Welcome to the Business Abundance Podcast, providing
the tools and knowledge to help small business
owners succeed. For additional resources, visit
www .businessabundance .online. Welcome to the
Business Abundance Podcast. I'm Ian, not Z. It's
amazing. She's handed over the reins for this
little podcast called Branding and How to Stand
Out. In a crowd. It's been three years and you've
been waiting for this moment. I've got radio
voice on and everything. He looks like a two
-year -old with so many wrinkles. He's that happy.
I'm so excited. He's red faced. I am running
the podcast. This could go anywhere. Probably
not because he's got run shitty. Tell us what
it's all about. We're talking about branding,
which is Ian's specialty. We're not talking about
horses with a hot stick. No, we are not. You
put it in a fire and you singe their butts. Nope.
We're talking about actual branding. He's waited
for this moment for three years. He's running
on one hour sleep and he's good to go. This is
so good. Give us what you got. Branding, standing
out from a crowd. So let's think about branding.
What is a brand, Rowan? You're going to give
me nothing. I don't know. We were just talking
about watching a video before saying don't date
outside out. music genre and uh vibes attracting
your tribe kind of and i'm like what does that
mean and then i watch the video and it's just
a concert with this guy dressed up as a viking
with an axe singing a song and then a whole bunch
of crowds holding various weapons just just jumping
yeah and i'm like yeah fair branding like yep
you're not gonna have to explain anything no
one's gonna give you the time of day unless they
actually like what you do he knows his audience
and then you said your vibe attracts your tribe
and i'm like meh yeah makes sense yeah i've been
in a a monomath they're a swedish metal band
i think they're swedish pit, mosh pit type thing.
It's like melted cheese in there? Pretty, it
smells like melted cheese sometimes. It feels
like it too actually because you're all mingling
together and squealing. It's not good. Z's, she's
utterly revolved. That's the most revolved thing
I've seen. Z's idea of a great day out is a mosh
pit at a monomath. But they do this thing called
a row pit. A row pit. A row pit. There's this
one song. Like rowing. Like rowing. As in rowing
a boat. So everyone sits down in the mosh pit.
Your legs, the person in front of you is kind
of sitting. Oh, like in a conga line. Intimately
close. A conga line, but you're straddling each
other. As though you're in a Viking ship. And
then it's just, row, row, and there's videos
of it all over YouTube. You've done this? Yeah.
There's actually, I'm in the NotFest video when
they toured with, uh, last year, year before,
and you can see, because I wear a bright shirt
in a sea of black shirts, and the drone goes
over the top and yeah, you're sitting down in
the mud and... It's generally not mud created
by just water which is kind of repulsive. So
it's multi -day into the event. It's pretty full
-on and smelly but you're all there doing your
thing. Imagine the band like you're creating
this and you just get to watch it. You're like
these guys are nuts. That's weed, that's beer,
that's sweat and they're just there in there
growing. Same band I've seen an electric wheelchair
go up over the top of the pit. and like gets
to the front of the pit, security grab it and
pull it down and the lead singer stops the show.
My new best friend and gives him a beer. Are
you allowed to drink and drive? It's amazing.
What was that festival that Limp Bizkit did a
set in Woodstock and they pretty much destroyed
it. And it's like, I'm just thinking about five
effects. I've never thought about this stuff
before, but like. They obviously were enjoying
the what was going on and then the crowd, you
know, it's obviously pretty dangerous and terrible
But then also they were there and they were loving
it. Yep, and the vibratrex tribe and and they're
like, right We all want to do the same thing
and off we went. Is that the one where they like
crash into each other? Oh the wall of death a
lot of bands do that. That's different No, this
is Woodstock. Do you want to rough a quick? What
happened? Woodstock, they did a redo of Woodstock
in 99ish maybe? I don't know, the original Woodstock,
obviously, 69, Jimi Hendrix closed it out. Amazing.
For older people. And younger people like me.
And maybe even younger people like you, Zee,
if you give it a chance. But yeah, I think it
was 99 -ish. they redid Woodstock and they got
a whole heap of bands in and it was right around
the time of LA riots, a lot of horrible stuff
happening in the United States and essentially
society was a bit of a tinderbox over there and
you book Limp Bizkit to come on, you'd already
had Rage Against the Machine spark the crowd
up with obviously F you, I'm not going to do
what you told me, F you, I'm not going to do
it and then Limp Bizkit come out. There was some
like... underlying conditions at the concert
too, that discontent and a few other things.
Beer prices were through the roof. If we're talking
fires, we're talking a tinderbox situation, there's
a lot of contributing factors. And then they
just sent it, didn't they? Fred Durst come out
and said, you know what, when we play break stuff,
this place is going to erupt. And the whole build
up to it was him getting the crowd ready to go.
And then, oh my God, they burn, baby burn. The
whole thing. Yep. Yeah. It shows you what a crowd
of people can do when you have the right conditions.
Yeah, what they're capable of. And they're all
feeling the same thing. And you can weaponise
that as a brand to bring it back onto the topic.
You can weaponise a crowd for your brand. And
they just send it. Yeah. That's the regular place.
And I look at all your conventional marketing
and branding strategies that have, from the 1940s
all the way through to now. they all kind of
have this one thing about consistency of brand,
stand out from the crowd, which is the point
of this podcast. And bands do that better than
anybody, in my opinion. Apple sort of flirted
around the edges there in the late 80s there
with their Think Different, Be Different campaign,
which is one of the great ads. The PC and Mac
thing, just have the nerdy guy with the PC and
do you want to be a PC or a Mac? Yeah, Mac was,
I mean... Are you a geek? Apple was disrupt the
status quo. Why can't normal people use a computer?
Bollocks to you were Bill Gates. But bands, especially
sort of alternative rock bands, if you look at
your pop bands, your Britney Spears, your Madonna's
throughout the years, essentially that's a three
-minute ad for an album that's now going to sell
products. Your alternative bands that have kind
of come up through the crowds and they've had
to they've had to define what their vibe is to
attract their tribe and so they that's through
trial and error they get up on stage they do
their thing oh the crowd like that song we'll
play that song more that's marketing this song
makes that pit want to sit down in god knows
what and row a boat an imaginary boat yeah we're
gonna play that song at every show we do That's
marketing and branding. We're standing out from
a crowd. We're coming for that. Lamb of God,
another heavy band, always finished their show
with a song called Black Label. And the thing
with that is your wall of death. As soon as that
drum beat starts, the whole crowd just splits
in half. And as soon as the guitar kicks in and
the drum changes, they run at each other. It's
so weird. And it's just energy. a whole heap
of people of a certain culture coming together.
And you hear Randy, the lead singer, he's like,
pick them up, pick them up, make sure no one
gets hurt. But they are thumping in. Like, I've
been far enough back, thinking I was far enough
back of a pit. And you go, yeah, I'm good here.
And then it splits around, you're like, ah. I'm
not okay. I'm not safe right now. But you're
there and you're loving it. And that's a story
to tell. And it's a memory, not a thing. And
that's what a brand is, essentially. It's this
idea. You have an idea of what your business
is, and now you're trying to not only visualise
it, but encapsulate that in a feeling. We've
all seen campaigns throughout our lives where
you remember it. For my year, it was the Not
Happy Jan, Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages, young
people, was a book. that you used to advertise
in. I know what a yellow page is. I remember.
It's not all about you, Z. Now you're getting
old. Younger listeners on the podcast, we do
actually need to explain this to you. Younger
business owners who didn't get to Google everything.
Well, us older guys didn't get to Google everything.
You had a book. I looked up Ian's address in
the yellow and the white pages the other day.
He wasn't in it. Private. Yeah, Don is all asking
me for it. Now you weren't. Sorry. Interesting.
Just interrupt your story, which you can go back
to. But I'm just talking about the brand and
the things that you're talking about, the songs
and whatnot. But it's Arnold Schwarzenegger with
his one -liners in the movies. Yeah. Like, you
know. And intentional. Yeah. It's like he's,
he's, I don't really want a whole script. I just
want some really good one -liners. And that's
what people know him for. I'll be back. Yep.
It's not a tumor. Yeah and that's the thing so
like he's famous because people remember those
those particulars and it's like how can you with
your brand. My favourite movie of his was one
that got panned the most by the critics the last
action hero where he absolutely absolutely took
the mickey out of himself the whole movie and
it was excellent but it was too highbrow for
the time. The intelligent movies don't seem to
get the box office drawer, whereas if you just
blow some stuff up and have a catchy... Roll
a boat in some mud. Roll a boat in some mud.
Yeah, have a bunch of people run at each other
and try and knock each other's head off. Which
is that feeling and capturing the simplicity
of it. Yeah, but once you've got your tribe,
you've got your tribe. Like there's an old band
called Tool who release music probably once every
10 years. And when they release an album... It
instantly goes number one. And they do no marketing.
But they've got their tribe. You never see them
on anything, do you? No. They're an anti -brand
almost. But their tribe is, oh, this is thinking
man's music. You probably wouldn't understand.
Yeah, and you think about pop -up stores or hidden
cafes, we're not listed anywhere. But that creates
the secret, the people that want to be secret.
And there's enough people on the planet. that
your tribe will be there. It doesn't matter what
you do. There's enough people to buy your product
and pick up what you're putting down, especially
now with internet. You've got three and a half
billion people at any given time on the internet.
You can find your tribe. So just be yourself.
If I could give you one advice for branding is
be yourself. Don't try to be what you think people
want you to be. Yeah, well, to a point. I think,
unless you're a psychopath, don't be a psychopath.
No, not even that. So if you're a business and
you're who you want to be, but no one wants to
buy that. There's no point. Find the people that
want to buy it. Yeah, but say you can go find
it. But you know, if you don't have a business
model, you don't have a business model. So within
reason, you know, yeah, be yourself. And OK,
well, that's. we're going to build houses and
this is how we do things. We wear pink and we
blah, blah, blah, blah. And then no one wants
to have a house built by a whole bunch of people
wearing pink. Well, there's no point. What could
we do that that brand would fit in better with?
Yeah. You know, or we like this particular type,
but we all want to row boats in the mud. OK,
well, let's what are they going to be interested
in? Exactly. I like this. I just love there's
nothing more than I can cherish. They're just
getting some mud. It's been there for several
days. A whole bunch of people don't know. We
all smell like cheese. It's definitely not cheese.
And I'm like, what do these people love? The
fruit. Do they want a little portable mud pit
with a wash down bay at their house? Probably
not. I don't know. But yeah, what do these people
really like? And what can we build a business
around? The interesting thing about that sort
of crowd is it's quite diverse. So the one thing
they all have in common is the music. But you've
got people like me who've run a business for
however many years I've run a business, I've
worked in factories, I've worked all sorts of
jobs, reasonably well educated. In the same room,
or pit of mud, you've got the guy who all he
wants to do is clock in, clock out. Or you've
got the guy who's long term unemployed, he saves
all his money for this one event every year.
