Have you ever wondered how I became The Brand Chef? It’s not a story I tell often, but in a recent interview with Johnny Wright (Twitter: @unsecretshopper), better known as The UnSecret Shopper the TRUTH was revealed.
The request came out of the blue (proof of building a good personal brand), but after a few Twitter direct messages and a phone call-or-two, I decided Johnny had some great things to talk about and was very interested in learning more about The Brand Chef, marketing strategies and generally what I do… (go figure).
In 19 short minutes, we covered everything from marketing strategies, social media marketing, customer service (which Johnny is brilliant at, by the way), and we even talked a little about how I became The Brand Chef!
Here’s a link to his post of his full 1-hour show. Or you can listen to just my interview below.
Again, I’d like to thank Johnny Wright for taking the time and giving me the honor of being on his show. It was a great conversation and I look forward to hearing / seeing more from him in the future!
Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
Johnny Wright can also be heard on 1350 AM, KRNT radio in Des Moines Iowa. Every Saturday at 8 AM. Check it out!
Sure, right now it’s 93 degrees (in my neighborhood) and Christmas is a whole 156 days away, but I can almost see all of the commercials now. Don’t they start airing some time in September?!? And shortly after, my kids start communicating with every sentence starting with, “I NEED…”
It’s as predictable as the tides. What do you do?
The Child’s Mind And The “Want vs. Need” Paradigm
About mid October, when the kids finally succumb to the hypnotizing din of “New and improved this…” or “Now with 3D and smell-o-vision that,”I stop making lists and start asking two simple questions.
“How many do you actually NEED?” and “Do you really NEED that… Really?”
“… or is it that you just ‘WANT’ it?”
That usually stops the munchkins mid-sentence like they’re hoping not to be caught for audibly farting. But what it really does is open the door to a more reasonable conversation centered on the “Want vs. Need” paradigm. (No, my kids don’t use the word “paradigm…” yet, but it works…)
The Nightmare Of The Perpetual Christmas And The Ever-Elusive Groovy Doohickey
In the marketing world, Christmas comes on almost a daily basis. Day after day, week-in and week-out, clients approach their marketing teams with stars in their eyes and dreams of some ever-elusive groovy doohickey that’s going to revolutionize the industry. And day after day, week-in and week-out, advertising agencies, marketing boutiques, freelancers and consultants alike accommodate them like Daddy Warbucks on Christmas morning. But should we really?
What would happen if the advertising agencies, marketing boutiques, freelancers and consultants asked one of two simple questions?
“How many do you actually NEED?”
Has the affect of the last 40 ad-hock attempts at knee-jerk marketing been successful? Have you taken the time to let a strategy take hold? Will another direct mailer or another sales spot on every radio station in the city really make it better? Doesn’t it eventually all add up to more noise?
OR (my favorite) “Do you really NEED that… Really?”
Too many companies are out there listening to “gurus” preaching on everything from social media and branding to voo-doo for solutions to their marketing woes. Maybe it’s not the next groovy doohickey that your marketing needs.
What would happen if we treated our customers like children? Would they listen? Would they walk away? Could you do it? Maybe some of you already have (I know some of you and it’s true).
Food for thought…
Keep Cooking (the bravest decisions for your customers – whether they like it or not.)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
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
A lot of people tease me because I’m “Always On.” If I’m not in the office, I can usually be found through any number of social media channels. Whether it’s my Twitter page, my check-ins on Foursquare or my Facebook page; it’s not very hard to find me – for good or bad.
This last week, though, I decided I’d take a vacation. You know, the “relaxing, kick-back-n-nap by the pool kind of week” that many of us need to recharge the branding battery and focus. Well, this is what I did…
I cleaned. Boy did I clean. My house looks like we just moved in.
I gardened. It finally stopped raining in central Iowa, so I pulled about 100 lbs of weeds and found that my garden still survived underneath it all…
I played with the kids. I have three great kids that are on Summer vacation, so after I made them help me weed and clean, we had some quality family time. Movies. Fireworks. Carnivals. Dinners out…
It really was a great week!
But I couldn’t stay away from social media, work and talking about branding. I tweeted and used social media to coordinate projects for work. I scheduled meetings. I went to business and sales improvement seminars… (relaxing?) My coworkers tease me, but maybe this will show them that I should get MORE vacation days. I seem to be pretty darn productive when I’m not sitting at my desk.
One of the activities I’m VERY proud of accomplishing this week was going on-air for the first time in 20 years with Michael Libbie and his Insight On Business webcast that airs daily at http://www.webcastliveone.com We talked branding, business, social media, banking, cause marketing and general current events. I had a blast!
Below is the stream. You may need to jump forward a minute-or-so to get through the set up, but it’s well worth the watch. Maybe I’ll do more of these in the future! (click here for the video in FaceBook and Feed readers)
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!
