Branding YOU Better! – Susan Newman Lerer

Yesterday I was walking through Hoboken, NJ doing some weekly shopping and noticed the line outside Carlo’s Bakery (known for the Cake Boss TV show) is still just about as long as it was when he first became known. In the newspapers I learned about Hoboken turning down a Jersey Shore TV show spin-off with Snooki (Nicole Snooki Polizzi) and the entourage being filmed there and my own Jersey City welcomed it. I’ll be sure to watch that first episode and see what develops.

So what do these two “icons” and I use that term a bit loosely, have in common other than NJ? Very strong “branding!” Yes, you guessed where I was going with this.

They both seem like pretty regular people with regular businesses/careers, but what separated them from the pack was their originality. I remember when Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss first started his TV show and there was a great bus stop poster advertisement in Hoboken, Buddy covered in flour and no copy at all except the name of the show. I thought this ad was marketing genius. The visual was so powerful I wasn’t surprised to later see it in Time’s Square.

Having an original idea, building a strong brand and marketing it in just the right way is what sells the public. But consistency is what keeps that line on the street forming everyday and people watching the shows. If Buddy or Snooki had only done one or a few shows and left the scene, the public would have forgotten them over time. But they keep those episodes coming and the networks knew that had something different and spent the money to sell them.

Most small businesses don’t have the budgets that these shows had, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do something unique to market your products and services. Think about what marketing concept you could do that would offer something new and if your brand isn’t memorable then start thinking about how you can rebrand or change your game. Be consistent, update your website often, add new videos, audio, blog posts and more.

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