Blawg Review #169 discusses branding: why shout when you can whisper?
Posted by: Diane Levin in Blawg Review, Tech and Business Tips for Mediators
Since 2005 I’ve been a devoted supporter of Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging. It isn’t just for lawyers — the ideas, analyses of news, and viewpoints you’ll find there are relevant to anyone who seeks intelligent conversation about legal issues or smart tips on the business of running a practice — law or ADR.
Blawg Review #169, this week’s edition, continues the Blawg Review tradition. Playing host is Whisper, a brand strategy consulting firm.
What is branding? Whisper captures it neatly:
Defining why you are, so that you become the only logical choice for what you offer.
Whisper’s approach to brand strategy is simple:
Whisper is founded on one big idea: “The key to any effective marketing, branding or advertising effort is to change and take ownership of the conversation.”
Helping people shape and take ownership of the conversation is something we mediators know plenty about. But branding our work and branding ourselves? — not so much, as my colleague Tammy Lenski has pointed out. Whisper, however, has a lot to teach us. Blawg Review #169 presents examples of effective branding and shares Whisper’s philosophy of strategic brand building.
You can still catch last week’s presentation of Blawg Review, when West Virginia Business Litigation served as host. Next Monday New York criminal defense blog Simple Justice will do the honors.
Entries (RSS)
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Diane, the information about Whisper made me think of a quote by business blog guru Shel Israel (quoted also in my book), who’s also credited with coining the phrase “conversation marketing”:
“…people respond better to lowered voices spoken in credible tones than they do to the aggressive in-your-face marketing speak as is evidenced in everything from TV ads to the pap-lingo of so many websites. If common sense prevailed, marketers would understand that simply conversing with customers, prospects, partners, investors and employees is more effective. People listen better and longer when you just talk to them and listen back. All too often professional marketers lose their credibility by hyperbole, hubris and amplification. It seems to me self evident that just talking with people is more effective than shouting and repeating yourself as if your audience was comprised of deaf idiots.”
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Tammy, wow, what a great quote. Says volumes about the importance of listening. And of course if you shout, you can’t hear anything but the sound of your own voice. I’m grateful for your contribution!
July 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[...] Levin at Mediation Channel put a bow around our column with this: What is branding? Whisper captures it neatly: Defining why [...]