 Ha, I'm not gonna say that because someone read it yesterday and I said okay I'm just gonna let it be seen because but you know Hello, good morning I'm going to before I get into my talk and I'm gonna be speeding because there's a lot of content Allow me to things the first thing that I want to Give a shout out our Mike little and not not mulling wig for coming up with this idea and most of all deciding to make turn this into an open source project and giving us something to Do our blogs build our businesses, but most of all create a community Which of all the WordPress things for me was and is the most valuable and the second thing that I want to celebrate with you was The results of the referendum in Ireland yesterday Because I think It was awesome. I spent most of Friday crying for like no real reason except it was everything was very moving and The other reason is brings me to this very special Slide because As a woman and as an older woman in tech I am a minority and Yoast has a fund To support minorities come to speak and without them. I wouldn't be here So I'm very grateful But I also want to speak more and more about the need that we have for more women and More older women Tammy spoke about listening I was at a Event a few months ago in Milan. I live in Milan nearby at Accenture Interactive which is you know, they get to do a lot of really big important projects and The panel was five people five men white and The second guy started off saying, you know, we are a team of 200 and We are like scattered in four different cities and the average age is 26 And I wanted to get up and leave because I was like The average age is 26 and I did some math. I mean not a good math because I'm a designer I'm not you know a nerd, but I kind of said so that would make like the oldest people in the team be 35 and you guys want to design design things for me Let along my mom But so diversity is really important That said how about you? How many designers? Okay, how many developers? Okay, how many marketers? Okay, I'm trying. I'll ask you later. What the other of you do but anyway to a hello brands Because we are all brands today and I'm gonna try and show you how we got there Meanwhile, this is me. I I do a lot of things I used to be embarrassed because I grew up at a time where if you did a lot of things You were bad at all of them and if not if I've discovered that no, it's not true These are the three Representations and at the end of my talk you're going to they're gonna make more sense than now and I want to go over three things with you today The first thing is what a brand is and what a brand is not The second is to show you a little bit about how the idea of branding has evolved because it has taken on more and more meanings and The third is I'm gonna give you my little blueprint of how to go about Branding So let's go. Okay, and usually this is there's a bike What do you mean? And what I mean is that a brand is not a logo. These are not synonyms Okay, this happens all the time you hear people referring to a logo as a brand and by Vice versa, and they're not and I'll show you what I mean What is this? Nike, right? So This is Nike, right The attitude the the mission their vision their What they want us to feel about that So this is Nike's logo But this is Nike Okay, it's that Thing, you know, we usually get like also We get parties is like Canon and Nikon, you know Nike and like Adidas, you know, it's like I like Leaning here. I'm leaning there another example Okay, most of you are gonna know what this is. Do not say it This is a logo right by all means right, but it's not a brand This is the brand Okay, this is the logo of the New Zealand all blacks. It's a symbol. It's it's a design It's a visual icon, but it's not the brand It's the representation of a set of intangible values That set us our company our product apart from something else So The brand is that set of intangible values. Okay, that's why we talk about brand equity tomorrow from hand-handling who borrowed from Z Frank And me now the brand is the emotional Aftertaste, I like that a lot because this is what's happening more and more You know when we meet a brand we almost get the same feeling that we get when we meet a person You know, I like you or I don't like you you're annoying me right after you know from the start so a logo We can think of as a two-dimensional icon of a multi-dimensional experience Which is the brand and I'm sure that if you look at any One of these you get that feeling right you get it you recognize it and it triggers something in your mind Can be positive can be negative can be neutral, but it's Something that goes beyond You know the design But how do we get here? So the first thing the first practice of branding and it started about 50,000 DC is ownership and the purpose of The first branding Was to recognize someone's property from someone else's property so there is evidence in the Lascaux caves of Cattle marked probably with paint or tar to be distinguished from others and there are Egyptian funerals and Documentation that it that depict branding in the in a more permanent way Which started about 2000 BC Which is through burning and in fact Branding comes from the North's blender or I don't know if it's pronounced right, but you know, sorry. I'm from Italy Which means to burn? So the second need solved by branding was to establish a product's origin and Along with the origin very often Who made it where it was made? Which material and so on so we have Engravings found on goods from China, Mesopotamia, Greece, India and It basically also tells us