SLOW BURN MARKETING
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Branding
    • Audio / Video
    • Print
    • Web
    • Collateral Etc.
  • About
    • Blaine Parker
    • Honey Parker
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Do You Fit?
  • Stuff
    • Speaking
    • Books
    • Newsletter
  • Story Lab
  • Contact

Want To Help The BS Hit The Fan?

4/26/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture


​DOCTORS ARE LICENSED TO PRACTICE
 
So are lawyers. And financial planners.
 
Massage therapists and nail technicians need a license.
 
Yet those of us who practice marketing?
 
Since we don't touch a person's body or money, we are free to do as we please.
 
We can just hang out a shingle that says, "Expert marketing advice, $50,000!"
 
And we can take the money and run in circles yelling, "La! La! La! La!" and batting at our hair like it's on fire, and nobody's going to do anything about it.
 
There's no board of ethics that's going to bring us up on charges.
 
SHOULD THAT CHANGE?
 
And what makes me ask such an impertinent question about such an oppressive and invasive process as licensing and oversight?
 
Nothing new.
 
Just a bunch of Great Big Marketing Experts out there in the ether, asserting their expert opinions about the folly of branding.
 
Like, claiming you can't monetize it.
 
You can't take brand awareness to the bank.
 
Branding is a waste of time and money.
 
Nobody can prove a correlation between branding and ROI.
 
NOBODY CAN PROVE THAT A NUCLEAR WAR WOULD RESULT IN A NUCLEAR WINTER, EITHER
 
That doesn't mean that the experts doubt it would happen.
 
And who's really willing to find out if it's true?
 
Not me. I also don't have my finger on any of the red buttons around the world, so it seems moot.
 
But circling back, here's the problem with the anti-brand contingent.
 
They're almost always direct marketers.
 
AND THEY CAN "PROVE" THAT BRANDING DOESN'T WORK
 
Which is utter BS.
 
And we haven't even defined what the hell branding really is.
 
What they're saying is, "I'm in direct marketing and I can prove the return on investment of each effort that I initiate. Therefore, branding doesn't work."
This is not in any way a correlation. 
 
That's a little like saying, "I drive a car to work, therefore mass transit work."
 
Except that it's easy to prove mass transit does work.
 
(Unless we're talking about Mumbai or Atlanta. Then, all bets are off)
 
THE LACK OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN BRANDING AND ROI IS NONSENSE
 
There are plenty of successful brands that prove it.
 
Want a case of a micro-brand that works? 
It can be as small as Slow Burn's solopreneur client who re-branded his struggling business. In one year, he doubled his annual revenue--with no paid advertising.
 
Or it can be a case as big as Trader Joe's--a discount gourmet grocery chain that is growing like crazy. Trader Joe's presently generates annual revenue of more than $9 billion--with virtually no advertising. And certainly, there is no direct response advertising.
 
You think Trader Joe's can take its brand awareness to the bank?
 
Of course not.
 
THERE'S NO WAY TO PUT BRAND AWARENESS ON A BALANCE SHEET.
 
That doesn't mean you can't recognize a correlation between everything mandated by the brand direction--which is distinctive, resonant and inarguable.
 
One doesn't grow a single grocery store into a chain of almost 500 locations with over 10,000 employees without advertising unless there's something else at work.
 
Hello, brand.
 
And here's the irony.
 
Every King of Direct Marketing who pees all over the idea of brand is completely dismissing what is one of the most powerful weapons in the marketing arsenal.
 
GOOD DIRECT MARKETING IS EVEN MORE POTENT WHEN GOOD BRANDING IS INVOLVED
 
I am a direct marketer. 
I know what it means to live or die by response to an advertisement. 
Most proponents of smart branding embrace DR.
 
Conversely, no DR expert who's bashing brand can say they understand what it means to build a brand in any meaningful way.
 
At Slow Burn Marketing, we have seen branding literally change the lives of small-business owners.
 
From the struggling solopreneur who doubled his annual revenue, to the local hair salon that has increased revenue 300% in five years, to the event contractor who re-branded and subsequently landed a quarter-million-dollar raise out of a single meeting--all of these are examples where the branding made a difference.
 
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
 
What's your experience with brand?
 
As a small-business owner, do you have a story about the potency of brand in your life?
 
As a small-business marketer, do you have a story about the power of brand in a client's marketing?
 
As a consumer, do you have a story about how good branding influenced you in a remarkable way?
 
If you have a noteworthy tale, I want to know.
 
All the unmitigated, non-scientific crap out there bashing brand has become tiresome. "My direct response advertising works so branding is a failure!"
 
You're invited to join me in an effort to lay waste to the BS.
 
If DR experts can make nonscientific, anecdotally-supported claims about how branding doesn't work, we can make nonscientific, anecdotally-supported claims about how branding does work.
 
AND YOU WILL BE FAMOUS!
 
Only if you want to, that is.
 
I will happily use your name and the name of your brand here in the screed.
 
Or, if anonymity is better for you and/or the brand, we can do it that way.
 
But send your anecdote.
 
Whether you're speaking as a marketer, as a business owner, or as a consumer--how has a strong brand made a difference?
 
Either reply to this email, or (if you're reading online) send a message to submissions@slowburnmarketing.com
 
How has brand mattered in your life?
Send your story today. 
We'll make the the Anti-Brand DR BS hit the fan tomorrow.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Blaine Parker is prone to ranting about any and all things related to brand. In many ways, he is a professional curmudgeon. While there is no known vaccine for this, the condition is also not contagious. Unless you choose it to be so. 

    Archives

    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    Abe Lincoln
    Advertising
    Advertising As Art
    Ad Writing
    Amazon
    Apathy
    Art And Advertising
    Attack Ads
    Authenticity
    Beat Bobby Flay
    Besotted
    Best Ads Of 2017
    Big Ideas
    Billboards
    Bobby Flay
    Book Marketing
    Brand Advertising
    Branding
    Branding Book
    Branding Santa Claus
    Brand Names
    Bud Light
    Budwieser
    Burger King
    Burger King Advertising
    Burning Man
    Burning Questions
    Business Book
    Buy Now
    Car Advertising
    Carefu;-ish
    Careful-ish
    Casablanca
    Christmas
    Commercials
    Commitment
    Communication
    Content
    Core Customer
    Corny
    Corporate Culture
    CoupleCo
    Couplepreneurs
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Crazy Ivan
    Creativity
    Creativity Over Message
    Cult Brands
    Customers
    David Ogilvy
    Dick Orkin
    Diisruptive
    Down Market
    Dr Sam's Eye Care
    Effectivness
    Electronics
    Entrenched
    Exceeding Expectaion
    Facebook Advertising
    Feeling
    Focus
    Focus Grouping
    Fonts
    Food
    Fraud
    Gary Vaynerchuk
    Hair Club For Men
    Hanukkah
    Holidays
    Hotels
    Hugo Boss
    Hurricane Relief
    Ideas
    Influence
    Inspiration
    Internet Radio
    Jeep
    Jerry Lewis
    Johnnie Walker
    Jungles
    Krylon Spray Paint
    Lawyers
    Lightning Branding
    Logos
    Lulu Lemon
    Mackerel
    Make Customers Care
    Marketing
    Masks
    Meaning
    Media
    Medical Tourism
    Membership
    Me Too
    Millennials
    Milton Glaser
    Must See TV
    Napa
    Nastalgia
    New Clients
    New Skills
    New Years
    Nicaragua
    Niche Brands
    Offers
    Ogilvy On Advertising
    Outdoor
    Pasta
    Patriotism
    Pen & Paper
    Personal Brand
    Pizza
    Podcasts
    Poetry
    Point Of Purchase
    Political Advertising
    Political Correctness
    Price Advertising
    Pringles
    Procrastination
    Product Experience
    Publicity Stunts
    Punctuation
    Puppy Monkey Baby
    Radio
    Reader Question
    Reality TV
    Relationship Marketing
    Repeat Customers
    Research
    Rhode Island Tourism
    Road Trip
    Romance
    Rosser Reeves
    Sailing
    Sales Staff Writing Radio
    SEO
    Small Business
    Small Business Branding
    SnapChat
    Social Media
    Social Media Marketing
    State Farm
    Story
    Struggling
    Subaru
    Super
    Superbowl
    Super Bowl Ads
    Sushi
    Sy Sperlling
    Taglines
    Thanksgiving
    The Big Short
    Trademarks
    USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
    Vail
    Velcro
    Vernacular
    Vocabulary
    Wine
    Words Good
    Writing
    Writing Advertising
    Zeitgeist

    RSS Feed

OFFERING:
Branding & Marketing
Speaking
Books
Newsletter


INFO:
Services Breakdown
​
Clients
About
Testimonials
Contact
STORY LAB
Picture
​
​
© Copyright 2020 Slow Burn Marketing LLC
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Picture
  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Branding
    • Audio / Video
    • Print
    • Web
    • Collateral Etc.
  • About
    • Blaine Parker
    • Honey Parker
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Do You Fit?
  • Stuff
    • Speaking
    • Books
    • Newsletter
  • Story Lab
  • Contact