When I started this little title contest I asked myself one, somewhat intimidating question.  “What if I didn’t see any entries?” It happened before. I was terrified, but with faith in my social media community, I posted anyway.

I checked stats after an hour – nothing.  I checked stats after three hours and there was a hit or two, but no entries.  Then, after a day, one trickled in…  then another and another… within three days, I had so many titles that I almost stopped the contest just to use ALL of the entries for future posts!

I was blown away to see the creativity and fun people were having with the opportunity.  From the sublime “Eat This,” to the off-putting “The Smurfs Were Communists,” each new entry gave me a little insight into the participant’s personal brand - funny… reflective… passionate… curious… driven… While not my intention, I learned a little bit about all of them, and I thank them all.

Which brings us to our winner:

“Flourish Where You Live.”

When Sheena Rae Lara (@SheenaMacGruber on Twitter) posted her title entry, I knew it was one I was going to have to look into some more – win or not. It had depth.  It had weight that made me think of a million things to write, and that, originally, was the reason for the post “Conquer Writers Block – Save The World,” and Sheena killed it!

So, like I said, my original intention was to take Sheena’s title and write my own post from it.  After some reflection (and basic curiosity), I decided instead of telling you about how I thought “Flourish Where You Live” applied to me, I’d let Sheena tell you.  Because without Sheena and the community in which we live, how could The Brand Chef truly flourish?

Flourish Where You Live

(Brand Chef) What possessed you to post your title for this competition?
(Sheena Rae Lara) I had been thinking about doing my own blog post on this topic and saw your contest and wrote it in.

(BC) So, what inspired your title?
(SRL) I tell people that my plan, when I was in college, was to leave Iowa. I ended up staying and doing well here.

(BC) It sounds like a personal calling or mission you try to follow, yes?
(SRL) Yeah, I think so. I think it’s a waste of energy wishing/thinking about living somewhere else. If you really want to get out of Iowa then take the steps do it, otherwise quit dreaming and start making Iowa into the place you want it to be.

(BC) How to you integrate your title into everyday life?
(SRL) Flourishing can be different to different people, but for me it’s about doing what makes me happy and adding quality to my life. If that means staying home and baking bread from scratch, taking my son to the park, heading out to dollar pints at Olde Main with good friends or working on creative side projects.

(BC) Are you “a local” or do you hail from outside our little, Midwestern bubble?
(Note to readers: I ask this just because Sheena and I had connected on Twitter a few months ago to discuss her interest in multi-cultural marketing.)
(SRL) I’m an Iowan, spent my whole life living in Iowa except when I backpacked across Europe for two weeks and lived in Rome for a semester. I love learning about different cultures and people!

So, of course, here come the branding questions…

(BC) If you could sum up your personal brand in one sentence, what would it be, and would your title be incorporated?
(SRL) Tough one! Adventurous and responsible, nothing is beyond reach with a little creativity and ambition.

(BC) What do you want the readers to know about you that isn’t evident through your social media activity or blog?
(SRL) Well, some people have picked up on the axe stuff. I’m a contributor to Best Made Company’s social media presence. I started their facebook fan page and contribute to their blog.

***

Well Sheena (and the rest of you), I just want to thank you for taking the time to participate in my little social media contest this week.

It IS through the community in which you live that the passion and love for your surroundings fosters TRUE growth.  Sure, I’ve lived in Boston, Kansas City and traveled to other countries, but I kept coming back to my community, my family, my friends in Des Moines, Iowa. Why? I think Sheena said it best,

“I think it’s a waste of energy wishing/thinking about living somewhere else. … quit dreaming and start making {where you live} into the place you want it to be.”

It warms my heart to see social media fostering new relationships and creating these communities around virtual commonalities.

This is where I live!  This is where I flourish! How about you?

Keep Cooking! (Wherever you live!)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Sheena Rae Lara is currently the Graphic Designer for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University.
She is looking into pursuing a Master’s degree in marketing and transitioning her career into digital media/marketing with a multicultural emphasis.

Life spins around us pretty fast. It’s astounding that when we sit down to write, create, work, or whatever; the world comes to a screeching halt. Of course the distractions, the annoying emails, the tweets and post alerts seem to continue, but when creating really matters, you freeze. My last post talked about the need to conquer this writer’s block. If you don’t want to click back to read the whole post, here’s an excerpt:

It kills me every Wednesday night. While I’ve known all week that I have a personal deadline set to post every Thursday morning; I wait until Wednesday night (or later) to actually start writing. I take notes, jot ideas, scribble and doodle all week, but when it comes to Wednesday, I open TextEdit and just sit.

