15 01, 2014

Leverage your brand-logo mark, 7 ways to make it stick.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00January 15th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Target's brand everywhere
The past few weeks you have likely seen the CEO of Target trying to manage the aftermath of the massive credit card hacking scandal. Not a fun situation for any brand leader. One recent interview on CNBC caught my eye. While Gregg Steinhafel was assuring customers that the company was taking the right steps to deal with the mess, a beautiful logo-patterned, red Target vase was perched on the stage behind him. Was his intention to communicate, yes this is bad, but you can still expect great design and a style edge that the big blue retailer just can't do? Using logo marks well in non traditional touch points is a great opportunity for any brand. I read an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal about the return of wearing branded apparel. The story was titled, “The Return of the Fashion Logo”. Full story click here.

8 01, 2014

Have you called yourself lately? Your voice greeting sucks!

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00January 8th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Personal branding, voice message
All right, maybe not everyone who reads my blog or gets my ezine is guilty of this brand-busting sin but a bunch of you are. Your voice mail message, on your office phone or cell phone, is an important brand touch point. And it cost nothing more to sound impressive. This is free branding. Often those messages are the first impressions you give to a prospective client, a business colleague, a strategic partner, or a new friend. So don't even think about using the non personalized recording that comes with your phone. That's LAME with a capital 'L". So, is your message giving the best first impression? Give yourself a call. If your message is not on brand, re-record it using these tips

10 12, 2013

Circles of inspiration – 3 ideas to help your brand standout.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00December 10th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

photo 1
This past year, I had the privilege of working with a chemistry company called Celanese. The assignment was to re-energize a business to business brand that helps manufacturers of all kinds create innovative products. The mission was accomplished. In collaboration with a team spanning 26 countries, the company’s brand evolved into an even stronger persona; one that reflected ingenuity, creativity, forward thinking and a united spirit of over 7,000 global employees. The 12-month brand transformation centered around the core values of the organization and required serious alignment with the company’s vision, business practices, communications and the internal culture.

21 11, 2013

Still wearing that light blue leisure suit?

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00November 21st, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

lbls
Imagine this guy showing up at your office for a job interview. It’s likely your judgment filter would kick in in less than 30 seconds, and you will conclude the applicant is severely out of touch and may have been living in a cave for the last 30 years. Not a good first impression. This week I was working with a trade association that has engaged me to speak to 5 of their chapters in 2014 on branding. During our negotiations, I mentioned to my contact that the trade association’s current logo needed a facelift. In addition to the logo mark being too busy, a major part of the design was the state of Florida. Lose the “So last decade” logos. Yikes! Someone call the brand police, Using the state as art is passé, just like a blue leisure. The light blue leisure suit is a great metaphor for branding that is outdated and reflects a tired or should be retired elements.

14 11, 2013

Life is uncertain. Be the best leader you can be everyday.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00November 14th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Gabby Giffords, Pam Iorio, Mark Kelly, Karen Post, speaking
This week, I accompanied my dear friend, Pam Iorio, the former Mayor of Tampa, to the Lead & Succeed event in Tampa. If this event comes to your town, attend. For five bucks you will hear top notch business speakers and likely make some great contacts too. Pam was one of several keynote speakers and she inspired everyone, including me, to find a higher level of leadership in themselves. She shared stories about her journey in life and she talked about the three important behaviors that she sees in great leaders. 1) They don’t waste energy fretting about the competition. They focus on their own performance and improving. 2) They treat everyone with respect and make everyone feel important. 3) They don’t give self-doubt a chair at any party. While these points are pretty simple advice, if you think back to any moments of soft leadership you observed, or were a part of, they were not likely practiced.

5 11, 2013

Speaking, stories and snowballs.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00November 5th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Speaking, stories and snowballs
A couple of weeks ago, I seduced many of you into opening my blog only to find out that I’ve not read Fifty Shades of Gray yet but did read Magic of Impromptu Speaking, by Andrill Sedniev, while taking some time off of work. I promised a review on the book, so here goes. The book caught my attention as its subtitle states: Create a speech that can be remembered for years in under 30 seconds. The fact is, I and gazillions of other book buyers gravitate to titles that promise fast and almost immediate results. A good formula to remember when you are writing product copy or selling a book. So was he telling the truth or committing a marketing sin and telling a big white lie? It’s a gray area. Maybe not fifty shades but at least three. The book is excellent, filled with wisdom that can be applied to formal speeches and varied other opportunities of attention, like when doing a media interview, interviewing for a job or taking a stance in a board meeting. All good stuff for building a brand.

29 10, 2013

Halloween, Buckeyes and 8 great brand building ideas

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00October 29th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Branding experiences
This past weekend, I traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to attend the Ohio State University versus Penn State football game. I had a fabulous time and picked up some great brand building ideas that can apply to many businesses.

Here’s the recap on my adventure and eight branding building ideas. 1) Southwest Airline’s identity is in transition. Brands change. The quirky, casual carrier has evolved. Their frequent flyer program still works and is one of the best for rewarding loyalty. My plane ticket was free. Their once low-cost pricing strategy is just a memory and bags fly free soon may be too. Their uniforms have also evolved. The khaki shorts and t-shirts are in the closet and a more formal garb is being sported, maybe to align better with the more upscale pricing. The seats are getting smaller and the people are getting fatter.

8 10, 2013

Successful failures – When a startup dies, a new opportunity is born.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00October 8th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Baby startups
This past week, I received an email from a fellow entrepreneur. It was a notice, that after five long years, he was taking his company off the respirator and closing it down. The news was sad. I know he and his team gave it their all. I could feel his pain in the letter he sent to his customers and friends, it was as if someone had died. My friend lost more than money. His entrepreneurial soul took a traumatic hit too. It’s never easy to pull the plug on a business you started. Especially when you are an eternal optimist, which most entrepreneurs are. You cling on to hope. You believe in miracles. Your ego screams, “No freakin way can you bail and be branded a quitter”. Egos do not always give the best advice. There comes a time in business, when quitting is the wisest action to take. Postponing it will just delay your next success.

28 06, 2013

Paula Deen’s brand, Southern charm now burnt toast

By |2019-04-22T17:42:14-04:00June 28th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration|

Paula Deen's branding meltdown
There is no amount of butter that can help Paula Deen’s brand get out of this tight jam. The past few weeks have not been pretty for Ms. Paula, the Southern belle, sweet potato, comfort food celeb. After being deposed in a lawsuit where a former employee alleged a culture of racism and sexual harassment, Paula under oath, admitted using the “N” word and I’m not referring to “Non-Fat.” Her million-dollar empire went from deep-fried and happy to “where have all my sponsors gone?” Wal-Mart, Target, Smithfield Foods, Caesars Entertainment, The Food Network, Home Depot and even the drug maker Novo Nordisk all opted-out after the news broke. Doing something bad is never good, but this situation went from bad, to insanely stupid, self-inflicted, career-ruining awful.

19 10, 2011

Branding made “easy”. Staples asks Branding Diva® for small business tips.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:16-04:00October 19th, 2011|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration|

Staples branding made easy button
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.”

This Is A Custom Widget

This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.

This Is A Custom Widget

This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.