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!

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.

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.

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.

1 10, 2013

Perpetual proofing predicaments – A tool to fix them.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00October 1st, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship|

shutterstock_48711241
"I use Grammarly for proofreading because without TYPOS, I have less gray hair and then I look much, much younger*." (Read the entire blog to make sense of this opening quote.) Of all of my skills and talents, proofing text is not one of them. In fact, if there were an award for the most consistent practice of missing those grammar gaffes, those punctuation oversights, or the spelling snafus, I’m sure I’d be a finalist. I’m okay with this because I know I have many other valuable skills that these grammar gurus and spelling bee society members don’t possess. I know these shortcomings drive my journalism-minded, editing buddies nuts. I’m okay with this, too. I do respect the English language. I understand that errors and bad writing reflect poorly on one’s professional image, and that’s not good brand-building.

24 09, 2013

Tangibility is back in vogue. Strut some today.

By |2019-04-22T17:42:13-04:00September 24th, 2013|Branding, Entrepreneurship|

Tangible is back, brand better
We live and breathe technology. Smart phones, dumb text messages, notebooks, PDFs, videos, virtual meetings, cloud computing and all the "apps for that". All this stuff has certainly added convenience to our lives, however, its also created a society of gadget addicts. And Heaven forbid, there is no Internet connection for 10 minutes! Someone call 911 and order me a respirator. IT withdrawals are worse than needing a crack fix. Technology has had a profound impact on how we function and communicate. This new world order has also zapped the tangible factor in many business connections. The days of touch, hold in your hand marketing and ink on your fingers are gone. We are now a digital domicile. A planet of wifi, plugs, chargers and adapters.

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.