Transform Your Brand!

If Twitter consisted of 100 people

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:40:00 +0000

I recently saw this post and graphics on Mashable: If Twitter consisted of 100 people.

The fantastic research and graphics are from the Information is Beautiful blog.

If this is applied to your Twitter followers, what's the true percentage of your target audience that wants to hear from you and engage with you? It's likely a small percentage of your overall followers, as many people are only following your account in the hope that you'll follow them back so they can broadcast to you. It can feel like everyone has a megaphone and no one is listening.

That being said, it is possible to reach your target audience via Twitter and engage with them for mutual benefit. I suggest using HootSuite to find your audience by the subjects they are likely to be discussing and politely adding to the conversation and following those people.

Place your emphasis on quality, not quantity. There are Twitter users who have upwards of 100,000 followers, but they are all talk, all the time and people are most likely ignoring them. I'd bet there are other Twitter users with 100 followers who are actually getting more results from their efforts because they placed their focus on quality.

Mobile Internet access to eclipse desktop access by 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Here's a graphic that shows that more people will be access the Internet on mobile devices than on desktop/laptop computers by sometime in 2013. Thanks to the folks at the Hubspot blog for this.

So, have you started thinking about mobile in your branding strategy yet?

How mobile phones are changing social media

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:50:00 +0000

This very interesting social media graphic was placed on the HubSpot blog. Very interesting to see that mobile social media users are more sociable...my wife often tells me I'm being anti-social when on my iPhone.

Successfully changing perceptions of the Old Spice brand

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:14:00 +0000

If I asked you a year ago what came to mind when I said "Old Spice", what would you say? For me, it would be a reminder of my grandfather, a coal miner - a "manly man" - who would put on Old Spice aftershave when he cleaned up after a hard day at work. The brand was very effective during his generation; however, over time, the brand began to shift from being associated with manly men to being associated with old men.

Old Spice and its agency, Wieden + Kennedy, were faced with the challenge of shifting that perception for a new generation of customers. They developed a brilliant branding strategy that utilized actor Isaiah Mustapha speaking to women as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". Very clever commercials grabbed attention and began to reclaim the Old Spice brand's position as being associated with today's manly man. They are very effective, but they didn't stop there.

Next, they developed a hilarious social media campaign with great viral appeal that further advanced the brand strategy. They actively used Facebook and Twitter to engage with potential customers and produced a series of YouTube videos, like the one below, in response to questions or comments received through those social media channels. Some responses were to celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate or Ellen DeGeneres, but many were to regular folks.

The results? As I write, they have built a social network of over 61,000 followers on Twitter and over 589,000 fans on Facebook. Plus, their YouTube videos have had millions of views. We don't know the sales impact yet, but they've definitely had success in re-shaping the brand perception of Old Spice. And many men and women will be thinking of Old Spice when they buy men's personal products. Well done!

The right social media channels for your business

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:52:00 +0000

"We need to set up a Twitter account and a Facebook page for our business."

Really? Why Twitter and Facebook? What are you trying to accomplish? We are hearing comments like this more and more from our clients, so we thought we'd share some guidance on the topic.

What social media channels should you use for your business?

The answer has two parts:

A. The one your customers and potential customers are using (with a proviso that they are open to talk business on that channel), and

B. The one that you can commit to using consistently to provide value to your customers and potential customers to increase the likelihood that they'll bring their business to you.

If you're in the B2B arena, it's less likely that you'll need Facebook, but should be considering LinkedIn and blogging. If you're in B2C, you could likely benefit greatly from Facebook and possibly MySpace. These are general statements and each business will be different, but make sure the social media channel meets both of the criteria outlined above.

In our business, we use a blog, email newsletter, LinkedIn and Twitter. (We have a Facebook page, but more for search engine optimization purposes than social networking - our clients may be on Facebook, but not for talking business). The email newsletter (using content from the blog) has actually been the most effective for business development, but all four channels are set up as integrated components of our branding strategy.

For some additional guidance on using social media to build your brand, check out this past blog post.

