By Karen Post, on May 6, 2012

This past weekend I attended the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. This show hosts over 100,000 attendees from over 100 countries.
The mix included suppliers, restaurateurs, the media and entrepreneurs, like myself, hoping to tap into this lucrative 600 billion market. For the past year I’ve been building restaurantbrandingroadmap, an e-learning product, a web site and business that serves up marketing and branding help to this niche market of independent restaurateurs. I hope to launch the first product within the next 60 days. To date I have built a membership model website and a robust blog.  At the same time I’ve been aggressively building a base of future buyers and fans via twitter, Facebook and my opt-in community. Part of my growth strategy is to get into the minds of my market, so I can better deliver on their unmet needs and to build a network of restaurant product and service providers that I can partner with to accelerate the project and monetize my efforts.

Attending any large tradeshow is a significant investment for a small company. To attend this show, I will spend about $3,000. before time costs. This covers travel expenses for two, show attendance fees, special business cards I printed that promote the restaurant product and an online subscription to watch the Tampa Bay Rays TV on my laptop so I don’t miss a game

A show this size can be overwhelming without a good game plan. So Lauren (My Chief Problem Solver) and I came up with ours to ensure a healthy ROI at the show.

1.) Before you go, set your accountable goals and your action plan to achieve them.

• For us it meant taking home 500 new contacts.
• Discover at least 10 promo partners.
• Make 5 media contacts.
• Identify at least 50 resources for content.
• Learn at least 20 new marketing ideas.

2.) Print something that you can hand out that speaks to why you are at the show.
For us, in addition to our Brain Tattoo Branding Business cards, we printed special cards that included our restaurant product, site and social media addresses.

3.) Identify targeted companies you want to meet and schedule your day.

4.) If you go with a colleague like I did, don’t hang out together all the time. Don’t sit next to each other at a session or on the shuttle. You can cover twice as much ground if you both go different ways.

5.) Don’t wait to get home to sort out your hot new contacts and ideas. Take action while stuff is fresh on your mind. Organize your thoughts and leads, contact your new friends in social media right away. The next morning we already had traction from our new contacts on our site and social media accounts.

6.) Take pictures and keep good notes of your journey, the people you meet and new resources. These pics will not only give you follow up material for your new contacts, they can be seeded in social media and in your blog.

7.) Stay focused on who you want to meet. This show had over 1800 exhibits, only about 20% mattered to me concerning business goals. Don’t forget your mission.

8.) Look professional, but dress comfortably. I usually wear my red glasses and some creative jacket or outfit. This seems to be a magnet for conversation and strangers get the vibe I’m a creative thinker.

9.) If you say you are going to follow up with someone after the show, do it! This is part of your brand. Keeping your promises.

10.) Stay at a cool hotel. The likelihood of meeting cool people will increase. We stayed at the Sax. I love this place, it’s hip, has good energy and is in the heart of lots of interesting and fun places. The House of Blues is next door.

11) Bring a ton of business cards, if there are 100,000 people at the show you you can easily burn through 1,000 cards.

12) Make sure you have downloaded all the apps to help you be productive.
-For us this was a QR scanner on your smart phone., so you can bookmark cool things. Many booths used this digital tool.
-Instagram to take and share photos.
-The NRAshow app to view the schedule and map layout quickly.

If you are interested in restaurant or hospitality branding, do check out my other blog. There will lots of great new posts concerning this exciting industry.

Brand on!

By Karen Post, on April 23, 2012

Confidence is a condition you manifest when you do things with competence. Self-esteem is a belief level you buy into about yourself, when you’re not doing anything at all. To enjoy a great life and a rich business or career, they are both needed to be mastered.

I consider myself an emotionally healthy person. I also know that I can always improve myself. I’m interested in learning things that can make me more effective with my business, my personal relationships and things that provide me with a more fulfilled life.

Back in January Alan Weiss, a coach and mentor of mine for the past decade, offered a one-day workshop on self-esteem. Alan is known as the million dollar consultant. He’s authored over 40 books, works all over the world and has guided me on many business projects. His Self-Esteem Workshop was $2,500 and limited to 6 people in every workshop, it was sold out until April.

