brand-as-business bit: Next week I’m teaching a webinar, Why Small Business Needs Brands and How to Build Them, as part of a Marketing Profs University course on Marketing Your Small Business. Here’s a sneak preview: One of the topics I will cover is how to differentiate — and among the approaches I will discuss is […]
differentiation
09.06.11
lessons from lady gaga
In a recent post, I described a meeting I led for one of my clients that needed to engage its senior leadership with its brand. And I mentioned that I had started the meeting with a cheeky “What Can Brands Learn from Lady Gaga?” video. Although I can’t show the video here, I did want […]
07.20.11
differentiate your way to success
“Differentiation is really the best way for all businesses to address consumers’ new value mindset.” That is the key point of the article the folks at Franchise Update Media Group asked me to write. Decrease Your Deal-Dependency with Differentiation is part of their latest newsletter (subscribe here). I’ve heard from so many business leaders who […]
06.21.11
say cheese
What do cameras and sandwiches have in common? A lot, Jonathan Kaplan hopes. The creator of Flip Video, the super-simple camcorder device that provided a lot of the initial fuel behind YouTube’s early growth, has gotten a lot of press lately about his latest aspiration: The Melt, a nationwide chain of restaurants offering gourmet variations […]
06.14.11
david aaker on brand relevance
David Aaker, author, brand guru, Vice Chairman of the brand consulting firm Prophet, and professor emeritus at Berkeley’s business school, joins me for a provocative interview on the state of brands today. Providing color and context for his latest book, Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant, Dave explains: why the only way for brands to win is to […]
04.27.11
competitive brand positioning
At last week’s MINDBODY University, I had the opportunity to teach business leaders how to increase their competitive advantage. Although the seminar was attended by business owners in the health, fitness, and wellness industries, the principles we covered are instructive to most all businesspeople and so I thought I’d share them here. The core of […]
Earlier this week I posted some key takeaways from the keynote speakers and panelists at the Southern California Business Growth Conference. As a panelist on the marketing track, one of the things I said during the “Brand Implementation & Impact: Bring your Brand to Market” session seemed to spark some interest of its own – […]
“Differentiate or die” is probably a familiar mantra to all; and there’s a well-established albeit less pithy corollary – don’t sell the category, sell your brand. After all, given the overcrowded nature of most categories, the hope of success for most brands rests on their ability to stand out from their numerous competitors. And promoting […]
01.07.10
how to differentiate
While you are reading this, I’m attending the Consumer Electronics Show. I’ll be meeting with clients and prospects, attending educational sessions, and walking the show floor — the last activity is one that I always find both exciting and frustrating. Exciting because there always so many new and cool gadgets and technologies to check out; […]
Recently Ad Age published a list of what it considered to be “America’s Hottest Brands.” The list featured 40 brands that are “setting the pace for innovation — and getting results – right now.” Although their selection criteria wasn’t clear and I can’t say I agree with all of the choices, I did find some […]