You're all the same in that one moment. It's...
It's the power of a brand if ever you could see
the power of a brand it's at a music festival
and you know I'm banging on about it because
it's one of my passions but Going back to what
you're saying about the you know when you're
choosing a brand you've got a you've got to like
it That's that's number one definitely we've
also got to find something that is enough people
alike So, you know, for example with no one like
to roll in the mud then probably not worth doing
One of the one we're not gonna be doing things
for a brand though, especially when it's a logo
design You don't have to like it as a business
owner And a lot of the times the best brands,
the business owner actually didn't like it until
it was explained to them. Guilty. Oh yeah. But
it's not what you like, it's what works in a
logo design. You can have the most literal depiction
of what you do as a business and it's not going
to work. So when we're talking about, let's just
talk about a little bit finer things for the
moment. So like brand, obviously we want to choose
what we're about. But then as we're a new business,
we're looking for a logo. What are we actually
going about? Because we can get a logo for $5,
we can get a logo for $10 ,000. You'll be able
to tell the difference. We like pretty colours
and whatever. So what's the concept behind a
logo? It's essentially a visualisation of a much
bigger concept. So what is your business? What
do you do? Who do you do it for for me? Most
important thing is why are you doing it? I can
take a sentence about why you're in business
and go right? Oh Now I've got some ideas for
instance the business abundance logo Tell me,
I've forgotten. So the Business Abundance logo,
you've probably seen it if you're listening to
this podcast. It's two triangles. It's a thumbnail
for this episode. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Beautiful.
It's two triangles. It's a concept based on the
fast forward button on an old video of VCR. The
second triangle, the top triangle is seven lines,
which comes from Stephen Covey's seven steps
for seven habits for successful people. What
are they? I can't even remember. Yeah. Yeah,
something, something and something. Google it.
Oh, Z is on it straight away. Beautiful. But
pretty popular book. Yep. I haven't read that
since the 80s. Probably should reread that. Anyway,
keep going with the logo. But yeah, so the colours
were essentially come from yourself. You like
these colours. and we had, I think I gave you
three concepts to start with. They all kind of
had some matter in there. I think because you
had the fast forward, but you also had the play
button. Yep. It stands out over the fast forward
because you were like, you can pretty much just,
we come in and press play, you know, where you
need something, boom, we go in. Yep. And then
the seven lines also, I think inverted. might
have also looked kind of like a ladder and then
there's something about a wi -fi it remotely
resembles a relation to a wi -fi symbol so it's
online and it's connectivity. been available
anywhere, anytime, you know, accessible. And
essentially you take one look at the logo and
go, it's just two triangles. Yeah, I was talking
about, oh, it's nice, but you know, and then
you give me that, I'm like, well, a bit fair
to thought, you know, I'm happy with that. But
then it's also, so it's pretty unique to us.
And then, you know, it looks, it looks, it looks
good. And then if you actually think about behind
it, it's, it's quite nice. And it's simple. And
for me, especially now we're in an app world,
sort of the late 90s, early 2000s, there was
a real trend towards a lot of gradients and very
complicated logos that if you zoomed out, you
had no idea what was going on. And they're very
dated those logos. You see a logo from the late
90s, you go, oh yeah, that's a logo from the
late 90s. Whereas simplicity always works. Yeah,
like a night tick or whatever. And that's the
bit that I guess... people don't consider, they'll
look at a logo and even just you talking about
the business abundance one, like, oh yeah, well,
I don't look at it and see all those things.
I don't need to know that. But it's not people
consciously thinking about those things, is it?
No. Subconsciously connecting dots. Yeah. From
experiences or other things. And it's your brand.
Yeah. Like that is business abundance in, what
is it, three lines and then seven lines. Three
lines some color and seven lines and some color
the color makes a difference as well doesn't
it colors very very important if you want a Fancy
logo by the way me and Clark one doesn't pretty
pretty good job playing black creative But anyway,
so that says that part one logo colors and and
what yeah going back to branding So, you know,
why is this stand out from the crowd? Yep. So
how do we do that be different? be uniquely you.
And that's about the best advice I can give you,
I'm afraid. So I often talk to people about,
you know, being in a niche. So I had a conversation
with a client last week and they've gone reasonably
well through the years and definitely, you know,
expanded and whatnot. But then at times they've
reached probably a little bit too far and it's,
you know, brought them back to earth. It's going
up and down and for most businesses up and down
is the journey and you hopefully trend upwards
So when you're back bad times and also good,
but when the markets great, it's fantastic. So
But we were talking about well when things were
good What was the difference to when things were
bad and we overreached and you know They have
a few competitors like everyone does and they
were really trying to be the biggest and be you
know the big dog for one of a better term and
That's when they went backwards because people
didn't associate them with being the biggest
most established because in that city 50 years
someone else has been the most established and
the biggest and that one for that brand and when
they were the Second and promoted themselves
as the second with we've got a variety They don't
have if you don't want that we're here and we
do all these things that they don't do They were
extremely successful More personable. Yeah. Than
maybe the big one. And that doesn't mean the
big one's the worst brand. Some might say that's
a better brand because it's the biggest, but
maybe their brand's better. And maybe there's
a third party that has a different brand again
and they just do a particular thing the others
who don't, but it's... It's been different and
that's what you're talking about. It doesn't
mean being an oddball. It means sitting in your
market with a product and a service to a person
with a value that's different to your competitors.
