Branding Blog - Marketing Advice and Advertising Strategy for Small Business Owners

First Mental Image should draw you in! (video version)

Big thanks to Craig Arthur for this video. We were experimenting with his new flip video camera while waiting for flights.

One noticeable difference between the two eateries is the tables. Obviously, Paradise Bakery is the anchor establishment here. They are bigger, bolder and all of the tables are in front of their place. So, of course, even the patrons of Oaxaca are sitting in front of Paradise Bakery. That's no excuse for their lack of visual presence and poor First Mental Image.

Cool Flashbacks from an Airline Mag

With 4 flights on United last week, it was easy to read the in-flight Hemispheres Magazine from cover to cover.

Two stories that caught my attention were flashback pieces.

First, "Remembrance of Cocoa Puffs Past," a story about retro marketing. It's a cool read and it makes the case that especially during a recession, we like to touch the comforts of the past.

The other flashback piece, "Bunker Mentality," was about Norman Lear and his 1970s and 1980s TV dynasty. The story talked about how Lear altered the national conversation with his provocative shows. Coming out last month was the Norman Lear TV Collection (19 discs) with the first seasons of 7 of his classic shows including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Maude, Mary Hartman, and One Day at a Time.

Tags: retromarketing, hemispheres, norman lear

First Mental Image should draw you in!

I shot these pictures yesterday at Phoenix Skyharbor's modern Terminal 4.

It was such a striking difference between two ADJACENT food service outlets.

At any busy walk-by location your First Mental Image (FMI) is just about the only tool you have available to draw in customers. Your reputation will help with repeat business and word of mouth, but for a hungry traveler in a strange city you'd better be putting your best food/foot forward.

I didn't walk more than 5 steps to shoot these two pictures. Oaxaca is just to the left of Paradise Bakery. If you click on the images, you'll see a few observations about both places. If you didn't know anything about them, which one would draw you in?

Click on the images to see bigger, readable versions.

Any other observations? What would you recommend to Oaxaca?

Working on My Own Business: Recharging, Reconnecting, Refocusing

Big things are happening for clients. Big plans are being made for new services and channels.

Spending the week with some great partners and friends. Stay tuned.

Meet Dave Young

Friday news: New Wonderbranding site launched

Wanna see something cool? Check out Michele Miller's new Wonderbranding site for her marketing to women consultancy. Very nice!

On an unrelated topic, I've been featured on the Bootstrap Business blog. You might remember that I reviewed their book a few weeks ago. They've just started a new feature where they will be profiling businesses each week and my small business marketing consulting biz is the first feature! Thanks Rich and Ron!

Newspapers are Doomed...circa 1981

Operative phrase from newspaper spokesman..."We're not in it to make money."

Loose Change: It's all in how you ask!

My local Safeway store always asks me if I'd like to donate an extra dollar to their charity of the month. Call me a Scrooge, but I seldom donate.

In Denver recently, a Safeway store asked me if I'd like to donate my coin change to the same charity. I said yes. I would almost always say yes to this question.

Which question generates the most money for the charity?

_{photo by Hey Paul}

Bootstrap Business: Great new book for entrepreneurs!

I've got some pretty amazing friends. Among them are business owners, teachers, authors, consultants and speakers.  Some of them manage to wear all of those hats simultaneously.

I first met Rich Christiansen and Ron Porter last October in Austin when they attended a class for new authors that I was helping to teach. This was a class for people who were contemplating a book and needed a plan for writing it, testing it and building a business platform around it. Rich and Ron were seated in the front row, directly in front of the podium, and they showed up with a completed manuscript. Serious over-achievers, huh?

The book was originally called "Get a Life: Build a Business, Control Your Destiny." I've still got my copy of the manuscript.

About a month later, we were teaching the same class in Salt Lake City and Rich was now a part of the faculty. See what I mean by over-achieving?

A group of us helped him brainstorm new titles over dinner and he put the finalists out to his email group for voting. The result was Bootstrap Business, A Step by Step Business Guide.

The premise of the book is genius. Rich had started 28 businesses over the course of his career. Some were flops, some mediocre and more than a handful had become million-dollar enterprises. His contention was that anyone can "bootstrap" a business with about $5,000. His friend, Ron Porter, had just been laid off from the corporate world and joined in Rich's book project with a challenge of his own: "Let's prove that we can do it." So, they both put in $2,500 and started a business. That business, Castlewave, is now a very successful SEO and PPC firm that turned over $1 million last year at a 65% margin. AND, while they built this business, they completed the book. Again, with the over-achieving.

If you are a business owner, or you want to be a business owner, or for purely economic reasons (like getting laid off) you must become a business owner, be sure to grab a copy of this book. Here's why:

Personally, I've pulled a few gems out of the book that have helped me get clarity about moving forward or not with projects, potential clients and other activity.

More importantly, I've been in conversations with people I trust and admire who have read the book and said that it is a better read, more useful and more practical than any start-up guide they've ever read, including Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start. 

Even more importantly, Rich Christiansen and I have become friends and he has given me some very sound business advice in recent months. He has also helped more than a few of my clients drastically improve their organic rankings and their PPC performance.

You can buy Bootstrap Business from the publisher, Wizard Academy Press, or buy it from Amazon, or get it autographed when you buy it from the authors at Bootstrap Business. Just be sure you read it.

Content, Content, Content

I attended a wake the other night.

The priest read a poem from an old card found in the home of the deceased. I don't remember the exact line, or words of the poem. What caught my attention was when the priest mispronounced the word "content" in the verse, without skipping a beat.

The writer of the verse meant to use the word "content" as in, satisfied...my soul is content. The priest said "content" like a web marketer.

I don't know what it all means. It reminded me of the Louis CK video that has made the rounds lately.

In case you haven't seen it...