...head hurt?

Tired of banging your head against the wall struggling to create the next big thing?

Do the next best thing.
The safer thing.
The tested thing.

It's a simple concept.

1. See what's hot
2. Take notes
3. Following their blueprint create your own version
4. Be a big success

Let's be clear, I'm not talking about patent infringement.

Don't steal. Reinvent.

By using the power of the wave or phenomenen you can create your own spin using the momentum of the model.

For instance, notice how commercials are framing themselves around elections right now? Why? Because this years elections are all the buzz. Positioning yourself with something that's getting a lot of media play saves you the pain and investment dollars of generating attention from thin air.

Put your finger on the pulse of the market and move with it. Ride the wave.

You can call it echoing. I call it smart business.

Movie Producers do it.
Music Producers do it.
Politicians do it. (Look how Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain borrowed Sen. Obama's "Change" concept)
Restaurant Owners do it.
Competitive Sporting Coaches do it.
Fashion Designers do it.

Sure, it may be more satisfying to come up with your own moonwalk, ipod, hoola-hoop, slinky, polka dot tie, bell-bottom jean design, slurpee, squishee or whatever, but it's also alot more risky.

When in doubt, when short on funds, when you need a sale, try this:

So what do you guys do again?

Well, you know XYZ Company that makes XYZ? Good. We do that too, but with this special difference. We took their concept and added this to boost the performance, entertainment, reliability, durability, profitability, value.

Try it.

It works.

Cool!
Finally, I can break down branding with a popular example that works for everyone.

Check this:

Hillary Clinton's win in New Hampshire is a perfect example of branding, or re-branding. If you're the least bit fuzzy about the meaning of branding or the power of branding, all you need do is think about the Senators comeback.

First of all, lets get the definition of "brand" down.

A brand is a label or name of a person or thing.

When I was a kid my mom brought me "offbrand" shoes, all it meant was they didn't have a popular logo.

Sikes is not Nikes.
Adidas has three stripes not four.
And Lacoste has an alligator not a giraffe.

I'm sure you get it.

Branding is just applying your name or company's name to something, that something can be a shoe, a car, a building, a wine,
BUT branding can also be an idea or feeling or a market position.

Here's the part you may not know, a brand is NOT what you say you are, a brand is what other's say you are or what you appear to be.

Which leads me back to Senator Clinton.



Hillary Clinton's Old Brand was seen by many to be:

Bill's Wife, Smart, The Establishment, Firm, Emotionless, Angry, Tough, Robotic, Closed Off, Overly Formal



...but after her emotional moment (her action) in New Hampshire, many female voters got a different opinion of Hillary Clinton

the brand.

Hillary Clinton's New Brand in the eyes of many female voters quickly became:

Bill's Wife, Smart, Down-to-Earth, Everyday Woman, Human, Emotionally Connected, Open.

Believe it.

With that one action (replayed about a thousand times) we saw the power of branding on crack.

Think about it.

Regardless to how you feel about Clinton, you can see the pure power of branding.

When I'm helping to brand one of my clients, I'm trying to make their company name (or brand) identifiable with a great selling idea as
Hillary rebranded herself from the emotionless, robotic, Senator and former President's wife (not a very good selling position)
to the warmer, more likable, down-to-earth, Senator, former President's wife (a much better selling position).

And look what happened.

She won New Hampshire.

Most new business owners don't take advantage of branding power. Look at it this way, re-branding brought Hillary back from 13 points down 24 hours before the vote. What do you think a positive selling brand image can get you if you start right now?

Email me if you need help on branding your small business or solo-operation.

You can have great looking text, eye-catching graphics, use all the right colors and still end up with an ad that stinks.

Why?

Because the idea is what matters most.

Execution is important, but ideas are the foundation for great ads. You can put a pretty dress on a pig, but it's still a pig, now its only a nicely dressed pig.

I've dressed up a few pigs trying to get my "ad legs" under me.

Everyone has trouble learning how to write good ads. My problem was I'd rush the process. I'd get what I thought was a good idea and charge off down the mountain. WRONG! I'd end up working for an hour on a bad idea just to find out it was a bad idea. Thru trial and error I discovered I needed to get a handle on a idea generating process that worked.

Eventually, I grew tired of making not so great media pieces so I searched high and low for better ways to come up with great ideas.

I found good books, bad books, valuable advice and some silly advice . Then I found The Book.

"Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads"
by Luke Sullivan.

I can't say enough great things about this book. If you are starting out in copywriting or advertising and you only buy one book, make it this one.

I've used this book and the lessons in it to create better ads. One of the tips Mr. Sullivan gives is "Writing Hot, Edit Cold".

Note: I can't take credit for the following idea generating method, I learned it in Luke Sullivan's book

What is writing hot?

Write Hot

Writing hot is allowing your mind to enjoy the ride. Throw no idea away. Don't judge yourself. Do not edit - just get all the ideas in your head down on paper. By looking at your subject from all different angles. you allow yourself the freedom to be silly, outrageous, risky and everything in between. Your only goal is to fill up that blank sheet of paper with ideas.

Edit Cold

Once you've got all those ideas down you pull out another sheet of paper and start picking the maybes. Pull a few workable ideas from your pot of ideas. If you've done the writing hot part right you'll find at least a handful of good ideas for your ad.

Sure there's still work to do, such as trimming it down to one of your edit cold ideas, but you're alot closer to a better ad than when you started. My tip: Use the "Write Hot, Edit Cold" method to generate ideas that don't stink.

No one likes a pig in a pretty dress.

Thanks for reading

I was watching television last night and a Martha Stewart commercial appeared. My first thought was Martha looks pretty good for 67. Wow, She doesn't look a day over 60. My second thought was "Why is she talking like that?"

Here, let me quote her:

"...if you went out to the store to purchase these items they would be quite costly..."

Costly? Doesn't that sound a little pretentious? I even started mimicking her in a British accent. A bad British accent. "Costly, costleeeeee, cost - ly"

Why didn't Martha just say; "..if you go out and buy these in the store it's going to be expensive"? I said the exact same thing, but mine sounds more real. Less convoluted, more natural - easier.

Want to get your message across in the new world of social media without people mimicking you?

Write like people talk

If you're speaking in a podcast or a videocast, once again, relax and just talk. Be conversational not pretentious. You're not going to impress anyone by using a $4 word where a $2 word should be.

Sure, we all know what costly means, but doesn't it have the air of trying too hard?

Media copy in the new world must be written in a tone that creates an emotional connection. Social networking sites are full of diverse folks from different backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures and countries. If you want to connect with people in a social setting - talk sociably. If you talk like a stranger you'll be treated like one and friends don't buy messages or stuff from strangers...