Sustainability and Branding

What you need to know about how to create evangelists for sustainable

practices and organizations.

Bob Killian, CEO, Killian Branding, 2/17/15

4 assumptions for today:O You are interested in promoting

sustainable practices and organizations.

O You have, or someday will have, a role in shaping an organization that promotes genuinely green practices. In fact, let’s invent WIUCause.org, and put you in charge.

O You have the tools to detect greenwashing.

The 4th assumption:

You realize

you have

deeply

entrenched

and effective

opposition.

The 4th assumption:

You realize

you have

deeply

entrenched

and effective

opposition.

If you can’t outspend them, you have to outsmart them.

Fortunately, it can be done.O Today’s digital reality makes it possible

for the expression of your WIUCause.org

brand to go viral and create awareness on

a grand scale.

O Provided, of course, your differentiation is

urgent and engages the audience.

What’s branding anyway?O Branding is the

collective expectation of your audience(s).

O It’s the perceived promise prospects have if they were to interact with you.

O It’s the perception people have after they have dealt with you.

What’s branding anyway?O Branding is the

collective expectationof your audience(s).

O It’s the perceived promise prospects have if they were to interact with you.

O It’s the perceptionpeople have after they have dealt with you.

What branding is not.O It’s not your logo.

O Or your name.

Also…O It’s not what you say you are, since you

cannot dictate perceptions.

O You can stake out a position that you

hope people will attach to you – but …

O It’s not what you believe you are, but

what you are believed to be.

So, let’s say you want to build a strong brand

O For instance, WIUCause may want to

reduce antibiotic use in cattle, or

encourage urban rooftop farming, or lobby

retail chains to only build LEED

buildings….

O Where do you start?

Let’s examine your name, logo and tagline strategies.

O We said brand ≠ name, and brand ≠ logo,

and certainly brand ≠ tagline (aka

strapline).

O Those three, however, are powerful

elements to help create the collective

perception of the brand.

So, you’re in charge – how should we think about naming?

O An organization’s name can be crucial to

branding success – or an obstacle.

O Naming or re-naming is not to be taken

lightly, or done without a clear strategy.

O Do you want to stick with WIUCause?

Naming and renamingO A memorable and thought-provoking

name is an asset that returns value, often

for decades.

O There are times and circumstances

where renaming is needed, but that’s

often difficult and controversial.

Our 13 naming criteria includeO It’s better to provoke questions than to answer them

O Names made up from initials should be unacceptable

O Adding “solutions” is not a solution

O Passes the Phone Test

O Shorter is better than longer

O Passes the Mandarin Test

O Eligible to be ®

O Must not be “expected” or “ordinary”

For the full list, check http://www.killianbranding.com/company-naming-rules/

How important is your logo?

Tagline? Just do it.O Since your name and logo rarely

“complete” your brand narrative (and

shouldn’t), a tagline can round out an

introduction to your story

For a complete discussion, check http://www.killianbranding.com/whitepaper/taglines-just-do-it/

Your imperatives:O It is not enough to have evidence on your

side. Science and facts won’t move

everyone.

O Your messaging must use all the tools of

persuasion to establish trust, including an

effective brand narrative.

Why a brand narrative?O Humans are story tellers.

O We are persuaded by stories which

engage our empathy.

O “Ten reasons why” doesn’t work.

O We make emotional, not rational,

“purchases”

Your narrative mustO Engage the listener,

avoiding TL;DR.

O Differentiate your brand.

O Be memorable to create awareness.

O Address emotional needs of what the listener really cares about.

O And…

Be true.O Untruths, exaggerations and greenwashing

will (probably) be exposed.

O Don’t chance it because “somebody else” got away with it.

O Brand equity is slow to build, but can be destroyed overnight. The Brian Williams effect?

The three values a strong(er) brand delivers

O Awareness

O Differentiation

O Urgency

Awareness firstO They can’t believe you if they don’t know

you exist.

O It’s not a goal in itself – awareness does

not guarantee approval.

O Awareness opens the door.

Differentiation nextO Twenty years ago, the cry was,

“differentiate or die,” but no longer.

O Differentiation now takes a secondary role, since awareness is a prerequisite.

O You’re searching for hearts, minds and dollars – so your best audience demands you be meaningfully different.

After awareness and differentiation … urgency!

O How relevant is your differentiator to your

target audience?

O Brand evangelists have to care about

your cause or mission.

Branding is 3-DO Because you must

compete on the basis of

awareness, differentiation

and urgency, your

relationship to competitors

cannot be fairly shown on

a conventional 2-axis

perceptual map.

Branding is 3-DO Your competitive space can better be

represented by a cube.

O The three axes represent strength and

weaknesses in the three values that a

strong brand delivers: awareness,

differentiation, urgency

You occupy one point in

the cube. Your

competitors occupy

others.

Your strategy must aim

to put as much distance

as possible between

you and them.

The big question is …

Which axis needs the most

work?

Branding today has evolved.

O New decision-

making

O Access to

information

O Message Avoidance

Technologies

O New rules, new tools

adapt

Survivaldepends not on

strengthor

intelligencebut on the ability to

to change.

New decision making

O Your audience will resist your message,

seeing it as a “sales pitch.”

O Reluctance to read White Papers, fact

sheets, backgrounders, etc.

Access to information

O Resistance because “I have access to all

the information I could possibly need at

my fingertips.”

O Ironically, this might be true – but it’s

unfiltered, unedited information that may

have come from questionable sources.

Message Avoidance Technologies (MAT)

O Voice mail

O Spam filters

O DVR

O The round file for violations of the 7-line

rule

New rules, new tools

O Marketing used to be a sermon; now it’s a dialog.

O Old marketing was structured for repetition with heavy frequency.

O Today, you have an obligation to invite dialog.

O Print too texty? TL;DR.

Print isn’t dead, but it’s CTD

O We’ve had three generations grow up in

front of TV screens. Most of your

audience lacks the patience to read at

length.

O Much of your audience are visual

learners, or auditory learners, or

experiential learners – not readers.

You’re obliged to put data into engaging motion

O In the contest between static information

and audio-visual delivery, the contents

that move will win, nine times out of five.

O A video or infographic, e.g., will engage a

greater percentage of your audience than

a page of text – by a wide margin.

Enter content marketingO The latest evolution of persuasion (for

complex decisions and considered purchases) is content marketing.

O Our definition: “the strategy of creating and distributing relevant, valuable, engaging content to acquire and carefully measure the response of clearly defined target audience segments in order to drive action.”

Examine its parts:O the strategy of creating and distributing

O relevant, valuable, engaging content

O to acquire and carefully measure the

response of

O clearly defined target audience segments

O in order to drive action.

Content marketing strategyO Content marketing is not a fad.

O It’s the evolution of how best to identify,

reach, engage, persuade and gain

commitment from your prospects in today’s

digital world.

O You can’t “sell” sustainability to someone –

but you can share content to start a dialog

that can create brand evangelists.

Tactical tipsO Use video as much as possible, especially if

you can tell the story <75 seconds, the limit for the “short attention spaniels.”

O Break the story up into separate short videos, not one “comprehensive” one.

O Use animations, gifs, Prezi, Nutshell, charts, graphs – anything to make your content dance. Great design engages.

More tacticsO Use research surveys to “bomb-proof” your

messaging – will what you send be received?

O Use analytics on an ongoing basis to segment your list.

O The more segments, the better. That lets you refine the relevance of your messages.

O Use analytics to edit your messaging. See what’s liked – and what’s ignored. Make each edition smarter.

O For more about

advanced content

marketing, find our

book on Amazon.

Q&A