HUMAN BEHAVIOR: After talking about the first 4 Waves of Branding, from 1875 to 2005, let’s pause for a moment and look at our basic instinctual needs: food, shelter, and reproduction. These could be said to add up to one thing: survival. But humans also have a significant collective tendency as part of our instinct […]
THE FIRST TWO WAVES: In my last article, I talked about the first two major waves of branding, back when a brand was the only way to get consistency and quality, and later when brands became “people” – they were associated with characters such as Betty Crocker or Uncle Ben. This second wave created the […]
GOOD BRANDING MEANS SUCCESS: In order to understand the importance of branding and why you need it, let’s take a quick look at the history of Branding. There are 5 Waves in this history; we are currently in the middle of Wave 5. Each wave has something to teach us, and their elements are all […]
In our last article, I recommended that you “throw ideas at the wall” – in other words just write out everything that comes to mind with no filters or editing – in answer to these four questions: 1. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR STORY? 2. WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN? 3. WHAT MAKES YOU […]
One of the most famous ideas in the history of marketing is Robert Collier’s quote, “Always enter the conversation already taking place in the customer’s mind.” In essence, good branding does exactly that… or it creates a new conversation the customer is willing and even eager to take part in. THE QUESTION: If you agree, […]
We talked in our last article about Evocative Naming – a name that strikes an emotional chord and differentiates a brand. POSITIONING: Branding IS positioning. The idea is to create an identity – one that rings true, that personalizes you so customers connect with you, and that creates a category of its own (see article […]
Let’s talk a little bit about “Naming” in the context of Branding and Marketing. THE PURPOSE OF MARKETING. The purpose of marketing is NOT to sell, but to make yourself stand out from the crowd. That’s the reason that Branding has really become synonymous with Marketing, and the process of naming a company or product […]
There are 6.2 million millennial households in the United States earning $100,000 or more each year. Your target market may or may not include millennials, but if it does, here is some advice from one such member of our world. MILLENNIALS PREFER EXPERIENCES, NOT THINGS. “It’s way cooler for us to be able to say […]
It’s easy to understand that if your home page evokes an emotional response, there is more impact for the viewer. But there is a deeper reason why designing for emotion is essential to branding yourself. TWO KINDS OF MEMORY. Studies show that there are two kinds of memory – short term (or working) memory, and […]
Upon meeting someone for the first time, anyone would expect an interaction to take place. You shake hands or speak, and expect the other person to shake back or say something back to you. If this didn’t occur, not much else would after that, wouldn’t you agree? A GOOD BRAND HAS A PERSONALITY. Any good […]
