Social Control

02 March 10

I'm always reading across a variety industries and sometimes I find a gem that someone has written for an entirely different purpose that works for something I’m doing. And that's the case with the blog I'm about to show you.

When it comes to communicating brands, the sky is the limit: There are so many things you can do. Where to start? There's a blog post at Instigator Blog that converts really well to talking about brand marketing and communication. Instigator Blog is written by Ben Yoskovitz and it is focused on helping entrepreneurs as they develop start-ups.

But the blog he wrote just a couple of weeks ago is a fantastic guide for those of us who work with brands and want some starting points to think about how to grow an audience for the brand. You can read the full blog at HERE! Yoskovitz lists 7 points to brainstorm start-up ideas. Most of these points work when you're thinking about a specific brand and I've listed the 6 most relevant ones here:

1. Use Cases. Think about how your brand's audience and users typically use your brand. And consider how they might atypically use it, too.

2. Incentives and motivation. Consider how your brand can incentivize or motivate people to use the brand and/or to interact with the marketing.

3. The one feature. What is the one feature that sets your brand apart? This is often a good starting point for what to build a marketing program or social media app around.

4. Target market. Consider who your target market is and how they are most likely to interact with your brand.

5. Monetization. We've worked with brands in which the marketing we did was a direct part of their monetization (i.e. it promoted something specific that resulted in a sale) and we've worked with brands in which the marketing we did was more "awareness"-oriented. It's helpful to spend some time brainstorming the role your particular project will have in the monetization picture.

6. References and referrals. A brand that is experienced and forgotten is far less effective than a brand that is experienced and shared. Spend some time dialing in "sharability" into your brand's marketing to encourage users to spread the word.

These aren't the only things you'll brainstorm about when developing your brand's marketing, but they are a helpful starting point.

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