And that's something I'm quite big on because
it means you've got a successful business. It
means you don't really have competitors and you're
not as at risk to people coming and trying to
take away your clients all the time. But it also
means you can get along because at the end of
the day, people are people. Everyone has a life
outside of business and imagine if you played
sports or you had a hobby or you went to competitions,
dog grooming or whatever you do, and you just
hated everyone there. You tried to sabotage them
at every opportunity. You tried to take their
dogs before they got them. Scarcity mindset.
Yeah. It doesn't work that way. You know, you
go to school, pick up, and then you hate everyone
there because they do something related or they're
in an opposition team. Like it's just stupid.
So in business, yeah. So in business, you've
got people who, oh, we want to destroy the opposition.
We want our company. We want to ruin their lives.
But it's always going to be competing with the
other businesses. Whereas if you've got that
unique brand, that point of difference sitting
in your own spot, they never see you as a threat
because you're doing something different. They're
doing their thing, you're doing yours. You can
all exist. And at the end of the day, like you
just think about the world or the ecosystem,
there's so many different plants and animals
and insects and whatever. There's a diversity.
So what we want to do is find our own spot in
that ecosystem that works. that we're happy with,
that people are happy to pay for, but the branding
side comes from how can we do that clearly? So
we're not saying 30 paragraphs when someone says,
what do you do? What are you about? Oh, it needs
to fit on the back of an envelope. Yeah. Need
a higher purpose. Yeah, a higher purpose. What
are you talking about there, Z? So higher purpose
being what you hope to achieve or who you hope
to be or your business be. And that's what stays
consistent as your brand evolves. Will changes.
Yeah. Because it will, your competition will
change, your market will change, everything will
change. Services change technology. But you need
to be that higher purpose throughout it all.
Which means sometimes it's not vague. It's not
vague, but like, for example, ours is we help
business owners. Yeah. Okay. So that means yeah.
Yeah. That's probably the word I'm looking for.
So it means that you are that and it means the
way that you do it may change, but your goal
be your ethos. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a blend
of your value and mission statement because they
are one of the same things. This permeates through
everything that we do. So for Apple is a really
good example. Apple. Create products that are
quite often aren't the best product But the image
of Apple is I am disrupting the status quo. I'm
using Apple. I'm creative. I use Apple That's
Apple. Yeah, you're thinking different Nike just
do it. I mean one of the great campaigns Yeah,
I like that and for those that probably don't
know it it's like just do it is if you're out
there exercising It's five o 'clock in the morning.
It's cold. It's raining outside. Just do it.
Yeah, like that's what they're talking They're
not talking about you're elite. You're on the
your big screen. You're winning a gold medal
They're saying we're there with you when you're
doing all the hard work to get to where you want
to go They're watching just tick it off. Yep,
you know just do it. And I'm like, once, once
you understand that, it's like that brand's cool.
I actually like Nike now, whereas before you're
like, maybe that's a bit too up there with the
popular pay. Yeah, overpriced, that sort of thing.
Yeah, but it's an interesting one. A lot of brands
would love to have the Nike tick. Yeah. It's
there at a point where they don't even have to
pay to have their product in movies. Like product
placement's a big thing. But people want that
Nike brand. People want that Apple - In association.
Yeah. People want to be associated with Apple.
Like you see there's a movie last year, year
before that Don't Look Up movie. All the computers
were Apple. Didn't pay a cent because they wanted
the Apple audience to see that movie and vice
versa. So thinking about things in different
ways, also what you're not. Um, so, you know,
like something that I think is important for
the business abundance brand, obviously that's,
that's a fair bit related to what I like. Um,
is if people go, oh gee, that's super professional,
like suit and tie, um, tees, cross ties dotted,
you know, a hundred percent professional as far
as being good at things and good results. But,
um, if people see me in the around about, I'm
often in shorts and t -shirt or not looking too
good. Um, And it's very important that we are
very good. That's part of the brand. But it's
not so important that we can't put out a podcast
without fact -checking everything or, you know,
I reference Rupert Murdoch instead of someone
else. You know, and the name's wrong, but it
doesn't matter. People get the context. You make
mistakes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but the...
If they're not that important, it doesn't matter.
But we're there to help and assist and work with
you. That's far more important than looking like
you wear a suit and everything's fantastic and
not achieving the result. Which is why we used
a rounded sans serif font at the end of the day
for the business abundance. There you go, there's
more to this. So you could have used a serif
font to look like a stamp. Boom, we are professional.
We're at a Fortune 500 company that only wants
to talk seriously to you. Or we could have used
Comic Sans. I'm like, ah wait, did you want a
bit of a joke, really? We used a rounded Sans
Serif font so it doesn't have the little sticky
bits on the edge of the font, like Times New
Roman people might know from their typewriter
days. So it's a bit more of an approachable font.
We didn't have a capital letter for your nouns,
which... is on trend a little bit but it's also
kind of like we're not shouting at you. This
is business abundance. And that's what he's taking
from the design point of view that people sort
of see subconsciously and then I'm looking at
well if we get a result we want to do the right
thing we don't care if it comes from a receptionist
or from from us. We're getting paid the big bickies
to get the big result. But if it comes from the
receptionist, that's fantastic. And they should
be celebrated because it's about getting the
right result. And that also means there's opportunity
for everyone. That's a big part of our business.
So all that being approachable is very important.
And the fact that people can be seen as differently,
it's their path to forge. So it's that sort of
thing as a brand where you go, okay, well, We
don't like that. We want to be the one that has
the flashest car, the flashest suit and the people
that want all that to deal with us. Great. You
need to be that and you'll get those clients.
But then it also means you can't not wear a suit.
You can't walk up in an old beaten up Toyota
Camry. But it doesn't mean one's right or wrong.
It just means you need to be consistent across
the board. I think that shows that abundance.
abundance mindset of business abundance. I love
hearing when you talk about it because you don't
get fired up about a lot of things. You don't
show a lot of passion at the best of times. That's
actually a compliment, not a dig. But when you
talk about what you want business abundance to
represent, that fire lights up. Well, it's not
so much what I want it to represent, it's what
I want it to enable for people. Yeah. And I think
of a candle. in that situation. And that seems
pretty abstract, but like a candle can light
another flame without losing any of its own flame.
So you don't have to extinguish that guy to make
your flame brighter. What you can do is share
your flame with him and then you've still got
a pretty bright flame going on there. You've
lost nothing. And all we just need to make sure
is people can't put our flame out. But that's
separate to... We're not talking about competition.
There's enough. There is enough for everyone.
It doesn't matter what you're selling. That's
an interesting way to look at that. We don't
need to compete. The biggest businesses that
I work with, the most successful businesses I
work with, are all about building their local
community, not bringing it down. They've got
competition in their marketplace. They're not
competitors. They're just friends we haven't
met yet. I would say we're doing what you do,
but different. Social impact. Is that what you're
referring to? What he's saying is that the most
successful ones that he deals with are giving
back to other people, trying to build everything,
not trying to take away. It's like a rising tide
kind of deal, a rising tide. lives all ships.
It's funny you say that actually because this
is relevant to branding but yesterday we had
some people over and before everyone arrived
someone else came and we were just having a chat
and they noticed the solar begola out the back
of the house. The award -winning solar begola.
Blah, blah, blah. And he's like, oh, that's so
cool. And I'm like, no one's ever actually gone
that way first, like preemptively. And he's like,
oh, I wish I'd seen that before I'd done my porch,
because we've got this roof on it. And I would
have loved that. And then he turns out, well,
because he does maintenance and whatever, as
far as technological things. So he's fully aware
of what's going on. And he's like, that's just
such a great solution. And then he's like, I've
been looking to get solar for, we have solar
and we're in our old house in a different stage.
And we've moved down here. I've been looking,
I don't know, two years ago, who did you use?
And I said, who used it? And he's like, oh yeah,
I was looking at them and like, I really can
relate, like they seem forward thinking. And
I was like, I was pretty happy to use them, but
I was looking at some others as well. Like there's
other brands, you know, everyone's saying, oh,
I should use them. Like they're the biggest thing.
But then I'm also hearing like they don't treat
the staff very well and they don't really care
about the people that just put stuff up. And
I'm like, I'm biased because I work with this
other business. So, you know, I'm just like.
Okay, tell me more like a you know, I also have
a decent logo and and and Yeah, it was just interesting
that The consistency that shown and doing a certain
thing unrelated to their business and it's about
that sort of impact They're talking about it
and even if they're not fully going down that
path. They're aiming for it Well, if people random
people but you're talking third fourth degree
of separation people Yeah, they've been in the
area for a couple of years to move somewhere
else coming back And that's getting back to you
as a brand. That's something that they were very
intentional about. I know the brand. He's not
talking about price. He's talking about something
that believes in what he believes in. He's interested
in it. He's like, the other ones that I was leaning
towards and I'm like, mate, do it. And that's
going back to the social media and leveraging
word of mouth and all that sort of stuff. It
just needs that little push over the edge. But
that was the brand. I've intended to go down
that path and whether you do it in the best way
or the worst way, but as long as you're intending
to, that's going to be good. And so yeah, that
brand has worked over time. Yeah. And that's
that's an important thing with branding is time.
Yeah, timing and renown awareness. Well, I mean,
we that brand, especially we kind of hacked a
little bit into recognition. It's evolved. Well,
it's also hasn't evolved a lot in regards to
the main. The main icon is very similar to a
very large corporate icon. And we kind of did
that with intentionality to make it instantly
recognisable. So it hasn't copied the icon, but
it's taken elements from that icon and gone.
It's subconscious. These are the protics we don't
think about. Instantly going to recognise this
and they're going to go, I don't know why I know
that, but I bloody know it. And if you can get
that from a brand new company or business and
you put your logo out there and people are like,
I'm not sure why I like it. It's familiar. I'm
going to trust them. That's your first step.
I mean McDonald's didn't start out as the Golden
Arches. They started out as McDonald's hamburgers
and that M slowly got bigger over time and now
you can't go to a city in the world without seeing
the Golden Arches. I love hamburgers. Cheers
burgers. The last bit of the story I was just
talking about though was obviously the brand
had an impact. the fact that the other people,
they are in the community, I think they're on
the radio, the owner's very well known, but were
they doing the right thing for the audience,
for the community, or are they trying to be famous?
