Branding Deep Dive with Ahmed Cheema

Today we’re talking to Brian Rafferty. Brian is the Global Director of Business Analytics and Insights at Siegel+Gale. Siegel+Gale is a global brand experience firm. They partner with the world’s leading corporations, nonprofits and government organizations to build brand experiences that are remarkably clear and unexpectedly fresh. In other words, simple. For 10 years they’ve released an annual report on the World’s Simplest brands. This year’s report surveys over 15,000 consumers in 9 countries, across 25 industries, covering over 800 brands in total.  In this episode we dive deep into the world’s simplest brands report, why its so important to keep your brand simple, how big corporations with multiple business units like google and amazon stay simple, why Apple never really does well on the world simplest brand reports, how to strike the balance between digital experiences and human experiences, and much more. If you feel like your brand is way too complicated for your consumers, you’ve come to the right place.Key Lessons:Simplicity pays - since 2009 a stock portfolio of the publicly traded simplest brands in the global top 10 has outperformed major indexes by 1600%You don’t need fancy design to be simple, you need to make it easy for your consumers to understand what your promise is and then to over deliver on that promise. The reason apple doesn’t rank highly is because people have high expectations of simplicity from apple and they don’t always live up to that promise. Links:Siegel+GaleWorld's Simplest Brands ReportSiegel+Gale LinkedinSiegel+Gale Instagram

Today we’re talking to Dr. Aaron Ahuvia. Dr. Ahuvia is the brand love guy. He’s is the Czarnecki Endowed Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a popular keynote speaker. He is the world’s leading expert on brand love, a topic of rapidly growing interest among companies looking for long-term customer relationships. His book, The Things We Love, explains the psychology behind brand love, and it has been named by Amazon as one of the best 20 business books for 2022. Dr. Ahuvia conducted the first scientific studies of brand love some 30 years ago and continues to lead research on this topic. A Stanford University study ranked him in the top 2% of all scientists worldwide, and he has hundreds of press appearances, including being a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Dr. Ahuvia works regularly with Google and has spoken about brand love at leading companies, including L'Oréal, Samsung, Maybelline, Procter & Gamble, Audi, General Motors, Microsoft, Ford, GfK Market Research, and many others.In this episode we dive deep into why we love brands, techniques for actually making people love our brand, his perspective on how Apple develops brand love, and much more. If you want your customers to fall in love with your brand, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:If you want to get people to love your brand, you need to employ personificationIf you want to develop brand love, you have to get serious about it. Start measuring it.Links:Website: https://brandlovecentral.com/Book: https://brandlovecentral.com/book/U of M Dearborn Marketing Program: https://umdearborn.edu/cob/graduate-programs/degree-programs/ms-marketing

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brandingdeepdive?sub_confirmation=1Today we’re talking to Valentin Radu. Valentin is a Customer Value Optimization evangelist and international speaker, defining a new category and helping retailers grow. He’s the CEO & Founder of Omniconvert.  Omniconvert helps eCommerce companies find hidden gems in their data, improve Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Retention & deliver personalized customer experiences across all channels.He’s also written a book about customer lifetime value called The CLV Revolution coming out on September 20th In this episode we dive deep into  what customer lifetime value and customer value optimization is, why the old methods of spending unlimited money on customer acquisition doesn’t work anymore, how to actually improve your customer lifetime value, and much more. If you have customers but can’t figure out how to make a profit, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:It’s not enough to simply know your customer acquisition cost, acquisition costs will always go up. In order to run a truly profitable business you need to understand how to maximize customer lifetime value. Customer Value optimization is about understanding who your customers are and why they purchase your products. Understanding this, allows you to take customers from apprentice to soulmate. Links:The CLV Revolution Book: https://theclvrevolution.com/Website: https://www.omniconvert.com/ + https://academy.omniconvert.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentinradu/

