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In this episode, Sean D'Souza of Psychotactics discusses how small businesses should approach differentiation when selling their products and services.  Sean is the author of The Brain Audit, and is a copywriter, cartoonist, and speaker. He is also the host of the three month vacation podcast.  We discuss common challenges people have around differentiation, and how the biggest mistake people make is that they promote their company instead of talking about their products. We cover: How to position a product so it sticks to the consumers' mindsCommon challenges people have around how to differentiateMeasuring results through benchmarks Reasons for the high failure rate of small businessesLinkedin: Sean D'Souza Twitter: @seandsouza Book: The Brain Audit psychotactics.com View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

In this episode I explore positioning with Ulli Applebaum. Ulli is an experienced award-winning brand strategist and founder of First The Trousers Then The Shoes and the author of the brand positioning workbook.  There are different philosophies about positioning and it depends on what category you are working in as to the research that's appropriate to do.   We might have one central brand position, and separate positions and messaging for  products we supply.  We touched on: Brand purposeIdeas on how you can do positioningPositioning — how to create your positioningHow does positioning tie with differentiationCreating a category — should it be part of your positioning?Examples of well-known brands and their positioningLinkedin: Ulli Appelbaum Twitter: @FirstTheTrouser Book: The Brand Positioning Workbook first-the-trousers.com View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

In this episode, we discuss positioning and differentiation with Johnny Molson a marketing consultant and strategist with Wizard of Ads who helps small businesses to build custom marketing strategies.  We consider the difference between niching, positioning, differentiation and distinctiveness, including the challenge of becoming known.  Trying to become known for one thing rather than three things makes it more possible to be remembered in the marketplace.   The episode touches on: The need to test the market to decide how to position your brand.Difference between differentiation and positioning with examplesHow to get your desired perception into the consumer's mindSocial media – is it worth doing in terms of building a brand? View the podcast transcript here Linkedin: Johnny Molson Twitter: @disruptingads Book: Campaign-O-Matic! wizardofads.org & molsonpartners.com Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

Lee Salz is the Founder and CEO of Sales Architects where he helps clients develop processes to hire the right salespeople, effectively onboard them and align their sales activities with business objectives. In this episode,  we talk about differentiation, Lee shares his insights on two types of differentiation which are marketing differentiation and sales differentiation. He also shares why the word "unique" is one of the biggest causes of frustration in sales. This episode covers: Why is it important to differentiate What does a business need to do to differentiate itself and what examplesWhy the word "unique" is one of the biggest causes of frustration in salesTwo types of differentiation — marketing differentiation and sales differentiationHow to perceive meaningful value in what you're selling through an ideal client profileHow some buyers don't see an objection to prices and value a product intrinsicallyHow to work out who your target buyer isLinkedin: Lee Salz Twitter: @SalesArchitects Free tool: Target Client Profile Template Books: Sell Different! &  Sales Differentiation salesarchitects.com View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

Daniel Priestley runs business accelerators for entrepreneurs. In this episode, he discusses the Dent rebrand, Lifestyle v. Performance boutique, and the new edition of his book Oversubscribed How the entrepreneurial revolution shifts people to earn money through entrepreneurship and starting and growing their own businesses as the Industrial Revolution changed the way we live and work.Why visual identity has to work harmoniously with the rest of the brand identity and has to be simple and cleanWhat happens when you nail your vision and its simple, the clear message becomes a turning point for your businessHow having a strong culture and vision allows you to attract the right kind of people when you’re recruiting talent.Why Daniel incentivises new hires to leave quickly if they discover his company isn’t a good fit for them What presidential elections can teach you about the evolution of marketingDaniel released a new edition of his book Oversubscribed: How to get people lining up to do business with you in February 2020The two main successful business variations are Lifestyle Boutique. 3 - 12 staff, profitable and lots of fun. The second is Performance business that employs 40 to 150 staff who are a talented team, it has recurring revenues, assets and a good niche in the marketplace.How businesses are valued by various methods including benchmarking, multiples of profit and based on their brand, market position and systems like Uber for instance.Linkedin: Daniel Priestley Twitter: @DanielPriestley Instagram: @danielpriestley Book: Oversubscribed: How To Get People Lining Up To Do Business With You dent.global Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

David Aaker hailed the “Father of Modern Branding,” and Vice-Chair at Prophet is a recognized authority on branding, He has developed several concepts including the Aaker brand vision model. In this episode, we discuss all things brand related, in particular names. We covered: Why intellectual property is not included in the training of brand managersThe importance of being clear on the definition of IPThe different perspective that IP brings to namingNaming and whether descriptive names are a good choiceThe role of intellectual property in building barriers to entry against competitorsBrand equity — three things it consists inView the podcast transcript here LinkedIn: David Aaker Twitter: @DavidAaker davidaaker.com Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