There’s no debate here, lower than peak self-esteem is bad for business. If you are a start-up, it can make the difference in you raising needed funds. If you are a growing business it can cost you new clients. If you are employed it can stump your advancement. In all cases, low self-esteem enables price, valuation, compensation discounting and costly over-giving of goods and services too.

I attended Alan’s workshop this past week in Warwick, RI to help take my business to a higher level. It was an excellent investment in time and money.

Consistent with Alan’s tough-love style of coaching, the workshop wasn’t hoo-rah-rah at all. There was no flood of compliments or achievement praised. There were a lot of open and candid discussions about where human doubt and questionable self-worth comes from and how to dump the debris that brings down anyone’s esteem level.

Before the workshop, I knew the root of many of my green monster issues, but after spending the day with Alan and a great group of other highly-accomplished consultants, I better understood how to re-frame the past, dump the garage and power forward with a stronger direction and intent. I also learned a lot about how to sustain high self-worth in the most challenging of situations.

The three biggest take-a-ways for me were:
1) The perfect self-esteem cocktail is 1-part listen to others (that you request, unsolicited feedback is useless) and 3-parts listen to yourself.
This means accept feedback from qualified givers, not others who have some axe to grind or bigger issues than yourself.

2) Having an accurate feedback grading system is key.
Many of the most damaging and negative beliefs that imprint adult self-doubt comes from our parents because as children, they were our primary authoritative figures. This dominating influence can apply to professional settings too. This does not make either of them right. Use realistic measures to evaluate criticism.

3) Positive reinforcing environments and relationships are critical, not optional.
Birds of a feather flock together. A scrappy nest is not where you want to be. Hang with other highly-esteemed people and make sure your work space is empowering and inspirational. If it’s not, change it.

Alan Weiss is not for everyone. He’s not inexpensive, his content is not sappy and sugar-coated. If you are serious about taking your business to the next level, I’d look at some of his offerings. If nothing else, sign up for his weekly newsletter, it’s free and one of the best things I read and enjoy every week.

In closing, here’s another good article on the subject on of self-worth. It’s written by one of my favorite tweeters @yourpocketguru, follow him and me @brandingdiva on Twitter for some short gems of insight on a all kinds of topics.

By Karen Post, on April 12, 2012

So many books, so little time to read. The next 4 titles I’ve read, I loved, I recommend. They cover marketing, branding, the human condition and how to stay competitive.

Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun
Loaned to me by another speaker, I laughed out loud for several nights while reading this book. It’s a gem. Whether you do presentations as part of your job or you are a paid professional speaker, this book is raw, funny and a valuable resource.

Why it’s worth the read

• It’s a fast fuel to improve your speaking, around 200 pages.
• I love snarky humor, its got lots of it.
• It provides simple, actionable how to’s.
• It’s real. Scott has been around.

Covers:
Provides applicable checklists.
Interesting science about attention, human fear and communication.

Biggest take away for me
Preparation and practice are the magic moves to home run speeches. Period.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
I’m an Apple addict. I’ve been one since my first computer in 1983. So I really connected with this book, feeling like it was part of my personal and business growth. It’s a big book, almost 600 pages.  Most importantly I related to how a college dropout, who lives a Zen life and had a very quirky, intense, odd personality with bouts of distorted reality could end up being a such legend and leader in global business and life changing technologies.

Why I’ve given it a glowing report

• It’s inspiration on steroids.
• It proves you can be a little weird and succeed.
• It’s well written.
• It proves sticking to your standards. With Steve, extreme attention and dedication to design and doing things differently, can pay off.

Biggest take away for me
Dreams can come true and turnaround even while operating a company on death row (almost out of cash and losing millions) is possible.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Conquering Fear and Anxiety by Sharon Heller, PhD.
Everyone feels fear and anxiety, including me, the brave soul who has walked on fire, driven a Porsche around a race track at 120 miles per hour and addressed thousands of strangers on a huge stages. If you don’t battle with moments of mental craziness every blue moon, I suspect you are an alien who flew in from a planet for the day. Even history’s great leaders faced fear and anxiety. I love this quote by Winston Churchill.

