On Brand with Nick Westergaard

“It’s brand or be branded.” That’s the ultimatum that Deb Gabor presented this week on the On Brand podcast. The founder and CEO of Sol Marketing and author of the new bestselling book Branding Is Sex explained that if you aren’t talking to your customers, finding out what’s important to them, and making that a part of your brand story, you run the risk of being branded by them. She discussed all of this on the On Brand podcast.About Deb GaborDeb Gabor is the founder and CEO of Sol Marketing. Deb Gabor was born to brand. Deb is a brand dominatrix and investor pitch whisperer with legendarily bad travel karma. In her capacity as Sol’s strategic and spiritual leader, Deb has led research engagements and brand strategy development for organizations ranging from international household names like Dell, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and NBC Universal, to digital winners like Allrecipes, Cheezburger and Rentpath, to well-loved Austin icons like Austin Ventures, KUT/KUTX, ZACH Theatre, HomeAway, RetailMeNot, The University of Texas at Austin and St. Edward’s University. Deb is author of the bestselling book, Branding is Sex. Get Your Customer Laid and Sell the Hell Out of Anything.Before starting Sol Marketing in 2003, Deb was Senior Vice President at Citigate Cunningham, a strategic communication firm serving technology digital media and financial brands around the world. Prior to that, Deb was the managing director of brand research and strategy at IntelliQuest. Before crossing the chasm to agency work, Deb worked in house as a brand manager and marketing manager at several high tech companies in the Chicago area. Deb is a proud member of the Austin chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization and serves on the board as Learning Chair. Additionally, she has served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Association of Austin and Austin Children’s Theatre, and on the ZACH Theater board’s marketing committee.Episode HighlightsSo what does it mean to be ‘born to brand.’ “The legendary basketball coach John Wooden said that he was ‘born to coach.’ He ‘couldn’t not coach.’ That’s how he sees the world. Brands are how I see the world. They exist in the hearts and minds of our customers.”Deb’s definition of a brand? “It’s the sum total of all relationships, connections, and emotions around a person or organization.”The Deb Gabor Mini MBA in Branding. “It comes down to three questions — (1) What does using your brand or your product allow the customer to say about themselves? (2) What single thing do you do better than anyone else? (3) How do you make your customer the hero of your story? Brands that do this — that make people feel — will win today.”Brand storytelling vs. the story of your brand. Deb reminded us that while brand storytelling — an extension of content marketing — is very big right now, it’s not the same thing as telling the story of your brand. “The story of your brand is one that your customer is the hero of.” Deb shared how Zappos does this masterfully.Beware of the ‘-ers’ and ‘-ity.’ These word extensions can be dangerous as they focus less on emotions and more on attributes that can ultimately be copied. Smaller, faster, lighter. You have to be more than this as a brand.What brand has made Deb smile recently? As someone with “legendarily bad travel karma,” Deb notes that her recent experiences with Jet Blue have made her smile recently.To learn more about Deb, check out Sol Marketing, Branding Is Sex (the book’s website), andfollow Deb on Twitter. 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 the latest news out of Twitter. And it's not super great. With a recently downgraded market share of the US social networking space, Twitter is flailing — adding features, seeing what works, and trying to stop the bleeding. 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 Twitter's Share of US Social Network Users Is Dropping (eMarketer). Twitter to open up Moments feature to all users (eConsultancy). Registration is now open for Social Brand Forum 2016 featuring Jay Baer, Joe Pulizzi, Gini Dietrich, Andy Crestodina, Kristen Craft, Melanie Deziel, Carlos Gil, Mike Smith, more. KXIC listeners save by using promo code KXIC. Register now and save! 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

“Don’t be afraid to to embrace your brand ambassadors. Make them a part of your marketing.” Schwinn Bicycles is a historic brand that’s part of the lives of generations. As Associate Marketing Manager, it’s part of Samantha Hersil’s job to communicate this history while finding new stories from customers, advocates, and their own innovations. We discussed all of this on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Samantha HersilSamantha Hersil is the Associate Marketing Manager for Schwinn Bicycles and is a 2013 University of Wisconsin alumni. When not immersed in the digital world of marketing and communication for Schwinn Bicycles she can be found, volunteering, practicing yoga, riding bikes, running around her neighborhood, or knee deep in one of her many hobbies.Last year Samantha completed her first marathon and biked her first half century. An avid adventure seeker she currently is planning her next backpacking adventure with her boyfriend Chris. Samantha is highly involved in Girls on the Run and believes you can always make time to better your health and give back to your local community.Episode HighlightsScrappy marketing at Schwinn. I began the show by sharing my favorite story about Samantha Hersil. While refining the ideas that would become my book Get Scrappy, Samantha was instrumental in helping me define the term. It’s not just about your business size because, as she says, “We could all use a few people and a few dollars more.”