Shonali Burke Consulting | branding your business

July 11, 2014

11 Jul 2014

Creative Branding In a Fredericksburg Loo

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

eyesight rest stop Does your business’ restroom – often just a necessity you don’t give much thought to – have such creative branding that it makes your customers want to come back?

***

My husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on Monday. Thank you, thank you, and yes, everything you can imagine about what it takes to stay married for 15 years is true… and then some!

Scene: Fredericksburg, Va.

We have a lot of non-local travel coming up, so this year, for our anniversary, we opted for a mini road trip. Off we went to Fredericksburg, Virginia, with the obligatory stop at a Cracker Barrel along the way (we discovered CB somewhere off the beaten path in Tennessee, during our 10th anniversary road trip, and it’s become a Burke RT Must Do ever since).

Fredericksburg was lovely, and if you are into American/Civil War history, and it is fairly accessible to you, I highly recommend it. We took a trolley tour, saw all sorts of Washington (the founding father, not the District) -related sites, and then hopped into kybecca for a celebratory dinner.

It’s a very neat restaurant; not at all what I expected to find in Fredericksburg, Va. But what caught my fancy more than the great wine, the excellent food, the super service, was how kybecca’s restroom made me exclaim, and then smile, and then keep thinking about how clever it was.

3 Comments/in Business Building, Marketing /by Shonali Burke/#permalink

January 25, 2013

25 Jan 2013

The Best Three Little Words for Branding Your Business

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

“I don’t know.” These might be the best three little words you can use as you build your business. And here’s what got me thinking about this:

Ken Mueller’s post a couple days ago was terrific. You should go read it, if you haven’t already, but the gist of it is that when you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s far smarter to admit to what you don’t know rather than to pretend you do know what you don’t know.

I’ll give you a couple of seconds to digest that.

And… we’re back.

I think this is a good rule of thumb for anyone. Most of us are honest, decent people, who want to help each other out. And often we say “yes” when we mean “no” or “I don’t know,” either because we got caught up in the excitement of the moment (someone asked us! w00t!), or that we just didn’t want to let the person asking down.

30 Comments/in Business Building /by Shonali Burke/#permalink

Blog Categories

Training Programs

Strategic Social PR from A to Z ❯

Today, good public relations entails much more than blindly blanketing the media (and bloggers) with information that’s of dubious value to begin with. And more often than not, it entails a strong element of building and managing online community. In this workshop, you will:

Learn the three key elements of an effective 21^st century “social PR” strategy, and how it differs from “old” PR
Know which time-tested research and analytical methods you should still use in the 21st century
Understand why talking at people isn’t effective, and how to effectively use today’s popular social media platforms to talk with them
Experience real-time social engagement through workshop exercises and hands-on participation
Understand how to effectively incorporate measurement, so that it validates and improves your programs and, therefore, your business

Learn More

From Passive to Active Listening ❯

There's a difference between "hearing" and "listening." Do you know which it is your organization or business does... and the business ramifications of not doing it well? In this workshop, you will:

Learn the difference between "passive" and "active" listening (and 'fess up which you've been doing thus far)
Make the connection between active listening and strategy, and how they have a mutually symbiotic relationship
Familiarize yourself with different types of listening dashboards (yes, some are free!) and how to use them effectively
Experiment with simple yet effective techniques to build community through active listening online
Understand how to put active listening at the center of your communication strategy for better business results

Learn More

Smart PR Measurement for the Digital Age ❯

We have more measurement tools than ever before; so many, that we don't know what to do with most of them. And no matter how good a tool is, you still need smart people using it in a smart way, to derive the most benefit. In this workshop, you will:

Learn the basics of good PR measurement and, conversely, the seven deadly sins of bad measurement
Understand how to differentiate between fact and fiction in the measurement context, and the two acronyms to stay far away from
Master the process behind creating effective and realistic measurable objectives
Learn how to incorporate online analytics into your PR measurement (yes, it can be done)
Understand how to make the right kinds of correlations between your communication efforts and your organization's business objectives

Learn More

Social Media for the C-Suite ❯

Gone are the days when “social media” was the domain of your twenty-something employees. Today, social platforms are where your customers and constituents of all ages and stages literally live online. If you’re a business leader, you should take this workshop to:

Learn the three core principles of effective social media engagement
Examine key social media platforms, and understand how they work on both personal and professional levels
Review how businesses of all sizes have effectively used social media to support and reach business goals
Experience the benefits of real-time social engagement through workshop exercises and hands-on participation
Understand the kinds of metrics your social media team should and shouldn’t use when reporting back to you

Learn More