How do you create a brand?

I believe creating a brand is about being totally consistent: making sure everything that you say and everything that you do is in perfect alignment.

A brand is about trust, and trust is in short supply. This short supply increases its value. It's a promise of performance. It's a type of insurance for the customer because it gives them safety and security.

Your particular product or approach should have strong appeal to your ideal customers - those that you are meant to serve. It should also repel or at least have no appeal to those that you are not meant to serve. If you try to appeal to everyone you won't have a strong appeal to anyone.

We're all overwhelmed by choice. There are more products and services out there competing for our attention than we can deal with. Imagine sitting down at a restaurant and being handed a 50 page menu. Would you feel overwhelmed? Yet that's exactly what customers deal with every time they're looking for a service provider or want to purchase a product.

Nobody has the time or desire to research all of these possible choices. We rely on names that we have heard of and the recommendations of others. We can't possibly evaluate which is the BEST choice (and still might not know for sure after wasting a week of our time investigating). We want to reduce or remove the risk of making a poor choice. We choose the SAFE choice.

This is where brands come in. Brands are a shortcut to buying. They allow a consumer to narrow their search or eliminate it completely. I'll buy a Sony TV not because I think a particular model is the best TV that I can buy, but because it's an excellent, safe and easy choice.

Your brand must stand for something. It must always create positive feelings and experiences for your customers. It's a way of controlling how others talk and think of your products or service. It's created not just by what you say, but what you do. It must come through with every point of contact with your customer.

You must be totally consistent. Customers must know from experience exactly what to expect when they buy from you. This consistency must be reflected in your sales message, your website and brochures, how your phone is answered, and how you treat your customers. If you fail to perform in any area your ability to build a brand is greatly diminished. It's all about trust and dependability. Don't betray it.

How long does does it take to create a brand? YEARS. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Quote of the day

"The pursuit of excellence is less profitable than the pursuit of bigness, but it can be more satisfying."

David Ogilvy

What does your website say about your business?

For many businesses, their website is the primary place where new prospects get introduced to the company. Search engines have replaced the yellow pages as the place buyers turn to for information when looking to buy products and services.

Your website creates the first impression they get of your company, and first impressions are powerful and lasting. It must be relevant, easy to navigate, convey quality, instill trust and show what makes you different from others who provide similar products or services. If it doesn't it's as easy as a mouse click for them to go elsewhere.

So what does your website say about your business? Does it make you look like an industry leader or like everyone else in your industry? Does it clearly and concisely explain the benefits you offer over your competitors? Does it show your staff, your facilities and your products in their best possible light? Do you come off as first class or third rate? Do you provide social proof - testimonials of how others have benefited by doing business with you? 

Using a template makes you look like everybody else and makes you look second class. Stock photos also make you look second class and erode trust - people will wonder what you're hiding. Everybody knows they're stock photos. Who do you think you're kidding? Using photos that aren't professionally done makes you look cheap and doesn't make a good first impression.

Quote of the day

"We buy with our eyes."

Harry Beckwith, marketing expert and author

Why photos need to be digitally enhanced.

Most people look at great photos and think that they're that way because the photographer used a great camera. That fiction is perpetuated by camera manufacturer's ads that try to make you think that if only you had a better camera you'd get similar results, just as a golf club manufacturer would like you to believe you'll play more like Tiger Woods if you use their clubs.

Don't get me wrong, as a pro, the quality of the equipment that I use is very important to me. I also know though that the work that I deliver has received considerable post-production, enhancing and retouching. Even though I use top of the line equipment, the images that come out of my camera are ALWAYS enhanced in some way. I won't settle for what the camera gives me.

In addition to great lighting and composition, the best photos that you see in ads are almost always digitally enhanced and retouched. Products, places, people. . . (even supermodels).

The best photographer in the world can't deliver perfection unless the subject is perfect. . . and they never are.

Cameras don't see the same way our eyes do. They're sensitive to changes in the color of light that the human eye can't detect. They can't handle scenes with a wide range of brightnesses like our eyes do - shadow areas go black and bright areas lose detail. On the other hand, the resolution of good lenses pick up every little flaw, every piece of dust on a product, every pore in a face, every defect, and bring them to our attention.

Before digital photography, the great photographers like Ansel Adams produced amazing images by complex darkroom maneuvers that improved on the images that the cameras produced. Now this is done using a computer in the "digital darkroom".

The purpose of digital enhancement and retouching is to improve the imperfect and create an image that looks far better than the camera is capable of recording on it's own. When it's done properly it's all undetectable by the viewer.

To see a gallery of photos that are digitally enhanced, including many before and afters, click here.

Quote of the day

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

Albert Einstein

A location shoot with models

(click on an image to see it larger)

This assignment was shot the other day for a credit card processing company. They provide cashless systems for processing small payments.  One of their systems is for laundromats. It's more convenient for the customers and makes it so the business owner doesn't have to deal with massive amounts of change. 

My client wanted images showing happy customers at a laundromat. They're happy of course because they don't have to carry all that change! (I know that would make me happy). We used professional models, and shot in a laundromat during business hours. They'll be used for their marketing of this cashless system.

When shooting people on location like this, I usually prefer to keep the lighting simple. I want  the subject to capture the viewer's attention, not my lighting or camera technique. The purpose should not be to try to impress the viewer with slick techniques of photography or lighting, but rather to draw the viewer in and have them connect with the subject. The image must feel "real".

Quote of the day

"Whatever distracts, detracts."

Rich Quindry

Selling to the overwhelmed

We're all overwhelmed. Too much information and not enough time to absorb it. Too many choices to make whether we're buying breakfast cereal or mustard. It used to be that if you wanted to buy a phone you had a choice of a black desk model or a black wall phone - now you have dozens if not hundreds to pick from.

What does this all mean? It means we have no spare time. Doing something means not doing something else. We're overwhelmed with too many features on electronic devices. Features we don't understand or even care about. We yearn for things that are simple, direct and easy to understand.

Apple understands this. They design products for simplicity and usability. They have raving fans (including me).

It's all about clarity. In an age where we're bombarded with information it's more important than ever to communicate in a way that's simple, direct and that leaves no room for misunderstanding. Websites should be simple and easy to navigate. Copy should be short and easy to read.

Also use custom photos to communicate your message. They speak volumes and can be understood in seconds. They're perfect for simplifying and speeding communication. They provide clarity.

Quote of the day

"Simplify. Simplicity gives people certainty, and certainty they can deal with."

Harry Beckwith - marketing expert and author.