So, you have a brand and you know what your product or service set it — and have created basic content and messages around it. Well, now you need to broadcast those messages and market your brand. How do you do that? The content itself can serve as a communication engine, such as a blog that pumps out content and ranks in search engines, but you have a better chance of getting word about your company out and building your brand by being proactive.

Think about your average customer. We’ll use ourselves as an example: On a daily basis we come into contact with hundreds of products and brands. Our households consist of numerous brands; we clothe our bodies in them, we clean those clothes with other branded products probably using a branded machine. Our television, radio, and magazines all advertise brands and also, at the same time, are each their own brand. How do you choose these brands? In such a noisy market, as consumers we typically tend to choose the brands that we recognize the most.

So, the key is to make our brand easily recognizable. We have to persuade consumers to purchase our products or services by making ourselves memorable. As brand marketers we understand that branding is a strategic tool of persuasion. This tool can be broken down into various levels of effectiveness, which are the key to brand communication. These include:

1. Credibility. The communication is most believable when the source is recognized as an expert, someone of high status, an objective source, or is just generally likeable. (Examples include using a well known movie star to promote a luxury good or a doctor to endorse your medical product.)

2. Context. The social context, group, or reference will mediate the communication and influence whether or not the communication is accepted. (For example, when a link is shared on a social media platform it is being delivered from an individual to their group of friends.)

3. Content. The content of your website, your message, your distribution materials, these all impact how well you are received. If you produce fresh, informational materials for your industry you will be appreciated for the effort. (Such as, an advertising agency that blogs about the latest trends in the industry.)

4. Clarity. A clear message allows the target audience to understand who you are and what you’re offering. A muddled message confuses them, making them wary of your product. (Imagine if you are business consulting firm that says they offer business advice. That’s completely vague – and an unclear message.)

These communication guidelines have the potential to increase the overall success of your branding especially if you are not currently implementing them or are using them poorly. Visit us again soon – this article is a two part series. In the second part of The Seven C’s of Communication in Brand Marketing we will discuss the next three influencers.

Red Thinkers see a problem and they look at how they can change it one small step at a time.

Take New York Times food writer Mark Bittman for example.

In the course of writing one of his books, Bittman uncovered things in the American food production system that disturbed him deeply—from the way that big agriculture was impacting the environment to the inhumane treatment of animals to the inferior quality of much of this food.

Bittman could simply have used his position as a writer for one of the most prestigious news outlets in the world to rant about the topic, rile his readers up, and maybe get the government to look at the issue—with no positive action likely to come of it.

But he knew that ultimately wouldn’t change anything. So he looked at what he as an individual could do to change the industry. Then he wrote Food Matters, a book that provides a simple outline for what individuals can do to change the state of our food production system. In Bittman’s words, “Food Matters explores the links between eating too much meat, obesity, global warming, and other nasty features of modern life. (It has good recipes, too.)”

This book not only describes these issues, it provides practical advice on how people can make small changes in their daily lives that will ultimately change this huge problem (think buying local food and eating less meat).

This one book has spurred a whole movement, with people joining together in events like the Food Matters Project. Because Bittman took a look at the big picture and figured out an easy system for people to follow, millions of people have become more conscious about the origins of their food and the implications of making certain food choices. Change is happening.

How can you simplify a challenge in your marketplace and start a movement?

What makes something trendy? Is it seeing Adele wearing a particular hairstyle? Warren Buffet driving an eco-friendly car? Or maybe Apple investing in a huge marketing and advertising campaign for the iPhone 4s?

Trends are about ideas and what people like that are fresh and in the moment.  Some trends become “classics” and then woven into the fabric of popular culture.

But, as often happens, as something becomes too trendy, it becomes stale and a cliché to be avoided.

We like trends too, when used gently. Companies certainly need to appear modern and in touch with their customers and if possible trend-setting.  Here’s a look at some trends we expect to see in 2012 as well as our recommendations on how to embrace, avoid, or reinvent them to reach your customers.

And as always, ask us anything. We’ll give you honest answers on trends or just great ways to promote your message.

Happy New Year from the Trendiest Team we know… Red Thinking!

Color it

Pantone, has just released its 2012 color of the year: Tangerine Tango PMS# 17-463. This is a glorious color. (We especially like the hint of red in it!)

How to use it:

• Sprinkle a little into your marketing and promotions, or find a similar vibrant color. It’s youthful, eye-catching and honestly appealing.
• Don’t base a logo or long-lasting campaign on it.
• Wear it if it looks good on you.

Type it

Font styles can be trendy and Adobe, the leader in font types, has new fonts to keep you looking sharp.

How to use it:

• Remember that communicating your message is the most important job. Select a font that is easy to read.
• Don’t mix too many fonts on a page or in a particular piece.
• Select both serif and sans serif fonts that complement each other.
• Pick one and stay with it as your signature font for your company or a campaign.

Move it

Video clips, animation, YouTube channels, custom apps… These elements are skirting the line between trendy and the way businesses communicate with customers.

How to use it:

• Make sure you need it.
• Make certain it is high quality.
• Make sure no one will spoof it – unless that’s part of the marketing plan.
• Remember that anything posted on the Internet is there forever.
• Consider your image… nothing with an “ist”… racist, sexist or in general bad taste or bad for children

Visit Adrants for a great archive of both good and bad advertising videos.

Take it with you

Design for smart phone and tablet viewing. This falls between trendy and becoming normal.

How to use it:

• Make sure your website can be viewed properly on a smart phone or a tablet. This may require some new coding but if you want customers to take you with them as they move about their day it’s a must.

Tell the world everything

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare…

How to use it:

• Make sure you need it. Just because you’re a business doesn’t mean you have to have a Facebook page.
• Commit to it. Twitter is a feed; it’s hungry do you have the time to take care of it?
• That video from the holiday party was a riot – but it doesn’t belong on the web.
• Plan for it. Create a marketing plan first then incorporate social media for optimal success.

Have fun with trendy ideas but use them with caution.

On September 16, 2011, President Barak Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). (In my old high school as a matter of fact.) It’s about time.

There are a lot of problems facing the nation right now. There are too many to list and our blog doesn’t like to talk about politics – we’re about creativity. In our last Red Thinkers post, we profiled Dean Kamen, a modern day inventor and science and technology leader who is working to support science education for kids 6-18. One of Kamen’s leading accomplishments is that he holds 440 U.S. and foreign patents. Here’s why that is a feat to be celebrated.

Prior to the Leahy Smith Act, it took inventors up to three years to receive patent approval. Three years is a long time to act on an idea. Three years is a long time to show an angel investor an invention and receive funding. In the course of three years, solopreneurs and small companies have to keep their cards close to their chests and protect their ideas and hope that a different, more robust solution to something they think they solved doesn’t come to market first and grab the consumers imagination.

Oh sure, there are hundreds of products on the market that say patent pending. This is to serve as preliminary patent and trademark protection, but it’s not the same. And yes, there are critics to this new act. Some feel it gives an advantage to large corporations who have the money to push harder. One thing about laws in the United States, they are far from ever perfect, whoops, that was a political idea again, sorry for the lapse. Here’s an interesting discussion from NPR Talk of the Nation. Decide for yourself.

We see this new law as a way to release creativity in the marketplace. America may be short on jobs – that’s not a political statement, that’s a fact – U.S unemployment now stands at 9.1%. But we are not short on ideas. As a nation we never have been. This law gives the Patent and Trademark office the ability to hire more people to help free up the immense backlog of applications. This isn’t bigger government. The Patent and Trademark office has always been independently funded. The fees inventors pay to file their ideas pay for the office.

Since it first opened in 1790, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office has issued 7,752,677 patents. Millions of jobs have come from those ideas. There are now an estimated 700,000 patent applications backlogged in the system. Imagine the millions of more jobs that will be created with the amazing ideas waiting to see the legally protected light of day. It’s about time. Let the creativity flow and let’s empower the next wave of Red Thinkers.

Where Innovation and Technology Change the World
Let’s talk for a moment about innovation and technology. Innovation is the idea of renewing something or changing something. Technology in its purest sense is the use of tools and techniques to solve problems or create something specific. These two words are linked. You can’t have success with only one. Yes, you can have an innovative idea, for instance a car that goes two hundred miles on a tank of gas. But without technology this innovative idea can never happen. And the tools you need to build such a wonder car need innovative inspiration to be built.

