It’s bothered me for a while now. I give people my business card or a lottery ticket, they smile and the first thing they say is, “Oh we can’t be goofy like that!!” Well no $!%& Sherlock!! I don’t expect you to outright copy what we do, it’s the thought that matters. It’s the intention of being a little bit different in a lot of little ways. Read more
Image used with permission from Jessica Borutski, Crestify Canada
How cool is that?!?
We were in Las Vegas, leaving to the airport to go home and my worst fear happened. I forgot to tip the bellhop who kept our bags all day long. And everyone knows you don’t mess with Karma before a flight!! What do you do, our cab was driving off!
Like any decent Canadian person would do, you stop the taxi. Run out to the bellhop counter and leave the tip you forgot to leave, no questions asked. I did just that. When I returned to the taxi, the following line out of the taxi drivers mouth was the best,
“Oh you folks must be from Canada!”.
He was right. I laughed and said, “how did you know?!? Is our accent THAT bad?!”. “No” he replied, “it was the good deed that tipped me off! No one is that nice, other than Canadians!”.
This is the second time in a foreign country people have told me Canadians are the nicest people. Personally I couldn’t be happier with that stereotype.
But remember, when you travel aboard, you HAVE to be nice to people. You have to be friendly, and you have to be polite. Lets keep this reputation going that Canadians are the nicest people in the world.
Canadian Gangsters…
If you need a logo designed, better call Eddy!
Episode 8 of #InTheLab I get to talk to Eddy Alvaro, a design, dance, and digital professional from Regina who has a brilliant way of looking at designing your next logo. Eddy has a brilliant eye for design. In everything he creates he takes into account who the audience is, what he’s trying to get out of them and determines the minimalist way to get there. He’s a creative mastermind who takes the personality of an organization and captures it in a logo. Read more
We hear this a lot; “Our image is our brand!” “Our logo is our brand!” “That ad is our brand!” “Our name is our brand!”
I like Bill Leider’s definition in his amazing book Brand Delusions:
Until communication was put on steroids thanks to the creation of this little thing called the Internet, “your brand” was just a set of beliefs and expectation of what you deliver and how you deliver it. Customers for the most part never talked. There was no Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon or Yelp. Back then your expectations of a product or service could be influenced by commercials, billboards, and other advertisements.
Companies (Brands) could change the way you thought of them based simply on a catchy tune played before a movie or during your favourite sitcom….
“My baloney has a first name…”.
“Everyone loves Marine land!”
“Don’t cha put it in your mouth…”
“Let’s go out to the kitchen…”.
Have you heard an amazingly catchy jingle as of late? Possibly the Charlie Bit My Finger kid or Susan Boyle would be the closest.
Back then it was much easier to get your message out to the masses. You really could create major awareness for your brand or product, and it worked. The problem now is we don’t have one channel we always watch, there’s several hundred. Also, because we’ve been seeing these ads since we entered the world it’s hard to differ the signal from the noise.
Back to the definition of a “brand”.
Everyone else is. Your brand is what people say about you behind your back. Your brand is what I find when I Google you. Your brand is what your customers say about you once they’ve left your store. Your brand is what people think of you whether you like it or not.
You can’t control it. You can only influence it. Customer service can help it (think Westjet), advertising can grow it (think Tim Horton’s), a smart HR policy will enhance it (think Whole Foods), but it’s the combination of every tiny little thing you do. Every time you come in contact with a customer or potential customer they either like you a little bit more or a little bit less. If you still think people can be indifferent to your brand, they probably can, but that’s a recipe for a competitor to come in and steal those customers away from your mediocre organization.
You’re better off creating remarkable experiences with every touch point you have with customers. From answering the phone and e-mailing, to your business cards and promotional items. Everything communication tactic is a chance to show the world what your brand is made of. Hopefully, after coming across your innovative brand several times over, your potential customer says:
“aww shucks, who is this amazing company that keeps making me smile?”. Now you don’t have to sell to them, they already are sold.
Every time you come in contact with any brand, company, or organization you either like it a little bit more or like it a little bit less, the feeling is never completely neutral. The majority of these impressions (feelings) come from your sub-conscious mind, which makes it difficult to understand why you feel the way you do about some brands. Just assume everything is marketing.
They way the flight attendant smiles at you gives you an impression of the airline.
The way a hostess open the door at a restaurant changes your impression of the establishment.
The way the cashier talks to you while making a purchase changes your impression of the store.
The font you use on doors in your office changes our impression of your company. Read more
