So, on April 23rd, a couple hundred of our close Des Moines social media friends as well as some connected through the wonders of technology, gathered to explore “The State Of Now” at the 2012 140 Character Conference Des Moines!

As a marketing and branding professional, I love to create passion with my words, but I was in for a treat on this day.  We had speakers make connections professionally and personally throughout the whole day. As I watched the event roll via Ustream, I was thrilled and honored to be included in this event. For some, it was educational. For some it was entertaining. For most, it was a day of passionate sharing that they’ll never forget.

Some of my favorite speakers include (click to see their video on YouStream):

Michael Libbie, Speaking on Marketing & Social Media ROI (EYE-OPENING) ( Find him on Twitter @MichaelLibbie )

Laura Wynn, Speaking on Bullying through Social Media (HEART-WRENCHING) ( Find her on Twitter @LauraWynn )

Angela Maiers, Speaking on #YouMatter and Education (POWERFUL) ( Find her on Twitter @AngelaMaiers )

Ben Smith, Speaking on the Social connection and the tremendous experienced he’s had in his “New Home.” (MAKES ME PROUD TO LIVE HERE) ( Find him on Twitter @BenASmith )

While I’ve linked to four of the presentations I liked, PLEASE go to the UStream channel and watch others. You’re going to be amazed!

And for those that know me and know about TRUE Branding: Here, in a neat 10-minute nutshell is how TRUE Branding can change your life and your business for ever!

If you’d like to read more about TRUE Branding, click the link here –>  TRUE BRANDING!

Thanks so much to Deb During ( @DebWorks ) for allowing me to experience the event.  I look forward to future ones!

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

If I’m your brand advocate, we, in some significant way, have made a connection. Your unique message has fought through the din of chaos and clutter and found it’s way into my heart, my mind and even my soul. It’s now a part of me. So engage it with care.

I’ve had the honor of hearing and seeing some very good keynote speakers throughout my career.  Some have left me with tears in my eyes or a fire in my heart while others…  have…  well…  just left me.

On the positive, I’ve seen tremendous motivational speakers like Hajj Flemings (@HajjFlemings on Twitter) and Angel Maiers (@AngelaMaiers on Twitter), innovative business marketing and branding speakers like Michael Wagner (@BigWags on Twitter) and Liz Strauss (@lizstrauss on Twitter).

Every time,  I make it a point to get a few minutes, face-to-face with the speakers to make an introduction – often times just so they can put a name to the face “@TheBrandChef.“ And every time I approach these speakers, they are engaging, honest and forthright when it comes to offering advice or simply talking about the day’s event.

That’s TRUE brand engagement.

That’s how to build a connection to brand advocates and help build a sustainable brand in the minds of your advocates!  WHY? My personal take-away? As your advocate, I feel like I am a bigger part of the event and with the conversation and even a signed book (or whatever swag) I feel I’ve made a connection that meant something to both of us.

So what’s with the Brand Posers?

Yeah, I know, kind of negative, but I have to call ‘em for what they are. I’m talking about the people that stand up and preach brand and personal connections and engagement, but carry themselves in a way that is quite the opposite. They POSE. And they suck.

I take branding personally.  I am, after all, The Brand Chef.  So when I am inspired by a speaker from my industry (or out of for that matter), I have the passion to pursue engagement and connection at ANY level possible. When this happens, it’s electric. Not just for me, but for my work, my career and my own brand advocates. And I’d hope that for the speaker, the brand I have subscribed to, feels a bit of that spark as well.

So, on the negative, when the correlation of brand “performance” to brand engagement is SO far off, it makes me…  well, write posts like this. Because, if I hadn’t had a disappointing experience with a “Brand Poser,” I wouldn’t be relegated to vent. I wouldn’t be forced to wave my blogging fists in the air. I wouldn’t have felt dismissed, disappointed and trivialized.

Being TRULY ENGAGING takes more than a handshake and a kiss in the air by my cheek.

For every clammy palm you have to press and for every Polaroid you have to fake, there is going to be 1000 more that you’ll miss.  And THOSE are the misses that matter. The misses with the people that count, the misses with the people who care, the CONNECTIONS with your brand advocates is what will get you where you want to go. So at least make an effort.

Your accolades, your book and the Armani suit have NOTHING to do with your brand.

So as your brand advocate, I offer this miniscule seed of advice, “Pay attention to those that you look down upon, because they, like you, are climbing the same hill… And years from now, they just might know how to spit further than you.”

That’s where it all started for me.

I read his book, Uncertainty, Turning Fear and Doubt Into Fuel for Brilliance. And for those that know me, I NEEDED it. I can’t say it changed my life. I’ve personally understood what he wrote in the book for 20 years, but it revealed a path on which I could take the first step.  Read it today, I highly encourage it…

So, this morning, as I traveled on that path with meetings for a new venture, creating an outline for new campaigns, dreaming of the future and my plans for personal growth and “World Domination,”  I looked through my email and was shown just another hint of the brilliance that Jonathan Fields was willing to share with us.  It was a notification from Slideshare that Jonathan had posted a new slide deck.

Big deal, right? I get that notification as people I follow in SlideShare post new decks and videos daily. But this one stood out. It simply showed Jonathan Field’s portrait and the title “Annual Report 2011: Serve | Aspire | Transcend” 

I had to click.

