If you haven’t taken a good clear look at your company strategy and branding in the past 2 or 3 years — along with the products and services which are part of your brand — you probably should! The marketplace isn’t waiting for you to take this fresh look, it is always evolving… and expects you to keep up. Your branding impressions are made in just instants! That's why you should put some time into thinking this through. Make that work. There are a range of branding components which are relevant to your business — company name, tagline, your strategic focus, overall brand identity, website first impression and ease of use, overall marketing, social media posts, customer service...and, believe it or not, "more" (wait a second, I'll tell you about a key area that most folks miss). These are the "central organizing forces" in the way you present your business. Strategy and branding are on a "continuum" — and you could make these components distinct or not with terminology — as long as you take the time to make these vital business functions work for you. And don't even think of them as band-aid patches you can slap on when you have the time — these form a vital compass that unifies and guides your direction. One major mistake I see is as obvious as the nose on your face, but gets missed most of the time: Your products and services are not separate from your brand. They are intrinsic to your brand. So don’t miss these in your company branding. Your brand will inform how your products should be presented (not only style, but substance!)… and your products will inform how you should present your brand. Makes sense when you think it through, right? You have the real opportunity to create significant increases in engagement, sales, market share, a more efficient sales process, and profitability, when you align your company and the deliverables and processes it produces with your prospect and customer interests. WARNING: These are Q’s to explore, fast answers to fill in the blanks don't work. Take your time. The biggest business asset you have is in between your ears! When we do this with you "for real," we take about a half-day to explore these thoroughly. If you fly though, you’ll miss a lot on the ground. Your business branding is worth thinking it through, right? You’ll Want To Cover These Key Questions! While these questions seem simple, when answered with depth and perspective, they open up new pathways to break through the branding and communications clutter. When we do our PowerBranding strategic working sessions, most often in a group setting, we spend ample time exploring these questions (outlined here), and encourage you to do the same. Here's some of the big picture: 1) What is your product or service offering? Sure, the "obvious description" of products and services is okay. To start with. But you want to know what it really does for its users. How it impacts their life and work...that’s why they want it. If you’re doing a rebrand, you need to be particularly aware of the trap of “knowing”....if you know, you won’t look. And you’ll miss some aspects of why people buy. 2) Who are you Customers? Include buyers, influencers, referral sources. In some cases, you might explore personas. You may very well come up with new sales and marketing avenues, and new ways and messages to engage your audience(s). 3) What do they want? Go beyond vague interests or expected answers, to the motivations of your prospects. (Not what they say they want...but your best understanding of what they really need from you.) If you can subtly (or overtly) hit these points, you’ll accelerate your sales and marketing impact. 4) What does the company want? "Customer Focused" ain't the whole picture. Yes, the company agenda should be part of the agenda. What your company owners and employees want should also be part of the picture. You’d be surprised that “greater profits” is not the only thing a company may want. It can include any range of responses, expected and unexpected. 5) Why Do "Prospects" Make The Move To Being “Customers”? What is the match of interests...why do they say “yes”? This “match” of interests is the "handshake," after sales and marketing, where the agreement makes sense. Make sure you’re flexible at this stage, could be some simple adjustment in your process or service makes it easier to buy, and that could lead to new approaches. The deal works when it works for both your team and it's business interests…and your customers. Your Brand Strategy & Brand Identity Has Specific Content, plus Context 6) What’s the context? How are you interacting with referral sources, prospects, customers, and investors. Be accessible. What’s the style of company in the marketplace? You don’t have to be "corporate" or “grunge” or anything else in particular, in order to be accessible. You just need to be focused on who you are, and what your target market wants. Are you willing to explain what’s “under the hood”? You don’t have to give away the shop, but transparency tends to be attractive. 7) Do your products and services match your brand? That includes company name, to how you describe company services. Company, product and service names are usually strongest when they integrate under a brand umbrella and make sense as a unit (not disjointed) to your prospects. And even in the services you provide, think about what the customer is looking for. If you’re a cable television company, remember that only one definition of your business is “cable service”...and another definition is “providing a fun entertainment and communication service,” for starters. If so, make sure you deliver that service well – such as a “2 hour service” window that makes life a little more pleasant for customers, and reinforced in your marketing communications before and after that service. 8) Create a Copy/Content/Communications style. Don’t be scared to be human, and talk normal. No MarketSpeak. Screw the corporate facade... if you ain’t a people, then people don’t want to talk to you. Be a people. 9) Corporate Brand Story? I can be important. But a Human brand story is often more engaging. See point #8. Relax, and talk about the business, and why it exists, how it became your calling. herther it's about the company or its founders, there’s your brand story. And if it doesn't exist, no worries. Exploring a brand story should be done casually...maybe even "secretly." Manyatimes if you tell a client in advance you want to hear their "brand story," they'll dictate, pontificate, attempt to monumentalize this story as their last will and testament. You might have a conversation over a coffee, without any preparation and record the conversation. Get the essence down, edit later. I had a client who didn’t seem particularly good at explaining his business....but when he told me he was working part-time as a security guard, and his peers were wondering what he was doing online on his breaks, trading stocks, He showed them, and wound up training lots of people casually at first... it's a great story on how he developed a specialized stock trading workshop. So those are some of the Q’s. The A’s depend on you and your team, really being willing to explore the impact of these answers. It's definitely not a race. Just the opposite. Closer to chillin' out in a lotus garden, b-r-e-a-t-h-e and think, where you don't access automatic answers from a churning mental database... and you do some real powerful thinking. If you finish in less than a half-day, cut back on your coffee, practice meditation, and put in the focus needed. After all, you spend most of your time on your business, give it the time it needs for a strong foundation! That fresh thinking is what we as humans are best known for....and you could be doing some of your best work here! The answers you explore and develop are key to your company brand identity and brand strategy. ► Go To Part 2: http://bit.ly/2gUFizr This post introduced the "What" to consider...now check out Part 2, HOW to think through your branding! http://bit.ly/2gUFizr ► See my profile for a links to more on blogging, strategy, marketing, and thinking! And I invite you to connect.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert of Market Power is a branding and marketing consultant who has developed strategic and tactical consulting, business strategy, branding and targeted marketing programs, for Fortune 500, one-person consultancies, startups, non-profits...in a ridiculously wide range of business categories. This perspective comes from PowerBranding — our signature process which merges proprietary consulting tools of the Robert Fritz, Inc. organization and MarketPower Com visit: www.MarketPowerOnline.com

