lance cashion: remote control

Intel: Your Personal Brand (Article Linked)

After reading the Inc. article, I decided to write about it...

 When most people think “brand”, images of Apple, Google and Nike usually come to mind.  However, we must recognize the importance and power of the faces, values and personalities that are brands in and of themselves. Think about the personal brands of Dave Ramsey, Billy Graham, Steve Jobs, The Grateful Dead. Donald Trump and Prince.  These are strong brands.  You know them.  You know what they do.

I learned the importance of the personal brand several years ago when I was building a brand around my music career as a DJ and producer.  Over the years, dedicated fans, music enthusiasts and potential customers would see (or hear) my name or my company name (Slow Motion Music) on print ad, flyers, message boards, radio, or word-of-mouth and know that the event, record or product was of the highest quality possible. I held myself and the people I chose to work with to the highest standards possible.  After four years of hard work, our brand was the standard on which all others were measured in Austin, Texas.

Today, technology has given each of us an opportunity to brand ourselves and our products cheaply and effectively.  You must leverage these powerful tools and communication platforms to build your brand. 

Below is an article from Inc. Magazine entitled; How to Build Your Personal Brand- With traditional publicity vehicles and the Web’s resources at hand, making a name for yourself is easier than ever. Author: April Joyner

Article Link Here

This article is packed full of useful information and links of further research.  I highly suggest you read it, digest it and implement some of the strategies.  I have published an article about defending your brand here.
 
Keep on, keepin’ on

Lance Cashion
American Health Underwriters

Wynn Las Vegas Resort: Audio Production by Lance Cashion

Multi-Dimensional Design is proud to showcase our work with a project created for Wynn Resorts Ltd.  I produced the audio and music for this animation sequence.  My goal was to deliver a sounds cape worthy of Wynn Las Vegas.  I took at bit of a risk and chose to use a bold cinematic music score that one may not expect for a “hotel room”.  However, this is no ordinary ‘hotel’… This is the Wynn Las Vegas.  It must be bold!  I enjoyed the challenge of balancing the subject, animation sequence & quality and the power of the Wynn brand.  The Multi-D animation artists bring forth such excellent visual imagery that I am pushed to produce audio that match their efforts.  We hope our work has impact on our clients and their audience.

To view our project for the Burj Al Arab (Dubai), please click here...

For more information about our services please contact me here...

Note: Quicktime version is available on YouTube Channel page

Please stay tuned!

Thanks

Lance Cashion

http://www.multiddesign.com/

Taking Care of Your People: The Art of the Referral pt 1

It feels good when a client sends family or friends to me for help with their health or life insurance.  What does it say about me and my work when this occurs?  It tells me that the work, product and service I provide matter.  Over the last several years, a brand has emerged around what I do and the service I provide.  This is not an accident.  When people in my network think “insurance” my face and name pop into their minds.  Many have Google or MSN set as their default homepage on their PCs.  My people have 'Lance Cashion' set as the default in their minds when it comes to insurance.  I’ve built a reputation for serving people and helping them navigate the sometimes expensive, always confusing world of insurance.

Staying in constant, but non-intrusive contact with my clients is essential in solidifying and growing my brand.  Here are a few things I do to keep this process going and growing.

Thank You Cards: I hand write one to each of my clients when their policy issues.  It is a short note in sincere gratitude for the trust they have given me and the commission that will feed my family.  I always include a couple business cards and a refrigerator magnet.  As of late, I have been including a $5 Starbucks gift card (insurance agents are limited by regulations of how much we can give to an applicant).  In the note, I always ask them to share my information with anyone who could use my service.  more here...

Birthdays: I record each of my clients and children’s birthdays into my Outlook Calendar.  I set a reminder 5 days before their birthday.  My clients will receive a card and email from me.  Their kids will receive a $10 iTunes gift card or an age appropriate gift card on their birthdays.  Have you ever received a call from one of your client’s kids thanking you for something?  I have!  In today’s world, who does this stuff?  I do.......  And it has made all the difference.

Referral Reward Program: I have set up a reward program for my clients who send customers my way.  It’s very basic and very effective.  Imagine sending your brother to me for insurance help and you get a $50 or $100 Gift card in the mail.  I don’t care how much money you have, this is effective!  I’ve now sent my client and their family to dinner or paid for groceries.  Again, I always send the gift card with a Thank You card and remind them that I am here to serve anyone they may know.

To be continued….

It’s taken me several years to develop a system where MY people know they are taken care of and want to share my service with the world.  At one point, I wanted to keep my system to myself.  Now, I see that by sharing it, I can have a positive effect on the world around me.  Send me a referral and see what happens!

See you next time and let me know if you have any questions.
 
Lance Cashion

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

kudos to kia: Sorento Commercial

I know very little about Kias but I know that their newest Sorento commercial is one of the best I have seen in a while.  The Sock Monkey has made a huge comeback and Kia capitalized on it with a clever play on well, playing like a kid.  Kia successfully branded the Sorento as "fun" using Sock Monkey and his stuffed animal crew wrecking house while car owners are away...  Its a Vegas bachelor party for stuffed animals and those of us who have "been there, done that".  I would like to mention that the use of The Heavy's "How You Like Me Now" is a stroke of brilliance.  

Let's see who they resonated with:

1. Current Kia owners

2. Children (use of toys)

3. Young single adults (party scenes)

4. Young families (kids toys and kiddos in the car)

5. The "cool" band clique (use of a song from a lesser known group)... Note: "cool" people won't buy sorento, b/c they are too cool.  The Heavy may lose a few fans due to the commercial.  But, they probably gained massive amounts of new listeners (itunes downloads/more attendees at gigs)... maybe another record contract and we all know Kia did not pay them in Monopoly money ;)

In the end, I think it is an effective and fun commercial to watch... I still won't buy a Sorento.  I may buy the album tho ;)

Note: If you would like to see/hear some of my audio work with Multi-d-design animation please click here...

Until next time planet earth... over and out.

Lance Cashion

ps. Link to The Heavy's "How you like me now" music video... Its pretty good.

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

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