It always fascinates me to see product, service and marketing innovations emerge that bolster our ability to get the ‘bear hug’ we seek from consumers. Take Ms. Dewey for example. (www.msdewey.com) A search engine with a personality. Designed to interact, entertain and inform, Ms. Dewey 'humanizes' the search engine experience.

I think there's much more to Ms. Dewey than pages of links. I think she's a sign of things to come as we continue the pursuit of strong relationships with our customers. Let's look at the obvious: Now more than ever we connect with each other electronically. There is less face-to-face human interaction than that of a decade ago. For some, entire work days go by without an in-person experience. This has upped the value of human contact. The result? Consumers are responding more and more to the human connectivity strong brands transmit.

Advertising is one of the most frequently used and powerful communications mediums for brand building. How then does one maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of this medium?

The first step is to confirm that you have designed and positioned the brand to leverage all three of the following: (a) a compelling point of difference in the customer's mind, (b) your organization's unique strengths and (c) your competitors' vulnerabilities. This implies that you have identified the brand's target customer, essence, promise and personality. The brand promise, in turn, implies that you understand your brand's competitive frame of reference and the customer's benefit structure within that frame of reference. The brand design and positioning will drive brand advertising and every other brand marketing activity. Make sure your ad agency thoroughly understands and embraces your brand's design. (While you should take the lead in crafting your brand's design, ideally your advertising agency should be actively involved in the process, including immersing themselves in the underlying customer research.)

Effective advertising accomplishes the following:

People develop relationships with other people. Brands exist so that organizations can do the same. So, what maximizes a brand’s appeal? The same things that maximize a person’s appeal – authenticity, honesty, integrity (that is, a congruence between thoughts, words and deeds), charisma, warmth, assertiveness, approachability, passion, reliability, originality, etc. And here is the thing that makes people and brands the most interesting. Each possesses a different combination of qualities that appeals to different people at different times.

The best brands will challenge and comfort and inspire and draw out one’s best and help one grow, just as the best human relationships do.

Branding, at its best, transforms organizations so that they are capable of creating, nurturing and sustaining mutually profitable relationships with people. And that is a very good thing.

The simple truth about branding - A brand is a source of a promise to the consumer. It promises relevant differentiated benefits. Everything an organization does should be focused on enhancing delivery against its brand's promise. Combining a few different definitions, a brand is the name and symbols that identify:

The source of a relationship with the consumer
The source of a promise to the consumer
The unique source of products and services
The single concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect
The sum total of each customer's experience with your organization

Leading organizations have discovered that brands are their most valuable asset (along with their people) for a number of reasons.

Strong brands deliver substantial benefits:

Increased revenues and market share
Decreased price sensitivity
Increased customer loyalty
Additional leverage with vendors and retailers (for manufacturers)
Increased profitability
Increased stock price, shareholder value and sale value
Increased clarity of vision
Increased ability to mobilize an organization's people and focus its activities
Increased ability to expand into new product and service categories
Increased ability to attract and retain high quality employees

Simply put: Build your brand. Win the day.

10 things an auto dealer can do to change world opinion and increase sales.

If you are close to the auto-dealer space in any way, you are most likely hearing complaints from dealers and staff that sales are down. For dealers who dare to have vision and heart, sales can increase higher than imagined. Here are 10 ideas.

Change the Voice in Your Head

The one that says, "I'm an auto dealer; I need to look and act like an auto dealer." If you are a "follower," you have inherited the reputation that follows dealers. Shake this liability by distancing yourself through relevant differentiation. That is, build an experience that is different and meaningful to your customers. Your new voice should say: "I build lasting relationships by helping people purchase automobiles in a unique and compelling way."

Stop the Noise

The world is ready for you to stop the shouting in radio and television spots. This approach does not generate excitement or motivation unless it is coming from a drill sergeant. Furthermore, it comes off as desperation and reinforces the notion that you are like every other dealer. The noise intensifies when you don't communicate clearly.