The Only Way is With Publicity

If your brand is to succeed and become popular, you need to attract publicity. Advertising no longer works. Years ago, your popularity depended on your advertising budget. The only thing advertising can do now, is maintain a popular brand.

So what can you do? Create a product, brand and story that is worth talking about. Your aim is for people to tell the people they know about you, and for the media to want to be the first to write an article about you. For this to happen, you can't deliver just what's expected from you. You need to go a step further and be remarkable. Have something that makes you stand out.

Don't forget that a good story is essential here. Give a lot of attention to it and a good twist. No one wants to hear about the graduates that secured funding and started a company that develops software. They want to hear about the college drop-outs that bootstrapped and launched their first product with no backing and with everyone telling them that they'll fail.

Create something worth talking about and people will follow.

Posted by Helen Amygdalaki // Lelou 

If You Build It, Will They Come?

I've seen this so many times. People believe that if they build something (an amazing web service, website, tool etc.) then people will come and use it. Unfortunately that's rarely the case.

The amazing product/service/_________ (fill in the blank) is just part of the equasion. You need to work on a lot more things than just the quality or the unique idea. One of the very important things are the brand and the story.

Using the brand and the story, you will have a chance to engage people even before they try your product. Once you've developed a certain mindset for them, it will be easier for them to understand what you are doing it, why you are doing it and eventually buy into it.

So stop waiting, build it and don't wait for magic to happen. Build a brand, craft a story and then start telling it. That's the only way people will find out about you.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Re-Post: What Is Your Brand's Story #BackToBasics

Everyone has a story to tell and so does your brand. You can use your brand's story as a way to connect with your audience and show them how you and your product are different.
People buy mainly based on emotions, so sharing your story can communicate with them on an emotional level. Your audience wants to find out about who you are, why you are doing this, how you are doing this and what they will gain. Don't be afraid to become personal, being human is not a flaw, it's reality.
If you made a mistake at the beginning don't just admit it, talk about how you went the extra mile to make it right. If you always have satisfied customers, don't just say "Satisfaction Guaranteed", talk about how you did everything that was possible to deliver to a client on the same day because they needed your product or service.
This story can also motivate and guide your company internally. Use it along with your mission statement, so everyone in your company knows where the brand came from and why it exists. It will help you set out goals and ease the communication of how things are done around here.
Finally, work hard on spreading the story and letting everyone know why you are doing this. You created this brand because it meant something to you so tell it's story.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Getting Your Story Picked Up By The Media

One of the best ways to communicate what you do and get attention is by telling powerful stories. It allows you to communicate on a deeper level with your customers and engage them.

Getting your stories featured by the media (either online or offline) is tough. One of the most important things is that you need to find an angle for your story. To do this you need to be very clear and focus about what is most important in your story. You need to simplify and avoid telling everything at once.

The more you simplify your story, the more clear it will be and your angle will become very sharp. This will give you a great advantage when it comes to getting your story picked. If you are launching a new productivity tool for example, saying what features it offers makes it one of the many tools available. Saying how your new software allowed a father of two to save 3 hours from his daily work life and spend more time with his family is a much sharper angle.

To get the media interested in your story you need to provide them with a good angle. The sharper and simpler it is, the more chances you have of it being picked up.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Your Obituary

Posted by Helen Amygdalaki // Lelou 

What did you Learn Last Night?

Last night we had the pleasure to take part in another round of portfolio night reviews with Consurgo at University of the Arts, London.

We worked with graduates and students from different fields, including graphic designers, product designers and illustrators.

What I found is that a lot of people forget the basics that are needed when pursuing something (like a job) and presenting their work. Here are some thoughts:

• Know what you're aiming for. You need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve and present it through your communication and work.
• Become the best at what you want to do. There are no excuses. If you want to work in a certain field, start doing work in that field, even if it's projects you come up with.
• Be confident. If you love what you do, show it. If you don't, don't bother.
• Create a flow. When presenting your work, you need to tell a story. Use emotions to engage your audience and be clear about what you are trying to communicate.
• It's a pitch. Like it or not, when you go for an interview or to show your work, you are pitching for something. Whether it's to get a job, a freelance contract or space in a gallery, you have to prepare a good pitch and practice delivering it.

The points above are not aimed at just creatives presenting their portfolios. Anyone that is looking for a job or starting something needs to have these always in mind.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

This is Where the Magic Happens

When describing what you do and how you do it, it's easy to fall in the trap of saying too much. You need to be mindful and provide just the right amount of information of how you do what you do.

The reader doesn't want to find out all the inner workings of your production or service. You need to sell your art and wrap it in a bit of mystery. This will help you tell your story and it will give it a "magic" touch.

Here are two examples that can help explain the above: 

Heinz Ketchup
When you land on the website what you read is "Only the firmest, juiciest, freshest tomatoes make it into our bottle. Every tomato in every bottle of Heinz® Ketchup comes from Heinz seeds and is grown by farmers we know and trust.". There is no mention about what exactly goes into the ketchup or how it is produced. That doesn't have any emotional trigger. It's all about the tomatoes!

Google
When you go on Google and even if you dig deeper and try to understand how Google indexes websites, you will get some information but not every detail. In the end that's where the magic happens and why google is the most preferred search engine. They give you enough information to understand why and how it works, but they won't give away their secrets.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Your Brand's External Stories

During the last two weeks we looked at your brand's main story and your brand's internal story. This week we are going to look at your brand's external stories.

You can look at these stories as the way that you promote your brand externally. To build them you can use the experiences that your customers and partners have had, in order to tell a story that presses your audience's emotional buttons.

If in your communication (adverts, flyers, press releases etc.) you only use hard facts and state your promise and values, it will be difficult for your audience to engage with you. Instead, tell a story that shows how much you love what you do and how committed you are to your values and promise.

You can even build different profiles, depending on the target audience, and then build a story for each profile. Each story will speak to them directly and to their emotions. Try to keep this personal and use real experiences, so that the audience can imagine themselves being part of the story.

Always remember that you need to use your main story as the starting point, in order to provide a consistent image that communicates your promise and values.

Posted by Helen Amygdalaki // Lelou 

Your Brand's Internal Story

Your brand has both an internal and an external story. This week we will look at the first.

One of the most important parts of your company is the people that work in it. They too are one of the most important parts of your brand. As you tell a story about your brand to your customers, you have to do the same with your people. They are also your audience, just a smaller one that already knows you.

You need to develop a good story that explains why you are doing this, what you are trying to achieve and how you will make it happen. Then you need to tell them how they fit into this story. How they are the key part of this puzzle.

You can make it a formal story that people have access to somewhere, or an informal one that is passed on by word of mouth and evolves as it's told.

Finally remember to be consistent and communicate the same vision, values and message.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis 

Be Unique

In order to succeed and be noticed, you need to be unique. Trying to win over the competition is a difficult, time consuming and usually fruitless game.

If you are only trying to beat your competitor, then you might end up just chasing behind them. Take Apple for example, there isn't an iPhone killer in the market because there is only one iPhone. Trying to beat the iPhone (which is 2 years in development in front of you) is an endless battle. By the time you launch your iPhone killer, Apple will have launched iPhone 5 and you will be right where you started.

Instead of trying to beat your competitors, observe and learn. Then take those lessons and create your own unique niche that will bring you the following that you need in order to succeed. 

Remember to stay personal along the way, explain why and how you are different and tell your story.

Posted by Harry Mylonadis