Sell the company not the product

What happens when a brand builds it’s brand strategy around it’s product? Failure. A company can spend billions making a product that’s best in class, advertise it, promote it, endorse it, but if audience perceptions of the brand are negative than all that money in the world won’t cause them to buy your product.

A product-oriented brand strategy is doomed to fail. People buy from brands they trust, value, relate with. Sell the company—values, culture, employees—not the product. That’s what your audience is really buying at the end of the day.

2011
06/21
CATEGORY
Branding
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Constant Analysis

Throughout my professional career, I have been searching for the right project management system that will allow me get things done and excel at my job and life. It hasn’t been easy. Work, much like life, is constantly evolving. And the search for the magical answer that would make managing life’s projects that much easier is never ending.

With life comes responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities. To keep up with the demand, we must constantly analyze and refine our approach to life. Always referring back, discarding the pieces that don’t work and adding in new elements that do.

The advantage of there not being one right way to manage work and life is having the opportunity to experiment with what works best for each individual. You are more likely to be attracted to a process that you helped create. The more customized the process, the better.

Now go experiment!

2011
04/04
CATEGORY
Life
Productivity
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Passing the time visually

What a great way to pass the time spent traveling. I am definately going to do this on my next flight.

http://tiny.cc/se7ha

2010
10/15
CATEGORY
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Personal Brand Credibility

(Name) is someone I can always trust.

(Name) is someone that delivers on every promise he / she makes.

(Name) is highly respected amongst his / her peers.

I know what (Name) stands for and what makes him / her stand out.

Would your name be included in each of these statements?  Could the people you deal with on a day to day basis who witness your brand first hand put your name in each of these statements?

2010
07/19
CATEGORY
Branding
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Some tips for Getting Things Done!

I found an interesting article from a fellow blogger, Mark McGuinness(@markmcguinness) on How to Get Things Done When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed http://bit.ly/cPycca, and I thought it was spot on.

It’s safe to say that a majority of us have trouble getting things done in both our personal and professional lives.  There is so much to do with so little time where does one even start?  Below are some tips from Mark on how to break through the resistance and produce.

1. Focus on what you can control – we tend to worry about what we can’t control.

  • Make a list of the things that are stopping you / worrying you about the project at hand
  • Identify what you don’t have control over and eliminate it from your to-do list.  Only focus on what you do have control over.

2. Take that list and break it into bite size tasks

  • It can be overwhelming when we look at our to-do list and we see a task as daunting as “paint upstairs of house”.  Where do we even start?  We get overwhelmed and panic and eventually put it off.
  • Instead, break that project into smaller tasks.  For example, first we may need to pick out a paint color, then measure the room, followed by going to Home Depot to buy supplies, etc…

3. Talk to others – externalize your feelings

  • Sometimes just saying it out loud helps find a solution
  • Target those who have done what you are trying to do and use their experiences
  • And take it a step further and collaborate with them

4. Start – roll up your sleeves and start

  • You can’t put it off for ever!

I added a step 5 from Seth Godin‘s book “Linchpins“

5. Ship it!

  • The lizard brain, the part of your brain that operates out of fear, doesn’t want you to finish the project.  What if my friends don’t like it, my boss hates it, no one reads it, etc…
  • We have to see the anxiety and sit on it.  Don’t let it make our decisions.  Instead, sit on it, feel it, and when it passes push the send button, start painting, make the phone call, type your blog post.  The more we ship, the more success we will have.
2010
07/15
CATEGORY
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Follow up to Personal Branding post

Interesting article on how our personal brand relates to the likes of Apple, BP and Toyota.  We have more in common then we think.

http://ow.ly/17Mwqm

2010
07/14
CATEGORY
Branding
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You are a BRAND, like it or not.

I was going through my old Moleskine notebooks this week and stumbled across some notes about branding and how it relates to us as individuals.  Most people think that branding [brand management, brand identity,brand strategy] are related to corporate America only.  Particularly the brands (NIKE, COKE, APPLE) that are in our faces every day with their messaging.  This is true to an extent, but let me ask you a question.  Does branding pertain to us as individuals?

The answer is YES!  We as individuals are a brand.  Dustin Geddis is a brand.  You are a brand.  Our brand is reflected in what we wear, what we say, how we dress, what we drive, who we date (marry), people we call friends, how we conduct myself professionally and socially, and so on.  These attributes help mold who we are as a brand.  Think about this next time you do any of the above.  Then ask yourself, is what I am doing a true representation of me as a brand?  Do you like what your brand represents?  Would someone like the packaging?  Would they want to befriend you, hire you, date you?

2010
07/02
CATEGORY
Branding
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“One game changes everything”

Peace rallies, sit-downs, picketing, protesting, petitioning.  All have been tried in the name of world change.  Problem is we as a world are still waiting on that change where war doesn’t exist and people aren’t dying for their religious beliefs or color of skin.  This so called change is merely a wish.

Except for the one month when the violence stops and every nation, ethnicity, race, gender, religion comes together to celebrate that which is World Cup.  I think its safe to say that out of any sporting event, including the Olympics, World Cup is the only one that can have this world impact.  I would even go so far as to say out of any event worldwide, World Cup is the only one.

So here is to the one month where we can rest easy, watch amazing feats and mind-blowing goals, and hopefully see that life is too short to be fighting with each other.  Instead we should be blowing our vuvuzela’s and coming together.

2010
06/22
CATEGORY
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