Casual Fridays

“Ugh, another post about branding. I’ve already heard and read too much about that.”

I agree.

This post isn’t intended to give you more information about branding. It’s intended to help you discard what hasn’t been useful.

I’m reading an interesting new book called The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam. Early in the book, he mentions a conversation concerning creating a useful website. He dissected the primary components as Brand, Content and Function.

Brand - What will people REMEMBER?

Content - What do people want to KNOW?

Function - What do people want to DO.

That’s as concise and accurate an explanation of branding as I’ve ever heard.

It made me think:

1. This is why most ‘elevator pitches’ don’t work. No matter how short your pitch is, if it’s not memorable, it’s not effective.

2. This is why many branding campaigns don’t work. People won’t remember what they don’t believe.

3. Most vision statements aren’t branded well. They’re usually so long and full of business buzz words, I never remember them. Like branding campaigns, they’re also based on what the company believes about themselves, not what people remember.

Most branding is forgettable.  We’re much better at creating brandnesia than brand memory.

How does this change what you put into your:

• Marketing
• Resume
• Website
• Sermon

There are two models of communication at play today.

Conspiracy or Collaboration

There are times when conspiracy is a necessary evil. Most of the time though, conspiracy is a detriment to our relationships. It limits us and pits us against one another.

Which do you use in your business?

… in your church?

… with your friends and family?

While attending the ARISE Arts Conference, I sat in on a session called Attack of the Never-Ending Brainstorms by Tony Biaggne. It was an entertaining and enlightening session discussing idea generation for churches (I volunteer on a creative team at Liberty Church in Broken Arrow, OK).

Tony used this Derren Brown video clip as an example:

After viewing the video, two questions come to mind:

1) How can I be better at embedding messages superfluously? I tend to stop promoting a message at the point of adequacy. As Derren shows, there is a level of subliminal saturation to reach in order to be truly persuasive.

2) How many of my decisions are driven by these subliminal messages, instead of being driven by my core beliefs and values? Great! Now I’m even questioning whether eating at Pei Wei last night was my idea or a string of subconscious prompts (probably both in reality).

There is a rule of thumb that people must see your message 5-7 times before they’ll act on it. As with any rule of thumb, there are exceptions. (An incredibly powerful or creative message may be a catalyst at first impression. A boring, uninspired message may never break through.)

But, what if the message is packaged differently each time, or you repeatedly expose people to different elements of the same message - as Derren Brown did?

Maybe the whole isn’t always greater than the sum of its parts.

I’m a bit of an art geek. My minor in college was art history. So, being in Chicago, I couldn’t pass up visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. I’m also a cheapskate. So, a free visit was absolutely irresistible!

I was blown away to walk into the impressionist exhibit and see Seurat’s “Sunday In The Park” welcoming me.

My camera decided to experiment in pointilism in honor of Seurat. We couldn’t use the flash in order to preserve the painting. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. It’s not everyday I get to view works by Seurat, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Degas. There is nothing like seeing these masterworks in person!

To take a complete left turn, here is a pic from our return trip home. After loading up on Sliders from White Castle and Blizzards from Dairy Queen, I found the juxtaposition of these two signs to be quite humorous.

Upon getting back to Tulsa, I had a few “divine moments” last week. One at Panera and one at Ted’s Cafe Escondido.

While meeting with my coworker Lisa, I looked up and exclaimed, “Oh, there’s Jesus!” Here’s what I saw:

A closeup:

Reference image:

Ted’s Café Escondido is one of our favorite restaurants. The food is wonderful, but so is the service. Now we know why. By looking at our comment card, you can see the servers get a little help.

Sometimes it’s harder to blog once a week than everyday. So, I’m going to start blogging as much as possible to get out of the funk I’ve been in. Should make things a bit more organic and not so planned.

Just read a Tom Peters “Cool Friends” interview from a few weeks ago with Stephanie Palmer, author of Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience.

  

Here are a few of my favorite nuggets from the interview:

tompeters.com asks …

Stephanie, what’s the big idea here?

SP: “Good in a room” describes anyone who presents themselves and their ideas effectively. The phrase originated in Hollywood and it’s used by agents and producers to describe people who pitch ideas well. I teach people to use, in their own industry, the tactics that work in Hollywood.

……….

Tom Peters has espoused the elevator pitch as one of the supporting columns of Wow Projects. The goal of the elevator pitch being, if you get into an elevator on the first floor with your boss and you’re trying to sell an idea, you want to sell it by the time you get to the 35th floor. You say the elevator pitch is a myth. Why is that?

SP: I think the term “elevator pitch” incorrectly implies that it’s appropriate to pitch in an elevator. Communicating quickly and concisely is important, but you should never pitch when you don’t have time to continue the conversation. A moment’s access with someone who doesn’t know you is not an opportunity. Your first interaction with someone sets the stage for the relationship to come. You shouldn’t start pitching your idea to someone before they know who you are enough to care about what you’re saying in the first place.

High-level buyers are pitched all the time. They know when they are hearing something that’s been repeated to dozens of other people. If you haven’t taken the time to build rapport and customize your pitch to that person’s specific needs, it’s a sign that you’re an amateur. Every buyer is unique, and your pitch should reflect that.

……….

You also say that networking is a waste of time. Why?

SP: I think most people who think they’re successful as a result of using traditional networking techniques succeed in spite of those techniques, not because of them. Traditional networking is generally a quantity-based approach. The idea is that if you meet enough people, accumulate enough names, you will eventually find people who are a good fit. On the surface this makes sense; you’d need a large pipeline of people because statistically only a few of them would be a right fit for your business. It’s a bulk mail strategy, sending out a lot of letters and seeing what comes back. But bulk mail is expandable, whereas we are not. The bulk mail approach doesn’t work so well in establishing genuine relationships because we only have so much time.

Therefore, instead of spending small amounts of time with lots of people, I suggest spending more time with fewer, carefully chosen people. Use a quality based approach. Upgrade from bulk mail to a handwritten letter with a first class stamp.

……….

But in as much as you don’t believe in the standard group theory of networking, you do still have a network. You categorize people a little differently than most people’s A, B, and C lists. Could you describe your system?

SP: I don’t like using the terminology of A, B, and C groups, simply because I know that I don’t want to be on anyone’s C list, and I don’t think that anyone else does, either. I start with Good People to Know, which is anybody who I think for any reason might be someone I would like to know in the future. It may be someone whom I’ve met at a conference or a barbecue. If I think that person is really interesting for whatever reason, business or personal, I’m going to include them in my Good People to Know.

If I meet someone, and I know that I have no interest in them, I’m not going to include them in my rolodex or keep tabs on them. Doing so is like being a relationship pack rat. I’m not looking to have the world’s largest network so that I can brag, “Oh, I have 10,000 people in my list.” I want to be more focused.

My next group I call the VIPs. Those are people whom I would like to have a business relationship with, but maybe I don’t know them. They’re my target list. Twenty people is the maximum that you should have on your VIP list.

My last group, and most important, is the Inner Circle. Those are the people that are closest to you, who support you professionally and personally. Those are the relationships that I spend the most time nurturing. Their support has been the most valuable for me, personally and professionally.

……….

It looks like a worthwhile book, so I’m buying a copy. Might write my own review when I finish it.

You can see more about “Good In A Room” on Stephanie Palmer’s website.

I’ve been at the Willow Creek Arts Conference this week. I hoped I could blog about it while here. My schedules been packed, though. Hopefully, I’ll soon get to share the nuggets of inspiration and wisdom we’ve picked up this week.

Happy (Casual) Friday!

Dustin

I recently read a fascinating article on unleashing creativity from Scientific America.

Executive editor Mariette DiChristina conducted a roundtable discussion involving three experts on creativity:

John Houtz is a psychologist and professor at Fordham University. His most recent book is The Educational Psychology of Creativity (Hamptom Press, 2002).

Julia Cameron is an award-winning poet, playwright and filmmaker. Her book The Artist’s Way (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2002) has sold more than three million copies worldwide. Her latest book is The Writing Diet.

Robert Epstein is a visiting scholar at the University of California, San Diego. Contributing editor for Scientific American Mind and former editor in chief of Psychology Today, Epstein has written several books on creativity, including The Big Book of Creativity Games (McGraw-Hill, 2000).

Below are a few quotes I found interesting.

Read the rest of the article and see what you cull from it.  Perhaps it will inspire you to unleash more of your creative potential.

Just a couple of quickies today (gotta work hard to impress the new boss).

I had some Internet issues this week.  This page came up as I tried to access Yahoo!

Based on a search by Yahoo!, it no longer exists??  For a minute, I wondered if Microsoft had bought them out.

About a 1/2 mile from my house is Tom Peters Elementary school.  Can you imagine, err… RE-imagine, the education kids get there?  They should at least learn to use bright colors, 64 point type and exclamation points!!!!

Some dreams are lived. Some die. Others change.

For almost two years, I’ve been the creative director at Beyond Marketing & Advertising. I started that endeavor with high expectations for what I could accomplish and what we could create as a company. Some of those expectations were met, others were not. Overall, it was a fun (and educational) ride, but as you can probably tell, that ride is over.

This week, I accepted an offer to join a group of consultants at The Frontline Group. This move will give me more opportunities to work with Word-of-Mouth Marketing efforts, social media and helping clients tap into their own creativity.

I will continue to collaborate with Beyond and will remain in Tulsa, but am excited about the opportunities The Frontline Group represents.

I got some correspondence on The Idea Orphanage that encouraged me to share advise on reclaiming your idea orphans. I guess it would be rather cruel to raise awareness of the lost and abandoned without giving a way for you to help. So, here are a few ways to get the adoption process started:

1. Write them a letter.
Let them know you haven’t forgotten them. If you don’t write the idea down, you probably will forget it again. Then we’re right back where we started. While you’re putting the idea to paper, also write down the reason you abandoned it. This may help you create solutions to the original hurdle(s).

2. Adopt as a couple.
Share your idea with someone else who might help you “parent” the concept. This also creates some accountability to the idea. Someone else may push you to meet timeframes or make greater commitments.

3. Prepare a room.
If you’re going to bring a little one into your life, you have to create a good home environment. You’ll need to make space in your life, so create that margin now. Do you have the time and overall capacity to add something else to your plate? We don’t want to have a case of neglect on our hands.

4. Consider Their Age
You should treat the idea differently based on age. A younger idea may need more feeding and development. An older idea may need more acclamation to your environment. A lot may have changed over the years, take that into consideration.

5. Know Your Parental Rights
Before you finalize the “adoption,” make sure you know your rights. Should the idea be patented, under copyright or trademark? Make sure no one else already has these rights while you’re at it.