts in the podcasting field and will share their knowledge in today's episode, Podcasting with the Pros.
We talked about business, marketing and everything that evolves around it in our last episodes. Today, we will speak with Samir Gohil of SPC Global about Better Food For the Future. They bring food all over the world to whoever needs it.
During our past episodes, we discussed marketing and promotions. We looked at the fast-paced online methods as well as traditional ways. In today's episode, we will discuss "The Evolving World of Print" with two special guests, Andrew Lewy of Forest Printing and Janet Thorpe of Cloud Print. We will talk about how printing has evolved along with modern technology.
In our previous episodes, we discussed brand marketing and creating a positive view of the brand for the customers. Establishing that positive standpoint requires trust and established credibility. In today's episode, we have Jemimah Ashleigh of The Visibility Lab to help us unbundle important topics about establishing trust and credibility through media and other methods.
In our previous episodes, we talked about marketing and establishing your presence online. Today, concerning that, we will discuss today’s ways of engaging the public and how to make it grow. With our special guests, TikTok Influencer Lisa Swinbanks and Photographer and Film Producer of Poseidon Films Robbie Merritt, host Bernard Kassab will unbundle the topics relating to content that connects.
We talked about marketing and sales in our previous discussions and brought in a lot of experts to help us put light on unclear areas. In today's episode, we will tackle an equally particular field together with Danny Ruspandini from Impact Labs. They specialise in rebranding, and we will discuss environmentally responsible ways of doing it.
Episode 56 is our first show for 2022. Today, we will take it a little slow and fun—no discussions about strategies and planning but only fun discussions. Grant and Bernard will share funny experiences with clients and what was established after all those.
We are jammed and packed with special guests in today’s episode. We will talk about Techtalk: Apps, Crypto, Blockchain & More with experts from their own fields. We have Bernard Boodeea of Life Intelligence Group, and special guests Riley James and Sian Mathias of DEFI LINK.
Marketing is always a great topic; this is where our (Grant and Bernard) creative juices overflow. In this episode, we will discuss varied advertising methods and strategies, comparing traditional and modern ways. And we will talk about what possibilities are to come when it comes to advertising based on customers' preferences.
During our last episodes, we talked about marketing. This time, we are going to tackle brand creation from scratch. We are joined by Dan Daneshzand from Trademark Group of Companies as we unbundle the story behind building a brand. We will talk about the behind-the-scenes from the start of the business until its launch. And we'll find out how integral a strong network can be to supporting its growth.
We are impressed with how they do rebranding these days, and the new ways experts make them are way different from the traditional methods. To understand and better understand how big brands are rebranded, we are joined by Chris Harris from Red Kite and the Lead Designer at Udicity, Vincent Leonaldo.
In this episode, we will be joined by two established experts in the world of CRM and Marketing Automation. We have John Hill from Ucidity, Bernard Kassab's partner and Avon Collins from Relevate. They do CRM Marketing Automation, web hosting, and vertical integration through the tech piece. We will discuss digitising business and the best methods to take your brand forward.
This episode is an exceptional treat as we give you our 50th episode!! We are joined by influencers in their rightful fields, the beautiful and smart ladies Nikkie Ferris wheel and Maddy May. Today's topic concerns the truth about marketing instead of the myth that it was years ago.
Together with our guests, we will unravel how influencers manage to promote brands and how they choose the brands they represent.
The A-Team
In this episode, we will talk about how we came up with Bite-Size Branding and what made us decide to put it together. What are the episodes and experiences that we indeed remember? We wanted to bring the information harder, faster and less filtered and with clarity. And we wanted to allow people to learn about various spaces that we are knowledgeable of and also those that are areas where our guests are experts.
Let’s get to know how we started with Bite-Size Branding and how we came up with an A-team each time we came up with an episode.
Get Perspective on PR
Most people do not understand the importance of PR. Some think this relies on print media, and its almost non-existent presence is not helpful in advertising and marketing. Two true powerhouses join us in PR, Sophie Muir and Carrington Brigham, unbundling everything you need to know about the evolving industry of PR. They will explain to us the importance of traditional PR methods bundled with newer marketing strategies used by PR companies today.
Big Brand Go Digital
In this episode, we will unbundle how big brands transition into the digital world. It can be a big step for traditional brands considering the usual methods they have channelled their businesses for years. Transitioning to a digital approach can be overwhelming. With the help of a friend, Digital Marketing Expert Denver Rago, we will discuss how this change affects traditional businesses and how they can leverage their brand's market position into the digital stratosphere.
Making An Impact With Your Sales
With the changes brought by COVID and the lockdowns, sales and business revenue were greatly affected. The normal day-to-day transactions were changed into out-of-traditional practices and mostly operated online. How are small-time businesses reacting to the sudden changes and new processes everyone must adhere to? How are sales making an impact on your brand after all these changes? We are joined today by Darren Roberts, an expert from Impact Training to help us unbundle sales and impact your brand.
With Bite-sized Branding, we always look for ways to encourage everyone to build their brands and strengthen them innovatively. For this topic, we have our good and talented friend Ahmad Trad from Xary Advisory, Accounting, and Tax talk about how he built his business and how brand and marketing have taken part in his journey.
Competition is high, but there is a huge gap in the market they serve, contributing greatly to their growth. Let's find out how his Xary strived in today's market.
The Ever Changing Business Landscape
In the past topics, we discussed changes and struggles in the personal and business sectors. The existence of COVID has changed lives and how the market and businesses function. Today’s topic will discuss how it has affected morale and everyone else’s views.
Let’s talk about what you can do if you are thinking about creating new ideas but are not sure what to do with the continual change in the market
Smaller businesses think differently from bigger brands in terms of building value and reputation. In our topic today, we discuss building value in a business and how we should think if we want to move forward and grow. Whether you intend to sell or hand it over to somebody, you must start shaping your business into something that you want.
Modern technology has changed how people and businesses do promotions and advertising. A marketing mix is commonly used to maximise presence. In this episode, we want to discuss how you can still use traditional media, PR, Radio and TV ads to promote businesses and services.
Are these conventional media mix still as effective as before? What is their purpose, and how can you use them to your benefit?
There are three main issues when it comes to branding effectively and efficiently in these pandemic days. These are rebranding, weighing marketing's value, and gauging the effect on customer experience when workers enjoy work-from-home setup privileges.
One challenge for business owners and managers is knowing how to address these three issues. After all, the pandemic isn't going away anytime soon. But these three issues are crucial for brand survival in a marketplace that is still competitive.
Can Your Brand Survive?
The good news is that, despite the pandemic and increasingly competitive marketplace, there is room for introspection amongst the groups that make up any company. The insights gained from reflection can help business owners and managers come up with solutions for brand survival.
If you are a marketer, you may often be thinking: “How can I be better at my job?” This is because marketing can be likened to a design function since you have to design a marketing campaign for your client.
The problem is that some marketers aren’t aware of how they can bring value into the marketing campaign while they are within the client’s marketing space. Marketers have to find out how to do this quickly because a client can be quite picky about the marketing campaign elements even from the start.
Are you the creator or owner of your Australian brand? If yes, you may have noticed that quite a few companies in Australia have trouble simply keeping their head above water at the moment. So you’re not alone.
Yes, building a business is always a challenge at any period in time. But in this current global pandemic, Australian brand creators and owners might be having difficulties already. Some have it harder than others. So, where can you find some relief while growing your brand?
Are you a marketer? Have you ever noticed that some marketers are great at jacking up their sales numbers while you have been languishing with mediocre sales? You’re not alone.
Marketers have probably been tearing their hair out by the handful because their marketing is not generating better sales. And we all know that sales are the lifeblood of any business. So from a survival point of view, sluggish sales can be the kiss of death for any marketer’s career.
One of the most exciting times of a business is when a new product has been developed. AB Testing, Freebies here and there, and other ways to find out its efficacy are aplenty.
No matter how picture-perfect or amazing your service or product is, there will be an inbox with complaints, it pays to ask a test group first what they think.
If you own or manage a company, you may have suddenly realized that your brand may need rebranding. How do you find out? It could mean looking for data such as dull sales and slimmer profit margins for many company executives. Or perhaps you noticed that your competitors are gaining more market share.
Have your sales been taking a dip lately? Have your social media followers been unengaged? Stop right there! Consider rebranding! Rebranding doesn't only mean a change in colour of your logo or themes, etc. It means taking a whole new approach and changing the content of your social media, changing your strategy.
It may seem strange to talk about a “personal” brand in a world filled with billions of people. But developing a personal brand is important if you intend to become an “influencer”. Your personal brand has to stand out, especially in this day and age where the smallest of businesses have created powerful brands. The effort to make your brand stand out maybe a bit daunting at first. Hang in there and read on.
One of the challenges you may possibly encounter as you try to gain your personal brand’s “voice” is how you can make it distinctive enough to make an impact. Think of the possibility that other influencers or brands also have the same vision and goal as you do. This is your time to get really creative and put your thinking hat on. Think of ways to stand out and make your brand noteworthy!
Welcome to the first bite-sized brand new 2021
Expecting incredible guests on our show this year. As always, we've got some great topics today. We're going to talk a little bit to cover up our experience in 2020, what we saw with Brands and businesses what the effect of the pandemic was for the businesses as they tried to pivot or re-engineer themselves through that process, and a little about rebranding and the buyer's journey
Massive thanks!Before we get into anything else, we’d like to send out massive, massive appreciation shouts out to all the people who have joined us on the show, guests and audiences, influencers, everyone! It’s always great t hear the latest buzz about businesses from the source themselves
We especially had such a great episode with Ariel, talking about how essential video is for businesses, most especially start-ups. We feel that video content is so much easier to come up with over written content. Getting a “video block” is not as bad as getting a “Writer’s block”. Some people fail to misuse or maybe don’t even understand that the video they put out can represent the journey of their brand. That’s why most brands who let tons and tons of videos out there have a huge following and we won’t be surprised if they have such an engaged audience because of the video they make.
Grant personally likes our episode with Chris, when we talked about copywriting, how to make written content, how to make your content stand out. Having a copywriter onboard is great because these super-skilled guys can help you deliver your message to your audience. Hire a professional copywriter. Don't try to save on cost and do it yourself. You’re not doing any favors by trying to save on money. If you don’t have the immediate cost, try speaking to your service providers and arrange for a payment scheme, where you’re both happy with the payment system in place. Just because you can't afford it right now in a lump sum, doesn't mean you won’t get it. Go set up a game plan where both parties are happy with the arrangement.
This new marketing term was set up by Hubspot and mainly talks about how to set up your brand’s online presence. Not just that, high-level inbound marketing teaches you to attract the right customers, retain them and take care of them in a way that makes them refer you to other people. The difference between digital marketing and inbound marketing is that digital marketing talks about what you do online to promote businesses and brands while inbound marketing is about how you attract the right people for your business and attract more of those kinds of people. A good example of inbound marketing is knowing the right kind of content to post, depending on your audience and being a subject matter expert on that topic. People like seeing and hearing about problems that are fixed. For example, you could either write or talk about the importance of a secure website in a video or blog. The important thing to remember is that your audience or your market wants to be a part of that journey with you, they want to feel like they are involved in your business by asking them for their opinion or take on different things. Nowadays, customers don’t merely want to buy from you. They want to be involved in the story of your brand.
Brands need to continuously evolve. Although you may already have a logo, an identity and you’ve already set the tone, it’s a great idea to tweak and allow your brand to get its feet wet on the latest trends and demands of the market. We know that this might not be true for all brands out there, personally, we feel that it’s worth a try. Rebranding is a great way to re-engage with your consumers and re-establish your brand. Get them excited about your rebranding, talk about your upcoming products, involve them for feedback, get them to try new things and get back to you for the experience. There are countless ways to go about this! Don’t fall behind. Allow and accept that your brand has to follow the current trends and innovate. Avoid the plateau of a business, because it is possible and can happen to anyone!
Take those nifty old Marketing techniques, revolutionize it, evolve with it and digitize it! Get your team involved in your branding, ask for their opinion, ask them to participate in studies, surveys, etc. What that does is it gives them a sense of belongingness and purpose in what they’re doing. Rebranding is important, but only when you feel that you need to say ahead of your game. Think about it and let us know what your thoughts are!
A few episodes ago, we talked about how digital marketing is continuously evolving throughout the day. Consider today’s topic as an extension of that. Today, we talk about how a simple video can turn the world around for you and your brand. In the earlier times, if you had a brand that you wanted to let known to the world, you’d almost immediately result in spending a huge amount of money on a TVC (TV Commercial). But again--times have changed, and they're still changing. Most of today’s audience and market unlike before no longer spend hours and hours each day with their eyes glued to the telly. The majority of the people are either on the go or spend most of their time on social media. Thus the need for a multi-platform approach to advertising and marketing.
Technical difficulties can sting you when you least expect them. But, the show must go on. In this blog, we will talk about the emerging presence of Podcasting as an essential key aspect of an individual or business, selecting Professional Agencies and the CommBank Rebranding.
With Digital Marketing continuously evolving Copy has become essential, especially when dealing with building your Brand. Fortunately, the new breed of out-and-about copywriters is dominating the industry, continually looking for varied ways to spice things up and create compelling hooks and calls to action. Historically, the judgment of whether a Copy is good or not relied on its length. Not anymore! Times have evolved so quickly that digital marketers have to consider that less, maybe be more. In most long copies, the writer may have just been aching to meet a word count, whereas Copy can be more targeted. It takes less time to read, is more effective and can keep the readers engaged.
When talking about websites, it does not start and end with the creation of a website, having your domain name, your services offering, maybe a blog or two and your contacts page. There are several aspects of a website that make it “GOOD” and not just on its appearance. We discuss Landing Pages, SEO and Google Ads, three different facets that may or may not be combined together to make your website even more valuable to your business as a sales tool.
In this episode, we are talking about
- Landing Pages
- SEO
- Google Ads
The word “marketing” pulls up a lot of related words, subtopics and even smaller subtopics. However, what most people tend to miss out on are the main facets that should be highly considered such as Marketing spending, Video creation and Trademarking. These three giants immensely impact your business and your customers.
In this episode, we are talking about
- Marketing spend
- Leveraging Video
- Trademarking
Everyone is talking about it, with a constantly changing commercial environment, ‘pivoting’ your businesses is on everyone’s mind. It’s hard to see past the noise as a business owner but the key is to remember what you do have – you still have stock, you still have a team, you may have overheads but you definitely still have customers. The question is then “How do I stay relevant to the changing needs of my customer?”
Look at your business and ask yourself:
- How could I bundle my products or services differently?
- How can I add value?
- What other platforms can I use to develop or deliver my product or service?
- What efficiencies can I create to allow this to happen within my business?
Think outside the box. The commercial spaces that may now be left empty are not going anywhere, if you want to be the next high street business experience, you need to be agile during this time.
One thing we found effective was rolling out cost-effective web solutions to allow people to get online quickly. With a simplified responsive order form for an eCommerce experience or targeted landing page, it was about creating bundled solutions with an aim to focus directly on the immediate customer needs.
This will help you get some wins threw the door, but it would also help build a community culture with customers. Being able to show that you have taken note of what is happening out there and that you are creating solutions that have this in mind shows the human side of your business.
Less is more when you’re trying to be nimble. You need to use solutions that can be easily changed and updated based on fresh new campaigns. That way as fast as your customer needs change, you can adapt.
Keep in mind the above 4 points, have a look at your customers’ needs and how you can reach them with solutions that have their needs in mind.
What does business like tennis mean? Most businesses don’t run like a sports team. They don’t create the same level of team pride, passion, efficiency, comradery and fandom as you may see for a football team.
The brands are strong, the organisations are focused, roles are niched, and team development is strategic.
So how does business relate to tennis? The rules are simple. Everyone is on a level playing field, you have two shots to serve the ball into the corresponding square for the game to start. If you don’t get the ball into that square, you lose a point, immediately you start losing.
In business, it’s all about your positioning. If you don’t pitch your brand right, to the right people and you are outside of the square where your target market sits, immediately you’re going to start losing money. That’s the tennis of business.
Just like in tennis, you’ve got to practice, serve to the right place, with the right timing, to the right people. Don’t take a shotgun approach, be targeted.
So take a look at your business and ask yourself:
- Who am I speaking to?
- Where can I connect with them?
- Is my messaging, right?
- Why would they be interested?
- Does this strike where it matters most to them?
- Is this a game-winning content?
- What will keep them engaged in the game?
If you have a look at your brand from the customer's perspective, keep in mind the sporting analogies, align your team and target to win over the crowd.
Things in the retail space have truly been evolving over the past decade and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Grant and I get into a conversation about David Jones (and other department stores of this style) and how their model needs to evolve to stay relevant.
The challenge for stores like this is to bring the personal boutique feeling you get by going directly to a brand store. Walking into the Ralph Lauren department store doesn’t have the same prestige as walking into the Ralph store. These days you even find these boutiques stores opening right next to the entrance of the department stores.
It’s all about how you improve the customer experience. Often you find the same level of service at David Jones and Myer, as you get from Kmart and Target. It is essentially self-service. There’s not too many staff and even when you find one, they’re not extremely passionate about the brands they service, with deep insight or knowledge.
So how does a multi-brand department store replicate the personal 1-2-1 experience? Let’s unbundle it.
What if there was an app that detected when you entered the store? It would not only track your buying habits to notify you of targeted offers but what if it allowed the door greater to receive some details to greet the customer. Name, some interests, maybe even whether a special occasion is coming up such as a birthday.
You could also give incentives to create a higher level of customer loyalty. Being able to understand the number of visits, the value of purchases and the types of purchases can allow you to reward them for making certain types of purchases. In the future you could even have checkpoint experiences that when they register, they have attended, they can receive some type of reward.
