The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

Star of the small screen!

In September 2008, Dexter Moscow of the Entrepreneurs' Forum interviewed me on why organizations need to develop and leverage the power of the individuals in the company to survive the economic downturn. We discuss the idea that HR has become as much the custodian of the corporate brand as the Marketing Department, and HR managers now need to see themselves as brand champions.

I was also interviewed with fellow personal branding expert Tessa Hood on the subject of our forthcoming seminar in London for HR professionals.

The videos are all on www.robcuesta.com/video

Turning your people into Brand Ambassadors can recession-proof your company

That's the message that Tessa Hood, a fellow personal branding expert, and I are promoting at a forthcoming seminar in London.

You don't have to please all of the people all of the time...

There's a principle in pricing a product or service that if you're not turning off a third of your prospects by charging more than they want to pay, you're not charging enough. I happen to believe that the same principle applies right across the spectrum.

It's "just" a word, and "just" a brand

I was in a branch of Marks & Spencer the other day and saw their new in-store promotional materials. If you're not familiar with M&S, it's a British chain of department stores, not unlike Sears in the US, or The Bay in Canada, but notable primarily for the fact that they only sell private label goods: there are no big consumer brands.

What is marketing?

OK, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy with a major branding project overseas and I have some professional exams coming up which need my attention too. I'm also in the middle of setting up a couple of new joint ventures. Add in the need for some R&R after a very busy last two years for the business and it was about time I took a break.

But now I'm back, and I was asking myself, just what IS marketing? What are we, as marketers (and everyone is a marketer, whether they call themselves that or not) trying to achieve exactly?

What were they thinking?

Several years ago, Gerald Ratner - a famous UK entrepreneur - virtually destroyed his successful high street jewellery chain by boasting on national television that his products were basically cheap and nasty but that if you market it the right way people will buy almost anything. Needless to say the customers proved him wrong.

A few years later, the CEO of Volkswagen came close to 'doing a Ratner' (the expression has ended up in the language as a euphemism for a very public marketing gaffe) when he boasted that Audi A6s, Passats and the latest Skodas all shared many common parts and technologies, and were even made on the same production line. It was something car buyers knew, deep down, but they didn't want it made quite so public.

Now Lurpak, the Danish butter manufacturer, is running a new advertising campaign and you have to wonder what their marketing director was thinking.

Branding quote of the week

'Customers must recognize that you stand for something.' - Howard Schultz, Starbucks

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

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