“You may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman, or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table—what do you get? The sum of their fears.”

As a student of better and happy living, I’ve also been curious about stress, phobias, fear and anxiety as I have my daily share of all of them. This book has been a useful tool for me. I really like it because the format is organized in a way that after you finish the book, you can refer back to a specific section for a quick fix.

If you battle with high anxiety, this book is a must have survival resource

• Beyond ways to manage stress and mental demons, it exposes the root causes.
• Provides simple rituals that can greatly reduce nervous bouts, panic attacks and sleep disorders.
• Shares real professional people situations that I related to.

Biggest take away for me
Peak mental health, just like physical health, is a work in progress. A better understanding of human psychology, triggers and controllable external factors can accelerate one’s journey to personal and professional bliss.

Sharkonomics, How to Attack Market Leaders by Stepfan Engeseth
I recently met a new friend and marketing expert from Sweden. The new business relationship was the result of meeting and counseling a student from the University of Tampa who is also from there. I love how the planet is so small and one local connection opens up a world of new resources. After a few online chats, Stepfan sent me his latest book, which was an exhilarating read to say the least.

A contrast from the book review above on managing fear, Sharkonomics will likely spread fear in some boardrooms with just cause.  Not only is the shark metaphor a very cool marketing idea, the author actually spent time in the water with these very strategic predators (sharks) and parlays this insight into meaningful business lessons and useable management methods. His premise is that nature can be smarter than business as usual. Instead of endless PowerPoints and studies, companies need to embrace a hard survival psyche.

Business can be a dangerous adventure, here’s just a few ways to make sure you are not someone’s lunch

• Strike unexpectedly.
• Hunt in packs.
• Leverage blind spots.

Biggest take away for me
Don’t get stuck in history. Keep moving. Kill with style.

Till next time, read on!

For more books reviews, click here.

By Karen Post, on March 18, 2012

Have you called yourself recently? On all of your phones? If not, it’s a fast find and fix to improving your brand impression.

How do I know this? Because I was grossly guilty of phone message neglect.

Fortunately, I have good friends who tell me the truth.  Here’s a recent call I received.

“Hey Karen, Ms. Branding Diva your phone message stinks. It’s too long, you sound like you are in a tunnel under ground and teetering on having a bad day.”

She was right. This was a big disconnect from who I am and what my brand stands for. Here’s the really sad part, it’s been like that for a year, YIKES!

Five simple tips to a better telephone branded signal.
1) Be clear – Always state your full name.
2) Be brief – In our fast paced and busy world, short and to the point are best.
2) Have tone – Include some branded attitude, for me it’s energy and confidence.
3) Be current and relevant – Keep things fresh, consider changing your message with the seasons, the months or for no reason at all.
4) Provide a clear call to action – What do you want the caller to do? Leave their name and what they need? Or even better their American Express number?
5) Manage expectations – If you can’t check messages for along period of time, provide a timely route to you, request a text message or email from the caller.

Don’t ever, ever use the default, computer message. That clearly communicates nothing except you are unprofessional or so unorganized you can’t find the time to set up.

Bottom line, your phone message is often the first impression a new contact has with you. Make it a great one. And it does not hurt to make sure your visible phone and accessories are on board with your brand too. It’s all part of the personal branding package.

Still don’t have a smart phone? It’s 2012. Plus, being a tech dinosaur is no marketing edge.

And if bold styling is part of your image, consider a retro hand set (like pictured above) to plug into your iPad, iPhone or other smart phones and a cool, matching phone protector. I’ve usually sport the Branding Diva® red set —phone case, handset and fire engine hot lipstick.  It’s an excellent conversation starter at coffee shops and airport lounges, after all that’s where new business often starts.

Got to go catch a call! Talk soon! Brand on!

By Karen Post, on September 10, 2011

As promised every Saturday I’m going to recognize someone who deserves a little extra attention for his or her good deed, creative solution, witty comment or meaningful act of customer love.

