15 04, 2014

Lights, camera, brand! – How video can boost your presence.

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

Branding with video
Using video is like adding high-octane fuel to a Hennessey Venom. In case you missed it, because you blinked, this year the Hennessey Venom GT broke the world speed record at 270.49 mph at the Kennedy Space Center. “Video has been the fastest and most consistently growing medium for content marketing,” said Lori Rosen, Executive Director, Custom Content Council. Want more traction on your Website and social media channels? Add video. Branded video is sharable. It can become viral. Today everyone can use video. I recently added video to my branding tool kit. When I speak, I open every brand talk with my Branding Boogie music video. The video tells a story about boring Bob’s brand and his cry for help. This drama sets the tone for my presentation message. Boring will get you nowhere.

8 04, 2014

2 fast, free and effective game changers that you can do today

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

Vision board and succeed
Vision boards – get what you want I recently attended the National Speaker Association’s mid-year conference. I took away many awesome ideas about branding, presentation skills and new technology. My biggest takeaway was to accelerate your success, get a vision board. In the early 1990s, I always had a vision board, in my office, at my branding agency in Houston. A large black bulletin covered with pictures of situations, places and things I wanted to experience, share or own. When I made something happen or achieved a milestone, I removed the item from the board. By the late 90s, my vision board was empty and I had manifested a bunch of amazing stuff. I credit that board of pictures as an important tool that kept me laser focused on my goals.

25 03, 2014

That work you just paid for is not yours.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00March 25th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development|

Copyrights and brands
That’s right. Unless you have a written transfer of copyrights from the creator, whether an artist, copywriter, video producer, web designer etc., you don’t own squat. I recently had the pleasure of working with Julee L. Milham an intellectual property attorney, on a song copyright issue. In upcoming blog posts, I will share more about this branding dilemma I faced and the advice Julee provided. My experience with Julee was excellent. I was very impressed with her knowledge and her level of client service. For a reasonable fee, she quickly provided me counsel and insight on my matter.

16 03, 2014

Lawyer jumps off cliff

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00March 16th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development|

Jason Brueck, artist branding
. . . and lives a happier and more fulfilling new life. A couple weeks ago I attended the The Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in Tampa with my buddy, fellow motivational speaker Tami Evans. Showcasing over 300 talented artists, the event transforms a downtown Tampa park into an amazing outdoor museum. I really enjoy attending festivals where creatives not only get to show their work, but where capitalism is alive and well and the masters of this talent earn money too. And when I discover a new artist, buy a piece of their work and there is a story of a newly born entrepreneur, that’s a bonus!

5 02, 2014

Smokeless in CVS, retailer loses $2B to gain healthier brand

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00February 5th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, News|

CVS stops selling cigs, brand integrity
Last week CVS/pharmacy stores announced they will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by October 1. Congratulations! Hopefully this will start a national trend with other brands who preach wellness and healthy choices, it's time to walk the talk. Ending tobacco sales "is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health," Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. The company also announced that it plans to launch a national smoking cessation program in the spring.

27 01, 2014

First-time customers – what’s your plan?

By |2019-04-22T17:42:12-04:00January 27th, 2014|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Inspiration, Personal Development|

Tampa Bay Lightning A great brand
Great brands connect to customers in emotional ways. They surprise them, delight them and make them feel special. This past week I took my mother to her first Tampa Bay Lightning game. I go often, and as always the experience was blast. The Lightning hospitality team is world-class. I’ve blogged about them before. Every staffer treats you like you are the most important customer. As my mom and I were headed to our seats, we asked the usher for assistance. I mentioned to him this was my mom’s first time to a Tampa Bay Lightning game. Acting like we were the most important fans in the house, he introduced himself as Tom. We small talked with him for a few minutes. He told us how much he loved his job and that he had worked for the Lightning for ten seasons.

22 01, 2014

Beliefs, values and your brand.

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

Branding DIva, Karen Post
Over the past few months, I’ve been giving my brand, Karen Post, The Branding Diva® some deep pondering and exploration time. Thinking through where I’ve been and where I want to go. Most importantly, what do I need to do to further separate myself from other speakers, consultants and writers whose expertise is branding or marketing too. The photo posted here will give you a sneak preview of what I’m doing. I’ll be showing you more in the coming blogs. Brands are a work in progress (W.I.P). They evolve and the best ones continue to improve their distinction, story telling, and they freshen up their communications to reflect their essence, standout and stay relevant.

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

17 12, 2013

Fine print you won’t believe & a $3500 fine

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00December 17th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development|

Fine print- brand killers
Tiny, fine print has a bad name and in most cases it should. When a company or brand communicates something important, pertaining to policy, it should be transparent and upfront. Instead, many companies hide important details in very small print knowing that 98% of people won’t ever read it. This is no better than whispering, “your pants are on fire” to a deaf person. It’s just not cool. Here’s the story. Three years ago, a Utah couple had a bad experience with an online retailer called Kleargear.com. After the transaction, they posted a negative review on a consumer-venting site called ripoffreport.com. They cited that the purchased item was never shipped and after numerous attempts, could not even get a customer service person to help them.

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.