Much better to read Part 1 first (right here in the PowerBlogs): Come back here when you’re done...we’ll keep this post warm for you. Part 2 Branding or Rebranding requires thinking on lots of dimensions – freshness, clarity, innovative insights, some comparative thinking, and much more. Don’t go in “knowing” the answers to such questions as who is your market, and what do they want....in fact, Part 1 of this series explains a bit of what you’ll miss if you have the Short-Attention-Span-Jitters, and pogo-stick your way through. This Part 2 is really about the best approaches from my experience in the pivotal “HOW to think it through” part of strategic branding. No-Slip Branding Tips & Sparks For Strategic Smarts 1) THINK. Branding or Re-Branding is NOT a fill-in-the-blank exercise. If you do that, you will not be “thinking,” you will merely be answering questions from a database in your brain that supposedly has the “right” answers. Nope, don’t do that. You want to think. Run your noggin like a toboggan down fresh slopes. Explore the process as if you don’t know the answers. Why? You might discover insights like WHY your customers really buy — beyond their “buying need” and their “pain points”...you might discover their buying motivations. And HOW they really prefer to work with you, or receive your services. Such key components as “How” they receive your service has quite the range, but it could lead to things like a 2-hour service window that Comcast/Xfinity has been offering. Or providing a better “onboarding” process, which you use as a selling tool. Or providing online access to a consulting firm's project status updates (I developed this for an insurance consulting business, and it made a major impact in gaining new clients). Slide downhill with that noggin toboggan...don’t be scared. 2) DON’T THINK. At least don’t think like a business owner (or a marketer) of your business. The best branding and marketing ideas come from acting. Be a thespian...with or without a ruffled shirt and heavy stage makeup. If you are playing the starring role of your potential buyers, you’re not accessing the same mental “channels” you usually follow — your own. You are beginning to understand the personas of your customers. Don’t think of them as specimens under a petri dish…become them. See the world through their eyes. (Okay, not all of it, the way they towel off like a puppy after a shower can be weird, you can skip that part.) Think smart...and don't overthink it. 3) DIVIDE AND THINK. If you mumble-crumble-jumble everything up into a big ball of mush in your thinking, you won’t get the big picture… you’ll just have a big ball of mush. Divide and Think. That means that you should break down each point, and keep it separate from the next. So, for example, don’t merge the datapoint of “who are your customers ?”… with “what do whey want?” So with this example, if you compartmentalize those questions, you may find that in the “who are you customers?” question you have some customer or influencer or referral sources you have missed. And sometimes those “secondary prospects” can become an important part of the engagement, marketing and sales process. And the separate “what do they want?” question will likely go beyond a need they might describe, to something else, such as personal interests in their career or within their organization, that influence that buying decision. So breaking the points out helps you harness that noggin toboggan, addressing overt and covert (undiscovered) interests. 4) STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR OPINION. Your opinion may have real value. Or it may only have “real value” to you. Think of it as an opinion…not The Absolute Freaking Truth. Stop trying to be "right." When your company is developing strategy, or making choices about logo or tagline or colors, you want to be deeply involved, but you’ll want to focus on what you and your best guides think will work best for your prospects. Not random opinions from the first person who says something in a meeting, which sometimes goes unchallenged. (Sorry to break it to you, but the notion that “Everyone’s Ideas Have Value,” just isn’t true on the face of it — some people who express "opinions" will barely understand your target market, or might insist that all their life they've known the world's best color is chartreuse.) Yes, your opinion and taste and instinct may be good. Even brilliant. Just realize that “opinions are like bellybuttons…everyone has one.” And yours is just yours. Even if you own the company. At the end of the day, you do want to like the work...but remember the guidance of uber adman David Ogilvy, who said that when a creative or account person presents a new advertising concept to a client, it should make them sweat — if not, it’s going to be boring or ineffective. More Rubber Sole Strategic Thinking For Your Brain 5) LISTEN. Especially to others! Especially to everyone on the team. I’ve lead my PowerBranding working sessions where the Executive Assistant was in the room to take notes. And when I could see an idea on her face, or someone was asserting a premise out of touch with reality…I’d ask her, "So what do you think?" And frequently that contribution was huge. Sometimes pivotal. And even when occasionally dismissed by others (after all, they knew better)… when an idea is killer, I've championed that cause. No matter the source. Ideas can come from anywhere. Don’t assert. Listen. 6) DON”T BE SCARED. JUST DO IT. Be receptive to big ideas, even if you know nobody else in the field is doing this. Don’t be scared, that may be the best reason to take on a new focus. And you don’t have to worry about not being an innovator like Apple or Amazon in order to offer up a simple idea in service or rebranding that can be tremendously powerful. 7) DON’T ASS.U.ME ANYTHING. Don’t make an ass out of you and me. Make no assumptions. When everything is up for grabs, you can grab great ideas out of thin air. Shhh! Biggest Secwet Be vewy, vewy quiet... 8) THE BIGGEST SECRET: GOOD BRANDING REALLY GOES BEYOND __________ . Most businesspeople think branding is a new company name. A new logo. Or tagline. Or website. And it can include all of those. But if “branding” is supposed to represent the essence of your company ...shouldn’t the branding match the offering? Seriously now! Your products and services are sold in the marketplace…and the marketplace has choices. So why would a prospects choose your brand over another? When you approach branding of your business, you’ll realize it even goes beyond the logo and website....to Customer Service...to your actual Offerings. It might be because you provide better service. Or they may choose your biggest competitor because those guys explain the process better. Or they may choose an upstart start-up because they “tell it straight” and sound more down to earth in their branding style. Or another company which offers an easier-to-use app, or have just-in-time delivery. Often the adjustment you could make is easy. If you turn the corporate cheek and ignore market demands, sooner or later you’ll get kicked in the butt. You only need to put your full focus on branding or rebranding for a short period of time. Cellphones and phasers on stun. Lock the doors if you have to. But that full focus is worth it…it's likely to change the future of your company. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert of MarketPower is a branding and marketing consultant who has developed strategic thinking, business strategy, branding and targeted marketing, for Fortune 500... SMB... and one person consultancies, in just about every conceivable category of business. This perspective comes from PowerBranding, MarketPower’s signature process – the merged thinking of Robert Fritz, Inc. and MarketPower. Use the power, Luke....

