Entrepreneur's Handbook 💰
Branding & Distribution Channels
Branding 101

Branding 101

Why do customers of companies like Apple and Harley-Davidson make purchases without considering the competition? How do these brands command higher prices and maintain customer loyalty?

What is Branding?

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Branding involves creating associations between a product and desirable attributes or people. Branding ≠\neq Advertising. You can have effective advertising that reaches a large audience but still results in poor branding. Advertising vs. Branding: Advertising raises awareness of your product; branding creates positive associations. Branding is the deliberate pairing of desired outcomes with your product.

For example, Coca-Cola pairs the outcome of "refreshing satiation" with the action of drinking Coca-Cola. So, when you want refreshment, you reach for a Coca-Cola.

Consider the case of Bud Light: despite having good advertising, it faced poor branding due to an audience mismatch.

Dylan Mulvaney

Pair your product with what your intended ideal audience likes. For Bud Light, successful pairing with figures like Shane Gillis and UFC led to a sales recovery. Think about what your ideal audience values. What outcome do we want them to associate with our brand? Branding always happens, but good branding is the deliberate pairing of our business with positive outcomes for the ideal customer. What we pair our business with determines:

  1. Who pays attention to the business.
  2. Whether they engage with the business.

Branding Process

  1. Starting Point: A new brand has weak associations.
  2. Pairing: Associate your brand with something your ideal customers like.
    • Example: Nike paired with champions like LeBron James and Tiger Woods.
  3. Meaning Creation: Your brand starts to represent what the customer likes.
    • Example: Nike represents sports, competition, and winning.
  4. Premium Transformation: A strong brand can elevate commoditized products into premium, high-value items.
  5. Customer Aspiration: Customers want to associate themselves with what they like. They can't buy the actual association but can purchase a part of it through branded products.
    • Example: Nike customers buy products with the logo to align with the brand's values.
  6. Purchase and Perception: Customers buy the product, feeling they are buying into the association.
    • Example: Nike customers think, "I want to be a winner," and buy Nike products to feel like winners.

Branding Process

People may not say this explicitly, but the transfer still happens. Examples

  • Dolce & Gabbana + Kim Kardashian: Fame, Beauty, Wealth

Why Build a Brand?

  • Change Customer Behavior: Influence how customers perceive and interact with your product.
  • Premium Pricing: Charge higher prices for commoditized products.
  • Enhanced Advertising Effectiveness: Improve response rates and return on advertising investments.
  • Customer Loyalty: Foster repeat purchases and long-term retention (e.g., Apple).

How

  • What do we want to pair to attract ideal customers. What values, people, experiences etc. do we want to use to connect the audience to the product and the brand
    • What should we avoid pairing with to avoid losing customers
    • What associations do I want?
    • Majority of ideal customers. Whenever we try to grow, we make new genre, new song, we make a bet that more people from the ideal audience will like it. There mat be some that dislike it but NET we want an increase in reach, infleuence, and positive direction
      • Dont let 5 mean comments deter us from 500 new people who like the new thing
  • Equally important, avoid remove or ignore stuff they hate. This hates the brand
  • Distant and sparse associations hurt the brand. A lot of branding happens by accident - It is just what the brand appears next to. Dedicated branding is like gardening. We will have to weed out undesirable, and assemble in a specific manner
  • Consistent Quality: Ensure the product meets or exceeds customer expectations to maintain brand reputation.
  • Handling Branding Mistakes Recovery Strategy: Overwhelm customers with positive associations to mitigate the impact of any negative pairings. Until it shrinks into irrelevance. Think of Kanye.
  • Product will do a lot of the branding for you after the initial funnel. So the product cannot suck either. But it doesn’t have have to be the very best either, because branding can carry you the last mile. But is better to have the product be amazing.

Key Metrics for Branding Success

  1. Influence:
    • Definition: Measures how likely it is that the brand changes someone's behavior.
    • Importance: High influence indicates the brand's ability to impact decisions and actions.
  2. Direction:
    • Definition: Evaluates whether the behavior change is in the desired direction.
    • Importance: Ensures that the brand drives behavior that aligns with business goals and objectives.
  3. Reach:
    • Definition: Counts how many people the brand influences.
    • Importance: A broad reach means the brand is known and recognized by a large audience, enhancing its overall impact.

Dcypher Example

Here is an example for Dcypher, my News Aggregation and Trend Analysis Platform:

Ideal Customers: Technology Consultants who are Implementing AI solutions for their clients.

Brand Associations:

  1. Values
    • Innovation: Cutting-edge technology, always staying ahead of the curve.
    • Efficiency: Maximizing information value while minimizing time spent on administration and distractions.
    • Reliability: Consistently providing accurate and relevant information.
    • Expertise: Authority in the field of AI and technology consulting.
  2. People
    • AI Thought Leaders: Experts like Andrew Ng, Yann LeCun, and Fei-Fei Li.
    • Successful Entrepreneurs: Figures like Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai who are known for their innovation in tech.
    • Tech Influencers: Popular voices in AI and machine learning on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.
  3. Experiences
    • Industry Conferences: Sponsoring or participating in events like NeurIPS, CES, and AI Summit.
    • Webinars and Workshops: Hosting regular sessions on the latest AI trends and implementation strategies.
    • Success Stories: Showcasing case studies of successful AI implementations by technology consultants.

Strategic Pairing Examples:

  1. Innovation
    • Pair with Thought Leaders: Collaborate with AI experts like Andrew Ng for webinars or content pieces.
    • Highlight Cutting-Edge Projects: Feature stories and case studies of innovative AI projects implemented by consultants using Dcypher's tools.
  2. Efficiency
    • Demonstrate Time Savings: Use data and testimonials to show how Dcypher's platform saves consultants time.
    • Automated Tools: Showcase the efficiency of Dcypher's automated content curation and trend analysis tools.
  3. Reliability
    • Case Studies: Provide detailed examples of how Dcypher has helped clients achieve their goals.
    • Consistent Quality Content: Regularly publish high-quality, accurate information relevant to AI and technology consulting.
  4. Expertise
    • Educational Content: Create in-depth guides, whitepapers, and tutorials on AI implementation.
    • Certification Programs: Offer certification programs to enhance consultants' credibility.

Implementation Steps:

  1. Identify Key Influencers and Partners
    • Reach Out to AI Experts: Engage with thought leaders and influencers for partnerships and collaborations.
    • Sponsor Key Events: Participate in and sponsor major AI and tech conferences.
  2. Develop High-Quality Content
    • Produce Case Studies: Document and share success stories of AI implementations.
    • Host Webinars and Workshops: Regularly engage with the community through educational events.
  3. Leverage Social Media and PR
    • PR Campaigns: Launch campaigns to highlight partnerships, product updates, and industry contributions

Consistent Quality and Handling Mistakes:

  • Ensure Product Quality: Regularly update and improve the platform to meet user expectations.
  • Positive Associations: Overwhelm any negative feedback with positive customer experiences and successful case studies.
  • Transparent Communication: Address any issues openly and show how they are being resolved to maintain trust.

By strategically pairing Dcypher with influential figures, high-quality content, and positive experiences, the brand can build strong associations with innovation, efficiency, reliability, and expertise, attracting and retaining technology consultants as loyal customers.

LinkedIn Branding Strategy

Some general Tips and Optimization:

  • Be intentional about audience and goal. Once you become intentional about your audience, you can tailor your content towards them. If you treat your organization’s Page as a dynamic marketing tool (rather than a static “About Us” page), you can establish thought leadership, build brand awareness and move your audience to take action.
    • Up-sell to a platform, using the brand as a Funnel
  • On a weekly basis, you should be:
    • Allocating time to plan out content.
    • Viewing analytics to track content performance.
    • Creating daily calendar reminders for engagement.
  • Quantity:
    • Companies that post at least weekly see a 2x lift in engagement with their content.
  • After a LinkedIn Page reaches 150 followers, it will continue to grow new followers at a rate 9x faster than Pages with fewer than 150 followers.
  • Good Example is AlphaSignal (opens in a new tab)

Content Types

Posts

Ask thoughtful questions that encourage comments: Treat every share as an opportunity to start a conversation with your followers.

  • We recommend 150 characters or fewer.
  • Ask a thought-provoking question, point out a feature of the content you’re linking to, or even stir up a little controversy. Make it personal and call out your audience, i.e., “57% of marketers are using Generative AI to create more content in less time. How is the technology most helpful (and least helpful) for you and your team?”
  • Don’t use links
  • Add hashtags to associate your content with ongoing conversations and existing communities
    • If you want to add followers from existing communities, using the same hashtags those communities use is a good way to go about it.
  • Posts with images typically see a 2x higher comment rate versus those without images

Comments

Responding to and interacting with other posts. You need to take the time to build rapport and engage with your community. As you might expect, this starts with the comments section

  • Turn notifications on for different LinkedIn creators, so that you’re notified whenever they post
  • Respond to comments: Admins can also respond to comments as their LinkedIn Page on other content outside of the Page itself. Use this feature to establish and build relationships with other brands as your organization.
    • Asking questions that encourage comments can do wonders for amplification. Engaging with those comments can do wonders for trust and loyalty.
    • Engaging with comments shows audience members that your Page is a dynamic, people-powered destination and not just an unmonitored message board
    • focus on those where your response adds value for the responder or for other audience members who may be viewing the thread. Entertainment value counts, too.
  • Don’t:
    • Post emojis without any text.
    • Post generic responses such as ‘Thank you’ and ‘I agree’.
    • Comments like these don’t add meaningfully to a post’s internal chatter, and will likely not receive any engagement as a result.