This week my hat goes off to call center person at Federal Express.
I’ve been a customer there for years and they do a great job of getting my packages delivered. But recently, I’ve been getting a little cranky because I have to call them every month to straighten out my balance. This happens because I often over pay my account when I’m on the road and I don’t have my invoice in front of me, but I know I owe them something. I have a very good memory for numbers, I just have a habit of rounding them off, so I over pay by a few bucks. Consequently, they are always sending me a check back. This somehow messes up balance due. And then they send me an assertive note saying I’m behind, when in my mind, I’m ahead.

Many companies would tell me that I have to follow their system or I’ll keep getting checks back and demand notes for 2 bucks.

Not this nice Fed Ex gal, she was empathic, not bureaucratic, and apologized for the hassle. She also told me how much they appreciated my business and called in a supervisor to see how they could correct the situation.

In a few minutes they adjusted a setting on my account and told me I can now make my random, rounded off payments and won’t have to call Fed Ex every month to straighten out my account.

They got it right.
Their phone system is easy to use to get a live person, (just hit #0) and does not require taking a muscle relaxer to stay calm like many phone trees do. The Fed Ex staffer was very pleasant. She listened. She showed gratitude and came up with a fast solution. And it was obvious; well trained too. My kind of company, thanks!

How are your company’s problem solving skills on the phone? This is a critical touch point in any brand experience.

By Karen Post, on September 8, 2011

Continued from a couple days ago.

Like I mentioned before, no brand is immune to a brand shake-up when something unfortunate happens and your brand falls from grace. In my new book Brand Turnaround, I go into detail on some high-profile brands like Pirate’s Booty, Domino’s and The Red Cross.  I look at how they transformed from a brand gone bad to a brand back on their game.

One of the key strategies in these turnarounds was embracing the brand’s essence—its  purpose, distinction, promise and personality—in their recovery plan. With a strong brand essence, you will be more confident in dealing with a shakeup.

• Be ready to answer the “who, what, where, when, why and how” questions.
• Do a thorough inventory of all assets at your exposure and assemble a team of ambassadors.
• Build a narrative to explain the situation and defend your brand.
• Remember to never say, “No Comment,” and to respond in a timely manner to all major media contacts.

Once you’ve done this, it’s imperative to instill proper crisis media management, utilize social media tools, practice leadership, stay relevant and be distinct throughout the ordeal. Think carefully before every move, and know when to play offense, defense or throw in the towel.

All the while, you should understand the importance of change, and make an effort not to resist it. Oftentimes, people and companies as a whole imprison themselves by staying with what is familiar to them. Though this may seem comfortable and like the right thing to do, it can actually be counterproductive. The business world, global marketplace, people, social landscape and other brands are forever changing. Therefore, be adaptable.

Break free from the chains that will hold your brand hostage by:

• Avoiding ego-driven decisions.
• Taking responsibility.
• Not relying on shortcuts.
• Not just going with what you know, as opposed to seeking out new solutions.
• Not denying consequences.
• Not being afraid to lead and take charge.

Though breaking free from old chains may require higher costs, risk and pain, you will find that being open to change can result in your brand overcoming challenges and even becoming stronger in the long run. Remember that even if your brand isn’t guilty of anything, simple changes could be necessary.

Prepare yourself for unforeseen shakeups—both large and small—and consider these key points that can help you immensely when you find yourself scrambling to turn your brand around from a set back.

This blog is an excerpt from Karen Post’s latest book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011).

By Karen Post, on September 4, 2011

Part 1
New brands are created each day. Many will make it, many will not. And many will face unexpected challenges that result in brand breakdowns.

Should your brand go bad from

• A product recall
• A scandal
• A major market shift
• Or  some really bad luck

You can turn your brand around and get back to business.

With the right knowledge, tools and preparation, you can better equip yourself to recover from that evil, intimidating beast—the unforeseen brand shakeup.

Whether commercial, individual, cause or nonprofit, or destination, well-regarded brands reap benefits including customer loyalty, trust, backing by eager ambassadors, a protective shield and countless opportunities. Still, sometime this just isn’t enough to prevent your brand from crumbling when catastrophe arises.

