One of the things businesses have to constantly do is weighing risks versus rewards. There are many marketers and entrepreneurs who will tell you that to reach your fullest potential and truly grow, you have to take risks, but what does taking risks do to your brand that you’ve worked so hard to create?
It’s a double-edged sword really. You’ve worked hard to create a brand image and promise that your customers can rely on, which leads to brand loyalty, but to take your business to the next level, you have to take some risks. The key is to take strategic risks that won’t damage your brand. In other words, take risks that your brand can rise above even if those risks fail. Read More
He hasn’t won the Democratic nomination yet, but that’s not stopping Barack Obama from talking about his brand strategy against Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain.
According to the Associated Press, Barack Obama defined his brand message against the Republican competition today when he said:
“In a contest between myself and John McCain, there is going to be a very clear choice on policy that I don’t think is going to have to do with ideology and who theoretically is more liberal or who’s more conservative. I think it is going to have to do with who has a plan to provide relief to people when it comes to their gas prices, who has a real plan to make sure that everybody has health insurance, who’s got a real plan to deal with college affordability.” Read More
The question - are these two logos a bit too similar?
Phorm Design, a Sheffield, England-based design agency with three employees, created their logo first (three years ago).
Phorm (the big online advertising company that’s traded on the London Stock Exchange) changed its name about a year ago and this logo came about as part of the name change.
So what do you think? Are these logos a little too close for comfort? The companies are in slightly different businesses. Do you think this would be a trademark violation or not?
Today at Brandcurve, I’m happy to publish a guest post by Herbert Ong of Genuosity Inc. Herbert is an expert in word of mouth marketing. You can read more about Herbert at the end of this post. Without further ado, following is Herbert’s post, “Word of Love(TM) Marketing.”
Our team at KudosWorks has known and has evangelized for a while now that the most ideal word of mouth unit is the testimonial. When you think about it, testimonials from your customers are really the “positive word of mouth units” that are then spread from friend to friend. If you as a company can sufficiently delight your customers, you will no doubt be able to get your customers to provide you with testimonials. But what is even more interesting is that testimonials are really “words of love”TM. As such, your goal is NOT to just get any kind of “word of mouth” happening but rather “words of love” marketing. Passion is contagious, passion is appealing and passion is compelling.
What it means: Ask for testimonials and you shall receive. Word-of-mouth marketing is good but “word-of-love” marketing is even more powerful. Read More
I’m very happy to announce that today we have a guest post on Brandcurve by Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller, the authors of Gravitational Marketing, which I just reviewed here on Brandcurve. You can read more about Jimmy and Travis at the end of this post. Without further ado, here is their guest post, “Sometimes the Best Brand is You.”
Many entrepreneurs struggle with the concept of branding their companies. We teach our small business clients to avoid getting caught up in the traditional idea of branding. The concept of brand advertising is all about spending advertising dollars (often large sums) to keep a business (brand) on your target audiences’ radar. This is what’s referred to in the biz as TOMA or Top Of Mind Awareness.
Here’s the question we usually start with when a client asks us about branding. “Is everyone in your target audience already very familiar with you or your company?” The answer is always NO. That’s just the reality for most small businesses and entrepreneurs. If your brand isn’t already on their radar, you can’t keep it there. Read More
While we hear over and over that those of us writing or reading blogs, creating wikis or harnessing the other Web 2.0 tools are a very small percentage of population, we know two things:
The percentage is on the rise. And quickly.
Those who are using the tools are finding them very effective.
A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association concluded that many marketers who are focusing on building their brand believe in the power of Web 2.0.
The “New Media Emergence in DM & Brand” report (which apparently you can purchase for around $600) from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) investigates Web 2.0 - including blogs, virtual words, social networks, user-generated content, RSS feeds, and Wikis - as the platform that converges all marketing. Read More
The following is a guest post from Gab Goldenberg of SEO ROI. Gab is my go-to-guy for all things SEO. You can learn more about Gab at the end of this post.
What is the true cost of conversions gained through branded search? What is the true ROI?
It’s been repeated often enough that branded search terms convert exceptionally well. Eric Peterson is one proponent, and Avinash Kaushikis another. (Avinash works as a consultant to Google, which tells you something about his skill and the richness of the data he gets to play with!)
But most search marketing experts only look at the click costs of conversions from brand searches. Cross channel tracking needs to be used to measure the real total cost to a business of getting a conversion from a brand-name search. Cross channel tracking, for those who might not know, refers to tracking conversions across various marketing mediums, such as search, email, print ads, radio etc. Here’s how it can be used to measure the real cost of conversions from branded search. Read More
Back in March, I published a post called Can David Hasselhoff Save Volkswagen? Well, the new Volkswagen ad campaign featuring celebrities of German ascent, Heidi Klum, David Hasselhoff and Rick Searfoss, has launched. Take a look at the ads below.
So what do you think? Will these ads give Volkswagen the boost it needs? Has the Hoff made the difference VW hoped for?
Unfortunately, I don’t think this campaign is going to get the job done.
I was recently given a copy of Gravitational Marketing by Jimmy Vee, Travis Miller and Joel Bauer and asked to give it a look. I’m glad I did. Gravitational Marketing delivers a path for readers to follow in order to master “The Science of Attracting Customers”. It asks readers to throw everything they’ve learned about marketing out the window and start with a clean slate in order to absorb the simple theories in the book.
If you read Brandcurve frequently, then you know I’m a big proponent of using common sense in your marketing and branding. Take a step back and review your marketing and branding strategies and goals to make sure they make sense before you move forward with them. Gravitational Marketing definitely belongs in the school of common sense. It’s written in an inviting tone that doesn’t talk down to readers. Read More
One of the things businesses have to constantly do is weighing risks versus rewards. There are many marketers and entrepreneurs who will tell you that to reach your fullest potential and truly grow, you have to take risks, but what does taking risks do to your brand that you’ve worked so hard to create?
He hasn’t won the Democratic nomination yet, but that’s not stopping 
Today at Brandcurve, I’m happy to publish a guest post by Herbert Ong of Genuosity Inc. Herbert is an expert in word of mouth marketing. You can read more about Herbert at the end of this post. Without further ado, following is Herbert’s post, “Word of Love(TM) Marketing.”
I’m very happy to announce that today we have a guest post on Brandcurve by Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller, the authors of 
What is the true cost of conversions gained through branded search? What is the true ROI?
I was recently given a copy of 
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