Business Branding Archive

Steve Clayton on How Microsoft Tells Stories using Five Ps

Smale, B. (Photographer). (2019.) Steve Clayton [digital image]. Retrieved from Steve Clayton.

Have you ever witnessed a commercial that hit home with you so intensely, or made you resonate so deeply, that you cried? At the Ragan PR and Social Media Summit in Redmond, there were few dry eyes in the house when Steve Clayton, Microsoft’s chief storyteller, told us about the Super Bowl-shaking moment when Microsoft released its Xbox Adaptive Controller commercial.

A long-time fan of Microsoft advertising and their Accessibility/Enable channels, I was thrilled to hear how the world-renowned technology giant came to become one of the most recognizable global brands. I can promise it didn’t disappoint.

Steve Clayton has been with Microsoft for 21 years and was accidentally hired. Thought to be another Steve (don’t worry, he was obviously the right fit for the role), he’s been storytelling for Microsoft ever since. His presentation covered, “Creating a culture of storytelling and innovation.”

Clayton offered us an inside look into Microsoft then, and now: how it recognized that it’s advertising ship was sinking, and how it healed its rupturing reputation by identifying past issues and updating to a new style of branding.

Why Business Cards Are Not Dead and How to Create Great Ones

Business Cards Are Not Dead

When it comes to business cards, I am reminded of a chapter in my book, Pioneers of Digital, where the fabulous Avinash Kaushik talks about how he tested his famous blog – Occam’s Razor – on his wife and fellow work colleagues to get their feedback before he went public with it.

Well, when I started Delightful Communications, I decided to canvas industry peers about many aspects of my start-up, including marketing. What I found was that many people singled out business cards as a no-no. They’d scoff and say, “I don’t need to carry business cards, they’re out-of-date in this digital age.”

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Branding Mistakes: How to Own Them and Take Responsibility

Developing your personal brand and sharing your story is wonderful when things are going well, but what happens when things go wrong? Perhaps your career was affected by a colleague’s gossip or your stellar product launch was closer to a fiery inferno. Your Amazon seller reviews come back not only poor but also mocking. Maybe your personal information got shared publicly, or disaster strikes and your service is disrupted.

It’s not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when. How you handle these troubles can be a tipping point that makes or breaks your brand. In the face of adversity, here are some things to remember.

Owning Your Mistakes

An excuse is not equivalent to an explanation—and no one wants to hear it. Describe what happened and own the error. Don’t pass the blame along to a third party. By admitting that a mistake was made you demonstrate honesty and integrity. You may be surprised at just how empathetic your audience may be towards human error.

Does Your Brand Have the “Why” Factor?

We recently stumbled upon the eBook, Thoughts on Crafting a Brand Identity by Brandwatch and it inspired us to discuss the question, “Does your business have the “why” element in your brand and what is it?”

Every company out there has a product or a service they offer, some companies have an idea of what differentiates them, but few companies truly know why they do what they do!

Simon Sinek, a best-selling author, famously known for his Ted Talk: Start With Why, explores the idea of how companies that focus on their core belief are more successful in their branding and marketing strategies.

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Video: All About Branding Strategies and Tactics – SEMPO Panel Event

A couple of back, I was invited to join a virtual event – All About Branding – to share some insights with the SEMPO community.

The discussion was brilliantly moderated by Dana Todd, of whom I have been a big fan for years. I learned a lot too from Francine Carb who was on the panel as she has oodles of brand experience from way back.

Watch the video recording or read the recap to find out what we talked about  from monitoring competition and personal branding, to influencer marketing and branding measurement, and a whole lot more…

Hope you enjoy it and let us know if you have anything to add!

Cheers,

@MelCarson

#Podcast: How to Make Your eCommerce Business Stand Out by Creating a Branding Action Plan

Earlier this month, I was invited to share some insights on How to Make eCommerce Business Stand Out by Creating a Branding Action Plan with the listeners of eCommerce Marketing Podcast.

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In the latest episode of the podcast series hosted by Robert Kilonzo, Marketing Experts Reveal Top Strategies to Grow Your Store, I was asked to reveal the secrets of how to make your brand stand out, top mistakes people make with building their brands, and tools to put together a successful branding strategy.

Bringing the #JanesOfDigital Event Alive Through Video

Earlier this month, we helped the Bing Ads team create a video of the awesome #JanesOfDigital event that took place at SMX West in San Jose.

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The evening mini-seminar slash networking opportunity is the second in an on-going series of get-togethers designed to celebrate women in search and digital marketing.

We partnered with our fabulous editor, Andrew Goddard, at Cherry UK to produce a promo which really captures the atmosphere and buzz surrounding this most excellent occasion.

A particular call out to Sarah Wulf who did an exceptional job as anchor and for asking some great questions, which as you can see, garnered some great answers from the evening’s esteemed panel!

So here is the video. Hope you enjoy…

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Regards,

Mel

Do CEOs Get Digital Media? Here’s an Infographic That Tells You When They Do!

Spotted this from Gal Borenstein on The Hub Comms where, ahem, I write an article every couple of weeks.

Sums up a few of the ways I’ve been persuading CEOs and senior executives they need to be thinking.

It pains me when I get pushback from exec comms people who say, “he or she just doesn’t have time”!

We all make time to listen and learn and, in my opinion, industry leaders need to lead this understanding from the front.

Relying on trusted advisors is ok for detail, but not understanding the general landscape or being oblivious to the latest trends in your industry is corporate suicide, when those trends change daily!

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