You can take the Brand Perception Snap Shot by answering the three questions below:

1. What 5 words would you use to describe your brand today?
2. What 5 words would your customers use to describe your brand today?
3. What 5 words do you want to be used in the future to describe your ultimate brand (i.e., when your brand reaches your biggest, pie-in-the-sky goals)?

To complete your Brand Perception Snap Shot, simply review the words you used to answer the questions above.  Identify the gaps and successes.  These are the areas you need to focus on as you begin to develop your long-term brand strategy and short-term tactics that will help you reach those pie-in-the-sky goals.

Image: stock.xchng

• Cadillac = luxury
• BMW = performance
• Kia = affordability

Think of some of your favorite brands.  What word pops into your head first when you think of those brands?  It’s very possible that the word you think of is the same word that the majority of consumers think of in relation to that brand, and that means the company behind that brand has done an excellent job of positioning the brand and communicating the brand’s message, image and promise to consumers.

Owning a word in consumers’ minds is the ultimate goal for brand managers, and you can do it with your brand, too.

Consider how crowded the Internet is these days.  If you market business online, particularly on the social Web, then you need to find a way to stand out from the clutter.  Working towards owning a word in people’s minds, are critical steps to building brand.

How do you get started?  First, you need to determine what word you want to own in people’s minds.  Ask yourself the following questions to begin to define your brand strategy:

1. What is your brand promise?
2. Is there is niche that isn’t being filled that your brand can fill?
3. How stiff is the competition for the words you might want to “own”?
4. How can you differentiate your brand from others with the word that you own?
5. What are your ultimate goals and what word do you need to associate with your brand to reach them?

Branding is a long-term strategy, so it’s important that once you define the word you want to own in people’s minds that you commit to it for the long haul.  You need to follow the original rules of branding — consistency, persistence and restraint — while listening to consumers and keeping an eye on your competitors to ensure your strategy is working.

It’s possible you might need to rethink your strategy in the future, but the key to success is getting started by positioning your brand relative to your competition so it gets noticed, remembered, and talked about.

Image: Flickr

Following is an excerpt from the article, which you can read in its entirety here.

“With the growth of social media, marketers have learned that simply interrupting the online conversation doesn’t always lead to sales, nor does it lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing. Now the goal of marketing is engagement. Consumers want to know, what are you going to tell them after you interrupt them?  Marketers have discovered that there is tremendous value in building brands and relationships through long-term social media strategy vs. short-term direct-marketing tactics on social websites.”

What do you think?  Is interruption marketing dead?  Leave a comment and share your opinion.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Tiger Woods’ infidelity.  PETA seems to have decided that Tiger Woods’ family problems is the perfect fodder for a new billboard, which will be rolled out in Tiger’s own town, Windermere, Florida right where he, his wife, and his children (albeit to young to read, but that’s not really the point) can see it.  You can check it out below.

According to Virginia Fort, a PETA campaigner involved in the ad’s creation, the billboard ad is, “a fun, tongue-in-cheek approach. … We’re sure Tiger will appreciate our attempt — from a story that’s distracted the world and followed Tiger — to turn it into something positive for little tigers.” (via The Orlando Sentinel)

I think that’s the worst attempt at justification I’ve heard in a long time.  I wonder if Tiger Woods will sue, and I wonder how many people PETA will offend with this “tongue-in-cheek” ad.  What do you think?

If you’ve been reading my content for any length of time, then you can assume the word ‘transparency’ is probably included in that list, and guess what?  You’re right!  I won’t give the rest away though.  Follow the link above to read the complete article.

What’s your prediction for marketing trends in 2010?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

There’s a reason why GM, Ford and Chrysler found themselves circling the drain.  I think this chart says it all.  The only surprising thing is that GM, Ford and Chrysler survived as long as they did before they tanked.

The lesson for marketers to learn is this — don’t be the blue lines in this chart.  It shouldn’t take a decade to make the necessary changes to reverse those market share trends.

Reading the report by Siegel & Gale put hard numbers around much of what I always preach to clients.  In short, consumers want simple language, honesty and clarity from brands.  After reading the report, I was lucky enough to secure a few minutes of Alan Siegel’s, Chairman and CEO of Siegel & Gale, time to talk about his position on simple and transparent marketing. 

I asked Alan what steps companies should take first to reposition themselves as transparent.  His response was to focus on the inside first.  In other words, policies must be set for developing clarity.  He indicated that much of the information companies provide to employees (and customers, for that matter) is self-serving with little personality.   

I completely agree with Alan.  Employees are one of a company’s most valuable assets.  We hear executives preach that all the time, but none of them put it into action.  Employees are powerful brand advocates and they can have an enormous impact on a company’s bottom line if they believe in the company, brand, products, leadership and so on.  The first way to achieve that is by showing employees they are valued through transparency.  For an example of a company that doesn’t get it, check out this post I wrote for Corporate Eye about Microsoft asking employees to spam their friends about IE8.

Alan then provided direction on how companies can be more transparent externally, specifically, to consumers.  He began by citing the example that we’ve all probably experienced – automated voice systems, the outsourcing of customer service overseas, and the impersonal form letters and emails consumers receive from companies in response to their written correspondence.  Consumers want answers, and they want to feel valued (just like employees do).  Alan explained that when companies try to save money by outsourcing customer service, they destroy any chances they have of developing meaningful relationships with consumers.  By responding to written inquiries with form letters, companies do nothing more than undermine that relationship.  Alan went on to say that even customer documents such as credit card agreements, mortgage documents, wireless phone contracts, and so on do nothing to solidify a relationship with consumers.  Alan sums it up by saying, “Consumers are fed up with not understanding legalese.  Business can benefit from clarity.” 

