Category Archives: Branding

At Their Mercy

We love our independence. It is an empowering thought to imagine all of our needs being met within our own power. It is also inaccurate. We do not entirely depend on others for our success, failure or enjoyment; but our experiences are directly influenced by other individuals. When I call customer support, the person on the …

October 7, 2011 – 9:39 am | By DUST!N | Posted in Customer Experience | Comments (0)

Critical Anecdotal Mass

While staying with some relatives, my wife and I visited their church. The pastor began his message with an anecdote, a personal story involving him and his wife during their dating years. The story was humorous and seemed to get the attention of the church congregation. He then continued into a 3-point sermon about… something. …

September 30, 2011 – 8:30 am | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, Branding, Customer Experience, Personal Brand, Professional Development | Comments (0)

The Elephant and the Fruit Fly

There are a lot of allegorical references to how speed is the answer to ruling your market. It is true that being first to market is a powerful positioning tool. We have flipped the story of the tortoise and the hare. We have accepted that faster equals better. But what if the key indicator of …

November 12, 2010 – 12:56 pm | By DUST!N | Posted in Advertising, Branding, Communication, Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word of Mouth | Comments (0)

Mighty Might

“People might laugh at me.” “I might lose it all.” “You might say no.” “Might” is mighty. It holds so much power over us. It makes many decisions for us. It enslaves us to the safe and known… as long as we allow it to. By living in the “might” of the moment, we lose …

June 6, 2010 – 5:04 pm | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, Personal Brand | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Write Your Name in The Margin

The world continues to move at ever-increasing speed. Twitter is not going to slow down for you to catch your breath. Not only is work filling your day, but so are non-profits. Even consumer marketing seems to be vying for your time (“Visit our website.” “Fill out this survey.” “Engage in these conversations.”) instead of …

April 16, 2010 – 11:58 am | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, Personal Brand, Professional Development, Society, Success | Comments (0)

“Post-It Note” Your Brand

We’ve talked about the difficulty in discerning your unique, personal brand. Here’s an exercise that can help you see a snapshot of your life and/or career, and ultimately help you define the ‘Brand Called You’ (ala Tom Peters). Post-It Note Timeline First, you’ll need three colors of Post-It Notes. In this example, we’ll be using …

January 15, 2010 – 8:00 am | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, Branding, Personal Brand, Professional Development, Purpose | Comments (2)

The Race and The Chase

Do you remember chasing anything as a kid? … chasing friends while playing tag. … chasing your pet dog as he was running away with the chew toy. … chasing your dad around the house, eventually falling in a heap on the couch and ending in a tickle fight. At some point, many of us …

December 18, 2009 – 8:20 am | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, human spirit, Personal Brand, Professional Development, Purpose, Success | Comments (0)

Embracing Embarrassment

Fear of failure is overrated. We don’t care as much about failing as we care about being embarrassed. Picture yourself on a baseball team. If there wasn’t a chance of losing the game, it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting to play hardball. The mantra is, “Win as a team and lose as a team.” Still, …

November 6, 2009 – 8:00 am | By DUST!N | Posted in human spirit, Personal Brand, Purpose | Comments (0)

The Onus of Loyalty

When you hear “customer loyalty,” what do you imagine? The Happy Couple The customer gleefully spending all their money with you out of some sense of belonging. The Ol’ Ball & Chain The customer is locked into a relationship with you because of terms and conditions or simply a lack of better choices. The Gold …

October 24, 2008 – 10:16 am | By DUST!N | Posted in Customer Experience | Comments (0)

Living Among Critics

Last night, I attended a meeting held by my daughter’s teacher. She was explaining the structure of the class and led us through some sample exercises she uses with the students. Occasionally, she called upon us parents for volunteers to read or give answers. I was stunned by the silence and awkward glances downward. The …

October 10, 2008 – 2:25 pm | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, human spirit, Personal Brand, Persuasion, Professional Development, Society | Comments (3)

Top 5 Ways Advertisers Use Camouflage

The military spends tons of money to make something blend in and then loses it. Sounds pretty stupid when the army does it, yet advertisers do something even more inept. They spend an insane amount of money buying ad space to get attention, but then camouflage their ads. They still remain invisible because of clutter, …

July 25, 2008 – 12:05 pm | By DUST!N | Posted in Ad Agency, Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Tulsa, Tulsa Ad Agency, Viral Marketing, Word of Mouth | Comments (1)

Communers and Commuters

A friend of mine was considering a position as pastor of a church. The church is an hour or so away. He declined the position because of the distance. My wife said the church probably would want someone who lived in their community anyway. She’s right. Not only is proximity an issue, but there’s something …

December 7, 2007 – 10:53 am | By DUST!N | Posted in Customer Experience, Word of Mouth | Comments (1)

Potential

Hope you had a great November. I’m glad to be back on my blog. Something is wrong with previous comments. They disappeared. I’m trying to fix it. Is feexed. During a recent lunch with a friend, he asked me, “What do you believe Dustin?” I thought for a moment, then his cell phone rang. I …

December 7, 2007 – 4:22 am | By DUST!N | Posted in Human Resources, Personal Brand, Purpose | Comments (3)

Acronymania

Kem posted: What is it with the human need to turn everything into an acronym? Really. I cut this out of a magazine I was flipping through last week about, of all things, CUSTOMER SERVICE.

October 5, 2007 – 9:28 am | By DUST!N | Posted in Customer Experience | Comments (2)

Branding in the Third Person

Personal branding can be tricky. It’s difficult to see yourself objectively. It can be hard to judge yourself fairly without overestimating or underestimating your talent or ability. You’ve probably seen self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ who seem laughable, while more impressive people fail to give themselves any credit. Formulating who you are is hard because it’s like the …

August 17, 2007 – 10:47 am | By DUST!N | Posted in brand you, Branding, Personal Brand | Comments (2)