Sucessful Branding

Branding is built on the need to belong. The majority of decisions-to-purchase involve self-definition. Customers buy what they buy to remind themselves—and to tell the world —who they are.

Do you know how your customer defines themselves?  What are you doing to improve your product/messaging to let your customers know that your product matches their self-definition?

Successful branding is to:

(Monday Morning Memo 5/15/06)

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Product Innovation

Currently only available in Brazil, a GE refrigerator is covered in a special coating similar to dry erase whiteboards. Replacing the age-old practice of sticking grocery lists and children’s drawings on the fridge, missives can now be written directly on the appliance and easily wiped off. It’s a simple innovation that cleverly integrates existing human behavior, and turns a mundane product into something playful and appealing. Opportunities? When rethinking a product or service, don’t just focus on features or haute design. An element of fun can be just as much of a sales magnet, at a fraction of the cost.  (Springwise.com 6/27/07)

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Breaking the Curse of Knowledge

We all tend to forget that the knowledge we possess is not common to everybody. We automatically assume everyone knows the same things we do. When we fall prey to the Curse of Knowledge, we phrase ideas as they exist in our own mind instead of expressing them in a way that appeals to the minds of others. This ‘Curse’ leads us to abstraction and separates us from our audience.

(Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath, Random House, ’07)

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Five words you should NEVER use in advertising

There is no such thing as magic words, particularly in today’s ad saturated culture. Not only are magic advertising words non-existent, several of them can actually work against you.

You might be surprised by these words because chances are, you're using at least one of them in your advertising right now:

• Quality This may be the most overused word in advertising and over-saturation has ruined the perceived value of the word.
• Value This word has also been ruined by overuse. Value is in the eye of the beholder, and every product or service has its own value equation. Saying “we provide the best value” is virtually meaningless to a prospect.
• Service Have you ever heard an ad promising lousy service? Of course not, which is the reason why claiming good service just falls on deaf ears. Consumers know that promising great service doesn’t mean that it will happen.
• Caring To say “we care more” in an ad infers that your competitors care less. Consumers are not only hesitant to believe this inference; they probably consider it as bad form.
• Integrity Every company needs to have integrity. No company needs to advertise it.

Do you want your customers and prospects to view your products and services as being high quality and of good value? Of course. Do you want them to appreciate your caring service and strong integrity? Absolutely. But, every organization wants those things. Those that win the hearts and minds of consumers don’t talk the talk, they walk the walk.

What you think about your organization doesn’t matter. Just because you sell it doesn't mean people will buy it. All that matters is what your customers and prospects think. So, the next time you're tempted to use one of these five words in an ad, stop and ask if there’s a better way to get the message across.

(Adapted from an article by McKee Wallwork, Business Week Online 6/7/06)