“Communication is a key to a brand team.” A big part of Samantha’s job is communicating Schwinn’s message both internally to other team members and externally to their brand ambassadors. “We have about 24 brand ambassadors total. They are people that speak to every discipline, age, gender. Schwinn is really about bikes for everyone.” Message strategy is also key. “We’re like the auto industry. We’re always planning one year while executing another.”Stories matter. “We went to Winnebago’s event in Iowa. Our customers are similar — similar lifestyles — they’re people seeking adventures. We talked to real people and collected stories — emotional stories of people saving up for their bikes. These stories are important as they end up on our blog and in our marketing.”Living the brand. As you can tell from the adventures outlined in Samantha’s bio and her community involvement, it’s very important for her and other employees to live the brand. In fact, there’s an hour-long lunch break where many employees ride together and teach each other. There are road bikes, mountain trails, and gentle rides. In addition to living the brand, this is also great for company culture as it creates a cross-pollination of teams throughout the organization. “I don’t get to interact with people in accounting every day.”What brand has made Samantha smile recently? “With watching the Olympics I’d have to say the Apple iPhone ad with Maya Angelou. It’s so inspiring. It really speaks to what I do as a brand marketer.”To learn more about Samantha, you can connect with her on LinkedIn or the various Schwinn social media channels which you can find on their 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 an interesting development. Just as Facebook continues to offer their own robust advertising solutions, they’ve taken a big step to block the ad-blocking apps that many love. Let’s take a closer look. 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 Facebook Disarms Ad-Blockers, Works to Improve Ad Relevance with New Options (Social Media Today). We also took a moment to remember local broadcasting legend Dottie Ray, who passed away earlier this week (Press-Citizen). Registration is now open for Social Brand Forum 2016 featuring Jay Baer, Joe Pulizzi, Gini Dietrich, Andy Crestodina, Kristen Craft, Melanie Deziel, Carlos Gil, Mike Smith, more. KXIC listeners save by using promo code KXIC. Register now and save! 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

“It’s almost cliche to say but the Internet is challenging. There’s so much noise. Why do weed another blog or another channel?” While digital media has provided more opportunities for building brands online, it’s also created a level of noise that’s hard to break through. Aaron Orendorff helps college students, speaking audiences, and marketing clients do just that. We discussed all of this on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Aaron OrendorffAaron Orendorff is a regular contributor at Entrepreneur, Lifehacker, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Business Insider, Content Marketing Institute, Copyblogger, Unbounce, and more. When he’s not terrifying college students in the public speaking classroom, he’s busy “Saving the World from Bad Content” at iconiContent.com. Grab his Ultimate Content Creation Checklist or follow him on Twitter.Episode HighlightsHow heaven and hell play a roll in your marketing. “We’re all looking to be saved from hell and delivered to heaven.” Aaron reminded us that this classic structure along with these dramatic stakes can help us connect with our audience on an emotional level.Your story shouldn’t have your brand at the center of it. We have to make our audience an actor in the story. “It’s not just ME! ME! ME! in focus. We have to get into our customers’ shoes. What are they struggling with?”More content isn’t always better. Aaron and I spoke at great length (irony alert!) on the fact that too often we think that to get better at content creation we need to create more of it. “Everyone loves skyscraper (blog) posts but you can just be a retread of what others are already doing.”Where do you start with an Ultimate Content Creation Checklist? “I make people start with thinking a lot about who they serve. What stories do you tell internally today? And who do you admire? Which brands do you connect with viscerally?” You can download Aaron’s FREE content checklist here.What brand has made Aaron smile recently? “I’m a borderline cult member to anything Tim Ferris does. The thing is, he isn’t the one talking about how great he is everywhere.”To learn more about Aaron, you can follow him on Twitter and check out theiconiConent website. He also just wrote a piece examining the Trump vs. Clinton campaigns.Check it out now.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community … Recently Marie Gabrielle gave us a shoutout from the Philippines for our episode featuring Erica McGillivray from Moz. Thanks for listening Marie!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. And finally a reminder that On Brand is brought to you by the Social Brand Forum. This premier digital marketing experience takes place September 22-23 in beautiful Iowa City, Iowa. Learn from experts like Jay Baer, Joe Pulizzi, and Gini Dietrtich in the heart of the heartland. Listeners of the show get the best rate when they register using promo code ONBRAND at socialbrandforum.com. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In marketing we’re trying to get people to do something. We need to understand why we do what we do. What motivates us?” Building on a career at Coca-Cola and brand consulting, Daryl Weber has devoted himself to connecting the dots of human behavior and branding. He’s the author of the new book Brand Seduction: How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brands. We discussed the book and the science behind it on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Daryl WeberDaryl Weber is a branding consultant whose work has influenced many of the best brands in the world, including Coca-Cola, Nike, Johnnie Walker, Gatorade, Old Spice, and many more. He is the author of Brand Seduction: How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brandswhich explores the unconscious side of brands in a way that’s inspiring for creative marketers. Previously, Daryl was Global Director of Creative Strategy at The Coca-Cola Company, where he oversaw brand strategy for many of the company’s global billion-dollar brands.Prior to that, he was a Director of Strategy at Redscout – a boutique brand and innovation consultancy where he advised Fortune 500 companies on new product innovation and brand positioning. Weber has a BA in psychology from Columbia University and resides in Atlanta with his wife, Jennifer, and son, Avi. You can follow him on Twitter @BrandedCortex.Episode HighlightsWhat’s the connection between psychology and marketing? As a psychology major myself, I couldn’t wait to ask Daryl this. “The two are linked I think more than people think.” But where does a marketer start to connect these dots? You have to think about brands differently. That starts with your definition …“Brands are a collection of associations,” Daryl offered a new grounding for our definition of branding. “Not just a logo or icon. Your brand is not an endpoint. It’s a starting point. A vision, a process.”What’s an example of a brand that’s great at understanding their customers’ thinking? “Warby Parker. There’s an in-depth case study in the book. They wanted to telegraph how cool they were so they put together a strategy for doing that. They created a mood board for their brand personality. They knew that they needed to be a lifestyle or fashion brand first.”“Your first step is to look inside yourself as a company.” Daryl noted that brands need to ask, “Why you’re here? Then look outside at the what I call the ‘3 Cs’ — consumers, competitive context, and culture (what’s going on more broadly). Marketers are starting to understand that humans aren’t rational. We have to embrace the messiness that comes with that.”What’s one thing Daryl would tell marketers to do differently today? “It’s not about what you say. They (your audience) won’t remember the content of exactly what you said. But they’ll remember how you said it.”What brand has made Daryl smile recently? “I’m a musician so I love Fender. I don’t even need a new bass but I still find myself looking.”To learn more about Daryl, you can follow him on Twitter and check out his website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A bad marketer is one who does things based on their gut.” As the co-founder of Orbit Media, an author, and host of Content Jam in Chicago, Andy Crestodina helps marketers quantify those gut impulses with actionable data and strategies. Andy is also a speaker at Social Brand Forum 2016 in Iowa City this September, where he’ll be talking about Google Analytics Fundamentals: How to Measure What Matters For Your Business. We discussed all of this on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Andy CrestodinaAndy Crestodina is a co-founder of Orbit Media, an award winning, 35-person web design company in Chicago. Over the past 15 years, Andy has provided web strategy and marketing advice to more than 1000 businesses. Andy has written hundreds of articles on topics including search optimization, social media, Analytics and content strategy. He is also the author ofContent Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing.Episode HighlightsYou have to practice data-driven empathy. Andy is one of the most actionable speakers I’ve seen. His talks are loaded with practical, tactical insights. He even shared one on the podcast. “If you put a search box on your site that’s great. It’s helpful. But it also provides an opportunity for listening.” Andy offered a step-by-step hack for creating a Google Analytics report based on search queries your users run. “This allows you to practice data-driven empathy. You can create more content around these searches.”Don’t let your marketing get taken over by hippos. “A bad marketer is one who does things based on their gut. If you’re not applying data then you’re just going by HIPO — Highest Paid Opinion.”Why live events make potent content. Andy and I both host live learning events (Content Jamand Social Brand Forum). “In person content blows people away. Live events rule the day.” He also quoted our mutual acquaintance Blair Enns who says that, “The only differentiator creative firms have is their expertise.” Live events allow you to put this asset front and center. More from Blair.One more actionable marketing tip from Andy? “If you do something, if someone says something nice about you online, add that evidence to your website. Not just a testimonials page because no one reads those. Make every page your testimonials page. Use embedded tweets. We have to condition ourselves to put that stuff in the good file.”What brand has made Andy smile recently? “The daily Quora emails. They make me smile every day.”To learn more about Andy, you can follow him on Twitter and check out Orbit Media andContent Jam! 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 … Pokemon Go! Love it or hate it (and folks seem squarely in one of those two camps) Pokemon Go is lighting up the Internet this week. Let’s look at why. 