Hey you!
Happy new year! This is the year everything will be different. You’ll emerge from the fog of the last few years, clear the clutter, focus, and crush your goals. You will create something remarkable. You’ll start wearing real pants again! (If you’re already wearing real pants most days, good for you, Overachiever.)
I’ve been thinking alot about the power of ideas. Where do ideas come from anyway? I can only speak for myself. For me, ideas come from being curious about a lot of things, and then making connections between them.
I spent the holidays buying my usual armful of books and grabbed a few with some really GREAT examples of branding and brand advertising. So inspiring! I’ve included the ones I’m crushing on below.
Which brings me to the most important question I could possibly ask if you have a business or are in some way responsible for the success of one. Where does your BRAND stand?
Building a brand is a lot like contributing to your 401k. You make a lot of small deposits over an extended period of time and then one day you realize you’ve built enough momentum to start letting up on the gas. Maybe even start coasting.
When successful, a strong and differentiated brand can give you an unfair boost in market share, justify premium prices, and even demand larger exit multiples.
But, argh. Brand building can be a protracted process that doesn’t give you the quick hit of dopamine and bragging rights of a viral video or a TikTok. The problem with those viral videos and memes however, is that they’re ephemeral. They’re like a sneeze - unexpected, gratifying for an instant, and then gone and impossible to reproduce at will.
In 2023, I’m challenging our clients and their teams to push beyond day-to-day marketing tactics (necessary) and stunts (hard to scale), and to make this the year to get serious about brand building. And the best place to start is by studying examples of the greats.
Here’s those books I was talking about.
- Ogilvy on Advertising - David Ogilvy (the first book I read about advertising, and still at the top of the heap)
- Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! - Luke Sullivan (read this through last year; a great source of inspiration and also ‘how to’s’)
- Branding - Michael Johnson (a behemoth that I got for Christmas; big, beautiful, full of colorful examples)
- The Advertising Concept Book - Pete Barry (another new one; a guide on the creative process)
- The Copy Book - A D&AD / Taschen book (some of the best copy you’ll ever see)
If you want to take stock of where you are now on your brand journey, start with a brand positioning assessment. Put simply, your brand position is what makes your brand stand out and stand apart from the competition in the minds of consumers.
We use this positioning assessment with clients in our brand workshops and then track progress year over year. It’s a great way to give yourself a quick read on where you are and where you can improve.
If you want to go deeper, read my article on Brand Positioning that has all the details about:
- What it is
- Why it matters
- How to do it (with a framework!)
- When to do it
- Who should be involved
- etc.
Oh, by the way, branding is also FUN! You get to flex your creative muscles.
Next month I’m doing a Quick Fix Webinar on High Impact Presentations. I know. Webinars are so 2021.
But this is the long-awaited condensation of a training I do for Fortune 500 companies on developing persuasive business presentations that will help you get your budgets approved, and your strategic projects enthusiastically sponsored. It will be me and you (and hopefully a few others), LIVE.
BTW, I haven’t done a webinar in ages, so I’m a little nervous no one will sign up. So if it turns out it’s just me and you, we can totally turn it into cocktails and conversation.
Kick this year in the ass, or teeth, or wherever!
Ginger Zumaeta
