Brand Codes and Ideas...
I decided to write about brand codes yesterday…so I wanted to share that with you.
And, I’ve been putting together a list of all the things that keep striking me as important to know about business growth.
Let’s see if I can pull of both of them today…
On the brand codes, let me know.
On the ideas, let me know what strikes you as important.
BTW, I’ve got travel scheduled for NYC, London, and Boston…I look forward to seeing you in person.
DW
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Brands spend a lot of time thinking about their brand…if they are smart.
Why?
For major businesses, your brand can be worth 30-40% of the total valuation of your business.
For a small business, your brand and your name are likely the only thing you have that is standing between you and the commodity abyss.
That’s why these continuing stories about the new Major League Baseball jerseys is interesting because sports teams have some of the best brands in the world, but I also feel that far too many of them don’t give them the attention that they deserve.
So, to hear players complain about the color, the fonts, and the look is amazing because this is Brand Codes 101 stuff.
What are Brand Codes?
These are the symbols that represent your brand in the market.
Colors
Shapes
Images
Places
Smells
Etc.
Here are a few examples that I like:
The Apple logo.
The shape of the Green Monster at Fenway Park.
The black and white with a touch of red at Sephora.
The smell of the lobby at the Four Seasons in Miami.
Let’s take a short visit with Brand Codes:
Small Lettering: A seemingly small item, but when you see the picture of the White Sox’s pitcher, you notice that there is a difference between how the name on the back of a jersey would typically look.
Look and Feel: As a brand manager, you spend a lot of time making sure the look and feel of your brand is consistent. Think about the Tiffany Blue bag. Think about the heft of a Mont Blanc pen. Now, consider the words that players were using to describe MLB’s new jerseys as “cheap”.
Be Careful Your Partners: A lot of blowback is coming onto Fanatics. When you have a brand partner, you usually can combine them in the best way. You bring your good stuff, I bring my good stuff, and the bad stuff stays behind. In this case, Fanatics’ problems are undermining that deal and people are calling out Nike for partnering with Fanatics, who has a long list of bad press from quality control issues.
Off Color: The player talking about the Cubs’ blue needing to be the right color blue sums up everything. Your brand might be spending a boatload of money developing its own signature color and you just don’t pay attention to make sure it is right or doesn’t look right on one of your two most important items, after your hat?
What does this mean to you?
To manage your brand well:
Pay attention to the details: Look and feel, lettering, colors, these are the public faces of your brand. Don’t neglect them and hope people won’t notice. They will.
Partners are important: Creating a brand partnership is a very important decision. It is typically thought that you can bring your good stuff and the other brand brings their good stuff, leaving behind the bad, but this case study shows that this isn’t always the case. So be careful who you work with.
Deliver consistently: The only reason this story matters is because these teams have been talking with their fans for decades, people will notice when things are off or inconsistent. You don’t want to fall into that trap. You make a promise, you deliver.
What do you think?
Let me know your thoughts on Brand Codes:
Do you have them for your business?
Do you know what they are?
Which ones that other brands use are ones you instantly notice?
Reply to me. Share in the Slack Channel.
I’m going to start posting some new podcast episodes and I want your help!
Who would you like to hear from?
What would you like me to talk about?
Send me your suggestions.
You’ve made it to the bottom here…why don’t you share this note with someone that might need to rethink how they are using their brand codes are how important those codes are.
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Things To Write About:
Are you trying to do too much?
Are you doing the right things?
Standing out as a solo consultant
Getting the most out of a conference
Promoting yourself as a solo consultant
How do you price in a distressed sale situation?
When should you compete on price?
When pricing goes wrong?
How do you know the comps for your pricing?
Heavy buyers usually never account for more than 60% of your sales
The bigger the brand, the more light buyers matter
The more expensive a brand becomes the more light buyers matter L Focus on the full market
Buyer regression
Light buyers matter a lot.
How to use NPS
Is change happening too fast for strategy?
Your position
Linking marketing and brand to the business strategy
Light buyers matter a lot. L How to use NPS
Is change happening too fast for strategy?
Linking marketing and brand to the business strategy L Value conversation in sales
Turn turbulence into opportunity
Reframe a sales objection
Circular management
Look for doubts
culture of conformity
incongruent thinking
mixed messages
Tools shouldn't overtake reason
Sense making
Overlearned behavior
Can do v. Make do
“Active open mindedness “
Need curiosity
Too close to the problem, you miss.
Perverse Inverse relationshipPrinted with Microsoft To Do
Wicked problems need diverse thinking
“Active open mindedness “ L Need curiosity
Too close to the problem, you miss.
Perverse Inverse relationship
Wicked problems need diverse thinking L Best teams are full of foxes
Foxes v Hedgehogs
OKRs: Not Strategy
How do you look at opportunities?
Data + Creativity is magic
Discounts save bad products?
Tesla's loss of direction
Great strategy is problem solving
40% of CFOs cut innovation
Exploration v. Explotation
Toxic positivity
Is sales a numbers game?
Should you reposition?
Is a SWOT analysis worth it?
Target based on "demographics"?
Does your brand need to "keePprintuedpw?i"th Microsoft To Do
How often should your brand change?
Should you reposition?
Is a SWOT analysis worth it?
Target based on "demographics"?
Does your brand need to "keep up?"
How often should your brand change?
Specialization in products is bad news
Broad experience helps innovation
In uncertainty: breadth matters
T shaped helps more in less well defined situations L I Shaped v T Shaped
Sunk cost fallacy
Your target/your product
Your introductory product
7 steps to content creation
Nail your product
10 things to make your branding better
10 things to know to make your marketing better L 10 things to make your strategy better
6 fears of pricing
6 Fears of strategy
6 Fears of Branding
6 Fears of Targeting
10 things to make your strategy better L 6 fears of pricing
6 Fears of strategy
6 Fears of Branding
6 Fears of Targeting
Top 5 reasons strategy fails
Broad or deep? What’s best?
What numbers do you need to know?
Strategy: why folks struggle L Centralized Pricing
Contextual Pricing
If I were starting over...
Pricing Myths
Marketing Myths
Branding Myths
Strategy Myths
New Business Development Myths
Predictions
Big boo boos
Common mistakes 2/17/24
See you next week,
Dave