The key point here is that no brand is immune to a breakdown. No matter how strong or popular your brand, always be prepared for the worst. It can happen without warning, and have catastrophic results.

Like any type of beast, a brand shakeup rears its ugly head in many forms. They could be the result of accidents, product recalls, scandals, dramatic market shifts, poor judgment, bad behavior or bad luck, among other things.

Despite the trigger or severity of the shakeup, some brands come out fighting—and make complete turnarounds, sometimes even becoming stronger than they ever were.

The first step in combating a shakeup is to be prepared. Brands undergoing hard times move through five phases:

1. Brand-shaking Event — market shift created by internal or external circumstances.
2. Market Reaction and the Brand’s Reply — public suddenly has negative view of your brand and you lose ambassadors; press management and a spokesperson are crucial here.
3. By-products and Other Hazards That May Follow a Troubled Brand — public media and negative sentiment can grow and brand equity could be lost.
4. Road to Recovery — start to heal when another, more damaging event, enters the news cycle or when your good planning results in execution of recovery strategies and tactics.
5. Return to Glory — maintain progress and respond to new challenges.

Familiarize yourself with this cycle and create a plan for how you will deal with each step. Simultaneously, make an effort to rebuild connections and relationships with core markets. Beyond this, know your brand essence—solidify your purpose, distinction, promise and personality.

See next blog for part 2 and more tips on how to turn your brand around. This content is an excerpt from my new book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011) that released December 16th…

Until then Brand On!

For more information on branding tips, view:
8 must answer questions to grade your personal brand

By Karen Post, on April 23, 2011

Did you know, that as of this month, there are over 156 million public blogs in existence? And with that type of competition growing everyday, is the effort worth the prize? What makes a blog a rewarding a home run? and are you still wondering how to attract more visitors to your blog?

We are too.

I did some research regarding this matter and there’s a lot of opinion on the subject. Some say sell advertising, some say to blog every day, some say to not write more than 200 words so the audience doesn’t get bored, others suggest tightly niche your content and others say wake up the dead with extreme controversy.

I do agree with them all, most importantly I believe that businesses need to write stuff that people actually want to read!

Before you start writing, ask yourself who the target audience is and what the do they really care about. Also ask your self these questions:

1. Why do you write your blog? To make money, to serve as marketing tool?
2. Have you clearly identified 3 other highly read blogs in your topic?
3. Can you see their magic formula? Is meaningful content – are they a rock star, have a book and/or a national expert?
4. How is traffic being driven to their site? This takes some digging, but it’s important.
5. Does your niche topic have a big enough audience to tap?
6. Have you looked at Google analytics to see what you have written in the past that really drew readers?
7. Does your content provide pragmatic advice? Is the writing original and thought provoking, Is it entertaining, or is it just sucking up your time and you should be doing something else?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, stop writing, talk a walk, read a book and start again.

Be useful. Be unique. Be engaging.

How do these blogs do it?
HuffingtonPost – 35,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
TMZ – 17,000,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.
engadget – 11,500,000 estimated unique monthly visitors.

For more blogging tips, view: 10-steps to making writing your blog easier.

By Karen Post, on April 8, 2011

HeyWire, the new Facebook app for texting in one place, may be the perfect option for you.

HeyWire, a service that has been offering free SMS (short message service) and recently partnered with Twitter to develop HeyTweet, is now debuting it’s Facebook application that allows users to send both texts and tweets from a cell phone (while using Facebook, of course).

HeyTweet is free, available in multiple languages and offers free local and international text messaging from a phone number. The reason why this service is so compelling is because when users normally send a tweet though SMS text, charges would incur. But with HeyTweet, a tweet through this service has lower carrier fees internationally. As of this month, 2 million tweets have been sent around the world via HeyTweets. If you are a business owner who is Twitter obsessed, this might be exactly what you’ve been looking for – no more high priced texts and messages to people internationally. Want a convenient way to send one message out to friends via text, Facebook Chat, Google Talk and Twitter all at the same time? They can do that too.

