Lightfoot Branding Articles

Get it out now!

2010-06-05T05:20:04Z

This morning, I had a conversation with Scott McDowel, a business coach who helps “creative professionals and small business owners in self-expression, good business and money making.” He is currently offering free 30-min consultations on your chosen topic, to get a taste of the magic he works. On a recommendation from a friend, I decided to take up on his offer.

My chosen topic for the session?

Writing, of course!

I have struggled to keep this little blog up for a full year and a half now. I keep promising myself I’d update it more regularly, to make it live up to its promise of being a resource hub for fellow small businesses.

Alas, I still struggle, as you, dear reader, can see plainly.

Scott had some sage advice—such as “try and think about your project more creatively and fluidly. You can change your format if writing isn’t the best fit”—but my main take away is that I need to plain keep at it, however imperfect I may be.

And that is a question of habit-making. The habit of getting out whatever it is that’s in your head, sooner than later.

Awhile back, I was talking with a client about his marketing plan for his startup.

We had just finished developing a new name and a logo (which you can see here) and it was time to start thinking about how he’ll put them to use, to spread his gospel. And his biggest concern? His plan seemed “not good enough” or “fleshed out.” And that there wasn’t enough money to create a nice brochure, and a web site.

I listened as he explained to me his plans, of what he thought was important. Once I thought I understood his thinking and concerns, I asked:

What are the things you can do now, without spending any money?

We brainstormed together a little, and realized, there were lots! A Facebook page, Twitter, video clips, a blog… All the contents he thought he needed “once he had a working web site”, he could be creating them now. Heck, even before the branding process was finished, he could’ve been developing them on the side!

So we talked about a few of the things he could get started right away and how it could be done, without fancy equipment and hiring pros. He said, at the end of the call, “I feel so much better about all this. I was so worried that everything needed to be perfect!”

The trepidation he felt in creating a marketing plan, and executing it, was largely rooted in the unconscious misconception that things needed to be polished before being presented to the public. We all share this notion: You have to have a finished logo. You have to have your business incorporated. You have to have a impressive business cards. Etc., Etc.

But your message is so much more important! And if you have something to tell, it’s better you tell it now, in any way you can, than wait for some marketing “stuff” to carry the message. Sometimes, it’s even better not to have the shiny brochure carry your message (because if the packaging isn’t right, it just distracts from, rather than compliment, the message).

So, what do you have to say today? Let’s get it out!

Twitter: business or personal?

2010-05-19T17:24:34Z

Invocation of a song

2010-05-18T16:07:11Z

I’ve been reading and re-reading a book titled War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Powerful stuff. I suggest you pick it up even if you aren’t in any shape or form an “artist.” It’s about work ethic, and inspiration, in that order.

Anyway, something in it sparked a train of thought that lead to this question:

What’s your song?

War of Art, in its third and final “book” (a section within the book), talks a lot about divine intervention, or Muse. It gives a quite compelling argument for why we need help from the above to create something transcendent, and why it’s a good idea to start your day with a prayer, invocation for such help. In one such instance—the beginning passage of Odyssey, which Prssfield quote in its entirety—Homer refers to his saga as “this song.” Pressfield declares: “That about covers it. From the Brothers Karamazov to your new venture in the plumbing-supply business.”

That stopped me cold.

The song. That does about cover it. What’s mine?

The business. Venture. Or the idea; whatever it is, we all have a reason why we do what we do, and why it’s important to us. I don’t know about you, but thinking about it as a “song” is a lot more exciting than thinking about it as a “mission” to me.

A song has a structure: beginning, middle and the end. It rises to a climax, and conclude itself in the end. But above all, each song has its personality, a stamp by a songwriter. Some people are drawn to it, some repulsed, but there’s no mistaking the bond created when a good song connects the singer (you) and the listener (customer).

