There’s a reason Dragon Naturally Speaking is a hit. It’s because, no matter the channel of communication, the very best style is always that which has a spoken feel to it, and anything that makes that easier will always be of value.

The problem I see with far too many marketing and branding initiatives is, they don’t have a spoken, natural language - conversational, if you will - logic to them.

With the way our brains work, if we have to translate too much of what we see and hear, messages will have an inconsistent impact on us. The only way to attempt to manage this cognitive reality is to formulate messages with a conversational, natural language style so translation is kept to an absolute minimum.

That way, you can more reliably trust that your messages will have the desired impact. And isn’t this what marketing and branding is all about, trying to have a reliably positive impact on the audience?

Many in the marketing and branding world do not filter their ideas through a natural language, conversational criteria.

They should.

I listened to a Philip Kotler interview on the Thinkers 50 web site and was particularly pleased to hear him talk about how he reads very diverse information. Science, technology, marketing, sales, politics, etc.

To me the point is, he’s curious about things. Lots of things. And it helps him be a better thinker about Marketing.

I recall seeing a TV show on how Toyota developed its continuous improvement philosophies. From that, I developed my own continuous improvement approach to Verbal Branding that I use in my consulting practice.

I also, for instance, love reading about business “process” elements, like manufacturing processes, i.e. things that can be measured. Every once in a while I find a little nugget of information that helps me better develop something I deliver for clients or even develop something new.

For instance, many of my management consulting elements have mainly to do with “what can be measured”, who will measure it, and how will it be done.

The point is, if you only expose yourself to information that is narrowly in your current field, over time you’ll become a one-dimensional provider.

Instead, if you apply some natural, human curiosity to the things around you, even when they don’t seem to be directly related to your job, you stand to gain tremendous insight and a deeper ability to deliver for clients.

Tip of the day:

Remember that remembering memory is the biggest thing to remember!

Today’s Dilbert cartoon, as is often the case, pretty much says it all. First pane: “I’ve already forgotten everything that was said at the beginning of this meeting.”

When it comes to sales, marketing, and/or branding, if you can’t MANAGE what people remember (assuming you realize it has to be differentiating and valuable), you’re very likely losing at least half of your potential revenue and notoriety.

It’s OK with me if that’s OK with you, but just REMEMBER I warned you.

Oh, and while I’m thinking of it, if you try to get people to remember more than two things, you will begin destroying your ability to have them remember anything - sorry! Verbal Branding is having someone remember the one or two things that make you different and better than the competition.

A quick post today, to focus on Competitive Intelligence and analytics.

Dr. Elizabeth Craig, a research fellow from Accenture, talks here about CI, talent management, and the decision-making process at major firms.

The two points I’ll take from the mix are these:

• 40% of major decisions in the firms surveyed were made on what is familiarly termed “gut instinct”
• Companies that invested heavily in their analytical ability outperformed the S&P 500 by 64%

(For more detail, listen to the full podcast of about 10 minutes…it’s well worth it.)

Even though my profession has to do with branding and of course Verbal Branding, I have a true affinity for the idea of measuring things, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and understanding through data the business landscape we compete in.

Your homework: choose one thing to measure over the  next ninety days. Keep it simple and see what “competitive intelligence” you can glean over that amount of time. I can nearly guarantee you’ll be glad you took the time. More important, you’ll also come away with some pretty interesting info.

No more trusting your gut instinct when there’s easily available data to show you the way!

Not long ago I saw CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo interviewed by Charlie Rose.  

He was asking about the crazy schedule TV personalities like her keep, and the lack of time for a personal life and even sleep. She agreed it was a challenge, but said she enjoyed it and at that point in her life wanted to take every opportunity possible to have an “impact”.

She then mentioned the idea of being a “corporate athlete”, and the mental process she uses to picture how to deal with her life.

I immediately thought, What a great concept!

For those (like me) who’ve had an athletic background, the imagery was immediately clear. Athletes are heavily scheduled, expect to sweat several times a day, have a competitive mindset, and most important never stop pushing forward whether they won the last one or lost it.

What I took away in particular was the context of winning. In my business I talk a lot about confidence and “dominating the marketplace” through positioning and Verbal Branding applications. A corporate athlete also thinks this way, wondering not just how to get better, but how to literally destroy the competition.

Doesn’t the idea of getting better pale in comparison to trying to destroy the competition? A corporate athlete would shoot for the latter.

And think of how this goal would impact your decision-making and goals. You’d think bigger, look harder for differentiating factors to offer the market, target different people and opportunities, sharpen your verbal and electronic messages, and probably work longer, harder, and more consistently.

You’d also get mad more often, because now you have significant goal in mind that will dictate multiple set-backs along the way. If you’re only trying to continually “get better”, you conceivably could be happy with your progress no matter what happens.

What a depressing thought!

Ready to build your Verbal Branding muscles?

Work on how to finish the following sentence:

“There’s no comparison between us and the competition because                      !”

When you can finish this sentence with a logical, verifiable, and marketplace valuable set of ideas, you’ll not only begin to build your brand but your confidence as well.

You should realize though, you don’t actually have to speak this way - it’s in fact not a good idea much of the time - but without the ability to do so hinders your ability to move forward into the marketplace with good positioning.

There’s hardly anything more valuable than thoughts and verbal ability for reality-based confidence, and for that matter, muscles.

Even though some of your competition seems impenetrable, it isn’t so. First, you have to realize that no firm in your marketplace has a special dispensation dictating that you can’t beat them in the competition for clients. DON’T BUY INTO THE HYPE!

Take the big guys on. Sometimes, all they have is a bunch of nonsensical talking points and a name that people have heard of. Sometimes, you have a better product to offer, but you have to believe in it thoroughly and offer it with confidence.

In other words, it isn’t so just because they say it is. Don’t let yourself be “repressed“. It’s time for a little rationale skepticism.

You can’t stop me, no matter how you try!

With a vacation next week and busy busy today and tomorrow, I thought I’d do this quick post and tell you I’ll be Social Media silent for a few days. It doesn’t mean I don’t have a thought for the week, however…so look below this picture to get it:

Thought for the week: As we understand from Occam’s Razor Principal, “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”, or, in more common language, the simplest answer (or explanation) is usually the right one.

So, keep it simple or it - whatever “it” is - probably WON’T work!

Have a fun week!

There’s a high likelihood that you are selling on Category, and don’t realize it.

The problem is if you are, you’re losing lots and lots of business because of it.

It goes like this: if what you convey to your audience - either in writing or while speaking - are only things that can justifiably be considered positive attributes of your category of business alone, you’re doing yourself and your firm a disservice.

Example: If a law firm tells us, they have a highly experienced staff and high ratio of partners-to-associates, or that they practice law with the utmost integrity and a laser focus on service, these are positive category attributes, if not assumptions, and hanging ones hat on ideas like this is a tremendous mistake.

Another example: When a software company tells us, they have superior Quality Assurance and wonderful project teams, the same “interaction dynamics” will occur.

A legitimate response to these statements would be, “Well, you’d better; and I still haven’t heard why I should use you instead of the other guys!” In fact, what you’ve conveyed only serves to wrap you into the competitive space rather than separate from it.

What’s needed is true marketplace positioning; ideas that differentiate from and marginalize the competition. The easiest examples are Faster and Cheaper. We do the same thing as our competitors, just as well we think, if not better, but we do it faster / cheaper.”

The conversation then becomes one about how you do it faster or cheaper.

A real world example is Gentle Dental. They do the same thing as the dentist down the street, but they are gentle. How ridiculously simple and brilliant is that? No one else is offering to be gentle.

Take a look at what messages you put into the market. If they amount to positive and justifiably assumed attributes rather than differentiation concepts, they might be hurting more than helping.

Is your product or service a strategic or tactical one?

I remember listening to the former CEO of Tyco, Dennis Kozlowski, as he spoke to 60 Minutes about his incarceration and the looting of about $600 million to pay for fancy toe-nail clippers, and  the like.

The one thing that stood out was when he said the company liked the type of companies that were NOT glamorous, such as sprinkler systems that go in buildings and restaurants, for instance.

That was their strategy, and as he put it, when oil was hit in Texas during the eighteenth century oil boom, they would have been selling the picks and shovels instead of drilling for oil.

If you are the kind of company that would have helped Tyco decide on that strategy, or even what unglamorous companies to buy, you could legitimately claim to be involved with the strategy, and charge accordingly.

If, on the other hand, you lined up financing for the purchase of a company, or integrated the IT systems, you’d be part of the tactics to execute the strategy.

In most instances, firms value strategy-related help more than tactical help. It’s partly because at the tactical level, there’s more competition, which means prices will probably be lower. More options equals lower prices. At the strategy level, expertise is harder to find so value and prices are higher.

If you do tactical work, and want to grow your business, one of your considerations should be moving into the strategy side of the business equation. If you can combine tactical with strategic services, and do them well so you have a niche, it would be a significant way to grow revenue and your brand identity.

However, if you don’t yet have the expertise to offer strategic work, or don’t have a passion for it, I’d stay away from this model, because you could just as easily hurt your business either from delivering inferior service or by not even being able to explain why you’re justified in making the offer.