The Engaging Brand

How rich is YOUR company?

The profit and loss account is not just a statement of profitability. It is so much more than that.....it is

• How much customers value what you add to the process...be it an idea or a sheet of metal...Gross Profit
• How engaged are your teams?....Productivity
• How well placed are you for the future? What is the investment in research, training, idea generation, customer service?
• How much are you relying on money to motivate people rather than great leadership!
• How great is your leadership! Dad used to say to me, the profit and loss is the ultimate report card on how well you are engaging your team to engage customers to pay a premium in order to have YOUR product.

People discard it because it is numbers...but when is the last time you looked at it as a report card, as a signal for future growth, as the ultimate employee engagement report, as the ultimate customer feedback?

It reminds me of another thing Dad used to say

"How rich a company is, is never determined by the books...it will always be determined by the people"

Has Social Media Made Me A Better Person?

Social media is a huge part of my life - often when I am on a train I ponder my life and think whether I am using each minute, each second to its maximum benefit.

Social media in so many ways has affected the way that we live...but is it for the better? I think only if you use it for creating something better, something good, something that helps others....Here are some of my thoughts

• Social media can make you lazy - just because it is easy, don't let that stop you thinking....
• Social media can make you talk at people about your thoughts rather than talk with people about ideas.
• Social media can either inspire or 'expire' ideas...are you group thinking or using others to synthesise your thoughts into something even better?
• Social media is not a replacement for human contact....a smile, a hug, a visit will always help build that stronger bond.
• Social media can easily concentrate on the idea of media rather than social...how much time do you spend socialising compared to creating media?
• Social media can allow you to find people from around the world with the same shared passion...but don't let that make you insular...insular in terms of interest can be as restrictive as insular in terms of geography and culture.

I love social media but more than ever I want to ensure social media makes me a better person not a lazier, less socialising person....understanding danger is the first step to averting danger!

Social media in itself isn't good, it is what social media gives you the power to do which is great!! 

What is a brand anymore, anyway?

Branding used to be simple.....create a product, define the story and tell people about it. People then buy and decide if it is telling the truth..if so buy again, if not choose something else. Simple - she says tongue in cheek of course...

Branding is more complex now, yet simplicity lies in that complexity! Now I believe branding is not about the product and the story you create. Branding is in so many ways the conversation, branding is defined by the market, branding can be influenced not created. 

Branding for me is about influence.

• Branding is about creating not just a product but a product or service which gives people something to talk about...
• Branding is about creating great memories which people want to share.....memories of using it, memories of the service you give, memories of how the person felt....
• Branding is not what you create, it is about what your actions cause others to create....therefore influencing is more persuasive than telling.
• Branding is about being the party host....if people are going to talk then why not get them to have those conversations under your own roof. So branding has moved from being a lecturer to being the convivial party host.

Show 304 - Decisive Points of Customer Contact

Show 304 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post.

Bob Bloom, a widely respected authority on business growth joins Anna Farmery on The Engaging Brand podcast to talk about his new book The New Experts

• How buyers may own the purchasing process but sellers can still influence the purchase.
• How consumers think about brands
• Is there too much choice for consumers?
• 4 points of decisive moments with the customer
• How to make an engaging website
• Importance of words on a website
• Concept of emotional negotiation
• Can old companies think differently or do you need to set up new teams?
• How social media can make the seller naked!
• How personal equity must be earned and how it is perishable with customers
• How you must change as your customers have already changed!

Don't forget to subscribe to the show in iTunes or on the Blubrry site.

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter.

How you can listen to the Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following  http://www.podcasternews.com/feeds/enbr.xml

 

Is community a 3 dimensional concept now?

Community is something that is changing, community is something many crave and it made me think about how my idea of community has altered. It made me think how people tend to use the word in a very one dimensional way, yet there is at least a 3 dimensional approach to community. 

1. I am a member for instance of the European Community. Yet I feel no sense of warmth about my membership and would not say I am European...would still say English. (Interestingly actually think more local than that and would feel location wise...someone from East Yorkshire, despite where I live). To me this is imposed community, a bit like having to give your email for some base information! The benefit is at an individual level...freedom of movement....created by the whole.
2. I am a member for instance of Fitness First..the local gym. I recommend them, I actively participate in events but I am there as an individual. I don't want to train together but I want a place to go to train with other similar minded people....the community is almost by inspiration for my individual goal.
3. I have always been an avid sports person. When I am a member of a club then they become almost my family....we share memories, we share goals, we inspire each other...the we are greater than the individual.

I wondered whether my virtual communities were a fourth strand, I don't think they are because they all would fit into 1,2 or 3. They are just on the web, not physical places.

Often i work with brands or companies who want to create a community. Communities come in different shapes and sizes....communities are not universal in make up, they are not universal in feeling. For me there are those 3 dimensions described above....before you try and foster a community, I believe you need to decide what you are trying to foster....

Then and only then will you succeed....

