The Crab Cake Theory of Brand Marketing

Before You Create All the Content, Get the Secret Ingredient Right

I love crab cakes. Beautiful, golden, sweet fresh hot magical combinations of fresh lump crab and cracker crumbs with hints of parsley and Old Bay seasoning. A slice of lemon on the side. Maryland style, New Orleans style, you name it, crab cakes are one of life’s best experiences. People like me are appalled by those who think they can swindle us by serving “crab cakes” substituted with faux “tastes just like crab” fish junk. That tells me volumes about their integrity and value for honest food experiences.

Thus was born my crab cake brand philosophy. Great brands are built with honest ingredients of vision, values and character. They understand what they are uniquely best at doing. They know what their customers most value. They guard against any inclination to use substitutions that are not true to the brand values. Over time they become a trusted resource because people learn they deliver what they promise. In today’s buzz word parlance, they are authentic.

The Bottom Line: Before you build that expensive website, before you invest in content creation or advertising or PR, define your brand’s key ingredients and activate them. That’s the secret to successful marketing that drives growth, revenue and healthy profitability.

How can you define the key ingredients for your brand and activate them to grow your business? Contact Mamie Patton  to learn how Patton Brand Strategy helps companies prosper with smarter brand strategy.

Who serves the best crab cakes? Share your favorite crab cake restaurant name and location.

How to Grow Your Brand Online with Extraordinary Content

Launch, by Michael Stelzner, Offers Valuable Strategies to Deliver Content that Drives Business

The digital information revolution has resulted in an overwhelming amount of information overload. People have to filter ruthlessly just to keep from drowning in content.  How can your business rise above the roar and become a trusted resource?

Launch, a new book by Michael Stelzner, delivers a clean, practical process for creating content that attracts and inspires customers, prospects and influencers. He describes two types of content fuel. Primary fuel, consistently delivered, will build an enthusiastic fan base and keep them coming back. Nuclear fuel is powerful, strategically timed content designed to make a lasting impact with significant numbers of your most important readers.

Stelzner maintains that not only should content help people solve their problems for free, it should be free of marketing messages. While that may sound counterintuitive to traditional marketers, it’s really an   evolution of relationship marketing. Today people want brands to be seen and heard on their terms. By being a valued resource and then including marketing messages only when and where appropriate, companies will grow their customer base and their sales.

Whether you want to develop an online brand for yourself or you seek to better integrate digital marking with your total marketing plan, this book is a useful resource that is smart, practical and actionable.

The Bottom Line: Content and content marketing are hot buzz words right now. If you feel overwhelmed by the almost daily announcements about the latest internet “must do” tactics, Launch will help you focus on the hottest thing of all: being important to your customers.

How can your business create better content that drives revenue and growth? Contact Mamie Patton  to learn how Patton Brand Strategy helps companies profit with smarter brand marketing.

Michael Stelzner is the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com and you can download a free chapter of Launch here.

“Shocked, Shocked to Find That Gambling is Going On in Here!”

How Murdoch’s News Corporation Gambled It’s Brand and Lost

“The News Corporation Board of Directors was shocked and outraged by the allegations concerning the News of the World, and we are united in support of the senior management team to address these issues. In no uncertain terms, the Board and management team are singularly aligned and committed to doing the right thing.” Statement from Viet Dinh on Behalf of the Independent Directors of News Corporation.

For Want of a Brand Culture, Billions are Lost

If you think developing a brand culture around a vision, mission and values is not important, consider News Corporation. Over 200 people are now jobless. A 168 year old newspaper is extinct. The $12 billion attempt to buy British Sky Broadcasting and bring additional growth, revenue and profitability into the fold is dead.

A quick look at the corporate website reveals no mission statement, no vision statement and no values by which the company will be guided. Under Corporate Governance there is a Standards of Business Conduct section but it is really a repository for statements that protect the respective derrières of the company from a compliance perspective.

“Whatever It Takes”, Takes Some Framing

Unlike the vibrant brand cultures I’ve cited in previous blogs like Zappo’s  or Air New Zealand, the only authentic value I could find on the News Corp. site was a commitment to making money. Nothing wrong with that, but when a company lacks an authentic brand culture and the only value is improving the numbers, it’s a short sighted invitation to justify any action to achieve the objective.