Yeah. So this is something where a lot of people
that we talk to, so should be the last episode
still, but they... They're going, I want to be
famous, I want to be well -known. They're not,
I'm trying to do something. Yeah. So, and that's
where I think the big difference between those
two companies, from my opinion, is that you can
see the owner of one's everywhere for a few different
reasons. And then the other business is a business
trying to do something. Do the right thing. Yeah,
trying. And it doesn't matter if they are or
not. the trying and that's the angle they're
going down. And that's resulted in someone else
coming along saying, I like them and I don't
like them. Even though I've been told good things
about both, I also don't like them because of
this. And I'm very important as a brand to, like
you said, be involved in the community in the
right areas. And that leads to your brand isn't
just pretty pictures. Your brand is everything
you do. From first point of contact with said
receptionist to how you pick up the phone. Good
morning, this is Business Abundance. This is
Ian. Is that how we answer? I don't know. I've
never rung his highest test. And again, meet
your customers where they are. Do people believe
they're writing on the wall or what they see
in the halls? I think we need to get a photo
and put a little quote on that. It's my car,
I think I've heard it somewhere else. Yeah, give
it to Z again. So yeah, with your brand, okay,
if that's our brand, we need to, like I said
before, if we're if we're suit and tie and we're
driving Mercedes, then we need to do that. We
can't be anything else. We can't be busting out
a paperclip instead of a nice binder. Well, there
was a plumber in Victoria, I'm pretty sure. This
was way back when I was doing like learning my
marketing stuff. And the story was that a late
night call out, the plumber was on his way to
take... You better get this right, because I'm
pretty sure you heard this from me. Years ago
when you were learning your marketing. Yeah.
This is, are we talking the same? I think we
are. You keep telling the story, you get it right.
I won't correct you. This is as old as sin. All
right, anyway, plumber, late night call out.
He's on his way to take his daughter to the prom.
Yeah, same one. Yeah, weird. Definitely didn't
hear it from you. You're a bit of storage out
of the way, so you keep going. I don't know if
I am. Go on. Hang on, I want him to praise me
a little bit more. Zee's really eager to hear
this. Right, so stop building it up. Late night,
taking his daughter to the prom. He's in a tux.
Okay, leave us dinner. Gets a call out, goes
to services. She needs a tap fixed, whatever
it is. Five minute job, tuxedo. Goes in. takes
his daughter, gets a call out for a job months
later, word of mouth from this lady and he rocks
up in his high vis and plumbing gear in his van
and the lady opens the door and she's like, oh,
oh, I thought you were the, I thought you were
the tuxedo guy and really disappointed. And that
lightning strike moment for the guy, he's like,
huh, maybe there's something to this. So he changed
his company's uniform. to essentially an overalls
tuxedo type thing. That's cool. The tuxedo plumber.
And that became who he was. It's just simple
stuff like that. I was on air for a second, but
he's talking about a rose at all. didn't talk
about a rose yeah so he actually as he left because
he had the rose in this tuxedo thing he gave
it to the old lady on the way out um and then
um so he went to that part so the next day you
got a call out um someone wants something done
and he just rolled around and the ladies answered
the door and she looked a bit disappointed and
he started the job anyway he's gone to leave
and then she's he's He sort of heard, I hope
it's all right, let me know if there's any problems
you're gonna leave. And she's like, where's my
rose? And she was confused why I wasn't wearing
a suit and she didn't get a rose. And then, yeah,
he changed, obviously. So the big niche, there's
not gonna be no price competition there. Makes
me wonder whether it's an urban myth now and
they just made it up for marketing purposes.
No, no, so I think his name is the tidy plumber,
might have been the brand. Yeah, but it's an
interesting thing. So, okay, well what's some
of the bad things about plumbers? It's a dirty
job. and people leave a mess, a lot of trades.
So, okay, he's in a suit. So now we basically,
he can't be dirty because he's in a suit. Yeah.
And he gives people flowers. So then, okay, what's,
you know, that's going to peel to a certain market.
Probably not Ian. But I like flowers. My best
trade, but horticulture. If you're doing those
odd jobs and you're coming out and you're clean
and tidy and you've got a great guarantee about
not leaving a mess, making it cleaner than when
you leave and you give someone a gift on the
way out. going to have a business that people
aren't competing with, you're going to sit in
the market at a certain point, and you're going
to be a charge of reasonable dollar. Which also
then leads to, beautiful segue, the number one
thing your brand needs to be is memorable. Yeah.
If people don't remember it, pointless, pointless.
So you'll keep going back to logo because that's
generally the first impression that people will
have of the brand. It has to be memorable. There's
no point having this grand concept, this complicated
thing, because the more complicated it is, the
harder it is to remember. Everyone knows what
Apple looks like. Everyone knows the Windows
logo. Everyone knows the Nike logo. Everyone
knows the Adidas logo, which is on Rowan's chest
at the moment. It's like sounds. I was listening
to a, watching a video and there was like the
Microsoft sound or the Tetris sound or the ping,
what is it? like a ping -pong -y thing. Pong.
That one. So yeah, it was like all of those sounds.
I was like, oh wow, I didn't even need to look
at it to remember what it was. That imprint.
And smell. Smell's a big one. It hijacks the
brain, which is limbic. Straight back to the
mosh pit. Actually, you smell that, you go past
a row of portaloos now. And we're rowing a boat,
and you start rowing. It really is. Wow. It's
like I take you there. We all have experiences
that we've had as... 100%. ...either as kids
or growing up or even last week. that have left
an imprint and we can instantly recall it based
on one of our sensors and ideally more of our
sensors. Which goes back to keeping things simple.
So you've mentioned before simplify things and
see high purpose and it will be now explain your
business quickly. going to other areas of your
business, it's very easy to over -complicate
things as far as do 10 pages instead of two words.
I think that's something, again, we try to keep
things simple and we don't want to be in a suit
giving 20 -page reports. We want to keep it simple
and effective. the least amount of work for everyone,
the least resource. Makes it easy to understand.
Yeah. But with the brand, OK, well, is it just
a smell? Is it just one noise that needs to be
consistent out of everything? Is it just needs
to be we rock up in a suit and nothing else matters?
Oh, that's a song, isn't it? Speaking of that.
Speaking of bands. Yeah. But just just keep it.
Metallica for those who didn't understand. How'd
you get that in there? But yeah, just making
sure that it's something people can get and can
be repeated and be known and be noticed as well,
because there's no point having a brand that
people don't notice. Yeah, you've got everything
right. Richard Branson, you can have the best
product in the world, but if no one knows about
it, you're going to be poor. Yeah, yeah. He knew
a little bit about branding. And there's people
that go back to tradies, but they leave a site
and it's got to be cleaned and they went before
left, but they don't tell anyone that. But if
their brand was, we come around and we guarantee
that when we leave it's going to be cleaner than
when we arrived. If that's all they said, they
would have a good business. I worked for a business
that did heating and cooling and their cooling
card was a box of truffles from a local business.
Once you paid your invoice... They're good truffles.
Very good truffles. But it's a $30 box of truffles
back in early 2000s. Still is. Still is, yeah.
But that was sent to you with your receipt. Yeah,
nice. And the amount of people that talked about
it. Same company, Jingle. A Jingle seems like
a naff thing now to have a Jingle. But it's a
good jingle, it's easy to remember. I had teenagers,
I'd pull up in my van with the logo on the side.
Teenagers would see it and start singing the
jingle to me as I'm getting out of the car. The
one in my head is one, three, double, oh, six.
Yeah, people remember a jingle. It's part of
the brand. It really is. And anything that you
can do to get that earworm in there or whatever
worm it is to get into the limbic brain, a little
bit of psychology on the old part of your brain,
get past the cognitive which is your thinking
and analytical brain and that's why we say facts
tell and stories sell. So your brand is a story
and that's the part that's going to create that
emotional attachment. It feels good in the heart.
That's why the About Us page exists. Yeah. And
a lot of people misuse that. A lot of people
use that to tell instead of show, which is the
whole way reference. You can tell people everything
in the world, but until you show them and they
feel it for themselves, now your brand's working.
Thinking, if you think, oh, my business is pretty
small. We can't do a brand. We gave you several
examples of one -man bands that can have a great
brand. But I like to think about the world in
a different way. And sometimes I need to think
about it a bit more like the masses. your local
sports team and probably if you don't have too
much scale around you, think of the American
basketball or baseball. Any of their big sports?
Any of the big sports in your country where there's
going to be 20 to 50 ,000 people plus going to
a game. And there'll be a mascot. And obviously
the kids get behind that. And then that's going
to be the brand. That's getting stuck in the
head. And they'll just do the same stupid thing
every single time all the time. But it's that
brand. Yeah. And then there'll be particulars
about that team, like what we do and what we
say and what we call ourselves. You know, it's
making that culture, it's making that vibe, it's
on the brand. And then you can, so I think sports
are very easy to understand for those that follow
sports, but then political parties. So I think
in Australia we've got Labor and then that's
the working class party. You know, we're there
for the workers and the unions and we'll have
a right wing and left wing and a middle party.
And wherever you are. But you know, so that's
the thing. So that's sort of known for that.
And they say they do those things, but then the
policies may or may not reflect that. But people
just vote based on that. And then the other way
is going to be like the liberal side of things,
probably a bit more business savvy. They try
to brand across and then mainly business people
sort of go that way. They still don't understand
any of the policies or what they're doing. They
may or may not, depending on who's there, reflect
that. But it's just that brand of that party.
On mass. Yeah. on mass, you get that consistency
and that word of mouth. It might be right or
wrong, but that's basically what you're going
for. And you can do that at a large scale, you
can do that at a small scale, but the theory
is the same. Yeah, I'd like to see us move back
towards less polarizing. You mentioned politics.
We're not going to have politics, no. We're not
talking about that, but I've seen it in marketing
and advertising as well, because of social media.
As we say. Yep. couldn't care less about what
politics do. That has nothing to do with my business.
Doesn't matter who's in. I generally pay the
same amount of tax. Doesn't really matter. One
year it might be up. You can't control it anyway.
Exactly. But in regards to society as a business,
we can affect, and once we start getting bigger,
we can affect how people feel. And yes, there
are ways to hack the brain to get new information
in very, very quickly. And fear is one of them.
During the 80s, 70s and 80s it was sex, sex sells.
So every car had a bikini clad model on it because
the people buying those cars were generally 40
year old men. So let's hack the brain, let's
get that new information in. The smell was good
so fast food restaurants would always pump. the
smell of their food out at certain times of the
day. That's smart. Oh yeah, I remember cheeseburgers.
Cheeseburgers is good. I love cheeseburgers.
I'm gonna go have cheeseburgers. Bakeries! McDonald's
did a happy meal because they knew the lifetime
value of a customer. Let's get them younger.
Oh, I'm still, I remember getting pulled over
by the police. in a car when I was three. Yep.
I wasn't driving. Yep. But this was glad you
clarified that. That's why you got picked up.
This is in New Zealand. I know I was three because
we lived in a certain house. We moved. So we
were in the other house and we got pulled over.