that it was a need that everyone had to somehow identify their products and also the use of their products There's a whole conversation going on here, there's a lot things written in there in Chinese That said that gave a lot of information about that pottery and in Rome archaeologists have identified about 1,000 unique potters marks That were in use during the first three centuries of the Roman Empire So we can deduct that there were about a thousand potters in in Italy in Rome I'm sorry and they all had their own little shop with their own little brand and they were probably like, you know The trendy, you know Potter of the moment, you know, I'm going to that Potter because he's he doesn't you know better things than the other And further These are oil lamps that were found in Modena There was a big fabric of a factor. I'm sorry of oil lamps and I know if you can see it But they all have a little different stamp in the background In back in the bottom, I'm sorry So Fast forward to the Middle Ages in the Middle Ages guilds Started using marks to distinguish their work from other guilds so print makers and and paper makers would use watermarks and Stone makers and quarries developed this elaborate system to identify their work or the origin of the stone in the Renaissance Artists like Michelangelo started this is a detail of the area across Mary's test and they started signing their name instead of symbols on their artwork and By doing so they also started introducing the concept of authorship as opposed to and and recognizable authorship as opposed to you know, the artist is being someone that did things and Who cared? Also, we get the notion of brand as a reputation fast forward to the industrial revolution and mass production Equaled a lot of products all the same so You know How are my jars distinguishable from your jars? We're all making jars, but So the first thing that people did was to brand Put signs on the containers that the goods were shipped in and then they started branding the actual packages and By a way, I always freak because they're like so much better than the ones, you know, like Campbell soup I would love to buy Campbell soup on those, you know Like look at them now We are talking late 1800s, okay, so this is like the birth of packaging and By the late 1800s companies that started to invest and pay money on branding and so they demanded their Legislation so that their products could be safeguarded so the trademarks Registration Act of 1875 did two things it allowed protection So that's mine, and you cannot make a copy of that But it also allowed a brand to become Sellable to become company assets and Therefore the ability to give value to that intangible value that I had built for my product Okay, so we have the factories and the factories are doing all these nice little products But I have to convince people to buy them You know because they're gonna get there and they're gonna go okay now there's five jars which one should I get? So you had convinced them that you know your product was better and that's There, you know, that's what advertising comes in, right? Sorry for that horrible rhyme, but there was no way to escape it, you know every time every time I'm like Anyway There was a young guy named James Walter Thompson in the early 1900s who actually had a vision quite you know far-sighted vision and He's advertising agencies was the first one to establish a creative department to create content for his clients But he went even further He wrote two books the Thompson blue and Red books of advertising. He wasn't like a great copywriter, you know, but can't have everything and They were actual guides for companies explaining What opportunities opportunities? Advertising could give them so they were like actually advertising for advertising Kind of things but basically he introduced the concept of trademark Advertising and an early definition of what today we call branding So between 1920s and 1940s we have print and radio advertising because obviously advertising needs media and their Reach is related to media and so at first budgets were dedicated to newspapers and radio spots and Then that uh, you know in 1942 We had the 40 between the 40s and 50s at the television Changed everything and now I would love to see if this Can actually go I'm sorry. Did I wake you it wasn't supposed to be that loud but what you just saw Was the first ever aired commercial? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going to see this again. We're not freak So that aired in 1942 and it was you know the first commercial ever aired and by the late 50s and the 60s We know all about these guys, right? TV advertising was the advertising and it's generally referred to as the golden era of advertising so in the 40s I'm sorry in the you know in the 50s in the in the first decade of television advertising and in general advertising the Products basically had to say hello. I exist by me, okay, because there was not a lot of competition so the the idea was the unique selling proposition in The decades between the 50s and the 60s we go from that to an emotional selling proposition because products start to become More parity so there is more toothpaste and more soaps and so I need people to enjoy to Get some kind of emotional attachment or emotional relationship with the product so The communication becomes more about feelings about not so much There's this product, but how is this product going to make you feel? How are you going to be better safer more secure more cool? more rich looking or better looking So the point is give your products a personality that they can That customers can relate to Between the 70s and the 80s Television sets are basically everywhere. Everyone has them. Everyone has more than one so we see the rising of mass media product branding and Basically if you had a good commercial and a big budget, so you just you know pestered people it would work people would recognize you and and and and recognize your product but as Media theory becomes You know as media becomes more important media theory becomes something to be researched and Reflected on as in the words of Marshall McLuhan Between the 80s and the 90s and the 90s we see communication shift from product to producers So companies begin to advertise their brand more so than their single product Which actually makes sense because it gives you a wider opportunity Okay, if I sell you a product, you know the product, but if I sell you the producer and I establish a relationship with the producer then All the other products that I made, you know bring to the market start with an advantage So nope If television was a game changer Internet was like the total revolution Between 19 in the between 1990 and 2010 We see Everything change Amazon is Was founded in 1995 Google in 97 We're pressed in 2003, but we knew that Facebook in 2004 And all these guys totally changed The way we communicate and for brands this had two major implications and has two major implications the first one is that there's nowhere to hide and We all have examples, you know of you know, big red blunders like American Airlines dragging or United actually dragging a passenger out of the airplane Or I don't know. There's so many at this point that you know brands have to be very careful because Whatever blunders, you know a brand whatever fail Whatever mistakes a brand can make the world is watching the world is recording and It just happens instantaneously So guard needs to be kept up The second thing is that we all have become brands That's because through social media We now all can become VIPs but we can also be attacked and judged and bullied and scrutinized and that's something that used to be only, you know VIPs, I mean You know, it was like paparazzi's had no interest in general people now The risk is that I mean I have a little story that happened in Italy, but that's applicable I'm sure them in every country There was this like in inside contest in a bank and and bank directors were asked to make these little videos You know to with with all their employees like singing with a little song and whatever and one of these videos was leaked out and the poor I mean the whole the whole thing was pathetic but like And the whole idea was pathetic, but this woman Who was in the video? was the video, you know made to reached Facebook and by within a few hours she was like the butt of the joke of the entire country and It was horrible You know her kids were like picked on at school She had to close her Facebook account. I mean it was really really horrible and She's like, you know, there's no one. It's me you any one of us so You know the good part is that we can all be influencers If you when I was young a kid wanted to be a soccer player and a girl like a ballerina, okay Now I think you ask any kid they want to be and they want to be rich doing videos on YouTube something like that, right? so Chiara Ferrani is she's now. I think 31 She was one of the first fashion bloggers her net worth in 2016 was 12 million Dollars Not bad starting a fashion blog My absolute favorite in the world the only real deserving star grumpy cat Has a total reach of 68 million followers and I mean she deserves it. Okay. She deserves it When I was doing research for this I found out that These lovely girl who was I think she's 29 now She has a total reach of 247 million people Do any of you know her? Okay, so I wonder who are they because I had no clue and I actually went on YouTube and looked for her and she does is like really kind of funny videos that Totally like I could not get so I was like Yeah, okay, so I'm not in target. I guess So but again, okay, too you make a lot of money you do this for a living It's it's a job. What do you want to be an influencer? Okay, so Branding has evolved right from defining ownership To defining the origin and quality of something to identify that project to differentiate that project from a product. I'm sorry from Something like it to become a company asset so sellable To be a status symbol Okay, how many people do you know? That are just so you know, I have that watch I have that car Today Your brand is your kept promise to your customer Or to put it in the words of Jeff basis is what other people say about you when you're not in the room Okay, which is Reputation basically, okay So this is all cool right people big companies with big budgets with you know advertising agencies, you know What about us? You know, what can we do? Should we build or manage or work or tend to our personal or business brand And how and the answer is obviously To the first question and how I'm gonna show you This of course is my You know blueprint, that's how I go about it. It applies to any size of brand because it's just a logical process So the first thing that you need to know is who are you What do you do if you're a product? What do you do? It's very hard to sell something that it's if it's not really really clear in your mind and If we talk personal brand, this is actually not as easy To do as if you do it for a product Because personal brand is like, you know, like who am I who do I want to be and you know identifying that is Not easy, but