In recent days, I’ve been struck by how powerful the sense of “home” can be. Home is familiar, comfortable, irreplaceable. There’s an undeniable “belongingness” that can’t be replicated.
Stepping off on a hike last fall in New Hampshire, I was overwhelmed by the sense that I was back home in New …
Continue reading "Home Sweet Home Brands"I had two crummy telephone experiences recently — both to my home number and both leaving a poor brand impression. These telephone reps, who make and receive calls on behalf of their organizations, surely have plenty of influence on their brands. So why would organizations risk so much by placing…
Continue reading "Living Your Brand Includes Telephone Calls, Too!"There are countless conversations happening online. We’re beyond the point of brands knowing they need to join those conversations. They do. What they may not realize is that the longer they wait to jump in, the more work they’ll have to do before they can ask for customer’s business.
Since its mo…
Continue reading "Give/Take Ratio"The title of this post is a quote by Dell’s VP of Communities and Conversations, Bob Pearson (care of Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang).
Bob’s quote really struck a chord with me because it’s a simple reality that many organizations are either overlooking or ignoring today. People are starting to…
Continue reading "‘A company’s corporate homepage is Google.com.’"This weekend, I was helping out a friend who needed to pick up his motorcycle which had been in for repairs. We had a pleasant ride out to the dealership, discussing various life dreams and struggles, when all of a sudden I unexpectedly found myself in the midst of a cult temple.
This was no ordin…
Continue reading "Branding Nirvana: A Cult Following"It amazes me how some people and organizations succeed even when they screw up. Many of us at MarketingProfs have discussed the need for consistency in building a solid brand. When we exceed customer expectations, we score. But what about those who don’t walk the talk. How do they stay in business?…
Continue reading "Some People Succeed in Spite of Themselves"Do you own your corporate domain name? It sounds kind of silly in 2008 doesn’t it? Let’s go a level deeper. Do you own your personal .com name (i.e. www.mattdickman.com)?
That may be a bit more of a stretch for some of you, but it’s crucial from a personal branding perspective. Just ask Shel Israe…
Continue reading "Do You Own Your Digital Identity?"Marketers call what they do “engagement,” “interaction,” “relationship-building” or worse yet, “encouraging the customer to experience the brand.” However, substitute “brand” with “Tabasco enema,” and you can picture the usefulness of such tactics and how uncomfortable your audience is with them.
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Continue reading "The Myth of Brand Engagement"Walk around any marketing conference and you can hear folks talking about brand. Typically much of the discussion centers around brand tactics: how to create a brand identity, how to build brand messages, how to test for brand penetration, and how to implement a brand, etc. The question I often get…
Continue reading "What Brands Do for Business"Too many. If you have ever needed a plumber you know what I mean. This past week, I needed one. And many calls and voice mails later, one of them finally returned my plea for help. But, of course, after he came to fix my problem, I had to reschedule. Why?
Because I needed a shower valve, about a $…
Continue reading "How Many Plumbers Does It Take to Fix a Leak?"