So, let’s see if we can hone our ideas by comparing it to a good song:

Does it have a good story arc?
A good song tells a well-crafted story. Your idea should, too. For example: a problem; an elegant solution; and a happy customer at the end.
Does it have a signature hook that’s recognizable?
It’s like “name that tune.” What makes your idea/solution/service stand out, so much so that a piece of your brand is enough to be recognized as yours?
Is it memorable?
What makes your idea easy to remember? A good “hook” to hang your idea on, such as a name, logo, or a tagline, helps your prospects remember you by anchoring the idea.
Is it easy to sing along?
Can someone from your audience relate to your idea? I think that it’s better to relate to someone really well, even if that’s not everyone, than trying to relate to everyone (and fail). Make it personal, for that special someone in your mind.
Is it fresh?
What’s new about it? Do you offer a fresh take on an old problem? Is your idea about something that’s up-and-coming? Sometimes, the timing is everything.
Is it timeless?
A good song gets covered, reworked, copied and sampled, over and over. Is your idea about something that’s so universal that it will stay relevant in ten years? Is there something in it that’s so valuable that people will be talking about it for years?
I am working on mine. How about yours?

Are you listening?

2010-05-01T04:20:08Z

By now, you probably have considered using Facebook and/or Twitter for your marketing, at least once. Hopefully, you also thought: “I should really be updating my blog more often.”

Yes. And yes. Those are good realizations. There are plenty of good reasons to start and maintaining social media outlets for your business, be it a blog, Twitter, or a Facebook page (along with others, like Flickr, Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Tumblr/Posterous, etc., etc…).

But, while thinking about our marketing, we tend to forget: who are we talking to? Don’t THEY have something to say, too? After all, “social” of social media refers to both-way communications/participation that happens within them.

Encouraging, tracking, measuring and maintaining healthy channels of interaction between your business and its constituencies is a fine art (and pretty new one at that); there’s a lot of trial-and-error going on out there*.

Whatever you do to plan for your “social media strategy”—and it doesn’t have to be a fancy, turn-everything-into-quantifiable-metrics kind of plan—, it bears to stress this: social media are listening posts, more than soapboxes for you to stand on.

Last week, I attended a introductory demonstration of SAS’s new service called Social Media Analytics (SASSMA—I wish they came up with a better name, but hey, these are some super-brainy, uber-techies, who tend to hate “marketing” anything*).

While I think the product itself is a bit of an overkill for us small businesses (“brand sentiment forecasting,” anyone?), I think the concept is very timely and relevant to everyone. And the reasons why SAS would develop such a product, and the fact so many people are paying attention, contains an important lesson.

And you guessed it: Social media is important, not as a marketing channel, but as a communication channel.

TV, radio and print media have been largely marketing channels. Phones, emails, ham radio? Communication.

So, treat your twitter account and facebook page as phone lines, or email boxes.

What does that mean, in practical terms?

Try this for a week: Focus on what your people (the followers, fans—I guess they are “likers” now—) are saying, instead of what you are going to say.

Are you following the right people? Are the right people following you? Who are they following/liking? There might be some tweaking needed there (don’t be afraid to “unfollow” people! It’s okay.)

Maybe you can interact with them a little. Scary, yes. A little weird, certainly. But you will find that people are a lot nicer when you reach out to them. Much like in real life.

Who knows, you might make some friends.

*There’s a great article written by Rob Laughter, a young web marketing nerd, which outlines practical steps on how to use twitter. It also helped me hone my thinking of this very piece. Cheers, Rob!

**I’m just poking fun here. Obviously, these people know marketing, judging from how the launch event for this app. went down.

Changes That Are Afoot

2010-04-05T20:47:22Z

I have started Lightfoot as an experiment in 2009. The year that marked a lot of changes, within and outside of DK.

The central idea for this site has not changed: namely, that in this post-dot.com age, branding was changing. It was no longer about:

Being bigger/more/better
Broadcasting/advertising
Big budgets/big companies
Hiring people to run your marketing

No. as it is said elsewhere (here, here, and here), branding in the twenty-first century is about:

Writing it all down, this central tenet still feels right. This site is supposed to promote this “light-footed” approach to branding, for small businesses without the budget to engage the likes of Ogilvy, Pentagram, Interbrand or Dentsu.

To this end, I am working on a few new resources and features that will make it easier for you to share things and get more out of Lightfoot Branding.

More details to follow. Watch this space!

7 Marketing tips

2010-03-23T15:27:41Z

Lesson from a Hipster Brand Mogul

2009-12-22T18:50:13Z

This from Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice Magazine:

Gavin: I just realized I did an interview with brandchannel and didn’t really mention branding. One thing about “brand building.” I never want to hear those two words again. I always hated the idea of someone building a brand. It sounds so affected. Like marketing companies and “Cool Hunters” sending CDs and shit to “tastemakers.” People can smell that bullshit from a mile away. Just be yourself. Pinky and I are old and Canadian and not very attractive but we are the faces of the company because that’s who we are. Anything else would be a lie. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people marketing works. It doesn’t. People only buy what their friends tell them they should buy because that’s the only thing left they can trust.

The internet really gave this idea a boost. It made the idea of a meritocracy a plausible business model. You can spend all the money you want on print and TV ads and even get editorials written about your product but it won’t make one iota of difference. Nobody’s going to buy what someone else tells them to unless that person is their good friend. End of story.

Word, Mr. McInnes, word.

[via brandchannel. full story here]

Why You Should Spend More, Not Less

2009-12-21T18:42:23Z

As anyone who knows marketing would tell you (and it’s not because they are in marketing, by the way), you need to spend more on marketing when economy’s slow, not less.

Why?

You need more sales, right?
People pay more attention to you, if you are talking to the right people who needs your goods/services.
Your competitors will likely be cutting down their marketing. It’s your opportunity to out-do them.

There’re more reasons, but here’s a concrete example provided by the folks at interbrand.

And of course, it doesn’t have to be the money you spend more. You can market more by spending more time, effort or using more of your brain.

Writing for the web: tips

2009-06-26T14:51:22Z

Refresh Seattle is a series of web design/development tip-sharing sessions, run by a local web developer Blue Flavor. Yesterday’s presentation: copy writing, specifically for the web. Tiffani Jones of Second & Park had tons to share, but here are just the top-lines:

Copy writing is a user-experience problem:
- How can you make the text usable & useful for the users, and effective for the business (=sales)?
What’s in it for me?:
- Why should your audience read what you write? Give ‘em a reason.
Brevity, simplicity, clarity, and humanity:
- Make it short, easy-to-understand, and engaging. That means you need to focus your message first.
Make every bit count:
- Everything from the headings to that “order” button needs to be thought-out.
Remember it’s interactive:
- It’s a conversation. With an instant feed-back. Make it easy to: find->understand->act.
Work from the top:
- On the web, people scan. State your main point as close to the title as you can, then put the supporting points in smaller doses.
Cut the Crap:
- Edit. Delete. Keep only what works.
Tell a story:
- Know what you are made of. Then tell it through your contents. Over time, with a clear content strategy.

LAUNCH IV: BLOGonomics!

2009-06-18T05:16:35Z

LAUNCH is a marketing workshop.

Every month on the last Friday morning, we sit down with a group of motivated small business owners and marketing professionals, and exchange ideas and thoughts. Topics change monthly, but are mainly focused on marketing and branding small businesses.

LAUNCH IV: BLOGonomics.

Blogging is a huge part of building your brand today. But how do you know what’s effective? Is it:

the subscribers?
links?
hits?
comments?
or…?

At LAUNCH 4, we have invited web analytics experts, content editors and writers in the trench to find out just how your blog might measure up. Come learn about:

reading your traffic in a meaningful way
how to attract more readers your way
how to keep the readers engaged
writing more effectively for your audience
and building your brand one post at a time

Homework will be assigned to the registrants next week! Register early and get the most of your attendance.

Friday, June 26
9:00 - 10:30 AM
Kornerhaus (RSVP for directions)

Register for FREE by email.

Join the mailing list

March Launch event
April Launch report

LAUNCH III report, IV coming up

2009-06-16T00:39:48Z

LAUCH REPORT

At LAUNCH III we had a great discussion on being small. The next LAUNCH, on Friday 26th, will be our last FREE LAUNCH, so mark your calendar now and get ready!

LAUNCH is a small business branding and marketing forum. Each month, we pick a theme or a topic to discuss, with guest speakers, and have a dialogue session on the subject. The theme for May LAUNCH, our third, was “being small”. Some points discussed:

There are things you can do today with just a few people that we couldn’t do ten years ago, thanks to technology.
Small businesses can really put “customer first” into practice, and personality into their business.
Collaboration between small operators are going to be a key factor in succeeding in the new economy.
Network and build relationships. Anywhere can be a source of potential connections, not just on-line. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are just tools; you need to develop contents, marketing ideas first, and cultivate relationships.
Blogging. It’s a form of social networking. Try and generate conversations, rather than think of it as a broadcast.
Events. Use it to generate buzz. Create subtly branded events to show off your personality. You can sponsor one, too.

