Morning Folks!!
Collaboration and Circulation are the Keys to Success on the Internet. It's really as simple as that. That is the 1 over 2 in this equation. That leads to the keyword BRANDING.
My friends, BRANDING is a bi-product of SALES! PERIOD! I know it may be too much to accept in the new thinking where PROFIT is not on the radar screen. Sahar sent me this link that goes a bit deeper into it. About ringing the damn cash register!
So let's lay some ground rules for ANY commercial and profit-making entity.
1. BRANDING is a bi-product of SALES!
PERIOD!
2. BRANDING is a bi-product of SALES!
PERIOD!
3. BRANDING is a bi-product of SALES!
PERIOD!
So many have it completely upside down and many f them reside on Madison Ave.
eToys.com did a GREAT job branding! Great! But since they sold nothing, they are OUT OF BUSINESS! Which Madison Ave. Agency did they use?
Borders did a GREAT job of branding! But since their PROFITS and SALES lacked, they are OUT OF BUSINESS! Which Madison Ave. Agency did they use?
The point is they should be talking about SALES and PROFITS but since they are stuck on BRANDING they are OUT OF BUSINESS!
Branding happens via CIRCULATION of a BRAND not the other way around. Madison Ave's MAIN job is to increase circulation. SALES!
You send out a press release to increase circulation and get sales. SALES! Branding is the by-product of sales.
CIRCULATION happens by SALES and people talking. (word of mouth)
So when BRANDING is your North Star to star, you lose more often than you win if you have a business.
Believe me, I am ALL about branding. That's what I do. But branding without sales is PURE BULLSHIT unless it is a social thing as I will display below!
These days I am doing some major branding. I am branding all those Reverse Domain Name Hijackers and making those PRICKS famous.
How do you do this? Collaboration and Circulation.
So this post has little to do with what you think.
It has to do with you helping US, you and me, branding and circulating thieves.
Yup, I want you to HELP ME and HELP YOU brand RDNH as the thieves they are so we can STOP this practice and at the same time reduce the entire number of WIPO and NAF challenges. How? Just go to this post and tweet, like or share. That is all I ask my readers to do. Each of you. I give you some great points and some worthless points. You choose. But for that, just help me circulate this list. BRAND the list. BRAND the PRICKS that went out of their way to STEAL and got caught. Help me circulate. Collaboration and Circulation. That is the Internet. That is how you BRAND. If you hate me, then go to RDNH.COM and tweet from there. But NONE OF YOU should be sitting on your hands.
Now back to the original post.......
BRANDING is a bi-product of SALES! Branding can increase sales. But if SALES is not your North Star, all the branding in the world won't feed you and won't pay the overhead. Only PROFITS do that. Profits! Profits! Collaboration and Circulation leads to SALES and PROFITS and the RESULT is a BRAND.
Collaboration and Circulation leads to SALES and PROFITS and the RESULT is a BRAND.
Some folks got that equation ass backwards because they START with BRANDING. So go to this post and/or RDNH.COM and tweet, like or share. That is all I ask my readers to do.
Rick Schwartz
Jonathan
Now that post is why I bother to check back on your blog. No layer cake, Good on you.
ivorytrader
i remember etoy… it was a european artistical group that did strange things and existed two years before etoys.com was founded. a u.s federal judge took their name and gave it to etoys.com. i was never so happy to see a company go out of business in my life.
Jonathan
ivorytrader@ With a “chosen” name like yours going out of business is one I wish on your name.
UFO
The sooner law firms are made aware that they will be written on the net as supporters of RDNH the sooner they will stop.
No law firm wants this sort of negative publicity. None.
theo
lotta marketeers LOVE branding.. they can spend alot of money on something that is hard to measure
Conference Ticket Buyer
Incredible ignorance.
Saying “branding is a byproduct of sales” (lmao @ “bi-product”) is like saying wheels are a byproduct of a car.
You need to learn what the word ‘byproduct’ even means, then learn how to spell it.
Rick Schwartz
A fool without a name can ONLY be a fool. And the by-product of being a FOOL is….well where does one even start?
To not even understand the other side of an equation shows GREAT ignorance. I am stunned by how naive some folks online are to sales, marketing and business in general.
Rick Schwartz
Listen folks, there is nothing wrong with branding. But when you brand something that does not sell and does not produce profits, please tell me what you have?
On the other hand if I have sales and no branding at all other than sales, I have a PROFITABLE BUSINESS that will grow!
