Paws for Thought

The ADAMS Blog

Branding Strategy

Branding strategy on the Web: New URL options | Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

The World Wide Web has changed the way we do business. Only 20 years ago, few could have envisioned this technology would have such an impact on the way businesses communicate with each other, their customers, their investors, and their vendors. Most organizations now have a Web site and if they don’t, they are considering [...]

Branding strategy: the big picture | Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Rebranding. Today I read of a firm completing their rebranding. Did the firm actually rebrand or did they hire a graphic designer to change the logo and graphic styling? The look is not the brand. A brand is an organization’s promise to its marketplace. Did this company completely transform their business when developing a new [...]

Effective communication—unique selling proposition | Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

When it comes to branding, often the message and the delivery get confused. The message is singular—the brand’s unique selling proposition. In other words, what the brand has to offer its marketplace and how it differs from the competition. The delivery is multi-fold. A combination of where, when, why and to whom the message is [...]

Stop the Insanity | Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

My first rule of management is to seek and eliminate the insanity. An enterprise will not survive if it fails to do so. Seems pretty logical doesn’t it? But, I look all around and see repeated examples of insanity. We all realize the world continuously evolves and changes. Years ago, I learned business practices and [...]

Overcoming corporate-speak | Friday, May 8th, 2009

Sometimes calling an apple, “an apple” is one of the hardest milestones for a company to meet. After all, the Granny Smith/Macintosh/Red Delicious hybrid (commonly referred to as the “GSMR Delish”) is indeed just an apple to hungry consumers. It may be the best tasting and crunchiest apple, but to its audience it is still [...]

What an outdated logo design says about a brand | Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

A logo is the first visual communication of a brand. A brand, or an organization’s promise to their marketplace, is how customers and potential customers identify and compare an enterprise to its competition. What happens when a logo does not accurately represent its brand?
Business has changed dramatically in the past twenty years. While a company’s [...]

Is your url confusing your clients? | Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Often the first impression, an organization’s online brand may be more visible than its print brand. People turn to the Web to research, compare, find locations or directions, and purchase. To send a consistent message, an organization’s online brand, or promise, should remain consistent with its printed and verbal communications.
Many organizations fail to designate a [...]

Five traits of a good name | Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Your name ties into everything your business does. The anchor of your brand, your name can be your most valuable asset. When customers hear or see your name, it evokes an emotional response that influences their buying decision.
However, companies are sometimes not satisfied with what their name conveys about their business. Yet, they are afraid [...]

Taking a hint from Twitter | Friday, April 24th, 2009

T.S. Elliot once said, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter”
You would think it would be easy to express yourself in Twitter’s maximum of 140 characters or less, but composing an effective Tweet can take the better part of a day. A good Tweet is the epitome of sending a [...]

Does an inverse relationship exist between brand awareness and commoditization? | Friday, April 17th, 2009

Over the last ten years, we’ve witnessed a heightened awareness of brands, driving companies to create stronger brands in order to compete. This awareness has spread from the consumer brands famously developed by the likes of Proctor and Gamble to the previously marketing adverse fields of business consulting, accounting, health care and law.
But with this [...]