Is your brand "sticky?"

It happens to all of us.  A "sticky" song gets locked in our head and it takes a mental circus act to remove it.  For me it's usually a Journey song.  I would not call myself a fan but for some reason their lyrics haunt my subconscious.  Every now and then, completely out of the blue, I'm suddenly humming or belting out, "DON'T STOP BELIEVING! HOLD ON TO TO THAT FEELING!!"  Now, that's a "sticky" song!

Is your brand "sticky?"  What brand recall strategies are you employing to ensure that your brand message is lingering in the minds of your target demographic like the lyrics of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline?  My vote for "stickiest" song of all time!

Before you answer the above question and pat yourself on the back for creating a well-oiled ROI machine take a walk.  Walk the halls and visit your co-workers and conduct several one question interviews.  You will want to visit all departments and don't forget the interns.  You remember being an intern don't you?  Remember the morale boost you received when someone actually valued your opinion?  

This is an important walk so in order to get open and honest answers you must put everyone at ease.  Let them them know that you value their time, it's only one question, and you are merely collecting internal input for a marketing project.  Ask them this all important question, "What is our brand message?" Everyone should be singing from the same song sheet, right?  Well, if you receive a wide range of answers you have a serious problem.  It is time to roll-up the sleeves and initiate an ambitious B2E campaign.       

Why is it so important to have a "sticky" brand message amongst your co-workers?  Too many Brand Managers take B2E brand communication for granted.  You have to realize that important interactions happen within your walls every single day.  Human resources are training new hires, your warehouse talks to the carrier drivers, accounting is communicating with customers about their accounts, product managers are discussing specifications with vendors and the list goes on. 

It's real simple.  If your brand is not "sticky" on the inside you're missing valuable opportunities to enhance brand recall on the outside.  Execute your B2E campaign properly and your brand message might get locked in the heads of your targets like the Beach Boy's Kokomo ... Aruba, Jamaica, DANG IT! Now it's stuck!    

Maybe you've learned from this dynamic public speaker too

Linus Van Pelt

During this time of year I am reminded of when I heard one of my favorite speeches delivered by one of my favorite public speakers.  I heard this speech at a very early age while toting my favorite blaket, wearing footie pjs and lying down in front of the electric glow of a manual dial television.  Little did I know that I was watching a master public speaker.  To this day I utilized the same techniques when I speak publicly (favorite blanket excluded).

After hearing from the great public speaker Linus

It was my 1st time watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Midway through the program the consummate blockhead Charlie Brown was struggling to figure-out the fuss about Christmas.  His blanket toating pal Linus spoke up .  In a very humble manner he delivered his knowledge of the meaning of Christmas.  Not before he requested the appropriate lighting and receiving the full attention of the cast and crew assembled for the Christmas play.  He displayed perfect delivery.  It was straight to the point, small impactful pauses and without one "umm" or "like."

During Linus's speach I really focused my limited attention span and sat up to listen.  I strongly identified with Linus because I too could not part with my favorite blanket.  Suddenly my understaning of Christmas turned from being all about family visiting me, giving me gifts, and a rotund, red-suited man with a white beard leaving me more gifts!  An important lesson because I quickly learned why I would find serious trouble everytime I played with my Mother's hand-made Nativity scene.      

After that night I heard the same lesson 100 times from Sunday school teachers, and preachers from the pulpit.  Never as beautifully or as effectively as Linus.  Credit to Charles Schultz for creating a character that truly knew his audience.  Especially when delivering a message as important as the meaning of Christmas. 



                

Hey Reality, I'm back from vacation. Let's GO!

I feel your pain Ralphie!

Coming home from vacation is always exhausting.  We have all been there and it's never easy to jump into the cold waters of reality.  Personally, I drag myself back to reality kicking and screaming.  Sort of like Ralphie resisting to put on his new fuzzy bunny pajamas.  The Christmas Story is my favorite holiday movie next to Emit Otter's Jugband Christmas. Jim Henson was a genius. The bloopers from the DVD will make you pee your pants but I digress ...
A mentor of mine advised me that the best way to attack reality is to stare it in the face and say, "let's go!" Well, much easier said than done.  Reality does not fight fair! Those of us that have returned from an relaxing vacation are all too familiar with this fact.  Reality will zap your motivation with a grey sky and a chill in the air.  Making the 1st night back your own bed extra special cozy and almost impossible to leave.  Reality will continue to slap you around as your mind races while thinking about your long list of to-dos ... unpack an overstuffed suitcase, do laundry, walk the dog, pay bills, Christmas shopping, opening snail mail, answering email and the list goes on and on.  No, I think a better idea is pulling the covers over my head and dream of the waves of Cancun which I was just swimming in yesterday.  Here, I brought back a short video for daydreaming purposes.  Enjoy!        

Wait just a minute! Coffee! Yes! YES! I then force myself to haul my tail out of bed and drink the 1st cup of home brewed coffee!!  Oh, and just think of the 1st shower at home with all your own shampoo, soap and the perfect amount of water pressure.  Oh yeah! Reality you have been beat and now I am laughing at you over a fresh, hot cup of Hazelnut flavored coffee.

Like most of you, opening my inbox is the reality check I most dred.  Especially after being fortunate enough to completely ignore email during my vacation.  If you haven't done this yourself  I highly recommend trying it.  You will be glad you did.    

Well, the time has come to open the ol' inbox.  Sitting in front of my laptop I let out a sigh and open my email account like Will Farrell testing Jack in the Boxes in the movie ELF (also a hilarious Christmas movie).  My stomach tightened as I watched hundred of emails fill my inbox like an avalanche.  Suddenly I felt overwhelmed.  Tackling this task will take all day and possibly tomorrow if  I don't handle this systematically. 

First, I had to promise myself not open anything! It's time to GET ORGANIZED!  I created 3 temporary files for business, family and friends.  Now, shove your emails in the appropriate files. I kept reminding myself to resist the temptation of opening mail because I can easily get bogged down and lose focus.   

Next, dump the junk! Now is a perfect time time to delete, unsubscribe and/or post spam notices for all the sources that pollute my inbox.  Good riddance!  Especially you AARP.  I keep asking you to refine your target.  I'm far from retirement age, dang! 

All right, I'm getting closer to crack open the 1st email.  Before that I will create 2 sub folders inside my business folder; important and not so important.  Depending on who sent the mail and the subject line it's easy to determine which ones will be viewed first.  As a job seeker this is particularly important to me. Timing is crucial when finding my next dream job.  I know full well it's not going to fall into my lap. 

Here I go clicking away at a feverish pace. Thirty minutes fly by and I've made a huge dent.  I keep my responses succint and take breaks only to fill my coffee cup, return important phone calls and visit the bathroom.  My eye is on the prize and the prize is to addressed all professional and personal emails that surfaced while on my vacation.

Before long I find myself opening the contents of my last folder, "friends."  There are a few jokes clean and otherwise.  Also, I was please to open updates on my beloved GSU Eagles winning a spot in FCS semi-finals. 

What's this? Could it be? YES! I AM FINISHED!  Wooohooo!  Two short hours and 428 emails later and I'm patting myself on the back.  A huge victory after tasting sour medicine feed to me by the harsh reality of returning from vacation.  I rewarded myself with the sweet taste of success by picking up lunch from my favorite neighborhood restaurant Hankook Taqueira.  Home Sweet Home!