Little Labor Friday

Happy Happy Friday before Labor Day! In honor of "doing very little," please note my new fee structure for today only:

QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND PROBLEMS SOLVED:
1. Simple .50
2. Guesses $ 1.00
3. Intelligent $ 2.50
4. Honest $ 5.00

Dumb looks are still free

Business advice from Van Halen

Dreams from their "5150" album produced in 1986--

"World turns black and white
Pictures in an empty room
Your love starts fallin' down
Better change your tune

"You reach for the golden ring
Reach for the sky
Baby, just spread your wings

"We'll get higher and higher
Straight up we'll climb
We'll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind

"Run, run, run away
Like a train runnin' off the track
Got the truth bein' left behind
Falls between the cracks
Standin' on broken dreams
Never losin' sight
Well just spread your wings

"We'll get higher and higher
Straight up we'll climb
We'll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind

"So baby, dry your eyes
Save all the tears you've cried
Oh, THAT'S WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF"

Branding Boundaries

Understanding the boundaries of your brand. What you can or cannot do and what you should or should not do with your brand when it comes to launching second brands.

In my consulting practice, I work with big companies, small companies, old companies and new companies. While the actual laws of branding never change, what laws are most relevant for a particular client often do. What might work for one brand is not necessarily going to work for another.

The most frequent troubles occur with the law of the second brand. Launching a second brand is a powerful tool in expanding the power, success and growth of a company. However, companies often misunderstand when a second brand is necessary. Companies that should launch second brands often don’t and companies that shouldn’t launch second brands often do.

A company should launch a second brand when its initial brand is so strongly positioned in the mind that the new idea will undermine its meaning. But sometimes launching a second brand while strategically sound would undermine the focus of a company and overtax management’s time and attention.

Here are five brand attributes to analyze before your company launches a second brand:
1. SIZE- Bigger companies have more to gain from second brands. Smaller companies have more to lose from second brands.
2. AGE- Older companies need to launch second brands to enter new markets. Newer companies need to dominate an existing market before moving on to a new market.
3. COMPETITION- Companies with many focused competitors need second brands more than do companies with fewer line-extended competitors.
4. OPPORTUNITY- The bigger the opportunity, the more important it is to use a second brand. The less significant the opportunity, the more confusion a second brand will cause.
5. RESOURCES- The man who chases two rabbits catches neither. Unless he hires another man. Can your company afford the resources required to launch a second brand? Resources don’t just mean the money for a second marketing budget, but also the additional drain on management’s time and attention.

Coca-Cola would have been wise to make Diet Coke a new brand instead of a line-extension. While Snapple would have been foolish to give Diet Snapple a new brand name. (Big companies should generally launch second brands. Small companies should not.)

General Electric, a company over a century old, can survive with one brand because in most categories it does not faced focused competition. But GE got slaughtered in mainframe computers because it faced IBM and other focused competition. (Companies with focused competitors need second brands.)

Toyota needed a second brand to move up-market into luxury automobiles (Lexus) and a third brand to move down-market into cool, hip machines for the younger crowd (Scion.) Lexus smartly keeps its brand focused by using model numbers instead of new brand names for its sedans, SUVs and sports cars. (Both luxury cars and cool cars are big opportunities that deserved new brands.)
Understanding the world of branding is important, but knowing where your brand (and therefore your company) can go is even more important.

In the effort to capture our WHOLE audience...

Brands (and companies) sometimes have to join forces.

(You've just gotta love Tom Fishburne.)

Opportunity is Knocking...

... but sometimes I don't answer. The following is a monologue on the top three words/phrases I LOVE to hear.

"Thou strong seducer, Opportunity,"
says 17th century English poet and literary critic, John Dryden. And, I have to agree with him. How many times do you sit in meetings and attend conferences where someone is attempting to lure the audience with the siren song of OPPORTUNITY. Coincidentally, or maybe predictably, "opportunity" has the same number of syllables as "oh, $#!t, I screwed up."

My other favorite word (yes, I've already had a sarcastic sandwich this Monday morning) is PARTNER. People are always wanting me to partner on their projects. 99.999% of the time means me giving away all my intellectual property for a long period of time (like years) in hopes of successfully launching their company, and then I get to enjoy a smaller percentage of the profits. Well, it was their idea in the first place. I'm supposed to disregard the fact that they never could have gotten it off the ground without help. Ugh.

Finally, "I'D LOVE TO PICK YOUR BRAIN" about my idea/ my business/ my whatever. I know that attorneys, accountants, psychiatrists, and other professionals whose work IS their brain experience this onslaught almost everyday. I know that most people don't mean any harm. They aren't trying to actually steal from my livelihood; they just need a little enlightenment. So, my response is, "I'd love to sit with you and learn more about your idea so that I can give you some ideas to assist in your project. That's why I created my 'Power Hour.' Just email me a few times this week that are convenient for you. I'll send you an invoice for the $250 consulting fee and we'll nail down a time and location. Sound good?"

... My, my, my. Yes, I DO love it when I hear the knock at the door.

Favorite ad-copy Friday!

As a marketer, I'm always on the lookout for companies with print ads that REALLY grab you. Maybe it's their images, maybe it's their creativity. Most of the time, for me, it's their wordsmithing. Here's just a few of my favs...

"Being boring is a choice. Those mild salsas and pleated khakis don't buy themselves."

"Confidence doesn't whisper. It grabs a bullhorn."

"Dear Ketel One Drinker-- If aliens ever land here, chances are, you'll be one of the people they want to talk to."

"Life is a banquet, and most dumb bastards are starving to death. Get thee to the table... your seat is waiting."

"Look behind you... that's the pecking order."

"Prefers now to never. Always plays hard to forget."

"Live vicariously through no one."

Have a great weekend!!

Coming at you from all sides

As a business owner, is this how you feel sometimes? At a crossroads?? Not sure where the market is taking you next???

With all the uncertainty in the stock market lately, and the implied questionability of U.S. current economic strength, entrepreneurs need to have a strong backbone (and stomach) for sticking to their Unique Value Proposition.

Therefore, I give you "the 10 Ds" in launching and succeeding in business:

1. Dream

2. Decision

3. Do

4. Determination

5. Dedication

6. Devotion

7. Details

8. Destiny

9. Dollars

10. Distribute