This blog has been lying dormant for a little while now, but it is by no means inactive! The past couple of months have been extremely busy for me, and I have barely had enough time to write articles and use social media. This coupled with some personal family issues and an onset of uni work meant that I have become very very slack in this department!
So big apologies but we should be back up and running soon!

Thanks for your patience…

Has anyone heard about ‘Singing Portraits’?  
Local businessman, Jason Paris, has created this innovative opportunity to create a unique memento of your child’s young life.
He’s extended the concept of a ‘portrait’ into sound, and creates the most beautiful recordings of children singing. The end result is a heart-felt recording that you’ll treasure forever.
Singing classics such as ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’, with professional backing music and in a fun, child-friendly manner, you can’t go past this unique ‘portrait’ of that precious time in a child’s life…a singing portrait is the most stunning gift for a parent or grandparent!

Your child does not even need to have any singing talent to do a singing portrait either – virtually any child (7 and over) can do one, and you’re right there in the studio with your child the whole time.
All it takes is around ten minutes of recording to create a musical portrait that will warm your heart for a lifetime…

I highly recommend that you visit www.SingingPortraits.com and have a look around, listen to the various sample songs and book in for your recording session!

So I was flicking through the proposed material for the first lecture of Consumer Behaviour, which I am studying this semester as part of my uni degree, and I found something that really made me happy:

“It is difficult to classify consumers:

• the stereotypes don’t work anymore
• people are not acting their age
• people are not acting their social class
• people are not acting their sex
• traditional households don’t exist

‘People want to be different things at different times’ (Source: Szmigin 2003)”

Hallelujah!
Please read my post on age brackets to understand why I am rejoicing.

I found this book to be an interesting read in the beginning, with snippets on how Virgin was started and how it grew. Halfway through and towards the end, I found it to be harder reading with my mind continually wandering off and skim reading pages (something which I rarely do).
Whilst it was about the Virgin empire ’stripped bare’, I thought it rambled on a bit too much when describing how certain businesses were started and what equipment (trains, planes, etc) was needed. This is just my opinion as I’m not a big fan of the different kinds of trains you can purchase, etc.

However, I did love the detail it went into when talking about the setbacks and lessons learnt, and how Branson has dealt with them positively.

This book does have a few gems throughout it, but overall it wasn’t my most favourite read. That said, I am still looking forward to meeting the man behind the business when I read Branson’s autobiography “Losing My Virginity”.

A couple of nights back, I was reading the latest AdNews publication. In the ‘Mouth Off’ section, the question posed was “What Should Car Marketers Be Doing?”. I especially liked the response by 303 Group’s Jon McKie & thought I’d share some of his points:

• “stay true to your brand values and don’t have a knee-jerk reaction by creating a radical new direction for your brand”
• “find something about the brand you know will resonate with consumers in harder times”
• “if it’s a car in the lower end category, emphasise affordability”
• “if it has a premium positioning, focus on how it retains its value”
• “don’t suddenly change your tone – be consistent. Just tailor the message”

I thought these points were simple and very relevant, not only to the car market, but to any product or service. Thoughts are:
Stay true to your brand values and don’t have a knee-jerk reaction by creating a radical new direction for your brand - when the world is changing around them, consumers value things that stay consistent. Be that ‘thing’.
Find something about the brand you know will resonate with consumers in harder times – whether it’s to do with value, quality or even empathy, use it to your advantage to stengthen your relationship.
If it’s a car in the lower end category, emphasise affordability..&..if it has a premium positioning, focus on how it retains its value - I think these two points speak for themselves. Not everyone wants cheap, some people still want quality and value when it comes to purchases.
Don’t suddenly change your tone – be consistent. Just tailor the message - this brings up point one again, to stay consistent not only in your message, but in your brand values as well.

I’d also like to add my own point – strengthening relationships even without a sale. I think it is extremely important to become a ‘friend’ and to build trust. Consumers, knowing that you aren’t just after another desperate sale, will warm to you and start to see you as a brand who cares.

