Shopping has become a means of self expression. As the retail industry continues to fragment and retail brands continue to proliferate, people now make statements to others — and to themselves — by where, when, and how they choose to shop. I was surprised to discover, though, that the shopping-as-self-expression phenomenon originated back in the […]
Now that marketers in practically every sector prioritize content marketing, storytelling is heralded as a brand’s most effective approach to developing content. It makes sense — people are emotional beings, so we respond to stories because they engage us on an emotional level. And, as Nicholas Ind and Oriol Iglesias write in Brand Desire, “Brands […]
Ah, summer! What a great time to grab some books and a beach chair and head out for some leisurely reading! Or you could be like me, working away this August and trying to live vicariously through other people’s posts of vacations, excursions, and other summertime fun. My work has actually involved a lot of […]
Customer experience futurist, author, and speaker Blake Morgan and I recently bonded over common views on women and customer experience. (Our conversation is a part of Blake’s terrific Modern Customer podcast – check it out here.) We ended up concluding that women are uniquely positioned to lead customer experience. […]
By now, it should be obvious how important it is to clearly differentiate your brand. But I still get questions about how to identify key brand differentiators — or how to prioritize them, clarify them, or use them in brand strategy development. So I’ve produced an excerpt from a recent webinar I gave in which […]
Here’s a hypothesis: There are essentially nine different types of brands and you can jumpstart the development of your brand strategy by identifying the one that’s right for you. I’ve developed this hypothesis after working on brands for over 25 years. I’ve come to realize that there is a finite number of brand types or […]
– the book: BRAND A-Z, the latest book from Marty Neumeier, is a dictionary of 1,000 current terms in brand strategy, design, marketing, advertising, innovation, and management. It’s a much-needed update from the original edition published in 2004. […]
– the book: The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service, a practical guide on an important topic – the brains: Jeff Toister, customer service author, consultant, and trainer. I met Jeff when we were both launching our first books — his was Service Failure: The Real Reasons […]
The story of how the venerable Ford Motor Company managed to recover from the Great Recession of 2008 may be one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in U.S. history. And it demonstrates how great brands rebound from turbulent times. Not only did Ford recover, but it ended up thriving and achieving heights once thought impossible […]
If you are like most business leaders around the world, you probably want to improve your employee engagement — for good reason. The Gallup organization estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year. It’s clear employee engagement should be a priority for you, but in addition to asking how to engage […]