[Note: Cartoon image source: blog.hubspot.com]

G20 Protests: completely ineffective for communicating a message

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:14:00 +0000

Thousands of people, many of them good intentioned people seeking to peacefully get their message across, marched in Toronto during the G20 Summit this past weekend. What was the cause that mobilized so many people? I have no idea...and few people do. The protests were completely ineffective for getting their message out.

Some of the protesters have complained that the media only places focus on the violent acts, which always seem to accompany gatherings of world leaders. But this is a lame argument; the media will focus on whatever is going to catch the attention of their audience. Burning police cars and the masked, black-clothed anarchists are going to get the attention every time...they're remarkable, albeit in a bad way. The message was lost, and the protest organizers should have expected that based on past summits.

So how to get a legitimate protest message out? In the very same week as the G20, a group called Avaaz.org launched a very successful protest to defeat a proposal to legalize a commercial whale hunt at a gathering of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco. They used a graphic image (shown here) and an effective social media campaign to spread awareness of their cause internationally. At the vote date, they had an online petition of over 1 million names and created global outrage. And the proposal? Defeated.

Turning a negative into a double positive

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:31:00 +0000

Yesterday I was at a Starbucks in Halifax, ordered my venti skinny vanilla latte for the drive home to Cape Breton, and waited, and waited... After 5 or 6 people who ordered after me received their order, I asked if they had forgotten mine. They had. It was fine, I said, I was in no hurry. But after quickly rectifying the situation and giving me my order, the barrista handed me a certificate for a free coffee saying, "Sorry for your wait. Next time, it's on us."

It was a simple mistake and I was OK with them just rectifying the situation, but they went farther.

A couple years ago I heard a presentation by Pete Luckett of Pete's Frootique who said he loved it when a customer complained. Loved it?? Yes, he saw it as an opportunity to turn a negative into a double positive. Whenever his shop received a complaint, he would assemble a huge fruit basket and personally deliver it to the unhappy customer. He said this was an opportunity to show the customer that they were very important and their concerns had been listened to. And how many customers told people about Pete visiting them personally? I'd bet many.

You and the people who work with you are going to make mistakes and lapses in judgement from time to time, but it's how you rectify the situation that counts. Turn the negative into a double positive and your customers will remember that personal touch far more than the screw up.

The power of starting with "Why?"

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:11:00 +0000

I recently came across this presentation by Simon Sinek that speaks to the huge importance of starting with "Why" and defining your purpose in a brand transformation process.

Most companies, politicians and people who try to lead begin by answering "What" or appealing to our sense of reason. You have a need, we have something to meet your need. It's very logical and focused on things like features and benefits...and the logical portions of our brains tells us that this approach makes sense.

However, as Simon points out, we aren't moved by "What", we are moved by "Why". We make decisions to purchase products or support a leader or believe in something based on our emotions. We then justify the emotional decision with logic to support the "What", but make no mistake, our behaviour is controlled far more by emotions than by reason.

Take a look at the presentation to learn more about the power of starting with "Why?"

A talented person to help you achieve success online or in-house

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:41:00 +0000

We’re thrilled to introduce you to Jody MacArthur, the newest member of the ICON team. Jody’s been helping organizations craft their brand messages and tell their compelling stories for more than 12 years.

Need to improve your brand positioning online?

Jody’s done that.

Need to craft a strategy to get your internal team communicating a consistent message?
Jody’s done that.

From previous positions with MT&L Public Relations, ISL Web Marketing & Development and the Greater Halifax Partnership, Jody has done a lot! And now she’s here to use that experience in helping you grow your business or organization.

Contact Jody to discuss your needs at 902.539.0044 or jody@iconzone.ca

8839NJ5KDU36

Kayak.com selling tickets aboard "LOST" Oceanic Flight 815

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:36:00 +0000

In a previous blog post, I discussed the need to be remarkable in building your brand. Well this is being remarkable.

Kayak.com is offering a one way flight on board Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles on September 22, 2010...replicating the famous flight from "LOST". It is advertised for the low price of $4839 US, but when you click to select the flight, you are taken to a Lostpedia page about the show and the flight.

