Brands, Art, and Fear

I had the chance to meet Seth Godin about 8 years ago. His perspective of marketing and branding is so unique and spot on. I always say, branding is who you are and where you are going.

It’s about the humans behind the name, product, or company. It’s about making things. It’s about the creation of ideas and the risk of crushing the status quo. We have to care. We have to love what we create. People don’t want to be fooled by flashy logos and bright colors, only to find out, the soul of the individual, product, or company doesn’t give a sh*t. As the old saying goes, “give a damn, many damns.”

Engagement

It’s easy to get mesmerized by the Follower and Like numbers on your Instagram account, but learning how well you’re engaging is key.

I always remind my clients that while Social Media is in fact media (algorithms, numbers, ratios), it is very much a social platform. In the real world, social success in not rated by how many people said they were interested in a party, but how many actually showed up and actively engaged. Not how many people you know, but how many friends you feel you can actually call.

Most people are surprised to find that many 500K-2M follower Instagram accounts are averaging any where between 3%-9% engagement. It becomes a numbers game. You spend a lot of money on advertising hoping some will actually engage, increasing your ROI.

For years, Social Media “gurus” have preached that content is king. Well, it’s true, but people want a king that feels accessible. Delivering content that has both value and access is imperative on these platforms. Keep the narrative clear, offer valuable content, keep it as authentic as possible, and make sure it’s something your audience would want to share.

Of course, coupling this with effective boosts and promotions via Instagram and Facebook definitely helps. But that’s for a different day…

Morning Rant

Thoughts on Branding & Marketing. What makes you unique? What sets you a part? How are you telling that story to create a positive emotional response?

 

A Client Story: Tim Storey

Over the past handful of years, I’ve worked with Life Coach, Author and Speaker, Tim Storey to develop his unique brand. Tim has his hands both in the church world as a gifted speaker and author, and in “Hollywood” as a unique advisor and life coach to some of today’s most powerful people. Both circles come with their own perceptions and judgements. Tim found himself connected to empowering spiritual movements all over the world, as well as intimate meetings with creatives like Robert Downey Jr, Lee Iacocca, Kanye West, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, John Paul DeJoria, Grant Cardone, Steve Harvey, and more. His audience was struggling to label him.

The process was simple (yet, painstakingly difficult at times), focus on Tim Storey, the person. What is his narrative? Why is he unique? What sets him apart from the other preachers, motivational speakers and self-help authors. The answer, him. No one can do Tim Storey like he does. He has his own style, stories, and insight and strives to get others to see the uniqueness within themselves.

I told Tim, no matter what someone’s background or where they come from, everyone seems to like you when they meet you, when they sit with you for coffee. So we directed the message to getting the audience to get to know Tim. More Facebook/Instagram posts, LIVE videos, behind the scenes videos, and daily rants.

Since then, he has been a featured speaker at PTTOW, Grant Cardone’s 10XCON, Oprah’s Super Soul Sessions, Steve Harvey’s Act Like A Success, Mastermind Event, Paul Mitchell’s The Gathering, and more. He is quickly becoming one of the most sought after speakers in the world. He was also featured on Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey (watch it now)

Tim Storey & Common

Tim Storey & Grant Cardone

Tim Storey & Oprah Winfrey

Tim Storey & Kanye West

Tim Storey & Stevie Wonder

Tim Storey & Charlie Sheen

Tim Storey & Dog the Bounty Hunter

Tim Storey & El DeBarge

Tim Storey, Brian, & Eddie Holland

Tim Storey & Quincy Jones

Tim Storey & Brent Bolthouse

Tim Storey & Lynn Whitfield

Tim Storey & Marvin Winans

Tim Storey & Raphael Saadiq

Tim Storey & Robert Downey Jr

Tim Storey & Ruth Pointer

Tim Storey, Shawn Achor, Brené Brown, & Michael Beckwith

Tim Storey & Smokey Robinson

The Crazy Ones

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ― Rob Siltanen

Steve Jobs didn’t just create a computer. He created a form of technology that was a direct extension of human imagination. Human imagination is limitless, thus Apple was not limited by technology, but only limited by human creativity.

We must understand that our brand, our product, our non-profit, our corporation, our identity, if set up properly, can only be limited by your ability to create…to imagine. That’s how you change the world. That’s how you make a plastic box with wires, chips, and tubes, revolutionize culture.

