Chris NordykeAdvisor at www.Latch.com
Bio

Integrated marketer and brand-builder, advisor to Latch.com, co-founder of LiveTagger and Kinetic Models, past financial services executive, founder of SpeakerLunch.com


Recent Answers


The reality is, no matter what alternative domain you land on, you're going to have to buy it. I like the domain iMelissa.com, but of course, someone owns it.
What's more important for you is building more an audience/following. A short form product video is critical. The only videos I can find, take a full minute before I see "Melissa" do anything. Longer, before I see what the hardware/form-factor looks like. You would really benefit from a video like this one: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/canary-the-first-smart-home-security-device-for-everyone
Something like that would be more shareable. You've had some nice press- but it's not very sharable- which might explain the small following you currently have on your social pages.
Hope that's helpful, would be happy to chat more.


Several things to consider when coming up with your product's brand identity:
1) Who is your customer? That will drive the look and feel, as well as the language of your brand.
2) Who are you? If at a gut level, you and your company(employees) are rednecks making the highest quality broadheads for elk hunting, you aren't going to button up your brand in a shirt and tie or develop an artsy-fartsy website. (See Duck Dynasty)
3) What specific aspects of your product and/or service are different than the rest of the market offerings? Ie. Why are you special?

These 3 questions, answered candidly, begin to make up your brand story.

The most powerful brands have learned that their messaging, packaging, sales process and customer experience delivery is less about what their product or service DOES, and more about how it makes the customer or user FEEL.

Branding a product or service is about carefully crafting a story(or a promise), that you are confident you can deliver on once they choose to buy.

In other words, branding is the discipline of aligning what you say about your product, service, team... with what customers actually get on the back-end.

Once you get really clear on these big picture questions, then the tactical stuff becomes rather easy (what should our website look like, colors, advertising channels, promotional pricing, referral programs, warranty language, etc, etc, etc.)

Of course you may be smart to hire a specialist to help you brainstorm and execute on this stuff- but the actual decision making becomes pretty obvious: which option in front of us best reflects who we are?


First of all, you need to get really clear on who your actual customer is, and where they are. Are you actually selling direct to Gen Y (ie, internet, retail stores, etc) or is Gen Y your end user (ie, you're really selling to distributors or directly to corporations, site managers, HR professionals, ergonomics, etc)

Secondly, desks are boring, but workplace fitness and holistic wellness are en vogue right now. People are thinking about this stuff, hence the major success of Jawbone Up, Fitbit and Nike Fuelband.

If you are indeed selling to Gen Y directly, you're likely selling to someone who's a remote worker, an independent contractor, or entrepreneur-type. If they're a remote employee, there's a decent chance they're being given a furniture allowance to buy an office chair/desk, etc. That means they're using someone else's money.

You need a story around your desk. How does it fit into the Gen Y, self-employed, mobile lifestyle? Why is it more than just a desk? How did you create the desk with Gen Y in mind.

There's tons of fodder here for blog posts, product videos and even interviews with wellness professionals. It doesn't all have to be about the desk. It's about your story.

A perfect example of this is the BulletProof Exec, Dave Asprey. www.bulletproofexec.com

This guy is making a fortune out of selling coffee and coconut oil and other wellness products. He's got a vivid story he's telling, gives away lots of great information, and most importantly, is helping people live the lifestyle they desire. They buy coffee from HIM, because he's earned their trust.

If people buy into the story, they're more likely to buy the product.

I question the price point a bit. A nagging question in the back of my mind is- how could this be a high quality electric sit/stand desk at $299? You're going to need to explain that to folks. (a "making of" video)

I think the average Gen Y professional will question the quality- especially given other sit/stand desks are $600-2500.

Again, it's less about differentiating from your competition, more about creating a story people connect with.


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