2010 December - Logan Zanelli

Look the Part

"...Mr. Zanelli has won several design awards, and serves as an official judge for three international design competitions..." I'm standing backstage waiting for the emcee to finish the introductions and invite me to join him on stage. The auditorium is packed with people who have come to hear my keynote address on creating brands that sell. "...he's helped both national organizations and small, family-owned businesses develop successful brands that..." This is a highly anticipated presentation for the audience, many of whom came to the conference specifically for this keynote so they can learn more about how to strengthen their own brand. "...and now without further ado, please welcome Logan Zanelli!" The audience erupts in a standing ovation. Everyone is expecting me to come strutting out on stage wearing a slick, professional-looking suit, power tie, and be immaculately groomed and full of confidence. At the very least, they'd expect … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rockstar Branding Tagged With: authority, branding, look the part

The Simplest Form of Branding

By Logan 4 Comments

"And exactly how do I do that?" Steve is frustrated. For the last few days he's been researching how to create a brand for his consulting business. He's spent hours reading blogs, articles, eBooks, and white papers trying to learn what he can about how to build his own unique brand. He's even posted questions in forums and on LinkedIn asking for help. There's just one problem. All the information, tips, tricks, "secrets," and experts have him feeling overwhelmed. And to make matters worse, everything he reads seems to have a different approach or opinion as to how he should build his brand. Today was the last straw. Steve just finished reading another "branding 101" blog post that promised to give him step-by-step guidance on how to build a brand for his business all by himself. Instead it left him with more questions than answers. Steve is a consultant. Not a designer. Not a marketing savant. Not a salesman. He's frustrated because he doesn't know … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rockstar Branding Tagged With: branding

32 Things You Didn’t Know About Logan

By Logan 3 Comments

Recently, I've seen a lot of these posts circulating the blogosphere and thought it might be fun to write one. So I've assembled 32 of the more interesting (or entertaining) aspects of my life for your amusement. 1. I'm "legally blind" in one eye. Basically that means the vision in one of my eyes is worse than 20/200 and is uncorrectable with any lens or surgery. I can see through it well enough to get around and have peripheral vision on that side, but that's about it. The downside is that affects my depth perception, which is why I sucked at sports. It also causes me to get motion sick at times. Oddly enough though, it actually helps my photography because with my eyesight, I see things the same way the camera lens does. Perhaps one of these days I'll change my name to Scott Summers. 2. Cartoons and Muppets rock. Personally, I think today's cartoons suck. I love watching classic cartoons like the original Pink Panther series, Scooby Doo, and just about any Hanna-Barbera … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life of Logan

Using Silence to Get Attention

By Logan 5 Comments

A while ago, I asked you to share your most burning marketing questions with me in the comments of this post, and you all submitted some great questions. I was particularly intrigued with the question submitted by "Lazy Rockstar" which was... For the last few years the message has been, “You don’t need record companies. Artists will market themselves online and . . . (Cue: ‘Age of Aquarius’)” Now you have ten gazillion artist websites and everything you do gets lost in the noise. So, here’s the question, “How do you make ‘good’ noise’? – Lazy My answer? Don't make any. Instead, draw attention to your silence. All of us are being constantly bombarded with advertising "noise" in every media you can imagine. It's become so bad that it now follows you where ever you go (I'm referring, of course, to mobile marketing). And with all that noise, we as humans have learned to "tune out." Sure the commercial is still playing on the radio, but you're busy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing, Random Thoughts, Sales & Selling, Small Business Tagged With: attention

Do Your Readers Have Fan Stories?

By Logan 14 Comments

A while ago, I was browsing the web and stumbled onto a news headline that announced Conan O'Brien had changed the opening credits of his show in response to a fan's input. So I watched the video (below). … [Read more...]