366 Marketing

Turn more prospects into customers

The Complete Guide to Video Marketing

Follow Us

Inbound Marketing Certified

Get Your Trade Show Marketing Guide

branding

By

Small Business Marketing with Barbarians

“Barbarians!  Barbarians! My kingdom for Brand Barbarians.”

That famous quote is from William Shakespeare’s “King Richard III”.  If he was in Marketing, instead of frittering his time away being a playwright, that is.

So what is a Brand Barbarian?

People talk about “Brand Ambassadors” (I know I have) and they are wonderful to have on your side.  They are the ones that pipe up when the conversation gets around to something related to your product.

However at the cocktail party that is social media, the ambassadors politely wear your flag on their lapel, while the barbarian inspires with her passion (often from  atop the buffet table).  Instead of waiting for the conversation to flow the barbarian will guide, or damn near commandeer, the conversational boat.

BB’s defend your honor when you aren’t there. They are the first responders when your brand is in peril.  Met an Apple Fanboy on a forum and dare to impugn Mr. Jobs?  That’s the classic Barbarian.

People with tattoos of your logo (Harley), that own everything bedecked with Red and White waves(Coke), that carve your logo in their hair (Nike).  Those are the shock troops in the war for market share.

So what are the first steps of getting your own horde?

Build them a castle.  First you have to give them a great product/service.  That is the castle from where they launch their invasion.  Nobody wants to support something that can’t be bothered to support itself.

Crappy product and services that leave you wanting don’t have barbarians.  In fact the competitor’s barbarians put their (theoretical, hopefully) heads on pikes.

Allow people to feel that the product is theirs, it is theirs.  It is their widget, iPod, bike, vending machine.  People own the experience and the brand, not you.

Be a good King or Queen.  When there is a problem you need to do whatever you can to resolve it. People love to defend companies and products that went the extra mile for them.

I paid for “a”, but I got “a, b, c and they threw in d”!  When your customers know that you have their back they want to have yours.

When you talk about someone that you have known forever isn’t one of the most telling bit of information that, “he was always there for me.”?

Arm Them. Give them ammo things to convince unbelievers.  Give them content and make it shareable.  These are the slings and arrows that your Barbarians can use to protect and grow your brand.  Great content, articles, video anything.

Something that is cool and relates to the brand and can be co-opted and owned by your horde.

Anyway those are my thoughts.  If you have any comments feel free to post them below.  You can also follow me on twitter at travisabaker to hear my random daily thoughts.

By

How to Lose Control of your Branding and Love It

branding for your marketing efforts I was recently on a panel about Social Media at my alma mater Winthrop University.  It was a great experience and I was glad to be asked.  I truly hope that the students that attended got as much benefit as I did from it.

At one point there was a question about how using Social Media you can retain control of your brand with all these other people taking part.  Others who can’t care about your brand as much as you do.

The question was not directed at me and by the time I spoke again the conversation had gotten around to something else.  The person who answered explained that it was difficult but that it was possible to keep control and that it was very important to do so.

However driving home that afternoon I kept turning the question over in my head.  In marketing your brand is holy.  It is what defines your company and you must treasure and protect it.  It is your colors, your image, everything that people see and say “oh that’s McDonalds, that’s Apple, that’s Verizon, that’s 366Marketing…or whatever.

Right?

10 years ago a whole hearted yes.  Everything about your brand must be controlled and administrated by a person or team of people who rigidly protect it. And it made sense.  You were broadcasting you had ultimate control over your brand.  You could and should protect and baby it and send it out into the world with a suit of armor to protect it. You spent a lot of money and time and money building it up.

And it was fairly safe unless there was a big disaster.  Or maybe a loony with a pen might mark your ad up in a Dr’s office but besides that you were good.

Now not so much.  I mean still have your brand and as the owner of your company you need to stay true to your own standards.  But absolute control is a thing of the past.  There arethousands of loonies wanting to get their say about your brand.  I proudly count myself among them.

But the upshot is that now instead of the controller you are more of a guide for the brand.

And they aren’t trying to damage your brand. They just want their say.  Hell a lot of them want to help you!  A lot of them (hopefully) are your brand ambassadors (hyperlink).  And who cares if when they forward your email or coupon they change something or don’t stay totally true to “THE MESSAGE”,they are invested enough to tell others about. If you are mentioned on facebook, twitter, myspace, linkedin, whatever, you need to have the bravery to let people have their say and still soldier on.

The skillful thing is to be able to respond and guide the conversation where you want it to go. But bear in mind no matter how great a guide you are there are unexpected turns in the path and no matter how great you are bad things will happen.  Just be honest, weather the storm and hopefully your fans will take care of you.

Storm clouds gathering and not enough umbrellas?  Contact 366 marketing, maybe we can help or at least offer some hot cocoa.