The winner of The Masters doesn’t just win a major. He becomes a part of the history of the game, and that’s what excites me. This tournament creates something that is very special, and year in year out, history is made here. – Phil Mickelson

For those of you who aren’t golfers, it’s the premiere golf event of the year.

True, there are four major tournaments in professional golf and the Masters is just one. Many would argue it is not the hardest to win. The US Open usually gets that nod. Nor is it the oldest, The Open Championship (British Open in the US) takes that distinction. The PGA Championship is usually the one most would agree has the most competition.

But The Masters is the best. It has the best platform and story.

 The Story

Bobby Jones started the “Augusta National Invitational” in 1934. He wanted to invite his friends to play in a fun event at his golf club in Augusta, Ga.

Over the years it grew into The Masters and captured audiences with villains, heroes, tragedies, miracles, and a hint of controversy.

In other words, awesome content. Non-golfers tune in every year for the “back nine at Augusta” to see what legend will be made.

 The Platform

The Masters has the distinction as the only major to be hosted on the same golf course each year. This is significant. The tournament doesn’t rent its platform, it owns it. Therefore, the tournament has complete control over the design, look, feel, and experience.

Augusta National’s exceptional condition and attention to detail online and off, from Magnolia Lane to Amen Corner, has produced the best experience for golfers and patrons. They continue to bridge the online-offline gap beautifully.

I hope you will watch this year’s tournament regardless of whether you are a golfer, like me, or not.

If you do, you will learn how to tell a story, create unique experience, and build a brand legacy unmatched.

photo credit:  gomattolson

Business models are largely driven by one or a set of key value propositions. Your unique value proposition (UVP) is the reason your customers buy from you instead of the competition. 

Whether you’re launching a startup or been in business for decades, you should spend time regularly building stronger UVPs. Today you are in luck because I am going to give you the secret to creating killer value propositions.

Ready?

Lean in.

Here goes.

Find out what your customers care about.

That’s it.

You see a lot of marketers stop at the demographics like income, marital status, education, etc. and stop. Go further. You must find out their aspirations, concerns, and behaviors. Develop insight about their environment and how it influences their decisions. This is what they care about.

Before we move on I want to clear a little confusion. It is easy to mistake value propositions for features. Features are ingredients. Value propositions are born from benefits. Benefits are the tangible or emotional payoff a customer gets from buying your product or service. Again, this is what they care about.

Got it?

Once you have a better understanding of your customers’ cares you can design stronger value propositions by knowing what they are really willing to pay for.

Ok, I’ve told you the secret. What are you going to do with it?

(One more secret: In the next Whatupdate I’ll talk about how to create a customer profile that goes beyond the demographics. Sign up here if you want in.) 

photo credit: RestrictedData

I love to concept. It is one of my favorite things to do professionally. You know, taking an idea and making it big, telling a story, and connecting it to the people who want it.

It isn’t uncommon for us to spend hours during the creative phase thinking of  how we want to communicate a brand’s story. We’ll cover every inch of branding and marketing from the logo to the “Four P‘s”.

Once you figure out the goal then you create the concept. It is your creative guidepost. It is an important piece to get right, but easy to miss if you are too attached to the details. Clients do this all the time and get so hung up on the trees that they can’t see the forest.

If this has been you, don’t worry you are not alone. Last week I was working on an outside secret project where I was wearing the client hat and I completely missed the concept  because I was focused on a design detail.

My agency partner totally called me out on it. We had a great laugh but I could have missed out on executing an awesome idea.

Here is a great concept from Jung von Matt for Mercedes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljcAmUVZsCw

if you can’t see the video, click here.

photo credit: El Caganer

If you can’t see the video, click here.

Before a brand can become incredible, it forst must be credible. Then a brand can become incredible by instilling confidence, being competent, and staying consistent.

Please check out the article when you get a chance and let me know what you think. You can get to from here:

How To Build An Incredible Brand 

These are three things that will kill a brand from the inside out. Sure, we talk a lot about the external factors that affect a brand like positioning, focus, promotion, credibility, name, etc. Rarely do we look internally to see why brands live or die. Here are three deadly d’s that lead to failure.

Doubt

If your organization doesn’t believe in the brand’s ability to succeed and win the hearts of consumers, then it won’t. How could this happen, you ask? Easily and more often than you know. Companies have wasted millions launching brands with doubt present. To hedge this, make things that work and scratch your own itch. It is hard to doubt something that works for you. Build their belief in the brand and they will build a brand your customers will believe in.

Discouragement

Nothing will drain hope and dreams worse than this. I’m not saying there won’t be times along the way you feel down when deadlines are missed, big opportunities fall through, or initial feedback is poor. The important this that you move on. Go back to the brand story. What unique value does it bring to the customer. Measure your success on progress. Is the brand moving forward? No one said things would always be easy. Remind your team why they are doing what they are doing and encourage them for every victory.

Distractions

Oh boy! This is a big one. It is a lot less emotionally draining than its cousins, doubt and discouragement, but this deadly d is a siren. She lures your company away from shipping your brand. When brands don’t ship they die on the vine. Stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish now. It is easy to fall down the rabbit hole and do a hundred meaningless tasks instead of the two or three things that make your brand great. After the idea stage, don’t allow the introduction of any new ideas that don’t enhance the brand’s what and why. Let these be bouncers at the door that keep distractions out.

Avoid letting these deadly d’s of branding to take root in your organization. They are toxic and lethal. The good news is there is treatment and a cure. We will address those cures in our next branding post. Until then, what other internal issues face successful branding?

photo credit: mbrubeck

This is exactly the conversation I had with my good friend Jeff Dolan recently. He is an incredible media pro  and one of the more talented and brightest creative professionals I know. When he told me he was going to be in town, I jumped at the chance for us to grab dinner and catch up. What I love about talking with Jeff is we always talk about big ideas. It is amazing where the conversations go and the things we come up with. Most sentences start with “Wouldn’t it be cool if….?”

Our discussion kept coming back to a three step formula for simple branding. Here it is:

1. Know what you are about and never deviate from that objective - Ask yourself “What are we about?” on a monthly basis and make sure you can answer it. Be single minded and focused on that one thing that defines you. I love the way IdeaPaint does this. They are all about turning anything paintable into a dry-erase surface to create on.

2. Be predicable -  A large chunk of branding is managing the emotional expectations of the consumer. If people get what they expect you are on track to win. For example, on a recent Beancast podcast, the panel talked about GM’s desire to be the country’s most beloved consumer brand. To have a chance at this lofty goal they will need to do a better job of giving customers what they expect and care about.

3. Tell the truth - Bill Bernbach said one time, “I’ve got a great gimmick, let’s tell the truth.”  This is a powerful branding strategy and takes a full commitment. The benefit, besides making steps (1) and (2) easier, is developing trust. Trust is what holds up the brand’s name. We have a local restaurant in Greensboro called the Iron Hen. It uses locally grown and organic ingredients. They are also committed to sustainable and slow food practices. This is validated by the great lengths they go to in showing transparency as to which local markets and farms they buy from.

Some of you may be asking yourselves, what is a mood board? It is a mosaic of images, words, graphics, and objects that project what you want your brand position to be. In developing your personal brand, think of a mood board as a snapshot of where you want to be. It is a destination postcard. Designers have used them for years to gain an overall feel for where their product is going to fit in the market. You can use them to identify your personal brand position and why it’s important to you.

5 Easy Steps to building your mood board.

1. The Gathering. Find magazines, pictures, books, stickies, etc. that represent the feeling or “mood” you want you personal brand to evoke. Be inclusive and pull together anything you may want to use. We’ll pare it down later.
2. The Arrangement. Take all of the stuff you’ve acquired and arrange it, collage-style (remember elementary school?) on a board, poster, or wall. I usually like to group things together that are similar in emotion or ideal. You’ll see why later. As your board is forming up, take notes of common themes that begin to pop in your head. The idea here is to gain insight and inspiration for what your true personal brand is. Don’t affix things until after step three, which is…
3. The Purge. Before you solidify the mood board you need to refine it. Eliminate anything that doesn’t align with your personal brand position. You are looking to clearly communicate who you are and where you are going. If a graphic or color doesn’t represent that, then it has to go. Also, keep it to three-to-five words that define your characteristics, ideals, and emotions. Too many will add complexity to the visual.
4. The Test. Now that you have trimmed the fat, it is time to test your personal brand mood board. Take a picture of your board and send it to a friend or mentor. Have them tell you what they see. It should be consistent with your vision of your brand. If not, revisit steps one, two, and or three.
5. The Finish. The final step is to write summaries of your mood board’s themes. Each one should validate the visuals on your board.

