Tweet

Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers’ Minds

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Book review -- Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers’ Minds – Karen Post, AMACOM (American Management Association) www.amacom.com, November 2004, ISBN-10 – 0814472346, 187 pages, $17.95

Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers’ Minds

The challenge of making your brand memorable and rememberable is difficult at best and a constant challenge for anyone in the industry.

The first thing we had to get over in reading the book was the author’s branding as the Branding Diva. Ok it is a personal mental block but we’ve met a number of divas in our career and in a number of instances they were simply prima donnas…individuals in love with themselves and their own self-importance.

But we were able to put that aside in reading Ms Post’s book because to start with the title was extremely intriguing – Brain Tattoos. After all that is exactly what every company and every product strives to achieve in today’s over communicated world.

The barrage of online/offline, print/air and event marketing activities all designed to make an impression (favorable) with the consumer is overwhelming. The noise level is so high it is easy for us to tune out even though you can’t seem to turn it off.

To Ms Post’s credit she doesn’t bog the reader down with hackneyed theory or rhetoric. Instead she wastes no time in getting to work to assist you in identifying your brand’s purpose, its personality, its consumer promise and how you can develop a unique and hopefully memorable difference.

The author doesn’t isolate products from the company or the firm’s management. She treats them as a single identity which we appreciated because people don’t buy products…they buy people. She explains how the company and the people marketing/selling the product have a profound impact on how well the brand makes an impression.

With open-ended questions she makes the reader think by asking questions that you need to answer if you are going to make a lasting impression, a tattoo.

She does an excellent job of helping you understand how you can develop a good balance between connecting through emotions and confirming the decision with reason…thus reaching both sides of the consumer’s mind.

She discusses, dissects, analyzes and explains what makes noteworthy brands such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Cingular Wireless, Virgin, The Container Store, Starbucks and FedEx.

Perhaps what you’ll find most valuable in the book are the inputs and observations from the Brain Trust. What’s the Brain Trust? This is the combined experience and expertise of well known marketing and branding gurus such as Tom Peters, Jack Trout and Joe Calloway.

In each of the book’s ten chapters, Ms. Post presents a set of five second brand bites. These are concise and practical statements which wrap up the essential lessons you should take away from the individual chapter.

Brain Tattoos is an impressive effort. You won’t find complicated, useless theories. Truth is you’ll find very little of today’s tired marketing jargon that we seem to hear when words replace ideas. This really a hands-on marketing book that will help you develop product impressions that can become brain tattoos!

The author helps you identify what it takes to develop a unique brain tattoo for a product – any product – whether it is sold business to consumer or business to business. She gives you information, recommendations and guidelines that you can put to use immediately to make phones and cash registers ring.

She lays out all of the tools you need to become your organization’s leading branding ambassador. She gives you all the items you need – questionnaires, tattoo tests and tol kits that can help your organization and you produce successful brands.

In addition, after reading the book in its entirety, Ms. Post rewards you with her list of top ten tattoo taboos. After reading and digesting each chapter you’ll find you can quickly recognize the taboo and you almost instinctively know how, why and where the concept goes wrong. It is a great self-test to see if you got the full value of the information presented.

If you didn’t…put the book down, leave it for a week or two and then reread it cover to cover. In no time you’ll be able to raise your messaging above the noise. If you’re lucky – real lucky – you’ll be able to produce and maintain your organization’s and its products own brand brain tattoo!

Brain Tattoos does an outstanding job of giving us a lasting and hopefully positive impression of Ms Post and the things we need to consider and do to help company management and products move to the next level.

###############

Related Articles
  Book Review -- Brain Tattoos
  Would you get A Tattoo of the General Motors’ Logo?
  3 Benefits a Logo Gives to your Brand
  Brand Creation-How Do You Create a Compelling Brand?
  ASAP Brand Test: What Word Describes Your Brand?

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hey GT, I guess this was from a while back, and it'll test your memory a bit but could you possibly elaborate on Unique Selling Proposition? Can you give us some examples of good USPs?
How to Do Great Marketing with (Amost) No Money - I've given this presentation to CEOs many times. Now i can share it with you. But I cannot because I do not yet have 20 posts. Jeff Ogden, President Find New Customers
Re: Can you outsource your product launch? - Yes that what I am talking about. Creating a buzz for your online product launch basically. Is this part of what you do?
Re: What I Enjoyed Reading This Week - June 4 - Hi Evan, I just joined this forum and looking forward to positive interactions. I'd say great collection of weekly reads. My top two picks from your list are 4 Facebook Marketing Tactics and 8 Brands That Have Found Success on FB - very interesting and informative resources especially for entrepreneurs who want to get the most out of online marketing. Thanks, Melanie James


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Halloween Howl Seven by Author Paige Agnew

Building a Business From 30,000 Feet

Google Panda and Your Search Engine Rankings

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.