The Bottom Line: A healthy brand culture creates sustainable growth, revenue and profitability. It reduces risk of the sort that cost News Corporation billions of dollars. Don’t gamble with your company’s future. Instead, ensure longevity by defining your brand mission, values and value proposition. Then make sure everyone understands their role in supporting the brand.

How can your business build a powerful brand that drives revenue and minimizes risk? Contact Mamie Patton to learn how Patton Brand Strategy helps companies grow with smarter brand strategy.

Is Your Marketing Strategy Focused for the New Economy?

Push Versus Pull

Thanks to the ongoing digital information revolution, the world is not only flatter, it’s smarter. Customer touchpoints keep multiplying, creating more opportunities to engage them and win their business. But many companies are failing to manage this more complex scenario. They are still structured with a push mentality, where they tell customers about themselves and then ask for customer action. Today it’s a pull world. Customers decide when, where and how they want to interact with brands and the people behind them. Companies need to manage brand interactions holistically, not as piece-meal components.

Savvy competitors like Virgin Atlantic and American Express are adapting by eliminating internal barriers to innovation and flattening their organization. They understand that marketing no longer belongs solely to the marketing department. Delivering a consistent brand experience is the job of everyone in the company. Marketing needs to be teamed with all other departments to help everyone understand the brand culture and deliver the right customer experience.

As Drucker stated years ago, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” When customers enjoy consistently satisfactory brand experiences at every touchpoint they are more engaged and more loyal, driving additional revenue and profitability.

The Bottom Line: A pull world means delivering the right brand experience is the job of everyone in the company. Begin by creating a vibrant brand culture that engages employees as well as customers.

How can your business create inspiring brand experiences that drive growth? Contact Mamie Patton to learn how Patton Brand Strategy helps companies generate revenue and ROI with smarter brand strategy.

How Will You Prosper in the Digital Information Revolution?

A Powerful Brand Culture Will Drive Revenue and Growth

How does a company adapt for long term growth in an era of instability? Historian Elin Whitney-Smith provides an interesting perspective in her interview with Art Kleiner in Strategy + Business, the Booz & Company online resource. http://www.strategy-business.com/ then search article 00074

According to Whitney-Smith, there have been five previous information revolutions in history and we are now in the sixth one, the digital information revolution. In each era, entrenched power holders failed to adapt to the disruptions, preferring to protect their status quo. Consequently, they were replaced by more adaptive individuals who were not of the elite power class. Further, with each revolution decision making authority and innovation gets pushed deeper down the organization, because better information availability empowers more people to make good decisions.

Flat World. Flat Companies.

Digital technology makes it possible for everyone in the organization to have more information. Consequently, Whitney-Smith explains that companies will become flatter. Bottom-up innovation will, in the long run, out-compete those who attempt to maintain the status quo. She believes this new information order will begin as early as 2012.

What Does This Mean for Your Company?

In times of chaos it’s tempting to tighten the reins of control and retreat to the familiar. Instead, concentrate on growing an open culture of participation with employees and customers alike. Harness their collective power of innovation. Your most powerful resource to achieve this is to create a robust brand culture, where employees understand the brand values and incorporate them into their daily work. This creates the freedom to innovate while keeping everyone focused on the same path. It builds positive customer experiences at every touchpoint.

The Bottom Line: Flatter organizations will emerge as the winners. Use a brand culture strategy to align your forces and drive smarter revenue growth.

What is a brand culture, and how do you create it? Patton Brand Strategy leads companies to discover their unique brand value and how to activate it for sustained growth and better profitability. Contact Mamie Patton to learn how.

Mistakes Were Made

“It’s very hard for us to say, ‘Boy, was I stupid!’ ” says Elliot Aronson, a prominent psychologist and co-author of the book Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, And Hurtful Acts.

