By Karen Post, on November 8, 2011

Soon my new book BRAND TURNAROUND How Brands Gone Bad Returned to Glory…and the 7 Game Changers That Made a Difference will hit book stores everywhere. As promised in the book I will post and continue to update my list of Brand Turnaround resources in my blog.

Brand turnarounds can be tough. Having trusted resources to add to your arsenal can certainly excel your efforts. Below are some of my favorite resources that I recommend. They are companies and tools that provide brand related services and knowledge, experts who have advised me and other books and online publications that I’ve gained a lot from.

Crisis Communications and Media Training Experts
Denis Calabrese, Deniscalabrese@aol.com
Frank Robertson, Frank Robertson Media, http://www.frankrobertsonmedia.com/
Merrie Spaeth, Spaeth Communications, Inc., http://spaethcom.com

Customer Loyalty and Winback Expert
Jill Griffin, The Griffin Group, http://www.loyaltysolutions.com

Marketing, Branding Insight Websites and Blogs
Brandchannel, http://www.brandchannel.com
Cool News of the Day, http://www.reveries.com/
MarketingProfs.com, http://www.MarketingProfs.com
MarketingSherpa, http://www.marketingsherpa.com
Marketing Virtual Library, http://www.KnowThis.com
Martin Lindstrom, http://www.martinlindstrom.com/
John Moore, http://brandautopsy.typepad.com
Online marketing, http://www.copyblogger.com/
Andy Sernovitz, http://www.damniwish.com/, http://gaspedal.com/blog
David Taylor, http://wheresthesausage.typepad.com
Nicole Armstrong, http://www.morethanalogoblog.com/
Seth Godin, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Online Brand Monitoring Services
NetBase, Netbase.com
Radian 6, http://www.radian6.com

Research Experts and Brand Value Ranking Reports
The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving, http://www.blackbaud.com/
Brand Keys, http://www.brandkeys.com/
Millward Brown Optimor, http://www.millwardbrown.com
Top 100 Global Brands Report, http://interbrand.com
YouGov, YouGov.com

Story Telling Coach
Doug Stevenson, http://www.dougstevenson.com

Trend Websites and Blogs
Springwise, http://www.springwise.com
Uber cool, http://www.ubercool.com

By Karen Post, on October 27, 2011

Live.Foxnews.com the national news outlet invited me to share my thoughts on CEO’s reputation and behavior and their brands. They wanted to know if leadership behavior impacted consumer buying and what are some tips for leaders of brands who may encounter these bumps. The interview ran on Tuesday live. Below are my thoughts. See the video to watch the segment.

After a business misstep is made, follow these 8 steps to recovery:

• Take inventory of the facts and views of stakeholders.
• If the CEO can, conduct brand opinion research after the situation to gauge damage and monitor online chatter.
• Have a recovery plan ready projecting worse case scenarios, including building the story the brand wants the public to remember.
• In most cases, the CEO should be the brand voice and spokesperson but sometimes this is not the case. In this event, careful selection of the spokesperson is key, they should be authoritative and knowledgeable of all the facts.
• If the CEO is the spokesperson around the issue, the CEO should take full responsibility, be prepped on messaging and media management focusing on the solution, not the past or blaming others is essential.
• Leverage real-time social media action and take an offensive approach if the situation crosses the tipping point of high visibility. If the negative situation is contained, sometimes it’s best to remain low profile.
• Disseminate enough positive volume, optimize information to counter negative stories on web via search.
• Again depending on the situation, sometimes 3rd party credible voices like trade associations, other leaders and loyal customers should be part of the voice platforms.

Want more? Pre-order my new book:
Brand Turnaround: How Brands Gone Bad Returned to Glory… and the 7 Game Changers that Made the Difference.

By Karen Post, on October 25, 2011

Results from a 25-point social media reach-out research project.
Last month, September 14th to be exact, I posted a blog about such a social media research project. With all the hype around social media marketing strategies and available tactics for businesses, I was curious if a full throttle social media approach would make a difference for a small business with my revenue model. I earn money from consulting, speaking and writing.

Objective: Determine if a 25-point social media effort is worth the investment and results.

TOP LINE FINDINGS FROM STUDY
Is a social media blitz on 25 different points of contact a good use of time and money that produces a meaningful return and results vs. the cost?
In my opinion, to date, from these efforts, NO. Could this change in 6 months, YES. It’s too early to track long-tail results such as if the Fox News report touches a book buyer, another media source or a future client from the visibility.

We invested over $3,800 in time, and that time could have been used for higher income generating activities. (As a side note, I realize my current business model has limited online revenue channels to convert, monetize and track.) But with our current model, the time and money resources we spent on social media, I believe this investment could have been better used and generated more of a return if we had spent that same amount on direct sales initiatives, ad words and media buys to produce better results.