Really? Joel says "It's good to be ignorant!" Really? Joel shares strategic insight which has major impact on brand development, business strategy, and marketing communications. The medium is Structural Dynamics Consulting, developed by Robert Fritz. And the "structures" represent business dynamics that can inhibit your progress… or, better yet, help you create the results you want faster and more easily. This was presented to a group of experienced marketers, Invited and introduced by Stephanie Richards from the SowGrow Marketing Council… this video blog will stimulate your thinking. Presented to a group of experienced marketers, Invited and introduced by Stephanie Richards from the SowGrow Marketing Council, this video blog is a challenge,

(This DIRECTOR'S CUT is unedited, and includes great questions from smart businesspeople in the Swgrow Marketing Council.) This video unmasks the phenomenon of Structural Conflict — a dynamic which undermines some of our best efforts in strategy, branding, marketing, HR, and Management initiatives. The dynamic is simple, but profoundly insidious. It sneaks up on even the smartest businesspeople. But once unmasked, you've got a good shot of not getting stuck inside The Matrix. When companies oscillate between change and continuity… investing and downsizing… it's oscillation hell for employees, prospects and customers This version is unedited, and includes discussion with experienced marketers.

If you’ve been using the classic SWOT Analysis strategic tool, you won’t be arrested. But your branding and business strategy have been arrested, if you have been using this inadequate tool. Yikes! Why say SWOT is inadequate? Doesn’t this classic business tool gather essential information needed to understand your business and the marketplace? Isn't it a great tool...a classic tool...part of our vernacular in business, management, and marketing? Yes…but really no. SWOT gathers information. Of course you remember that SWOT stands for Strengths and Weaknesses (of the company)…and Opportunities and Threats (in the marketplace). I’ve called this a “marketing snapshot” of your company’s current reality. The reason why we need to pop a cap in the butt of SWOT is because that’s all it is -- a snapshot. A photo which shows you what’s going on in the moment. At best, it’s a good description of what’s going on “now.” Here’s the punchline: With all the stuff you’ve learnt and agree with — about vision, and thought leadership, and purple cows, and blue oceans... ... don’t you think that real vision…. and a clear look at the components of what you're offering...and why buyers say "yes" — should be pivotal in the model you’re using for branding and organizational strategy? Don’t you think that, at best, doing a SWOT Analysis "marketing snapshot," and then overlaying a “vision exercise” – later -- is a bit cross-eyed? If you’re only looking at what you have now (“situation analysis”), you’re killing your vision — not caused by reading in the dark, but because you should be able to see there’s no movement towards creating anything, if your destination and current perspective are not part of the thinking equation! "Situation Analysis” has big value… but it’s not generative. It doesn’t create anything. Are you going to suggest that your most enlightened corporate vision and management direction will be based on Situation Analysis, "the way things are"...from among your "available choices?" That's like the difference between what's on HBO tonight… and a subscription to Netflix. Uh-uh, we want to create the best possible options and choices, not be locked-in to "existing" choices. And while it does have some valuable uses (my confessional is coming up), Situation Analysis is hardly the best tool to use when doing branding work or strategic planning. Your best vision will be developed by seeing things freshly (yes, absolutely including "what is," Situation Analysis)... and discerning or inventing new direction for your company — whether that’s a functional overhaul or a transformation of the company purpose. Strategic thinking and strategic planning can start when you know where you're going! Imagine if SWOT were an Opportunity to take a vacation. If it’s a snapshot of how things are in the moment — and if your destination is not in focus, how do you know whether to pack ski pants and boots....or flipflops and swimsuits? Want a great option to being stuck with what you got? "Being stuck with what you got" does not exactly embody brilliant or valuable change. If you’re going to engage the brainpower of your team to create strategic or branding change (without Recurring Eyeroll Syndrome), let's use good thinking tools. Want to try on a different approach? A very practical model was developed by Robert Fritz, Inc., called Structural Tension... ...which I’ve been using for many years. It’s simple and clear. After some efficient reality-based information-gathering… we bring in key team players from the company, and together… (1) Specify the destination, gaining a clear picture of the End Results. (2) In relation to the End Results, we isolate relevant factors and define “what’s going on now?”...what is the Current Reality? (3) Create Action Steps will help the business move most efficiently from where you are… to where you want to go. To move past SWOT Analysis, keep both points in clear focus — End Results and Current — this creates a powerful dynamic tension which seeks resolution, which you can do with your Action Steps. Whether you do branding only or a more comprehensive business plan, (ours are PowerBranding or PowerPlanning Strategic Action Plan), you'll want do some eye-opening work on what your offering is really about... take a fresh look at who wants it, and why (!)... company goals...and where there is a "match of interests" where your prospects turn into customers. You need to know where you are, otherwise your best driving directions — “1,280 miles east, then head 170 miles north” — won’t work, if you think you're driving from Kansas City to New York… but you're really in Miami. While that process can indeed be straightforward, it requires guidance and ongoing re-clarification. And it should have deeper levels of consulting thinking that ensure we produce accurate, relevant and adequately-detailed input. That often does not happen. Corporate America — it’s generals and foot soldiers — are famous for ensuring that their legions make things sound better than they actually are in reality. Otherwise they lose influence in the company, or lose their jobs. And many of us marketers swell up like puffer fish when we describe products and services. Our challenge is akin to what Oscar Wilde said: “To be clear at all costs." You just can’t create results effectively if you’re not living in reality If you’re not clear on your starting point and your current state, any steps you take might, at best, help you stumble in the right direction … and at worst have you hit the pavement face first. So a good consultant or internal team leader will help keep your destination in sight, and help you take a clear hard look at your current reality. That is the most powerful and effective way to produce results. Clear destination… clear starting point…practical action. So how do I know this model is better? I’ve worked with folks who have used all kinds of models, including SWOT and Structural Tension. I've checked it out. For example, I even worked with a notable ad agency that brought me in to help with branding, run targeted marketing tactics and produce the repositioning and targeted creative campaign for a 3-lettered global technology company. At first I was intrigued — we used a process they were all buzzed about — with colored Post-It Notes to display everyone’s input, confidentially. Top executives participated, this was going to be transformative, innovative, kinda magical. Everyone had a large Post-It Note pad of their own color, and could guide the direction of this new technology product and program However, it didn’t take more than about 4 minutes for everyone in the room to figure out that the Big Boss’ personal note color was lime green. And the symphony of almost-disguised sycophantic behavior that endorsed every lime green Post-It that hit the whiteboard... also didn’t move the ball ahead. The Big Boss was clearly unfamiliar with the developmental thinking that was done, which might have lead to a Big Idea... but his "guidance" merely solidified old strategic and branding direction that was... at best, weak. (Arghh.) I can tell similar tales of Gimme A Break, with various processes that are well-meaning... but just not powerful enough. I will say, that used correctly, the Post-It Notes thing can work for ideation — you can gain input and consider many ideas efficiently using this approach. But do you really want to base the business and marketing directio of your company on hastily-assembled input, and quick votes. Obviously, I'd say "no"... you want to consider the cases and implications these ideas present. Then you rock and roll. Okay, okay, okay...how long has it been since my last confession? I’ve used SWOT about 10 months ago, when a business owner asked for it, and a level of detail was actually quite valuable for a competitive analysis. It was useful at that point — only after the “structural tension” model was deployed, and we had established clear direction. If you haven’t established that clear direction....much of the detail in SWOT is of limited value or irrelevant…falling like a spent sniper shell… splattering under the sudden flick of a fly swatter. Why would you care that you pass 3 slope-side pro shops where you can get your snow skis waxed at half price....if you’re on the way to the beach? Information collected when there is no strategic focus is just… noise. Here's your challenge: Can you and your team stop texting long enough during your strategic planning meetings to do your best work — to figure out where you’re headed… and take aim at your goals? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert has been working for many years with the unique consulting tools developed by Robert Fritz, Inc., and has paired up to work with a variety of branding and marketing leaders. He's developed branding, strategy and marketing for the Fortune 500 and the SMB "Fortune 500,000," using Structural Tension and other Fritz consulting methodologies.

Deli meat and big pecs can be scary. But not as scary to a business as distorting the truth and turning off customers! My favorite commercial a few years ago was the “Welcome To The Deli” spot, from Applegate. They sell natural and organic meats. It’s very funny. And it hits its branding target right between the bovine eyes. The reason why this commercial tastes so good is because it addresses the evasive advertising-speak that so many companies use. But the truth is… In branding — in business — the truth is, you can’t get past the truth. You can reinvent it. But you can’t avoid it. And why would you? So don’t lie. And be aware of what consumers think -- the creators of this spot were clear about this. You need to be straightforward, and really understand where your prospects are coming from. And address their skepticism directly. You might explain why your product or service is different from the norm, with specifics, not generalities — because the consumer “listening” out there is for bullshit. Which is the last thing you want to come out of a bovine, or any other source. Buyers want real meat. You get to those specifics by engaging in structured, holistic thinking about your product/service and it’s audience interests — and you should be walking away from the deli counter, or your strategic branding/marketing sessions, with fresh-cut thinking, clear product/service benefits, and sharp-edged content tools to help you cut though buyer skepticism. It’s a process which is vital for strong branding and marketing. This spot does such a great job of establishing its all-natural brand…, … by staying with a singular message for one 30-second spot…done brilliantly. Making fun of stuff that aint natural. Ultimately, the message is: (I don’t want chemical-infested meat), tell me the truth, is this all-natural? Welcome to the deli...! And just for fun, here's another from that series…

Funny thing, asking these "chicken joke" questions... can open up your eyes to the world of smarter strategic thinking! "HOW do we think" when we develop our business and marketing plans…what happens in "real life"...and is it natural NOT to think? The Mystery of the Chicken By Robert Fritz (mostly, with tweaks by Joel Alpert) The mind has a quirky thing about it. It cannot stand unresolved questions. It can't tolerate gaps in our knowledge. It wants answers – NOW! But we can't always know what's going on. Some answers take time to find out. Some answers are well beyond the reach of our comprehending mind such as the great Universal mysteries. Others are relatively thinkable — such as whether to develop an app, or make your website mobile responsive…or do you really need to rebrand? The mind doesn't like it when we are confronted with unanswered questions. Remember: It wants answers – NOW! That's terrible for business strategy! So, we give the mind answers even when we don’t know what we are talking about. We make up theories or we adopt the speculation of others. What difference does it make if the answer is true or false? The mind likes the feeling of knowing. It likes the sense of resolution it receives from the answers we give it. (Don’t tell me you haven’t seen this in meetings!) This is all very natural. But this dynamic is also limiting. If we think we know the answers to questions, we stop asking. Yet, the gaps in our knowledge can come back to haunt us. We may make decisions based on misconception. We can’t build much on a weak foundation. The mind, left to its own devices, will be glad to accept theory as if it were fact. That is because the mind isn't looking for truth. Rather it is responding to one of the basic principles of structural dynamics: tension seeks resolution. A question functions as a tension. Fact or theory can function as resolution to that tension. In music and writing, there is a name for a typical tension-resolution system. It is "the antecedent-consequential phrase." The antecedent is a question such as "Why did the chicken cross the road?" This sets up a tension. The consequence of the antecedent will be an answer. The consequence will resolve the tension: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Tension: Question about the chicken. Resolution: Answer about the chicken. Now, of course, many people attempt to find a better resolution to the chicken/road question. On Google, there are over 5,000 sites answering the chicken/road antecedent. Here are some of the typical answers we find there: • Walt Whitman: To cluck the song of itself • Jack Nicholson: 'Cause it (CENSORED) wanted to. That's the (CENSORED) reason. • Ralph Waldo Emerson: It didn't cross the road; it transcended it. • Aristotle: To actualize its potential. • William Shakespeare: I don't know why, but methinks I could rattle off a