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 ‘Pokémon GO’ Is About To Surpass Twitter In Daily Active Users On Android (Forbes). Pokémon Go has an estimated 7.5M U.S. downloads, $1.6M in daily revenue(TechCrunch). Pokemon Go Is Driving Insane Amounts of Sales at Small Local Businesses. Here’s How It Works (Inc Magazine). Registration is now open for Social Brand Forum 2016 featuring Jay Baer, Joe Pulizzi, Gini Dietrich, Andy Crestodina, Kristen Craft, Melanie Deziel, Carlos Gil, Mike Smith, more. KXIC listeners save by using promo code KXIC. Register now and save! 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.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It doesn’t matter where you interact with us — you’re part of our community.” Being on the community team at SEO software giant Moz isn’t just focusing on social media. As senior community manager, Erica McGillivray interacts with the brand’s community both online and off. As you’ll learn, Erica also has a formidable comic book collection. We talked about all of this and more on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Erica McGillivrayErica McGillivray spends a ridiculous amount of time being geeky, both professionally and personally. At Moz, she’s the senior community manager, wrangling 500,000+ people and co-running their annual conference MozCon. Erica also is a founder of GeekGirlCon, is a published author, and has a comic book collection that’s an earthquake hazard. Follow her at @emcgillivray.Episode HighlightsHow does community management work at Moz? Erica is a part of a six person team charged with the three aspects of community management at Moz — social media, onsite Q & A/forums, and live events including MozCon and MozTalks.A powerful benefit of hosting live events? “People have created friendships with each other at our events.” Being that convener of both value, support, and friendship is a powerful role for a brand to play.What about brand advocacy? “We actually have been lucky because we haven’t had to do a lot of purposeful brand advocacy. We help our community, we answer questions, we host great events.” All of this has helped Moz create a brand rich with advocates simply by being helpful and providing value.Erica loves comic books. I love comic books. How can we make this episode about comic books … We sure tried! Actually we had a very on brand  discussion on the state of comic books. While the blockbusters from Marvel and DC get a lot of attention they don’t always connect the dots as effectively as they could on the related books. Erica gave us some great inside information on the role of distribution in the equation.What comic book would Erica recommend? “The Midnighter series. He’s basically the gay Batman. And he kills people a lot more.” Sounds awesome! Check it out now.What brand has made Erica smile recently? “Herschel bags.” Erica had a great customer service experience via Twitter when a borrowed bag broke. “They saved me from being the bad guy who broke the bag!”To learn more about Erica, you can follow her on Twitter, check out the Moz blog, and her comic book review site sliverofice.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Employees are trusted more than the organizations they work for.” Citing this simple stat from the Edelman Trust Barometer, Adobe’s Lauren Friedman described her job in a nutshell. As the head of Global Social Business Enablement, Friedman spends her time doing just that. Social engagement, activation, and advocacy across Adobe. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.Enjoy This Episode Now Download Episode Subscribe via iTunes Subscribe via Stitcher About Lauren FriedmanLauren Friedman is the head of Global Social Business Enablement at Adobe. She’s a social marketing authority, with extensive experience working with brands such as Safeway, Levi’s, Hyatt and Disney, to create their social personas, nurture their Facebook and Twitter communities and curate their social conversations. She is currently working across Adobe functions to enable all employees to be successful using social for marketing and community building.Episode HighlightsSo, what is Global Social Business Enablement? “It’s a mouthful! I infuse social into every aspect of how Adobe does business. I help employees stay true to the Adobe brand and also help them build their personal brand.”Why does personal branding matter? “We believe that people trust people. People buy from people. Relationships fuel our overall success.” While Lauren works to engage employees via social media through one-on-one coaching, they don’t want to brainwash people. “We don’t want to create an army of Adobe-bots!”“I’m product agnostic,” said Friedman. “I can work with the sales team, HR, or product teams. My favorite part of my job is finding a-ha moments.” When employees are able to see how social media engagement impacts their job.What does brand advocacy mean at Adobe? “It’s both internal and external. It started with the employees taking what they’d learned in our Social Shift program. From there, we started thinking — how can we get influencers and customers involved?” Ultimately, Adobe wants everyone to be a part of their brand experience. This was at the forefront during their recent Adobe Remix campaign, where they encouraged creatives to reimagine their logo. Talk about trust!What brand has made Lauren smile recently? “I love brands that do cool, innovative things that step outside of their corporate box.” Examples that have made her smile recently include Baileys for their Instagram soap opera (below) and IHOP’s use of Facebook Live. To learn more, you can follow Lauren on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices