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Re: 10 Things To Think About Before Naming A Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:54:54 -0000

Hi Ainslie,

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

It can be tricky working all of this out when you are a solo entrepreneur so asking people to help can be a good things.

Although I have found when it comes to the actual naming or choosing a logo part that it's best to fire the committee.

As ten different people for an opinion and you'll get ten different answers!

And yes, I can see that you put a lot of thought into your name and how it fits into the story you want to tell about your brand.

Re: 10 Things To Think About Before Naming A Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:41:16 -0000

Hi Leigh,

I'm really glad you found it helpful.
Don't forget to come back and tell us more about your project and what you called it.

Re: 10 Things To Think About Before Naming A Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:26:59 -0000

Hi Brendan,

Thanks!

There will be plenty more listless posts coming soon.

Ah yes....Paul Arden, my other hero :).

As you say there's more than one way to skin a cat. I'm finding though that most people I work with have no shortage of ideas but that they often get stuck at the communicating them part.

Sometimes we need to take a step back and think about the why of our ideas before we can set about verbalising the what.

Thanks for the link too.

Re: The million dollar story

Bernadette Jiwa — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:03:06 -0000

Thanks Scott!
That's the power of being able to present your idea in a way that resonates.

Re: Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:24:55 -0000

Thanks Theo!
Food for thought.
We can learn so much from people, brands and businesses we respect for just being good at what they do.

This is the sister site to Etchd.com. I'll still be posting for you there.

Re: Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:36:21 -0000

Thanks Catie,
I'm glad you found it useful.
It's often helpful to look at brands we admire and love in other niches and work out what they are doing well.

Re: Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

Bernadette Jiwa — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:18:10 -0000

Hi Naomi,

The layout has been dubbed "the long natural way". It's another way that IKEA shows us how it's different from any other retail store.
Visiting is about the whole experience. It's not designed to be convenient to do a smash and grab run. If it was it wouldn't be IKEA.

Fabulous if you're renovating an entire room. Frustrating I know if you just need to replace your FÖRSTÅ!

Re: Questions To Ask Before Launching An Idea

Bernadette Jiwa — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:40:26 -0000

Hi Lea,

Glad the post helped and good luck with re-launching your websites and new ideas.

Re: Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

Bernadette Jiwa — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:42:37 -0000

Hi Lee,

Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I think for such a huge brand IKEA manages to balance the two as well as it can.
Not sure if you were talking about how customers or staff act in store, but I suspect that it's customers :).

Re: Questions To Ask Before Launching An Idea

Bernadette Jiwa — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:36:23 -0000

Glad they helped Gwyn.
Good luck with your launch.

Re: Framing Your Scarcity

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:00:11 -0000

Thanks Steve,

It was interesting to read Seth Godin's take on scarcity on his blog post today.

He said; "It's funny how a scarcity of availability and a ticking clock changes our perspective and the desire to take action."

Framing your scarcity changes perspectives.

Re: Your Best Idea.…

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:02:08 -0000

Thanks Danilo for reading and having ideas that matter :).

Re: 25 Ideas On Using Instagram For Business

Bernadette Jiwa — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:41:42 -0000

Exactly Michael!

There will be so many different ways to involve customers and fans.
I'm looking forward to seeing how brands take advantage of the intimacy they could develop with people on this platform.

Thanks for reading. The writing wouldn't happen without the audience.

Re: 25 Ideas On Using Instagram For Business

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:47:14 -0000

Hi Tessa,

What's interesting about this platform is that the users are doing this themselves already. People are using the platform as a kind of visual diary.

There are are 8,000 photos posted with tags of just coffee. 4,700 others tagged Starbucks which has nothing to do with what the brand itself is posting (they have an account and have only posted 53!).

I can't stress enough the opportunity in this platform for clever brands not to use it as purely a broadcast medium but to gain insights into how customers engage with their products and share with their friends.

Re: Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

Bernadette Jiwa — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:16:20 -0000

Thanks for taking the time to comment.
These things work because they are subtle, not in your face :).

Re: 6 Questions For Crafting Your Relevance

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:53:27 -0000

Hi Danillo,

I think companies are having to re-learn how to do this.
The businesses that are doing it well are thriving.

Thanks for your wonderful comments!

Re: 6 Questions For Crafting Your Relevance

Bernadette Jiwa — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:36:55 -0000

Hello Heather,

I think once you have some answers it will really help you to shine a light on what it is people (the right ones) want from you.

Thanks for the reading and the lovely comment!

Re: 25 Ideas On Using Instagram For Business

Bernadette Jiwa — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:47:14 -0000

Hi Heather,

If you think of Instagram as a very visual form of social media it might make more sense. Think about how you are already interacting with your fans on Twitter. How did you become successful using that platform?

There is no tutorial as yet. Instagram do have s best practices for business PDF but it's very sketchy. I think they are busy building the platform and getting that right first.

Have you read Twitter's best practices?
They might help with some ideas https://business.twitter.com/

Re: Taking Control Of Your Personal Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 02 May 2011 05:49:53 -0000

Thanks for your time and insights David.

Re: Taking Control Of Your Personal Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:29:44 -0000

Thanks Dan,
I know David's blog has helped many people in your position.
Good luck with your project!

Re: Take Your Time

Bernadette Jiwa — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:13:41 -0000

Thanks Heather for both the comment and the link. Glad this post resonated.
Your work and your talents are unique and amazing. And don't you forget it!

Re: Taking Control Of Your Personal Brand

Bernadette Jiwa — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:49:59 -0000

Hi Danilo,

Thanks!

I know, there is so much out there on the subject of personal branding and it can get confusing.
David would probably be the first to say that anyone could have done what he's done. The thing is he recognised the opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.

We can all do the same by selling what Google can't optimise.
http://www.logodesignlove.c...

Re: How Does Your Business Sound?

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 16 May 2011 08:59:09 -0000

Hi Grace,

Thanks for your thoughtful comment and great questions.

The success of any brand is built on more than just the name. What gives a brand a significant head start in growing is how they demonstrate the value they offer and the level of emotional connection they can make with their customers.

Your brand name, tagline, website copy, logo etc are some of they ways you start connecting with your audience.
They are your 'once upon a time'.

As I mentioned in this post even boring names have their place if they are aligned with the brand's values. If you need to sound authoritative and weighty then it's perfectly okay to be called the British Medical Journal.

Regarding branding yourself with your name this can be a great strategy as long as you allow your personal values to shine through in everything your business stands for.

You might find this post helpful when thinking about how to do just that.

http://thestoryoftelling.co...

Re: How Does Your Business Sound?

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:34:39 -0000

Hi Nadine,

Choosing a the name because it reflects your values is important. People need clues about what it might be like to work with you and injecting your personality in to the brand can work really well. As it has done for Virgin for many years.

Re: How Does Your Business Sound?

Bernadette Jiwa — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:35:18 -0000

I'm sure you have!