Admittedly, it has been a very full 10 months with some very cool projects. That’s not the point, though. The point is that if you don’t practice what you preach, no one will listen to you (hopefully, that’s not self-fulfilling). No one wants self-proclaimed experts that only pull out their marketing mojo when it suits them. People listen to those who are doing what they are offering advice on.

So, maybe this short sermon applies to you… maybe not. Maybe it’s more of a public wake up call to myself. Get out of the land of foggy code and insert yourself into the conversation, wherever it may be happening.

To be continued…

You… er, excuse me… they don’t know what their burning hot center is, the heart beating behind the business. Here’s my basic premise: when people choose a brand, they are choosing a tribe (a community of people who are a part of the same thing). They choose it ultimately because they identify with it. The tribes filled with people excited to be there attract more people. People become excited about being a part of something that has a passionate center. More people means more resources, more customers, more momentum… everything an organization wants and needs. But you… er, excuse me… they won’t get those people unless they know two things: 1) What the burning passion at the center of their brand tribe is, and 2) How to spread the news. The solution lies in an 8 step cycle that keeps the center burning hot and everyone in tribe spreading the news.

Find the center and spread the news: a fresh approach to branding

8 steps to help you uncover and communicate your passionate center to your tribe:

1. Dig Up Your Unique Value. this is what your brand (organization’s identity) really is at its most basic level… and it’s usually buried under lots of (forgive me) crap. Identifying the one thing that distinguishes you from the rest of the competition and making that your primary identity is one of the most important things any organization can do. This is more about an idea than about a product. For instance, in 1994, Steve Jobs decided that what Apple sells isn’t computers… they sell an ethos. Every commercial subtly says that owning a Mac identifies you as: young, laid back, outdoorsy, active, artistic, relational, fun. They don’t ramble on about how Macs never break down like PC’s! They stress the beauty of the design and how fun it is to use. They are selling something no company can literally own… but make no mistake: they are selling it. They discovered that their unique value lies in their philosophy about computers and how we use them, and that determines everything else. It is the DNA strand that no-one sees but determines everything about you. I call it your unique value. You don’t have to able to say it perfectly yet. You just have to be able to feel it… it’s that idea you are always trying put words around. It is the passionate center, the beating heart. Every organization started with one. By the way, the people you work with should be a part of this process before your finish… they’ll tell you if you’re way off the mark. You don’t want to leave this step until you feel like you and the people you work with are feeling the same beating heart. So, what’s yours?
2. Discover Your Tribe. Who are the people that make your organization possible? How old are they? What are their values? What are their lives like? Understanding the people your brand is built on is essential before creating your logo, message, website, and everything else that visually represents your organization. Be careful, though! Many people make the mistake of defining their unique value after assessing their core audience.Big mistake! The needs and desires of your core audience change over time, but if you change your core values with them, it means that your identity does not have a passionate center… it’s just spin. It’s safe to assume your audience can detect spin… they’ve had years of practice. Your tribe is the group of people that will connect with or need your unique value. It naturally flows from your passionate center. Who are they?
3. Craft the Core Message. Keeping your audience in mind, create (or recreate) a core message, one that says who you are and what needs you meet. Good core messages imply the right things without spelling them out. For example, ours is branding you for the social web… these six words are meant to describe who we are and what need we meet. The power of minimizing your complex identity and list of products into one simple sentence is very important because of a little thing called time. People do not have a lot of it, and neither will you when you get the opportunity to share your identity or mission with them. Memorize it, polish it, and say it to everyone you talk to about your organization (especially the people working with you).
4. Use the Right Voice. A voice is the tone you choose when communicating your unique value to different parts of your tribe. Having a great message is one thing, but it doesn’t make people feel that the message is for them. Take a college, for example. Their “tribe” can be categorized into 4 parts: potential students (and their parents), current students, alumni, and donors. Usually, the average age of a donor is much older than a prospective student… so, the tone used in communicating their mission statement is going to be much different depending on which one you are talking to, right? You need to dress your core identity differently for different market segments. To use Apple again, they understand the buying power of teens for their iPods. They also see that those teens are used to visually rich entertainment. So, they don’t spell things out in words in their ads… they use bright colors and creative design, a perfect tone for that audience.This can be a challenging process, and the voice changes with the times. However, creating an intentional voice for each group does two things: it makes each group feel that you are talking to them, and it strengthens the layers of meaning in your core identity.
5. Leave It on the Cutting Room Floor. Film directors in the old days would leave yards of unused film on the floor of the room where the movies were edited. Why? So the movie would feel accessible, understandable. Same thing here. Between steps 1-4, you could have pages of material written down. I have often filled white boards with key words, charts and phrases, just on Step 1! However, people need clarity, and you have limited resources (a safe assumption). Now it’s time to go back and cut out almost everything. You may have come up with ideas for 10 different commercials, a new blog, a new logo, 3 creative ways to use social media, etc. Eliminate everything… except two or three things. Remember the limited resources thing? Put your limited resources fully behind a few initiatives. This is about more than money… it is also about your time. It is usually one simple idea that makes the connection with people, and clutter can confuse your message.
6. Make a Plan. Take what survived the cutting room, and map out your strategy. It is always creative ideas that stick with people, so get creative. But creative ideas also usually take a good bit of planning to execute well, so also think practically. Here are a few good questions: “What will communicate our message and make people remember it?” “How long will it take?” “How much will it cost?” “When does our audience need to hear it?”
7. DO or DIE. One marketing campaign that has permanently branded my memory is Nike’s Just Do It campaign. Why? It said that they were selling grit, determination, strength, endurance. And by the way, buy our products to feel part of that ethos. But they that campaign started somewhere, with someone thinking, “What’s Nike all about?” It ended with action. Steps 1 through 6 are the thinking parts. Step 7 and 8 are the doing parts. Usually, it’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket, but with a rebranding effort, you want to be clear what the new brand image is. Nike didn’t tippy-toe around “Just Do It” to see if it would work. They JUST DID IT! So, make sure that you implement your plan with gusto, and that it doesn’t look like a sideshow… especially to those you work with. You won’t be able to really measure your tribe’s reaction otherwise. Much of this can be done through a new visual look, but often it demands a new way of speaking, doing events, and even sometimes how you dress! The important thing is that it all supports your core identity… if it’s just hype, it will die like a sugar high.
8. Live and Learn. Three to six months from now, Steps 1-7 are done. Did it work? You will never know if you do not set up measurement tools to learn from the process. Marketing is a science, but not an exact one. Just like a lab experiment, you record your steps, make notes, and prepare to do it again. “Wait, we’re going to do this again?!” You bet! These 8 steps are cyclical, not a one-time success strategy. It’s a healthy function of a living, breathing organism called “your_organization’s_name_here”. Make sure that you are set up to measure the effectiveness of your strategy, both how smoothly the process went and the resulting effect on the market. Organizations that succeed long term are always fine tuning their voice, adjusting their visual identity, and finding better ways to keep the passionate center hot, both within and without the organization.

This site features some powerful forms… simple to fill out, but highly efficient on the back-end. A completed entry is automatically added to a database, which the company can use to distribute the response load, as well as contact their customers in the future. Overall, the site is very clean, and highly focused on giving their target audience a feeling of trust to then fill out the form. The site is proudly built on WordPress.

The brand was designed by us as well. We took our cues from the safe feeling a lot of other financial services provide by having a very straightforward logo, and a color palette that gives the feeling of a well-lit room. This feeling of light filling the room creates a sense of open-ness and trust. No one wants to give their financial information on a black page with red accents. Let me (Peter) know what you think!

Of course, WordPress is only the most popular open source CMS. Others include Joomla! and Drupal. The power of WordPress is the ease of use for people who want posting new information to be as simple as writing an email. And it is that easy. Plus, with the right designers and developers (ahem…), WordPress sites can be quite visually impressive. In summary, that is why WordPress is wonderful.

What you see in this video is a response to natural branding, a sense of fun and openness from a brand that encourages trustful interaction.  As David Ansett puts it, “The passengers cheer and applaud the engagement, completely swept-up in the unexpected and natural energy of this brand experience.”  Now, we could try to create a formula for repeating this in other brands, but we would be missing one key element: you can not create these experiences without good people who inspire trust.  Which raises the question: are you hiring people just because their resumé is impressive?  When hiring anyone who works on the front end with customers, please do yourself a favor.  Hire people who inspire trust-filled interaction, who laugh, show compassion, go the extra mile, create memorable experiences.

Of course, the antithesis to this story is the much more famous sliding flight attendant, Steven Slater, who lost his cool after an argument with a passenger, gave a profanity-filled exit speech over the intercom, and escaped via the emergency exit slide to the tarmac with a couple cans of beer.  Now, you might be asking yourself, “Isn’t this an example of a more famous exploit than the pillow fight?”  More famous?  Yes.  Better for Jet Blue?  No.

Truly Deeply’s original article »

New logo

We created a new look for Envision, keep the branding simple and unified with the theme of film production.  They originally used three circles using the primary colors (red, green, blue).  In the end, we advised them to go away from the three primary colors since they simply do not match but contrast.  Once that decision was made, we created a simple word mark with a “play button” in “o” spot.  The result is not a logo that will live on in design infamy, but we believe it will increase the perception of their business as professional and distinct.  Sometimes, simplicity stands out best.

New business cards

We got to design some business cards to complete the process.  There is nothing like handing someone a business card that points them to a website that really matches the card.  Design is all about creating a certain feeling; for organizations offering a service, creating a feeling of consistency is important.

