Branding Blog

Can I have a Kindle?

A couple of friends already have one. They love it. I'm jealous. I want one.

I didn't want one quite so bad before I saw that they are back in stock!

Soccer Mom Myth Web Site Announced

Michele Miller and Holly Buchanan have unveiled a new web site in support of their book, The Soccer Mom Myth.

My favorite line in the site is a warning:

WARNING: This is not your typical dry business book. It includes politically incorrect views, some unladylike language, and tequila stories. We're pulling back the curtains for a realistic look at what women really want.

I'm about half-way through my pre-release review copy and I'm loving it! You can download free chapters, read about the authors and even watch videos of the authors talking about the book.

They Don't Sell Weak Books in Airports

I spent almost 12 hours in the Las Vegas Airport last week because United Airlines had a hard time getting my family from Los Angeles to Denver. Maybe I'll tell that story in a few months after I calm down.

As I walked past the Hudson News shop, a friendly book cover caught my eye. It was just about the only pleasant experience of the day. I am so delighted for Bryan's and Jeffrey's success with this book.

It's been #1 on Amazon, on the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and now the Business Week business book bestseller lists. And now...in the airport.

If you haven't read it yet, pick it up and enjoy.

If you have been considering tearing down your company's web site and starting from scratch, drop me a line and I'll send you a free copy. Really.

I think I'm in "The South"

March 7-13. That was the last full week I spent in my own home. Austin to Winnipeg to Denver to Phoenix to Los Angeles to Melbourne to Hobart to Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Austin to Phoenix to San Diego to Denver to Knoxville where I hear the lovely drawled greeting of the waffle lady here in the Residence Inn each morning at breakfast. I've got just a 74 more miles before I make United's Premier status this year. Too bad we're driving to Austin for Wizards of Web. ;-)

The more personas I create, the more wireframing I do, the better and quicker I get at it. It's fun work and it's exciting to see the lights come on in the eyes of the business owner as he gets a deeper understanding of his own business and realizes how important the Persuasion Architecture process will be...not just for his web site, but for all aspects of customer interaction.

I'm excited to be headed to Austin for Eisenberg's BIG EVENT. It's not too late to join us!

I'm also excited to get home the next week. That's where you'll find me for at least a few weeks.

"The Giggle Test" in Corporate Speak

One of the more interesting phenomena in the blog world is people's willingness to send you review copies of new books. I've been sent a review copy of nearly every book on branding to be published in the past 18 months. I don't ask for them, I rarely read them and I almost never review them. (That doesn't mean you should stop sending them, whoever you are.)

The latest arrived yesterday from Cameo Publications. It's called Brand Clout by Dennis C. Flynn. My modus operandi is to flip through the pages from back to front and see it anything catches my eye. My eye caught the word GIGGLE.

Page 111, last paragraph. In a chapter on Vision, Mission and Values (yawn, yawn and yawn). Here's the paragraph that caused a Broca-inspired neural chain reaction (got my attention and caused me to stop flipping through pages.)

The Giggle Test

One way to validate the effectiveness and relevance of the vision and mission statements is to see if they pass the mustard of The Giggle Test. This means finding out the answer to how your employees are reacting to these statements when you're not in the room. Are they laughing at them in the hallways or exchanging jokes about them in their e-mails? Have the statements created cynicism amongst the troops? Or are they nodding their heads in agreement and endorsing them in their conversations with fellow employees? Passing The Giggle Test is a critical gate in validating the effectiveness of your vision and mission statements. Again, if they don't ring true, if they're not believable and achievable to the employees, then they are useless.

I can't tell you much about the rest of the book, but I like The Giggle Test.

Two years after the Bar Mitzvah...

In January of 2003, Roy Williams declared that it would be the year of the internet's Bar Mitzvah.

Now, two years later, our friends from Brooklyn have proven that what's only worked before with strong brick-and-mortar support is possible using ONLY word of mouth, blogs and a little help from your friends.

The first title from Wizard Academy Press to make it onto the best-seller lists of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today is also the first book in history to do so without store sales.

Most people would be thrilled to get on these lists and make it their goal to do so using any means possible. Jeff and Bryan Eisenberg made it their goal to go into the gunfight armed with only a pen-knife and they won!

Not only that, but the book is extremely valuable to anyone who wants to succeed on line.

Whew! What a Day!

Well, we finally ran out of the good wine and Seth took off to visit with Peter tomorrow. I'll get things cleaned up and we'll be back to normal (whatever that is).

I'd better call my friend over at Winerant and get some more of the good juice. You never know who's going to drop in next.

BBBT - Seth Godin: on Bull Market

BrandingBlog: I appreciate the link and mention on your Bull Market ebook. Could you explain the concept behind it and how you envision people will use it?

Seth Godin: WHAT: Bull Market is almost 500 pages of references to blogs and freelancers and consultants and agencies and people who can help you make a Purple Cow. It costs $21 (donation to charity) or you can get it for free from anyone that's listed in it.

WHY: Because if a million people read it and use it, the world will get more interesting, people will have more fun, employees will reach their potential and the economy will start moving. That, and a million people will know about my new book (http://www.freeprizeinside.com) and I'll have created a remarkable (worth talking about) way to spread the word about my new book, for free, which is what the new book is about... the idea is always to use the ideas in the book to spread the idea of the book itself.

BBBT - Seth Godin: The Courage to Be Remarkable

Branding Blog: I love the story about Rita's Candy Shoppe! I work with lots of very small retailers. Their fear of doing something different keeps them small and keeps them in the shadow of the Wal-Marts of the world. They don't need an inside champion for their idea. They need the courage to step up and do something different. Do you have a magic word for them or a medal of courage?

Seth Godin: It's a lot of work to run a store. A lot of risk. A lot of money for rent and staff and ads and signage. You need to be there a lot, and you need to worry about theft and shrinkage and competition and insurance and Walmart and and and...

So, after doing all that, WHY ON EARTH BE BORING? After taking all that insane risk and doing all that excessive work, why blow it all because you're afraid to put up a ridiculous window display for a day or afraid to have your cashiers dress funny or afraid to give people a discount because they're cute...

I think sometimes we mix up the battering we get from the daily grind with the battering we MIGHT get for being too remarkable. The retailers who have the most fun and who make the most money are the ones that do remarkable stuff.

The best part is that most of the time, the Free Prize is just that... Free.

BrandingBlog welcomes Free Prize Inside author Seth Godin!

It's a thrill to welcome Seth Godin to another stop on the Business Book Blogging Tour. Many thanks to Todd for the warm invitation.

The raves for this book have been super and we'll hear the echos of this tour reverberating through the blog world for months. In case you haven't heard, the version of the book in the cereal box will NOT be available much longer. Order them while they last!

Just to offer a recap, you can find previous stops on the book tour at these fine blogs:

• May 3rd - A Penny For...
• May 4th - Brand Autopsy
• May 5th - Decent Marketing
• May 6th - 800-CEO-READ Blog
• May 7th - Brand Mantra
• May 10th - Ensight
• May 11th - WonderBranding
• May 12th - Business Evolutionist

And the tour continues:

• May 14th - Thinking by Peter
• May 17th - Bold Approach