IDreamInTech

If you’re in a content marketing rut and can’t think of anything else to say about a product or if you’re having a hard time thinking like your customers, think about the five W’s of your product.

WHY - Why are your customers using the product?

WHAT - What are your customers doing with your product?  

WHERE - Where are customers using your product? 

WHEN – When are customers using your product?  

HOW  - How are your customers using your product?

I’ve seen a lot of friends come and go from jobs lately.  It’s something that I’m getting used to in this online marketing/advertising sphere.  People get burned out and/or companies decide to cut money, for lack of a better reason.  This happens, even though a lot of people seem to evoke the brand they’re leaving.  But what’s more important the person or the brand?

The latest example of this argument is Steve Jobs and Apple.  Steve Jobs was the face of Apple for a good solid 10 years and even saved the company from collapse.  He stepped down two years ago and was replaced by Tim Cook.

Since that time, Steve Jobs has passed away, yet Apple has continued to soar without him.  It hasn’t been hurt by the lack of black shirts, not being a part of the company.  It’s still posting high sales…so does the person matter?  Companies can continue to cut back employees they feel are no longer needed and move on without them.  It is part of the business cycle after all.

But sometimes the opposite will happen, case in point: Joshua Topolsky.  He was once the editor-in-chief of one of the most popular tech review sites in the world in Engadget.  Once Engadget got bought by AOL though, Topolsky and fellow Engadgeter’s left to form The Verge, which some might argue is bigger now, than Engadget ever was.

So what’s more important the brand or the company?  It seems that both can survive without one another.  People will continue to come and go, for whatever reason and sometimes a brand will fail when it loses an employee but we must always remember though that one employee does not make the brand.  A product and good service makes a brand.  A great plan makes a brand.  One person does not make a brand, but one person can destroy it.

In 5 words, can you describe your brand someone?  This past week, I’ve been in full Advertising mode reading Jason Falls and Erin Decker’s No BullShit Social Media and finally watching Morgan Spurlock’s Pom Wow Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

One of the key topics that both the book and the movie hit on, is can you discribe your brand?  It’s a key factor and something that most of all seem to forget, well you’re chasing that dollar.

As marketers we should be able to describe to both our friends and our customers what our brand is and if we can’t we’re failing as marketers.  We have to remember that our companies are transparent and are entities in their own right.  Just like you and me, our companies are talked about and do have both good and bad characteristics.

As marketer’s it’s our job to manage this line of communication, through social media and other marketing initiatives.  What do people say about us?  How do people interact with us?  We affect all of this from our communications to our brand design.  As a marketer we’re all a part of it.

What about you?  Can you describe your brand?  If you can’t, I”m sure your fans can.