I recommend you put your board up where you can see it. Look at it regularly. Compare your work, attitude, and associations with the images you fastened to your mood board? Is it consistent? The board will serve as a beacon for your personal brand. Last thing, have fun with it. Enjoy the process of discovering your personal brand position.

What say you?

photo credit: lolololori

There are a hundred things you can do to make your brand sharable. There are a thousand ways to spread your organization’s ideas. Here is one great way.

Make it Easy!

Optimize your content to be easy to find.

Create content in the right context to make it easy to understand.

Write to an audience of one to make it easy to connect.

Use social media to make it easy to give away.

Solve problems to make it easy to add value.

Make it interesting to make it easy to entertain.

and…

Be brief to make it easy to digest.

There are many more.

How else should it be easy?

photo credit: D’Arcy Norman

Let the music play. Don’t stop. When you run a project or campaign it usually has a stop date but when you are creating a movement or building a community there is no end date.

Think about a band like The Beatles. Although the band hasn’t toured or put out a new record (officially) in decades the music never stopped. It keeps on playing.

They spent the hard work up front positioning themselves as the leaders in British Pop and then created a loyal following by producing consistent and exceptionable content (tours, albums, singles, movies, print, etc). No doubt campaigns were created around each record, tour, and media appearance but the engagement never stopped. More importantly when the band stopped, the fans didn’t let the music fade.

Campaigns are necessary to create awareness and sell records but building enthusiastic fans for life takes connection. The music is the connector. It is the thing that builds a bridge from one fan to another. Make sure your campaigns accomplish short term goals and are aligned with your overall brand strategy. If they aren’t matched, the music stops.

What are you doing to ensure your product, service, or cause moves from production to promotion to movement?

photo credit: junipaire

This simple (but not always easy) exercise will help you get clarity for where you are and what is next for your business. People often underestimate the power of sustained thought. Instead of using google as a magic 8 ball or referring to your favorite guru’s blog, just take your pen and paper and write down the thoughts that come to you. Don’t filter, write.

If you do this daily, you will discover new direction and clear paths to your objectives. You will find solutions to problems your company faces. Knowledge of where to spend your time and resources to get the maximum affect will emerge.

You will change your business.

I know, you may be thinking this is some hokey bologna, but understand it is simply taking away constraints. I love being plugged-in and staying ultra productive as much as the next person, but those can become hindrances to revelation and ideas trying to surface.

Trust me. Give it a week and come back here and comment about your experience, what you’ve learned, and its impact.

What do you say, are you with me?

Story- What story do you want to tell? What story do others tell about you? This is what connects you to others in your niche. Is it consistent, authentic, and true? Your story is the only one like it in the world. Make sure it is powerful and memorable.

Works- What are you going to do? Choose the paths that are most productive and give you a return gain. Working hard helps you find opportunities and working smart help you capitalize on them.

Abilities- These are the areas you are exceptional. Identify what you do better than anyone else. You have talents that set you apart. Play to these strengths in your pursuit.

Goals- Know where you are going. The best strategies and tactics are useless without goals. Once you have determined your goals, prioritize them. This will help you focus on what is most important to accomplish.

Regardless of whether you are in Time Ferris’s camp or Gary V’s, the practice of performing a personal S.W.A.G. will give you clarity and awareness for your personal brand. I hope 2011 is your best year yet and a spring board for years to come.

To download the SWAG worksheet click [here].

Your thoughts?

photo credit: anarchosyn

I love it when companies do little things unexpectedly to give their customers a better experience. Earlier this week I met a friend at Penn Station for lunch. It is a sub shop/franchise with locations throughout the east coast and midwest. I had only been there once before and the visit hadn’t left an impression. This time was a different story.

The food was good. The experience was great. Out of nowhere, as everyone was eating their sandwiches talking about WikiLeaks, Lebron, and holiday shopping, the workers started passing out fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. The nice young lady came up to our booth with a basketful of cookies in hand, offered us one, and asked how our meal was. She treated us like she knew us. Almost as if we were real people. It was great. Great experience, mission accomplished.

We should all give our clients a cookie. These are the little things that leave a lasting memory in the minds of customers.

Think about how you can do this in your business. You do it through servitude and exceeding what your clients expect you to do. You do it through adding high touch to high tech. The great thing is it usually doesn’t cost that much. What costs more is not doing it and falling into average. When you are average you compete with price.

Give your customers a cookie and you build loyalty. Loyalty is when customers choose you for reasons other than price. Loyalty based on the fact you are cheaper isn’t real loyalty. Loyalty is about commitment and a sense of belonging to a group or tribe.

As you move into 2011, start baking cookies into your brand. What ideas do you have to build loyalty through better experience and value?

photo credit: bochalla

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative.

Thank you Mark for sharing this film and being an influencer.

PSE Marketing

1. Perfect your product and story

2. Set expectations with valuable online content

3. Exceed expectations offline

Last week I saw Tommy Emmanuel live. He is by far one of the best guitarists in the universe. I heard about Tommy from my friend Rob Blackwell (an amazing songwriter and musician too).

1. Perfect your product and story- Tommy Emmanuel has played guitar almost every day since he was four years old. Tommy grew up as a gypsy in Australia. He has toured and played live since he was five. He has been awarded numerous awards and is considered by man to be the best in the world. And to top it all off, he is humble and generous, donating countless hours and dollars to charities and ministries around the world.

You have to figure out what your story is for your brand or organization. What are the things that make it unique and shared experiences that make it relatable to your audience? Your product has to back up your story. Tommy’s product is his playing. He backs up the story by playing mind blowing guitar. You need to purge your product of mediocrity and perfect it.

2. Set expectations with valuable online content- If you search for Tommy Emmanuel in Google, many videos will come up showing him playing live or on tv. Hearing and seeing these videos sets an expectation in your mind of what you will experience watching him in person. Everywhere he is mentioned, from blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., his performances are heralded. As I watched these videos an expectation of what interactions offline would be like started to form.

The same will happen for your company as customers and consumers find and explore your digital thumbprint. The content you publish will set an expectation level in the minds of the folks that interact with you online. Valuable and relevant content combined with responsiveness will create the right expectations.

3. Exceed expectations offline- Seeing Tommy Emmanuel live blew what I thought I was in for away. My experience was better than the expectations set by watching videos and comments online. I left telling everyone about that show. I encouraged people to check him out as I told them what they would see. I am now setting expectations for the people I know would want to hear him play.

Organizations sometimes believe the digital and social media arm of your business is separate from your offline business. I disagree. I think they work together. Continuity will help you exceed your customers expectations and move them towards connection. Connecting grows into advocacy and creates word of mouth.

Following the simple PSE Marketing strategy will build your brand and create word of mouth exposure. The misconception is this is a one time execution. It should be continual. Always work to make your story better and your product more remarkable. Always create great content online and on social platforms to set expectations. Always back up those expectations with authentic and amazing client experiences.

What is your best client experience from a brand?

photo credit: Paull Young

Toms Shoes + Whole Foods = Marketing Heaven

Recently, I was in Winston Salem and witnessed the marketing arranged marriage between TOMS and Whole Foods.  I have to admit these two are perfect for each other.  Well done Brad Otts, the cupid in this love story.  Here is a link about the matrimony between TOMS & Whole Foods.

When I was in college Dr. Hanson talked a lot about the Marketing Mix and its Four Ps; Price, Promotion, Place, and Product.  When two brands share these ingredients, a good partnership will result.  Let’s take a look:

Price: This is how much the customer pays for the product. TOMS and Whole Foods do not sell average products. They are not selling toothpicks. When you are buying toothpicks you go for cheap. Brand is less important. All you want to do is get the spinach out of your teeth so the person next to you doesn’t run away. They are selling something with similar perceived value and a comparative price. Customers that pay for Whole Foods groceries will also pay for TOMS shoes.

Takeaway: Do you price your product or service to match the perceived value of your audience?  Do you bottom feed on price?  Only try to be the cheapest if it makes sense.  Sell your goods at a fair price that satisfies your tribe.

Promotion: These brands have parallel paths in this part of the mix.  Their Advertising, PR, Word-of-Mouth, Point-of-Sale, and New Media channels reach the same target.  Their promotion segments a specific person in mind. To me promotion is best done by telling a story.  TOMS’ and Whole Foods’ stories speak to the same audience.

Takeaway: Identify your ideal customers.  Be relevant to their needs and tell the stories they want to be characters in.

Place: Location is still important.  Be where you are found.  TOMS’ ideal prospects shop at Whole Foods and Whole Foods’ ideal prospects wear Toms shoes.