The balanced concept of innovation and technology working together is RED THINKING and one of today’s most exciting inventors, Dean Kamen is Red Hot.

Kamen, hails from the Granite State, New Hampshire and makes his home there today. Though he’s a celebrated and wealthy genius and entrepreneur, we give extra Red Points to his desire to stay close to his roots and perhaps the source of his inspiration.
Kamen is best known as the inventor of the Segway PT, the popular upright personal transportation vehicle. But long before the Segway came the first wearable infusion pump, a medical device that changed how patients received chemotherapy.

Kamen began his formal studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts where as an undergraduate he invented the infusion pump. In 1976, he founded AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. The company was then sold to Baxter Healthcare corporation.

With the proceeds from AutoSyringe and a mind spinning with ideas he started his next company DEKA Research and Development. DEKA has been responsible for some of the most innovative medical devices now is use including:

• HomeChoice™ peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International Inc. This invention allows patients to be dialyzed at home
• ThinPrep® Pap Test
• UVAR™ XTS™ System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma
• An advanced prosthetic arm in development for DARPA
• The Hydroflex™ surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard
• The Crown™ stent, an improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson
• iBOT™ mobility device
• The Segway® Human Transporter

Kamen has also been awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 by then President Clinton. He received the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002. In 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He also holds 440 U.S. and Foreign Patents.

FIRST
But, let’s get back to the ideas of innovation and technology and what we see as Kamen’s Red Core. In 1989, Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), “an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology.” This organization will help over a 250,000 students ages 6 to 18, in more than 50 countries. “High-school-aged participants are eligible to apply for more than $14 million in scholarships from leading colleges, universities, and corporations.” In Kamen’s own words, “You have teenagers thinking they’re going to make millions as NBA stars when that’s not realistic for even 1 percent of them. Becoming a scientist or engineer is.”

We believe that a generation of Red Thinkers are now on their way to creating the next innovative solutions to solve our world’s most pressing problems. FIRST’s celebration of science and technology combined with Kamen’s creativity and leadership is a very RED road to follow.

Red Thinkers are often in a constant state of learning and reinvention. American artisit Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1995) lived a very colorful 98 years. She carved out a very significant place for herself and other women in the American art community, which before her time had been exclusively men. Her innovative abstract paintings stood apart from those of other artists. She dared to exercise techniques no other artist of her time could readily replicate.

O’Keefe began her art instruction at a young age, first using watercolors. As she moved through high school, she continued to pursue her love of painting. She enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later attended The Art Students League of New York where she studied under William Merritt Chase, a world-renowned American impressionist painter.

In 1908, she won the League’s William Merritt Chase still-life prize for an oil portrait. The prize was a scholarship to attend the League’s outdoor summer school at Lake George in New York. This was the beginning of a stream of significant awards O’Keeffe earned.

In the 1920s, she revolutionized the tradition of flower painting, presenting blossoms and petals close up as if seen through a magnifying lens. Her paintings of buildings, structures, and landscapes were soon recognized as very compelling work. By the mid 1920s, O’Keeffe had become one of America’s most important artists.

Her fame grew even as she continued to learn and practice new techniques of painting as well as pursue other arts, including sculpture and eventually pottery. Her passion for all things artistic made it easy for her to master every art form she pursued. After her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, died in 1946, she pulled away from her work for three years to handle his estate and focus on healing from her loss. Eventually she was able to resume painting. Through the 1950s and 1960s, she travelled extensively around the world, taking on commissioned work.

When her eyesight began to deteriorate in 1970, she withdrew from her artistic life though not for very long. In 1973, she met a young ceramic artist, Juan Hamilton, who soon became her manager and confidant. He inspired her to return to her art and she began making pottery.

In 1970, the Whitney Museum of American Art cited her as one of the most influential American painters. In 1977, President Gerald Ford presented O’Keeffe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1985 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Throughout her life, Georgia O’Keefe worked with mentors, always curious to learn new techniques and art forms. Despite setbacks, when she took the time away she needed, she always returned to her art, reinventing herself each time. Her perseverance, vitality, and vision makes O’Keefe a true red thinker.