Branding and Brand Strategy for Growing Companies
Branding for Restless Companies and Driven Entrepreneurs
Branding done correctly results in Brand Leadership. Done poorly, branding becomes an expense of waste and inefficiency.
Jimmy Buffett, world-renowned singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman, died on September 1st, 2023, leaving a legacy of “island escapism,” music, and fun in the sun. Factually, he was the ultimate social media master, using story, art, continuity, and differentiation to create his empire long before social media was a thing. The All-You-Can-Eat Jimmy Buffett Jimmy …
I recently spoke with Matt George, an executive coach providing Leadership Education at Harvard to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. He’s someone who’s raised tens of millions of dollars for a non-profit he ran for 30 years. Matt is a rare breed who unites empathy and compassion with hungry entrepreneurialism. In our discussion, one thing …
“Is Branding Dead?” is a question entrepreneurs and CEOs all wonder about. Instead, they routinely ask, “What about personal branding?” or “Isn’t social media the answer to everything” or…? Very easy and common holes to fall into unless you understand the following: In a recent discussion with entrepreneurs around the world, I stated, “Branding as …
By now, you’ve likely heard about the Clubhouse app, that invite-only, live audio, real-time, non-recorded, come-as-you-are platform that amassing a lot of attention. As mentioned on AppAnnie, they shared this amazing statistic and data: Plus, AppAnnie shared these stats: As of February 1, it had over 3.5 million global downloads and 8.1 million by Feb …
It’s a question Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia (supporting the heartbeat of the 800+ employees at Gary Vaynerchuk’s agency) is asked, “Why People Matter in Business?” After all, Claude was chosen by Gary to do internally for the Vayner culture what Gary was doing out in the world. Recently, in a heart-to-heart LinkedIn …
The original title of this article was “How to Choose the Perfect Program to Grow Your Business (and Why Most Programs Fail),” but it was too long. It’s a crazy trend: templates, cheat sheets, hacks, swipe files, and formulas are all designed to give us the keys to the kingdom of untold wealth, riches, and …
Have you ever wondered how to wisely choose every brand move before you made it? I did too. Then I got a call from a podcaster who was recommended to me by my buddy Ted Rubin. Dr. Jürgen Strauss is a transformational marketing strategist, podcaster, speaker, chief innovator, and founder of Innovabiz who partners with innovative, …
Those who work from home need to remember one thing: working from home doesn’t define us. It’s something we define. Just like a canvas doesn’t determine whether a painting will be a masterpiece. Just like a piano doesn’t dictate what type of song you’ll compose. Or a language determining what kind of screenplay or book …
If you’re not preparing for the recovery now, you’re already behind the eightball. Today’s One Minute Wednesday is not a feel-good motivational video. It’s highly practical and points to the one thing you MUST control during this time: Ingenuity. Some of my clients are THRIVING right now because of the business category they’re in. Others …
Seth Godin is the first one to confirm your primary function is “crafting the perfect brand story” before you create a product. Hell, even author Donald Miller says companies should be generating $50 million in revenue before branding anything at all. For the record, that is complete BS. He’s selling his angle (and, for the …
No more excuses. That’s the most common trait you find amongst those who excel. In fact, I dedicated an entire One Minute Wednesday to this topic. “It’s every company’s job to determine whether they have a brand or merely an idea. This applies to the single person as well as to an organization.” Dreams are …
Ask any company and you’ll find four things they all seek to master: Branding. Innovating. Disruption. Success. Amongst the best marketing strategies for businesses, both large and small, there are: FACT: how marketing works in the world today has gone through a subtle but major cultural shift. Connecting in a Distracted World Today: (For wordsmiths, …
Many talk about how to make competitors irrelevant. Few provide the roadmap. Here’s the roadmap. There is an epidemic in business today: It goes like this: The answer in business is not to economize and to always to try to do less. The answer is always doing more. Figure out how to efficiently do more, …
Winning brands have a mindset. A mindset that eliminates all excuses — “all the reasons we ain’t as great as we aspire to be.” This mindset punctures the lies we’ve been fed. This line of questioning demanded I ask (and answer) this question: What’s the winning mindset of those who truly lead and unwaveringly serve? …
If you have a business today, you’ve experienced “shiny object syndrome.” One site defines it this way: “a disease of distraction, and it affects entrepreneurs specifically because of the qualities that make them unique. … It’s called shiny object syndrome because it’s the entrepreneurial equivalent of a small child chasing after shiny objects.” Focus. Yeah, …
Ever struggle with how to be a better brand leader? Becoming A Better Brand Leader (in 60 Seconds) I am so excited over this week’s episode 59 of One Minute Wednesdays. (If you haven’t subscribed yet and caught all the previous episodes, you ARE missing out. Plain and simple. Subscribe and make sure to click …
In this important keynote, I discuss the #1 tool your brand’s not using. In this beautiful setting by the Adriatic Sea across from Croatia, I delivered two keynote speeches to an incredible group of professionals. In this excerpt, I specifically cover the two sides to your brand that are not being maximized to strengthen your …
The most inspirational speech I’ve ever given happened in Slovenia recently at the close of a 2-day annual conference. I was asked “I had the privilege to read your book. So many great pieces of advice in there. If you can pick one that we should leave this room with, which one would you pick? …
I was in San Francisco this past week and was reminded of when I outlined the 4 types of entrepreneurs I have encountered in four decades of helping businesses and brands grow. Not only grow but impact the world while helping make millionaires and a few billionaires. Not knowing these 4 different types, you inevitably …
Some brands go (in the goal of wanting to sell more) into endless “pitch mode” at the expense of their brands. Shut Up Already. Seriously. Brands that make this mistake focus on short-term transactions versus the long-term lifecycle of a client relationship, adding value over the long term. I cover this in detail in this …
Who would have thought, after 132 years as a staple on the retail landscape that we would ever see the death of Sears? What this is, in fact, is the study of how a retail legend stopped doing what made it successful in the first place only to be crushed by a newer company (using its …
“…if you’re a copycat, you can never keep up. You’re always in a passive position. You never lead; you always follow. You give birth to something that’s already behind the times—just a knockoff, an inferior version of the original. That’s no way to live.” ― Jason Fried, New York Times bestseller, Rework Authentic branding is about …
Influencer Marketing Strategy is one of those phrases and objectives that comes up pretty frequently amongst CEOs, brands, marketing departments, and entrepreneurs. When I see influencers making their mark, that mark is made in definitive ways. They’re not wishy-washy. They’re not tentative. They’re not domineering. They’re open-minded to better options. In fact, they’re committed to …
The only solution to a lousy pitch is something more fundamental: establishing and having an authentic, meaningful, and differentiating brand story. A pitch has three parts that together become a story. This is the focus of this week’s One Minute Wednesday. A Lousy Pitch vs. The Compelling Story To understand what’s right, sometimes you have …
Every industry has what we all know as reputation baggage. The type of baggage we all know as history, habits, “rep,” and, the worst of all, preconceived notions before you have ever shown up. That’s like someone who’s known your older siblings to make up their mind of you, your ideas, your values, and your …
