Branding Archives - Page 4 of 13

Does Your Marketing Pay It Forward?

07/22/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Trust is the foundation stone of any successful relationship. If two people don’t trust each other, they constantly second guess the other’s motive and integrity. There is no opportunity for growth.

The relationship between a business and its customers is no exception to this rule. Customers can become intensely loyal to a particular brand, but only if they feel they can place their trust in that company. So the real question is, how can you make potential customers view your business as trustworthy?

The answer lies in social media marketing.

Why Is Social Media Such a Big Deal?

Social media has completely altered the face of Internet marketing. Previously, companies had to rely on emails, 1-800 numbers, and promotional events to connect with their customer base. But now, with the help of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, literally millions of customers are just a tweet or status update away. Twitter alone has around 500 million users.

Social media is different from most other marketing techniques because it is both simple and timely. Tweets are limited to a mere 140 characters, which means your message must be concise and relevant. People are constantly logging onto social media accounts to give and receive information, ideas, and opinions. For some, tweeting or updating their status comes before brushing their teeth or eating breakfast. In short, social media offers an immediate, dynamic, and personal way to connect with potential customers.

But How Can You Build Trust?

Many businesses grumble about the fact that they have tried this “social media thing” and not seen tangible benefit. It’s possible they have done everything right and somehow the gods of social media have simply deemed them unworthy. It is much more likely they are approaching social media marketing the wrong way.

We’ve already established social media is a completely different animal from conventional marketing strategies. It makes sense that businesses must approach it differently, as well. Traditional marketing is all about the business and the brand. It focuses on what the company has to offer and concerns itself with presenting an idea in the most appealing manner possible. To be successful in social media, the focus needs to shift to customers. People love social media because it provides a forum for sharing ideas and information. People want to be inspired, intrigued, and moved. If your company doesn’t offer content that is deemed valuable by social media users, you won’t gain a single customer.

So What Strategies Are Effective?

Being successful on Twitter is about the simple concept of paying it forward. If your company provides exceptional content, information, and insight without any brand or product flaunting, people will be drawn to it. It all goes back to that central idea of trust. When customers know they will receive interesting and relevant content from your company they are more likely to place their trust in your brand. They will want to talk about your company to their friends, family, and social media networks. Because social media is an opt-out society, users are completely in control of what brand messages reach them. Remember the core of social media is exactly that…being social. Once you establish trust, social media will become a huge boon for your brand.

About The Author

Randy Bowden

Randy Bowden is a principal partner along with his wife, Shalah, of bowden2bowden llc, a marketing and branding consultancy firm. Specializing in developing targeted marketing solutions, exceptional creative executions and solid branding strategies that give clients a real competitive advantage. Our core team has the ability to scale quickly and effectively with trusted partners as needed. We consider them an integral part of our team and process. Our ability to approach challenging projects in an atmosphere of spirited cooperation leads to engaging, compelling solutions and successful work that yields desired results. Randy writes three posts weekly for their bowden2bowden blog.”

Rolling Stone PR Faux Pas

07/18/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Today, the sentiment by many an American is to Boycott Rolling Stone. Is that the same reaction by its 20-something readership?

That publication put the Boston Bomber on its cover looking sultry and sexy. Why?

It’s said the editors/publishers put that teenager in the demographic of its readership and thus the publication owed it to (whom?) to cover the topic. In its defense, the magazine did say the kid became a monster on its cover albeit in small print.

The Rolling Stone PR Faux Pas

What exactly is the faux pas of Rolling Stone? It’s abiding by rights granted by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; freedom of speech in this regard.

What then did Rolling Stone do to piss of America?

It took an emotional issue oriented to terrorism against this country and portrayed it unerringly on the cover of its well- read and highly subscribed to-popular magazine.

Sure enough, Rolling Stone created a global PR crisis for itself. Prior to Rolling Stone publishing its cover, editors and publishers had weeks to prepare for the backlash that would and did inevitably result.

They developed messaging; they consulted lawyers; they trained; they wrote statements for public consumption; they readied the flood gates. They knew it; they ignored it; they welcomed it.

