Turn Your Audiences into Believers and Followers Whether we admit it or not, we all fall under the spell of brands that tap into our particular values, aesthetics, or worldview. That appeal to our emotions and sense that we are intimately understood is a powerful pathway that marketers can leverage to build greater customer loyalty, […]

Brands are becoming less about actual products and services and more about the values and communities that surround them. Authentic meaning and connection are what smart brands are built on, fueled by social media, real-time messaging, and larger societal issues. Learn more about what it takes to build a brand that draws interest and loyalty […]

Factors of a Successful Digital Campaign Just about any marketing campaign today has at least some digital component. But simply using digital tactics without careful consideration of how to optimize their advantages will yield disappointing results. In our free “Digital Marketing Campaigns” white paper, you’ll get a better understanding of what questions to ask first, which elements […]

Whether you’re establishing your brand for the first time or refreshing it to stay up to date with your audiences, it helps to have a process to ensure that your brand is relevant, unique, and works hard for years to come. The Channel BrandBuilderTM is an easy to follow yet thorough roadmap for knowing where […]

Brands are becoming increasingly engaged in, or at least supportive of, initiatives aimed at addressing social, environmental, healthcare, political, and other issues. However, many are also finding out that it’s far more challenging to live up to these values through tangible actions than it is to simply engage in virtue signaling. Our free ebook, “Be […]

We usually associate the identity of a brand with its visual presentation—a logo, graphic design, or even a specific color. However, a unique sound signature can also be a powerful asset for providing audiences another way to recognize and remember you. Learn more about how sound branding has been used by leading marketers and enterprises […]

Be Noticed by Willing to Be Different Your brand depends on differentiation from the competition. You can do this through any number of variables—price, quality, packaging, service, etc. But what if your marketplace is packed with competitors who collectively have formidable advantages over you in all of these and other factors? If so, it’s time […]

Building a website is easy. Building a website that’s functionally, creatively, and strategically sound is less so—but will be a powerful branding and marketing asset for achieving your audience engagement and retention goals. The TDC WebBuilder provides a concise overview of the various steps and components to create a robust website. Whether you’re looking to […]

Developing and sustaining a strong brand is a lot like conducting a symphony orchestra. Every element that goes into your brand— positioning, messaging, identity and visual assets, engagement channels, and more—all play important parts in creating the most impactful and memorable impression on your audiences. However, these pieces must be carefully managed and implemented in […]

The Art of Problem-Solving When most people hear the term “design thinking,” they often regard it as a process pertaining only to artistic pursuits. However, design thinking is actually an approach to problem-solving that has been practiced for millennia in a wide range of applications and arenas. In short, it’s a formalized way of applying […]

Make Your Meeting a Must-Attend Experience An annual meeting, conference, or trade show is a tremendous opportunity to attract new prospects, strengthen ties to current members, and highlight the unique value your organization offers. In other words, it’s a prime branding opportunity—one that you can’t afford to overlook. In fact, creating an effective sub-brand for […]

Making Sure Your Brand Always Puts Its Best Foot Forward While you may have invested a significant amount of time and effort in developing a new brand identity for your organization, you need to resist the urge to immediately apply these to all of your marketing materials before you take one more critical step. Developing […]

Effective Brands Use Narrative to Engage Customers Hard facts and figures usually inform most of our day-to-day purchase decisions. Whatever’s faster, lighter, bigger, longer lasting, or less expensive usually wins our wallets. But when we’re looking at products or services that might show our values and beliefs to others, we often look for brands to […]

The 2016 Design Census is partnership between AIGA and Google. It grew out of the annual AIGA Salary Survey and recognizes the need for open source data about designers, for designers. It is supported by numerous design organizations including IDSA, IXdA, SEGD and Ico-D, the NEA and many design schools. One statistic that came out […]

Make the Case for Your Cause Often, non-profit organizations assume that the nobility and virtue of their causes are self-evident to everyone. As a result, they believe that they don’t need to have a strategic communications effort in place to attract attention. The fact is, making your cause noticed, supported, and ultimately an effective vehicle for […]

Why Brand an Association? Many associations look at branding with skepticism. Why should a non-profit organization that serves a highly specialized audience need to brand itself? Shouldn’t its name be sufficient in letting people know what it’s about? First of all, it’s important to know what a brand really is. A brand is more than just a name or […]

How do you want to be known? Where is your next big success? What competitive advantage can you sustain? What does the marketplace want? How much growth is possible? Success is no longer a given from simply working hard. Growth is not automatically sustainable because you did something right one time. Customers and clients are […]

Before you can start spreading the word about your brand, you need to learn what your brand messaging voice is. And determining that voice, if you want it to be an accurate reflection of what your organization is really about, requires identifying a number of key messaging components. These should be examples of values that […]

Brand attraction: what is it? Brand attraction involves more than just having a particular preference—it’s a love affair. It’s a relationship that turns audiences into fierce advocates and lifelong evangelists for a brand. In other words, it’s the kind of relationship that every organization or company dreams of having with its customers. This eBook explores […]

Higher visibility in higher education In the early 1950’s, M&M’s was one of a dozen candy-coated chocolate brands on the market. However, in 1954, M&M’s announced itself as the confection that “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” While any of its competitors could have made the same claim, M&M’s was the very first […]

Find your Unique Value Proposition Do you know what sets your brand apart from your competitors? What benefit do you offer that no one else does? If you don’t know this, you’ll find it tough to be noticed in a crowded marketplace. Whether you’re a start-up or an established enterprise, identifying your Unique Value Proposition […]