Gary Vaynerchuk: Stop Storytelling Like it’s 2007

Please note: This talk contains adult language.

In a world with Vine, Snapchat, and Twitter, how can creatives capture attention to make their voices heard?

In this 99U talk, best-selling author and founder of VaynerMedia, Gary Vaynerchuk breaks down how our work can cut through our current “A.D.D. Culture” — one where we binge-watch entire television seasons in one sitting and prefer texting to phone calls.

“We’ve gotten to a point where everything is on our time,” says Vaynerchuk, “So why is everyone storytelling like it’s 2007 in a 2014 world?” The best digital storytellers, he says, use the social media to “hook” audiences in for the deeper stuff. We should give, give again, and give some more before ever asking for anything from our community. “We have to start respecting the nuances of every platform.”

0:39 no matter what you do, our job us to tell our story
1:44 storytelling in micro moments
4:05 storytelling on social
8:14 quality storytelling always wins
8:34 social networks = distribution
10:30 biggest asset: time
11:56 eyes and ears “attention is the only commodity”
12:58 “give, give, give, ask”
13:30 give people happy stories, make them laugh
14:51 we have to act human.

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The Magic of Branding

With over 6,400 books written on branding, the subject has gotten complex. Yet simplicity is where the power exists. This video was conceived, written and narrated by award-winning designer, branding specialist and Fast Company blogger David Brier to distill branding down to its basics answering that basic question “What is branding?” Written simply with equally minimalistic motion graphics, this video unveils the magic, the spark and the simplicity that is branding in its most fundamental form.

Are You Indispensable?

It’s been 5 years since Seth Godin’s first visit to Orange County. I went with a few colleagues not knowing what to expect. Since then, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? has become one of my favorite books and I’ve bought many copies to give out to friends. He left us with a charge to think differently about branding & marketing; to think differently about what we make. He told us to make art, give gifts, do work that matters, connect, lead, ship, and make a difference.

Brian Elliot of thegoodbrain.com, former Universal Home Entertainment exec with 15+ years in brand strategy, production, DVD and original content, hosted that evening’s keynote with Seth Godin. This morning, he FINALLY received permission from Godin to post his epic full-length keynote and emailed the link to a bunch of us who were there. There were about 900 people in attendance that day, back in 2010, at the the St. Regis Hotel to hear Seth LIVE. His message about being “indispensable” is even more relevant today.

If you don’t know Godin, he’s the godfather of modern marketing, bestselling author of more than a dozen biz books and has one of the most read blogs on the planet. I hope you enjoy this rare treat!

Be Irreplaceable

As a branding/marketing specialist, I’m regularly asked to find creative ways to annihilate the competition, or least give them a run for their money. The easiest way to do this is to highlight what is uniquely yours, what makes you irreplaceable. Once you show up as a unique option in the sea of mundane mediocrity, you will be noticed. Not everyone will love that unique part of you, but the goal is not to get everyone to like you and follow you. The goal is the hunt down the consumers, the followers, the fans who will fall in love with your uniqueness and follow you to the ends of the earth. The ones who have been secretly wanting what you have to offer.

What is Value?

I often point out to clients that value is not just about money. It’s about necessity. It’s about urgency. It’s about happiness. We all value different things.

I remember when I was a child, growing up in a lower-income neighborhood of Miami, learning this lesson. Many of my friends, whose family were on government assistance and struggling to make ends meet, had many of the so called “luxuries” my family could never imagine providing. New Jordans, gold chains, Cadillacs, big TVs, and more. The issue for many of these families was not whether or not they could afford it, but rather what they valued. Some lived in a run down house, but the feeling of driving down the block in a great big Cadillac (Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin’ the scene with a gangsta lean, gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back) seemed to make them feel better. Some bought their groceries via food stamps, but doing so, wearing fresh Jordans, seemed to bring a sense of confidence they desired to “make it through” the situations they found themselves in. Keeping up with their impression of Mr. Jones was what was most important to them at that place in life.

Now, I’m not condoning this sort of behavior, however the lesson learned was, people will find a way to make things happen if it is important to them. In a down economy, it’s not necessarily money that changes what we buy, but value. Consumers may not buy what you’re selling simply because they don’t value it. Maybe they value family, rest, their home. Maybe they value luxuries that make them forget, even just a little, during hard times.

Here’s a little of what Seth Godin had to say about value: