"Aaker on Branding" presents in a compact form the twenty essential principles of branding that will lead to the creation of strong brands. Culled from the six David Aaker brand books and related publications, these principles provide the broad understanding of brands, brand strategy, brand portfolios, and brand building that all business, marketing, and brand strategists should know. "Aaker on Branding" is a source for how you create and maintain strong brands and synergetic brand portfolios. It provides a checklist of strategies, perspectives, tools, and concepts that represents not only what you should know but also what action options should be on the table. When followed, these principles will lead to strong, enduring brands that both support business strategies going forward and create coherent and effective brand families. Those now interested in and involved with branding are faced with information overload, not only from the Aaker books but from others as well. It is hard to know what to read and which elements to adapt. There are a lot of good ideas out there but also some that are inferior, need updating, or are subject to being misinterpreted and misapplied. And there are some ideas that, while plausible, are simply wrong if not dangerous especially if taken literally. "Aaker on Branding"offers a sense of topic priorities and a roadmap to David Aaker's books, thinking, and contributions. As it structures the larger literature of the brand field, it also advances the theory of branding and the practice of brand management and, by extension, the practice of business management.

Why do consumers pay a premium for a Dell or Hewlett-Packard laptop, when they could get a generic machine with similar features for a lower price? The answer lies in the power of branding. A brand is not just a logo. It is the image your company creates of itself, from your advertising look to your customer interaction style. It makes a promise for your business, and that promise becomes the sticking point for customer loyalty. And that loyalty and trust is why, so to speak, your laptops sell and your competitors’ don’t. Whatever your business is, whether it’s large or small, global or local, Branding For Dummies gives you the nuts and bolts know-how to create, improve, or maintain a brand. This plain-English guide will help you brand everything from products to services to individuals. It gives you step-by-step advice on assembling a top-notch branding team, positioning your brand, handling advertising and promotion, avoiding blunders, and keeping your brand viable, visible, and healthy. You’ll get familiar with branding essentials like: Defining your company’s identity Developing logos and taglines Launching your brand marketing plan Managing and protecting your brand Fixing a broken brand Making customers loyal brand champions Filled with easy-to-navigate icons, charts, figures, top ten lists, and humor, Branding For Dummies is the straight-up, jargon-free resource for making your brand stand out from the pack—and for positioning your business to reap the ensuing rewards.

Ready for Better Business RESULTS?In this practical guide for small to mid-sized companies, Stephen Lynch takes you through the proven strategic planning and business execution processes you need to drive better business RESULTS. This is not just theory. Stephen works in the trenches. As Chief Operating Officer of RESULTS.com - the Business Execution Experts - he knows what it's like to run and grow a business. Business Execution for RESULTS sets out a framework that utilizes best-of-breed concepts and tools. It's a process that thousands of RESULTS.com clients all around the world use to get RESULTS. RESULTS.com's business model gives it a unique and privileged insight into what really works and what doesn't when creating and executing a winning strategy. To save you from spending several lifetimes trying to figure it out on your own, this book will show you:- Why it all starts with a big goal- The importance of strategy (and why Jim Collins was wrong)- How to analyze your industry the right way- How to choose your game and play that game to win- Why most companies get their SWOT analyses wrong- How to make your performance visible- How to really hold your people accountable In Business Execution for RESULTS, Stephen replicates the methodology he personally uses when he works with leadership teams of small and mid-sized firms globally. It incorporates the best of dozens of effective business practices modified to work together in a process that will help you get RESULTS.

Lock in customer loyalty by making--and keeping--a breakthrough brand promise that competitor's can't touch. Includes a free CD-ROM with supplemental materials and a software-driven study guide.

In Fast-Track Your Business, author Laura Patterson offers step-by-step guidance for acquiring customer insights, creating customer-centric outcomes, and developing strategies and measurable executable plans.

Have a powerful impact—by being more like yourself rather than less, through this groundbreaking approach taught at the London School of Economics and companies worldwide. Organizational psychologist and executive coach Rebecca Newton has found that even her most successful clients still want more of one quality: gravitas. They want their words to carry weight, to have a positive, lasting impact on those around them. Gravitas can seem like an elusive, intangible quality, but it isn't about adopting the style of another or being someone you're not. Newton draws on extensive research and experience coaching business leaders to show what underpins authentic gravitas and how anyone can develop it. She presents the counterintuitive idea that in order to be valued, we shouldn't spend all our time and energy trying to stand out from the crowd; instead, we should focus on the crowd--connecting with others and understanding their needs in order to make a significant difference. Newton debunks the myths of gravitas and gives readers the practical tools to develop it by: * Minimizing the gaps between intention, action, and impact * Remaining true to yourself while adapting to work successfully with people who have different styles * Choosing to be courageous regardless of how confident you feel--as you engage in courageous behaviors, confidence naturally builds Authentic gravitas extends beyond commanding presence in the room during a key meeting; it's about the small things you can do beforehand, during, and in all the spaces in between--to be someone who genuinely adds substantive value in the workplace and beyond.

Brand expert, popular speaker, and Fortune 500 advisor Duane Knapp presents The BrandPromise®, his secret formula for becoming a Genuine Brand. Making the right promise, keeping it, and fulfilling your BrandPromise commitment will transform your business or organization into a “one-of-a-kind” brand that customers, employees, and shareholders will trust and support for years to come. “A brand's promise is the new currency for success,” says Knapp, who teaches from personal experience, having built or advised hundreds of successful brands worldwide. Duane Knapp's Promise philosophy has been highly acclaimed and extensively referenced and quoted in hundreds of publications and books. Brand success rests on three principles: 1) Provide a unique experience with products or services that enhance your customer's lives 2) Inspire employee partnership, passion, and support 3) Create a perception of exceptional value and distinctive benefits and deliver on your promise. Genuine Brands make a promise and keep it. This promise begins with a different mindset than business as usual. It's not just about doing a good job-it's about optimizing the emotional and functional benefits from a customer's perspective. The BrandPromise applies to every type of organization, from associations, philanthropic enterprises (charities and non-profits), and personal brands (celebrities, athletes and executives), to professional service firms (doctors), entrepreneurs, small businesses, and member-centric businesses (credit unions and co-ops). Knapp provides insights from a wide range of executives and leaders with in-depth analyses of many Genuine Brands, including Ketel One, Costco, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Destination Marketing Association International, SAFE Credit Union, Annika Sorenstam, Callison Architecture, RK Dixon, Bartell Hotels, and Tourism Vancouver. The BrandPromise book reveals the secrets that all kinds of organizations including associations, philanthropic enterprises (charities and non-profits), and personal brands (celebrities, athletes and executives), to professional service firms, such as doctors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and member-centric businesses such as credit unions and co-ops. The BrandPromise also explains how celebrities can utilize the secrets of BrandScience to enhance their image and perceptions and features a Brand Profile on Annika Sorenstam. According to Knapp, “Annika’s strategy is a perfect guide for any individual or celebrity that is interested in optimizing their success. “Great stars may be born, but it’s the celebrities that embrace the principles of BrandScience that enjoy long term brand success.” The BrandPromise features insights from other celebrities including Oprah, Greg Norman, and Rachael Ray.

"Beloved Brands is a book every CMO or would-be CMO should read." Al Ries With Beloved Brands, you will learn everything you need to know so you can build a brand that your consumers will love. You will learn how to think strategically, define your brand with a positioning statement and a brand idea, write a brand plan everyone can follow, inspire smart and creative marketing execution, and be able to analyze the performance of your brand through a deep-dive business review. Marketing pros and entrepreneurs, this book is for you. Whether you are a VP, CMO, director, brand manager or just starting your marketing career, I promise you will learn how to realize your full potential. You could be in brand management working for an organization or an owner-operator managing a branded business. Beloved Brands provides a toolbox intended to help you every day in your job. Keep it on your desk and refer to it whenever you need to write a brand plan, create a brand idea, develop a creative brief, make advertising decisions or lead a deep-dive business review. You can even pass on the tools to your team, so they can learn how to deliver the fundamentals needed for your brands. This book is also an excellent resource for marketing professors, who can use it as an in-class textbook to develop future marketers. It will challenge communications agency professionals, who are looking to get better at managing brands, including those who work in advertising, public relations, in-store marketing, digital advertising or event marketing. "Most books on branding are really for the MARCOM crowd. They sound good, but you find it's all fluff when you try to take it from words to actions. THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT! Graham does a wonderful job laying out the steps in clear language and goes beyond advertising and social media to show how branding relates to all aspects of GENERAL as well as marketing management. Make no mistake: there is a strong theoretical foundation for all he says...but he spares you the buzzwords. Next year my students will all be using this book." Kenneth B. (Ken) Wong, Queen's University If you are an entrepreneur who has a great product and wants to turn it into a brand, you can use this book as a playbook. These tips will help you take full advantage of branding and marketing, and make your brand more powerful and more profitable. You will learn how to think, define, plan, execute and analyze, and I provide every tool you will ever need to run your brand. You will find models and examples for each of the four strategic thinking methods, looking at core strength, competitive, consumer and situational strategies. To define the brand, I will provide a tool for writing a brand positioning statement as well as a consumer profile and a consumer benefits ladder. I have created lists of potential functional and emotional benefits to kickstart your thinking on brand positioning. We explore the step-by-step process to come up with your brand idea and bring it all together with a tool for writing the ideal brand concept. For brand plans, I provide formats for a long-range brand strategy roadmap and the annual brand plan with definitions for each planning element. From there, I show how to build a brand execution plan that includes the creative brief, innovation process, and sales plan. I provide tools for how to create a brand calendar and specific project plans. To grow your brand, I show how to make smart decisions on execution around creative advertising and media choices. When it comes time for the analytics, I provide all the tools you need to write a deep-dive business review, looking at the marketplace, consumer, channels, competitors and the brand. Write everything so that it is easy to follow and implement for your brand. My promise to help make you smarter so you can realize your full potential.