Here's why brand isn't your logo…your employees are your brand. They are your first and most passionate (can be) brand ambassadors. So leadership must set the tone when developing core values, hiring practices, mission, operating principles, etc…Those are actually the foundation of your brand and brand promise.

You must deliver on every brand promise. Who delivers on that promise? People. And one step further, from where? The office. So you can and should also translate your brand into your physical space. I couldn't imagine Southwest Airlines' offices being stuffy and conservative…and if they are, shame on them.

​You can't expect people to compartmentalize how and when they "project,” or live, your brand. It's Jeckel & Hyde and it's exhausting. Who wants to be somebody else half their lives? Besides an online predator or something. Please don't fill your company with online predators. 

I went to Home Depot - which may as well be a foreign county to me, and I the annoying tourist to the locals - to help my mom pick out some paint. 

John jumped at the chance to help us. His enthusiasm contagious, his knowledge supremely helpful. He was happy to find out more about what we were trying to achieve and presented alternatives. Truly happy to help. 

Jump at the chance to help your customers. Jump at the chance to understand their goals and how you can add value. And they'll be happy to jump at the chance to talk about it. To talk about you. 

Thank you, John, and thank you, Home Depot. 

Southwest Airlines flight. As a member of the coveted boarding group C, expectations are low; each has a personal strategy in picking their undoubtedly middle seat. I entered the cabin seeking mine.
 
I’m not a plane talker. Based on the multitude of memes and comedic routines on the topic, I’d venture to say most people aren’t. So I chose my middle seat because one guy was asleep, the other wearing headphones. And quite frankly, neither were spilling into the middle seat. 8B, it was.
 
For whatever God-forsaken reason, I actually got into a conversation with my plane neighbor - the horror! Well, he turned out to be a literal neighbor – kids attend the same school as mine and all. He was positively lovely. How lucky am I to have a friendly neighbor!?
 
As my conversation with said neighbor started as a break from my reading on content marketing, customer conversion, blah blah blah, my mind wandered back to the topic after he returned back to episode 1 of John Ryan and I to my book...On the plane, I was annoyed when the conversation began. But if in my ‘hood, I would have welcomed a conversation from a neighbor!
 
As marketers, we need to meet customers where they’re ready and open to listen. Where they don’t mind being interrupted (because let’s face it, much of marketing remains an interruption at this point but hey, we’ll get there). Study your customers’ behavior. What is their mindset whilst on Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? At a football game with family? Or even on a weekday versus Saturday…Understanding when they’ll be open to receiving a certain type of message (the value your product/service adds to their lives) can save oodles of wasted marketing dollars. Because some people love to talk on a plane. Others don’t welcome so much as a ‘hello.’ Are your customers in a frame of mind to welcome your hello?
 
One hour of planning saves three in execution. More difficult and time consuming to develop a strategy per channel, customer segment, behavior, etc., it will yield better results.
 
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?