As Seth Godin states in his book, Purple Cow, being remarkable means worthy of being remarked about. This tactic by Kayak.com is something that people will talk about and spread through social media, thus creating greater awareness of the Kayak brand.

To find the flight, I had to do some searching on the Kayak site and I found out how easy it is to use, how many flight options are available, how many airlines they include, etc. I got a great introduction to their platform and, although I've heard of the company before, this was the first time I visited their site. The next time I'm booking travel, they are likely to be top of mind as a vehicle to try. They don't have a sale, yet, but they have my attention. Mission accomplished for that tactic.

For the record, I heard about this via Guy Kawasaki on Twitter @GuyKawasaki. He provides a steady stream of cool and thought provoking content.

Brand building is like dog training

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:18:00 +0000

To effectively build your brand, you have to deliver a simple, consistent message, reinforced over and over again until it sinks in with your audience and they come to understand it intuitively.

In dog training, when you say "sit", you have to say it the same way, with the same patterns and reward at the end, so a dog eventually knows exactly what you're communicating and knows what to do to get what she wants - the treat. But mix up the pattern a little bit and the dog gets confused and you don't get the result you're looking for.

The same holds true in building a brand.

I've been buying the Gilette After Shave Gel for Sensitive Skin for a number of years and have given them loyal sales. It's not the type of product that you jump up and down with excitement about and want to tell everyone about it, but for someone with sensitive skin, it simply worked...and I kept coming back.

But things changed in recent months. First, the product became harder to find and I could no longer buy it at my local supermarket as I always had. There was a newer Gilette product, which I tried once, due to some degree of loyalty to the overall brand, but I didn't like it. Wanting the consistent results, I looked for my product at local pharmacies, making special trips for this one product and eventually found it. However, when I did get it, I was disappointed that the product seemed to have changed. The consistency was not the same, the aroma was not the same. I can't really put my finger on it, but when you use a product for years, you notice small changes and it was clear that this was either a bad batch or they changed the formula. With these inconsistencies, I've decided the product is no longer worthy of a drive out of my way to find it and I'll just pick up a l'Oreal alternative the next time at the supermarket.

Gilette had me. They were consistent. I was trained. Then, for whatever the reason, they changed their approach and I'm not responding the same way I always had. Not only that, but it will be much harder for them to get me to listen to them in the future.

Should you be using social media to build your brand?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:43:00 +0000

The answer is…it depends.

Your question should not be whether or not you should be using social media to build your brand. It should be, “Is my ideal customer using social media?” If they are, you should be too.

Here are some stats from the Social Media Examiner that show the growth in social media:

By 2010, 26 million (1 in 7) U.S. adults will use Twitter monthly (eMarketer)
In September, Facebook officially hit the 300 million-user mark, making the social networking site nearly as large as the U.S. population. (eMarketer)
Americans spend 17% of their online time on social media sites (Center for Media Research)
Blogs are the most useful social media tool, say 51% of businesses (McKinsey Quarterly’s “Global Survey”)

If your business or organization is targeting consumers, whether you’re a grocery store or a charity, there are likely huge benefits to utilizing social media to build your brand. Creating a blog, a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account (for starters) will provide new access points to engage with your ideal customers. If you are targeting businesses, you should also look at LinkedIn, as it’s a social networking tool for businesses.

A few points to keep in mind:

1. Social media takes time
It will take time to develop content and time to attract fans and followers. You must commit to set aside the time to produce consistent content on a consistent basis.

2. Aim to provide value to your ideal customer
The organizations that succeed in social media are focused on providing valuable content for their audience. The ones who fail tend to just talk about themselves.

3. You can streamline content delivery
Using RSS feeds, you can set blog posts to automatically update your Facebook page and Twitter account. Using HootSuite or TweetDeck, you can add new Tweets and update your Facebook page. I wouldn’t advocate relying solely on automation for content delivery, but it provides a consistent base, while making your life easier.

