Tricks to brand building: giving attention, entertainment, and information

Hello friends, wanted to give you a heads up on three different podcasts I did this past week. In all we talked about the importance of building your brand. The means by which you did that varied.

Give attention first: Show interest in others before you ask others to care about you.

Just good ‘ole fashioned relationship building like you would if you were trying to make a friend. It’s very hard to have a relationship with someone if all you say to them is, “Will you pay attention to me? Will you write about me?”

Give entertainment: What can I do to amuse or inspire you?

Very few brands pull this off successfully. Solely because the need to create entertainment is not core to their product or service offering. In such cases they must go and find a media vendor that has success in creating entertainment. Historically, this entertaining content is often watered down. Fear of tarnishing their own brand or trying to find synergy with their brand results in too many restrictions and edits on entertaining content.

Give information: What is your audience seeking and what do you have access to that they don’t?

Don’t play games with trying to get media. Create your own media. This, and giving attention first, is the core of my business, Spark Media Solutions. Every company has a mission statement which can easily be adapted to an editorial statement. Your editorial is of great interest to an audience. Build a relationship with them through your editorial and you’ll build brand and have a much easier time selling and introducing products and services.

The Beancast #162: Multicultural or Melting Pot?

Roundtable discussion show where we chatted about branded entertainment, brand journalism, multicultural advertising, NASCAR, and Old Spice and Fabio. Lather up and listen below or download for later my discussion with this expert panel. (Time: 1 hour, 1 minute)

• Bob Knorpp, Host
• Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image
• Len Kendall, Account Group Supervisor, GolinHarris
• Jim Louderback, CEO/President, Revision 3

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PJA Radio – Influencing the Influencers

Word of mouth advertising is undeniably one of the best forms of advertising. And while we all have influence over our friends and family, those with industry mouthpieces (e.g. blogs and podcasts) have greater influence over their industry peers. On the PJA Radio podcast, I spoke with Mike O’Toole about how to influence the influencers, and specifically a case study of how I did it with one of my clients, IT security firm, Tripwire. See the case study, “How to become one of the most respected companies in your industry.”

Will you be convinced? Listen now or download for later our conversation. (Time: 33 minutes)

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Techbuzz – How to be a voice in your industry

Similar to my conversation with Mike O’Toole, I spoke with Deborah Richmond, host of the Techbuzz podcast which is primarily targeted to SOHO and small businesses with a strong “do it yourself” attitude with regard to marketing and social media. We chatted about the model of Spark Media Solutions (building editorial for your brand) and my history of being a stand up comic and how that helps me conduct interviews.

Grab a cup of coffee and listen or download for later our conversation. (Time: 36 minutes)

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Stock photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Tagged as: Brand Journalism, content marketing, custom publishing, PJA Radio, podcasts, TechBuzz, The Beancast