CRAP…

Suddenly, tonight, a voice in my head said “What the hell are you doing? Just start writing, you moron!” So I did. I wrote, “You’re going to die anyway.” and POW, the words started rolling.

So I challenged you to write the title of a future post for me – to kick-start some of the juices. And to my surprise, you stepped to the challenge (yay).

Now we – more to the point, YOU – get to vote on which title will be my next post! Read the entries below and vote for your favorite. You have until the end of the day (6:00 pm CST) Monday, June 21st to make your decision.

I will take the most popular title and interview the person that submitted it to get “the full story.” Who knows? It may reveal something about one of our fellow community of readers or it may just be cool to hear how they came up with the title. Any way we look at it, it’s going to prove to be interesting and challenging.

So, vote away! I look forward to seeing the results!

Keep Cooking! (free-flowing creative that saves the world!)

Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Does your company have good character? I’m not talking about the people or “characters” within the company. While the people make up a very important part of it, I’m talking about the character of the company, itself.

Good character, like TRUE branding, is based on a very specific set of criteria. For TRUE branding, we’ve determined that the brand must be True, Relevant, Unique and Engaging to have a strong, marketable brand foundation. But when it comes to character, there are six traits that form the strongest foundation:

•  Trustworthiness
•  Respect
•  Responsibility
•  Fairness
•  Caring
•  and Citizenship

Not one of those characteristics has anything to do with increasing market share or ROI.

There’s more than the bottom line. There’s more than the marketing. There’s more than 60-hour workweek. There’s more than the executive washroom. There’s more than accounting or sales. More than copier paper, toner, staples… There’s simply more, and it’s called character. While it shouldn’t be confused with your company brand, good character and a TRUE brand should go hand-in-hand.

Can British Petroleum (BP) say they’ve got a good character? If you evaluate the company character based on the simple six criteria listed above, they’re failing miserably! They’ve broken our trust, shown absolutely NO respect, taken no responsibility for their actions and have been deplorable in their dealings since the spill (can we even call it a spill any more?). And let’s not even talk about caring and citizenship. It’s a perfect case study in complete corporate character implosion. Even based on the TRUE branding criteria, I’d say their brand (and company) is in a world of hurt.

I love the recent statement by Laura Ries when she identified BP’s “brand problem.”

“The spill in the Gulf has pulled the curtain off of a company that has been blowing smoke up our butts for years. No consumer, regulator or politician will soon forget this tragedy”

And she concludes with,

“Strong brands with a reputation for quality, safety and honesty are able to survive even the worst tragedies and negative PR stories. Toyota, Tylenol and Goldman Sachs have faced some dark days recently, but for them the future is still bright because the brands are strong. For BP, not so much. A brand with a poor reputation facing one of the worst oil spills ever is damaged goods. No amount of advertising can fix this. Anything BP says will no longer be believed. You can fool us once, but never again.”

Because of recent events, BP is the obvious example, but what other companies have been branding themselves as the “community company” when its character, deep down, is flawed, selfish, myopic and detrimental to the community in which they serve? Finding the truth within your brand is imperative. It’s the foundation on which all else is built. Ironically, truth is a core component for good character as well.

I can’t emphasize the importance of the correlation here.  There’s an important connection. When the two support each other, everyone wins!

What has your company done to educate and foster good character? Does good character start in the corner office and spread on down through the ranks or is it simply a happy face panted over oil slicks, smoke screens and broken promises?

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking! (TRUE character-driven business)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

For more information on the six pillars of character, check out these links:

http://www.charactercountsiniowa.blogspot.com/
http://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html
http://www.drake.edu/icd/
http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/

There are a lot of positive signs that small businesses are starting to adopt social media marketing as an integrated component of their overall business plans.  One significant change, based on a February 2010 Small Business Success Index report, is the fact that social media usage among small business jumped from a meager 12% in 2008 to 24% in the following year (Yes, doubled).

Of those using social media, 69% post regular updates / articles of relevance to sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn. Two additional stats that made me smile were: 54% monitor positive / negative feedback via social networks, and almost 40% of the small businesses author a blog pertaining to their field of expertise.

OUTSTANDING!

But hold on, that’s still only 1-in-5 of those surveyed.

So, let’s address some of the restraints keeping small businesses form jumping on board?

