In this brief guide, we will shed some light on the fastest-growing sector of social media.

I like to think that I’m an early adopter of technology – but truth be told – I like to see if things have the staying power to outlast the initial excitement. One of my criteria is: do they add enough value to my everyday life aside from just being new. I joined two of the front-running location-based social networks last month (Foursquare and Gowalla). With about 4 weeks under my belt, I wanted to share what I’ve learned both from a branding and marketing perspective and a consumer perspective.

First – a little background on location-based services. If you have a smart-phone, you have access to applications that use GPS in order to locate your device and provide location-based insight. The two main categories are:

Social Review Sites: These provide consumer reviews of the places nearby.
Yelp
WHERE
Geodelic
Tell me where

Social Check-in Site: These allow users to check-in, post pictures, status updates, etc.
Facebook – new feature
Foursquare
Gowalla
Blockchalk
BrightKite
Whrrl
MyTown

As a user – this is what you need to know

● Cool application for seeing where your friends are

A couple quick scenarios: Say, I’m at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and I check-in. My friend, Mathew, is also at the concert and he sees that I checked-in. He calls me up and we meet-up after the concert to grab a beer at our favorite neighborhood bar.

I’m visiting a new city where my friend Sherri lives. I know she has good taste in vegetarian restaurants – so I check her profile to see what restaurants she’s checked into recently.

● Not as creepy as you might think. Sites like www.pleaserobme.com DO bring up some great points about over-sharing, but just keep your contacts to people you consider friends in real life.

● Get rewarded. Some retailers give special perks to loyal Foursquare, Gowalla, etc users. You are seen as their brand advocate.

As a marketer – here are the opportunities:

● Gain a loyal following of consumers who are “on the go”

● Influence their purchase when they are close to the register

● Offer up a special for all check-ins

● Offer an extra-special discount or freebie for the “Mayor”

● Learn more about your patrons (which locations and when the check-in)

Hope that helps as a brief introduction. As of June 2010, Foursquare reported that it had 1.6 million users. Plus, with Facebook’s new location-based tagging – I think it’s safe to say that this new sector of social media is here to stay (at least until the next big thing).

Consider location-based services as a part of your overall online presence. Brand Iron can help you leverage this new trend to drive revenue with a very specific (and growing) target audience.

Actually, I was asked a great question yesterday: “How do you know when it’s time to redo your website.”

There are many reasons to update your site: refresh graphics, add functionality, restructure navigation, add a call-to-action – but the main reason we updated our site was because the message didn’t accurately reflect the high level of support we provide our clients.

Our previous website didn’t communicate the true value we were delivering to our clients. Yes, we still do websites, we still do PR, we still do corporate IDs – but we do those things as a part of an integrated plan to help your business succeed. We have also developed new programs for developing brand champions, helping companies get acquired or go public, raising capital, etc.

We help our clients determine the activities that will make the biggest impact to their bottom lines. We take a holistic look at their brand and company – and help them forge the plan that will make them competitive in their market.  Brand Iron works with our clients to drive short- and long-term revenue while identifying the activities that will make the biggest impact.

If your message has changed and you need to reposition yourself in the market, contact Brand Iron today. We’ll help you develop an integrated plan to drive short- and long-term revenue to your business.

1. Ability to update content and new pages in-house.

2. Greater visibility to search engines (SEO).

3. Quick and easy to update clients with up-to-date news (blog).

4. Ability to easily add new functions to your site (plug-ins).

Check out http://www.thenesbittgroup.com and see the power of WordPress. It might be a great fit for your companies needs.

Revenue Enterprises :: Accounts Receivables and Collections :: www.revenueenterprises.com

ESS Software :: A software solutions company for commercial real estate :: cresync.esssoftware.com

Infinite Health & Wellness :: www.infinitehealthandwellness.net

The Nesbitt Group :: Denver commercial real estate broker :: www.thenesbittgroup.com

Venture Law Advisors :: Denver law advisors for emerging and growth companies :: www.venturelawadvisors.com

Contact Brand Iron today and let’s start building your new site.

