You’re standing atop a grassy cliff overlooking an expansive ocean that rises to meet the sky in a perfect horizon. You hear the call of seagulls between the gentle honking of traffic and melodic mists of surf crashing on the rocks beneath. The sun is shining and its warmth is nothing short of rejuvenating. The wind blows and you feel alive.

Did anything seem out of place in that paragraph?

Right! The traffic. Take away the honking of traffic, no matter how gentle, and the picture becomes that much more spectacular. Book me there, sans traffic. I’d go in a heartbeat.

The traffic jumped out because it was out of place. It was inconsistent with the image that was being described. And because of that one inconsistency, the whole tone of the description suffers.

But consistency isn’t always about having the same details. I could’ve described the scene above a thousand different ways, but as long as you – the audience – perceive the same spectacular vision, it would maintain consistency.

Brand consistency works in the same way. In branding, a consistent brand is a well-toned brand. It’s about managing perception. It’s always painting a compatible picture of your company in the minds of your customers – and getting rid of the elements that are out of place, and ultimately, being consistent with your brand idea.

Here are 3 steps you can take to tone your brand:

1. Define how your company views itself. Now define how your customer views your company. Compare the two. Be honest with yourself! Are there any inconsistencies? If there are, take steps to tone that area of your brand.

2. Are there any areas of your brand that are inconsistent with your brand idea? Any honking traffic in an otherwise picturesque brand? Trim it.

3. Is your brand trying to say too much? It’s best to focus a brand on one consistent message. Try to be all things to all customers, and your brand will inevitably become inconsistent, lose its flexibility, tone and effectiveness.

Your brand feeling a little softy around the middle? Give us a call. Think of us as your brand’s personal trainer.

I don’t remember who said that. Maybe a 4-star general or Lincoln or somebody. The point is that we have limited control over the big events in our life. Or the large, sweeping changes in the world for that matter. We can, however, try to excel at the little things. Because it’s those small, overlooked parts that over time compound, add up and multiply into something big.

I know this concept has all kinds of positive applications in your daily life (exercise, career, calling your mom more than once a month, etc.), but that’s not where I want to go with it. Let’s talk about ads.

Take a look at the ad to the left.

It’s a one-column ad from 1991 in the back of an issue of The Village Voice, a weekly, alternative New York culture pub.

Now, I don’t know if this little ad got any more pull than the standard “SUBSCRIBE NOW!” approach. I don’t have the data on that. To be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve done anything different myself.

But what I can tell you is that the current, alternative-minded subscribers who read this ad loved the magazine that much more. So much so that it created enough buzz to catch the ear of Communication Arts, an advertising/design magazine, which promptly picked it up for a 1991 issue. It was so well received among the Communication Arts readership that it then made the 1991 Advertising of the Year Annual.

But the little-ad-that-could wasn’t done.

It went on to make a return appearance in the 50th Anniversary Communication Arts issue 19 years later, which sits on my desk next to me as I write this.

On a side note, readership of the Village Voice did go up.

All of this from a small subscription ad. All of this because someone had the initiative to take something small, overlooked and passed-over, and make it into something great.

Now that’s thinking big.

And this got me thinking. Your brand is a lot like breakfast. It’s the starting point for your company. It’s echoed in all of your company collateral, it gives you the basis for your marketing, defines the corporate strategy and influences the choice of business partnerships. Or to say it more accurately, the idea behind your brand drives everything your company does.

Let me use Apple as an example. I know everyone uses them as an example for everything, but hang with me.

Apple’s brand, like all good brands, is based on one powerful brand statement. But this statement doesn’t appear in any of their brochures, nor will you find it anywhere on their oh-so-tasty packaging. It isn’t even in their tagline (wait…they don’t have a tagline). Yet it’s the reason behind everything they do as a company.

Ready for it?

Apple Computers wants to be the center of your digital life.

It’s a simple statement, but as a company, Apple has it for breakfast everyday. It has literally affected every major business decision since the late 90s. If a product or business venture doesn’t support this brand statement, then it doesn’t get the Apple logo.

Now I know you’re thinking it’s easy for him to sit there and point to a brand icon and say “be like them.” It’s much more difficult to go out and do it when you’re not Apple. But no one said it was easy. However, if you’re looking to build a strong brand, the best place to start is your brand idea.

Start by taking some time to analyze your company’s brand message. Is it something you and your company can eat for breakfast everyday? Can you own it? Is the idea meaningful to your customers or clients? Is it hearty enough to be the basis of an entire company strategy?

Sometimes the idea presents itself as if by magic. Sometimes it requires digging. But whatever you do, don’t build a brand without it. Don’t skip breakfast.

Or just give us a call.

In the realm of marketing, customers usually get lumped and categorized and generalized. We throw this customer in the 32-40 year old group. This one gets put in the 75-100K income bracket. This group spends X amount eating out every week and will travel X miles for entertainment. And so on and so forth until our customer becomes a meaningless pile of data.

Well, it’s not totally meaningless. I don’t want you to toss out all that customer data. It can be useful, just realize that it’s only half the story. It can help us define our customer, but it can’t help us to get to know our customer.

When we lose sight of the person on the other end, our marketing efforts stall. And as a result, our business stagnates. The next time you feel like you don’t know your customer, I want you to stop.

Drop.

And give me 20.

Take 20 minutes to consider the part of the customer that data isn’t revealing. Remind yourself that they’re not some cold statistic. They’re grandmothers, sons and daughters. They have passions, fears and hopes. They’re your best friend from college, the family that lives down the street, your boss or your coworker. They remember their first concert, their first crush, and the last time they saw a really great movie.

And they’ll remember a really great brand if you give them a reason to.

It doesn’t matter what kind of marketing you’re doing — B2B, B2C, B2Whatever — in the end you’re talking to a person. Don’t ever forget that. At its core, that’s what marketing is all about.

Question is, though, what do you want to say?

No, I’m not saying we should start counting carbs, start eating 15 grapefruit a day or cut out caffeine (that wouldn’t go over well here).

I’m saying we should go on a marketing diet. Cut out the empty calories and get back to health food that does a body good. Get back to marketing that’s smarter, leaner and can carry a business further without fatigue.

I think there’s a tendency among businesses – and even seasoned marketing folks – to take an “anything that’s cheap” approach to marketing when the economy is tough and budgets aren’t what they were in the past. There’s a fear of doing anything too large or too bold, so doing a lot of small stuff seems safer.

So we go in without a plan.

We say “well, I’ve got to do something” and then execute without a real thought of the sum total of the little things we’re trying to pull off.

The problem is that in the mish-mash of direct mail, tweets, newsletters, e-blasts, take-ones and two-column ads, the brand message gets skewed. It gets out of focus. It gets sluggish. Fillers and empty calories replace its healthy routine.

At a time when we should absolutely be smarter about how money is spent, we end up being more wasteful than when the budget included room for risk. When pressures dictate a leaner marketing plan, the focus needs to be on marketing with some nutritional value (as it should always be).

It’s time to be strategic, meaningful and precise. It’s time to go on a diet.

• Digital Media – website, eBlasts, SEO
• Networking – phone calls, seminars, referrals
• Print Media – advertisements, newsletters, yellow pages, signage

Survey Results

Interestingly, while social media came in fourth in our survey, it was the number one topic of discussion. Social media, including blogs, Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter is on the rise among business leaders and people were eager to learn more. The challenges primarily surround how to best include social media into their current marketing efforts and the strategies for using it.

Tricks of the Trade
The survey also pointed to a diversity of current marketing mediums, which is a key component of a good marketing strategy. Diversification expands your reach, connecting with your customers and prospects more often. Some other tips include:

• Use free social media channels, including Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.
• Keep your website up-to-date and pertinent. A mouse click is all that separates your prospects from either learning more or moving on.
• Communicate your company’s brand image consistently across all channels.
• Use digital media such as email campaigns and blogs. They are cost-effective and trackable!
• Use analytics from web and eCommunications to measure ROI and help improve your messaging and strategy.

The pack during the 2009 Cobb Chamber B2B Expo. Pictured left to right: Jay, Susanna, Tricia, Cheryl, Bill, Amy and Barbara