The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

Branding quote of the week

"Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand." - David Ogilvy

10 things you should do if you make a big mistake

We all make mistakes. On one occasion early in my online career I became an accidental spammer when someone offered me a marketing list of 10,000 names in a specific industry. In my enthusiasm at receiving such a windfall, and with a high profile joint venture to promote, I emailed all 10,000 contacts directly (horror of horrors), promoted my upcoming big-name teleclass (even though they had never heard of me), and invited them to unsubscribe from my list (which they had never signed up to) if they didn't want any more contact from me (which they hadn't wanted in the first place).

An uncomfortable 24 hours followed, as email after email of some of the nastiest, most vitriolic personal attacks I've ever seen poured into my inbox. However, as soon as I realised my mistake I put into action a recovery plan which earned me a lot more emails of thanks and understanding.

Personal Branding Magazine

While I was preparing for my recent trip to Toronto I completely missed the fact that the second edition of the new Personal Branding Magazine has gone live over at personalbrandingmag.com.

Typepad maintenance

Typepad have announced some maintenance of their site on Friday 30 November. Over the space of two hours this blog (and others hosted by Typepad) may not be available, so if you find you can't read your favourite content, don't panic: it will all be back by Saturday.

Branding quote of the week

"Your brand is created out of customer contact and the experience your customers have of you" - Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Chairman, EasyGroup

Branding quote of the week

"The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are, not how cheap you are.  The goal must be to sell the distinctive quality of the brand." - Kerry Light, Brand Strategist

Beware the dangers of email time bombs

When I was young, there was a series on British television called ‘Danger     UXB’. Week by week it followed an army bomb disposal squad as they rushed     from one assignment to the next, averting disaster and saving the day. It     had danger, suspense, strong characters, tight deadlines – all the elements     of good TV.

 

In the work environment, however, these same characteristics are somewhat     less desirable. How often do we find ourselves going from one close call to     the next, defusing time bombs and booby traps left for us by others – or     worse still ourselves?

 

Branding quote of the week

I'm starting a new slot on the blog. Each week I'll be posting a quote related to personal branding, corporate brands, personal style and other related fields.

To start things off, this quote from John Kay was originally intended to show how brands make a statement about the consumer. However it also illustrates very niely how our personal brand is built up by everything in our environment and everything we do.