New website

Their new website is built using WordPress and a great base theme we found called “Sprout”.  We had to customize a few things to get it looking and working the way we wanted it to, but the site turned out great.  The real key feature is the Portfolio area which features pop-up videos (so potential clients can preview with leaving the Portfolio page) and short descriptions and links to more complete descriptions of the projects.   They are thrilled with the result, as are we.

You can check it out at http://enprod.com.  Let us know what you think, either on our website or on Facebook.

Another exciting feature is the ability to run multiple WordPress installations from one backend.   For example, you can now set up subdomains under “wordfresh.com” (blog.wordfresh.com, careers.wordfresh.com, etc.) and manage them in one place.  Before, they all acted as separate sites with different logins. Finally, the ability to set custom post types is very exciting.  Advanced WordPress themes have already been integrating this feature, but without a lot of effort and nerdyness.  Now, the average user will be able to create posts set as events, blog posts, news, pictures, etc.  WordPress as a CMS has just made a huge step.

For a more thorough list of features, here is a complete (but not-so-easy-to-read) guide.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of this site for one major reason: the site is a competition site!  In other words, more than commenting on and reading information, the site is designed to be the central hub for The Ethan Award’s nomination and voting.  It is one more showcase of different uses for WordPress.  As we write this post, there have already been 2,747 votes on the site (each from a different IP address), which means that the site is getting a great amount of use and every visitor is learning about the Awards Ceremony itself… a.k.a. branding.  The site is also integrated with their new Facebook fan page, which we dressed up a bit.

The needs for this project went beyond a basic website.  We redesigned the look of The Ethan Awards to better feature the great design of the award statue and to feel more grand, like a live event.  We incorporated this into the website design and a printed flyer.  We also designed custom press kit buttons (as seen above).

End result: another happy customer!

Creating a sense of authenticity and trust is more urgent than ever, but creating that sense is impossible without self-understanding.  Today, trust is created when people perceive that their needs are being responded to.  So, with that in mind, how does your brand hold up?  Are you meeting these new demands of responsiveness and transparency with vigor or timidity?  Here is my solution for that gnawing fear of “I don’t know if I’m doing this right”… take your organization through a rigorous rebranding process.  Here is why: when you know exactly who you are and who your audience is, you know who to listen to, and who not to listen to.  You know the key people among your clients would make a perfect evangelist for your cause, and you reach out to them. They trust you because you know exactly who you are, but you are willing to listen to their input.

We actually charge a pretty penny to take organizations through this process, and I think it is highly valuable to bring in outside, professional oversight.  However, these 8 steps can help you see what areas need work.  It is helpful to write down the ‘answers’ to each step as you think through them, or put question marks where you are unsure.  Enjoy.

The (re)Branding Process

8 Steps to Creating a Consistent Brand Image

1. Find your unique value: this is what your brand really is at its most basic level.  Identifying the one thing that separates you from your market and making that your primary identity is one of the most important things any organization can do.  If you don’t know it off the top of your head, you have not finished this step.
2. Assess your core audience: Knowing and understanding your audience should be a natural conclusion of your unique value, because your uniqueness lies in meeting needs nobody else can meet (at least, not the way you do!).  Considering the people your brand is built on is essential before creating your logo, message, website, and everything else.  If you can’t describe your target audience in one sentence, you have not finished this step.
3. Craft the core message: Keeping your audience in mind, create (or recreate) a core message, one that says who you are and what you need you meet.  For example, ours is branding you for the social web… these six words are meant to describe who we are and what need we meet.  Memorize it, and say it to everyone you talk to about your organization.
4. Use the right voice: A voice is the tone you use in speaking to different people.  Like most organizations, you probably have a few different types of “customers”.  Make sure you are using the right voice to reach each of them.  This can be a challenging process but also extremely rewarding and fun.
5. Eliminate the unnecessary: Go through the “pruning” process of trimming unnecessary ventures and messages to establish which ones should receive the most resources. It is usually one simple idea that makes the connection with people, and clutter can confuse your audience.
6. Make a plan: Take what survived the cutting room, and create a strategy to create the right impression on your audience.  It is always creative ideas that stick with people, so get creative.  Think practically: “What will communicate our message and make people remember it?”
7. Implement it: Steps 1 through 6 are the thinking parts.  Step 7 and 8 are the doing parts.  Usually, it’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket, but with a rebranding effort, you want to be clear what the new brand image is.  So, make sure that you implement it with gusto, and that it doesn’t look like a sideshow.  Much of this can be done through a new visual look, but often it demands a new way of speaking, doing events, and even sometimes how you dress!  The important thing is that it all supports your core identity… hype dies like a sugar high.
8. Measure the impact: Theoretically, Steps 1-7 should make a big impact if done well, but you will never know if you do not set up measurement tools.  Make sure that you are set up to measure the effectiveness of your strategy.  Organizations that succeed long term are always fine tuning their voice, adjusting their visual identity, and finding better ways to build community both within and without the organization.

Remember, rebranding is a normal part of every organization’s life-cycle.  This is a constant effort, with some seasons more devoted to it than others.