If you tie this all in with the right people, right training and valuable product knowledge you could really turn around this business model to become a real industry leader.
The Brand Voice is the poisoning that the tones and sounds you use in the video while presenting or in any other audible content. How do people connect with your brand through sound?
It could be a jingle or a backing track, the language you and your team use when they speak to people or present. When people hear it, can they identify that it’s you? Do you have a guide for your Brand Voice?
Your Brand Voice can also create an association with another brand positioning. By understanding other businesses you’d like to associate with, you can align the positioning in your language and sounds to connect with other brands. For example, if you wanted to align with a family brand, you wouldn’t use profanity in your marketing collateral.
Once you understand the positing and tone, you need to understand your message because, at the end of the day, brands need to equate to value. The value forms your perception, which is how much people are willing to pay for that brand's product or service.
Creating a consistent positioning that aligns with your messaging and resonates with customers is the goal. Research and understand your customers, and how and why they interact with you. Knowing whether you should be hard, fast and high energy vs. slow and steady, is really dependent on that customer's understanding. This could also be affected by the type of campaign you are running, specials often have a fast tone to motivate customer engagement vs. high value considered purchases that require a more thought-out value proposition.
In all this thinking and analysing, don’t forget to get the message out there. Don’t get hung up with analysis paralysis and just end up the best-kept secret. It’s better to get it out to the market and based on the feedback you can refine your messaging.
Vehicle Branding opens many more opportunities for you to promote your business than just a sign on a ute. Have you ever considered that your vehicle is essentially a moving billboard for your business? With that in mind, how could you use this moving promotional piece to grab people’s attention as you drive by?
It is an extension of your brand. With a smart design, application, and consistency across your fleet, you might just turn heads, be memorable and potential customers will take notice. It can also create the perception that you are bigger than you really are for the fact that your brand seems to be popping up everywhere.
Now when you start to think of billboards, they are not just your phone number and logo, they have a theme and character with the goal of grabbing attention. What if you’re car did the same? Here are a couple of fun examples:
**Play with the positioning of content
Or go all out and remove the back seat
Or even a complete customer job**As you can see, vehicle wraps can be much more then just a communication piece, they can be entertaining and engaging to have people interacting with your brand as you drive by.
Brand Activations are an incredibly exciting space where brands can expose customers who potentially wouldn’t have interacted with your brand otherwise.
The aim should be to involve an audience, get them engaged with what you have created and generate a reaction immediately. It’s definitely not easy to implement and typically isn’t cheap but when done right, it can generate a long-lasting ROI.
One key to maximising the return is to make sure you capture it on video and engage people who participate to share it. You can also look to capture people's details to involve them in the ongoing campaign.
A couple of examples where brands have stepped outside the box, outside the shop and engage customers that came to mind…
Virgin Mobile once created a lifestyle experience throughout Sydney city using giant steel containers. It sported a bar and lounge area, screens and connected mobile devices that you could touch play and share.
The major component to build up the anticipation of passers-by was a timer. The creations were placed there overnight with no exposed branding initially. A big red timer was placed on each side of the container, ticking done to the mystery reveal. I recall sharing a short video on my social media of the timer ticking away, as we waited to see what’d happen next.
Extending the space outside of the activation is a great way of creating intrigue also. In the city, Nespresso has stickers leading to their stores, with some creative writing that’d entertain a passer-by. You could create the same journey to your activation, little clues, steps to take along the way to bring them to the big reveal and capture their reactions as they arrive.
Or a 3D floor graphic that people that can take a picture of at a certain angle to make them part of the piece, weave in your branding and create some social buzz.
The tough part is always how to do something outside of the box and how do you keep it relevant to the brand? But that is the fun of getting your vision out of your website, your store or TV set and putting yourself in a position to wow people with a view to interact with your brand.
Just because you’re a service brand doesn’t mean this can’t be relevant for you either. Take the chance to do something that has never been done in your industry before and stand out amongst the noise. Just look to Entertain, inform, be relevant and connect your message.
The importance of lifetime customer value is often misunderstood, it is more than just the single purchase vs. repeat purchases, but the other business benefits that it creates, which we will be covering in this article. Here are our top 5 benefits to your business by strategically engaging customers for the long term.
- Cost of Acquisition: You may or may not have heard of this, but if you were to amities all the time, proposals, ad spend, campaigns and salaries that it took to bring 1 customer across the line. You’d probably find it to be a much higher amount than you expected. The more longevity you can have with a single customer, the less time you will spend on the above from project to project. This is because trust will grow with every transaction.
- Customer feedback: The more familiar and comfortable these customers become, the more value they will add to your business. They will want to see you at your best and will look to add value where they can.
- Improved Customer Experience: In-term because of the above, you will create a constantly better, more effective business model to replicate the same experience for future customers.
- Your Best Advocates: The longer you are together the more often you will find these customers will naturally prefer and refer your business. They will also advocate for you in front of others, rave about how great you are and excite others to work with you.
- Retained Business Value: If you’re considering selling your business, new business is great for growth but retained business is where the true value lies. The buyer will see less risk and a higher rate of return if you’re able to display a high number of continued long-term customers.
So, how do you track, measure, and maintain this?
We recommend implementing a good CRM to ensure customers don’t fall through the cracks. Whether that’s a new customer experience or staying front of mind and delighting current customers – a good CRM can help you maintain all your relationships.
Let’s talk about what’s really changing in the retail space. How do you take the traditional bricks and mortar experience to the next level?
In 2016, Amazon truly struck the balance between traditional and digital shopping experiences with the launch of its first physical store. What was phenomenal was how seamless the transition was. Just log in to your account, pick up what you need off the shelf and walk out of the store. The store tracks what you picked up and automatically charges it to your account.
Even taking into unlikely spaces such as the groceries market with their acquisition of Whole Foods 500 locations in the UK. The market needs on-demand physical stores and eCommerce, it is about providing what a customer needs through channels that suit them.