4. Focus on building your brand
Remember that you are building your brand by shaping your ideal customer’s experience with your organization. Your content and conversations should support your brand platform and emphasize what differentiates you from the competition.

5. Remember the objective
By engaging in social media, you still want to lead a customer along the path to conversion – a sale, subscription to an e-newsletter, attending a webinar, etc. Don’t hesitate to include a call to action…but demonstrate the value to them first.

Need help using social media to build your brand? Contact me for a consultation.

Choose Your Customers, Choose Your Future

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:02:00 +0000

I recently added a post that asked Are You Marketing to Your Ideal Customer?

I just saw this post online by Seth Godin that speaks to the same idea. Trying to be all things to all people is a common problem with many businesses that will likely lead to mediocrity, but if you strive to be great to a finely defined ideal customer, you'll have a better chance at success!

Search Engine Optimization that Builds Your Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:25:00 +0000

5 Tips to Optimize Your Website while Building Your Brand

Before thinking about search engine optimization (SEO), it’s important to establish your branding platform (e.g. being real and remarkable), know who your ideal customer is and match your brand messaging to that customer. If you haven’t established that, your SEO effort will likely lack focus and discipline, so I’d encourage you to go back and read those blog posts. If you have, you’re ready for these 5 tips to utilize SEO to build your brand online.

First, a word about SEO. There are many tactics you can employ to optimize your site and increase traffic, but it’s vital that the traffic is relevant – comprised of your ideal customers – or chances are that the visitors will essentially be “window shopping”. Many SEO experts are only focused on traffic, so before you contract one, be sure that they understand how to attract your ideal customer.

Google, by far the #1 search engine, ranks pages based on a combination of relevance and page rank. Relevance is largely controlled on your site and is calculated based on your optimization of the particular keyword term. Page rank is driven mainly by links from other sites to yours. These tips will deal with both factors.

1. Do your homework
Before optimizing, do some research to determine the keyword terms your ideal customers will be searching. Write down five keyword phrases that you think your ideal customers will be searching and run them through Wordtracker or the Google Keyword Tool to see how popular those terms are, how much competition there will be for each term and which related terms you may want to consider. This will give you a strong indication of which terms you should optimize for best results.

2. Develop dedicated landing pages for each search term
By setting up a separate page in your website dedicated to each term you have decided to optimize, you will have a much better chance of having that page being deemed relevant for that term by Google. For example, if you have a New York law firm, you may wish to have a page dedicated to one particular area of law within your practice if the search terms are telling you that your ideal customers are likely searching for terms related to that area.

3. Incorporate the search terms in 3 key places
Ensure the search terms are utilized in 3 key places: page titles, page headers, and body content. When doing so, be sure to use language that will appeal to your ideal customer and stay true to the key message you’ve developed for your brand platform. The trick is maintaining a balance that will be effective for search engines AND your ideal customers.

4. Build links to your site
In general, the more links that point to your site, the greater your Google page rank will be, thus helping your site get higher in Google search results. There are simple ways to build links (e.g. via directories, industry member sites, etc.) that should be your first steps. You can also build links through social media, a blog, online press release services and other means that you can control. These will all help.

5. Create relevant content
The best way to garner worthwhile links is to create great content online. If your ideal customers find the content valuable, they will share it with others. This could be via blogs, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, etc., all of which will increase your page rank. If a site with a high page rank links to your site, that’s likely more valuable than all of those directory links.

Hope that helps demystify search engine optimization for you. These are basic tips, but if you follow them, you’ll be well on your way to attracting more relevant traffic to your site. If you'd prefer to contract this task to a specialist, our team at ICON can help you build traffic and build your brand.

Are you marketing to your IDEAL Customer?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Move your focus from a target market to a target individual

From Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick, come this illustration of the ideal customer:

Trader Joe’s is a specialty food market that carries inexpensive, but exotic, foodstuffs. At Trader Joe’s you might purchase Moroccan-flavored simmer sauce or a quart of red pepper soup.

