Consumers want to support brands they see as authentic and share their values. Here are a few ways you can creatively express—and distinguish—yourself digitally. The American dream of “owning a business” is alive and well in 2022, with an estimated 5 million new businesses expected to incorporate this year. Like so many others that preceded […]
Authenticity
How to Be Authentic as a Small Business Owner
I want to tell you a secret. It’s been the sort of month where unprompted, people have shared their secrets with me. I feel overwhelmingly privileged to listen to the deep-seated fears, sadness and joy that weighs on their hearts and just hope that in some small way, sharing with me, eases their day a […]
Honestly It’s About Honesty
I can remember being in one of my undergrad advertising classes and the professor told us about a recent study that measured the trustworthiness or honesty of various professions. Keep in mind, this was 30+ years ago but I can still see the slides he used to show us the results. The least trusted professional was the […]
Insincerity is Not Good for Your Brand
I love it when employees really adopt their company’s brand and make it their own. That’s one of the ways you know that your brand has really woven itself into the culture of your organization. But it rarely happens by accident. In any brand process, part of the process should be about helping your employees understand and internalize […]
Branding: The Inside-Out Rule
Branding is one of those marketing terms that everyone uses but very few actually embrace. When companies try to brand themselves, they often suffer from the “can’t accurately describe the bottle from inside the bottle” reality. One of the other huge threats to a branding effort is when a company does not follow the inside out rule. Disregarding […]
What is an Authentic Brand and Why Should You Care?
Authenticity is important to your brand, whether you represent a small-medium business, nonprofit organization, or yourself as an individual. It’s more than a buzzword says a new global study by Cohn & Wolfe, a global communications agency. Its 2016 study on authenticity defines what consumers believe are the individual attributes of authentic behavior and whether a brand displaying these […]
4 Ways to Better Market Your Brand to Millennial Consumers
With the Millennial generation representing 25 percent of the population and more than $200 billion in annual buying power in the U.S., companies from every industry are vying for this generation’s attention.
Workplace Culture is a Philosophy, Not a Checklist
When companies use a checklist mentality to create a strong culture, they only focus on culture for a season with involvement initiatives, campaigns, banners, slogans, and motivational messages. Then they move on to the next issue.
How to Keep Your Business Blog from Becoming a Tabloid
What do Steve Guttenberg and Milli Vanilli have in common? If it were 1989, you might actually know what I’m talking about. Pop culture is what’s collectively popular among the masses.
