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.”
As CreateWOW embarked on decorating our new office space, I sent out a tweet asking if someone new of a product or a solution to make an entire wall an erasable white board. I did get some answers, but none that I would have been comfortable with. Some required a VERY EXPENSIVE paint. Others suggested large sheets of melonite that I’d have to secure to the walls (landlord frowned on that idea). So, eventually, I gave up on the idea.
It was hard at first, because I am such a visual person, I use an easel and HUGE note pads just to flesh out illustration ideas. Imagine the space it takes to really flesh out a social media marketing campaign!
Well, yesterday, during a client planning session, I realized what my brain had been telling me for a few months now. The dry erase wall is a good idea.
A Plan Is Worth 1,000 Words:
a plan is worth 1,000 words
In a matter of minutes, the clients and I flew through sheet after sheet of pad paper and pasted them to the wall. The conversation was flowing so quickly that just keeping up with the ideas was a challenge. After we’d “Dumped” our wish list on the papers, we then, rearranged the pages and put the plan in systematic, chronological order.
PERFECT.
The clients left assured that the directives they assigned us were understood and the plan to achieve their goals was in place. Smiles. Handshakes. Pats on the back. It all seemed so simple, but without the plan up on the wall, it was just words.
Try this approach next time you’re in a planning or strategy session with your clients or coworkers. It’s a little overwhelming for the “Non-visual” people in the room, but I guarantee when they see the path ahead of them, they’ll take the next step with you without asking another question.
Well, I found one. In an article I read a few months ago, Kohi Vinh brought to the foreground the alarmingly BAD illustration and exposure artists are getting online. While I could have written a post agreeing with his post… I wanted to do one better.
Below is a narrative of the post – Kohi’s article driven down to its core – an automated, web-static dramatization of what’s wrong with online illustration (or the lack thereof).
Video… Feed readers may need to click through to the post to view the video properly.
I know a lot of my readers are artists, or used to be and now find themselves in “The Digital Wonderland.” What say you? Is this digital age making it harder for Illustrators and artists of all kinds to make a living at their chosen trade, or are we just a bunch of crybabies?
Myopic Manager:“Something that will get us noticed.”
Worker Wendy:“For what, sir?”
Myopic Manager:“You know. Something catchy and, what’s the word? VIRAL!”
Worker Wendy:“Viral, sir?”
Myopic Manager: “Yeah! Put it on FaceTube! That’ll do it!”
***
There are so many things wrong with that conversation, I can’t begin to list them. But this was a summarized dialogue a friend of mine recently had with her employer. It seems as though, after 25 years in business, “said employer”finally purchased a ticket to the 21st century and realized he was wearing a suit made in 1989 – you know, padded shoulders, thin, cotton tie… the whole enchilada!
The inspiration for this time-traveling adventure came from a growing collection of customers asking why they couldn’t find their favorite “widget” on the Internet. They couldn’t find their website. They couldn’t “Like” their FaceBook page. Heck, if they didn’t get up off their butts and walk through the door, they couldn’t tell the company was actually still in business!
“So, where do you start?” she asked me. And that’s where my “Mr. Marketing and Branding” persona jumped out – somewhat abruptly…
“Are you kidding?” I shot back at her. “Your company is nowhere near ready for Facebook, YouTube or social media marketing. Why don’t reign in Michael J. Fox over there and start with basic TRUE Branding?”
I explained to her that TRUE Branding was the road-map to where her boss wanted to go. They needed to discover the truth about their company – the who, what, when, where and why of their brand and brand community (‘cause they obviously have one). Then they needed to do some deep research to find out what made their company / brand relevant to their brand community. After that they needed to focus on what made them unique in that community. If there was ten other “widget” makers in the vicinity, what were unique propositions to going to their shop? And finally the needed to figure out where that community spent it’s time engaging their brand. Obviously they needed a stronger Web presence, but were FaceBook and YouTube really going to be where the best engagement would take place?
I’m sure, by the end of our conversation, my face was red and the veins in my forehead resembled what that road-map may look like. But the takeaway was put perfectly when she called up her employer and said, “Sir, we really can’t skip steps when it comes to TRUE Branding and marketing. Let’s take a strategic look at what where we want to go and then my friend Andy can come by and work with us to get there”
I know this comes off as a bit of a rant, but there are a lot of companies out there that are still behind the curve when it comes to social media marketing. It isn’t so much using the tools of social media like FacebookYouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, but the brand and marketing strategy that powers these tools. And it’s going to take time and a lot of thought to get that road-map to the future figured out.
Contrary to what Michel J. Fox and Steven Spielberg told us in 1985, time travel is NOT possible; the flux capacitor hasn’t been built yet; Delorians won’t withstand the pressure of time travel; and Doc Brown is just another wild-eyed pedophile in an Einstein wig and lab coat.
But I digress.
Could I have taken my friend’s company (and their money) and thrown together a FaceBook page and a few videos for YouTube? Sure. But I wouldn’t have been doing my job as The Brand Chef if I did it without TRUE branding and a strategic road-map. And they wouldn’t have seen results from any of it – making us all look stupid.
Just to sum up… You can’t jump from 1989 to 2010 with the simple activation of a Twitter account. Research, plan, integrate and engage with social media AFTER you’ve figured out where your brand should be going within the marketplace. Then make a commitment to staying up-to-date with your brand, your industry and your community.
Until Next Time (within the next 25 years)…
Keep Cooking (timely, relevant branding decisions.)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
So, today I decided to expound on the social media world’s fascination with BACON.
Yep, Bacon! It’s the American blogger’s food-porn aphrodisiac. If it came between naked pictures of Kaley Cuoco(Penny on “Big Bang Theory”) and bacon, I truly worry that the bacon would get more views. Maybe Kaley’s photos would have a lower bounce rate, but that’s a whole different blog (and innuendo)…
Anyway! I honestly can’t go a single day without seeing a tweet or a post or a photo(notice the bacon bra?) of something to do with bacon. It’s everywhere!
So, why bacon? Why? WHY!?!
1. Bacon Emotes True Passion - Starting out with the obvious, bacon is… FREAKIN’ bacon!
You can whisper “I have bacon” in a crowded room and it’s pretty certain that you get a glorious, harmonizing response of “yummmmmmm…” similar to those Tibetan Deep Throat Chants. (video)
that aside, the draw to bacon is so powerful, some retailers and hotels have been branded JUST by the bacon they serve! I’ve read of entire restaurant menus dedicated to bacon, but to have an endorsement like this,
“if Bacon had a God he would live at The Roger Smith Hotel!” – Chris Brogan
makes an impact for bacon’s case that knocks you off your feet.
2. Bacon Has Spanning Relevance - While I really don’t need to go into the origins of bacon, I would assume that it took some grunting relative of ours about 10 seconds to figure out the salting and curing of the fatty back parts of pigs turned a generally disgusting part of the animal into one of the most succulent slices of meat human kind would ever stumble upon. It can be fried, diced, baked, grilled and even made into ice cream. So how can bacon NOT be relevant to every social and economical demographic under the sun?
3. Bacon Is Ultimately Unique – It has a taste like no other meat product. It’s kind of a cross between glazed ham and beef jerky. The sheer individuality of bacon makes it the most utilitarian meat source on the planet. And just try to search for “Bacon Recipes.” You’ll be reading (and drooling) for days…
4. And Bacon Is Soooo Engaging – How can one food, one simple, solitary slice of meat become the biggest meme of the 21st century? How can bacon, a fat, salty slice of cholesterol become more consistently popular than Justin Bieber or Britney Spears put together?
Let’s just put it this way, have you ever been unhappy eating bacon?
UH OH… look what I just did…
Can you hear it? Sizzling like fat on a 400˚ griddle… my branding brain did it again.
Even when it comes to writing a silly post about the popularity of bacon, I pull in the TRUE Branding formula. It’s inevitable. When it comes to branding, like bacon, there has to be truth, relevance, uniqueness and engagement.
I haven’t asked pork producers but this could all be a big conspiracy to sell more pork product, but I’m sure they’re not complaining.
How would YOU like your brand to have the fan base bacon has? Imagine having your brand, your product, your name associated with everything personally rewarding and ultimately sinfully satisfying as bacon.
Try it.
Keep Cooking (until it’s crisp and satisfying.)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
And with a hat tip to my blogging buddy @AdMavericks(Josh Fleming) I give you another tribute to BACON!
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.
