On Brand with Nick Westergaard

“I don’t look far enough ahead to call myself a futurist.” Instead, Rohit Bhargava focuses on being a “non-obvious” trend curator, to the benefit of brands big and small. Each year since 2011, he has curated the digital trends businesses need to be aware of in his Non Obvious book series. The 2017 edition just came out and I couldn’t wait to ask Rohit about it on the On Brand podcast.About Rohit BhargavaRohit Bhargava is a “non-obvious” trend curator, founder of the Influential Marketing Group, and an expert in helping brands and leaders be more influential. He is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of five books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a brand with personality, and why leaders never eat cauliflower. Rohit has advised hundreds of global brands and also teaches marketing at Georgetown University. A two-time TEDx speaker, Rohit has keynoted events in 31 countries and is regularly featured as a marketing expert by media such as The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and NPR.Episode HighlightsWhy Rohit does “the dumbest thing you could do as an author” … Because he keeps revising the same book. “I rewrite 35% of the book each year!” Since 2011, Rohit has curated 15 trends we need to be aware of. This along with his treatise on the future makes up his Non-Obviousbook series which tracks trends in the areas of Culture and Consumer Behavior, Marketing and Social Media, Media and Education, Technology and Design, and Economics and Entrepreneurship.Why your brand needs to embrace “lovable imperfection.” Rohit told us about how today’s irrational customers often require brands with lovable imperfection. “These are those brand who aren’t afraid to be flawed.” Like Jackie Chan having fun with his audience during the outtakes of his movies.What trends haven’t changed since Rohit began Non-Obvious? “The universal human principles. What we like, what we don’t like, and why. How technology is impacting our lives” is what’s changing. The human factors are the constant.What’s an ‘anti-trend’? “ Once something is identified as a trend, there’s always something that comes forward and succeeds by doing the opposite.” It’s important to note that this contrarian success doesn’t negate the impact of the initial trend.What’s one trend that businesses aren’t thinking enough about? “The role that technology is playing in our lives — even in ways we don’t know.”What brand has made Rohit smile recently? “Innocent Drinks — out of the UK. They make smoothies and are very British with their humor. Like their bottles that say, ‘Stop Looking at My Bottom.’” (Below.) We’re smiling just looking at it!To learn more, go to rohitbhargava.com.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Speaking of trends … recently former On Brand podcast guest Bryan Kramer released a list of 70 social media and content marketing trends from experts including several other former guests of the show. Check it out now!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Most content marketing is stuck in the ‘meh’ gear.” Robert Rose knows a thing or two about content marketing. He literally co-wrote the book on it. As Chief Strategist for the Content Advisory Group with the Content Marketing Institute and a Senior Contributing Consultant for Digital Clarity Group, he helps organizations throughout the world enhance their content marketing and customer experience. We talked about content today, tomorrow, and the new year ahead on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Robert RoseRobert Rose is in the business of helping marketers become stellar storytellers. He is the Chief Strategist for the Content Advisory Group with the Content Marketing Institute, and a Senior Contributing Consultant for Digital Clarity Group, Robert helps develop content and customer experience strategies for large enterprises such as Oracle, The Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation, Allstate Insurance, Microsoft, Capital One, AT&T, Petco and UPS – helping them create powerful customer experiences through digital media.As an author, Robert’s book Experiences: The 7th Era Of Marketing has been called a “treatise, a call to arms and a self-help guide” for “creating the experiences that consumers will fall in love with.” He co-hosts the podcast This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi, frequently a top 20 marketing podcast on iTunes and downloaded more than 50,000 times each month. Robert’s book with Joe, Managing Content Marketing, is widely considered the “owner’s manual” of the content marketing process. It’s been translated into multiple languages and spent two weeks as a top ten marketing book on Amazon.com since its debut in 2011.As storyteller, Robert is a frequent keynote speaker and web marketing expert, advising top professionals in the successful strategy of content marketing and customer experiences. Robert is, and has been, widely quoted worldwide in the press, including publications such as The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Wired, CBS Interactive and BusinessWeek.Episode HighlightsAs we prepare for a new year, I had to ask Robert ‘what’s next’ for brands and content marketing. “Brand has been disrupted by media and we’ve seen how that impacts marketing and brands. And we’re seeing agencies respond to this. I think in the year ahead we’ll see an agency acquire media like we’ve seen media acquire agencies."Why is it hard to be a content brand? “It baffles me that we’ve never quibbled when media productizes their content. But all of a sudden it feels odd when marketers create content about their products?!? Why can’t Starbucks provide a newspaper? No journalists? That’s a talent problem.” And one that can often be solved by acquisition or “acqui-hire” (I love this new term that Robert's friend coined).Speaking of content acquisition, Robert shared a surprising fact. “Did you know that the grosses from all of the Marvel films in recent years are still less that the quarterly revenue of Oracle? Look at CNN! Most businesses are surprised at how cheap the media business is."How can you create a content strategy in the new year? Robert provided a systematic formula for being a better content marketer in the new year. “Start with the business problem. Where in the buyer’s journey is the weakest part — where are we having trouble? Branding? Churn? From there we can look at what we could create that would help them — that would be worth subscribing to.” Finally, you have to map out “what would it take to do this? And then work backward."What brand has made Robert smile recently? Robert shared two recent holiday ads. First, the Polish auction company Allegro, melted hearts with a grandfather’s gift to his newborn granddaughter. And, of course, Amazon’s touching new holiday ad for their Prime service featuring two old friends who discover they share a problem.To learn more about Robert Rose, check out his website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed several new features making their way to Instagram including liking comments, blocking comments, and reporting abuse anonymously. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Instagram will soon let you like comments — or even turn them off completely (Washington Post). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The future for both organizations and entrepreneurs is in leveraging innovation techniques to design masterful customer experiences." Nicholas Webb knows a thing or two about both customers and innovations. As an inventor, he's been awarded over 45 patents. He now channels his innovative skills to help some of the world's top brands excel at customer experience. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Nicholas J. WebbNicholas Webb is a world-renowned technology futurist innovator. As an inventor, Nicholas invented one of the first wearable technologies and one of the world’s smallest medical implants. Nicholas has been awarded over 45 patents by the US Patent Office. Nicholas is the author of several best-selling books including, The Innovation Playbook and his recently released number one best-selling book, What Customers Crave. As the CEO at Cravve, Nicholas works with some of the top brands in the world to help them lead their market in enterprise strategy, technology, and innovation. Nicholas has been awarded his Doctorate of Humane Letters by Western University of Health Sciences, a Top Southern California Medical School for his contributions in healthcare technology.Episode HighlightsHow did an inventor like Nicholas end up in branding, marketing, and customer service? "I started out by inventing all of these bright shiny objects. But then wit the 'Uber-fication' of things I started thinking about how you could apply these innovation techniques to creating customer experiences."From demographics to nodes. "Experience design used to be based on demography. We don't think of ourselves as demographics. We're really a range of nodes. What we hate and what we love. The brands that have this figured out win."What are the five most important brand touchpoints? As Nicholas talks about in his new book, What Customers Crave, there are five key touchpoints we need to be aware of — 1. The Pre-Touchpoint Moment (mostly digital — before the customer has sought you out), 2. The First Touchpoint Moment (the first impression — usually one of the five senses), 3. The Core Touchpoint Moment (what you do for them day in, day out — online and off), 4. The Perfect Last Touchpoint Moment (that surprising bit of value you add at delivery — a special gift, etc.), and, finally, 5. The In-Touchpoint Moment (how you stay in touch with your customers on an ongoing basis). It sounds like a lot of work but ..."This (approach) is the least expensive way to grow your business and improve your workplace." As Nicholas has found, most companies are losing around 30% of their business based on average or "criminally bad" customer experiences. Avoid this by mapping all of your touchpoints and rising to the "customer value strata" that Nick notes. You want customer advocates, not "madvocates."What brand has made Nicholas smile recently? As someone who is constantly examining customer experience, Nick laughed that his family can get annoyed by his observations ("They usually leave the restaurant thinking 'Oh no — he's going to complain.'"). Nick smiled recently at the focus on people and policies at IKEA.To learn more about Nicholas Webb, check out his customer experience firm Cravve and his speaking website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a question on the minds of many social media marketers — should you use hashtags on Facebook? We found answers in some recent research. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Should You Use Hashtags on Facebook? Here's What the Research Says (Social Media Today). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We have to make a distinction between the name and the brand. The name piques your interest or curiosity. It’s like having someone over for coffee or dinner. The brand is the impression that’s left after the experience.” As the president and creative director of a verbal identity firm, brand names are Mike Pile’s business. We took a deep dive on this critical brand touch point on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Mike PileMike Pile is president and creative director of Uppercase Branding, a verbal identity firm that specializes in creating powerful and evocative brand names for new companies, products, and features. He has more than 25 years’ global brand development experience with advertising agencies, Fortune 500 firms, and startups.A name is the single most-used word in any marketing communication program, so Mike believes that a compelling brand name is a company’s most potent brand asset. While a name can’t help a bad business model or product, it can significantly aid a good concept by giving it buzz and a jumpstart that ignites the conversation with prospects.Using proprietary creative, evaluative, and research techniques, Uppercase develops names for B2B clients such as Nokia, General Electric, FedEx, and others in the financial, CPG, healthcare, and high-tech sectors.Mike is a published author, a frequent speaker, and word enthusiast who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children. When he is not working, he enjoys mountain biking, playing golf, and cooking.Episode HighlightsWhere do you start with naming? Usually with a brief. “Something that distils what it is you’re naming. Something that answers who, what, when, where, and why.” This baton is critical in developing the right brand name. From there, Mike and his team consult numerous resources including surfer dictionaries, cowboy dictionaries, gem dictionaries, and more.What does a brand name have to do? “We believe that a brand name has to work very hard. It has to work emotionally and it has to work rationally.” That’s why we present hundreds of options.Mike’s naming tip: What if your brand was a superhero? Asking yourself this simple question — if your brand was a superhero, who would it be and why? — is great for bypassing hurdles in the creative process. It’s a powerful trick for getting at your brand’s true essence.The Branded House vs. The House of Brands. Mike reminded us about this classic construct for organizing your organization’s brand platform. In some cases, you utilize a “branded house” like Ford — with the Ford Explorer, Ford Escape, and so on (all have Ford at the beginning). In other situations, you go with a house-of-brands model such as P&G, which is made up of strong brands like Tide and Crest. Others still find a hybrid model effective, like Hilton who has both stand-alone brands like Hampton Inn and extensions like the Hilton Garden Inn.What brand has made Mike smile recently? Tesla — but true to his roots in naming, Mike took us behind the scenes of the story of why this is a powerful yet unconventional brand name.To learn more, check out Mike’s website for Uppercase Branding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You have to look beyond the color and logos with brand identity. They're really the product of something deeper." It's this kind of brand introspection that Gregory Diehl excels at. As the author of two best-selling books including Brand Identity Breakthrough, Gregory has a unique, global, and modern perspective on how we build brands both online and off. We discussed all of this and more on this week's episode of the On Brand podcast.About Gregory DiehlRaised in California, author Gregory Diehl embarked at age 18 on a global quest for learning, self-discovery, entrepreneurship, and inquiry. Since then, Gregory has lived and worked in 45 countries and continues to use his experiences to help others along the path of self-fulfillment through exploration. This year, he published two Amazon bestsellers in business, travel, and personal development. He helps entrepreneurs prepare complex value messages across many mediums, and offers unconventional lifestyle coaching and brand identity consultancy for impassioned individuals.Episode HighlightsWhat's the secret to brand identity today? Gregory's answer was surprisingly classic. "Everybody talks about your unique selling proposition but few explore what it really means." Look for ways to really be different as a brand. As Diehl says, "You should be just beyond the edges of your comfort zone."You have to look deeper, beyond the surface. "Things like color and logo are a symptom of something deeper. People try to bypass this introspection." So how can brands go deeper?Start by asking difficult questions. "There are 50 questions I use in the book (Brand Identity Breakthrough) but here are my top three. Who are you? What do you do? And why should I care?" Answering these introspective questions often short circuits scripts and elevator pitches and gets closer to true differentiation.What's the role of story in brand building today? "Story is your main differentiator. We have functional aspects of our brands like speed, price, and quality — but what does it really mean?" What brand has made Gregory smile recently? "McDonald's — They're kind of my go-to mega brand." Gregory shared some smile-worthy insights on the disconnect between their brand personality and product.To learn more, check out Gregory's books on Amazon and his website.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community … Recently Irene Gil us a shout for our episode on being your brand's editor in chief featuring Ann Handley. Thanks for listening Irene!Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A brand is not just to make marketing better. It’s to lead the company into the future.” Erich Joachimsthaler of Vivaldi Partners has a decidedly global perspective on brand building. The author of Brand Leadership and the new Hidden in Plain Sight has spoken at conferences and corporate events around the world in English, German, and Spanish. We discussed the most recent developments in brand strategy and evolution on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Erich JoachimsthalerAfter a career of 15 years in academics and extensive professional work experience in several large multinational companies, Erich Joachimsthaler founded Vivaldi Partners. He is actively engaged in many consulting projects for leading companies and brands. In addition to his consulting work, Erich does extensive research on global brands and the formulation of corporate and business-unit level strategies. A sought-after speaker, he also conducts executive-level conferences and workshops around the world in English, German, and Spanish.Erich is a published thought leader and his book Brand Leadership, co-written with David A. Aaker and translated into 14 languages, is considered a groundbreaking discussion on the recent developments in brand strategy. He has just completed a new book, Hidden in Plain Sight, that focuses on the role of brands in creating economic value and growth for firms. Erich is also the author of more than 40 articles and case studies in leading academic and business journals, including Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and Business Week.Erich has held academic faculty positions in the US and Europe and taught in various executive programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. He holds masters and doctorate degrees from universities in Germany and the U.S., and completed his education with a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at Harvard Business School.Episode Highlights“Brand has evolved significantly.” With social media, we can create “feelings and thoughts in our consumers’ minds. In the future, we’ll have an inner sanctum — an inner circle — of brands” who we rely on more and more.Branding on the front end and the back end. “The ‘60s was all about the golden age of branding … TV ads. In the ‘90s we started getting smarter about framework. On the front end, you have the brand. On the back-end, you have the overall business strategy.”What kind of education does a brand manager today need? “A CMO I knew once in Munich ended up running the firm’s financial operations in Asia. He then came back as CEO” with a better idea on the overall brand vision and direction. Brand thinking requires a broad business perspective.What is social currency and how has social media impacted brand building? That’s the focus on Erich’s latest work at Vivaldi Partners. The firm’s new study Business Transformation Through Greater Customer Centricity: The Power of Social Currency. View the report.What brand has made Erich smile recently? One of Erich’s favorite brands was recommended by his daughter. He likes GoPro because “they’ve leveraged their social currency so well.”To learn more, go to vivaldigroup.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The value of an editor cannot be understated. The editor is the proxy for the audience." As the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs and the best-selling author of Everybody Writes and Content Rules, Ann Handley knows a thing or two about writing and editing. Most marketers have staffed up for content creation but what about editing? How do you know if you're creating what's best for your audience and brand. We discussed all of this with Ann on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Ann HandleyAnn Handley is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, keynote speaker, and the world’s first Chief Content Officer. Ann speaks and writes about how you can rethink the way your business markets. Cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers, Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a training and education company with the largest community of marketers in its category.She was a long time monthly columnist for Entrepreneur magazine, is a member of the LinkedIn Influencer program , and the co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (Wiley, originally published 2011. Paperback 2012.) The book has been translated into nine languages, including Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Portuguese. Her most recent book, Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content (Wiley, 2014) is a Wall Street Journal bestseller.She currently has more than 350,000 followers on Twitter and writes about content, marketing, and life at the highly entertaining AnnHandley.com. A pioneer in digital marketing, Ann is the co-founder of ClickZ.com, which was one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary. She started her career as a business journalist and editor.Episode Highlights"Most writers are not great editors." Many of us have staffed up for content creation but what kind of quality control do we have in place? "The value of the editor cannot be understated. The editor is the proxy for the audience."How can brands up their editing game? "Peer editing is a great start. There's also the Hemingway app and Grammarly."What about your brand's tone of voice? Branding is often squishy to many. Brand voice is something that's harder still for businesses to get their arms around. But a deeper focus on brand voice can yield stronger content. "I always ask, if your logo or label was masked, would your customers' know it's your content and not your competition's?"Looking for a great example of a brand style guide? Ann points to UberFlip. The best part? Their online style guide is public! Everyone can be involved. Ann also reminded us that a good style guide should be like "bumpers on a bowling alley." It should help you stay in the lanes.In praise of slow marketing. At Content Marketing World, Ann spoke about slow marketing. "Today we want more funnel, more pipeline, more credit. Conventional wisdom tells you that if you slow down you're road kill." In many cases "you have to slow down before you can speed up."What brand has made Ann smile recently? Freaker USA. The beverage insulation category is decidedly unsexy but not for her friends at Freaker. Ann loves getting their fun emails.To learn more, follow Ann on Twitter, check out MarketingProfs, and her website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed what people are tired of hearing about on social media these days — the 2016 presidential election! New data from Pew Research shows that most have had enough. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Politics, Fatigue and the Social Echo-Chamber Effect (Social Media Today). Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices