Slip and Slide

Something was happening at the house with the slip-and-slide.

What was happening was that there was a lot less happening.

A few blocks away from us is a house where the kids have a slip-and-slide that was an irresistible magnet to all the kids in the neighborhood when the weather got hot.

That yard was packed with neighborhood kids running around, getting wet, laughing their heads off.

But then it wasn’t, and the kids who lived there were wondering where all the other kids had gone.

What they didn’t know was that the family two doors down from us had recently purchased a palatial bouncy castle water slide complete with rotating sprinkler arms.

But the kids at the slip-and-slide house didn’t know that.

They just knew that no one was showing up to play.

Clients come to me with the same problem.

Customers aren’t showing up like they used to and they don’t really know why.

And they don’t know what to do about it.

When I am assessing a clients brand, one of the things that I am frequently amazed by are blind spots they have in really knowing who their competition is and what they are doing.

A competitive audit is one of the most illuminating phases in a brand re-design project.

How does your brand stack up to others in the competitive landscape?

How are they articulating the problem/solution/capabilities message to prospects in a compelling way?

How are they creating differentiation?

Assessing the competition invariably makes it very clear what the problem is and what needs to be addressed.

Because if you don’t know there’s a new bouncy castle water slide down the street…

You’re just going to be left standing in your yard wondering where everyone went.

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resources

CapCut: CapCut web is an online, free video editor with tons of features. It's easy to use, no need for video editing experience. It also provides a variety of high-quality materials with copyright for commercial use.

Zoom to Beautiful Summary Converter: This app (which gets the award for the longest app name of 2022) is a preview of Typeform's new conversational product Relayed.ai. Import any Zoom meeting (or any meeting file) and output a beautiful AI-generated text outline summary. Free for now.

Curatora: This handy SaaS uses AI to suggest highly relevant content that you can share to keep your social media streams flowing. Create customized content streams, review the content, choose what you want to publish to multiple platforms and even track performance. Free and paid tiers.

UpWord: Cut your reading time by up to 85%. UpWord's AI scans the text in articles, transcripts (or any text) for you and captures only what's actually important. You can even add your own notes to the output summary and then transform your notes into an audio clip with just a click.

Happy Ring: File this under "wearables" and "biohacking": Happy Ring is the first wearable designed for your mind. Discover how real-time tracking of your stress, mood, and sleep can change your life. Connect the dots between your mental and physical health, with personalized insights and exercises. $5 puts you on the waitlist.

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live streams

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books

"Creativity is not magic: it's a skill that you can develop with practice. The Laws of Creativity is a comprehensive exploration of the curiosity, discipline, playfulness and persistence necessary to usher new ideas into the world..." ~Josh Kaufman. Kindle edition available for pre-order: BUY IT

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quote of the week

"Content is gravity that brings people into orbit around you."

~Richard Moore

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Join Us On Facebook

If you're a creative professional or entrepreneur looking to leverage the power of brand strategy, design and marketing to build your personal brand or business, I invite you to join us in the Brand Design Masters Facebook group. It's private, but free and there are a ton of awesome 'peeps there to network with, share inspiration, ideas and get all your questions answered.

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Philip VanDusen is a branding thought leader and principal of Verhaal Brand Design an agency that leverages strategy and design to build brand equity for companies and entrepreneurs. Get more from Philip in his brand?muse newsletter, his industry leading YouTube channel or connect with Verhaal Brand Design on Facebook.