According to the report, 50% of the users say it takes more time than they expected.

This is a surprise? Okay, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, but the reason they may have been caught off guard is a result of one or a combination of following:

1. Some “Social Media Expert” duped them with dollar signs and drummed up statistics, set up a Twitter account and a FaceBook page and then ran off with  little to no strategy or support.
2. They took it on by themselves with little to no understanding of building a social media community or marketing.
3. They underestimated how little they knew about their brand, the audience and the business.

Of course social media marketing takes time! Just like scheduling  time to check voice-mail or email, small business owners need to adapt to make time for a little proactive community engagement. It pays off in the end.

Then there’s the statistic that made me laugh the hardest.  17% expressed that social media gives people a chance to criticize their business on the Internet.

Do they actually think criticism won’t happen if they stay away?  Go ahead, try it.  Then, call me when the business folds.  I know Realtors that need the square footage.

***

Come on, folks, this should stand as a call to action for all small business owners (as well as those that market to/for them).  Social media is not going away any time soon.  And the quicker you figure out how to use it to your advantage, the better chances you’ll have for surviving the years to come.

Here are 10 starting questions I like to ask those looking into social media for marketing.

1. What will make you stand out among the others “yelling into the chasm?”
2. Who is your target audience?
3. Who are your direct competitors?
4. What could be some indirect inhibitors?
5. Do you have a marketing plan – written down with goals, strategies, tactics and a reasonable budget?
6. Is there a strategy or tactic within your marketing plan that social media could compliment / support (Public Relations, etc.)?
7. Do you have the manpower/ time for social media marketing?
8. (If not) Do you have the budget to outsource components of social media marketing?
9. Do you know how to carry on an engaging conversation?
10. Do you have patience?

As with any marketing tool, social media has a unique profile in each company’s marketing plan. While a blog is a great core component to a social media marketing strategy, Twitter, YouTube and FaceBook may not always apply. Heck, If your target audience isn’t active online, don’t be a fool and put your time into broad social media integration. Just make sure to do a little research before jumping in and you’ll know what’s right for you / your company.

Where does your small business stand when it comes to integrating social media into your marketing plan?  Is it an add-on that will eventually fade away?  Or do you have the plan and vision to make social media work for you?

If you’re a small business that hasn’t embraced social media as a marketing tool, then I have two things to say:

1. You’re losing out on a fantastic way to extend your marketing message as well as build brand equity.
2. You’re probably not reading this and I’m writing for my already savvy followers and this is pointless.

Food for thought.

Keep Cooking! (Purposeful, results-oriented decisions)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Our pledge of allegiance mentions something about being “One Nation,” and being, “Indivisible,” right?  Unfortunately, it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I may have to check my facts on that.

After watching the State of the Union address, I had to reflect on how, with ironic timing, President Obama’s points called out the divisiveness and partisan wrangling that has burdened our government.  Opening his speech, he offered a basic testimony to the past struggles our nation faced and how solutions were made:

“And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our hesitations and our fears, America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people.”

One Nation… Right?

I sensed his frustration. His pleas to each side of the isle were compelling.

“To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town — a supermajority — then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions. So let’s show the American people that we can do it together.”

(You can read the full State of the Union address here.)

And here’s how I turn this into a post about marketing…

As I listened to Obama, I almost felt as if he’d read my last blog post about good branding being in the eye of the beholder. (President Obama, if you’d like to comment, that’d be great!)

My underlying plea from that post was about being stronger as a marketing communications community.  It was about stopping the finger pointing and accusations of inadequacy.  It was about stopping the abuse of those trying to do good for their clients and being more aware and supporting the community we all try to make a living in.

Whether you consider them a competitor, a colleague, an associate or even an enemy; solely pointing out what’s wrong with a campaign, plan or design does nothing productive.  Does it offer benefit to your clients?  Does it offer benefit for their clients?

How does it reflect on your own brand?

So, for those of you working in, for, around, or on behalf of a client – ANY client, maybe this will help:

“I pledge allegiance to the Brand and the value proposition of our Client; and for the return for which we aim, one agency (or Nation), under God, caffeine crazed, with creativity and reward for all.”

Say that every morning, with your hand over your heart, as you stare at the coffee maker.  Maybe it will help remind you that we’re all in this to support the clients and our community. We’re all in this to make a better world for our children.  But most of all, we’re all in this together.

One Nation…

Keep Cooking (TRUE benefit for all)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef