The brand that’s made me the happiest this year is Wolfgang’s Vault. I go there on a regular basis, often on Friday afternoons when I’m finishing up administrative tasks and need some ear candy. The more I listen, the more often I return. I’ve heard concerts by artists I wish I’d gone to and concerts from the same tours I saw “back in the day” by artists that hadn’t made it big yet. I started going to the site a couple of years ago to relive some great musical moments in my life—but now I’m getting much more.

I love that the Vault has branched out to newer artists and more recent concerts. Their A to Z list of performers is huge and inclusive, so I can experiment. There are artist interviews as well as concerts. There are lots of free downloads as well as ones you have to pay for. Plus concert listings in my area.

The website has improved steadily. It’s become increasingly easy to use and what Wolfgang’s Vault is adding, I’m enjoying. I must be in their target demographic—they’re hitting me in my soft spot and I love it!

What’s the brand lesson? Do one thing really well and build from there. Innovate around what you know and give your customers and fans an easy path to follow as you lead the way. If the substance is there and you demonstrate that you’re listening, you’ll keep your die-hards and win new ones.

Have a great 2010!

Beth Woolley

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How often does one market its products by not marketing them? When you are “murketing” them: murkily marketing. Pabst Blue Ribbon does it, Scion does it; even furniture makers are doing it . So is murketing the new viral marketing? Or is it a new beast?

I think it’s different. Murketing can only work a few times before people start looking for it, when it then becomes obvious marketing and loses its luster. Viral marketing, on the other hand, takes creativity or cleverness and uses that as the carrying meme; attention is the currency you pay for hearing the message, versus no message.

-Lynn Parker

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Everything most people need to know about branding, you can get in 156 marvelous pages in Branding Like the Big Boys, by Martin Thoma. One of the founders of Little Rock branding agency Thoma Thoma, Martin has written a succinct page-turner about one of the more confusing topics in marketing today. In clear language, filled with examples, he walks you through the whys and hows of successful branding, useful whether you’re a 10-person hair salon or a mega-corporation.

See more about Branding Like the Big Boys at http://www.brandinglikethebigboys.com/.

Watch my testimonial forBranding Like the Big Boys.

-Lynn Parker

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Social media is a channel. While a social brand is a way to be. Think about it as a cultural shift in the way you live your brand online and offline–as a business strategy (how do we deliver our customer service? or how do we develop new products/services?), as a people strategy (how do we find great talent? how do we train them and empower them to live our brand?), and as a communications strategy (how do we find new customers or audiences, what are they saying and how do we engage with them online?).

The line between your offline and online brand may be well segmented in your business internally (between departments and roles), but from a customer’s point of view they are non-existent. You are your brand no matter where they find you or interact with you. So, in other words, be the same brand you are on your website or Twitter that you are on the phone and on your product packaging.

Check back often for more on how to build and manage a social brand.

–Jen Travis

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Your brand is experienced by your customers in a multitude of ways: through your product/service, your marketing, your people and…(no drum roll needed) your web presence. This doesn’t just mean your website anymore (although, that is a really important piece of it), but your online advertising (whether banner ads or Google AdWords campaigns), discoverability keys (keywords and meta-tags you use to define yourself) and your social media presence (whether managed or not) as well.

Yikes. That’s a lot to think about. But, when filtered through the lens of your brand—your unique value and promise—it is much easier, because you already have the road map, you just need to make sure you manage the stops along the way (the trip, if you will). How do you ensure that your online presence delivers your unique brand experience?

1. Know your users: Who is coming to your web site or following you on Twitter? What tribes do they belong to and what are their motivations, needs and online behaviors as a result? Segment them, profile them and think about how they would engage with you online.
2. Benchmark your online brand equity: What do your current site analytics tell you about your visitors’ interests and how they found you? What is the current murmuring about your brand in blogs, on Twitter, around Facebook? Review and analyze this to gain an understanding of where you are now and what is currently working (or not working).
3. Collect and categorize your content: What can (and do) you offer your customers? Is it thought leadership? Tools? Resources? Humor? What? Inventory organizational content (intellectual property, images, video, etc.), filter it through your brand, and develop a content development and repurposing strategy to deliver this content on your site and social media channels.
4. Map it all out: How will you organize your content to demonstrate your brand and meet your user’s needs? Conceptually and diagrammatically map out how users will use your content and how that experience demonstrates your brand value.
5. Implement and measure it: Design, deploy and measure it against your benchmark, using criteria and metrics that help you define the brand equity gained or lost, increase in awareness, connections, and of course, conversions.

With 74.4% of the North American population using the Internet, it’s more important than ever that you differentiate, engage and deliver online.

–Jen Travis

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“That’s what branding is all about – building sincere human brands – which we all instantly can relate to.” This is something I just read on Branding Strategy Insider that summed up something I have been thinking about a lot lately: the idea that branding isn’t about spin, but about honestly being who you are and owning that through everything you do, whether you are a company or just a person looking for a job. This makes you real and someone people can relate to–which often translates to loyalty because people know they can trust you. In this social landscape, you can’t get away with being someone you’re not for long. There are many waiting to call you out. So, make sure you’re marketing is a true reflection of who you are so you end up on the positive end of that powerful machine we call word of mouth.

–Jen Travis

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Just as Warren Buffet feels the recession presents a great stock buying opportunity for the long term investor, so too does it offer favorable circumstances for the savvy brand manager.  Yesterday’s Seattle Times reports that Seattle’s still-left-standing travel company Alaska Airlines has taken over sponsorship of this year’s Seafair Torchlight Parade from Southwest Airlines.  Seafair is Seattle’s historic and well-loved summer celebration and sponsoring its premier event packs some emotional branding punch.  Instead of pulling back marketing spend in every area like many other hurting companies are doing, Alaska is investing in endearing its brand more deeply to its hub customers. 

No details were available on the cost of sponsorship, but you can bet your Seafair Pirates’ gold that no one had to wait for hours on Alki Beach for a turn to speak to the sales rep.  So now Alaska has the right of first refusal for the future, and Seattleites, still cringing from the breach of hometown faith by the Sonics, are applauding.  

– Peggy Brown

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