Takeaway: In the digital landscape place is equally important.  Find where your customers and prospects are by using twitter search, blogs, google, facebook, youtube, etc.

Product: Most importantly the products are compatible.  You won’t find Nikes in Whole Foods or TOMS in Walmart.  This relationship works because the products have the same suit. It is hard to build continuity with spades and diamonds. The suits don’t match. TOMS’ and Whole Foods’ customers are socially conscience, eco-friendly, and “Organic.”  They are both hearts.  They influence and are influenced by the same culture (check out Jackie Adkins regarding the influence of culture).

Takeaway: Product relationships have to be able to leverage the same ecosystems.  You wouldn’t pair McDonald’s with Dom Pérignon.  You would pair Starbucks and Barnes & Noble.  Leverage will make your marketing invisible.

These Ps aren’t the only ones. There are also some Cs and Ss and Rs. I do hope you think about what you are trying to accomplish with developing your brand and growing your business. Whole Foods and Toms have built a mutually beneficial relationship that is win-win for both companies. Seek those partnerships where you can be advocates for each other. Your customers are looking for it.

What say you?

photo credit: Keith Allison

Recent events around Tiger Woods have sparked thousands of conversations online. Apart from the obvious moral issues surrounding the saga, I believe there is a valuable lesson in social media and marketing.

We all know there are “new rules” of marketing. They have been written about endlessly by folks (smarter than me) like Kyle Lacy and Tim Sanders. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith as well as Mitch Joel have written books about it.

The main principle I discern from these guys is that authenticity and sincerity build trust. The more trust, the more authority.  Authority allows you to speak into my life. When you have authority you have influence and as Brian Clark teaches us,  Authority Rules.

A lesson in Authenticity from Tiger Woods and John Daly:

In business today, social capital is strong currency. The appreciation or depreciation of that currency is the result of our perceived trust in that person, company, or organization. Think about the last time you looked at a review on Amazon. If every review is 100% positive we question the sincerity of the message. We see things as fake if there are no imperfections. None of us are flawless, and if something seems too perfect we don’t trust it.

The worst thing organizations or people can do to lose value is to pretend to be something they are not. Eventually the smoke clears and the mirrors crack, leaving the real truth exposed. The offending party is disqualified. No more authority. No more influence.

This is what happened to Tiger. The life he told us and sold us was not the life he walked. To make matters worse, he stayed in the shadows which communicated more deceit. Trust was broken. We didn’t want to be Tiger Woods anymore. We stopped looking to him for help with decisions on what to wear, drink, or drive.  His social currency plummeted to the depths of the ZIM dollar.

John Daly’s social currency conversely has appreciated each year. In the midst of multiple divorces, battles with numerous addictions (gambling and drinking for starters), and scuffles with PGA Tour policies John’s popularity and authority has continued to rise. Why? He is not a role model and is far from perfect. Authenticity is his key. Love him or hate him, John Daly is true. He doesn’t hide behind any facade. He lays it out in the open, both good and bad. This helps people feel connected to Daly, they believe him. They listen to him because he is one of them, imperfect but trying.

While you are building your company,personal brand, or community remember authenticity and transparency will build social equity. If you are caught in a tiger trap, be quick to apologize, come clean, and immediately start rebuilding the trust.

Here is Rick Reilly’s recommendations on how Tiger can rebuild. What would you have Tiger do?

photo credit: adiything

In 2003, Seth Godin published a book titled Purple Cow(not an affiliate link). I am sure many of you have read it, but if you haven’t, it is worth a read. To me, the beauty of this book is in the simplicity of its message. Don’t go for sameness or even differentiation, go for distinction.

Remarkable ideas, products, and services win. If you are boring, no one will notice you. Stand up and stand out from the crowd.

Recently, Seth published an updated and extended version of the best selling book. Several months ago Seth offered to readers of his blog, the opportunity to submit a “purple cow” story in 200 words or less. These stories were to be of companies, individuals, or organizations that were remarkable. I missed the deadline to submit a story but I wanted to share one with you. Here you go:

High Point University is a purple cow. It doesn’t hurt that the school colors are purple and white either. Not long ago, HPU was just another black and white bovinae in a country full of private liberal arts colleges. Then along came a man with a vision to redefine how we view higher education. President Nido Qubein’s purpose is to create an atmosphere of excellence. The school has developed amenties that rival the Ritz Carlton. A campus conceigre provides students with services such as wake up calls and dry cleaning. Kiosks around campus hand out free snacks and bottled water. There is even a ice cream truck handing out free ice cream to students. A director of WOW postition was added to ensure that the students’ and parents’ expectations are exceeded. The message to the parents is we will take care of your “pride and joy”. The standard of excellece has transferred to the sudents. The word is out. Freshman classes have tripled in the last three years while tuition has increased almost 50%. High Point University believes in creating a higher standard for students so that when they gradute they will not settle for average in life.

