Posted: August 14th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: b-notes | Tags: branding, corporate messaging, visual development | No Comments »
Branding Degree 1.0 – Core Message
§ Develop a dynamic and succinct core message
o Essential points should be basic, clear and memorable
o Audience-driven and benefits oriented to promote audience buy-in
o Drives targeted demographic toward your desired outcome
Branding Degree 2.0 – Visual Development
§ Develop a Signature Visual Image (SVI)
o SVI supports/enhances organizational core message
o Aligns with organizational personality, vision, and goals
o Clean, professionally developed and executable across mixed media format
o Create a feasible road map that clearly defines the route to be taken
o Create plans that details human and capital resources needed to achieve goals
Branding Degree 3.0 – Execution
§ Create ways for core message to tell organizational story repeatedly using “guerilla marketing” tactics
o Presence should generate interest, engage, and call to action
o Message should be audience appropriate
o Message and supporting marketing tools should enhance and support each other
o Use technology creatively
Branding Degree 4.0 – Feedback
§ Build in measurable tools to manage and track message effectiveness
§ Make tools easily accessible and end-user friendly in various formats
Branding Degree 5.0 – Evaluation
§ Look at feedback and determine at what level you are willing to adjust and accommodate
§ Incorporate “fresh eye”—seek external evaluation and analysis
Branding Degree 6.0 – Refinement
§ Adjust your plans to keep pace with changing end-user demands, market trends, and technologies at predetermined and consistent intervals.
‘BRANDING IS NOT A SINGLE OCCURRENCE –IT IS AN ONGOING PRACTICE”
Posted: August 11th, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: changing workplace, Generation X, mentoring, new media, reverse mentoring | No Comments »
Traditionally, in the workplace, the scenario was one where the seasoned veterans would take a rookie “under their wings” and help direct his or her professional path through what was is commonly referred to as “mentoring.” Those companies thought to be on the cutting-edge viewed this as progressive, forward-thinking, and an excellent way of passing on the proverbial baton to the next generation.
However, the ever rapidly emerging new technology has caused many Baby Boomer executives to realize that the direction of the flow of information, as it relates to particularly technology, is now flowing upwardly from the much younger Generation Xers who are more technologically astute. Major corporate concerns like General Electric and Procter & Gamble are leading the way in adapting what is now being called “Reversed Mentoring.” Last year, the Center for Coaching and Mentoring in Bartlesville, Oklahoma conducted a study on the subject and found that 41 percent of respondents used reverse mentoring by younger staffers to help executives gain a more youthful viewpoint and better understanding existing and emerging technologies.
In shifting the gears to reverse, good mentoring programs cannot materialize by happenstance. They require thoughtful planning and careful structuring to insure the avoidance potholes and pitfalls.
Setting up a successful reverse mentoring program requires a good deal of planning. It’s essential to create a structured program so that participants don’t wind up overwhelmed with regular work and skip sessions.” . . . Finally, both the mentor and the student require training. “The mentor must learn what’s important and how to show patience, and the student has to check his or her ego at the door,” . . .”Reverse mentoring is a great concept, but it doesn’t just happen on its own.” – Crain Communications, Inc.
Reverse mentoring provides an opportunity for gaining technical expertise and gives one a chance to take a fresh look from outside of the box. It is not a superior-subordinate relationship, but one that fosters peer-to-peer engagement. While mentoring is not a new process, it is one that has re-packaged itself to meet the demands of changing times and can be mutually beneficial to those who approach it with an open mind and expectations.