Shares

The 4-1-1 rule says that for every single piece of content you create about yourself (or your organization), you should share an update from another source and, most importantly, share four pieces of content written by others.

  • This rule helps keep your feed centered on your audience’s needs, rather than making it a place for your organization to solely talk about itself.
  • For every piece of content you share, add your organization’s takeaway or thoughts in your post sharing it. Take this opportunity to demonstrate your company’s expertise or even start a conversation.

Video Posts

Video posts get 5x as much engagement on LinkedIn as conventional posts, and Live Video posts get 24x more engagement.

  • Mobile Friendly (91% of LinkedIn members watch videos on their mobile devices)
  • Always include subtitles: LinkedIn research shows that only around a third of people watching videos on mobile have the sound on at the time.
  • Show what you want to show in the first ten seconds: You only have around that long to grab your audience’s attention.
  • LinkedIn studies show that less than 30 seconds is ideal for brand awareness and consideration goals, whereas demand gen videos can be slightly longer and tell a more complex story.
    • For now, for growing the brand, use less than 30 seconds.
  • Use an informative and engaging thumbnail: This will help your viewers see what your video is about at a glance.

Articles & Newsletters

Create a newsletter to grow subscribers and Page awareness

  • Newsletters have emerged as a great way to consistently produce thought leadership and keep your brand top-of-mind. When you go to publish an article from your Page, select “Create a Newsletter.” Once you publish your first newsletter, it will be posted as an article to your Page feed and notify all of your Page followers.
  • By covering topics that are meaningful to your brand community, the newsletter can serve as an ongoing way to attract and engage a qualified audience through your content. Reviewing analytics to see which editions of the newsletter resonate most with subscribers can help you understand how to adapt your content strategy moving forward.

Timing

it's important to post when your prospects are most active on the platform

  • LinkedIn is a professional network, so activity tends to peak during the work week. Tuesday through Thursday are often cited as the most effective days to post
  • Posting during business hours, particularly between 9 AM and 2 PM, aligns with when most professionals are active on LinkedIn.
  • Early mornings (around 7 AM to 9 AM) and lunch hours (around 12 PM to 1 PM) are times when professionals might check LinkedIn before starting their workday or during a break.
  • Consultants: 7AM to 2PM, Tuesdays to Thursdays

Actionable Schedule, Strategy & Plan

Here is an example of a weekly content plan for Dcypher on LinkedIn:

Weekday Daily

  1. Comment on 6 relevant posts from AI consultants or industry leaders (AlphaSignal, Yann Lecun etc.). Ensure these comments are thoughtful and add value to the conversation.
  2. Reply to all comments on posts daily to engage with audience and build relationships.

Monday

  1. Share 1 industry news post with commentary. Add our perspective. Post around 12 PM.

Tuesday

  1. Post the newsletter from Sunday at 7 AM.
  2. Share 4 curated posts from network/industry news. Add our perspective or a question to engage the audience. Post at 9 AM and 2 PM.
  3. Create and post 1 short update (around 150 characters) with an image or infographic on a trending AI topic. Post at 4 PM.

Wednesday

  1. Post 1 video (30-60 seconds). Ensure it includes subtitles and a compelling thumbnail. Post at 10 AM.

Thursday

  1. Write and share 1 post following the 4-1-1 rule. Create 1 piece of content, and share 4 pieces of content written by others. Post at 11 AM.
  2. Post Sunday’s article between 9 AM and 10 AM.

Friday

  1. Use the Content Suggestions tool to find and share 1 trending topic relevant to AI consultants. Post at 9 AM.
  2. Post 1 thought-provoking question or poll to encourage comments and engagement over the weekend. Post at 12 PM.

Saturday

  1. Review LinkedIn Analytics for the week to understand which posts performed best and why.
  2. Plan next week’s content based on insights from analytics. Iterate using this as feedback. Outline topics and schedule posts in the afternoon if possible. This should be discussed in a call.

Sunday

  1. Create and send a weekly newsletter summarizing key AI insights, articles, and posts from the week.
  2. Write 1 article on a relevant AI topic, focussing primarily on new use-cases. It will not be shared today.
    1. latest AI trends, New Product and Use-Case, case studies, or insights from podcast, Reddit, etc.
    2. Aim for 600-1,000 words.
    3. This should be written to target consultants.
  3. Update cover image if needed to reflect any upcoming events, campaigns, or highlights. Should be updated regularly.

Total

In total, per week, apart from daily:

  • 1 Article, and therefore, 2 newsletters
  • Share 10 news post with commentary
  • 2 Short Update with Infographic
  • 1 Video Short
  • 1 Poll/Question for the weekend for engagement

1 Month Review

At the end of the 1 month, we should analyze performance and adjust content strategy based on feedback and engagement metrics. See which times are better for engagement (hence one article being at 7AM and one at 9-10AM)

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