How To Promote a Brand Online

As most of you know, I’m the marketing guy behind Timothy Sykes and besides creating “genius” marketing images like this, my job also involves promoting the brand and getting the TIM word out there. Recently, in one of our weekly creative/marketing brainstorming sessions, we decided we needed a bit more exposure from other bloggers and web personalities. So, we made a list of some of our favorite bloggers and podcasters and decided to email them individually and get them to interview Tim. Because of my past relationship with a lot of the top bloggers, this task was relatively simple and within a day of contacting them, we had about 7 interviews lined up. You’ll see a lot of these audio and blog interviews come out in the next few days over at TIM.

So I’ve been thinking - what other techniques have I used in the past to promote a brand? And with that question, this blog post began. I’m going to list three of my favorite and proven techniques that really help get the traffic and recognition a blogger needs when he or she first starts out. So go grab that coffee and make yourself comfortable; here we go:

1. Linkbaiting - If you’ve never heard of this magical word before, let me be the first to introduce it to you. Head out to Smashing Magazine and check out THIS great post that teaches you everything you’ll ever need to know about linkbaiting. If you’re too lazy to read an entire post on it, essentially linkbaiting is the art of creating original content (could be videos, images, blogs, stories, rumors etc) that is so damn good that it will bait your readers to link to it from other websites (like facebook, myspace, digg etc). Want ideas on how to linkbait successfully? Read HERE.

2. Use Twitter and Twitterfeed - Twitter, in-spite of all the outages, is still one of the better online tools out there to spread your word (ofcourse, in 140 characters or less). Add friends, follow strangers and use Twitterfeed to automatically update Twitter with your blog posts. Read Problogger’s very detailed post HERE that highlights some of the advantages of Twitter.

3. Print T-Shirts - Yes, it works! Who doesn’t love good tees, especially when you have hotties like Lisa and Justine sporting them for you! I wear my PALLIAN DID IT tshirts everywhere. From the gym to grocery shopping to camping… it’s always PALLIAN DID IT. Before you know it - people are googling Pallian and they end up here. On that note, we’re producing about 100 TIMMAY tees for TIM - so if you’re a big Timothy Sykes fan, get in touch with me and I’ll reserve you one.

Hopefully these three techniques will give you a jump start with your brand. I’ll blog more about marketing and promoting 101 in the following weeks as we launch new projects. In the meantime, if you have a project that needs some immediate professional help, you know who to contact :)

Gone Camping!

With the heat in the mid-30s (celsius), my studio has become unbearable and inoperable. I need an escape and what better way than to go camping deep inside the mountains of the pacific north-west. The car is packed - the cameras are loaded - the beer is cold and we’re off! I’ll be back on Sunday and will have the photo gallery I promised ready for next week.

To keep you entertained while I’m gone, here’s an early weekender linkfest:

New York Times: A Map of Olympic Medals- a nifty interactive infographic that visually displays the number of medals that countries won in Beijing.

Visual Kidnapping!

Sweet Swedish Design Firm

If you’re in the NY area - check out Bobby’s Burger Palace.

Liveplace (watch it to believe it!):

TV Made Me Do It

I just bought a new car. And yes, the TV made me do it. Not the Internets like they usually do - but the TV. I’m not a TV watcher - but with the Olympics on and after watching Phelps get his 5th(!) gold - I saw an ad that made me want to buy a new car. Aptly titled “Progress is Beautiful“, the all new Audi A4 ad made me get off the couch and drive to the nearest dealer - which just happens to be the BMW Store. I walk in - and I saw it. Those feline eyes. Staring back at me.

A test drive and an haggling hour later - she was mine. Yes, I bought a BMW after watching an Audi ad that aired after watching Phelps swim in Bejing to win his 5th gold.

Not really sure what to do now - I rarely drive in Vancouver because I rarely am in Vancouver. But like the Audi ad said it - Progress is Beautiful.

The Joker Clowns Of The Dark Knight

I finally got a chance to watch The Dark Knight and WOW! Did they ever do a good job with that Joker! Of course the tantalizing plot with all its surprises were superb too - but damn, that Joker and his minions in those masks were something else. Of-course, the designer in me had to find out who, why and how they came up with those tormenting clownish faces… and bingo, here’s a little video that satisfied all my aching questions:

I have a feeling this Halloween you can expect to see a lot of these clowns around, especially since you can now buy them all on Amazon.

And here’s a really awesome wallpaper of the Joker from the recent article in the New Yorker.

Weekender Linkfest

Damn! Is it the weekend already?! Time’s really flying this summer… with so many projects on the go, along with all of TIM’s projects - it’s going to be a little nuts for the next 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, here’s a little link love to keep you entertained:

24 Unforgettable Advertisements - Some of the very best from around the world.

Spectacular photos from the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony - I had to watch it to believe it.

Need some music while working? Check out this awesome selection of mixtapes.

If you really have time to waste - go nuts and create a few word clouds!

Pilobolus on Conan O’Brien.

And finally, you know what I’m having for breakfast…