Now, media the likes of Dayton Daily News, a small community paper catering to less than 1 million, are running the story and cover to capitalize on the debacle. Of course, that’s how the gravy train works. Blood sells, after all.

How many Facebook posts did you read yesterday that are anti-Rolling Stone? Did traffic increase exponentially to its website to the point of busting the server?

The magazine didn’t care; it wanted this attention knowing full well the emotional upheaval would come and pass. Knowing full well the teens and 20-something readers and potential subscribers would devour the coverage and buzz about it on their social channels, too.

The outcry against the choice Rolling Stone made to exonerate a soon-to-be-convicted terrorist against the United States of America is just.

What’s unjust are the lives and limbs lost and horrific emotional upheaval as a result of the crimes perpetuated against the Boston marathoners, spectators and this country’s citizens.

In this case, Rolling Stone went too damn far. No act of terrorism should be regarded as opportunistic by media pushing the envelope of public dissent to see just how far it can go.

I customarily applaud corporations for testing waters and planning a publicity stunt for 10 minutes of fame. In this case, that magazine disgusts me for its obvious lack of sensitivity. Please, corporate America, withdraw your advertising spend and put it toward funds for victims of the Boston Marathon. They need help to regain a semblance of normalcy in a life disrupted. Please, corporate America, your customers will thank you.

(Jayme Note: This piece is not for me to capitalize; I rarely write about such things when they occur, e.g. Paula Deen. In this situation, I couldn’t rest.)

10 Marketing Tips To Make 6 Minutes Of Fame Longer

03/11/2013 By Jayme Soulati

South By Southwest or SXSW is happening right now. I will attend some day; it’s on my list. What happens there? Do companies become famous overnight and do videos of feats go viral? It’s been known to happen.

Have you ever thought about what happens after six minutes of fame?

I was in the audience for the Jenny Show in Chicago once; they asked me a question about being single in the city and I was on TV. It wasn’t for six minutes; more like six seconds…and what happened next? Nothing. It was a big let down after my stint on camera wearing a stupid grin because when you frown on TV you look like a convict.

Remember those streakers who ran nudey through the Sunday football game or the collegiate games? Bet they got more than six minutes of fame; probably a mug shot and criminal record for showing items that should always remain covered.

How To Make 6 Minutes of Fame Live Longer

It seems to me, as an over-the-top consumer of news, that companies are trying really, really hard to earn six minutes of fame. Social media has done that. Everyone is hungry for word-of-mouth marketing to up the ante and boost their brand into the stratosphere.

The Super Bowl comes to mind, especially when there’s equipment (aka clothing) failure. Advertisers who spend millions of dollars are expecting infamy. The Old Spice commercial still engages the sexual energy; yep, definitely more than six minutes of fame. The video I featured here by the guitarist for the Chicago Music Exchange who played 100 riffs on the history of Rock ‘n Roll certainly went viral, but I can’t tell you the guy’s name.

Fame is fleeting, Folks.

What Marketers Can Do For Fame and Fortune Every Day

Instead of worrying about how you’re going to capitalize on a fad, trend or current event, consider the following to be famous every single day, not only for six minutes:

Keep your messages updated; adjust them as your company grows with the times.
Change up the team every now and again; hire a fresh perspective to give new eyeballs on current marketing or public relations. I know just the person.
Try a new social media channel and master it. Just like a master gardener who makes the flowers grow with five green thumbs, you can earn a green thumb and sow the seeds for your company.
Listen. When you hear someone say social listening is a new trend; it’s really not. All that means is someone is tuning in to their community and the social media channels to see what’s trending in their vertical market.
Read. Read the bloggers and media outlets that can teach you; if you find yourself yawning over an article, then move on. There are more than 1 million blogs to peruse; 10 of them should be ripe as learning grounds.
Engage. You have to; there is no excuse for not engaging with your community, prospects, customers, employees, and peers. Please remember, you never know if a reporter is visiting your channels to see if your stream is healthy. When you engage as a company or brand, your community engages and evangelizes with and for you.
Rather than seek six minutes of fame and fortune (which rarely exists), create strategically strong integrated marketing campaigns for the long term. With the right smart marketing team in place, you can brainstorm ideas for 12 months that keep your brand consistently focused and marketed.
Tune in to news events and create a smart campaign that ties in with it. Have you seen the craze called bacon? Every day, someone is talking about bacon and not necessarily eating it. For some zany reason, the Baconators have taken over the social sphere with anything and everything relating to pork strips.
Live, breathe and eat bacon. The Oscar Mayer agency, 360i, did some heavy social listening and determined that bacon was hot stuff; however, no brand had capitalized on the bacon trend. It devised an awesome social-media-infused PR campaign called the Great American Bacon Barter “in which a penniless comedian traveled cross country trading Oscar Mayer’s new Butcher Thick Cut bacon for essential such as food, a night on someone’s couch, or NFL tickets.” Oscar Mayer’s CEO said the campaign was successful because of the “culture of curiosity that’s fueled by using data to drive creativity and commerce.”
Dig in deep to your company culture. Can you define your company culture? I’ve always been fascinated by this…what is the definition of culture in business and how does it play out in marketing? Ask yourself.

Do Powerful Brands Use Heart?

03/07/2013 By Jayme Soulati

The full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal boasts a “four-layered masterpiece” describing the hazelnut swirl atop the new Hazelnut Macchiato by Starbucks. The final words we’re left with (there are only 25 words total) are “Crafted by hand and heart.”

Several years ago, I complained to anyone who’d listen that Starbucks was in bed with the Wall Street Journal. I had never seen so much publicity and positive stories in this national business daily for a brand without the power and global reach of IBM, for example.

Incidentally, IBM is one of the five stocks being attributed for pushing the Dow to record high on March 6, 2013.

The ad we’re seeing by Starbucks today is colorfully creamy with espresso blending into the white latte to show a caramel you can’t resist (I never buy those ridiculously expensive lattes that are so full of calories, too). What is an appeal, suggests Starbucks, is that every barista makes your coffee drink with loving care — from the heart.

I’ve heard of people say that some baristas write a patron’s name on a cup with a cute little heart and a “have a great day” sentiment. I wonder if anyone has ever written a phone number for some cute customer? I think that would be too much heart.

Brands Using Heart Marketing

No other examples of powerful brands using heart come directly to mind, and (I think I just coined a new marketing field, Heart Marketing), so let’s do a scan through the last two days of Wall Street Journals to see whether heart is conjured:

Toyota: Toyota Shakes Up Top Ranks. Apparently, the family-owned car giant is now ready to welcome outsiders with open arms to its executive management. Think that’s a heart-felt move? Nope, just one of necessity for survival.
Clorox: The general counsel of Clorox, Laura Stein, researched the new CEO’s management style to learn how better to work with him. The new CEO, Donald Knauss “likes her go-getter style; ‘she will help anyone who asks for help.'” Heart or get-ahead smarts? I’m saying a bit of both. People who help have to be transparent or it’s just too smarmy.
Honest Tea: I wrote a post right here about Honest Tea and its CEO op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (what is it about the Wall Street Journal and beverage companies?) and in today’s paper that company gets a quarter page of top publicity with three color photos of beverages about Honest Tea’s New Soda. This company does have a heart and I know its guiding principles are about heart. Yes, a good example of powerful brands living by and using heart.

Let’s think of this a bit differently:

The world is a horrifying place for adults who are in touch with global and domestic news.
While the Dow dinks around in record territory and the housing crisis abates somewhat, students are still faced with record tuition at public universities.
Families are still grappling with lack of employment and other personal issues which contribute to red ink.

Is Starbucks on to something? With its subliminal copywriting that its baristas have a heart and care for you; does that work and will that bring in the patrons to order the new Hazelnut Macchiato?

Heart should not ever be taken with a grain of salt. It’s what I’m teaching kidlet — live from the heart, give to others first, focus outward, understand why someone is a bully and try to help them (well that’s a bit far fetched for a kid), but hopefully you get my drift.

Heart and Social Media

Heart computes in social media, too.

There are numerous people asking for help.

In fact, a 16-year-old asked me this week two questions about his brand new social media agency. Did I believe his prices were solid and how could he earn some credibility because people didn’t want to work with someone so young. I gave him my thoughts more than once and I invited him to write a guest post for The Happy Friday series.
How about the young man who found me locally who was writing a book and wanted my help publicizing that book? Now, mind you, that book of his was ensconced with one of those you-pay-we-publish businesses that just wanted his money; however, I spent time with him and counseled him and wrote a website and did a video with him. No charge.

What does your heart look like? How do you live it? I’m not talking about how much love you have for your offspring or spouse or partner. I’m talking about the values with which you live at work. Do you spout off about having heart, “C’mon, have a heart already!” or do you seriously come from a genuine place filled to the core with nurturing and caring and a desire to help, teach, support, share, and develop solid relationships?

Powerful brands can try to use heart to appeal to a patron who is down in the dumps; you, however, have the opportunity to make that a reality — a genuine and authentic reality.

What’s the outcome of all this? When someone you don’t know says to someone you do know who shares it with you, “You know what? I really like that girl, she’s the real deal.”

Enough said. Show me your heart…there’s a place for more love in business and social media. The scuttle butt I’m seeing, reading and hearing hasn’t been from the heart; perhaps it should be a guiding principle for each of us.

By Jayme Soulati

About Google Authorship

02/27/2013 By Jayme Soulati

English: Google+ wordmark (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By now your byline for any blog post, guest post, or other online published piece should be linked directly with a Google+ profile via Google Authorship. There is so much being written and shared about this topic, and it will not be a rehash here. What you will see are some very smart people sharing insights about Google Authorship that are too good to just let die in my Google+ stream. I’m going to share some thoughts for you in a random way from around the channels. I’d like your call to action to be to establish Google Authorship ASAP for your byline throughout the Interwebz.

About Google Authorship

Establish Google Authorship to claim brand, original content and rank.

This is to attempt to avoid what happened to of when his blog post was scraped. Because he had added a hyperlink to an archived post, he got a pingback from the culprit’s blog.

Having Google Authorship allows the original author to claim dibs on original content; however, according tothe acclaimed Google+ guru (he really is), there is nothing in place with Google + right now that protects any writer from content scraping.

“We need to be careful about overstating the claims of Authorship. In the introductory video Google’s Othar Hansson said that they could use authorship to determine the true author of content, not that they are (yet).

In any case, it doesn’t prevent someone from copying your content, just wouldn’t allow them to outrank you for it. I suspect we will have to wait for implementation of Author Rank for that to be fully in effect,” said Mark in a Google+ thread with Neal, , and me.

Frank Strong, who writes , is credited with alerting me to what’s been happening with recently on the topic.

Back to Neal’s story…when he got a ping back, he rang the alarm bells in his community, and due to the ruckus raised, the offender removed the post (bet they won’t do that again, eh, Neal?)

said in a recent G+ thread, ” I still recommend every blogger to at least include one internal link in each of their blog posts so that if their content does get copied, and it’s often copied as part of blogs automatically importing content through RSS feed manipulation, that at least you get a back link.”

What Google Authorship also does is help rank that author in search for original content all over the Interwebz. Can you say guest posting anyone? How about blogging communities? (Just so you know, is accepting new bloggers; it’s a blogging community I established in 2010 that is ebbing out of dormancy.)

How To Set Up Google Authorship on WordPress Blogs

If you need help setting up Google Authorship, please go directly to After examining four different blog posts sharing perspective on how to synch your WordPress-powered blog with Google Authorship, this one on Tizish by Josh Galvan was the easiest to understand in plain English. It also did not omit any steps like the others did (in re the back-end coding which is explained very well). My pal will attest to the ease with which this tutorial takes you through the steps.

Thanks for indulging my ping-pong sharing on this topic. When I learn so much in one Google+ stream, it’s too rich to toss by the wayside, and I wanted you to learn as I do, too.