Liz, Author at Successful Blog Page

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: $100Million Winners!!!!

February 6, 2007 by Liz

Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

The Topic is: What Would You Do With $100 Million?

How would that impact your life? We might talk about when we would claim the money — right away or after some thought — how much money $100 Million is really worth, whether to hire an investment consultant, whether to work or run a business, what we’d buy, where we’d travel, what we’d give away, and what we’d do about expectations from friends and relatives. I bet we have 100 million ideas in our vision , . .

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Branding: A Tagline Is Not A Brand — How to Build a Positive Brand in 3 Steps

February 6, 2007 by Liz

Your Unique Brand Identity

People talk to other people about other people, products, and companies.

What we say to each other about what we like —

the other people, products, and companies we champion and warn folks about,
the other people, products, and companies we hold up as models and that we boycott
the other people, products, and companies we don’t ever mention, i.e. that we make invisible,

— becomes the brands that define the other people, products, and companies we talk about. Not one voice, but many voices form a brand. The branding voices come not from the ones who wear the brand from the ones who interact with them.

Everyone has brand.

Your brand may be as simple as You are unknown.

Not everyone has a unique and positive brand identity.

A Tagline Is Not a Brand

Some folks seem to think that putting a tagline on their business, their product, or their blog establishes their brand. Would that it were so easy.

A unique and positive brand identity is a concise, consistent, compelling message that conveys your unique value. It arrives before you and lingers after you’re gone. It describes you, defines you, and develops positive interest in you. It’s very definition of you weeds out people with whom you prefer not to interact.

This following statement is key.

A tagline is not a brand. It’s a suggestion for folks to start thinking about your brand.

These key assumptions underpin the ability to establish a positive brand.

Start by knowing that other people decide what they think about you.
Realize that their perceptions will be their reality.
Know that most people fit you into THEIR world view.

Knowing that our role in a branding strategy is to provide the unique and compelling reasons and the outstanding examples folks need to naturally want to share. In other words, as Seth would say, “It’s about being remarkable.”

A tagline is just words. A brand is actions that people talk about.

How to Build a Positive Brand in 3 Steps

Because customers are the branders, it makes sense that they should be the center of any branding effort. Customers at the center means that they get to talk. We get to actively listen. If we’re fixing a broken brand, we get to spend even more time with them while we’re listening, because they’ll need to hear our apology.

Step 1 — Listen to Your Branders

The first step is to find out what folks already think. Focus on the people — to know their needs, desires, and pains — and to find the one thing you might do to serve them better than anyone else can. Here’s how to do that.

Find your branders. Find the folks who talk about you. Find those who say both positive and negative things. Find the folks who don’t know who you are. Ask permission to talk to them.
Talk to them as much and as often as you can. Be a learner. Explore their thinking with them. Use it all to identify what skills you have to offer.
Listen actively to what they are not saying as well. Find their unexpressed needs and desires. Look for their points of pain. Look for solutions that you might be able to offer.

Gather all you’ve learned from your branders. Reflect on how it matches your unique skill set and your personal passions.

Step 2 — A Promise that You Put Others First

Use what you’ve gathered to write a customer-centered tagline to say you . . .

Do what you love in service to those who love what you do Steve Farber says.

Think of your tagline as a promise.

Not: The oldest bank in the Western Hemisphere.
But: Your bank, when you’re available, with your interest at heart.

Step 3 — Live Your Promise

Live your promise. Be your brand 100%. Actions speak. People tell more stories about what happens than they do about what they’ve read. Positive actions that meet people’s needs speak loudly and are shared with friends.

Have you heard stories about the great things that these two do? I’ve told a few myself.

Phil or Wendy live their unique brands. No need to try to live theirs, yours is just as uniquely compelling and just as important to the world.

Successful-Blog is where you’re only a stranger once.
After that, you’re a friend.
–ME “Liz” Strauss”
To have Liz help get your brand just right, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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Branding, Self-Promotion, Selling: Are You OverDoing?

Branding, Self-Promotion, Selling: Are You OverDoing?

February 5, 2007 by Liz

It’s Easier to Write About Someone Else

Whether we work in a traditional enterprise, work in a boutique shop with a handful of people, work alone or work at a hobby, such as blogging, we need a goal to channel our investment, to direct it toward gains, to have the energy and time required to stretch and free ourselves.

Yet even when we choose productivity, to work totally alone without employee or employer, we’re still interacting with people who have myriad needs. We meet with others who have myriad needs of their own and we actively listen to take them on as our own.