Hi

It’s been a few months since my first day here at Brand Iron, (41 days to be exact) so while a little delayed, this technically serves as my introduction post.

The professional-me snapshot:
My early agency existence sprouted primarily public relations and social media experience. With a few shifts on the marketing scale over the past several years, I had a good feeling from the get-go about the awesome opportunity Brand Iron offered to continue down this path. Joining the team as a Brand Wrangler, (in Google Translate terms, think – account manager) I right away took the reins of the race horse that was my client project list.
My days were busy at the onset but great nonetheless. In fact, I’d like to take this second to say how rad the team is here at ‘the ranch.’ It’s always a transition to start somewhere new – getting ingrained in the processes, adapting to the culture, absorbing the general agency practices – but starting with day one I was embraced by this group. A collective mix of talent and passion, I realized it almost instantly. Things are different here. Hard work doesn’t come easy but here, it’s done well because the people love what they do. In short, I thought (and shared with others), ‘this is awesome.’

And now a few other things:
As a Colorado-native and former-Denver dweller, I recently (re)relocated back to the Mile High city, after being in Boston for a bit. Living just up a square from Harvard and a stone’s throw from the Charles River, I worked with PR firm Porter Novelli while there. From traffic and digital mapping to B2B software to commercial printers, I supported a list of technology companies through PR and online marketing. After my return, I spent a few months with the Denver Film Society as a part of the media relations team to promote the 32nd Starz Denver Film Festival, before saddling up with Brand Iron. Among many things, a definite high point of 2009 was investing in some serious mat and mental time to become a certified yoga instructor. Whether in the studio or at the office, the practice keeps me grounded.
Now that the weather has turned, I’m stoked to be back near the Rockies. White water rafting, baseball games (let’s go Sox!), and hiking – have set a goal to conquer my first 14-er this year – will fill the summer’s when-not-at-Brand-Iron activities list.

And in the meantime, you’ll find me, along with the rest of the crew, doing what we do at our sweet new digs on 24th and Larimer. (More on that soon…)

-Abbey O’Neal, Brand Wrangler

We wanted to show you some recent samples of our re-branding work. The examples below different greatly in industry, but share one important trait: they all felt their current brands were holding them back from reaching their full potentials.

CapitalValue Advisors
CapitalValue Advisors, sometimes known to their clients as CVA, wanted to integrate a standalone icon with their type treatment. In the future, they wanted the ability to use only the icon, but in the meantime, did not want to alienate clients and prospects who knew them as their full name, CapitalValue Advisors.

Forensic Laboratories
Forensic Laboratories has made great strides in their business in recent history. To capitalize on their business growth and increased national and local attention, Forensic Laboratories needed an updated brand to communicate not only where there are – but where they were headed: the best drug testing laboratory in the U.S. and industry leader in accuracy, technology and expertise.

MPEG LA
As the world’s leader in independent intellectual property patent pools, MPEG LA needed to communicate their leadership within the industry. One thing the client wanted to preserve was the red/green/black color scheme of their old logo.
The icon, which can be a stand-alone identity piece, symbolically communicates the value MPEG LA brings to its patent users and holders: making something great from the combination of many pieces.

Contact us today if your company needs to address its brand – whether visually (as demonstrated above), readdressing your sales, marketing and operations process, or leveraging the value of your current brand to drive more revenue.

Written by Josh Barker, Brand Manager

First off, the top 10 brands of 2008 were also the top 10 brands of 2007, with the exception of Google (who jumped from the 20th position to replace Mercedes Benz).

1. Coca-Cola
2. IBM
3. Microsoft
4. GE
5. Nokia
6. Toyota
7. intel
8. McDonald’s
9. Disney
10. Google

The complete list of the top 100 brands can be found here.
http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx

The credit market affects financial institutions differently
Citi and Merrill Lynch both fell significantly from 2007 to 2008 (22nd position to 34th position and 11th position to 19th position, respectively). However, Visa’s and American Express’ brand values rose due to their trusted brands. I believe this has a lot to do with how consumers see these companies. For the most part, consumers saw the credit market debacle as a fault of the lending institutions. Credit card companies were able to maintain brand value, not only through continued brand communication, but because of the physical relationship consumers have with their credit cards. What’s in your wallet right now? – Mastercard, Visa or American Express? We love to use credit cards and the convenience they give us.

Sustainability leads and valued brands
Companies that are on the forefront of sustainable initiatives held strong on Interbrand’s list. Honda was the only car manufacture to report better sales in June 2008, than it did last year. GE and BP increased their brand value over 2007 by investing in sustainable business practices. BP has invested heavily both in internal processes and direct consumer communication.

Companies that are delivering green products and sustainable business practices will continue to increase brand value in the future because that is what the market demands.

These are the two aspects that caught my eye when reviewing Interbrand’s Top 100 Global Brands. A couple points small and medium-size businesses we can learn from this are:

• Perception is reality. If people have an inaccurate perception of you – you must work to change your brand. For example, financial institutions like Merrill Lynch need to transcend the “financial lending” market and position themselves to better relate to consumers and to expand their value. Pro-active marketing to address head-on the brand challenges is a great way to fend off negative brand perceptions.
• What is good for the environment is good for your business. Innovative products and citizenship holds great value with consumers.

Now is the time to re-position your company so that your customers see the value in choosing you. Brand Iron can help you with brand positioning and communicating what you do. You have the power to influence the decisions your customers make. Make sure your brand is putting you in the best light possible and is creating a good and memorable customer experience.

Written by Josh Barker

According to Business Week (September 19, 2008), McDonalds ranks #8 on the Best 100 Global Brands lists. (Note: the only other restaurant brand that cracked the Top 100 was KFC at #64.)

With $37 billion in brand revenue – the big question is “Why would they deviate from their dominate brand?”
My only guess to why they would not use the brand they have spent decades and billions creating, is that they want to generate internet buzz around their new product offering. (Hey, it’s working right?)  I imagine this campaign will not rollout worldwide – but the new “no frills bundling” of this McDonald’s classic will be coming to a normally-branded McDonalds near you.

After the buzz has reached nearly every web-savy, fast-food consumer / pop culture junkie, I think they will ditch the black and red “no brand” and you will soon be able to walk into a McDonalds and order the no frills “Quarter Pounder” meal. No choices. No questions. No sizes to choose from. Actually, there is just one choice: single or double:

I think there are some things every business can learn from this.
• Creating buzz takes time, money and a great idea
• You can touch a lot of people thru the web
• Interesting and unique news travels fast
• Doing something controversial creates buzz

McDonalds has created a pseudo-brand and an entire network of stores in Toyko to drive web excitement around their new product. Most of us develop product sheets and an email blast to inform our customers and to drive excitement. Clearly, when you want BIG results, you need BIG ideas.

If you want to get to the next level, you need a unique idea that will set you apart from the competition and the gall to do it. Nice job McDonalds.

At Brand Iron, we’ll help you get outside the box when you want to create excitement around your brand. We’ll develop plans, creative ideas and tactics that will get noticed and will get your audience talking.

- Josh Barker, Brand Wrangler

Brand Iron’s new ad campaign for The Denver Athletic Club debuted earlier this week. The ad appears in 5280 and Mile High Sports Magazines and has already created quite the positive buzz around Denver. This is the first of many ads that will highlight the Club’s rich tradition and new style.

The ad campaign features REAL Denver Athletic Club pics from the 1920s through the 70s. Keep an eye out at your local newstand for more ads that showcase the deep history and new style – only found at The Denver Athletic Club.