Is your brand shooting you in the foot?!
I’m putting on my Zing Girl hat today and sending you
special wishes for 2010 because as far as I’m concerned,
there’s nothing quite like the start of a new year
– let alone a new decade – for putting a spring in
your step and feeling optimistic!
Full Disclosure: My birthday is in January so
that explains it. This time of year always feels
good to me. So in the interest of helping you feel good,
I want to help you make sure your brand is working
in your favor this year (and
not shooting you in the foot)!
Here are some clues which tell me that
your brand is not working in your favor:
CLUE NO 1º
No photo of CEO/Founder anywhere on site.
As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter what you look like:)
As long as you have a twinkle in your eye and/or look engaged
and/or energized and/or excited about life in general, that’s
what give me ‘additional information’ about you.
Something has to speak to me – and tell me that you’re
passionate about everything you’re doing. I love this
photo of Melani: go to www.melaniward.com and see
her spontaneous, energetic and uplifting pic!
CLUE NO 2ª
No bit of charisma or creative storytelling anywhere.
If you’re the Founder/CEO, I need to know more
about you and why you do what you do. It’s what
keeps you top of mind, keeps me looking in your
direction, keeps me thinking, “Hey, I need/want/have
to work (get to know) this person, now!” Your brand is
your story. So what do you dream about? Start there.
CLUE NO 3º
You keep me at arm’s length.
Not a good idea. No matter how hard I try to find you,
get a sense of who you are and whether I want to
work with you, you keep insisting on hiding.
You are not allowing me to come any closer or
catch even a glimpse of you.
Considering we live in a global village and so
much biz is being done online, it makes sense
to allow your potential buyers to catch a
glimpse of how you think, work and see your
world.
(A silly example: at the bottom of ABOUT
on my site, www.zingyourbrand.com)
on the very last line, I mention
the color of my red lipstick. Why? Because
everyone/everywhere stops me on the street
to ask me. So guess what? Now, almost everyone
I meet online know the name of my lipstick
and they can’t stop talking about it. What
does that tell you? (Hey, I wish more women
wore red lipstick, what can i say?!)
CLUE NO 4º
Your brand is misbehaving
I keep comparing brands to puppies because
both need training, watching over, a lot of TLC
and nurturing, and of course, need strict
parameters. As Brand Guardian, every CEO
needs to keepi their brand on a leash,
so to speak, because if you don’t pay attention
to the kind of language your brand is using
in your marketing material or if you’re not
mindful of the tone or attitude of your brand, then
your brand is clearly shooting you in the foot.
This is your biz, after all. I want you to make sure
you’re paying attention to your brand
because if it starts feeling neglected, it’s going
to act out, send out negative signals to your
potential target audience and guess what happens
then? People stay away. No one likes
a bad attitude.
So think about the kinds of clues (good and bad)
your brand is shouting out right now to everyone
who checks out your site, or drops by your office
or talks to you on the phone.
Exciting News: The first roll-up-your-sleeves work
session at The NY Brand Lab starts Jan 25 and seats
are going quicky, I am pleased to say. So if your
brand needs a lot of TLC and a bit of transformation,
that’s exactly what we’ll be doing for four
consecutive Mondays (Feb 15 is President’s Day
so will be rescheduling that day).
Here’s the link to register before all 12 seats are
are booked.
http://zingyourbrand.com/nybrandlab
What’s more, The NY Brand Lab is going
to help you work out what makes your brand
tick, for once and for all, and it’s going to
transform your brand into a money-making
machine.
After all, that’s what all powerful and successful
brands do. They attract a lot of attention, turn
heads, bring in a stream of clients and, they
knock the socks off your competition.
Ready to take your brand from blah to zing? Remember
ZING loves KACHING!
http://zingyourbrand.com/nybrandlab
Here’s to watching your brand zing!