hundred-line soliloquy without much ado. • Thomas Paine: Out of common sense. • Groucho Marx: Chicken? What's all this talk about chicken? Why, I had an uncle who thought he was a chicken. My aunt almost divorced him, but we needed the eggs. • Karl Marx: To escape the bourgeois middle-class struggle. • Star Trek’s Mr. Scott: 'Cos ma wee transporter beam wasna functioning properly. Ah canna work miracles, Captain! • Robert Frost: To cross the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. • Sigmund Freud: The chicken obviously was female and obviously interpreted the pole on which the crosswalk sign was mounted as a phallic symbol of which she was envious. • William Wordsworth: To have something to recollect in tranquility. • Caesar: To come, to see, to conquer. • Rene Descartes: It had sufficient reason to believe it was dreaming anyway. • Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road moved beneath the chicken depends upon your frame of reference. • Emily Dickinson: Because it could not stop for death. • Salvador Dali: The fish. • Henry David Thoreau: To live deliberately...and suck all the marrow out of life. • Mae West: I invited it to come up and see me sometime. • Gottfried von Leibniz: In this best possible world, the road was made for it to cross. • Dylan Thomas: To not go gentle into that good night. • David Hume: Out of custom and habit. • John Milton: To justify the ways of God to men. • Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain. • Star Trek’s Captain Kirk: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before. Okay, back to the mind and the human tendency to fill in gaps of our knowledge with speculations, theories, concepts, models, worldviews, beliefs, examples of past experience, or punch lines from famous people. The mind is hungry to end mysteries, discrepancies, unanswered questions and tension. That often leads to a false impression we know more than we know. So, wait... why did the chicken cross the road? If we don't actually know the true answer, and we wanted to find out the real reason the chicken did cross the road, rather than propose answers, we would tend to ask more questions: What chicken? What road? When? Why did she cross the road? These questions presume that we don't know the answer rather than we do. That's because before we know the answer to anything, we don't know the answer. This may seem obvious but it is counter-instinctive. We orient our lives around the premise of certainty. Some things we do know. Okay, that’s fine. But we go over the line the moment we adopt a stance that suggests we know more than we know. That’s the point where our mental instincts are in sharp contrast to the non-arguable reality: we don't know what we don’t know. If we didn't pretend to know answers we didn't know, we would be more amenable to exploring the question openly. We wouldn't do the usual things we have learned to do: create a theory, test the theory against reality, look for evidence to support our theory, conclude that our theory was correct, attempt to convert others to our theory, begin a movement, notice that someone else has created a counter movement, fight it out over which theory is right and which theory is wrong, begin to take it all very personally, perhaps even start a war. What a world. We have learned that the so-called scientific process is to create a hypothesis, test it against reality, collect evidence, and, if the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis, hold the hypothesis to be true. In science there is said to be enormous intellectual rigor built into this process. In business, too. Perhaps, but the limitation is "start with a hypothesis." What if we began without a hypothesis, theory, concept, model? That would drive us to a more inventive/creative orientation, one of looking and questioning without the premise of knowing what we might find. We would not pretend to know what we didn't. We would be open to finding whatever there was to find, perhaps answers that do not fit into the common theories that abound in the world we live in. Why did the chicken cross the road? That's a good question. How are we to find the answer? What else do we need to know besides the event of the chicken crossing the road? Our focus widens, becomes more relevant, and we can entertain possibilities we may never have thought of. Now all this talk about the chicken has a point: |t is about thinking and creating. We have been taught to learn to adopt theories, speculations, models, and concepts as if they were fact. (These can range from what you think your customers want....to what you say you deliver, and more!) We can become blind to what we believe, presume, and then we trust our assumptions as if they were fact. When something goes without question, it is not questioned. It become "out of bounds." We censor ourselves from thinking anything that contradicts our built-in ideas. The mind feels it knows. We can experience a large degree of comfort and certainty, but these feelings are not well based. They are a product of the mind’s ability to be a sucker for anything that fills in the gaps and resolves the mental tension questions bring. Step one in our approach to structural thinking is "start with nothing." That is to say, start to observe reality without a premise of what we might find. This is the opposite of what we have learned in school, or what we think we're supposed to do in meetings -- which is to collect knowledge to use as a database, and then compare reality against it. This process is a variation of the so-called scientific process. But, if we look to the history of the most creative scientists, they didn't use this process. Instead, they were able to start their exploration without a theory. The great creative scientists have had the ability to generate new insights, often over the dogmatic convictions of true believers in unexamined ideas from the past. We need only think of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein to see how the history of science was dramatically changed when old assumptions were challenged and rethought. Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, put it this way: "When the (scientific) profession can no longer evade anomalies that subvert the existing tradition of scientific practice – then begins the extraordinary investigations that lead the profession at last to a new set of commitments, a new basis for the practice of science. The extraordinary episodes in which that shift of professional commitments occurs are the ones known in this essay as scientific revolutions. They are the tradition-shattering complements to the tradition-bound activity of normal science." Kuhn is describing a situation when old assumptions no longer work to explain what we see. However, if we never use assumptions, we are always in a position to see something new. Yet we are not addressing just chickens or science. We are addressing how our minds work, and therefore the discipline we need to go beyond our usual limitations based on belief or past experience. When we adopt any model of how we are to do business or live our lives, and then attempt to apply that model, we begin to lose touch with reality directly. Imposing a theory on experience will always do that. When we don't fill in the gaps with filler, when we leave them open, we become more inventive, resourceful, creative. We will find that we are no longer a sucker for a quick theory. Nor do we fill our time with useless speculations. Instead, we position ourselves to become more open and generative as we are more able to grasp new insights that we may not have considered before. You want business breakthroughs? You want to find the magic Blue Ocean Strategy and create real value innovation? Do you think you could start asking real questions…as if you didn’t know the answers? -------------------------------- Strategic Insight Rocks. It changes everything you do — websie to social media posts… new busness presentations to business processes. Joel Alpert works with Robert Fritz' strategic thinknig approach. Connect with Joel on LinkedIn, catch more thought-provoking posts:, or click around here. here.www.LinkedIn.com/en/JoelAlpert123 http://www.MarketPowerOnline.com © Robert Fritz, the the author of “The Path Of Least Resistance For Managers (see new edition, 2011)” and “Your Life As Art.” He founded the field of Structural Dynamics consulting, and the Technologies For Creating curriculum. Joel Alpert has studied with Fritz for many years, and uses Fritz' strategic thinking in business, branding, marketing -- and life -- almost every day.