With this you must look at your revenue model as buyer habits have changed to where the store can often be a place to try before you buy, then purchases are made online. This is the ‘Apple Shop Model’. The physical store is all about the experience. Falling in love with the lifestyle, the experience, and the products. This means that the in-store budget is less important these days as the being able to measure the conversion from store to digital.
Another brand that revolutionised its thinking was National Geographic, which found it hard to hit its groove in the digital market. They came to the realisation that they have unique photographic content that is highly sought after. They captured the attention of travellers in airport lounges providing merchandise from the exotic location of your choice.
Have a look at what is unique to your brand, how you create a unique experience, what does your traditional brand provided that stand-out in the digital space, then vice-versa how can you transition the digital experience into a connected physical experience.
After working with Not-for-profits for many years, Grant and I share many insights from our experiences working in the industry and some ideas on how they may be able to navigate this difficult time.
The not-for-profits arena is a challenging space. Resources can be limited, it is difficult to maintain the brand and you can be dependent on volunteers to invest their time into the cause while keeping to a standard that represents the brand. Because of this the brand an the message can be dilute and look insincere, this is a challenge as sincerity is what a potential donor would be looking for when choosing who to support.
In today's market, it has become even more important who you have representing your business. From the street to the why the business communicates online. In the past, the spruiker who is clearly not a part of the business, wearing mismatched clothing and attempting to garnish donations would probably do more harm than good to a brand in today’s market. They are essentially the face of the brand, for most interactions you will have with the NFP would be only through that individual. Ask yourself “Do they instil the values of the brand?” and “Will they represent our values?” Can they convey the message?
So, what could be some alternative channels to take advantage of while many people aren’t necessarily commuting as often?
- Perhaps look at online services such as https://au.gofundme.com/ or https://www.everydayhero.com/au/ to form an online channel for donations
- Attempt to create content that has the potential to go viral and cause participation
- Find more traffic, look at re-directing the spend for outsourced spruikers and turn it towards digital advertising.
- Google has a grant available to NFPs for up to $20,000, see if you’re eligible https://www.google.com/intl/en_au/grants/
The most important thing is to ensure that your mission and vision are instilled in the brand and that content shared is aligned with a view to grab people's attention.
Are business cards still relevant? That is the question that we’re about to unbundle.
What do you think? Let’s ask a couple of questions:
- How do you quickly transfer contact information without hindering the conversation?
- How do you provide a memorable piece of branded content that keeps you front of mind?
- Can you represent the qualities of your business within a moment?
If you can’t think of a speedy way that this can be done, then one of two things are happening – you don’t have a business card or it’s not a business card you are proud of.
As many of us are visual and often not great with names, it is virtually impossible to remember that one in 1,000 people you just added to your LinkedIn even though we’d love to think we could. An outstanding business card is not only memorable, it is hard to forget.
A sophisticated design will highlight the qualities of your business and leave a statement. It is an affordable promotional piece or leaves behind to keep you, your business or your services front of mind.
Now think about it, how long does it take to ask someone to grab their phone, type your name in a search bar, locate you and then click add or type out your name (spell it correctly) and number, then hit save. . . or I’ll just give you my card.
Explore the world of business cards, it is constantly evolving to make it more affordable to get specialty finishes. Embossing, digital foils, raised UV and velvet touch are just a few of the latest innovations.
We’d love to hear your opinion on this, do you think there is anything out there that can match the memorability and efficiency of a business card for sometimes less than 25c.
I am sure you’re itching to know what the next greatest thing to hit 2020 is . . . well stay tuned, we’re going to give you our download on what 2020 is going to do to change the branding and brand experience realm.
COVID19 has dramatically affected what we thought would be normal trends in 2020 and has created trends of necessity trends needed to navigate this changing economy.
One big change that has come because of the restricted movements is businesses have looked to revitalise their eCommerce experience – or at least they should be. So, what is the next big thing in online shopping? How do you recreate the online shopping experience and replicate the enjoyment of the physical shopping experience?
Augmented reality can offer an experience like no other! Imagine you could see what an item would look like on through the screen and camera of your smartphone? Scroll through a digital 3D space, interact with components, interact with customers, customise the item, pull an item into a physical space and layer a shoe onto your foot or a bracelet onto your wrist.
The barrier to entry of the high costs of creation or an app required to run it have now been reduced. You can get into the three-dimensional world straight through the browser on your phone. Keep an eye out for this space, especially in the retail space.
Another 2020 improvement is coming through the automated support you’ll find in the bottom right corner of many websites, we’re talking about ChatBots. The automation and machine learning behind these friendly customer-centric bots have come a long way.
The quality of at-home videos has come a long way also. It is how we’ve started to build credibility to connect with our future customers, share valuable messages and interact with a broader network. Video gets 76% greater engagement than other content online.
All these components can be interweaved into the buyer's experience in an augmented reality space. You can then track how they migrate through the space, and what they do and don’t engage with. Increase buyer interest and buy potential by analysing customer movements.
Have a look at your own business and consider how you may be able to take advantage of evolving technology to enhance your customer's buying experience. Feel free to book some time with Bernard to workshop some ideas together by clicking the following link: 15 minutes chat with Bernard Kassab
In Part One of Brand and Culture, we covered the foundational ideals of what brand culture looks like when successfully applied. In Part Two we talk about how you take those ideas and turn them into the ‘doing’ activities within a business. Not just a Vision, Values or Mission statement, but actions within a business to drive its success.
The question for every business is “How do create a culture that lives by the values of the business?” If you can instil the ‘doing’ into the nature of how you conduct business, it begins to add a huge amount of brand value.
Grant speaks of an experience with a brand within his network that took all the pros and cons within the business and turn them into artwork at the reception of the business. It became a talking point to clients and reinforced the behaviours that the business wanted to strive for and away from. Making this behaviour apparent behind the scenes and on the front line.
It may seem a little confronting to highlight the negatives so publicly, but what it did for the business is create a culture of continual improvement. They can see where the business can continue to improve, which stays front of mind when generating possible solutions intern integrating the team into the continual development of the business.
Often the misalignment between brand and culture comes from the brand values don’t align throughout the process, for example, a brand will say they ‘Stand for Quality’ but people who buy the product experience faults with the product or the purchase experience is difficult, which does not represent a ‘quality’ experience of a customer. What this ends up doing is creating a fracture in the team, as they will look at the misalignment between the leadership, team, and the customer experience.
So, the important thing to do when intertwining your Brand and Culture is to look at how you take the Vision, Values and Mission from great ideals to a way of being for your brand. Remember they are more than just words, they are a way of aligning all levels of the business, through to the customers. Thus creating a movement like sports teams and their supporters.
To truly create a brand it takes more than innovative design or merchandise, you need to the brand into the culture and actions of the team that represent the brand.
Grant identifies that two of the key elements to instilling a brand are the process and the value. A great team will wear your brand like a badge or at least this is the culture you should seek to create. Many brands do not have an onboarding system that imparts the history, traditions, values and proposition for what the brand stands for. This instantly creates a fracture in the expectation for both leadership and the growing team. From sales to services and delivery according, it all needs to align with the vision of the business with a passion for what you do.
When assembly your vision and mission, don’t just write a blank statement, focus on the doing words to identify the how, why and expectation. Turn it into something to live by. Get the whole team's buy-in and you will find it will grow the brand exponentially.
People react to the experience of a brand. How is that transitioned into the passion of the people in the brand? How is that then reflected in the experience of people outside the business? Every touchpoint your business has is a representation of that brand value and in turn, forms how your brand is valued.
If it is not reflected throughout, customers become dissolution towards what the brand stands for. If you find that customers do not clearly grasp what your business does or they consistently undervalue your services, chances are you haven’t created a brand that doesn’t resonate with customers. The place to start is inside the business.
A great example of this you will find in a sports team. Just think of your favourite football team, you cheer them on, you wear the shirt, the team focuses on the unified culture, you barrack behind them when that unification leads to victory and continue to give support when times are hard. Why is this? Because you believe in the greater vision of the brand.
I had a friend who recently joined Atlassian and received a branded pack to welcome her to the team. It was well thought out with items that she could use at home. A mug, socks, sunglasses, notepad, and introductory onboarding guide. Though it seems nominal in the grand scheme of things, it was instant integration into the team culture of Atlassian.
You know you’ve really hit the mark when that brand becomes synonymous with every day, like asking for a Kleenex when you need a tissue or Googling it when you want to conduct a web search. Your brand has turned into an action bought into by more than just customers.
So, to bring this all home it is essential to integrate the process of building a team, finding the right people, instilling them with the vision and passion of the brand, rolling it out consistently and assimilating your customers – this is how your brand will create a culture that will create raving fans both inside and out.
Over the years we have found that many of the professional services we engage within the IT and Telecommunications sectors often struggle with integrating their sales team and marketing strategy. Both can be highly effective for generating sales for the business, but it takes aligning the two to maximise its ROI. Marketing needs to generate quality leads and sales need the resources to ensure they can support the incoming leads. In the end, as the business owner, you need visibility — data that will allow you to lead continual improvements across all business systems.
The effects on a business can be detrimental:
- 43% of CEOs say that misalignment has cost them sales.
- Misalignment will cause an increase of 43% in deals lost.
- Lack of nurturing will lead to 79% of deals lost.
- 60-70% of B2B content will be irrelevant to buyers.
So, how can we create this alignment between sales and marketing? It takes two things — An over-arching Strategy and a System to maintain the customer experience.
The Strategy is made up of three key components which take both Sales and marketing sitting together.
- Ask your marketing and sales team to create a Buyer Persona together (No more than three). Clearly identify what a right fit customer looks like, the reason these types of customers are of value to the business and reinforce it with industry research.
- Document content gaps and automation along a Buyer’s Journey. Look at your content across your multi-channel marketing strategy including social media, white papers, infographics, e-books, case studies, and email streams. Ensure that the content aligns to connect to the customer type in the persona and that Sales are across what is going out so that they can leverage it on calls with customers.
- Be customer-centric with your language. Remember you are not the customer. We often get caught writing what we think is important or focusing too much on products or services. You want to position your content around solutions. In the end, the customer just wants to know if it’s going to fix their problem, you are the professional. Build that authority through your content and a customer will take your lead, knowing you are the right fit for the issue they are having.
To maintain a consistent customer experience in every interaction with your brand the System is integral. How do you keep track of every interaction your customer has with your company?
Want to close 67% more deals?
Download our white paper on maximising your ROI by integrating your sales & marketing team.
How many times have you heard that age-old story, "I came up with this amazing idea!" . . . fast forward years later, not much has changed but instead of saying how great it turned out, you're sitting there saying "I knew that'd be a good idea" or "I came up with that idea first, just never did anything with it."
In Grant's 30 years of experience, only 1% of the great ideas that have come by his table, have ever made it to fruition. So why is that? It comes down to a couple of things:
- When you've got a great idea, you've to go for it! You can sort of start a business, you have to go all-in or it will never come to be.
- You have to have conviction, follow-through is key.
- Surround yourself with a network of savvy people that are entrepreneurial, they will help your idea get context and keep you motivated.
- Take all advice as the people you're talking to now may become your future customers.
- Careful with naysayers, some advice may be counterproductive and come from someone else's fear or lack of experience.
- Just because the idea isn't completely new, doesn't mean it isn't competitive.
Three things you need to have very clear:
- Understand what your idea is, who needs it?
- Is it competitive or not? Just because an idea has been done before, doesn't mean it has been perfected.
- How will you find opportunities to educate the market on the importance of your idea?
Steer away from staple comments like "Quality Service", "Best In Class", and "Premium Quality". These comments come off as vague and aren't truly measurable. Find a unique positing statement and let your customers be a testament to its quality.
The big question to ask yourself is "Would I buy from myself?" Would you take money out of your pocket to buy this good or service? If you're not prepared to, you probably won't find it easy to get a customer to do so either.