Photo credit: NSW Government

The Dark Side of Tanning by the NSW Government. I love this ad - it really hits the mark. Especially the line “tanning is skin cells in trauma” – if I had a dollar for every time I’ve said that to a friend/loved one, I’d be rich.
See, I think this ad has three main messages to it:

1. That, obviously, any kind of tanning is not healthy for your skin and you don’t need to be burnt to be in danger…
2. Your skin is in trauma! Hello! Trauma = not good! You wouldn’t want your heart, or your lungs, in trauma…so why is your skin any different??
3. It gives me (and my fellow pale-skinned comrades) an excuse to be pale!

Are we reverting back to the peasant days, where pale skin was seen as beautiful? This ad isn’t about ‘beauty’ – far from it! But is there a hidden message that we don’t need to be brown to be beautiful??? That, finally, it is ok to be pale? It is healthy to be pale?
My Mum was born in England, and hence I have inherited the pale skin (my sister, on the other hand, took after my Dad’s dark European complexion). For most of my life I have felt like I’ve needed to either tan naturally or tan with chemicals (fake tan). I dislike both. I either go raw-red, or orange…
Finally this ad has given me a reason to be proud of my complexion. Yes, look at me, I won’t be dying of skin cancer anytime soon!

So I think this ad has really done the job – I have seen numerous friends and acquaintances back off when it comes to UV rays. And I really do think there’s a hidden message about the beauty industry – brown might be beautiful today, but it might be death tomorrow…

In my previous post, I stated how we ranked at number #103 on Julian Cole’s Top Australian Marketing Pioneer Blogs – and how I wanted to improve on this ranking for the next revision of this list.
Well Julian has done it again! And this list has now expanded to 129 worthy marketing blogs – with Classy Marketing coming in at #86! Very happy with this ranking, especially with being placed in the company of some of the greatest marketing minds in Australia (and dare I say, the world..)
To see the entire list, click here.
Well done to everyone else who made the list!!

I’ve always loved the Alice in Wonderland quote:

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Alice: …so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

To me this sums up why you need a purpose of direction. And whilst it applies in a personal context, I think it is very true when it comes to business.
Many people get caught up in the day to day running of, well, everything. To some people, just making it to tomorrow is all they can think about – let alone planning to achieve well into the future. I guess business can be a lot like Alice’s ‘wonderland’ in many senses – especially when you are in new territory! You can experience your fair share of queen of hearts, cheshire cats and mad hatters, and sometimes it all feels like one big dream (or nightmare?). But if there is one thing can help you push past it all, it’s believing you will achieve your goals in the end.

Overall business goals help to define where you are going and how you are going to get there. They are sometimes the only thing that holds you together when you are feeling weak, and are a driving force when you are feeling strong.
So don’t just keep walking in any direction, always keep in mind where you want to end up and make positive decisions based on that destination.

Is there a similarity between business/product branding and personal branding? Are we comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges?

Apples to apples

• Both kinds of ‘brands’ want to position themselves in the best possible light
• Both want to be liked/loved
• Both are selling themselves (figuritively speaking)
• Both usually reasses where they’re at and what they can do to be better
• Both are putting themselves out there to be judged
• Further, both can be judged at face value only
• Both can be classified as products (think Paris Hilton)

Apples to oranges

• Personal branding can be continually changed and updated without so much as a second thought, whereas there would be a bit of a public outcry if a product brand continually changed themselves and what they believed in
•  Personal branding can be altered due to a significant event in a person’s life (eg, getting married)
• Product branding can have a multitude of people behind it, whereas personal branding has only the individual
• Product branding can have an emotional connection that is built up over time, whereas how an individual is viewed can be an instant love/hate opinion

I think I am angling toward more similarities than differences.
What are your thoughts?

And with that brings change.
Majority of people will have already decided on their New Year’s Resolutions, usually ones that involve bettering themselves and their life, and I am not exempt from this group.
2008 was a very big learning curve, especially with my business officially launching. It was a trying few months as I found my feet and I am still learning something new everyday. 2009 brings new challenges, including another business idea in the works.
I am wishing everyone all the best for this new year, and may the changes that you implement be positive and fulfilling.