As usual, there’s a series of Twitter posts that I wrote immediately afterward (click the image to the left to see the series).

The next LAUNCH is coming up on Friday, June 26.

We will be talking about blogging. Blogging has become a de facto standard in any business’ marketing toolbox. But how do we get more effective in blogging? How do we get more people to read our blogs, and how does that translate to our sales? Come and find out. More details will be posted here soon…

In defense of logo design

2009-06-06T06:12:23Z

What I really think about when I think of logos

2009-06-04T23:06:03Z

In the April LAUNCH session, we talked about logos##, and whether they’re something that’s integral to the marketing of small businesses.

Do we really need a professionally-designed logos from the get-go? What does that even mean, “professionally designed”? And, what does it do for your brand? Is a logo different from a brand? Are logos, and the idea that they “represent you” overrated?

These are very important questions, especially for startups and small businesses. Something that should be answered with honesty and frankness. So while I have had my views known before in brief, and the LAUNCH session we had precipitated ample sage advice and useful points, I thought I’d elaborate on my view a little here, if just for posterity’s sake.

The Hype

So, everyone has heard some variant of this mantra: “Your logo is the first impression of your company to your prospects. You need to make it count.” Here is some of the language found through a cursory search on the web:

“Logos represent the personality of business - first impressions count, so it is important that your business logo design is professionally designed. ” -www.magicdust.com.au

“As any successful business owner knows, the key to a profitable business is having the ability to create a unique and individual name. ... Perhaps the easiest way to create a unique name for a company is by creating a unique business logo. The business logo is a vital component of a brand’s name…” - http://www.ezinearticles.com

“Your brand is more than a series of words; it is your corporate identity. Your name and logo should tell people who have never been to your establishment something about you. Your brand should be strong enough to convey a message and a feeling in an instant. ” - http://www.expresso101.com

“The Internet is exploding with burgeoning companies, all vying for that killer logo design. Your image matters. Your logo speaks volumes. Your corporate identity has just a few seconds to impress prospects with your brand. Your logo design is priceless. Your logo designer is paramount to your success.” - http://www.logodesignguru.com

“Your business’s logo, marketing materials and website must stand out from the competition so that they can help you make a connection with potential clients and customers.” - http://www.elf-design.com

Feeling overwhelmed yet? Aside from the confusing interchange of the terms “branding,” “identity,” “names,” and “logos”, these are mostly benign truisms. Sure, logos are great. But do they really do all that? “The key to profitability”? “Paramount to your success”? Those are some strong claims.

While it goes without saying that A GOOD LOGO can help your business tremendously, the opposite is also true: A BAD LOGO can hurt your business.

And, what makes a good logo good? There’s a lot of gray area between the Great and Terrible Logos. And a lot of these kinds of judgments are subjective (Not a bad thing, actually. But we’ll come back to that below).

A case against catch-all branding

First thing first: a logo is not a brand. You don’t have a brand until you have customers, a unique service/product, and a clear message###.

Repeat after me: A LOGO IS NOT A BRAND.

Let’s ask a few questions:

Do you know what makes your business unique, and utterly irresistible?
Do you know who’s listening to you now, and whom you want to talk to?
Do you have something to say, and can you say it clearly?

If you answered “no” to any of the above, you don’t need a logo, until you can answer “yes” to all three of them.

Think about it: the answers to these questions are what’s essential to controlling that “first impression.” No matter how great the logo designer you hire, and how much money you spend, without answering these questions, your logo will not help you create a good impression.

Why?

Say you need to dress up to go to this party. That’s rather hard to do, if you didn’t know what the party was, or had a good idea of what kind of outfit would make you look good and feel comfortable, too. The same dress/suit/jeans-and-a-tee outfit can look good or bad depending on TPO, and who you are.

Do you plonk down your hard-earned cash for some fancy designer clothes without knowing what you are buying them for, and whether they fit you? Should you even go shopping before finding out about the occasion and your size?

I didn’t think so.

Going at it without

If all this sounds like too much hard work up front, it is. But, does that mean you just can’t do anything until you figure it all out?

Not necessarily.

You can start right where you are. Go ahead, start talking to people about your business, and see what excites you most about what you tell them. Make some prototypes. Try things. If you already have a business and you are thinking about re-branding, you can start by asking your customers what they see in you that makes you special in their mind.

