The Ultimate Brand Champion – Hugh Hefner

Brand champions can be extremely powerful, and this week, I wrote an article that was published on the Yahoo! Advertising Blog about the ultimate brand champion – Hugh Hefner.

Here is a snippet from the article:

There is perhaps no other brand in the world which has been so closely aligned with a single person as Playboy has been with Hugh Hefner for over half a century. And there is no arguing the influence that a visible brand champion who truly lives and breathes a brand can have on the success (or failure) of that brand.

You can follow the link to learn more about brand champions and Hugh Hefner as the ultimate brand champion, and you can get my book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, for more information about branding lessons you can learn from Playboy.

Who do you think is the ultimate brand champion?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Create Loyal Brand Advocates – 7 Steps to Advertising Success

My latest article on Entrepreneur.com is called Create Loyal Brand Advocates – 7 Steps to Advertising Success.

In the article, I discuss the seven steps that businesses need to understand and follow in order to develop a long term, successful brand building strategy supported by effective marketing communications.  Follow the link above to read the complete article.

Read more marketing and branding articles by Susan Gunelius.

3 S’s of Customer Loyalty – How to Drive Emotional Involvement in Your Brand

I’m constantly talking and writing about developing emotional involvement in your brand to drive customer loyalty.  Today, I’m going to provide my three steps to generate emotional involvement in your brand.  I call these three steps the 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty.  By ensuring your brand offers customers the 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty, your customers will become emotionally involved in your brand.  Let’s take a closer look.

The 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty

1. Stability: Customers are driving to emotional involvement in a brand when it sends a consistent message.
2. Sustainability: Customers are driven to emotional involvement in a brand when they expect that brand to be with them for a long time or at least a specific amount of time with a clear end.
3. Security: Customers are driven to emotional involvement in a brand when that brand gives them a feeling of comfort or peace-of-mind.

The 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty link directly back to the primary steps of developing a brand.  So while many people might argue that branding is not important, I argue that branding is an important part of driving profits.  Brandhing helps to create customer loyalty which leads to repeat purchases and perhaps the best form of marketing any company can hope for — word-of-mouth marketing from your best customers and most powerful influencers.

Take a look at your brand.  Is it driving emotional involvement through stability, sustainability and security?  If not, make the necessary changes now, and you’ll reap the rewards later with increased customer loyalty.

5 Steps to Build Your Brand

 I wrote a post for the Florida Conference for Women Blog (I’ll be speaking at the Florida Conference for Women in Orlando, Florida in May) called 5 Steps to Build Your Brand. The steps can be applied to any individual or business trying to build a brand, so I thought I would share the post here. Follow the link to read 5 Steps to Build Your Brand.

Brand Building for Search Engine Optimization

My go-to-person for SEO, Gab Goldenberg of SEO ROI wrote a great post that’s full of resources to help internet marketing companies merge brand building and SEO, but much of the information included in the article can be applied to any blog or website. 

Gab provides more than theory in his article.  He cites examples and provides case studies as well stories from his own experiences to support his tips and suggestions.  It’s worth a read!  Follow the link above to check it out.

5 Rules of Branding

There is more to creating and promoting a brand than making a pretty logo and tagline. In fact, a logo and tagline are just representations of your brand. Following are several rules to help you create, promote and maintain your brand.

5 Rules of Branding

1. Be specific

Know what your brand stands for, and know what your brand promises. Your brand promises should be precise and attainable, and you should be able to communicate them clearly. For example, don’t just say your brand stands for quality. That’s a broad statement that any company can make. How does your brand specifically live and breathe quality? Those specifics are what will make your brand stand out from your competition.

2. Be authoritative

Once you know what your brand stands for and promises, don’t be afraid to flaunt it. You need to make everyone else believe you’re the leader and authority in your area of expertise and specialization. Don’t meekly communicate your message. Say it with powerful words and conviction. [Read more]