lance cashion: remote control

intel: defending your brand

As the one responsible for my organization’s online presence and brand, I must employ tactics and measures to ensure that our brand, our message and our reputation is protected.  Recently, I found a sponsored link on Google that mentioned my organization’ name (American Health Underwriters).  After clicking on the link, I found that I was directed to a landing page that contained some of our content but the page belonged to competitor.  Essentially, one of our competitors was using our brand and web content to market their products.  Needless to say, I was taken by surprise.  Fortunately, I contacted the organization and they promptly moved toward clearing up the problem before I escalated it to our legal team.  Had I not been monitoring our brand, they would have continued to use our brand to advertise their products.

Ferris Bueller’s famous quote:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” should be modified to “Information about your brand moves pretty fast…..” 

This brings me to an important and informative article by Michael Hyatt from September 4^th entitled “Defending Your Brand Online”.  I think you’ll find it useful in understanding how to monitor the online conversation about your brand, products, etc and what steps to take if the conversation turns against you.  After reading the examples Michael uses… you’ll begin to understand “why” defending your brand is essential.  I have shared this article with leadership within my organization.  I suggest you do the same.  Thanks to Michael for allowing me to share some excerpts from his site. I recommend you visit.

Below is an excerpt from the original article.

“It takes years to build a brand. Unfortunately, there aren’t many shortcuts. You build a brand—like a reputation—one impression at a time. Every encounter with a customer results in either a “deposit” or a “withdrawal” in your “brand account.”

Twenty years ago, if a customer had a bad experience with your company, it didn’t matter quite as much. Sure they could tell their friends, and if enough people had bad experiences, they could tell their friends. Eventually, it would catch up with you. But it didn’t happen overnight.

But today, things are different. Digital communication has changed everything. If a customer has a bad experience, he can email his friends, Twitter his followers, or blog about his experience. In the blink of an eye, one bad experience can cascade into thousands—and even millions—of impressions. Brands can be damaged in a few days.” (Michael Hyatt)

© 2010, Michael S. Hyatt. All rights reserved. Originally published at www.michaelhyatt.com

Michael Suggests 7 steps to defending your brand (Click on link to Michael’s blog entry is provided below for more information.)

1.       Build an online presence

2.       Monitor the conversation

3.       Respond quickly to criticism

4.       Admit your mistakes

5.       Understand the lifetime value of the customer

6.       Empower your employees to solve problems

7.       Exceed your customers’ expectations.

 

Link to this article: http://michaelhyatt.com/2008/09/defending-your-brand-online.html

There it is.  Simple and effective. 

Lance Cashion

iPad: Will I buy one? Or will Apple send me on for free?

Dear Mr. Jobs,

I'm thinking ipads are pretty cool.  I also think the ipad gives us a glimpse into the future of personal computing.  Once voice recognition applications take a bigger chunk of the market.  Keyboards will be a thing of the past (no more carpel tunnel).  You'll need a touchscreen and that will be it. Sweet.

I'm thinking I'll wait for the 2nd generation iPad.  I got a 1st generation iphone and it still works like a charm but I wished I had a later model.  However, I'm ole skool with my beat up two tone 8 gig iphone. 

Maybe Apple's evil genius marketing has not really dug its claws into the materialistic, techy side of my American psyche. 

Maybe the price tag is a little tough to swallow.  Wait, the ipad commercials have not really begun running yet... nor have I been on a plane sitting next to someone with an ipad.  (I know how you people work... and I like it)

Ok, I'm just another victim of Apple's evil genius...  How long can I last?  The Self-control tank eventually runs out of gas.  Maybe Apple will send me one due to the fact I have had Apple computers since 1993... I've gone through 4 Macs (impressive b/c that 4 macs equals 8 Dells... and one of my MacBooks was stolen from me).  I'm a AAPL stockholder...

Mr. Jobs, please send me a ipad.  Thanks buddy!

Lance Cashion

Great Post: Quieting the lizard brain- by Seth Godin

I subscribe to just a handful of blogs.  Seth is one of the most valuable wells of insight I have found lately and I gain from reading his blog.  If you have not read "Tribes", I recommend it.  He also has a new book out called "Linchpin".  I'll be purchasing it after I finish reading my current book.  

Quieting the lizard brain- by Seth Godin

"How can I explain the never-ending irrationality of human behavior?

We say we want one thing, then we do another. We say we want to be successful but we sabotage the job interview. We say we want a product to come to market, but we sandbag the shipping schedule. We say we want to be thin but we eat too much. We say we want to be smart but we skip class or don't read that book the boss lent us.

The contradictions never end. When someone shows up and acts without contradiction, we're amazed. When an athlete just does the sport, or when a writer just writes the words, we can't help but watch, astonished at the purity of their actions. Why is it so difficult to do what we say we're going to do?"  Read the rest of the post here...

Support good ideas people.

Lance Cashion

Intel: website or blog… what will it be folks?

We’re seeing a shift in the way businesses and individuals present themselves on the web.  

"What medium do you use to communicate your service, product or brand on the internet?"

Building a website can be very expensive.  Most of us have horror stories about spending thousands building a state-or-the art website only to find that it falls into irrelevancy after a few months or years because you are at the mercy of the folks who built your site.  If you need to make an update immediately, you are often hamstrung by some developer who is going to charge you $150 per hour to make a simple update or adjustment. 

What was once a powerful marketing and communication tool for organization has become a liability due to the fact that you’ve paid a ton of money for an out-dated product that you are now baby-sitting.  Let’s not mention the frustration that comes along with the typical website service. (The company who handle my organization’s websites is outstanding, but very EXPENSIVE at times due to custom features, back end architecture and functionality.  We use www.omegabyte.com).

The Blog is taking over as the preferred identity, presentation and communication tool for companies on the internet.  Unless you require specific functionality, the Blog is very customizable and will serve you well.  The best part?  You will be in the driver’s seat and in control of your message, your presence and your web identity.  Did I mention? Blogs are usually FREE!  The days of pulling your hair out trying to reach your “web guy” are over (by the way, this may be the reason why I don’t have any hair left).

Setting up a blog is simple… you can customize and add functionality as well.  Below are some blogs that I have personally used.  Currently, I use typepad.com.  But, the beauty of the blogs I suggest below is the fact that each one is different and you can choose the one that suits your needs best! 

Typepad

Wordpress

Blogger

Feel free to contact me if you need a few tips or direction.

Lance

about remote control

What I do:

Health Insurance Expert & Licensed Agent (specializing in the individual market), Marketing Technology, Sales, Audio Production, Composition & Film Scoring, Professional DJ (retired).  I am a follower of Jesus Christ.

What I can do for you:

I provide sound advice, insight, support, product and service in any of the areas above.  I am adaptive, counter-intuitive and unconventional when necessary.

Remote Control  is an experiment in self, data, learning, sharing and spreading information.  Posting pieces of life, trials, music, politics, joy, visions and developing thoughts.  For some, this will be entertainment.  To others, a place to learn, perhaps grow.  I'm here to energize, provoke, antagonize and move to action.  Whatever your beliefs, I will force you to prove yourself and I must do the same. Words will become of landscape of ideas that will inspire you to think and act.

Feel free to contact me and thank you.

Lance Cashion