This also dovetails into your personal value. You have to hold your personal value when you position your product's pricing. You can't hesitate when it comes to the true value of a product or service. The only person you devalue is yourself. Pricing can get challenging, there is a person for every product, positioning and timelines need to be taken into account:
- Positioning: if your brand doesn't reflect its customers, the price won't either eg. JB-HIFI can not be priced as a premium product because it's positioning for great daily deals.
- Timeline: So many people like to get into the premium goods market because of the lucrative looking price tag. It typically takes longer to build a reputation and convert customers for high ticket items. Make sure you have taken this into account and have the cash flow to sustain.
Look at what the market needs, how you sustain it and be critical. Sometimes an idea may seem amazing, but as you study it, the market just doesn't have the room for it. Plan, research then execute.
If you are planning on starting up a new business, check out our Small Business Development Packages for a cost-effective way to hit the ground running. Not sure where to start? Take our Brand Tool to help you get clarity for the next steps.
Starting a business can be tough and there are many things you need to keep in mind. There are often external factors such as family, children, lifestyle, dreams, and aspirations that come into play when making decisions on how you run the business.
Though the excitement often ramps up and gives you a sense that everything will come together right away, you must be patient and give the business time to grow. It is like a newborn baby, you get excited about them walking and talking, and as soon as they do, you start asking them to be quiet and stay still. It is the same with business, how do you make sure you are prepared (or at least as much as you can before the growth?
If your businesses suddenly sprung from baby to teenager, that type of accelerated growth would be unmanageable. Take the time to prepare your business, focus on systems, and procedures, refine your delivery process and manage customer satisfaction. These are key to building a business that customers rave about.
When you rush the process, the customer experience will be forced. No matter how strong your passion is, you will feel exhausted managing the rapid growth. You cannot be tired and out of energy in the most critical, customer-facing moment. The engagement of the customer will fall apart. You’ve got to perform and bring the show. That forms the reputation that the brand then becomes known for.
In the example of hospitality, the most important moment is not the food, in the end they can make their own food…They come for the experience. They’ll even forgive the food if it isn’t amazing because the welcoming, friendly and entertaining atmosphere created an experience worth talking about.
The question you need to ask yourself is “Would you buy from you?” When was the last time you phoned your own business? Experience the customer service like a customer. Does every step along the process feel welcoming, and engaging and reflect the vision and mission of your brand? This is a great way to test the experience your customers are having with your business and refine your processes.
The key is to be patient, allow your business to grow with stability, and remember that maintaining the customer experience should be your core focus. All developments around systems, processes, products, and services should bring this all together.
There are so many elements you need to look at when starting a business. In this video, we shared some of our thoughts on the key things you need to consider when starting a new business.
Here is a quick list to get you started:
- Registration: Make sure your business is registered and choose a structure that will help you mitigate risks https://register.business.gov.au/
- Legals: Ensure you have a professional review your Terms & Conditions, Contracts, Terms of Business, Privacy and Policy and any other legal documents to protect your business, we recommend speaking with a professional such as http://www.reevelaw.com.au/
- Operations: What tools will you use to manage internal and external processes? We record all our processes in an intranet on https://sites.google.com/ and marketing and sales through https://www.hubspot.com/
- Branding and Marketing: budget for your brand strategy to ensure you position your business to attract the right type of customers. Then look at how you communicate this message effectively.
You don't want your business to become the best-kept secret, make sure you save a budget that will allow you to build that strong foundation and get it out to market.
Consider looking at a percentage budget for marketing. That way it can come to grow to continue to support the business as it grows. For established companies, at least, 6%-12% of your gross revenue should be allocated to marketing as established brands don’t need to market as heavily. For a start-up, you should look to allocate 15% of your gross revenue to marketing to allow for capacity to grow.
Allow space in the budget for experimentation so you can push the creative use of your multichannel marketing more effectively. If you're just rehashing strategies over and over, you will find it becomes stale and so does the response from clients. Having a campaign fail is invaluable learning, pivot quick using that knowledge to accelerate the next campaign.
So create a budget that you can comfortably afford month on month for a period of at least six months. This will be enough time to get the message out and allow the business to grow. Reach out to an agency and get an idea of the budget from them so you can plan to save for your campaign.
Customers always ask the question "What do you think the next big thing in Branding and Marketing will be?" I don't think anyone person has a definitive answer but let's just say it's always exciting.
In this video, we talk about the considerations to take your business digital.
There are a lot of elements that need to be effectively communicated to make your brand translate correctly. How do you maintain the brand, make it memorable, make it stand out and make it resonate with customers?
Some considerations we highlighted:
- A long name can be complicated for the URL of your website (essentially what comes after the www.) and for memorability
- Recreate your branding in an icon so that it can be replicated as an app icon, social media display picture or in the header of your website
- If you are coming up with a new brand, consider spelling the name phonetically as many traditional names are already taken (Read How to Come Up With the Perfect Brand Name for more ideas!)
- Look at unique shapes and colours, the digital space lends itself to more freedom with the use of colour
- Ensure there is consistency in its application across platforms
There is the challenge of how do you bring your brand culture to life online?
- Look at creative ways to represent your team. Capture their personality and help clients connect with the people they are working with on a personal level, without even seeing them face-to-face
- When you create a culture in your brand, customers become a part of it. They are not just your advocates, they live and breathe your brand
To build your digital brand and create a culture look at your brand and how it communicates with customers. Ensure you focus on welcoming customers into the brand culture, create messaging that focus on their needs and solve them.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we kept hearing stories of people coming off these cruises, labelled as healthy, only to find out they were infected with the virus and tied to its spread.
What did this shadow on the industry cause to the industry and brands involved in cursing? Grant and I unbundle their thoughts on the knock-on effect for the cruise line industry.
The idea of cruising has been painted for years with the elderly people's way to travel. New creative concepts for short travel and party boats have opened it to the younger crowd. I went on a cruise and absolutely loved it, despite what many people say.
We can't get passed the hit to confidence in cruising. They haven't had a successful PR push to bring out messages confronting allegations of lack of support and confinement. Some news, honesty, and transparency is better than speculation and hearsay.
I believe they should target new marketing towards the next generation of 'cruisers', ones that are too young now to remember what has happened and through their energy, they would naturally bring more people along with them.
Revitalizing the brand is essential, much like Hyundai did. You can target a new market by refreshing your brand positioning in particular in the online space. Create some edutainment - educate your new market on the value, what's changing and the difference inexperience. Take advantage of multi-channel marketing online and capture the attention of new consumers like the industry has never done before.
It could not be a more exciting time to be a Brand in today’s colourful world. Across all industries, brands are pushing colour boundaries like never before.
It could not be a more exciting time to be a Brand in today’s colourful world. Across all industries, brands are pushing colour boundaries like never before.
You see more bright and neon colours popping up everywhere. Colours you thought you would never think to see in certain industries, for example . . .
Lime Green in Construction
Or Magenta in a Telco
Or even the idea of an orange car didn’t sound great until you saw the Subaru
So, what should you consider when choosing a colour? If you know me well, I don’t put much weight into colour definitions. If a dictionary changed the definition of words as often as different colour charts do, would you have much faith in them?
I believe you should focus your energy towards identifying unique colours to cut out a segment in your own industry. We go through a process of mapping a range of brands and competitors throughout your sector, then identify the colours that are not yet taken advantage of. This will give you the ability to uniquely position your brand unlike any other.
The one rule we always adhere to is to use your colour sparingly. As you will see with the examples we have shared, the colour you select should be used to highlight important content such as headings, iconography or Calls To Action (CTA).
To find out all the details on how to brand or rebrand your business, read our Ultimate Guide at https://blog.ucidity.com.au/branding/brand-your-business-ultimate-guide
Sometimes it comes to you like a bolt of lightening and you're amazed that no one has ever come up with it before!! But sometimes, it's not so easy. So we thought we'd share our insights on how to create an amazing business name.
If you have it, get the team involved
You may or may not have a team, but if you do they can offer great perspectives based on their experiences and knowledge. It also gives themselves a sense of greater buy in to the business as they will fell like you are all building it together. They become part of the journey for growing the brand, forming and aligning to its values.
Method to creating a great and unique Brand Name
- Share words and phrases that will direct the ideas generation: You want to end up with a bit of a brain dump that will help you refine the words that truly resonate with the brand direction.
- Create a name that can become a verb or become common language: For example "Just Google it." Or how a brand like 'Vodafone' becomes 'Voda'.
- Note: be careful that the abbreviated word is not something offensive.
- Keep it short: Around seven letters or less will make it easier to recall, spell and refer to in conversation.
- Try combining words to create a unique name: If you are creating a word try to ensure it can be spelt phonetically, this way when customers are trying to refer to it, they're not sitting there going "Was it an o or a u, with two t's think?"
- Research the key words: Have a flip through your dictionary or thesaurus, look at word origins and translations as sometimes a unique word with a similar meaning will appear. If you blend these words with common jargon, you can create a unique word with deeper meaning.
- Vowels with meaning: Using certain vowels can give a different feel to a name, here's a little short list of uses:
• 'i's and 'y's can give a fresh and techy feel to a brand, it's agile and many tech-startups have used them to take a simple word and make it funky ie. Shofiy. You'll see it applied at the end of name as 'ify', 'ity' or switching a 'y' for and 'i'. Though starting a product with 'i' is a bit old hat now.
• 'a's and 'e's are proactive letters, good for creating movement in a word. Double 'ee' and 'aa' have an interesting shape and can be played with like Rebel has by turning one of the letters.
• 'u's have always had this easy ability to turn 'you' into 'u', just as we have for Ucidity, we dropped the 'L' to focus on 'U'.
• 'o's can have a more formal tone, just think of the Xero's and Ooh's of this world. - Mind map it out and distill further until you can select a top 3
- Check its availability: Do an internet search for your new name. Check the following sites:
• https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/
• https://www.google.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/
• You have to check the domain availability also, I have found godaddy.com to be a good resource for this
Not sure how to take the next step? Get in contact with us to learn more about our Brand Naming Workshops and how we distill your business concept into a truly unique name that will blaze a trail in the industry.
Grant and I got together for Episode Three to share some insights on briefing and the value of a brief. When you are trying to create a strong brand, often the brief gets left behind because of the demand for quick turnarounds . . . but what have you sacrificed? Chances are you aren't aligned on the execution, you'll spend extra time explaining and reexplaining and the execution probably won't be that out of the box or strategic. Now ask yourself again, brief important?
Here are a couple of headlines you should include in every brief:
- What is it you need?
- What is it for?
- How will it be used?
- Will it follow the brand or be brave and out of the box?
- What is the demographic of the end-user?
- What is the timeline?
Read the detailed method to getting a comprehensive brief for your Agency to create something inspired: https://blog.ucidity.com.au/brand/brand-your-business-ultimate-guide
In episode 2, Grant and I will be sharing some insights on what to consider when selecting an Agency to work with on your branding and marketing.
So the first consideration is chemistry — do you actually like each other? Are you a good personality fit, do you align to the same vision and share the same goal?
Number two, experience — Do they have a history of success executing something similar to your project? But experience isn't anything, remember challenging fresh eyes can create fresh ideas.
Number three, process — how will communications be managed, tracked and reported on through out the project.
Watch the video and read our Ultimate Guide to Branding for the step by step to branding your business.
Grant and I have come together to open up the world of brand and cover every element of Brand, design, marketing and business.
In this video, in five minutes or less we cover some of the key elements you should consider when Planning your Branding or Rebrand.
We dive straight into the deep end, it's all about Vision. Your Vision charts an understanding of who is the brand, what is the personality and what is the
a market that you want to target.
The next step is to communicate it effectively throughout the execution. Throughout the roll-out it is important to maintain consistency, it is what becomes memorable to your customers.
The consistent execution then becomes the culture that your brand forms, it is how the team, customers, partners and contractors feel like or advocate for the brand.
Read all the details on how to apply this to your brand in our Ultimate Guide to Branding.