You might just have to try a few things before you can define your unique skills or attributes that makes your products great. That’s okay!

As for the logo: why not go without, really? “Oh, you will be buried in the sea of competition.” “How can your customers remember you?” I can hear the cacophony of fear-mongers, disguised as common-sense marketing advice.

Well.

The bad news? Unless you have a multi-billion-dollar budget, and/or your product is so essential to everyone’s life, the chances are you won’t be remembered by the majority of people, no matter what logo you have (or not).

What makes you stand out is your service. Products. What you can do well that no one else can the same way. Over time, these signatures that make you truly unique are what you build your brand around. After all, if everyone has a logo (and face it, unless you can justify the cost and time it takes to define what, who and how of your difference, yours will look very much similar to your competitors), how are you going to be noticed by having one?

DO IT YOURSELF

If you must have a logo, focus on getting some real thinking done around it. Spend as little as possible on the design (keep it simple, and you can probably come up with something decent on your own. That’s a topic for another workshop).

My one piece of advice, though: whatever logos you use (preliminary or not), make sure YOU like it. Don’t worry about what your spouse says. Take the opinion of your customers a little more seriously, but don’t just follow their advice blind, either. You have to use your logo, and stand behind it 100%. And repeatedly, too. So do yourself a favor and make it something that you love (and here’s why I recommend doing it yourself over hiring someone right out of college for cheap. And, conversely, why you should pay enough to feel you are getting something worthwhile, should you decide to hire someone).

And, as you begin to get to know and grow your business, don’t be afraid to grow your identity along with it. Go ahead, change the logo when you feel like it.

More companies change their look periodically than you might be led to believe. (Pepsi now has had 10 logos in its history, not counting the minor tweaks. Before you say that they are the loser of the Coke-Pepsi war, consider how much they make as a second-runner!) Even when you are in business for a long time, something can change from inside or outside the company that would change its brand strategy.

That’s life.

Changing world

But there’s one more thing.

The world of marketing for small businesses is changing. Newspapers and magazines shutting down, TV and radio stations consolidating. In their place, blogs, social networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are becoming more and more relevant (and important!) to your business.

The problem with these sites is that it’s hard to control your “branding” on them. Sure, you can post your messages, accompanied with the logos, “theme” or “skin” for your home/profile page and make it resemble your ads on the billboards. But, exercising these kinds of “control” measures over your presence in the social networks misses the point. Social networks are for connecting with people. Having conversations is what it’s about. Without the users’ contributions, it’s just plain billboards, and billboards are not engaging.

And, you can’t control what users will bring up in your conversations with them.

There lies the biggest challenge of branding in new media, and examples of failed attempts at control or missed connections abound.

What we should do in facing this challenge is a wholly another topic, but the point here is that “what your logo looks like” is decidedly not the most important thing in tackling the hurdle of how to get noticed in the new paradigm. As matter of fact, this logo-centric notion of branding inhibits your creativity and the strategic thinking that will really help you market your service and products in this changing world.

The dialogue continues (I hope!)

If you made it thus far, you must really be interested in this subject. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please comment. I plan to post links to others’ views as well, so if you see another articles you like around this subject, too, I’d appreciate hearing about them.

##By “logo”, I mean anything that marks your business, from trademarks, icons, logotype, to corporate identities. These are, technically, all different, but I am talking about them generally.

###If you are interested in what I mean here, I’ve posted about my definition of branding here.

LAUNCH III on May 29, on being SMALL

2009-05-19T08:03:22Z

Does being small mean being weak? In the current economy, are we the small businesses the ones to be eliminated first? Should we all be looking for a job?

Duh, obviously not.

I believe that being small is the biggest advantage we have in this kind of climate. It means less overhead, more focus, and faster decision making. So, it’s our time.

Small is Beautiful.

At this month’s LAUNCH session on Friday, May 29 (next Friday), we will be talking upbeat about the recession. Why is now a great time to be a small business? And if so, how do we take advantage of that? This will be a brainstorming session. On ways to take advantage of the situation, and useful tools that are available to us.

Bring ideas, success stories, challenges faced, and an open mind.

Friday, May 29
9:00 - 10:30 AM
Kornerhaus (RSVP for directions)

RSVP by email.

Join the mailing list

And, our LinkedIn group

March Launch report
April Launch report

Almost free “video profile”

2009-05-06T06:30:15Z