Seat belts were becoming compulsory in New Zealand
at the time. And the police pulled us over to
check our seat belts and see if we were wearing
them or not. My brother and I in the back seat,
we're wearing our seat belts. I guess we're in
cars. I don't remember, but, um, often we weren't.
So I was quite happy at the time. I remember
feeling happy about that. And we got some, um,
a reward. Yeah, we got two happy meal vouchers.
The police gave us happy meal vouchers. Oh, outstanding.
But you're marketing that. A hundred percent.
And then I also remember, um, like rugby in the
morning. So a bit older then, but not much older.
And the player of the game got a Maccas voucher.
Happy meal voucher. Yep. And the local clubs.
Yes, that's community involvement, but it's getting
your brand to certain places. They've changed
the wording, but you've got it's McCappie time
and all these things. Yeah, it's fitting in with
that and your community. And don't ever think
that that's random. It's all intentional. The
reason they released the Merc Happy Meal was
to increase the lifetime value of their customers.
And you've got, you know, if you think of any
sport that gets given to schools and they do
programs and then that's creating future players
and grassroots programs. Yeah, 100%. Which is
beneficial because it gets people active. But
the kids also going to remember that that guy
was from that club and I haven't gotten affiliation
yet, but he seemed nice. I like those colours.
Yeah, it's like banks. When I was in primary
school, you did the little saving. Yeah. Dollar
save club. Yeah. Dollar mullets. Put your money
in there and off you go. You have a couple of
hundred dollars and you're like... But what Ian
was talking about before, just polarizing and
stuff. But I think, yeah, as a brand, we're much
more akin to, as our company goes, to have people
promote something positive and not this or say
you shouldn't do this or you shouldn't have this
or this product's no good and this one's good.
But just, you know. put it in a slant where uh
hey this is what we're trying to do if you if
you like this that's what we're here for um but
don't make people feel bad because you're not
doing us so odd everyone else's products are
terrible because some people might like them
it's you know just stick to what you're good
at what your brand is and talk about that and
you focus on yourself don't try and be everyone
that's that's short -term stuff so my point for
that hacking of the brain stuff is short -term
win So using fear using sex using whatever it
is to don't deal with them because of this Yeah,
don't that negative stuff that person said that
about you one sale Yeah, and then if you're not
very good at what you do and most people who
use that as a strategy I'm very good at what
they do. Well, they might be very good But it
leaves about touch negativity. Yeah, so negativity
is good for the short term If you want a long
-term relationship with your customers, you need
your happy meal You need to make them. People
don't remember what you said. They remember how
you make them feel. Oh, put that quote up. That's
a cool quote. I'll steal that one. Yeah. What
was her name? Pretty sure it was Zahara Lemon
said it. Yes. Yeah. About 60 years ago. I'm so
wise. Look it up. There's a lady. Let's get one
of her real make it go viral and then see how
many people copy and attribute to her. But for
a long -term relationship, for lifelong customers,
make them feel good, not bad. And people don't
like to listen to people getting dragged through
the mud. They are Angelo. That's it, my Angelo.
Angelo. So we're wrapping up branding. Yes. Then
we're saying we need to know what we want to
be. We need to like it ourselves. Identify what
we are. We need to reflect us. We need to be
something people can get behind as well. Keep
it simple. Keep it simple and clear. Make it
memorable. People will understand it. People
can see it. Feel it. Put it out there. Smell
it. Taste it. Sit in it. When we talked about
social media in a previous podcast and we talked
about needing 21 posts a day and rah rah rah.
The biggest pushback I ever get on that is I
don't want to bother people. And honestly, it
doesn't make sense. Unless your business is 100
% selling stuff through social media, it doesn't
make sense. But if you are in a position where
you don't want to tell people about your brand,
the brand's not your problem. You don't believe
in your brand yourself. You should be the biggest
bullhorn for your brand if you're the business
owner. You need to believe in it. You shouldn't
have to force it either. 150 million percent.
Should just be natural. Like, I know that I'm
selling this product because that's a solution
to a problem in society that society needs, whether
it's a product or a service. And everyone needs
this. And if that's not you, ask yourself why.
Yep. And then your brand appeals to your customers,
but it appeals to your staff. Yeah. You attract
good staff with good branding. All that sort
of stuff. You need to have a pipeline. So it
needs to be not just people dealing with now,
but people deal with it in the future. You just
have to control over it. Make it possible for
people to say no to. Be unique. Don't be afraid
to be different. Clean plumber. This is like
the clean plumber. You know, wear a suit and
give a rose out. Nothing to do with plumbing,
but it's good brand. No one else had done it.
Yeah. And then. subconscious stuff that we don't
think about, you do, but I'm saying we as everyone
else, me included, that people look at or feel
or smell and they associate it with something
else from their life or something else they've
already given trust or support to. And I guess
that's where some of the professionals can do
a little bit better sometimes. That's what you're
not getting from a $5 logo. Yeah. And if you
can articulate what you want and you're clear
on that and you can find someone that can actually
turn that into a little bit of art for you, then
that's... pretty handy. Does that sound like
a pretty good summary of what we discussed? What
a wrap -up. That was amazing. Spot on. We stole
both of her jobs, start and finish. We started
with rowing our boat through excrement and we
finished on a beautiful wrap -up. I wonder why
you smell sometimes after notfest. After notfest,
that's this week. Two week berth. Alright guys.
She always a lucky lady. Thanks for joining us
and we will see you on the next podcast. Bye.