Demystifying Branding

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Laura Christianson

I’m devoting a big chunk of my work week to planning two courses on brand development and Internet marketing that I’ll be teaching at the Florida Christian Writers’ Conference (March4-7, 2010) and the Mount Hermon (California) Christian Writers’ Conference (March 26-30, 2010).

A couple of my Twitter faithful sent me links to their blog posts on branding (perfect timing!).

Lisa Manyon from @WriteOnCreative noted in her blog post:

“Branding is EVERYTHING you do to create the overall experience and feeling that your customers get from doing business with you.”

One of her commenters, Laurie Polinski, points out:

“Your branding comes from inside of you, or your business.

  • Who are you (or your business)?
  • What do you stand for?
  • What do you promise to deliver — every time?

Chris Perry from @CareerRocketeer sent me link to “It’s All In What You Tweet,” tips for how to enhance your personal brand via Twitter. In his article, Marci Reynolds, @marcireynolds12 advises:

Showcase your expertise. The best way to showcase your personal brand on Twitter is to publish “thought leadership tweets,”  personal quote tweets that demonstrate your knowledge or opinions on topics, key trends and events related to your industry or profession.

My contribution to Chris’s post @bloggingbistro:

Act selflessly. Give away useful, industry-specific tips 85 percent of the time; limit promotional tweets to 15 percent of your content. Invest your energy in connecting with your followers.

At the Florida Christian Writers’ Conference (March 4-7),  I’ll be teaching a 6-hour course called “Branding Yourself for Maximum Impact.”

I’m excited about the course – it’s going to be highly interactive; participants will learn how to CRAFT a

Consistent

Relevant

Attractive

Frequent

Targeted brand message that sears itself into the memory of your audience.

There’s still plenty of time to register; I guarantee you’ll get your money’s worth at either the Florida or Mount Hermon conference. Hope to see you there!

This entry was posted in Branding, Conferences and Workshops. Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://www.writeoncreative.com/blog Lisa Manyon

    Thanks for the shout out. Branding can be so confusing to people. It’s great to see you’re offering some relevant solutions.

    Another wonderful definition of brand was shared by my Facebook friend Chris Shallow ” A brand is a promise kept.”

    Keep up the great work.

    Write on!~

    Lisa
    .-= Lisa Manyon´s last blog ..The BIG Branding Controversy and How You Can Learn More =-.

  • http://www.writeoncreative.com/blog Lisa Manyon

    Thanks for the shout out. Branding can be so confusing to people. It’s great to see you’re offering some relevant solutions.

    Another wonderful definition of brand was shared by my Facebook friend Chris Shallow ” A brand is a promise kept.”

    Keep up the great work.

    Write on!~

    Lisa
    .-= Lisa Manyon´s last blog ..The BIG Branding Controversy and How You Can Learn More =-.

  • http://www.bloggingbistro.com/ Laura Christianson

    Lisa,

    I saw that tip from Chris on your blog: “A brand is a promise kept.”

    Love it!

    People try to complicate branding, when in reality the concept is very simple. It’s putting the concept into action that can be challenging.
    .-= Laura Christianson´s last blog ..Demystifying Branding =-.

  • http://www.bloggingbistro.com Laura Christianson

    Lisa,

    I saw that tip from Chris on your blog: “A brand is a promise kept.”

    Love it!

    People try to complicate branding, when in reality the concept is very simple. It’s putting the concept into action that can be challenging.
    .-= Laura Christianson´s last blog ..Demystifying Branding =-.

  • http://cz.linkedin.com/in/chrisshallow Chris Shallow

    Thanks, ladies, for the mention. Branding, in my experience, with both clients and students, is one of the most misunderstood yet all important aspects of running a successful business.

    Here’s what I wrote on my Facebook friend, Lisa Manyon’s excellent blog (slightly adapted):

    If you want a good, short definition: a brand is ‘a promise kept’ (Blackett, 2003, p18). One of the most famous branding experts, Keller (2003, p4) defines a brand as: “a product . . . [which] adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. . . . [Achenbaum adding] ‘what distinguishes a brand . . . and gives it equity [value] is the sum of consumers’ perceptions and feelings about the product’s attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand.

    When I was researching my Master of Science in Marketing, Professor de Chernatony, kindly provided me with his 2009 paper, ‘Towards the holy grail of defining ‘brand’’, which I’ll quote from, here, (p105), where he defined a brand as: “a cluster of values that enables a promise to be made about a unique and welcomed experience . . . a visionary promise that adds value to all stakeholders.”

    The keywords, IMHO, being promise, value, and experience — NOT logo! (Which is what most people think of when they think of brand, not surprisingly as that was the origin of the term, a symbol to denote ownership or the creator, e.g. the potter who made the jar.)

    Hope that helps. Good luck with the conferences!

  • http://cz.linkedin.com/in/chrisshallow Chris Shallow

    Thanks, ladies, for the mention. Branding, in my experience, with both clients and students, is one of the most misunderstood yet all important aspects of running a successful business.

    Here’s what I wrote on my Facebook friend, Lisa Manyon’s excellent blog (slightly adapted):

    If you want a good, short definition: a brand is ‘a promise kept’ (Blackett, 2003, p18). One of the most famous branding experts, Keller (2003, p4) defines a brand as: “a product . . . [which] adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. . . . [Achenbaum adding] ‘what distinguishes a brand . . . and gives it equity [value] is the sum of consumers’ perceptions and feelings about the product’s attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand.

    When I was researching my Master of Science in Marketing, Professor de Chernatony, kindly provided me with his 2009 paper, ‘Towards the holy grail of defining ‘brand’’, which I’ll quote from, here, (p105), where he defined a brand as: “a cluster of values that enables a promise to be made about a unique and welcomed experience . . . a visionary promise that adds value to all stakeholders.”

    The keywords, IMHO, being promise, value, and experience — NOT logo! (Which is what most people think of when they think of brand, not surprisingly as that was the origin of the term, a symbol to denote ownership or the creator, e.g. the potter who made the jar.)

    Hope that helps. Good luck with the conferences!