Post: #1

RVF,

My current business is very tech heavy, and very brand-lite, so I have not really needed to do a great deal around building a brand to generate business, or maintain an edge in the market.

I have a new business idea that I think could be extremely lucrative. I want to run it as a side project initially.

A significant part of the success of this venture will require a very strong brand to maintain market position.

I want to make sure that the brand is seen as extremely trendy/luxury within the chosen market. Part of that will be the kind of people who use it. I have great contacts in that regard, and am confident I can get good early adoption from cool, chic influencers.

I need to make sure my marketing and company image gives off that vibe. Given that my background is military/tech, I need to do some reading up on brand building. I'm looking for resources, and I'm sure some of you have some great tips and ideas for where to be looking.

I'd be very grateful for anything you felt willing to share on this.

Post: #2

Buy Eli Altman's "Don't Call It That": http://amzn.to/2wCyEcn

It is easily the best $10 kindle book I've come across for naming strategies, picking solid names and understanding the flaws in poor name selection.

His company also has a fantastic blog where they give away a fair bit of their secret sauce for free: http://www.ahundredmonkeys.com/category/all-posts/

Highly recommend reading 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly, a great article on how to find your specific niche of loyal followers FIRST, before trying to expand outwards: http://overcomeeverything.com/4450/hint-...true-fans/

Also, if you're going to be writing your own marketing copy, you need to be a great writer, if you aren't already.

I highly recommend the following two books for marketing copy:

Words that Sell by Richard Bayan: http://amzn.to/2xlcbxK
Phrases that Sell by Edward Werz: http://amzn.to/2jNKlHd

I like that these books have literally thousands of practical examples of words and phrases to use for pitching your product. Too many business books are filled with fluff, these ones cut to the chase and get you the vocabulary you need to focus on driving sales.

Please feel free to PM me if you want to bounce any ideas off me that you may not want to be posted in the public forum to protect your business concept. Glad to help in any way I can.

Post: #3

(09-21-2017 11:56 AM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  Buy Eli Altman's "Don't Call It That": http://amzn.to/2wCyEcn

It is easily the best $10 kindle book I've come across for naming strategies, picking solid names and understanding the flaws in poor name selection.

His company also has a fantastic blog where they give away a fair bit of their secret sauce for free: http://www.ahundredmonkeys.com/category/all-posts/

Highly recommend reading 1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly, a great article on how to find your specific niche of loyal followers FIRST, before trying to expand outwards: http://overcomeeverything.com/4450/hint-...true-fans/

Also, if you're going to be writing your own marketing copy, you need to be a great writer, if you aren't already.

I highly recommend the following two books for marketing copy:

Words that Sell by Richard Bayan: http://amzn.to/2xlcbxK
Phrases that Sell by Edward Werz: http://amzn.to/2jNKlHd

I like that these books have literally thousands of practical examples of words and phrases to use for pitching your product. Too many business books are filled with fluff, these ones cut to the chase and get you the vocabulary you need to focus on driving sales.

Please feel free to PM me if you want to bounce any ideas off me that you may not want to be posted in the public forum to protect your business concept. Glad to help in any way I can.

Thanks! I'll check out the resources you've given. For branding experts, the Hundred Monkey's blog/web appearance looks dreadful to me. I will check out their content though and reserve judgement.

Post: #4

They just did a re-design of the site, and I personally think their old one was much better. Nonetheless, if you actually look at their client portfolio, they have landed some huge Fortune 500 company firms to do massive campaigns. I think their current site design is their inner artist trying too hard to be "edgy". If you read their actual content, it gives you lots of food for thought.

Post: #5

Eli Altman & co is considered one of the better naming experts in the world. He's really, really good. His dad pretty much created the business model. However, there are others out there.

However, branding is far more than a name. That's the verbal manifestation of the Marty Neumeier's definition of branding "the gut level reaction to a product, company, or service". Neumeier is considered one of the foremost experts on design, logo creation, and brand development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Neumeier . Recently read his book, 46 rules of Genius and its very good. I understand the Brand Gap is just as well done.

Chris Do of the futur on youtube, https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSkoolRocks, is another guy to consider.

However, branding isn't logo or tag lines. Its the core of your company boiled down to a digestable morsel that the consumer will gladly take or begrudgingly swallow. Nail that morsel and you'll naill the logo, tagline, and everything else.

Interested to hear where this goes!

Post: #6

Branding is similar to a pickup concept I heard a long time ago called congruence.

If you act like a big baller buying bottles in the club but you have on a $50 watch that's incongruent. If you act cocky to a chick like you're a smooth player then later get visibly upset when she throws a small shit test like "I don't have sex the first night I meet a guy" then that's incongruent.

Everything your business does most be in full alignment with your target audience's expectations.

The first step in this is defining: who is my target audience?

And I don't mean just their demographic, what's their psychographic?

What keeps them up late at night?
What makes them feel alive?
What do they read/watch/listen/do?
What are they afraid of?
What do they believe?
Who do they trust and who do they pay attention to?
What is the source of their urgent need for your solution? Why would they change now rather than later?

You need to create a customer avatar - an imagined individual (give them a name to make this exercise easier) with these assortment of traits that you can then test your assumptions on.

How would they respond to X? Or how about to Y?

Depending on whether you have an existing audience also conduct research on them. Are they your target audience, and if not in what ways are they different?

Use analytics, surveys and read everything they write.

Look at your competitors. Is their target audience different and why are people purchasing from them instead of your brand?

Once you've deeply know your target audience and the audiences which currently use each business out there then shape all your marketing material to be in alignment with your chosen audience.

Dissuade those who are not part of your in-group and you'll see that it further attracts those that are part of your target audience. Your brand is an identity and just like brands like Apple you can get evangelists if you craft an image that your audience wants to relate to.

Observe the words they use when they talk to you or write about you. Mirror back to them the same language they use so they feel like you just get them.

Look deeply into their desires and pains and demonstrate exactly how your business is perfectly suited for solving them.

Once you meet all your target audience's expectations positively because you almost "read their mind" then they have no choice but to relate to you the most and feel best about doing business with you.