Branding is Sex
– The Branding Masterclass Uncensored
Remember the last time you felt like you wanted to take a roll in the hay?
The best brands in the world can give their customers that same kind of feeling. Strong brands make customers feel like the hero in their own personal stories. Think about what happens when you’re feeling like you’re on top of the world and everything is working out the way you hoped it would. No matter which cliché you use to describe it—the feeling of having the wind in your sails or the world on a string—that feeling connects deeply with your emotions. Deb Gabor puts you in the mood to create a powerful brand that connects with your most important customers – the ones most highly predictive of your success.
Key Takeaways:
- Define what is a “brand” and how branding is “like sex” • Understand the importance of branding for informing business strategies
- Learn the foundations of brand strategy
- Gain insight into why even B2B and hard-core technology companies need brands
- Assess the timing for engaging in branding activities
- How-to: get tactical takeaways that audiences can use to create the foundation their companies’ or their own personal brands
Irrational Loyalty
– The Branding Masterclass Uncensored
Eventually, every organization faces a serious branding disaster. Think of United Airlines, Wells Fargo, Uber, and other companies whose tribulations made front-page news. Poor business decisions, corrupt cultures, or just plain bad luck can lead to major PR meltdowns, sending once-loyal consumers fleeing in droves. But there’s a right way to handle controversy and come out stronger on the other side. Using recent high-profile
brand implosions as prime examples, Deb Gabor demonstrates how top companies that break their promises inevitably suffer, and she explores the routes the more agile ones have taken to full recovery after letting their customers down.
Gain invaluable insights that will help businesses build positive brand equity, goodwill, and the “Irrational Loyalty” that will support them the best and worst of times.
Key Takeaways:
- What every company can learn from a small Ice Cream factory that literally killed customers and is more profitable and successful than ever
- How the world of branding and marketing changed forever when Donald Trump became President of the United States
- How the Amazonification of the world has made branding an imperative for companies of any size in any industry
- Why the best brands in the world use their value and beliefs as a magnet to attract their most ideal, most profitable customers
- How to build a strong brand foundation that propels organizations to be able to charge premiums for their products and services and become more sustainable
Craft Your Brand – Personal Branding
You probably never wondered what getting “in the mood” and how your personal brand shows up have in common.
In this fast-paced branding masterclass you’ll learn that and all about:
- The concept of “irrational loyalty” and how a brand that killed 11 of its customers is still a fan-favorite
- The three magic brand questions that unlock all your personal brand potential
- How to create a head-turning personal brand that makes your audience the hero
Most personal branding talks are either very academic or theoretical. Deb believes you shouldn’t need a Ph.D. to understand branding. This fast-paced, highly interactive master class based upon the branding methodologies Deb and her company have employed for decades to create some of the best-known brands in the world. This session isn’t just educational, it’s a hands-on, how-to workshop– in plain English– for building or reigniting your personal brand so you can achieve your personal and professional goals.
Branding is for Unicorns
The Ideal Customer Archetype: Do you ever wonder how top brands create irrational loyalty among their users?
The world’s most profitable and well-known brands bond in highly emotional and compelling ways with the customers who are most likely to spend the most money with them. Sol Marketing CEO and founder Deb Gabor leads this highly interactive workshop guiding attendees through identifying and profiling the customer who is most highly predictive of a startup’s success using the “Ideal Customer Archetype” methodology. Through the use of hands-on exercises, audiences learn to use this method to go beyond traditional demographic and firmographic profiles to hone in on behavioral and attitudinal attributes that enhance the climate of consideration for their brands and products.
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding the ideal customer archetype methodology
- Getting inside your customer’s head
- Segmenting and targeting customers
- Bonding emotionally with customers
- Becoming part of customers’ self-concepts
During the session, Deb will guide audiences through the development of their company’s own ideal customer profile, which they can take with them to continue the customer targeting process for their companies.
Hacking the Elevator Pitch
Whether you are out at a conference, mingling with friends, or you just so happen to know somebody who knows somebody who’s able to help you take your company to the next level, you’ll get this question: “What do you do for a living?” Or, “What is your company about?” This is the perfect opportunity, not to necessarily “sell” your business, but to make people want to know more about you and your company. The infamous “Elevator Pitch” was created for just such an occasion.
An elevator pitch is a conversation, or an ice breaker, that will (hopefully) lead to a deeper dialogue about the functionality, and specialty, of what you and your company can offer. In practice you typically have just 60 seconds to leave an exciting, impactful, and meaningful impression with whomever you come in contact with. So make them count. This highly-interactive, hands-on session will provide you with the building blocks for an exceptional pitch that raises your audience’s eyebrows and leaves them wanting to learn more.
Key Takeaways:
- Be exposed to the Anti-Elevator Pitch and how it serves as an invitation for further conversation
- Start to think of yourself as a “brand” and leverage that to your advantage
- Learn everything that needs to be in your elevator pitch and everything that doesn’t
- Create the building blocks of your own pitch – starting with communicating from a place of “WHY” and culminating in the unique qualities that can make you stand out
- “Hack” the elevator pitch at critical points to create a cohesive story about you and how you make a client or a hiring manager the hero in his or her own story
Your Brain on Stories
Harnessing the Power of Storytelling to connect with Customers
Humans have always told stories to understand, share and recall knowledge and culture.
Deb Gabor shows us how your brain reacts to information and how you can use that knowledge to connect emotionally with people to influence, inform, or sell anyone anything. Emotional connections are what stimulate the irrational, unconscious brain, giving you access to the power of storytelling to connect, persuade and build strong relationships.
This hands-on session will have you on your feet actively learning how to harness the power of what your brain does with stories to get what you want out of your interactions with others.
The session will include both presented content and hand-on exercises. Please come prepared to jump in. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes, as we’ll be moving around!
Skunkworks Branding
Branding on a Budget
When starting your business, there’s a lot to think about – your product/service, your team, your employees. But there’s also your brand.
You want to make a big splash, but you don’t have a big budget. Free social media is a good place to start, but there are strategic things you can do up front to dial in your strategy to ensure you maximize the use of your limited funds and unexpected low-cost opportunities to build your brand’s visual and verbal assets. This class is highly interactive, so expect to roll up your sleeves and begin the process of defining your brand’s core DNA and go-to-market strategy.
Key Takeaways:
This session about branding for early-stage companies will expose you to the following ideas:
- Basics of branding – what it is and what it isn’t
- Why and when to brand your early-stage company
- Using DIY techniques to define your brand’s core DNA and story
- Building a visual and verbal identity on the cheap
- Growth hacking your go-to-market strategy
- Getting in market without going out of business