If we do it well, we will gain credibility, if we miss the mark, we actually harm some part of the relationship. Relationships may be more difficult than editing this page. just forming. We know those times well, when we try too hard to convince others of our brand, apologize for our writing, ask links instead of earning them, or quote text when we should analyze.

Each day this week we’ll discuss one way we touch those we meet in business and in our personal lives. We’ll look at how branding, personal branding, self-promotion, and selling form the big picture of our image.

We’ll look at case studies and use each of our own core competencies to discuss how we might improve our interactions in each case.

We’ll begin tomorrow with the thought that all relationships are imagined and constructed within us and as such we can have an impact on how they work.

But you might start listening around the blogopshere for examples you see of branding, self-promotion, and sales today.

–ME “Liz” Strauss”

Bloggy Question 36: Mom, I Got the Part!

February 4, 2007 by Liz

Needy or Not?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

You had almost forgottnen lonelygirl15. You’d even seen the video story on YouTube about a 15-year-old homeschooled girl and her strict religious parents. The series of videos had a huge international following when it was revealed in a New York Times interview that lonelygirl15 was an actress. At the time you didn’t know what to think when that happened. Mostly you didn’t care.

This morning you read this in the Blog Herald.

You may have heard about one of the latest YouTubes making the rounds Ã¢â¬â the one about the bride who freaks out about her hair on her wedding day, and proceeds to have a meltdown resulting in her cutting her own hair.

You may have also heard about the tidal wave of publicity, once people heard that it was, in fact, staged, with actresses, a script, and a contract. In fact, it turns out all principals involved were interviewed on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and Inside Edition. . . .

You start to care about both of those news stories later when you get a call from an actor friend. . . His next job is too familiar.

He’s explaining how he’s going to be in a video, even mentions a YouTube release. He tells you the plot.

He’s going to be in an office working at a computer, when his boss, a woman, stops by to crticize what he’s doing. Her reprimand will be loud enough to humilate him in front of coworkers. When she’s leaves his cubicle, he gets two minutes demolish the office. He breaks everything, but the chair.

You ask who the client company is. He mentions the name of a furniture manufacturer.

He’s thrilled at the offer is $25,000 and a possible career . . .

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Sandy’s Great Graphic Tips: Why Use Graphics?

February 4, 2007 by Liz

What Does Learning Style Have To Do With Graphics?

We each have a different learning style. The three basic styles are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK). Approximately 60-70% (depending on the source) of the general population are predominantly visual learners. They need visual aids to fully grasp a concept or idea.

Graphics are a huge reason people flock to the web. Humans are generally more receptive to things we see compared to things we hear. That means a well-placed graphic on your post can make a world of difference to their experience.

The term ‘graphic’ describes visual elements like photographs, drawings, illustrations, diagrams, charts, maps, symbols, fonts, etc. Graphics can be a very effective method to express a concept. Remember the proverb, “a picture is worth a thousand words”? Sometimes you can use a graphic to express an idea that may otherwise take pages.

Graphics:

add color and depth
tell a story
catch the eye
retain reader interest
express a concept

What’s Your Learning Style?

What type of learning style do you have? Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic? Find out with the Learning Style Survey.

Here’s my results. The graphic says it all…

Stay tuned… in upcoming weeks we’ll talk more about graphics. Let me know what you think. If there are specific things you want to discuss, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll start there.

Here’s some ideas I thought of:

Using graphics effectively
Selecting graphic file types (.gif, .jpg)
Sizing and optimizing graphics
Editing image tags in html
Using white space
Cropping photos
File naming conventions
Placing images in text
Using a scanner to create graphics
Finding graphics
Using special effects
Locating books and resources
Using color, grayscale, or duotone

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

The Value of Life: According to Douglas Adams and Jeremy Wright

February 4, 2007 by Liz

Do the Math

I’ve been meaning to share this, because it explained a whole lot to in a single blog post.

You might be familiar with Douglas Adams’ book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or the radio show, television series or film that was made from it. You might also know about the ultimate question regarding life, the universe, and everything to which the answer is revealed to be 42.

A conversation started on the b5media forum about the value of life. Jeremy Wright answered the question with the number 42 from Adams’ book. Another blogger pointed out that Jeremy had not considered the universe and everything in his response. At that point, professor Wright got serious and did the math. You can find his calculations and proofs in a post called What’s the Value of Life?

It is one exquisite, brilliant explanation of why the value of life is actually just more than 10, which higher than the value of the universe, but less than half of the value of everything.

Go on. I don’t call just anything brilliant.

–ME “Liz” Strauss