David Young | Branding Blog - Marketing Advice and Advertising Strategy for Local Business Owners

Persona Based Leadership

The best reality show on TV right now for business owners is Undercover Boss on CBS where the CEOs of big companies are learning some valuable lessons by interacting with their rank and file while in disguise.

As a business owner, you have a leadership style. Unless you've worked at crafting your leadership style with training and intention, it's quite likely to simply be your natural style based on your personality type.

So, what's your personality type? Do you know it? I've been using a personality-based approach toward marketing for my clients for the past 6 years. We based our messaging and strategy around what we know to be true of people's decision making styles. We anticipate their questions and their actions.

Turn it around and point it back at yourself as a leader and you'll quickly uncover your strengths and maybe some areas where you are failing and don't know it yet. Yes, you'll identify your blind spots.

Bruna Martinuzzi has shared some great advice for leaders based on their personality preference for Extraversion or Introversion. (If you don't know your personality type try this free test. You're looking for the first letter in your 4-letter type...E or I.)

Martinuzzi's advice for Extraverted Leaders:

Circulate information ahead of a meeting. Provide as much written information as is feasible before a meeting so that introverted team members have a chance to reflect on the material in order to give you their best thinking.

And for Introverted Leaders:

Beware of voids created by non-communication. A void will be quickly filled by rumors, misinterpretations, and grapevine musings. Take the initiative to share information. Be inspired by Seth Godin’s exhortation that “the less people know, the more they yell” and make sure that you communicate early and often.

The entire article is a good read for a business owner. It gives 6 good tips for both types of leaders.

Are you on the Easy Road? What's it costing you?

I'm reading Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art" for the 3rd time. There's nothing like a good kick in the ass from Pressfield to get my head back on straight.

People talk about Fear of Failure. When you boil it all down, the simple fact is that failure is just plain easier than success. In my opinion (and I have a great deal of experience here) nobody is afraid of failing. Nobody is afraid of succeeding. It's just harder to take the path less traveled. It's less traveled for a reason: It's the harder path.

I think one of Pressfield's most glaring examples is Adolph Hitler. As a young man, Hitler studied art. Have you ever seen one of his paintings? Of course not. Why? Because it was easier to take over Europe than to work on becoming a good painter.

So, as a business owner, what's holding you back? What is the nature of the "easy" road you're on? What extra effort/money/time would it take to strike out on a road that has the potential to fulfill your dreams?

My fees typically come off of the top of the business owner's ad budget. Whenever the price of services arises, I'm asked, "What do I get for my money?" My answer: "What are you getting now?"

The easy road involves doing the same old things in the same old comfortable ways. Don't ruffle feathers, don't rock the boat, steady as she goes. If that's working for you, why are you reading marketing blogs instead of marching down your comfortable road? (ouch)

So, what are you getting now?

Playing Good Defense: Taking Advantage of Turnovers

BEWARE: Sports Metaphor usage by a non-sports guy follows...

It's that time of year when even the non-sports people are following tournament brackets just to fit in around the office. Not me. Nobody here gives a rip. Really. HOWEVER, I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a point, and include a pointer. (let the sports talk begin)

Let me spell it out. It's basketball. Your business is one team. You're playing against your cross-town rival. The customer is the ball. The net is a sale. Don't make me draw a diagram.

What if nobody scrambled for a loose ball? What if your competitor drops the ball and you just stand there slack-jawed and let it roll through your legs while another member of your competitor's team picks it up and scores? What if the rules allowed a third competitor to run onto the court and grab the loose ball with his own portable net?

Reminder: You're in business, not watching basketball on TV. If you see a loose ball, pick it up. If your opponent dropped it, grab tightly and don't give it back. In basketball, the ball goes to the team who DIDN'T score (I guess to give them a chance). In business, after you score, the ball stays with you. Don't drop it. Pick it back up and guard it. Protect it. 

Business isn't basketball. You have permission to run onto the court with your own net and grab a loose ball.

Do I need to draw a diagram?

photo credit: stuseeger

Kia: Telling The Truth in a More Powerful Way

"Our story began with a bicycle, back in 1951."

It's the opening line of a Kia ad that has been airing the past few months.  I like the ad. It makes you feel good. I like the Kia models that I've driven. My wife likes the ad. She suggested that I write about it. It works at making you feel good about Kia.

The ad opens with a kid from the past. This helps us suspend disbelief when the announcer gets to the part about Kia. We're quickly ready for more because we've been instantly transported back to Mayberry. We're ready to feel good! When they tell us about the new Kia plant in Georgia, it all makes sense to us and we feel good about that too.

The interesting/curious part: there are elements of the ad that just don't add up.

True: Kia has opened their first U.S. manufacturing plant in West Point, Georgia.

True: This is a good thing for Georgia, and for the U.S.

Strange: That a kid who looks like he stepped off the set of Leave it to Beaver could be riding a bike that was manufactured in South Korea in 1951. He is later seen riding it in the Georgia factory.

Stranger still: By all accounts (Kia's web site and Wikipedia), Kia was started in 1944 in Seoul. Wikipedia says they manufactured bikes, but Kia's own site says bicycle parts.

Question: Why does the ad say 1951 instead of 1944? Why an American kid and not a Korean kid?

I get it. All Marketers are Liars Tell Stories.

The story is, "Kia is a successful company that has been around a long time. We used to only manufacture our products in Asia, but now we're manufacturing cars in the United States. We hope you will like this fact and buy more of our cars."

The inconvenient facts are that it simply wouldn't be effective to show a Korean kid playing with bicycle parts. 1944 was also right in the thick of World War II. 1951, not so much.

If viewers get the idea that those bikes were made in America, so be it.

And, if Kia can avoid tying itself to WWII, instead, to a time when we were allies, what's the harm?

Also...certainly, nobody is going to check the facts are they?

What do you think?

And...was that really a Kia bicycle in the ad?

Book Review...from me?...Look Both Ways

I don't do many book reviews. Mainly because of press agents. As soon as you start talking about a book, they smell blood and a week later the Fedex truck arrives with stacks of books that you'll never read.

Today, I'm reviewing a book that I haven't read. I probably won't read it. Ever. (maybe I will).

But, I love it.

I like to open it up and get a whiff of some smart design. When I open this book at random, I'm knocked over by Debbie Millman's incredible use of some very cool hand-made design elements that totally align with the words she chooses for each chapter. I'm not so sure that "chapter" is the right word. The book reads more like a portfolio.

It's a great way to kick-start the right hemisphere of your brain. Open at random. Enjoy.

The book is called "Look Both Ways - Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design" by Debbie Millman. If you want a real review...go look at what they said on The New Yorker's Book Bench. Those people know how to write reviews.

Do You Really Want to Succeed in 2010?

Mirror, mirror on the wall…is it just me, or what?

True story: A man has 6 different wives, over a period of 10 years.

True story: A woman goes to 7 different dentists, seeking the perfect dentures, which none of them can provide.

True story: A business owner seeks the advice of 5 different marketing consultants over a stretch of 7 years, yet the business continues a steady decline.

Question: What do the woman, the man and the business owner have in common?

Are they just unlucky in love, periodontal disease and commerce?

Or, are they simply unwilling to find success?

As you head into a new year, spend some time in self-examination. Failure isn't a bad thing, as long as you can learn from it and apply what you've learned in the future.

If you find yourself as the lead character in any of the above stories, you'll find the villain staring back at you in the mirror.

The only thing those dentists had in common was an unreasonable patient. The only thing those wives had in common was a lousy husband and the only thing the marketing consultants had in common was a client who refused to do the hard things.

Nice Try Samuel Adams

"Beer is banned in 13 states!" scream the press releases.

Samuel Adams recently uncorked this year's version of its biennial Utopias beer with lots of hype about the 27% alcohol content that exceeds the legal limit in 13 states.

Wow. You'd think people would be up in arms. You'd expect lawsuits, protesters, speeches from the pulpit, yet I haven't been able to find much negative news about this evil brew.

It turns out that it's not really a beer at all. Technically, yes it is beer. Functionally, not even close. What they've really done is make a sipping cognac out of beer. At $150 a bottle, even the Mothers Against Drunk Driving doesn't have a problem with Utopias, and they are quoted as such in the original press coverage.

In chapter 8 of Tom Wanek's new book, "Currencies That Buy Credibility," he talks about risking your reputation and prestige to buy credibility. In essence, you do something that will cause some of your customers to be repelled while others embrace your brand more tightly than ever.

In the case of the Utopias press, it's a surface-level ploy to seem cutting edge and risky. They want you to be shocked that this is a beer that has been "banned" in 13 states. You should be outraged that it costs $150 a bottle at retail. Yet, when you dig a little deeper...or just blow the marketing dust off the label...you find out that this just doesn't live up to the hype. It's just another bottle of expensive sipping hooch for connoisseurs.

So, how could Samuel Adams ACTUALLY risk reputation and prestige?

They'd have to do something that would actually enrage the MADD crowd. They could put out a beer that's both strong, cheap and easy to guzzle...something that would attract the high school drinker as well as the street bum. They need a beer that would get them written up in BumWine.com for the hallucinatory side-effects of the dangerous secret ingredients.

Give that one a try, Sam.

Content, Content, Content

I attended a wake the other night.

The priest read a poem from an old card found in the home of the deceased. I don't remember the exact line, or words of the poem. What caught my attention was when the priest mispronounced the word "content" in the verse, without skipping a beat.

The writer of the verse meant to use the word "content" as in, satisfied...my soul is content. The priest said "content" like a web marketer.

I don't know what it all means. It reminded me of the Louis CK video that has made the rounds lately.

In case you haven't seen it...

Advertising vs. Being Remarkable

"Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable."
-Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens

There are STILL plenty of very smart people in the world who have not begun to realize the power of the web. For some, it's a fear of technology. Others have been too busy engaged in successful business. Still others just have their heads in the sand.

I was having a conversation with a group of very successful brick and mortar jewelers a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about my blogging class and they asked if I knew of any jewelers who have had any measure of success with blogging. I pointed them to Ice.com and their use of a blog strategy to tie their name to celebrities and provide lots of in-bound links to products.

Then, they asked me if I could name a business that has achieved any kind of success with YouTube?

Two Nights in Phoenix

It was 4 degrees when we left home on Tuesday. I can understand why all of these smart old people winter in Phoenix.

Mrs. Brandingblog joined me on this trip and I can understand why.

Michele Miller and I met with a client on Wednesday for an annual marketing checkup.

We had two fabulous meals...Tuesday night at Michele and Ron's house where we also got some good playtime in with Pennie the Wonderdog.

Wednesday night found us at Durant's in uptown Phoenix with my old buddy Vince, now with Gannett and the Arizona Republic. I love good food and catching up with good friends.

Durant's is old school big city steakhouse. The entrance from the valet parking takes you right through the kitchen. Once inside, you kind of expect to look around and find Tony Soprano holding court in one of the bigger booths. Durant's web site is awful. Maybe that's another post in the making.

Waiting at PHX to head back to cold country. I sure feel stupid carrying around a parka in Arizona.