I’m currently reading The Origin of Brands by Al and Laura Ries. I’m only on page 95, but already I’ve noticed that the Ries family continues in the same way they began with The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding:

• The father/daughter team isn’t afraid to take a contrarian position – they pretty much claim that ‘technology convergence’ is a wide-eyed dream without a prayer of living up to expectations.
• They explore the ridiculous outcomes inherent in the blind pursuit of such dreams. They discuss interactive gas pumps, interactive pianos, interactive clothing, interactive paper, and even, interactive toilets.
• Inside their fully warranted railings against such marketing-stupidity, are gems of knowledge.

One example is the simplistic, yet powerful idea that “[t]he primary objective of a branding program is always the mind of the prospect. The mind comes first, the market follows where the mind leads.”

I’ve always believed that if you find yourself in the business of changing minds, you should quit – it’s usually a really good sign that your product or service isn’t fulfilling a real market need. Al and Laura, however, aren’t advocating that branding programs change minds, just that they carve out a little space in them to occupy. So, how do you do that?

The answer is simple, really; you do it through consistent communication. Can live chat play a role here? You betcha. Not only can live chat windows and buttons be customized to carry consistent brand imagery, but live chat facilitates actual communications with a spokesperson for your brand. The opportunity to engage website visitors in real-time interactions is really the opportunity to affect the mind of your prospect and solidify your positioning in their mind.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.