Rory Sutherland,  Vice Chair at Ogilvy UK and author of the book Alchemy, the Surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense discusses brand, advertising, decision science and more. In this episode, Rory points out why ambiguity in terms like brand and IP are problematic. The word brand is used to mean anything people want. It's even been used to defend advertising, that doesn't work, the episodes touched on many interesting points including: The misunderstanding of the value of brandsThe reasons why brands might change their name and logo Situational examples when brand names can't be protectedChesterton's Fence and how it relates to Tropicana's redesignThe value in simple fame that defies logic explained by behavioural scienceThe importance of understanding what the law means by IP in terms of brandingHow plagiarism is  policed through professional shaming in the advertising industryView the podcast transcript here LinkedIn: Rory Sutherland Twitter: @rorysutherland Book: Transport for Humans www.ogilvy.com Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

In this episode of the BrandTuned Podcast Shireen interviews Susan Payton who helps business owners tell three stories - their personal story, their business story and their customer story.  How a career writing and researching in TV and radio led to Susan's business which revolves around how businesses should use storiesSusan has trained in Nashville with Donald Miller - the author of Story Brand and is a certified story brand guideWhy your customer’s story is the most important story of all, the one to focus onShowcasing what your customer needs will show you care about their problemsA good example of business storytelling in action is TOMS shoes who donate a pair of shoes for every pair they sell.Susan can be found at thebusinessofstories.comLinkedIn: Susan Payton View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

John Pryor is a management consultant and founder of Exalt IP and intellectual property firm.  In this episode, John shares his insights on trade secrets, including why it is so important to distinguish trade secrets from general know how in an organisation. Classifying an important recipe as a trade secrets gives you more powerful rights in the event of any breach of them.  He walks us through trade secrets policies and the importance of educating employees about intellectual property and trade secrets. This episode covers: Guiltless Gourmet's buy out talks with Frito Lay - an example of what not to do  with your trade secretsSteps an organization needs to take internally to protect trade secretsHow to classify trade secrets possibly using red, amber and green classificationThreats to leakage and theft of trade secretsExamples of brands protecting their competitive advantage through trade secretsWhy reputation is the single most important issue for brands to focus onLinkedIn: John Pryor Instagram: @the_ip_foundry Facebook: @TheIPFoundry Website & blog: www.exaltip.com/blog View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

Christine Mackay is the founder of  Salamandra.uk an animation agency,  she helps her clients to communicate complex messages using animation.   In this episode, Christine shares that even if you just have a word mark, you could animate your logo, and make it come to life. And in that coming to life, you could actually convey some of what it is that you do.  Animation is very malleable, and there are many ways to make use of it in branding or to explain aspects of the business. Movement attracts attention.   This episode covers: How Christine chose salamandra as a name from which 3-D Sal emerged. That salamanders mean 'cute, funny and smart' to Christine .The power of animation in making a brand more memorable How tone of voice was an important differentiator for her business.Companies often turn to animation to communicate complex messages.The difference between a video and animation. The single most important thing a company needs to focus on to build its brand. LinkedIn: Christine Mackay Twitter: @SalamandraUK Instagram: @salamandra.uk Book: Destination Animation Website: www.salamandra.uk View the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com

Lawyers and many other professionals are increasingly challenged to identify their distinctive skills and talents, and the capabilities they possess that cannot be readily replaced by technology or alternative ways of working and access to cheaper options. Richard and Daniel Susskind predict that professionals will be increasingly displaced in an internet society by AI and other technologies.  In an earlier book, The End of Lawyers, Richard Susskind had predicted that a new breed of hybrid lawyers will emerge, who are increasingly multi-disciplinary in order to succeed.  Hybrid lawyers are quite different to the lawyers of today who already claim they are deeply steeped in neighbouring disciplines, as project managers, strategy, management consultants and more but who often lack the depth of expertise in those neighbouring disciplines.  This episode covers: How internet society will bring fundamental change in the way 'practical expertise' of specialists is made availableWhat professionals need to do to move up the food chain to become trusted advisersParallels to the legal industry for other professions.The essentials to be "superbly schooled and genuinely expert” in multiple disciplines.A call for lawyers and others to consider the prototype Brand Tuned AccreditationView the podcast transcript here Valuable Resources: Brand Tuned Accreditation Brand Tuned Newsletter www.brandtuned.com