Here’s how it works with Facebook.
Similar to other free texting apps, HeyWire users are given a phone number to send and receive unlimited texts with friends and family worldwide. Users can send messages via HeyWire Facebook App or the HeyWire applications for iOS (iOS is the Operating System on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It’s the “thing” that makes your device run) and Android devices. Texting conversations will follow you, as a user, from the HeyWire Facebook App to your smartphone application or tablet and vice versa. This app is the only Social Messaging Hub designed specifically for Facebook users. Do a lot of business via Facebook? Now you can run your business directly from your phone.

But, unlike HeyTweet, this new Facebook/HeyWire partnership comes with a small price. It’s about $2.00, or 20 credits in Facebook dollars, a month for unlimited texts on any device, anywhere.

Want to see if texting right for your business? Check out this powerpoint by Mobile Marketer.

Will you be using these applications, or will you be continue to message your family and friends with old fashion way?

Do you use texting to market your business?

Let us know!

By Karen Post, on March 27, 2011

Part 3 of a 3 part series on visiting Nigeria.
Does it snow in Buffalo? Of course it does. And branding always matters when a destination, a person, or a cause competes.  Just like with businesses, products and services. Brands are cumulative mental impressions and serve as an edge to connect with the market.

Strong brands make the choice easy, whether you are seeking votes, support or investments.

As many of you know who read my blog, I was recently in Lagos, Nigeria addressing the Brand Journalists Association on branding in government. This is the final blog post in series of three. To read the previous posts go to: Part 1, Part 2.

Highlights from my presentation included:
The difference of  commercial branding verses government branding are:

• Goals for government branding should be to provide: public service, help all people and be cost effective
• Selling proposition is also different. In most cases, it is: trust, certainty, integrity
• And the outcome is: confidence and loyalty with the brand, progress with urgency, unity of stakeholders and community pride

My recommendation for improving any brand, commercial or other is to follow this formula. Great brands are molded by these four factors.

1. Simplicity
2. Creativity
3. Unity of voice
4. And consistency

While the focus of my program was on government programs, the topics of country branding, leadership and commercial branding were also addressed. To see my PowerPoint on government branding, click the image below.

My trip to Lagos, Nigeria was memorable and very eye opening experience. The event that I was speaking at had an audience of over 500 marketing, PR, branding journalists and practitioners, and government leaders. An elaborate production, it included a big band and two comedians before my talk, food for miles and room decor like the Oscar Awards. I was seated at the head table with former Minister for Information of Nigeria, Chief Alex Akinyele, Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and  the husband of Professor Dora Akunyili, both were honorees of the event.

My program was well received. I closed with The Bob Marley parody I produced called Stand up! Brand up! Tell your story Right. The crowd went crazy as everyone stood up and danced along with me, singing the words to the song. Seeing a room full of professionals so excited about the branding field and wanting to learn how they can do it better and can help their country change its perception was amazing. It’s moments like this as a speaker that are truly priceless.

My new friends 5,000 miles away have place in my history and my heart. I will forever be grateful for this very cool opportunity. I hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did. I look forward to sharing others with you soon! Within a few weeks, I will post the full speech and night on my Youtube channel.

Closing insight I learned from this trip as a speaker on branding.
1) Press conferences are excellent opportunities to promote an event like this when you are visiting a foreign country. Be prepared with your key points and have copies available to provide journalists too.

2) As a presenter in a foreign land, customize your program to the market. I redesigned all of my images to reflect the local culture and received many compliments and accolades about this extra touch.

3) Always carry a printed introduction with you to provide the MC, even if you sent the organization one weeks before the event.

4) Be prepared to shorten your presentation at the moments notice. One of the honorees was three hours late for the event, which meant the program was delayed and the audience was drinking and getting tired. I condensed the content and adding even more energy to grab everyone’s attention.

5) Keep a Powerbar with you, so if things run behind, you are fueled up and not starving.

6) If you are seated with high ranking government officials or celebrities, be ready for extremely aggressive paparazzi and make sure your hair curls are pinned on tight.