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brandingdeepdive?sub_confirmation=1Today we’re talking to Molly Ruland. Molly is the CEO and founder of Heartcast Media which is a digital content agency focused on creating branded content that drives revenue and creates strategic relationships. She’s an expert in the podcasting space and I really turned this whole call into a consultation for my own podcast. In this episode we dive deep into how to monetize your content, properly placing CTAs in your content, different tools to make the content creation process easier, and much more. If you don’t know where to start creating content or are looking to monetize your content, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Your audience isn’t the only way to monetize, think about bringing on guests that can be strategic partners or potential clients. Develop a relationship, provide value, then make the askOptimize your titles for discoverability, not searchability. I put the episode numbers in my titles because I wanted my listeners to be able to go back and quickly find the episodes I was referencing, but its more important to hook new listeners with your title than it is to make it searchable for your existing listeners.  Links:https://www.heartcastmedia.com/https://www.castmagic.io/?via=heartcastmediahttps://www.tubebuddy.com/onelovemassive

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brandingdeepdive?sub_confirmation=1Today we’re talking to Shachar Meron. Shachar has 20 years of experience as a branding, advertising, and marketing executive and has worked on 100+ brands, including well-known brands like TransUnion, Boeing, McDonald's, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, Nordstrom, Cars.com, Motorola, and Abbott Labs.He currently serves as a Partner and Creative Strategist at Bluegreen Branding, where he helps brand and marketing leaders, primarily from tech and finance companies, create brands that stand out from all the noise.Shachar is also a Senior Lecturer who teaches advertising and brand strategy at the University of Illinois, where he also earned his BS and MS in Advertising. Over the past nine years, he has won several teaching awards.Before life as a lecturer, he co-founded BatesMeron Design, an indie agency focused on branding and marketing, where he helped grow the business to 30 clients and $1M in billings. Shachar also founded Redacted, which became Chicago's largest copywriter association in its first year.He is a regular contributor at Brandingmag and was a featured speaker at AMA BrandSmart - the leading conference for brand marketers in the US -  in Chicago this April.In this episode we dive deep into brand communication, running branding workshops, how to measure brand equity, and much more. If you don’t know where to start with your company’s branding, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons: 1. How to measure brand equity - how much of a premium are people willing to pay for your product? 2. How to make someone a brand ambassador - think through how you’re providing value at the different phases of the customer journeyLinks: https://bluegreenbranding.com/resources/https://bluegreenbranding.com/insights/

Today we’re talking to Jordan Harbinger. Jordan is a Wall Street lawyer turned podcast interviewer with an approachable style and knack for securing high-profile guests. His podcast, The Jordan Harbinger Show, was selected as part of Apple’s “Best of 2018.”Jordan is a legend in the podcasting space, averaging 10 million downloads a month. He’s an OG podcaster and has been podcasting for 17 years at this point. In this episode we dive deep into why he named his show the Jordan Harbinger show,  the nitty gritty details of how to properly host a guest on a podcast, how to come up with questions no one has asked before, and much more. If you’re looking to create a world class podcast or take your interviewing skills to the next level, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:As a podcast host, if you have no input you’re commoditizing your product. As a podcaster, your co creating the episode with the guest, not just giving the guest a space to repeat the same talking points they’ve said on 100 other shows. As a host you separate yourself with your prep by reading the subtext. What’s not being said in the text, what being left out but would be an interesting story, ask yourself questions you would ask the person.If you want to have a 1% podcast you have to put in 1% work. This isn’t something we directly talk about, but it’s clear from talking to Jordan just how much sheer effort he’s put into refining himself as a host, storyteller, and just general conversationalist. Being 1% is a mindset of never mailing it in and always finding ways to improve. He does his own research, has a variety of coaches to work on minute little skills, and responds when people reach out to him. Most people don’t even bother doing research. Links: Jordan's website: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/Kobe Bryant interview:  https://www.jordanharbinger.com/kobe-bryant-dissecting-the-mamba-mentality/Tim Grover interview: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/tim-grover-the-unforgiving-race-to-greatness/Seth Godin interview: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/seth-godin-shipping-creative-work/Mark Cuban interview: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/mark-cuban-tales-from-the-shark-side/Howie Mandel interview: https://www.jordanharbinger.com/howie-mandel-a-conversation-about-mental-health-talent-and-perseverance/