Could these efforts payoff later?
Yes, the good thing about social media is, once it’s out there, it’s pretty permanent, so future clients could stumble upon our past efforts, articles and links. Additionally, the new visitors who come back to the site can buy products and services in the future now that they are aware of my site. And all of these social media efforts do aid in Search Engine Optimization. And for me SEO produced over $100,000 in fees this past year alone.

Was there one powerful means of social media that I believe is really worth it’s weight in gold from this test?
Our Mailchimp newsletter, (which is an aggregation of our blog feed) drives the most traffic to our site. Our Google analytics also shows that the top referral sources include: Twitter, TalentZoo newsletter and key media coverage.

If you decide to try monitoring your efforts and results from social media, you must first define what good results look like. For my companies, success from a marketing effort would look like:  More value than investment.

Our value framework was defined as:

• An increase in unique visitors to site
• An increase in new opt-ins to our mailing list
• An increase in affiliate sales
• An increase in book and product sales
• An increase in speaking engagements
• An increase in consulting projects
• An increase in (a top-tier, media source calling me for an interview)

Our value achieved that we can quantify:

• We’ve had an increase in unique visitors to our site by 100%
• We had 20 opt-ins to our mailing list in last 30 days (value $10.00 each)
• We sold 7 affiliate items and earned $7.00
• New book sales (can’t track yet)
• Product sales via tools store (our store was not up at the time of this test)
• New speaking engagements from blog (0)
• New consulting projects from blog (0)
• Top-tier media source interview (1) – Live.Foxnews.com booked me for 10/25

Investment is defined as time and money:
I look at time invested as actually paid time, plus the cost of missed opportunity because our time was tied up on this social media project, other tasks were put to the side.

Time expense on this project was calculated at: 17 hours at $300 an hour = $3700
My time includes: writing of the initial blog that we were touting (Branding and the Beast – How to not get bullied.), the blog about our 25-point study, I planned and did analysis of this project, completed items 1-8 out of 25 on the list and wrote this follow up blog of our results.

My staff‘s time to do list items 9-25 and participate in planning and analysis of our project was equal to 10 hours at an average of $60.00. Billable rate = $600.00.

Total cost of project: $4,300.00
Results that you can take to the bank = 0
Soft results that possibly can translate in future earnings = $500.00
Bottom line: Loss of $3,800.00

The 25-point social media activities we did to promote the blog and gain meaningful results, see original post for list.

Bottom line – should businesses bank on this type of expense?
I believe strong brands are cumulative efforts and any business’ marketing should include a diverse mix of touch points including social media.

Do you think social media efforts should have the same pull as a sharply designed direct response campaign where the credibility helps and sometime just the right placement turns into a home run at the end of season?

Brand On!

By Karen Post, on October 24, 2011

Being a successful entrepreneur is no candy-coated, sweet-cake walk.  It’s often more like a grueling marathon. If it were an easy ride the unemployment rate would be less, fewer people would be upset about capitalism and they wouldn’t occupy streets in America being the 99% frustrated over the economy. Instead they’d be focused on finding 99 solutions to grow their business. Nothing against the protest, that’s a great American freedom, it just seems like no mission, no message, no plan.

We all make choices and if you’ve made the choice to be a successful entrepreneur and love life with all its ups and downs, do read on.

Entrepreneurship is a highly challenging game. To win you’ve got to be fit and possess a sustainable, sharp, entrepreneurial competitive edge to thrive.

Here are 5 tips that have made a difference in my journey.

1) Confidence and positive attitude are 95% of the drill.
Anyone who says you are too confident or too positive is either jealous, fearful of you beating them out or fearful of you succeeding and then leaving them behind. If I look back at my life and greatest achievements, these attributes were game changers.

I’m sure you’ve read this tip in many entrepreneur blogs and magazines, so to make sure you get hard meaningful value from this post, I’m sharing a real world example of how this works for me.

(Actual event) Recently, a client asked me for my fee to re-brand their company. With extreme confidence, I proposed double my historic fee, absolutely believing I would exceed his company’s expectations and deliver solid value to their event. The client agreed to the fee and I did hit a home run.

2) Go out on a limb, stick your neck out and take risks.
It is a heck of a lot riskier to do nothing or consistently play it safe. Often the key here is to re-frame a situation. Change your story from scary and dangerous to intentional, certain and positive outcome.

(Actual event) I often invest in business expenses, like: research, expert insight, staff and coaches before my compensation comes in from the project. By doing so, this extra expense actually adds pressure on me to perform at a higher level and 90% of the time,  I do. On my last book deal, I had over $2500 in hard costs and over $5,000 in my time just on my proposal creation, way before I was insured a contract and an advance.

3) Network and play up.
This means don’t be hanging out with peers that are your equals all the time, but you must put yourself in situations where there are people much smarter and more successful than you. The trick here is in order to pull this off, you must master tip #1. This move may take some sacrifice (skipping another expense) because to play in this league, many times it costs a lot more. That’s why you often won’t see your medium competitors at these  (more expensive) situations and events.

(Actual event) When I travel I never stay at medium hotels. Why? Because if I did the chances of me meeting a new quality business prospect are statistically beyond low.  Same goes for buying tickets to seminars, like when I went to see Tony Robins, if they have premium seats, that’s where you will find me, not within the section of  “wannabes”.

For more on how to become an entrepreneur, view:
The ageless entrepreneur.

By Karen Post, on October 23, 2011

The other day I stumbled upon an article about two people in their seventy’s running 26 mile marathons last year. Judy Loy and John Fredrickson both started this sport late in life, John started when he turned fifty. That’s pretty darn impressive especially considering John used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day and Judy equally amazing as she started at 60 and has had five knee operations in the past decade.

And then I read about:

Andrea Bocelli — who didn’t start singing opera seriously until the age of 34. Many ‘experts’ told him it was too late to begin.

Julia Child — didn’t even learn to cook until she was almost 40 and didn’t launch her popular show until she was 50.

Harlan Sanders — the Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, was 66 when he began to promote his style of cooking and created an empire.

Phyliss Diller — Diller became a comedian at the age of 37. She was told by many club owners that she was “too old” to become a success.

So if you are thinking it’s too late to start your business or you are too old to catch an unlikely dream, think again. It’s never too late, unless all you do is ponder and don’t take action.

Go for it! What could be the worst thing that could happen? You fail and start again.

To read more on starting a business, view:
Starting a business is cheaper than you think.

By Karen Post, on October 20, 2011

If better restaurant marketing and branding are on your radar screen, check out my first DIY niche site dedicated to restaurant owners and marketing folks. It’s called Restaurant Branding Roadmap and all new opt-ins to the community will receive a free report on 25 things restaurant customers think that they don’t tell you. This project is the first of our many sites addressing DIY small business needs with quality, experienced and affordable business expertise. Currently Restaurant Branding Roadmap host a blog, a Twitter presence, a Facebook page and soon a Linkedin group to provide restaurant marketing and branding articles, discussions and tools. In January we will launch a membership-based course that will cover: concept development, community building, publicity, social media, grand openings and much more. If you’ve got friends in the restaurant industry please help us spread the word.

For more on restaurant marketing/branding, view:
5 profit producing strategies for restaurants or any business.
If you want to be a standout restaurant brand – don’t do these 5 things.

By Karen Post, on October 19, 2011

Staples, the world’s largest office products company asked “Moi”, or as many of you know me the Branding Diva®, to provide small business branding tips as part of their new and improved Copy and Print shop services.

The branding tips I provided are being featured in their national media campaign and in hundreds of news sites around the US.

Plus, until November 11, 2011 Staples is offering 30% of any printing or copy job over $30.00.

Here’s what I said about small business branding:
“If you’re a small-business owner, creating a distinct brand image for your product or service is essential – and can be accomplished through some very simple methods,” said Karen Post, the branding diva® and author of Brand Turnaround. “Staples new print service has everything a small business needs to make their brand stand out with brand image, consistent and high quality marketing materials and develop customized business cards and stationary.”

Start with a game plan: Ask yourself, how do you want people and customers to think about you or your business? Consider what your story is and what makes your product, service and company unique.

Make your marketing consistent: Keeping a consistent message across all your marketing materials and efforts can help customers remember your brand. Cross media consistency is key – from printed materials to your website and online image to reinforce the personality of your company.

Make it yours: Distinction cuts through clutter. Consistently communicate what’s unique about your brand and company.

Audit your brand “touch points”: How does your marketing message come in contact with – or touch – your customers? Many small businesses reach customers through postcards, business cards, letterhead, banners, brochures and other marketing materials.

Stay tuned for more with Staples and the Branding Diva®.

By Karen Post, on October 16, 2011

Every Saturday I salute someone or a group that deserves a little extra attention for his or her good deeds, achievements, creative solutions, witty comments or meaningful acts of customer love.

This week my hat goes off to Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon.

I’ve admired Jeff for many years, but tonight after reading the WSJ and an essay by Richard l. Brandt about his new book, “One Click: Jeff and the Rise of Amazon.com” I was reminded of what an amazing journey Jeff Bazos has had as an entrepreneur and the incredible success his company has earned.

Wearing cowboy boots as I write this blog post, I do have an extra soft spot for Texas-breed business heroes like Jeff. Jeff spent many of his summers in Cotulla, TX at his grand daddy’s Lazy G Ranch. The Journal article recounts Jeff’s early inspiration from rural living and his grandfather.  Citing that self-reliance was an important value. “People do everything themselves and when something is broke you fix it.” This upbringing turned out to be a valuable entrepreneurial trait for Bazos as he built his global empire.

A great American success story for all start-ups and entrepreneurs with big dreams
From the early years of working from a garage office, to a diet of Pizza on most days, to answering customer emails himself, Bazo’s passion, vision, quirkiness and micromanaging have paid off quite well.

I admire so much about Jeff’s leadership and the company including:
Great brand name and branding.
It is cool, smart and simple (the original name was Cadabra, it was nixed after being mispronounced as Cadaver).

Amazing technology.
I enjoy and use often all the site features and intelligent marketing from their patents from “One Click” to many rumored others.

Remarkable experiences.
The ease of the shopping experience and thoughtful customer service.

Being an advocate and channel for other entrepreneurs.
I’m so thrilled and grateful that Amazon is such a dominant book channel for affiliate marketing and for promoting and selling books like: Brain Tattoos and my new title Brand Turnaround, my new baby that is about to be born in December.

Thank you Jeff. You inspire us!

By Karen Post, on October 10, 2011

Internet photo police are a real thing. I learned this lesson the expensive way last year. I received a formal letter from Getty Images citing that an image on my blog from 2007 was copyrighted and the image company had no record I paid for use of the photo. Apparently, big photo houses now have teams of professionals watching the web and also use special image tracking software to find illegal photo usage.

I immediately looked into their claim and found that the blog article and photo in question was posted by an intern who had worked for me. I was not aware that there was a violation as I trusted that the intern knew the rules of copyright protected images and usage.

The Getty representative explained that ultimately the company that is using the photo is responsible for fees on any copyrighted image. While the representative believed that I was not aware of the violation and that one of my employees posted the image, the fee of $800.00 was due regardless.

So I paid the bill and removed the image.

If you are using images in your blog, make sure they are copyright free or in fact you have paid the source to use them.

The Wall Street Journal ran a good story called “A Guide to Happy (and Legal) Tumblr-ing” about blogging, images and content usage. It’s worth reading as they share some excellent places to source all.

Here are two sources I use often.
iStock.com -Low cost, quality images (most images for low res and blog usage are under $10.00).
Picasa.com – Owned by Google offers many images for free usage in blogs (this is good source but takes more time to find good quality and free images).

Plus, don’t forget to tap your own creative work and shoot original photos when you can, there’s no cost, other than the camera. And if you shoot a killer image, just give yourself a bonus!

For more information on photo copyrights and to get free stock photography, view:
Stock.Xchge – Free stock photography

By Karen Post, on October 8, 2011

Every Saturday I salute someone or a group that deserves a little extra attention for his or her good deeds, super branding, achievements, creative solutions, witty comments or meaningful acts of customer love.

Photo from Red Bull's website

This week my hat goes off to Red Bull, their amazing branding and the Flugtag celebrations they hosted in Tampa, Florida.

What’s Flugtag?
Red Bull Flugtag challenges teams of everyday people to build homemade, human-powered flying machines and pilot them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight! Flugtag may mean “flying day” in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. They are judged not only on their flight’s distance, but creativity and showmanship as well.

How did I stumble upon this week’s hero?
The Red Bull event was outside my doorstep. I live in downtown Tampa on the water. (Got to have water for this event.) I ventured out for my Saturday walk with my good friend Nancy Walker of Walker Brands, and noticed the street was shut down and there were hundreds of joggers running through the race’s finish line which was a giant Red Bull branded blow-up arch. And that was just the beginning, this day long event attracts nearly 100,000 people, lots of media attention and most importantly the event makes a lasting, high-octane, emotional connection with consumers who buy beverages.

Two salutes are warranted this week.

1) For Red Bull’s brand leadership that consistently communicates the essence of their brand and product in an edgy, big, fun and sport-spirited fashion. From their metaphoric name to the brain tattooing they do with their bold red and black logo and imagery on every single touch point possible. Here a few of the branded touch points I saw, I know there were many more if I just kept walking.

2) For Red Bull’s brand logistics, behind the scene production folks and the first impression teams who danced with Red Bull backpacks on and greeted the all guests. It’s pretty darn astonishing how  my street can transform into such a memorable major event in 24 hours. Just yesterday it was a simple street.  I met some of the guys who made all this happen. They set up huge video screens every where, installed booths, hung banners and took care of the details and conveniences that make this event a WOW experience.

Congratulations Red Bull and team, we can all learn a few things about creating and maintaining a high energy brand from you.

Brand bold!
Brand Big!
Be relevant!
Live the personality of the brand!

Brand on!