This post is for my fellow Midwesterners that have, over the last 60 hours, braved the cold, wind and driving snow from one of the worst blizzards seen in this area in almost a decade.

Last time Iowa had snow like Tuesday and Wednesday’s storm was 1992. I was still cuddled warm in my dorm room at Coe College and didn’t see the need to venture out in the gale winds.  We had plenty of TopRamen,  plenty of Keystone Light, and cable television to keep up safe, warm and entertained for the two days we were snowed into our dorms.  Heck, I didn’t even need to shower if I didn’t feel the urge (although roommates made it evidently clear that one was needed.)

This time, circumstances were different. I’m now a “bonafied” grown-up with responsibilities like a family, home, and a real job.  I have a mortgage to pay, I have children to protect and keep warm and fed.  I even have a dog that needs to be cared for – a long leap from the last blizzard that crippled the area.

So, how did I get through it this time?

Winter-time brands, baby…

Here are 16 brands I’d like to thank for getting me through “Death Storm 2009:”

• Jeep – My trusty Liberty was sideways a few times, but that was probably operator error … probably?
• Toro – Without my trusty snow blower, I would STILL be shoveling through the 4′ drifts.  I *heart* Toro!
  
• Old Navy – “Economical” Winter coat…  ’nuff said.
  
• Thinsulate – mmmm…  toasty warm snow pants for the kids (and dad).
• Encore Movie Channels – what a great way to decompress from 4 hours of pushing snow…  some mindless classics (Die Hard, Step Brothers, and soooo many more…)
  
• Cartoon Network & Nickelodeon – although the kids spent most of the time outside (crazy!)
  
• Apple Computers – without = SOCIAL MEDIA PANIC…  No blog Posts!  No Twitter? No Facebook? The end of civilization as we know it!  Cats and Dogs living together…  complete, mass-hysteria!
  
• Pillsbury – two words: Christmas Cookies!
  
• Pork – The Other White Meat – The kids and I made “home-made” pizza… Between you and me, nothing goes better on pizza than oodles of Italian pork sausage!
  
• Skittles – Can you say “Taste The Rainbow?” and, no they didn’t go on the pizza… dessert…  ?
  
• TownHouse Crackers – a perfect part of a late-night snack… (kickn’ Web site as well!)
  
• Shullsburg Cheese – and what else to top those crackers?  Say Cheese!  And they’re a Midwestern brand to boot!
• KCCI TV8 – my favorite weather tracking team…
  
• Iowa DOT – the folks in those big, yellow trucks that kept burying the end of my driveway… but I’m DARN glad they’re there to get the city moving again!
• Aspercream – ’cause I’m not 18 any more… (OR: go out strong and don’t let them see you limp back in.)
  
• Serta – the best way to end the day…
  

So, by the list, you can pretty much tell what I did over the last 60+ hours.  Brands defined my day…

What brands did you depend on to make it through the storm?  Were there some that you counted on more during the storm than any other day (Toro, Aspercream)?

Here’s hoping you all are happy, safe and warm. Just think…  this Winter just started.

Keep Cooking (warm thoughts)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Now that you have a Twitter account, what do you do to make it work for you?

Jump In and Start Tweeting:
Social media is not exactly social in the beginning.  It’s a lot of people, alone, standing at the edge of the chasm yelling trivial facts about themselves and their industry.  And that’s why statistics say that up to 60% of Twitter users quit after a short time.

A conversation starts with “Hello.” It’s a simple concept, but even communication-savvy professionals seem to forget this fact when they first sign into their Twitter account.

Take a strategic approach to positioning your brand.  Start talking about what you do.  Start referencing your skills, your accomplishments and your vision for a better personal or professional brand dialogue.

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Find Some Friends:
Nothing is more gut-wrenching than the idea going to a party alone.  Twitter has MILLIONS of people at the party, so there has to be someone to talk to, ya’ think?  But how do you find them and how do they find you?

Here are some tactics I’ve used to find like individuals and thought leaders in my industry:

The first and easiest step is to follow those who your friends follow.  Find a person with similar interests to yours and look at who they are following.  Often times, if you work in the same industry, you’ll find people that you know (or want to know).  Engage them.

Another good way to start building your network is to start with a basic Twitter search at “http://search.twitter.com“.  Search terms related to your personal and professional interests (e.g. -  marketing, cooking, photography, Des Moines, Iowa, etc.)

NOTE: For those that think keeping the security setting ON their Twitter account is a good idea.  It’s not. Twitter is the pinnacle of social media dialogue, so why lock people out of the conversation?  As soon as you set up your account, unprotect your tweets, go to Account and deselect “Protect my tweets” now!

If you’re looking to use Twitter as a micro-social venue (corporate connection hub), you may find it limiting at 140 characters per post. Also, anyone you “friend” will most certainly be a little confused when they arrive to your party and the front door is locked.

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Schedule It and Tweet It:
I’ll be the first to admit that social media, especially Twitter, can be a HUGE time investment.  To keep from sitting, watching… waiting, and wondering when to jump into the conversation is to simply schedule it and tweet it.

Set aside some time, every day, to get into your twitter stream.  Schedule ideas to talk about based on your current projects or post questions about conversations you see in your stream.  I like to schedule one hour a day to be 100% active on Social Media (that may vary based on the number of accounts you have to manage).

In that hour, start out monitoring conversations within your stream.  The best way to have an engaging brand is to be a resource of knowledge for others.  If you see a question or comment that you can add value to, then jump in and start tweeting.

If you’re not seeing active conversations that you can (or want to) join, have a back-up subject to start a discussion.  Post a question or a comment and try to tag someone to get their attention and join the conversation.  (e.g. – “@TheBrandChef — what did you think of MadMen last night?”). If that person is on line and monitoring their stream, they should reply.  Often times, others monitoring specific terms “Mad Men” will find you and jump into the conversation as well.  There are a lot of ways to start a conversation, but simply saying “Hello…” is always the best.

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Now that you’re in the conversation, let’s look at some more other important solutions to make Twitter a TRUE brand extension for you.

Make Your Brand Unique:
Yep…  the BIG “U” of TRUE Branding.  If someone lands on your Twitter page and it looks like the base template (blue sky/clouds background and the dreaded “o_O” avatar), there’s nothing within that critical first second to entice them into engaging with you or your brand (Engaging is the BIG “E” of TRUE Branding, by-the-way).

Immediately after unlocking your tweets, go to Settings/Picture and upload an image that uniquely defines you/your brand.  Your avatar is your online identity, so make sure you chose wisely.  The photo of you and your boyfriend slamming tequila poppers at Jake’s party may not be indicative of your brand or your mission on Twitter.

If you’re tweeting as an individual, I encourage you to have a portrait taken to give your friends a little eye contact.  If your tweeting on behalf of a company or a group/association, have a professional graphic designer create a fitting icon to use as the avatar that reflects the appropriate brand standards.

Although Twitter does offer you a nice collection of background themes to chose from, customizing one to your own design would help to extend your brand image to a much more unique (and professional) level. Try matching your Web site design.  With that, it  would be wise to have a professional designer work up a good background design for you.  And then, simply by going to Settings/Design, you can customize the theme to your brand standards as well as customize the color pallet to match.

Here are some samples of migrating your visual brand to the Twitter platform: Boesen The Florist and The Meyvn Group.

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That’s Just The Appetizer Course:
Before all of those social media experts get their aviators all fogged up, I do want to admit that we’re still only scratching the surface.  There’s tracking, feeds, third-party applications and even mobile discussions we can have to get you even further on Twitter.  But I think I gave you enough to chew on for now.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

Keep Cooking (unique, engaging conversations)!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Hey Boomers…  what would you do if you spent the last 35 (or more) years of your life working to secure your family, your finances, your future, and the economy tanked?

Suddenly you find yourself out of a job due to corporate “out-placement” or “downsizing.” Suddenly, the job that you depended on for the well-being of… well, everything is gone. Suddenly you, along with thousands of others, stand on the unfamiliar streets of a bustling city, resume in hand, wondering what your next step should be.

I can only imagine what’s going through your mind…

• It’s easily been 15 years since you even looked for a job.
• You’ve worked within the same systematic corporate structure for years.
• The skill-set that got you your last job has been replaced by two keystrokes and an open source back end managed by a 26 year-old.
• The last version of your resume was typed on a 1973 Smith Corona.
• The “kid” in the coffee shop down the street has more energy than you could ever dream of having – caffeine induced or not.
• A job search at 50 … Might as well be a trek up Mount Everest in Birkenstocks and bikini.

To compete in this frightening job market, you need to find and edge.  You need to find out what makes you unique to potential employers?  you need to find out what relevance you have to potential employers.

Marva Goldsmith has a plan for you… It’s called Personal Branding.

In her new book Branding Yourself After Age 50, Marva applies commercial branding techniques to those competing for new jobs and hoping to gain higher visibility and value. On September 15, Marva will be kicking off her interactive webinar series based on the book to help participants develop their own personal branding strategies.

“I started the book as self-imposed therapy on the eve of my 50th birthday. It took a different direction as I found many of my peers and colleagues facing unexpected and unplanned ‘career outages’,” says Marva. “The webinars are a natural outgrowth of the book and give people a chance to roll up their sleeves with me and come out with a practical, high-impact plan for moving forward.”

So, Boomers… Push aside those AARP solicitations and step up to the plate.  Remember, it was your motivation and cries for change moved the world to look at equality through clearer eyes. YOU taught us the value of a hard day’s work.  And now it’s time for you to make another change – for yourself.

Personal branding and positioning are key to differentiating your value to potential employers.  Marva Goldsmith has seen it, first hand.  And she wants you to see it too.

Check out her Web site, the book and her webinars at http://www.branding50.com/

Keep Cooking (productive personal brand triumph)!
Andrew B. Clark
- The Brand Chef

Before you delete that “junk mail,” you may want to reconsider…  And here’s why…

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get a lot of email through my Studio 24 site. I rarely look at it and it’s grossly out-of-date. When I do get email from there, it’s usually SPAM.  So, out of habit, I hit “delete” – without even reading!

REALLY BAD IDEA…

Recently, I almost messed up a HUGE opportunity for the Brand Chef blog to be included in some pretty heavy company.  It was a simple oversight, but looking back on it, I realize what a monstrous gaffe it would have been.

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On a quiet Sunday morning, over a bowl of Grape Nuts and a cup of coffee, I decided to weed out my in-box – after over a MONTH of negligence…

You know how it goes…  Facebook notice…  delete… delete…  Twitter…  delete…delete…delete…  SEO Guarantee…  delete…delete… I was in a pretty good groove!  “Special” offer…  delete… delete… “Need a Date?”…delete… delete…

and then…  BrandManagement.com… de-HUH?… I had to pause.

I read it again. “A Message from BrandManagement.com”

Edward Mance, Co-founder and CEO of BrandManagement.com sent me an email.  Odd. But odd because of the long path his message took…

Edward found me through my old blogspot blog, and subsequently through the form on the Studio 24 web site.  This simple fact shows that he made a concerted effort to contact me.

With the push of a button, the story could have ended there. But it didn’t.

As I opened the email and read, my jaw about hit the counter (thank God it didn’t, my mouth was full of partially chewed Grape Nuts)…  Brandmanagement.com was being launched in late May, and according to Mr. Mance,

” …a significant element of the site will be comprised of leading thought writers’ most current, daily/weekly works.“

And he continued on to say,

“In short, we love the blog entries on your site, and we would love to republish those entries on the BrandManagement.com site as they become available on your site…”

Wait a minute… Me? I had to read it two more times and once to my wife, just to clarify who it was really addressed to…  Not only was I honored, but I was astounded that someone else (besides me) thought I had something of value to say.

As I reviewed the site, I realized that Mr. Mance was including The Brand Chef in a pretty darn respectable group of branding consultants, professionals from advertising agencies, the marketing communications field and respected commentators and branding advocates – people that I’ve read and respected for years – Oliver Blanchard, Anna Farmery, Tom Fishburne,  Katie Konrath, Laura Ries,  Dan Schawbel, and Chris Wilson just to name a few!  Go here to see a full list.

I immediately gave Edward my contact information, my RSS feed and anything else he asked for (could have asked for my first-born son, I would have considered it).  And, low-and-behold, the site was launched, on schedule, and there I was, right next to some of the biggest names in branding commentary and blogging.

What’s my return?  Self respect.  And click-through traffic has jumped a bit, but the sheer fact that I was included is return enough for me (honestly).

So, as a direct message to Edward Mance, Thank you!

My lesson learned from this?  Be careful what you delete from your inbox, because opportunity may be knocking – albeit quietly.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

I ran by an article this morning on Law.com (no idea how I got there). In it, I was intrigued by the dichotomy that law students or law grads have struggled with forever – Law can be a VERY profitable career, BUT it’s frowned upon to aggressively market your services.

Doctors market themselves with very little push back. Accountants and credit counselors market themselves (especially these days). So why, if lawyers market themselves, do they come off as ambulance chasers or some kind of smarmy worms in Brooks Brothers’ suits?

Shai Littlejohn, from The National Law Journal outlines a simple solution,

“…Although you may be able to do anything with a law degree, a law degree and solid experience alone will not do it for you. For those young attorneys who dream of becoming top lawyers, the key is to be three parts lawyer and one part marketing agent.”

She continues with,

“Through expertise, involvement and shared values, top lawyers continuously cultivate reputable self-brands. It’s the essence of those brands that separates top attorneys from colleagues destined for repeated lateral moves or career stagnation.“

Using personal branding (for recent grads) and professional branding (for established careers and firms) to build a “reputation” that becomes marketable for growth — what a novel idea…

Throughout the article, while including networking, charitable involvement, and family activities, Littlejohn continues to support branding in the legal profession to benefit and advance careers and service to clients.

It makes perfect sense. In these times of exploding growth in social media networking, aggressive advertising and promotion by virtually every industry on the planet; lawyers need the same skills to build a brand that will be beneficial to their careers as well as benefit the service they can provide to their clients – without the concern for guilt or stigma of impropriety.

Hmmm. Sounds like a recipe for success to me.

Let’s cook up some conversation… I’d love to get your input. Do you know a lawyer that utilizes personal or professional branding to enhance their exposure and growth? Do you think lawyers that aggressively market their brand come off smarmy or cheap?

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
– The Brand Chef