Blog : branding

Building Your Brand One Interaction at a Time
Wendy Baird

Building Your Brand One Interaction at a Time

coordinated response website screen shot

Sometimes a gift just falls in your lap (or lands in your email box). As I was contemplating a branding blog post I was working on this morning, I received this email from one of our advisory firm clients. What a pleasure when one’s work is truly appreciated, and even better when the client really “gets” it. There are some really great insights here, and I share with his permission:

Hey, Wendy:

I’m reading a book and insight180 came to mind. The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do what They Do and How They Do It So Well, by Camille Sweeney & Josh Gosfield. The book features interviews with respected, high profile professionals about how they do what they do. I heard the authors interviewed on two different radio programs during their book tour.

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Avoiding Marketing’s Shiny Object Syndrome
Wendy Baird

Avoiding Marketing’s Shiny Object Syndrome

We’ve all experienced it at one time or another – that uncontrollable urge to spend time or money on the latest gizmo, app, online tool, trick or offer. Remember Dug, the adorable talking golden retriever from Pixar Disney’s movie, Up, who in the midst of conversation would become distracted and exclaim, “Squirrel!?” You may chuckle, but Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) occurs all the time, including in our marketing.

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When the brand waters get muddy
Wendy Baird

When the brand waters get muddy

Company ABC is a tech consulting firm in the secure government contracting space that promotes a fundraising event for a highly respected, well run charity for rehabilitating soldiers injured abroad. The veteran owners and many of their clients care passionately about the cause, and the thousands of dollars they contribute directly impact those in need of immediate assistance. Their contribution fills a vast funding deficit and gives the charity a much needed financial boost. And, it serves as an expression of Company ABC’s brand. They pride themselves on their integrity, reputation and transparency, and their commitment to their clients, country and community is evident in their brand from the way they provide services to the way they demonstrate giving back.

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What's in a Name?
Wendy Baird

What's in a Name?

Ten “can’t miss” dos and don’ts when naming a business.

Choosing a business name is one of the most important tasks when starting, growing or changing a business. Not only is it part of that first impression you make among your audience, but it, along with your logo, is the heart of your brand. Your brand is all about how you connect and then are perceived – so your name needs to be descriptive, inspiring, and relatable, and needs to evoke positive feelings, or at least curiosity.

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Key Words and Tweets and Blogs, Oh My!
Wendy Baird

Key Words and Tweets and Blogs, Oh My!

We are inundated with more than 2000 marketing interruptions per day – whether it be print, radio or TV advertisements, emails we need to sift through despite our filters, banner ads on the websites we visit, billboards we pass on the way in to work. It is a very crowded marketplace and it gets more and more challenging to get your message to your potential customer. So why not allow them to find you more easily? This is the premise of “inbound marketing” – using Google, social media outlets, blogs and other methods to get people to find you. We recommend two excellent books on the topic: Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah (founders of Hubspot), and Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day, by one of our colleagues (and clients) Hollis Thomases, owner of Web Ad.vantage. While the adage “It’s not what you say, it’s what others say about you” is true to a large degree, we would also argue that you had better, indeed, have something substantive to say. You can tweet and blog and reference key search terms ’til the cows come home, but if potential clients land on your website and find little relevant content, a cluttered or crowded site, or an amateur design, you can be sure that they won’t come back. While Halligan and Shah devote a chapter to creating remarkable content, they don’t emphasize enough about the importance of branding and design.

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UNBRANDING?! WHAT?!
insight180 team

UNBRANDING?! WHAT?!

  • By insight180 team
  • January 10, 2010
  • branding

A little more than 6 months ago, Starbucks experimented with what was being coined as an “unbranding” experiment. Faced with a high level of saturation in its Seattle, Washington market area, Starbucks dropped its brand name at an existing location, and replaced it with a descriptive “15th Ave E Coffee & Tea.” Starbucks was concerned that its growing monopolization of the market was creating resentment among its loyal flock. Was it in Starbucks best interest to be perceived as the giant now, beating the smaller, local, unique coffee houses out of business? Is this the double edged sword of huge success?

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Solar's Rise
insight180 team

Solar's Rise

  • By insight180 team
  • November 4, 2009
  • branding

Has solar energy’s time finally come? The field has grown exponentially in recent years. As brand consultants in the green world, we’ve certainly seen amazing growth take place. Even President Obama is a believer, having just approved $200 M of funds to solar research to help expand the industry.

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