Again, I completely agree with Alan.  The top brands and companies of the future will be those that are capable of building relationships with consumers who are tired of companies controlling them and telling them what to do.  With the evolution of the social web, consumers have more access to information than ever before, and it keeps growing.  Companies that learn to give up some control and allow consumers to lead the conversation will prosper in the long-term. 

That thought led me to my next question for Alan.  I asked him to share his thoughts about the social web and how companies can use it to become more transparent.  Alan agrees that blogs, Twitter, and so on offer a perfect, “opportunity to become more transparent, communicate directly with consumers, and have a conversation.”  He went on to explain that leveraging the social web is important because,  “an increasing number of people look to the web, especially rich media for answers.”  He mentioned that younger consumers are particularly interested in rich media such as online video.  However, he was quick to point out that the information companies share on the social web should not just be, “boring, talking heads.”  Instead, companies must, “really convey” something to consumers.  In short, companies, “can’t hide anymore because the media knows everything about you.” 

I think Alan is absolutely correct.  It’s pointless to waste time trying to lead the conversation.  Companies must let consumers take control.  In other words, put the messages out there, nurture the brand, and let the conversations evolve.  Don’t be afraid to lead the conversation, nudge it in the right direction, and bring it back on topic when necessary, but don’t force feed it to consumers. 

I also talked to Alan about the state of advertising as it relates to transparency in general and he said, “half of the slogans are nonsense.  People need intelligent information.” 

Again, this goes back to my anti-shock advertising and hard sales letters position.  Tell consumers something meaningful and tell it to them quickly, or they’ll move on to a competitor who does meet their needs by delivering valuable information in a direct (and transparent) way.

Finally, Alan and I discussed how Siegel & Gale helps clients become more transparent both internally and externally.  The company’s process is great because it starts internally.  Siegel & Gale works with companies to develop their voice and creates programs to train employees, teaching them to speak with consumers in order to be more direct and transparent.  Alan said, “you can’t con people.  Your communication needs to have honesty, respect, transparency and creativity.  Employees need to have freedom with responsibility.”  In other words, the employee who writes your blog should be well trained to understand how to represent the company and communicate with employees, but he or she should be able to do so without constant legal or executive intervention, edits and approvals. 

This is a point that I often preach to my clients, so again, I completely agree with Alan.  In other words, by giving an employee freedom, like the person who writes the company blog, his or her personality is allowed to shine through.  As a result, consumers can develop a connection with him or her and ultimately with the company.  It’s a first step in creating relationships with consumers, which brings us full circle wherein companies that develop relationships with consumers now will position themselves for long-term success.

What do you think?  Do you agree that it’s time for companies to be transparent, honest, and communicate in a simpler language?

At $72,000, the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid is probably meant to say, “Look at me!  I’m rich and I care about the environment.  Aren’t I wonderful?”  However, when I see this car, I think, “Look at me!  I leased the heck out of this car and now the bank is foreclosing on my house, and I hate the environment but this car makes me feel a little bit better about it.”

The new 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid improves fuel efficiency by 50%.  That means the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid gets a huge 21 miles per gallon!  What do you think?  Does GM deserve a bailout?

There is simply no doubt that U.S. automakers still don’t get it.  There’s a reason why the Toyota Prius is growing more popular everyday and large SUVs are being traded in for smaller cars.  Why can’t U.S. auto companies figure it out?

Update: The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid has been named to the Yahoo! Finance Best and Worst of 2008 list as the worst car of 2008.

Image: General Motors

But it gets even better (or worse, I suppose would be more accurate).  Microsoft is launching a clothing line and turned to rapper Common to help.  Apparently, Common would ad “street-cred” to Microsoft’s new line of T-shirts imprinted with phrases that celebrate Microsoft’s heyday. 

It reminds me of that old Sesame Street clip with Cookie Monster singing, “one of these things just doesn’t belong,” but in this case, none of these things just doesn’t belong.

Oh my.  Where to begin?  According to an article in Ad Age, Microsoft’s T-shirt line is an extension of its advertisements that responded to the very popular Mac vs. PC commercials.  Well, the Microsoft commercials were not particularly successful, so why not launch a T-shirt line?  You can see the logic, can’t you?  Neither can I.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m sure there are some people out there who can’t wait to get their hands on a T-shirt with “DOS” imprinted on it or a Bill Gates mugshot T-Shirt (note sarcasm), but this seems like a pathetic effort to me.  Is this really the best Microsoft could come up with?  There are so many things wrong with this plan that I don’t even know where to begin.  I’m not saying it will completely fail, but there are just so many better ways to invest time and effort.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and help me understand.  I’m at a loss.

Image: Microsoft via AdAge.com

From what I’ve heard so far from people who have tried the Google Android G1, they’re impressed with the phone, and it seems to be a real competitor.  The major problem – the less than satisfying T-Mobile network and service.

I haven’t gotten to see one in person yet.  Have you?  What do you think of the Google Android G1?  Should Apple and RIM be worried? 

The iPhone is very cool, but AT&T Wireless service is nothing to get excited about.  A consumer could go with service through Verizon Wireless, which users are typically happiest with in comparison to other carriers, but the Blackberry Storm is not generating rave reviews.  What’s a consumer to do?  No single solution has risen to the top yet.  What are your predictions?

If you could have any mobile phone with any network, what would you choose?

Image: Flickr