If you're thinking about branding in 2023... ...or, God help you, shopping for a brand consultant or agency -- glazed-over with their PDFs or Websites or PowerPoints... ...and they list "Branding" under "creative services," chances are you need to ...run away! Most branding efforts focus on a fresh logo and website graphics... and is primarily driven by graphic design. Maybe this is a surprise to you -- but that's a 300-lb. gorilla! If you're branding or rebranding, what's wrong with good logo graphics? Don't get me wrong -- I love me my good creative and graphic design with a passion. I thrive on developing good creative, and have a shelf-full of awards from my professional peers to support that claim. And I think that logo and tagline are absolutely vital first impressions. I think it's important to work hard at these components. Screw these up, and you miss the boat! Is my stance on this part of the program quite clear so far? That said, I've shuddered at a few networking events, when good design firm reps explain that their "strategic process" for company branding and site design is asking clients what they like, and offering options. A-r--r-g-h-h! Is this the "value" professional marketing firms add? Don't you think a marketing for design firm should be adding a visual vocabulary that's way bigger than what websites your client happened to find and like? And is building a business only about good design??!! A great name/logo/tagline and website are not secondary, they're primary. They're often the drawbridge over the buying moat. But, sorry...but by themselves, they don't sell. Me, I'd whither on the vine...be parched in the desert... go loony-bonkers...if not for the strategic thinking that should drive brand identity. Shhhh! Creative Branding That's Missing Real Strategy Is The 300-lb. Gorilla! When it comes to the "strategic thinking" side of branding, "strategy" must come first. And second. Then you can start crafting brilliant graphics which directly support those directions. Here are some key brand identity components to work on, so you don't slip on the giant gorilla's banana skins! NAME. It's what prospects need to remember, to do business with you. It should get them to your website so they can sniff out your monkey fur. So when people speak your company name, is it a snoozer like Advanced Technology Solutions...or something with more energy, like TechVelocity Partners? Do you want your company name to be Signs In A Day (a decades-outdated benefit)... or SuperSignsSuperFast? (Yes, these are examples of company renaming we've done.) You always want the name to clearly represent what he company does! Logo. It's that visual doodle that triggers your noodle to remind you of all the impressions you have of the company's products, services, delivery, and more. Your logo has "content" and personality . Are you showng a cool graphic… or are you showing a graphics that suggests what yhthe business does right away? Is your logo more like Jimmy Fallon...or Woody Allen? Is it boring, like "chewing the fat"...or an energetic "True, dat!"? Tagline. That little phrase near the logo, that conveys a focus or value. This can be conveyed many ways. Is it more like "Optimized Technology, Delivered"....or more like "Your Smarter IT Trajectory"? "Your Go-To Production Company"...or "We shoot it. We kill it. Your audience eats it up." Is it more like "Practical Approaches to the Cutting Edge"...or "Empowering Techies. Accelerating Business"? (Yes, we created the"after" examples above, based on our branding process.) Is Name & Logo & Tagline...enough? HELL, NO! The next part is even more important. So let's say you somehow come up with a sharp company/product/service name, logo and tagline (likely not, since you skipped doing real "strategy"!) — okay, great -- that helps get the customers into the store. But are your shelves empty... or is the stock outdated or disorganized? Your products and services offering needs to be thought through. Frequently a tweak in the delivery of the service is a marketplace differentiator of high value to prospects. And you also want to thank though these offerings, in order to find out what the heck will be influencing your branding umbrella. It should influence the company name / logo / tagline. From there, the website UX should be based on what prospects and customers really want (y'know, specific content they want to get from an authority source, for example)...and if you only did a quick brainstorming session or filled out a form from the graphics department, you don't have much to go on to distinguish and describe your offerings. That seminal input comes at the start of the process... it's not something you should shoehorn in later. (And a number of my clients have innocently and hopefully suggested "We need sales now... can't you just do our website right now, and add the branding later?" Well, you could do that...but only if you want to destroy your company brand. Or if you'd like your company brand, products and services to sound like the meandering rambling of residents from "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"? (That'd be a "Hell, no.") And don't you think -- that if we thought through all the strategic stuff, and we figured out some breakthrough ways to deliver your products and services to your customers -- that it might influence your company description and brand identity? (Can I get a Hell, Yeah!?) Your products and services are what brand represents, right? It it fair to assume that you would not want them to be communicated all helter-skelter higgledy-piggledy and such, harrumph, yo. You want all your inbound and outbound marketing, and all sales and marketing presentations that deliver those communications, to speak with one voice. To kill it from the get-go, so that your company is automatically on the short-list, if not on top of the list. Don't just "look busy"...And don't waste everyone's time when you ask The Wrong Questions Your Company Branding Process: What Questions Ae You Asking...What Are You Thinking? "Thinking through your branding" means... thinking. Thinking = Good. That's not filling in the blanks in a mandatory corporate branding exercise. One size doesn't fit all. So, for example... There's a difference between going beyond questions like "What do we offer?" (which is an internal corporate orientation)...and "What are the benefits to buyers? How do THEY think about it?" (which is where the rubber meets the road). There's a difference between "What do our customers want?" which could be answered