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brandingdeepdive?sub_confirmation=1Today we’re talking to James I. Bond. James has been studying ordinary products turned into blockbusters for 35 years. Along the way, he uncovered a breakthrough -- something that he calls BRAIN GLUE, that makes your ideas "sticky" so they stick to your prospect's brain like glue. This activates the emotional side of the brain, where decisions are made, making it much easier to get them to say YES to your ideas and buy your products.He’s written a whole book on the subject and in this episode we’ll be deep diving into why naming is important, numerous examples of the sales a slight name change can lead to, psychological tactics you can use to stick in your customers minds, and much more. If you want to learn more about product naming or or selling more products this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons: The right name can EXPLODE your business, don’t rush this part of the process. In your CTAs, give the customers the next step, don’t skip to the last thing you want them to do

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brandingdeepdive?sub_confirmation=1  Summary: In this episode we’re talking to Lauren Desouza. Lauren wears a lot of hats, she’s the host of Retain: the customer retention podcast, she’s an alumnus of Canada’s Next 36, and she’s the co-founder and CEO of ACE, a startup that uses AI to help people prepare for interviews and refining your communication skills.  In this episode we dive deep into what retention marketing is and how to do it, the benefits of going through a founder development program, how to uniquely engage your customers, and much more. If you want to learn more about customer retention or being a founder this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Customer retention isn’t copy paste. It’s not as simple as just implementing a rewards program because X company in your industry has one. See how you can uniquely serve your customers  If you’re nervous about becoming an entrepreneur or starting something, talk to entrepreneurs. It'll help you get over the hump and just get started. Links:Gameball: https://www.gameball.co/ Ace Interview Prep: https://www.aceinterviewprep.io/ 

Today we’re talking to Scott Keyser, the Writing Guy. With the right words you can sell anything — a product, service, idea, or even a belief. But understanding how to formulate the right words is a riddle only few people understand.  Scott Keyser is one of those few.A lifelong lover of the English language, Scott understands the power of words to move, bewitch and persuade. Since 2004 he’s helped over 5000 professionals find their voice, write Human and get the results they want from the words they write.His clients include The Economist Group, all of the Big Four accounting firms, three international law firms and two barristers chambers.Scott helped Ernst & Young to double its tender win-rate and increased an international outsourcing company’s tender win-rate from 14% to 71%, after just two days.He’s the author of two groundbreaking books, winner takes all: on how to double your tender win rate, and rhetorica®. Wanting to share his secret with the world, he’s created a system of 15 persuasive writing techniques. They’re simple and they work.In this episode we dive deep into why learning to write well is so important, how to find your voice, how to stop writing in passive voice, and much more. If you’re looking to improve your writing this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Read your writing out loud - this is one of the easiest ways to make sure your writing is goodGive yourself permission to write more conversationally - imagine you’re explaining something to a friend. This will bring your voice into your writingLinks:Write for Results: https://writeforresults.com/Rhetorica: https://amzn.to/3KP19bzWinner Takes All: https://amzn.to/3ZM0wDO 

Today we’re talking to Richard White. Richard is founder and CEO of Fathom.video, a free app that records, transcribes & highlights your calls so you can focus on the conversation instead of taking notes. Fathom was a part of Y-Combinator’s W21 batch, is one of only 50 Zoom App Launch Partners, and is one of a small handful of companies Zoom has invested in directly via their Zoom Apps Fund.Prior to Fathom, Richard founded UserVoice, one of the leading platforms that technology companies, from startups to the Fortune 500, use for managing customer feedback and making strategic product decisions. UserVoice was notable for being the company that originally invented the Feedback tabs shown on the side of millions of websites around the world today.Richard previously worked on Kiko, a company in the first batch of Y-Combinator, with Justin Kan and Emmett Shear who subsequently went on to found Twitch. Richard is passionate about designing intuitive productivity tools with delightful user experiences.In this episode we dive deep into how to properly cold email, the benefits of working at a startup, when to monetize your startup, how to get and implement product feedback, the benefits of going through Y Combinator, and much much more. If you’re looking to build a startup, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:When you write cold emails, write directly to one person at a time. If it reads like it’s a bulk message, it will likely get deleted. Make sure you’re solving your customer’s problem end to end and not just one part along the journey. For Fathom this meant that the job wasn’t done until the notes from the zoom meetings were in the CRM. Fathom Website: https://fathom.video/

Today we’re talking to Stephen Houraghan. Stephen is a freelancer turned brand strategist and the founder of Brand Master Academy where he helps freelancers evolve into brand strategists using his proven system. His program has helped over 20,000+ students including clients that have gone from charging just a few thousand dollars to winning projects worth over $60,000. Stephen’s unconventional approach has transformed struggling agencies into highly paid and sought-after brands.On his ‘Brand Master’ podcast, Stephen has interviewed leaders in the branding industry including Sunny Bonnell, Douglass Davis, Michael Janda, and Marty Neumeier.In this episode we dive deep into how to evolve from freelancer to brand strategist, what brand strategy even means, why its important for businesses to invest in brand strategy, and much more. Whether you’re already a brand strategist or you don’t know what brand strategy even means, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:When it comes to positioning yourself as a brand strategist on social media, you can’t be talking about pixels and websites, you have to understand the craft, change the conversations you have with clients, and get into the nitty gritty of brand strategy on your social media The most fundamental brand strategy questions are: 1. Who are we for and 2. Why should they chose us over our competitors. When you’re building a brand, take the time get clear on your brand’s answers to these questions so you can communicate your message properly to your prospects. Brand Master Academy Website: https://brandmasteracademy.com/Brand Master Academy YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/@BrandMasterAcademy

Today we’re talking to Seth Erickson. Seth is the Chief Mischief Maker for Storify Agency. Storify helps you understand the neuroscience and psychology of storytelling which has led to massive success for small and large companies. Seth also has a  bestselling book ‘How to Hack Humans’ which has received 2 awards and shows businesses the secret method used to get the most ADHD customers to pay attention. He’s on a mission to reduce the massive startup failure rate and create a positive change in the world by empowering companies to communicate more effectively.In this episode we dive deep into why its so important to understand storytelling as a business, how to create content your customers will want to binge, how to use emotion in your storytelling, and much more. If you feel like your business isn’t telling stories effectively, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Understand your brand archetype, don’t just use humor because you’ve seen another brand use humorGet people to binge your content by using open loops - give people a cliffhanger at the end of each piece of content so they always want moreLinks: Storify Agency: https://www.storifyagency.com/How to Hack Humans: https://amzn.to/3U6jTpY

Today we’re talking to Swire Ho AKA The Promo guy. Swire runs Garuda Promo and Branding Solutions which specializes in helping businesses market themselves using promotional products. Swire is also the host of the Garuda Promo weekly podcast, The Small Business Show. He talks to various experts that will help small business owners become more efficient and successful.In this episode we dive deep into how businesses can use promotional materials such as merchandise to drive customer retention, how to network, government contracting,  and much more. If you’ve been thinking about creating merchandise for your brand, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Don’t just show up to networking events, have a strategy and follow up consistentlyDevelop mini advocates by thinking about the whole customer journey from before they even become customers, the experience they have as your customer, and after Garuda Promo Website: https://www.garudapromo.com/ Small Business Show Website: https://www.garudapromo.com/blog/the-small-business-show/ 