Can’t make it any simpler for those that are so complex and so brilliant they only need one wing to fly an airplane and think they are getting somewhere.
UFO
‘I am stunned by how naive some folks online are to sales, marketing and business in general. ‘
I actually had quite a large argument with an ’employer’ over something similar.We need to put together a rapid pitch for additional funds for a new online project and was told to get the costs as accurate as possible, while I disagreed saying ‘If I was extending funds I’d know you could spend my money. what I’d be interested in is the pitch how you exactly think you’ll recover it and more’
ANY investor that doesn’t sweat the details on how online ventures are going to turn a dime deserves to lose all their capital. It really is all about sales, and if not about immediate sales the key drivers and acquisitions that will facilitate those further downstream (Like users).
No Revenue, No business.
Paul Smith
Spot on… I will admit, I had it backwards for decades. I would always brand, brand, brand with no sales. I thought, I need a great name of this company or project. The light bulb went off one day! And now ever Facebook serves as a wonderful example, Billionaire owner. The domain name Facebook.com wouldn’t even sell for $100 on a domain name forum but the brand is the tool/software/website itself.. What about Amazon, Priceline, what is an Expedia? The list goes on and on, the thing that matters is sales, you can really brand anything if you have something great to sell. The name will brand itself if the product or service is great. Thank you Rick, great article….
UFO
-> Paul Smith
Customers don’t buy brands they buy something to satisfy a need. A brand only accumulates worth/value once people have purchased/used it.
Take Sumsung. My father has espoused the brand as great way back since the mid 1980s when he bought a cheap video recorder of theirs that did the basics and was CHEAP and always worked.
Now look at Samsung. The brand has been built on experience. Branding can enhance a product but it must sell first.
UFO
Also, while I’m on about Samsung Apple and SONY should take note. Samsung have been effectively open source following whatever is the standard. They HAVEN’T tried to control customers and HAVE been cognisant of consumers wishes and built cheaper generic product that works.
SONY has made a balls up consistently ever since the betamax issue, they have tried to lock in and control customers to enhance profits they have tried to control standards by producing standards that are not adopted by others, SONY memory stick was just another in a long line of dead end initiatives. (Apple is a complete clone in mentality to SONY) IF YOUR INITIATIVE DOES NOT BECOME THE STANDARD THEN YOU WILL LOSE. Samsung haven’t tried to control standards or people. Just the basics day in and day out. They don’t lose customers they slowly gain them and keep them as LIFETIME customers.
Wake the HELL UP Apple and Sony or you won’t even exist in 2 decades.
Rick Schwartz
“Customers don’t buy brands they buy something to satisfy a need. A brand only accumulates worth/value once people have purchased/used it.”
Exactly!
Now this is just so basic and that we even debate this is just a product of the new education system that is no longer in sync with reality. Companies have sales and marketing departments. There is no “Branding” department. If sales and marketing do THEIR JOBS, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a BRAND.
There is a graveyard of BRANDS out there. It’s about sales and profits and the RESULT is a BRAND when you do it RIGHT.
Rick Schwartz
Brand = Reputation
Brand = a Standard
Brand = all the positive AND negative attributes of your product and your company.
You can’t buy a brand. It is something that develops over time.
I am amazed I even have to write this and there is a debate.
Paul Smith
Why don’t people use real names in here? Anyway I agree UFO and Rick. I just learned later in life, I would of saved myself some money if I understood this concept sooner, but hey I’m honest, I just didn’t get it years ago. :-)
UFO
Don’t worry Paul I’ve burned shed loads of cash in parallel scenario’s.
One of the biggest issues is that actually nobody teaches or is taught real business. I mean street business like really selling things to real people. Street business can be scaled up to large corporates so long as you have sufficient organisational abilities (Harvard et al will teach you organisational abilities but not the street level stuff which is THE MOST IMPORTANT!!).
Anyway, on a different front, I got sent an email detailing the virtures of pluck.com and social media sales etc etc. So I thought WTF and had a look at pluck. Noticed its built owned by DM – Demand Media which rang a different bell and here we go on dnjournal back in 2007 http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2007/april.htm
Personally I think this guy is probably the best out there, ideal guest speaker or a detailed catch up by dnjournal to empart some knowledge and thoughts.
Ron Waran
I like your notion of branding being about sales. What other reason could there be. Brand collaboration could help sales but dilute the soft value of the brand.