“The more committed a person is to their prophecy,” he says, “the more likely they are to justify that action, and to try to convince people that their belief was in some way right or good.“

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136560695/doomsday-believers-cope-with-an-intact-world

Air New Zealand Soars With Brand Culture Focus

How Safety Videos Morphed into an Advertising Campaign

Air safety is a serious issue, but passengers largely ignore the sterile pre-flight safety lectures.

Air New Zealand used Kiwi personality to produce safety videos that not only do a better job of delivering a serious message, they create emotional connections with the brand. From streaking grannies and rugby fans to Richard Simmons “work outs”, these videos deliver entertainment and information in a style that makes you feel like flying could be fun again.

I checked out the corporate website, and sure enough, right up front in the company profile are the vision statement and the guiding principles that define the basis of the Air New Zealand culture. The language is specific and clear. It sets expectations at a personal level. In 121 words it delivers the Who, What and Why that are the brand foundation.

The safety videos, annual report, and other advertising all communicate the brand. This is powerful brand strategy that uses creativity and innovation (Guiding Principle #2) at very low cost.

Lest it be mistaken for  feel-good pablum, take a look at Air New Zealand’s customer ratings and at their superior financial performance and numerous industry awards.

The Bottom Line: Air New Zealand is garnering millions of YouTube views with a safety video, for Pete’s sake! Define your vision and values, then live them in every detail. That’s branding! Companies that do it well enjoy greater financial success than those that don’t. What is your company doing to build your brand culture?

How does a company go about building a brand culture that builds sustainable success? Patton Brand Strategy helps companies define their brand DNA and maps practical strategies to build business. Contact Mamie Patton to discuss how we can help your company achieve greater success.

Your Culture is Your Brand

What does your company culture have to do with success? More than you might imagine.

The marketing world is flat. No longer can companies afford to be structured in vertical silos of operations, sales, marketing, finance, etc. That’s because branding is no longer about slick advertising or clever tag lines. Today, it is about establishing trust with customers. Brand strategy is the process of establishing trust by defining the authentic personality of your company (Who are you?; What do you do?*) and providing engagement (Why should I care?*) with customers and prospects. Simply, your company culture is your brand.

Why is this so? Consumers today are more cynical and distrustful of brand claims. Not only do they price shop online, they read reviews by professionals and they share experiences with other customers for products ranging from paperback books to refrigerators. It’s word of mouth on steroids. These reviews and experiences are crafting your company’s external brand gestalt.

If a company claims to provide superior service but consumers rant about bad experiences, the brand is rendered untrustworthy. For instance, Google “at&t” and select blogs. You’ll be challenged to find many pleased customers. AT&T has consequently garnered media headlines like “AT&T Named Worst Cell-Phone Service Provider by Consumer Reports …”, or “Customer service survey puts AT&T at bottom of carrier heap”. AT&T spends at least a half billion annually on mobile marketing, yet they have failed to develop a culture that delivers on the brand promise. Their marketing says one thing but their services prove the opposite. Consequently it has actually become fashionable for customers to joke about how much they dislike AT&T.

Does Your Company “Body Language” Match Your Words? Companies cannot hide shoddy service or lousy products with flashy marketing tactics. Instead they need to deliver an experience that matches or exceeds their promises. And they can only do that if there is a culture where every employee understands and delivers on the brand values. Think of it as sort of a “corporate body language”.

Zappo’s gets this. Here’s what Tony Hsieh, CEO/COO states on his blog:

“At Zappo’s, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff — like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers — will happen naturally on its own.

We believe that your company’s culture and your company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin. The brand may lag the culture at first, but eventually it will catch up.

Your culture is your brand.”

The Bottom Line: Slick and clever tactics are not branding. The business of brand strategy is about developing a brand culture that nurtures customer trust. The benefits are loyal customers, healthier profitability and improved revenue.

How does a company go about building a brand culture that builds sustainable success? Patton Brand Strategy helps companies discover their unique brand attributes and maps practical strategies to build business. Contact Mamie Patton to discuss how we can help your company achieve greater success.

*See The 3 W’s of Brand Strategy, reducing risk and ensuring success through mastery of simplicity.

The Three Imperatives of Marketing Now

Lately it seems like every potential client I meet with quickly turns the conversation to questions like “So, which social media should I be using?” And usually my response is, “I don’t know. What do you want to do? Who do you want to socialize with?”

Today it’s easier than ever to get sidetracked by the noise of the herd and lose sight of the primary function of marketing: to build business by acquiring and keeping customers. Engaging in advertising, social media, or any other tactic is not the objective, but a tool to get the job done. With that in mind, there are three things every business should commit to doing for successful marketing results.

 Innovate. Innovation comes from good ideas. Good ideas come from good intelligence. Good intelligence comes from smart people analyzing all kinds of research about customers, the marketplace and the brand and continually asking, “Why?” and “What if?” If a brand is not innovating it is standing still. That leads to atrophy and slow, lingering demise. Ask GM or Kodak.

Never have marketers been faced with so many choices and rapid change. That means opportunities abound to innovate and position your brand as a leader.

Integrate. Integrate internally across functions. If you’re not integrating marketing with operations, sales, finance, HR and customer service, then you are missing big opportunities to improve productivity, revenue and profitability, which of course goes straight to the bottom line.

Integrate externally across channels. Strategically plan how you reach out to customers and prospects. Multiple variables dictate the what/where/when/why and how of your messaging. Pay attention to your target audiences and meet them on their turf, on their terms.

Successful integration demands disciplined strategic and tactical planning. It results in a roadmap to keep you on course to achieve your marketing objectives. Which by the way, you’ve already integrated with overall business objectives, right?

Implement. OK, great innovation, solid integrated strategy, smart tactical plans. Then and only then should you press the ignition button. And once you’ve launched, it’s a matter of savvy project management, ongoing monitoring and adjusting, and the conclusion of the cycle, measuring and analyzing. Which is actually the beginning, all over again.

The Bottom Line: For successful marketing that increases revenue and profitability, strive to lead by innovation. Integrate into a synergistic force. Implement with discipline.

CMO for a Day

Imagine you woke up this morning as CMO for either Toyota, GM, or Goldman Sachs. Which would you want it be?

Toyota spent decades building a superb brand reputation for quality and dependability. They walked the walk. As they became the dominant world automotive company they lost focus on their core What of quality and reliability. But despite the bruising, they are positioned to learn their lesson and re-focus on living up to their brand foundation. If they employ the same discipline and diligence that made them great, they can regain trust. A big CMO challenge, which makes them my choice.

GM, on the other hand, still suffers from an eon of lacking brand focus. Long a left-over bloated bureaucracy of the late twentieth century, they mistook bulk for brand power. They focused more on unit volume and quarterly market results than in sustaining a competitive brand for the future. Now the new CEO appears in ads stating they have paid back their government loan early. The truth is, GM took $6.7 billion of TARP funds, not their own earnings, and applied it to the $52 billion Federal handout that came from our taxes. It’s so blatantly misleading that even both parties in Congress are in agreement about it.

Looked at another way, CEO Ed Whitacre is telling millions of us tax payers we’re stupid. 1980′s Vega stupid. That’s not an impressive way to announce a new and improved GM. I’m just not cynical enough to be a CMO that endorses stupidity, so I’d probably last about two minutes at GM. Besides, Detroit is just too darn cold.

Goldman Sachs seems to be too busy counting their bonuses to care about branding. I admit that for a few moments I imagined myself owning this job, because all it would take is one year and my salary-plus-bonus would have me feeling pretty darn cocky. Goldman Sachs doesn’t even try to pretend they are concerned about the Why. Maintaining a strong brand is just too trivial to contemplate when one is busy raking in billions by misleading investors and creating gambling products disguised as investments. (Read Michael Lewis, The Big Short, for the inside story.) I can’t imagine there would be much for a CMO to do at Goldman Sachs, even though the perks are probably outstanding.

So what’s the bottom line of this imagination exercise, aside from my opportunity to rant about companies that disrespect their customers? Never underestimate the importance of managing by the 3 W’s. If a company doesn’t have a strong brand platform, don’t invest in them. If they begin to stray from their 3 W’s, sell. Mr. Buffett, feel free to call me for further wisdom.

Which brand would you choose?