♫♪ This Brand Is Your Brand ♪♫

As we’ve touched on before, Guerrilla Branding is a phenomenal avenue to continual marketing success. The biggest problem is that it’s an avenue that can be more difficult to navigate than the Illinois Toll system on a moonless summer night in the rain while construction zones are in play.

For those of you who don’t recall, let me re-hash for a second. Guerrilla Branding is the phenomena of marketing an item that, over time, becomes synonymous with your brand. Examples are Xerox, Kleenex, Jell-O, and Saltines. They’ve become synonymous with or – in some cases – eclipsed making copies, facial tissue, gelatin, and soda crackers.

One of my more recent clients mentioned to me in passing that she was considering developing a brand of product unique to her business, for her exclusive sale. In fact, while doing so, she mentioned to me a fact that few people know, but we had both learned over the years: most products are made in one place, and then re-branded to be sold in varying outlets. For example: At one point in time I was told that all standard, powdered, coffee creamer – regardless of brand name sold under – was made by one company. And this is not a unique example, believe me.

In cases such as that, it’s ALL about the branding. So how does this work for you? First off, I would encourage you to close up your store, or shop for the evening. If you don’t have a physical storefront, then go to your work area. Have a nice cup of tea. Maybe a cookie – or even two – I won’t tell. First, take a good look around you. What do you see? More specifically, is there something around you that you can produce, purchase with re-branding, or a combination of the two? Now close your eyes, and mentally go over your inventory, with the same thought in mind.

Some of my readers will bow out right about here because it either doesn’t apply to them, or they’re already doing it. I don’t blame you one bit: there will be another time when a post will pertain to you, I promise. Thanks for your continued readership – I appreciate it!

Now, for those of you still reading, let me give you a real-life example from a real-life reader of this group: Ms. Joelene Chinn. Joelene took something simple and time-tested: The sock monkey. Then, she amped it up to 11, stepped outside the box, and went Guerrilla. Her idea? To create a line of unique, often one-of-a-kind, sock dolls (neé -action figures) that were anything but ordinary, and far from traditional. Her company is named, “Socks That Rock”. Now, because it’s a product that’s fairly untapped, she attached the name that is easy to remember, fun to say, and rolls off the tongue nicely.

This is the sort of thing that I’m talking about.

Likewise, other readers of this column have come up with, or mentioned, store-branded hair coloring solutions, confections, edibles, etc. All are good ideas, and all are going to go far if the quality is right, and the branding is consistent, meets the criteria outlined above (easy to remember, fun to say, and rolls off the tongue).

So what are you waiting for? In my experience, opportunity rarely knocks. Quite the opposite: Usually you have to track it and subdue it, much like Arnold Schwarzenegger did with the offending alien in “Predator”. Get going, and if you have a success story, I encourage you to share it in a response to this thread.

~ by digitalninjasmedia on January 9, 2012.