Today we’re talking to Scott Turman. He is the founder and CEO of BrightRay Publishing, an American company that offers writing and publishing services for founders, CEOs, celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and other professionals.Scott has co-written two books. The first, Stop Getting Fu*ked by Technical Recruiters: A Nerd’s Guide to Negotiating Salary and Benefits and How to Build Your Brand with a Book: Establishing Yourself as a Published Expert.Scott is a technologist, entrepreneur, and author. Prior to founding BrightRay Publishing, he wrote code and cryptographic systems for organizations like NASA, the US Department of Defense, Disney, and other Fortune 500sIn this episode we dive deep into how writing a book can give your personal brand a huge lift, what to write about, how to leverage your book to get the opportunities you want, and much more. If people always tell you that you should write a book, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:If you’re an expert or have some specialized knowledge, writing a book is a great way to build authority in your market and to build your personal brandThe book is simply the start, the rest is how you leverage it. Scott gave examples of getting creative with using direct mail to get his book and pitch into the hands of reporters and people he wanted to work withScott Turman’s Website: https://scottturman.com/Brightray Publishing Website: https://brightray.com/

Today we’re talking to Rocky Buckley. Rocky works with experts, thought leaders, and influencers to shape their personal brand and package and monetize their expertise at a high price point. In this episode we dive deep into Rocky’s journey from being behind the scenes to putting himself out there, building community, monetizing your personal brand, and much more. If you’re interested in building your personal brand and getting paid for your expertise, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:You have a unique voice and experiences and only you can reach certain people. Don’t try to be someone else. Monetizing your personal brand is not as simple as just putting content out and money will start falling from the sky. You have to start with looking internally and finding your why, understanding your strengths, and then implement a proper business model that aligns with that. Rocky's Website: https://www.rockybuckley.com/

Today we’re talking to Sam Caron. Sam runs an agency that brings your brand’s strategy, identity, and messaging to life.   In this episode we dive deep into personal branding, positioning, brand archetypes, rebrands, Sam’s personal journey into posting on social media and starting a branding agency, and much, much more. This is one of the most technical episodes we have in terms of really understanding what a lot of the buzzwords in the branding space actually mean.  Whether you’re interested in branding or you run a small business and aren’t sure what branding is, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:When building your personal brand, don’t get too focused on the visuals. Put yourself out there and connect with people When thinking through brand archetypes, it’s not as simple as my customers are ruler archetypes so my brand will be a ruler archetype. You have to think through which archetype can serve your customer’s archetypeSam's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesamcaron/Sam's Website: https://samcaron.be/

Today we’re talking to Kristi Mitchell. Kristi is a marketing strategist that specializes in helping soloprenuers and small businesses with their digital marketing. In this episode we dive deep into the marketing funnel, how to measure results of your marketing efforts, the jobs to be done model, and much more.  If you feel like you have no idea what you’re doing with your marketing, this episode is a must listen. Key Lessons:Marketing funnel - Take a look at your marketing strategy and see where you have gaps in taking people from unaware to paying customer Jobs to be done model - Understand who your target audience is, talk about their pain points and frame it as a job to be done - this will attract your target audience right to youKristi's Website: https://www.kristimitchell.com/

With the introduction of Twitter Blue allowing people to get verified by paying $8, impersonation accounts have been popping up. One of the companies hit with impersonators was Eli Lilly and Co. where an impersonator tweeted claiming Insulin was free. The resulting backlash cost the company an estimated 20 billion dollars in market cap. The team discusses the implications of this and Elon Musk's twitter takeover in general. 

Today we’re talking to Mohammad Turaani. Mohammad owns and operates a barber studio in Canton, Michigan and is involved in youth programming and teaching. In this episode we dive deep into Mohammad’s journey to become a barber, opening up his own studio, getting clients, running multiple instagram accounts, and much more. Key Lessons:If you’re operating multiple social media accounts, you have to be very clear about the target audience and messaging for each account. Sticking to a color theme can be a powerful way to remain top of mind for your customers. Links:Mohammad Turaani Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mohammad_turaani/ Barber Turaani Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barber_turaani/ Booking page: barberturaani.booksy.com

Our Producer Momo joins the show to analyze the impact of Adidas dropping Kanye and what lessons we can learn from the incident. Key Lessons: Customers nowadays want the brands they buy from to share their valuesWhen Crisis hits, acknowledge the issue and overcorrectLink to YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/WETWgJCIeDsBranding Deep Dive Website: https://www.brandingdeepdive.com/