Brand Regeneration Pres.
December 29, 2010
KTVB Features Justin Foster
December 22, 2010
Above is a clip from my appearance last week on KTVB’s Noon News with Carolyn Holly. My topic was the “Myths of Word-of-Mouth”.
Here are the myths:
1) Myth: Word-of-Mouth is a tactic. A tactic is something you execute or do. Examples in marketing: media buy, creative, web, etc. All things you do. As such, WOM is NOT a tactic. It’s not something you do; it’s something you are. Of course, there are steps and processes to generate WOM, but WOM is not something you can buy.
2) Myth: Word-of-Mouth doesn’t cost money. This may sound like a conflict with #1, so here’s what I mean: It may not cost money to BUY word-of-mouth, but it certainly can cost money to CREATE it. The time, money, and energy that goes in to creating an interesting product or service is all part of the cost of WOM. That said, paying to be interesting can a lot less expense and for more sustainable than paying for attention. A portion of cost can also go towards grassroots marketing, creating sampling, conducting surveys, etc.
3) Myth: Word-of-Mouth means you don’t need to advertise. WOM is often positioned as the opposite of advertising. In reality, they are two separate issues. In many cases, brands need to use advertising to create interest, perception, behavior, etc. Boring brands need to pay more to make this happen. WOM-driven brands can still use advertising - often to further enhance a competitive advantage. These brands use advertising to “fan the flames” of excitement. Think Apple, Southwest, or Harley. They aren’t creating awareness, they are further stirring existing buzz.
I mentioned an ancient and timeless rule in the piece:
Being interesting = creating stories = generating word-of-mouth.
So if you wish you had more WOM and don’t, see the first part of the formula.
If you think you are interesting, but aren’t generating stories then either you are probably not interesting - or you are doing a poor job of capturing and re-telling stories.
If indeed you are interesting, then use your marketing dollars to tell and create stories - and it will create even more WOM!
Good Business Starts with Your Story
December 1, 2010
Good Business Starts with Your Story
Posted by: Today’s Tip Contributor on November 18, 2010
Something I learned early on as an entrepreneur and small business owner is that starting and maintaining a successful business depends on how well you understand and tell your company’s story. It sounds overly simplistic. Still, identifying and staying true to your new company’s story creates the foundation for a strong and healthy business. Consider the following tips:
1. Determine your MIT (most important thing). Passionate and excited entrepreneurs are often sidetracked by all the things they hope to accomplish with their new company, among a seemingly endless array of possibilities. Clarity of purpose is critical in the first months and years of developing a business. This approach provides the structure for how you make decisions and adopt strategies. You must be able to tell your company story in one sentence or less. This is your MIT. Wal-Mart does this exceedingly well. The company pledges to deliver the lowest-cost products, period. FedEx promises to deliver overnight, guaranteed. Achieving this level of simplicity and clarity is fundamental to success.
2. Live your story. Take your MIT and build a story around it that explains, as briefly as possible, who you are, what you are doing, and why it matters. In many instances, the only reason someone will pay more for your product or service than your competitors’ is because they believe that the story about your product demonstrates that it has more intrinsic value than your competition.
This is a critical point. It is all about value and values. People make decisions on products and services based on enlightened self-interest. They will weigh the dollar cost of the product with the story they want to tell about their own lives and how the product you are selling contributes to, or detracts from, their life story. Ultimately, if your product story is compelling enough to that customer—if it contributes to the story they want to tell about themselves—you win.
3. Write the Next Chapter. Last, live the story you tell and allow it to evolve. As your business grows, you will find that some of your assumptions and hypotheses are no longer valid. This may affect the way you tell your story. Like a good book, your story will have unexpected turns and twists but be sure to embrace them and allow them to be part of your company history, even if they require admitting you were wrong, duped, or naïve in the past. If your intentions are good and people can see this, they will appreciate you all the more for the honesty and humility demonstrated by your willingness to learn and grow.
Richard Averitt
Founder
A Part of Something Big
Nellysford, Va.
Dale Dixon, CEO of BBB-Snake River Region, brought this article to my attention. It is a simple, quick read that captures the essence of branding.
A few comments:
- All great brands are great stories. Great stories beat campaign slogans, tag-lines, media spin, and ad buys.
- Great stories can be compressed down to a 30 sec ad or a billboard, but you have to work at it. That said, great stories can be told in all mediums: word-of-mouth, a cardboard sign, a video, etc. If it can’t be told in multiple mediums, it’s probably not a great story.
- In today’s hyper-transparent culture, you can’t fake a good story or cover up a bad one.
- Unfortunately, the process of “getting your story out” has become commoditized and cliched. However, you still need a story - and it still needs to be told. The way to do this, as the article mentions, is to actually have a story. Go back and look at the definition of a story. It’s not just a beginning, middle, and end. It’s something captures the attention of the audience and holds them until a conclusion - then is naturally re-told.
Final thought … if you don’t know who you are (as a person or a company), there is no story. Start there.
KTVB Appearance
November 18, 2010
Justin Foster had another opportunity be a guest with Carolyn Holly on the “It’s Your Business” segment of KTVB’s noon news on November 18. You can see the clip above.
Here are the 4 marketing trends for 2011 Justin talked about:
- Crowd-sourcing: engaging with your customers to help market your business.
- Hyper-local: marketing to narrow audiences; typically geographic areas.
- Web findability: creating a web presence that makes your business easy to find.
- Social media quitters: businesses bailing on social media efforts because of lack of results.
As always, we are interested to hear from you. What other marketing-related trends are you seeing?
What Drives Your Brand?
October 18, 2010
by thomas golden
What drives brands?
Easy: memories. Our brains remember the recent and the extreme.
Recent:
We remember yesterday. We remember the drive home. We remember the last time we had coffee. We remember the recent memories because it is easy. It is top of mind. We really don’t have to work to remember it. These memories fade fast.
Extreme:
We remember the one time we went to and had this crazy (fill in the blank). We remember our last big play to win the game. We remember horrific accidents. These instances are easy to recall because they are so different. These memories often stay with us for life.
So What:
What are you doing with your marketing? Are you playing the recent game of “Don’t forget about us,” reminding us everyday that you exist. Or is your marketing trying to create an extreme experience where you delight us frequently by not telling us you are different but proving it.
60 Sec Vid: Airlines
October 12, 2010
This week’s question/ scenario: Southwest Airlines seems to be doing very well as they are currently hiring. They have low price fairs and funny TV ads, so what are they doing right and what is everyone else doing wrong?
This is our eighteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
Announcement: Online App.
October 12, 2010
Announcing Online Applications
Tricycle is happy to announce that we are now accepting online applications to Tricycle University. Tricycle University is a one-year intensive program where you will learn how to grow, manage and develop your brand. Once accepted in to the program, you will be placed into a small learning pod with other professionals. Over the next 12 months, you will meet with your pod and your instructor both online and offline to go through the program in a cohort-style format.
You can fill out an application on our site at thetricycle.com/onlineapp or visit thetricycle.com/tricycleuniversity for more information. See the screen show below.
Application Screenshot
37 Sec Rant: Identity Crisis
September 29, 2010
Topic: Identity Crisis
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
Watch this video in HD on YouTube.
Meridian Biz Day 4
September 29, 2010
ABOUT:
We are not presenting but this is a certainly a worthwhile event. Here are some details:
TIME:
Thursday, September 30 · 8:00am - 1:00pm
LOCATION:
Meridian City Hall
More details:
Succeeding in today’s business environment requires constant knowledge and professional association.
Meridian Business Day is designed to help Treasure Valley businesses to network, socialize and develop positive business relationships.
Started in May 2009, Meridian Business Day is a one day FREE business event (thanks to our sponsors)… a half day of workshops, networking and a FREE luncheon presented by local business owners and professionals at Meridian City Hall. Meridian Business Day allows attendees to learn from local experts on how to succeed and survive in these tough economic times!
Feel the positive vibrations when an event is based around great people, great networking with great seminars to help promote your growth in your business. This event is for you
Come Join Us and best of all its FREE.
****UPDATE****
The site is now ready for registration! Please go www.meridianbusinessday.com and register for the workshops you want to see. Seating is limited so register early!
60 Sec: Bank Scenario
September 28, 2010
This week’s scenario: A locally owned bank is losing customers. They have been in business for 50 years and have a $300-500 marketing budget. What should they do?
This is our seventeenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
Watch this video in HD on YouTube.
-
Recent Posts
-
« Jan 
Apr » February 2012 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 EC March 2012 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 - Events
- No events.