What I saw was inspiring. What I read was engaging. What I felt was motivated to make 2012 the start of MY future to Serve, Aspire and Transcend.  I had my start with his book, but Jonathan’s slide deck (a look back for him), which I humbly share here, has become the blueprint for TheBrandChef (Andrew B. Clark) and how I choose to move through my life moving forward.

View…

Annual Report 2011: Serve | Aspire | Transcend

OOOOOOH are things heating up the TheBrandChef’s kitchen this morning? Thanks Jonathan Fields (@jonathanfields) for the permission to dream and act on my dreams.

NOW…  you go do the same!

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

**As a disclaimer, I was just informed this morning (by my Intern) that Cisco has discontinued the production of the FLIP video Camera.  So ANYWHERE I say “FLIP…”  Insert the words “Cell Phone.”  While it lacks the same fun and double entendre as “FLIP,” the premise still applies. If you “CellPhone” your blog (yawn), keep the following topics in mind…  Now, I’m off to catch up on current events.  Are we still in Iraq?**

Videos and podcast aren’t new to interactive marketing and communications. Some of my favorite blogs aren’t actually written blogs at all, but video blogs (or Vlogs) where the author turns the camera on and actually looks right at me and talks. Think about it. VIRTUALLY communicating eye-to-eye with your audience!

Image credit: http://blog.tmcnet.com

As technology improves and the speed of internet connections increases, the need for monster bandwidth, storage space and cost have become relatively low. Considering that, I’ve been encouraging my clients to “Flip” the model of their blogging.

I’ve sent many clients on over to The Flip Video product website for ideas on what the possibilities are and how it can bring people together. Sure, there are video samples given. That’s an obvious, but how they’re presented doesn’t feel quite so authentic. They feel like produced, planned recordings, even though they might not be.

I’m here to tell you…  Flipping Your Blog doesn’t need to be difficult, but it DOES need to be done…

Here are three simple steps to how to make the Flip Video Recorder an integral part of your blogging (and interactive marketing) process.

1. Turn the site over to the people actually using the product / brand (employees and customers):
   Sure there’s room for starched, corporate stuff, but why not make some space available to those that interact with the brand most? Allow them to upload videos, comment on other videos, tag videos and so on. Use your site as an outlet, so the experience with the brand doesn’t get capped in legal or proofreading.  The Flip Video Recorder allows the “HUMAN” side of the brand to come back to communications. The Flip is all about shooting video easily and transferring it to your computer/website in a snap. You should prove this point every day.
2. Create a YouTube channel
   Make your own space on YouTube. It’s FREE! Create a channel. Encourage people to tag their videos to your group. Flip has the “Upload to YouTube” feature, complete the circle and make the channel. You can then feed the channel right into your blog. Multiple authors and endless video opportunities can be sent to your site with very little effort. Why not harness all that free attention?
3. Make it easy to find you
   Outposts… Outposts…  Outposts! I’ve talked about this many times before, but your brand shouldn’t live solely on your website. With more outposts, the more opportunities you’ll have for cross posting, tagging and linking that all generate a little more SEO love as well as create multiple places for your target audience to find you, share your information and create a bigger, more enthusiastic brand community!

My point is this: the Flip Video Recorder is a tool that makes video, basic video editing and video sharing infinitely easier. It’s a tool for real people looking for a simple and convenient video solution. Why not take the easy road and FLIP YOUR BLOG?

So…  why didn’t I do this post using a Flip video?!?  I GAVE MY LAST FLIP CAMERA TO A CLIENT!

How would you use video to build a better blog? How could video improve your user experience with your brand?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Keep Cooking (TRUE, engaging content)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

image credit: Salon.com / Timothy Goodman

Timothy Goodman, new Salon author, reflects on how social media has changed the direction in which branding professionals like me and others aim when it comes to effectively communicating to a client’s target audience. It’s no longer the Don Draper “Tell ‘em and they’ll believe it – ’cause it’s F*&n’ TV, damn-it…” generation. Social media has provided an open source sensibility to marketing and communications and Goodman brings that point to clarity very eloquently in, “How do we brand our evolving selves?” Goodman describes the Jungian classification of “Archetypal Character Traits” that they could then classify brands into and beautifully ties it into one of my favorite movies:

It makes me think about “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” when Mr. Edward Rooney’s secretary, Grace, speaks about Ferris: “Oh, he’s very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads — they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.” And this is exactly the role social media outlets are playing. These brands don’t have to be archetypal anymore, they just have to gainfully house all archetypes.

Integrating Carl Jung into my chosen career certainly gives it a little “Cerebral Credibility”

It (social media) has turned the tables on the “brand warriors” (not you Mark) out there.  We, as advertisers and communications specialists, have a responsibility to develop a brand for, in and around an ever-evolving target audience. It’s no longer a push marketing model. It CAN’T be a react marketing model either.

Unfortunately, I left my clairvoyance license in a bar somewhere in 1992.  I wonder if that would be doing me (or anyone else) any good today?

Thanks to Cathy J. Prince (site coming soon) for pointing out the post, and thanks to Timothy Goodman for reminding us all what the task at hand is. Keep the needle moving and we’ll all be headed in the right direction…  until they change their minds. 

Be the story.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef