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Everyone knows the saying “it’s who you know.” I can personally vouch for the validity of that statement as it’s worked in my favor as well as against it.

But, there’s another “who” we sometimes forget or lose sight of as business people and that’s “who WE are.” How do we define ourselves and our business and how do we provide our contacts and prospects with the tools to describe the “who” as it applies to us?

One of the most powerful tools we have as business people is our identity – the definition of who we are as a business in a succinct and memorable fashion. And the assets at our disposal to accomplish this include the following:

1) Identity:
Make sure it’s easy to understand, well designed, exudes quality and is used consistently. Brand dilution happens when logos change across media or over time. Brand standards can go a long way in combatting this issue and can be accomplished easily.

2) Messaging:
Can people tell what you do in the fewest number of words possible? That sounds simple enough, but all too often buzz words and lofty etherial sales-speak takes the place of clear communication. In the age of tweets and short attention spans, the 500 word description and “think outside the box” verbiage no longer apply. Keep it simple and get to the point ASAP. I’m talking short – think 25 words. And if you want to be able to tweet your description, it’ll need to be less than 140 characters.

3) Brand Assets:
This includes brochures, business cards, your website and any other vehicle that transports your brand to your markets’ eyes. Keep these simple, informative and go for quality. If your collateral is cheap, that perception will transfer to your business offerings.

4) Networking:
Apply all of the above to this. Networking can literally be done anywhere – coffee shop, wedding, convention, online, etc. If you can flip someone your business card, it reflects a quality business, they can find your website and tell what you do in a matter of seconds, your efforts will be that much more effective.

Hone your “who” to be easily understood, remembered and portable. In this fashion your identity can serve as an extension of you and your sales efforts – working on it’s own and through others and preceding your business before introductions ever occur. So when the time comes to approach a new prospect, your “who” has a better chance of already being known.

The Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation has asked Voltage Creative to undertake the development of new identity and branded materials for two of its Branson Missouri properties, White Water and Showboat Branson Belle.

Herschend Family Entertainment owns and operates theme parks, attractions and resorts throughout the United States. From Ride the Ducks, to the Newport Aquarium and Branson’s famous Silver Dollar City, Herschend Family Entertainment is known for world-class family friendly destinations.

In 2010 and 2011 Herschend’s White Water and Showboat Branson Belle attractions are undergoing significant renovations and upgrades that will further position these properties as flagship Branson destinations – from the brand new $2 million Aloha River attraction at White Water, to all new interiors and world class performers aboard the Showboat.

To support these capital improvements, the management teams have asked Voltage Creative to assist in the development of new branded materials and a new identity for White Water.

Needless to say, the Voltage team is extremely excited about this opportunity and we are currently knee-deep in a slew of themed concepts. These kinds of projects are always fun!

Look for our new designs on a highway near you in 2011 and if you find yourself in Branson, do yourself a favor and don’t miss the excitement of White Water and the one-of-a-kind Showboat Branson Belle.

Here’s an old Steve Jobs video talking about branding. He’s unveiling the “Think Different” campaign from 1997 and then shows the first TV spot at the end of the video. It’s a really great campaign, but pay attention to the very beginning of this talk:

The big takeaway is in the first few seconds of video:

“This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world and we’re not going to get a chance… to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”

The whole branding thing is just like selling or pitching…

• Lunch pitch: ~15 minutes
• Bar pitch: ~5 minutes
• Elevator pitch: ~30 seconds
• ?

That last pitch is your brand. It’s the ultimate distillation of what you do. Someone just cold-surfed to your site or maybe they’re standing in the aisle at the supermarket looking at you and 20 other competitors. You’ve got five seconds, a logo and one-half line of copy. What is the one thing you want them to know about your business?

If you don’t know, then you’re in trouble.

From Graphjam:

PETA Sea Kittens Campaign Image

No, this is not an Onion article…

A CAMPAIGN to rename fish as “sea kittens” in order to improve their image has been ridiculed by the Federal Opposition.

Outspoken animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is using the “sea kitten” name as part of its push to restrict fishing.

“Nobody would hurt a sea kitten!” the group says on its website.

“People don’t seem to like fish.

“We’re going to start by retiring the old name for good…

Link to full story.

Image from PETA website.

The oft-celebrated (and just as oft-cursed) British automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson names the Corvette ZR1 as his automobile of the year. Talk about damning with praise…

And then out of nowhere came the ZR1, which has a supercharged V8 that manages to be both docile and extraordinarily savage all at the same time. I’ve been trying to think of a dog that pulls off a similar trick, but there isn’t one. And anyway, this car is not a dog.
Oh, it’s not built very well. After just three days in my care, the boot lock disintegrated and the keyless go system refused to acknowledge the keys were in the car, but I didn’t mind because there is simply no other car that looks this good, goes this fast – in a straight line and around corners – and that most of the time bumbles about like a forgetful uncle. And when you throw in the price tag of just £106,690 – lots for a Corvette but modest next to a similarly powerful Ferrari – the case for the defence can sit down and put up its feet knowing that the prosecutor simply has nowhere to go.

It is an epic car and I’m only sad that unless the healthcare and pensions company that makes it can be turned around, it will be the last of the breed.

That last comment’s going to leave a mark.

Times Online – Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Car of The Year

This is a 5-step tutorial on branding your Twitter profile. It includes a Photoshop file for you to download and use as a template. (There’s more to this tutorial than just the template. So even if you don’t have Photoshop, read on for some Twitter-branding tips.)

Twitter is making a beeline for the mainstream. Marketers, friends and moms are finding more and more ways to connect using this social media service. You can scoop it, remix it or you can use it as a social news source and that’s probably just the beginning. Twitter is here to stay.

With more eyeballs flocking to the service, it’s high time we got rid of the default look and upgraded to something unique. Branding your profile will convey sincerity to potential followers. (Sincerity is just about the only currency that matters online, anymore.) It will be well worth our trouble. Let’s go… Read more

When Twitter (Web 2.0′s current spotlight darling) goes down, its users see what has become known as The Fail Whale. The Fail Whale has been shown so much, that it’s threatening to take over the Twitter brand, if it already hasn’t. What happens when your users see your cutesy-tongue-in-cheek 404 page more than they see your home page?

• People start sculpting it.
• It gets a spot on radio shows.
• It gets its own line of t-shirts.
• A 3,279 member Facebook profile is built around it.
• It can lift an obscure artist into the spotlight.
• It becomes an inseparable part of your brand.

So is this good or bad? I’m not sure.

On one hand, it means that your product is so beloved by your users that they chose to hope and long for its return instead of just moving on. Considering the ground that there is to cover for most web surfers, this may be the highest compliment a user can give.

On the other hand, when your brand becomes a part of the zeitgeist as a synonym for failure, it can’t be good. I for one, am hesitant to buy into the service too much lest I come to rely on it and it fails me at an innoportune moment. And what of potential users whose first contact with the service is via Fail Whale? You never get the chance to make that impression again.

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and it brings a tear to any modern marketer’s eye to see user generated community spring up around a brand like Twitter’s Fail Whale lovers have done. But when the first seconds a customer is in contact with your product, the only thing they know is that it doesn’t work a lot of the time, then you’ve got a whale of a problem.