The All Inclusive Social Media Offer

I remember going on my first all inclusive holiday...Wow! It was fantastic. I also remember thinking how people acted differently - gorging themselves on as many drinks and snacks as possible. I laughed as they either felt too full up or were suffering from a hangover....just because you can, doesn't mean you should!!

Social media reminds me of that experience in two ways.

1. Just because you can... doesn't mean that you should do social media. The fact others are doing it, doesn't mean that you should.... Sound wrong? Well, you must be ready to embrace it both culturally and resource-wise. You must be ready to connect, share, collaborate, express your values....actually you should at least know your values! Otherwise this all-inclusive web...the social media tools...will act less as your best friend and more of the friend who you dread dropping by...
2. Social media is largely free, because it is free then you can overindulge. You can subscribe to too many RSS feeds, connect with too many people on Twitter or Facebook...you can use every spare minute listening to podcasts. Over indulging is not good for you. Quality and diversity of listening, reading and connecting is much better for you. Work out what you need, why you are doing it and how it can make your life/brand better ...and focus on achieving those goals. Just like life...keep your social media intake fresh, keep your social media output meaningful.

The web is an all inclusive paradise for people who have a clear idea of what they want to achieve through social media....but like all inclusive offers...be careful not to over-consume or overindulge....or even take for granted. 

Allow the all inclusive element to be about your connections, the sharing of your ideas....the collaboration of people for a better future.

The Most Important Conversation You Can Have...

Social media has encouraged the concept of conversational marketing.  However, conversations do not just happen out loud.... in fact I would argue that the most important conversation happens in the individuals head.

Think about the honesty of conversations....the one in our head is much more honest than

• The one you have with your boss...
• The one you have with your partner...
• The one you have with the sales person...
• The one you have with the marketer...

I would argue that social media is not totally about the conversation on the web, it is the conversation...the ideas ...the thoughts that you stimulate in the mind of people reading your blog, the person listening to the podcast, the person searching around the social networking site....

Conversations happen both tangibly but also intangibly.....if you can stimulate the conversation in their head then to me...that will be the most important conversation with your customer.

How much of your time concentrates on measuring the conversation on the web versus the conversation you stimulate in the consumers mind?

Show 303 - The New Social Learning Concept

Show 303 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post.

Marcia Conner who creates strategies around collaborative cultures, social business, and workplace learning.. joins Anna Farmery on The Engaging Brand podcast to talk about her new book The New Social Learning

• What is social learning?
• Is social media allowing a new style apprenticeship?
• Is social learning just about reducing training costs or is it better for employees?
• How collaboration can bring improved learning results.
• How collaboration can lead to better induction programs.
• How social media increases the effectiveness of training.
• Innovative ways of using social media.
• How you don't need a large budget  - using social media tools to increase
• The role of virtual worlds in learning...in the future.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show in iTunes or on the Blubrry site.

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter.

How you can listen to the Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just click hear to listen to the latest marketing podcast

2) You can subscribe to the show via iTunes or

3) If you use a different podcatcher then you can subscribe using the following  http://www.podcasternews.com/feeds/enbr.xml

 

How Not to Become Boring....

There is a difference between being alive and living your life. As people we need to breathe and as companies we need to breathe then so do brands....

As people we often forget to live, going through the motions until something happens that makes us reevaluate. The problem for companies and brands is that reevaluation often comes too late to recover in the market....brands need to breathe, brands need to be allowed to live for the moment.....

• Brands need to keep true to overall values but that does not mean losing the element of surprise. How you convey those values needs to keep changing....
• Brands need to learn to prune....brands often over extend, often have so many line extensions that the core offering is stifled...learn from nature - prune before you kill the good trees.
• Brands need air....Attention, Interaction and Renewal
• Brands can only get air from being outside of the corporation. They need to interact with consumers, they need to grow through consumers, they need to live externally not internally on powerpoint or in meetings. This is where social media is superb for breathing life into the brand.

Brands are often termed personalities...make sure that personality gets the air needed to thrive otherwise it lacks energy and looks bored :)

 

 

4 Tips When You Find Thinking Hard!

Thinking is at the core of what I do....so much so that some days my brain just doesn't want to think anymore! When that happens there are 4 things that I do

1. Stop and take a break. Allow your mind to recharge - quick walk either listening to music or just looking around with no other thoughts in your head, usually works.
2. Tell myself not to think about thinking! OK that sounds silly....but often it is the desire to get to an answer or come up with an idea which tires you. If you stop concentrating on getting to the answer and just allow yourself to drift - and think - the answer will come...Dreaming, drifting is not wasting time - it is your brain simmering before bringing the idea to the boil.
3. When I see a wonderful quote or i think of an idea, I write it down in my beloved moleskine notebook. When I seem stuck, I make a coffee and just glance through the notebook. The notes act as a trigger to new thoughts...
4. Ring the person who inspires you. Not necessarily to talk to them about what you are doing, just allow yourself to freewheel...allow yourself to fill up on inspiration.