with better products or lower prices or faster deliver or whatever...and exploring "What are their buying motivations?" which deepens your selling perspective with all kinds of corporate and personal considerations. If you include strategic planning that has real value in your program. there's a difference between only addressing "customer needs"....and also including "owner and employee team needs," which are just as important. The point should be obvious — well intentioned questions if asked wrongly are a big problem: You come up with crap. And knock the wind out of everyone's sails. If Branding Is So Damn Important, How In The World Do You Evaluate & Measure Your New Brand Strategy Fair question, glad you asked. Certain programs can be measured accurately. Branding is trickier, and while you can take it into the in the realm of beancounter evaluation, it's tricky to research, and you have to go with a combination of objective strategic thinking, and your gut. Even if branding is difficult to measure, it has to work. I'll admit to working with some of the best agencies in the advertising world -- producing work that's is measurable -- Direct Response/Direct Marketing. While it can be a bit nerve-wracking at times, trying to move the needle, I got the blood-thirst for inching up response rates. And I've learned that the best way to move the needle in your marketing programs is with a combination of big-picture strategic branding thinking, and attention to tactical marketing details. So it should be more obvious that on-target branding is a strategic/creative endeavor that drives success...not just a detail to check off later. And while "creative" ideas can come from anywhere, they need to be evaluated by people who have experience in how these reverberate across a roll-out in the marketplace, across a range of inbound, outbound and sales programs, and potential line extension. So I appreciate that devil is in the (big picture and the) details. And you don't want the devil to look like a 300-lb. gorilla, who grunts "Branding is creative." Because it is...but it's more than that. Even if the guy in the gorilla suit, who was walking on his knuckles, is the division President. Even if the ad agency you've hired for the rebrand gives you all the free bananas you can eat during the "creative branding" sessions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You might also want to take a look at or blog post on the value of your brand. Joel Alpert has nothing against gorillas. He was trained and worked with some of the top bananas in the world of strategic thinking, direct marketing, and human potential. He loves creating the name/logo/tagline triad...after we monkey around with smarter strategic brand thinking....so our foundation has "some place to go" for your prospects....and your products and services support and integrate with the brand. Yep. His signature PowerBranding process is a hybrid of the innovative strategic tools of Robert Fritz, Inc.... and years of developing effective, award-winning creative work. for large and small companies. Share this post. Come Visit: www.MarketPowerOnline.com Take a minute and connect and say hi.

Now you can’t fault Homer for trying DIY Marketing. He often tries things. Yikes. Homer studies marketing to get ahead, so he can keep his job at the bowling alley. What could possibly go wrong? But this kind of ding-dong-diddily-do thing is not quite up his alley. He does it his own way, from whatever limited perspective he has. Not surprisingly, he strikes out. D-OH! Of course you want to Do It Yourself. Of course you don't need to spend the tie andmoney hiringa professional. But think about it: Aren’t the time, effort and dollars invested in your company worth more than D-OH!? And if you're a pro at what you do… woldn't you consider hiring the right pro's— , with experience and talent — to help boost your business growth? When you think about it, aren’t sales the lifeblood of your company…and aren’t they driven by branding & marketing? And if you're good at your work, but a beginner at branding and marketing, can you really expect to do a great job? You could Do It Yourself…but all kinds of popular expressions come to mind…the kind of expressions we usually try to learn from, such as… "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client." "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." And if you only want the twitter version, you get Homer Simpson’s world-famous: D-OH! So let's get real, so you can help your company be all it can be. If you’re feeling trapped by the specter of unallocated capital (or you just ain’t got the money)…you could try doing it on the cheap. Hey, if you have to, you have to. But more often than not, even in this day and age where everybody and their grandmother has their own personal brand…some CEOs still struggle with questions about the value of branding. Even when a prospective client is thinking about it, they will ask me questions like… “How do I know what to do for my branding and marketing?" Or, "How much should a good logo should cost?" And "Is all this really so important? we’re not Coca-Cola…” The answers to those questions become less vexing when you realize — D-OH! — that your prospect's impression of your company is not only vitally important, but is equivalent to the company itself. These impression are the gateways to a Go/No-Go decision for them to move forward with you. And if your sales team has to fight a weak brand identity, you're making it pretty rough on them. I've watched a number of companies flap about like fish seeking water in the bottom of a boat, trying to "overcome" their own weak branding. Whether you work for a multinational conglomerate or you own one-person consulting practice, if you want to build your “brand equity” — the value you present in the marketplace, and the real cash value branding represents for your company — you need to make a fast, powerful impact when people engage with your website or any of your communications. How To Create Strong Branding? You create that impact through a variety of tools — branding, communications, product and services, sales and marketing, and customer service. And doing those things well means thinking it through with full focus, certainly with a professional who will help you go way beyond "fill in this branding and marketing questionnaire." So do that. Your business is driven by first impression, and you may only get one shot…. so make it a good one. Especially if you are not selling a commodity product based only a discounted price. One of my favorite taglines at the end of a rehab clinic TV spot sums it up: “If you don’t get help at Charter Peachford…get help somewhere.” You can live in a cartoon, or get help and move right to "Woo Hoo!" Or D-OHn’t. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert is a secret fan of The Simpsons,…and likes doughnuts. Ummm ... doughnuts. He’s a branding consultant based in Atlanta, and has developed brand strategy and brand identity for Fortune 500 and one-person consulting practices — company branding, logo, tagline, brand story, integrated branded products and services... straight on through to effective, award-winning targeted marketing communications. His unique process combines the innovative consulting technologies of Robert Fritz, Inc. and the award-winning targeted marketing of MarketPower. Yes, if you're considering this for your business, he’d send you the new PDFs on PowerBranding. Woo Hoo! © The Simpsons -- an animated sitcom created by Matt Groenig for the Fox Broadcasting Company.

“ SIRI says what SHE wants to, even if it's a bit edgy... but we’re trying to work it out” Who knew that Apple had a bawdy side as part of its brand, just waiting to emerge from the insides of its microchips. 'Tis a wee she-leprechaun that innocently bats her eyelashes… and causes butterfly repercussions across town and around the globe. But I should explain. I love my iPhone with a passion that really should really be reserved for a human female. Nonetheless, my relationship with Siri — who I speak with more often than any other woman — can get a bit strained. Because Siri Sez what she wants to. These personal messages – Rated R — may not be for the faint of heart. Here are some of the real-life Siri typos that have come up on my screen…and theirs, too! “With friends like these, who needs enemas?” I’d texted to a female client “Speak with you soon.” Siri thought she should say otherwise, and it told her “Sleep with you soon.” Even as a marketer, that does provide a higher level of customer service than I usually offer. On a business conversation via text, I said “I’ll review with you in a bit and call if I have questions.” It was not intended to be “Let’s review you bitch with qualifying questions.” The guy this went to didn’t think of himself as a bitch. He texted back “Joel, this HAS to be a typo, do you have Siri?” I texted back “Jeez, so sorry! I think Siri has me!” I was talking (texting) to a woman about a matter of community affairs, and it was getting late in the evening — I actually just asked if she was available “during the day for conversation.” I didn’t plan on delving into her personal life to inquire if she might have“frigidity for conversation.” In another case, I just wanted to “coordinate.” I wasn’t accusing another guy of being a “coward at eight.” Or even being a coward at another time. I was texting a new client who had been in the office, and he was transitioning to driving. I suggested that if we were going to continue with a phone call, that for his safety he “Put on your ear bud.“ It was hardly my intention to suggest he “put it in your butt.” When typing to a client about music for a video, I mentioned that I have a “wide range of musical interests.” Siri thought I should explain that I have “a wide range of breasts.” In fact I do not have such a range. Like Lucy Ricardo, in these cases and others, I had some 'splainin' to do! And I've had to contemplate how brand extensions like Siri connect with me...on a personal level. But I've made a note to self: ”ee-NUN-see-ate!” Meanwhile, as Siri takes personal growth courses and tries to improve her interactions with me, we are still working some thinks out. – – – – – – – – – – – – When not engaged in bizarre conversations with Siri, or trying to explain them, Joel Alpert is an experienced marketer, helping clients delve into branding, business strategy and consulting with unique tools and experience… so we can produce effective, award-winning targeted marketing.

Nothing Comes Closer To Getting Under Your Skin Than This Simple Branding Idea Most branding efforts focus on name, logo, and tagline....and are primarily driven by graphic design. (While that's a good start, that can be a boo-boo, as "branding identity" should be based on strategic thinking about the product, markets and the match of interests, first....and then executed with brilliant creativity by logo and website designers who understand that brand direction.) However...as important as strategically-driven name, logo and tagline, quite a few other considerations are vital – products and services which support the brand, and are communicated in an integrated style, and all inbound and outbound marketing that delivers those communications, and more. Okay, that said... Branding can be supported by little things: Even something as simple as a "Band-Aid"... . ....or, at least an "adhesive bandage," put out under the Walgreen’s name and logo. How do I come to this conclusion? Simple experience — from a shot in the arm that I got at the local Walgreen’s. You walk in. They poke you with a needle. Whether you’re “good with needles” or not, that little adhesive bandage makes you feel better. It’s covered up. “All better!” Walgreen’s had somebody thinking. They realized this feel-better moment is a good moment to remind you that you just got poked at Walgreens. The red “adhesive bandage” they slap on your arm is as close as you can get to a consumer. It’s very personal, you’re placing it on your own body. It even works with your own body’s OS, the built-in Auto-Reminder...called itching. And its got their logo on it. Nice. Simple. Effective. Sometimes it’s the “little things” that make an impression. ---- - --- ---- Joel Alpert is a Branding & Marketing Wizard based out of Atlanta, who is apparently enamored with the Walgreens adhesive bandage. Band Aid Adhesive Bandage is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson. Walgreens sells a lot of their stuff, too.

Russell's experience with LinkedIn didn't prepare him for what he was about to gain in MarketPower's workshop — " LinkedIn" Turn Your Profile Into An Effective Business Tool In Just One Night!" He says "…I knew it was an important thing, I just simply didn't know how to use it."