Trader Joe’s describes its ideal customer as an “unemployed college professor who drives a very, very used Volvo.” The image is a simplification, obviously - at any given moment there are likely zero of these actual customers in Trader Joe’s. However, the people who frequent the stores share some of the values and characteristics of the fictional ideal customer.

A crucial element of every strategy is deciding which markets and customers a company will serve. The “unemployed college professor” speaks directly to this issue. Trader Joe’s could have referred to its customers as “people who are high socio-economic status and are quality-conscious, but also budget-conscious, and who value variety and new experiences.” But this adjective-filled statement is nowhere near as vivid an image as the unemployed college professor with a very, very used Volvo.

Trader Joe’s then makes branding decisions based on this caricature of their ideal customer. For example, if they were making decisions on whether or not to carry a new product line, they would ask how would it appeal to the unemployed college professor. If they were developing a promotion, they would tailor it to appeal to the unemployed college professor. It provides focus and direction for their branding efforts.

So how would you describe your ideal customer? At ICON, we find it sometimes helps to start thinking about fictional characters from TV shows or movies who may apply and then to fine-tune that character into a customized and vivid image. One thing’s for sure, once you know who you are trying to reach, you’ll have a better handle on how to best reach them and capture their attention.

Be Real!

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:16:00 +0000

If you read the last post and watched the Seth Godin video, you saw the importance of being remarkable in your branding strategy. But there's a caveat...you can be remarkable, but be perceived as fake, just as I would look at the community in the video that is building a giant lava lamp in their community. You may go to see it once, which I concede has some merit, but why would you ever go back?

We believe that an enduring brand has to be REAL and REMARKABLE.

The first component to being real is being true to yourself. Is your business or organization designed around your passion and purpose? If not, what would make you excited about getting out of bed to build it each day? In the Jim Collins book, Good to Great, one of the key characteristics of great companies (and it's backed by his team's research) is that the company is driven by a common sense of purpose and passion. It's critical for long-term branding success.

The second component to being real is being what you say you are to others, in other words, delivering on what your brand promises. Also in Good to Great, Collins outlines how great companies decide what they can be the best in the world at and then diligently stick to that focus, regardless of any seemingly good opportunities that may come their way, but are outside the scope of their purpose. These companies know who they are and that's what they communicate to their customers and stakeholders. They are known for walking the walk and their customers come to understand exactly what they can expect from that company.

Here's a video of Joseph Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy and Authenticity, discussing this subject in greater detail:

Are you perceived as Real and Remarkable? At ICON, our Brand Transformation Process can help you incorporate these elements into your branding strategy. Contact us to begin today!

Be Remarkable!

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:42:00 +0000

One of the keys to establishing a strong brand is to be remarkable; to completely set yourself apart from the competition. Google did this when they launched their search engine. Other search engines were becoming more complex and adding more features and Google launched with the intention to be simply the best search engine out there. That and a quirky name was remarkable or in other terms, worthy of being remarked about.

No one explains the importance of being remarkable better than Seth Godin, author of The Purple Cow (completely based on this topic), among other great books.

Here's an excellent video of Seth discussing the need to be remarkable:

In ICON's Brand Transformation workshop, we guide clients through the discovery of what is remarkable or potentially remarkable about their customer experience. In some cases it already exists and just needs to be better communicated, but in other cases there may need to be a change to way the business operates to develop a remarkable aspect. Either way, we can help...just contact us to arrange your workshop.

One note of caution - we don't believe it's enough to be remarkable, as many fads are remarkable, but don't last. More about that in the next post!

Check Your Website’s Competitive Ranking

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:44:00 +0000

Once your website is communicating what you’ve outlined in your branding platform, the next step is to see how your site is performing right now. This can provide a benchmark for you to view how you are stacking up against your key competitors and your industry. You can have the most attractive site in the world, but if no one is seeing it, what is its true value?

One way of doing this is to look at the Alexa Ranking for your website. This provides a measure of a website’s popularity over the past three months. The site ranked #1 has the highest combination of website visits and page views.

To illustrate, here’s how our website stacks up against a sample of other firms in our industry on Canada’s East Coast (note - the smaller the number, the higher the ranking):

ISL                                       936,670
ICON                                2,772,683
Extreme Group                 2,981,404
Three Ton                         5,435,378
Hawk Communications    6,329,513
Colour                               9,385,600
Revolve                           10,489,438
MT&L                               10,712,896
Target Marketing             13,993,862
Vibe Creative Group        21,508,990
Breakhouse                     24,716,779
VMP Group                     24,858,770

It should be noted that our old site, which we replaced in July of this year, scored much lower on this list. We applied our knowledge to building the new site and it’s doing much, much better…but of course, we want to reach the top of the list!

So we’d advise you to rate your site and see how you stack up. I’m sure this will be an enlightening experience, but don’t be discouraged, you can climb the charts just like we did.

Beginning in the Beginning - The Branding Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:36:00 +0000

Before you say ANYTHING online, it’s important to have a firm understanding of what you should be saying and to whom. It helps to have a foundation or platform upon which your key messages can be developed, but to do this, you sometimes have to back up to the beginning. Here are some questions to ask yourself in forming your branding platform:

1. What is the underlying purpose or passion that drives your business or organization?

2. Who is your ideal customer? What expectations will they have when choosing your product, service or experience?

3. What differentiates you from your competition? Does this point of differentiation matter to the ideal customer?

If you are happy with the answers to those questions, you’re ready to move on to a positioning statement; if not, perhaps you have some bigger decisions to make. Here’s a very simple outline for a positioning statement:

For [your ideal customer definition], [brand name] offers [your product, service or experience] that delivers [the ideal customer’s expectations] in a way that is [differentiators].

Now take a look at your current website. Does it communicate the current positioning statement through the use of text, images or other elements? If not, give some thought to what you can do differently to communicate this message.

Please note that this is a very simple approach to get a quick glimpse at your branding platform. We would highly recommend a more detailed analysis, which we offer in a half-day branding workshop. If you’d like to delve deeper, please contact us.

Are You Managing Your Brand Online?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:29:00 +0000

At a national online marketing conference this past spring, keynote speaker Arlene Dickinson of CBC TV’s The Dragon’s Den defined your brand succinctly as “your company or organization as experienced by others”. Given this definition, we each have to ask ourselves, “How is our brand is being experienced by others online?”

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some tips to help you analyze the effectiveness of your branding strategy online and we’ll give you some concrete direction you can take to make steps in a positive direction. We’ll look at your website, some E-marketing strategies you can take, and social media opportunities.

Please feel free to send us any questions you may have and, as always, if you need more help, feel free to get in touch.

Play the word association game with your brand

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:55:00 +0000

If I say, 'Las Vegas', what comes to mind?

If you said gambling, casinos, the strip, Wayne Newton or Siegfried & Roy, you're in good company with the majority of folks (although when I asked one client, she responded "a new purse"!). While the Las Vegas brand is much more than these responses, they provide a strong indication of the city's position as a destination for fun, entertainment and excitement for adults. What happens in Vegas...

Now, can you describe the official logo for Las Vegas? No? The vast majority of people aren't aware of it, but you can see it at the top of this page: www.visitlasvegas.com. So after seeing the logo, tell me, how much did the logo influence the descriptions you came up with when you played the word association game? I'd bet the house that it's most likely not at all.

Often, when we talk to people about their brand, they think we mean their logo, their slogan, their colour scheme. Sure, those items all represent the brand, but they are not the brand. The word association game provides a closer description of the brand. At a recent conference, I heard Arlene Dickinson of CBC TV’s The Dragon’s Den define a brand succinctly as “Your organization as experienced by others”. That definition works for me.

So for Las Vegas, the brand could be shaped by past visits there, stories heard from a friend's visit, experiencing the city as a backdrop in movies or TV shows, seeing advertisements, reading articles, visiting their website, and on and on.

When you think about your brand, in what ways are your customers, employees or other stakeholders experiencing your organization? How are they treated when they call on the phone? What type of atmosphere do you have in your workspace? How are you handling complaints? All of these elements, and many more, shape the perception of your organization and form your brand.

So if you asked your customers or your employees to play the word association game with your organization, what would they say? Ask them...you may be enlightened with the results.

An online brand strategy fuels web visitation for Neuragen.com

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:57:00 +0000

Over the past few months, we at ICON worked with the marketing team at Origin BioMed to develop an online brand strategy for their flagship product, Neuragen. The strategy has helped to drive over 100,000 visitors to their new website in just three months since its launch, with 1 in 5 of those visitors requesting a coupon for Neuragen.

As stated by Jason R. Tutty, VP Marketing with Origin BioMed, "Growing North American demand for our product necessitated a strong web presence. We were starting from scratch and ICON guided us through an online brand strategy which served as the blueprint for Neuragen's online presence.

Together, we also built and launched the cornerstone of our online presence - an interactive, consumer-focused site. Since its launch, traffic and online consumer interaction continues to soar, translating directly into incremental revenue for the company."

A combination of organic and paid search, referrals from WebMD and direct requests from ads are driving traffic to the site and we're working on a new e-newsletter campaign that will enable the conversation with their customers to go to a deeper level.

So if you have diabetes, singles or fibromyalgia and suffer from nerve pain, you'll want to give Neuragen a try. Check out their site and request a coupon!

Halifax Biomedical launches fresh new look

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Halifax Biomedical Inc., with its head office in Mabou, Nova Scotia, is an international biomedical engineering company that provides quality clinical research services and advanced research products for the orthopedics field. ICON helped this innovative company to revitalize their brand identity and communications tools to elevate them to their next level of success.

Chad Munro, CEO of Halifax Biomedical Inc., said these nice things about the experience of working with us:

"ICON is a trusted supplier for all our marketing and communication needs, I highly recommend this firm. From logo development and collateral materials to online branding and redesign of our website, ICON has exceeded our expectations and delivered in the time we needed and under budget.

Halifax Biomedical strives to lead in a niche sector of medical imaging. We achieve this leadership through our commitment to quality and excellence in everything we do. We have partnered with only the best organizations internationally. I happy to say that work ICON has done reflects our values of quality and excellence. We are pleased to have such world class talent available to our organization."

Great Plains College officially launched

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Two community college systems in Saskatchewan, Cypress Hills College and Prairie West College, announced that they are merging to form a new college, Great Plains College. ICON worked with the management team of the new organization to develop an exciting brand strategy and identity for the college that focuses on “Education with ENERGY”.

Mark Frison, President and CEO of the new college said, “The branding process was critical in shaping the new identity and direction for Great Plains College. Enrollments are up for the next year and excitement continues to build for our ‘Education with Energy’ theme.”

All that's left to say is Go Sun Dogs! (That's their sports team.)

So why blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Smith) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:56:00 +0000

After thinking about starting a blog for a few years, we're finally jumping into the blogosphere and you may want to as well. Here are just a few reasons you should consider blogging:

1. Positioning your Brand
A blog provides a great opportunity for your organization to stand out from competitors by demonstrating your specific knowledge, providing useful insights and showing a glimpse of your personality. Done well and consistently, a blog can help reinforce our brand in the eyes of your ideal customer.

2. Leadership
A blog can establish you as a thought leader in your area of expertise, provided of course that you have some decent thoughts from time to time. It also gives you a soapbox to stand on and share your opinion.

3. Driving Traffic
Having a blog that is optimized for search engines can provide another means for your ideal customer to find you online. As well, links from the blog back to your site (like this one) will improve the search engine ranking of your site.

4. Evergreen Content
Developing a blog and then having the blog feed posted on your site can provide a steady stream of new content for your site and give visitors a reason to keep coming back for more info. Search engines like that too. And you won't have to wait for your webmaster to make content changes.

5. Conversations with Your Readers
Most blogs allow readers to post comments on a blog post and this can begin a dialogue between you and our ideal customer. Just be sure to check the blog regularly to monitor and respond to comments...you wouldn't want to leave someone hanging!

These are jut a few reasons we're blogging, but we hope this will give you some reasons to start your own.