What purple cows have you witnessed lately?

photo credit: Greensboro College

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about personal branding and social media to faculty and students at my alma mater, Greensboro College.  Thanks again to everyone who attended, I enjoyed talking with you and it was a pleasure to meet you.

My presentation focused more on philosophy (what, why, who) and less on the mechanics (how). The new media tools we use to connect to our communities, engage in conversations, and tell our stories will change (probably sooner than rather than later), therefore I wanted to communicate sound thought process instead of how to upload a profile image to Linkedin.

I believe things went well, only one student fell asleep during the hour and half I was there. I am sure he would have been lights out for anyone save Megan Fox.  My biggest takeaway from conversations with faculty and students was how many folks try to over complicate branding and how it integrates with the web. Too many people are stuck applying old marketing mentality to new business environments. This results in a failure to launch or a disjointed message which lacks connection to the community.

Here are a few things I have learned that help me simplify the philosophy of utilizing social media to build your brand.

Know what you are trying to accomplish.

Know your story a La Tim Ferriss and Rick Smith.

Be unique a La Josh Madden and Hugh MacLeod.

Be passionate a La Gary Vaynerchuck and Chris Laney.

Be authentic, listen, and give value to your community a La Chris Brogan and Mitch Joel.

Reach the right people (not all people) a La Seth Godin and Cali Lewis.

How are you going to build your brand in 2010 ?

If anyone is interested and would like to receive my speaking notes you can contact me here. Please put “you 2.0″ in the subject line and I will send them to you.

The lesson from this story is that Steve has “a realtor.” This is someone that has earned Steve’s trust and built a relationship with him. This made me think about all the “guys” and “girls” we have in our lives.

My bet is you have YOUR accountant, YOUR attorney, YOUR Stylist, YOUR Doctor, YOUR Dentist, YOUR Mechanic, etc…

I will even go one step further and say you probably have YOUR film person that tells you what  is worth paying $10 for at the movie theatre and YOUR music person and YOUR Fashion person and YOUR book person and even YOUR restaurant person.

Whoever those people are they have earned trust and influence over you. They are experts. You may or may not know them personally. They might be a best friend or a favorite author or other personality. The common characteristic here, is they have a proven record of exceeding your expectations time after time.

I have my people too.

My music and fashion and branding guy is Josh Madden.
My accountant is Will.
My restaurant guy is Justin.
My mentor and tech guy is Marty.
My golf guy is Robert Linville.
My family/parenting guy is Joe McGee
My realtors are Jim Duncan, London Bailey, and Jane Cameron.
My writing and presenting guy is Chris Laney.
My movie girl is Laurie.
My marketing guys are Mark Burris, Seth Godin, and Cindy Hanson.
My community and social media guys are Chris Brogan and Mitch Joel.
My car guy is Babe.

We must figure out how to be “the guy” or “girl” for people. We must become the experts that provide unmatched service, skill, or wisdom in one or more areas to the right people. This builds the following and communities we lead.

The other day I played in a charity golf tournament at Salem Glen. It so happened that I won the long drive hole (a career first). At the end of the round I was awarded a prize donated by a Wealth Management brokerage house in town. The prize they gave me was a box of generic golf balls and an umbrella. Really! Seriously? What did they hope to accomplish here?

You do not need to be a golfer or care anything about the sport to understand the problem here. First of all, the participants of this event were some of the most prominent executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals in town, and you are going to give away a $10 box of golf balls probably picked up last minute at Kmart? At least that is what the gift said to me.

When we give a gift, we are promoting ourselves, our company, or our organization. The perceived value of what we have to offer (product, service, self, etc.) is demonstrated by what we give and how we give it.

We must take advantage of this great opportunity to exceed the expectations of our audience and recipients. Then back it up. When we do this, we are on our way to becoming “remarkable.”