is very important. It's point number one point number two is Who you're talking to Your target, right? If you don't know your target every communication you do Could be right could be wrong could be somewhere in the middle know your market Okay, so you and your target are in a market You know, who else is there? How do you make You know, how are you different from the rest and how what makes you valuable or different than everything else and To know to answer number three you need to know Who the others are because otherwise it's a bit hard You need to have a clear vision aware of where you want to go and if you don't you need to get one Because it's like going on a road trip. I mean you may not really have you know the exact spot Location but north south east west, you know, more or less That's what I want to achieve if you don't have that clear is very hard to Communicate that remember that bit about you know, people have smartphones and they can like tape you doing really bad things And tweet about it in no time Values are important today and You're going to be held by the by those values Even if you're a pizza place, you know, if you say my pizza is the cheapest that it has to be if it's Super good, then it has to be if it's Vegan it has to be Okay, if it's organic people should not be thinking I'm gonna be organic, you know, because that's not good. There's another pizza place You gotta have a plan, you know, I'm so glad to see that this morning You know other speakers spoke about having a strategy For a long time at least for me, baby, maybe it's just me having a strategy was kind of sneaky You know, like if you had a strategy you had some kind of agenda, you know And so always like You know felt kind of weird, but it's not you got to have a strategy again. You're doing a you know, you want to go to London fine Your strategy is how am I gonna go to London? I'm gonna walk there. I mean you could you know, you could But you got to know it Okay, or are you gonna like bike to London? You're gonna take an airplane to London and when and how much time do you have and and what's the purpose? Okay, so all these things need to go into a strategy so that your actions are not random This is the mine for random Okay, it is only now that we talk logos up until now There's no mention of logo of design of You know colors none Okay, now is I have a plan. I know what I know. I am I know who you are I know where we're going. I got my strategy worked out So now I can start convey my personality and I can do and I can do this Through graphic design. Yeah, now we can call the designer Or we can call our nephew in high school. Whatever, you know, it's an option The key here for branding purposes is consistency. Okay You can't change your logos every six months. It doesn't work You can't change your colors every six months. It doesn't work, you know It's it's a visual code and people need to be able to recognize you Otherwise is like you're resetting the whole thing every time The second is the tone of voice and the type of language again target if I'm selling skateboards to Teenagers I'm going to speak to them in a certain way if I sell earring aids to Senior citizens I'm going to speak in a different way probably loudly in the second case, but you know So and again, you have to be coherent, you know, you can't be super funky In your image, but then you speak like a you know a lawyer, you know All of this has to be coherent and make sense Then you need to think about your communication You know wait how what are the better channels? Okay, and again, it has to do with who is your target? Okay, if you're talking if you're selling earring aids to senior citizens, you're probably going to opt for certain Places to put your communication in Probably not Snapchat Probably not Twitter You know and and vice versa and the key here is competence because this is not something that you just know So when you get to this stage, you might want to ask someone for professional help and then Whatever you're selling You have a customer and your customer has an opinion about how you treat them and If you don't treat them nice they ain't gonna be happy and It used to be they would just go home and say to their five friends I am not ever going to buy that, you know bread at that bakery But now they may be Influencer as then they get to Twitter and they tweet to their 247 million followers that bakery sucks Okay, we go back to the original recipe point number nine don't skimp. I mean it's you know So you don't have a huge budget That's fine, but you got to put some effort and love and and think that this is not going to be a cost zero Even if it's just your time You know writing your blog post or posting to Facebook or tending your Facebook page or whatever It ain't gonna happen by itself It's also not gonna happen all by itself If you're at the beach So you got a work on it You got a state consistent you got a check check often Make sure that you haven't you know steered away from your original path And this you don't have to do but it's really nice and it works better if you do, you know being mindful Listening to as you know Tammy was saying before You know paying attention you're in Whatever context with your customer with your clients so You know you could ignore them, but it's probably not gonna work out very well now if All of this applies to your personal brand Steps one through seven are the same Rules nine through eleven are the same Point eight Personality if you're working on your personal brand it has your personality Okay Maybe you curb it a little You know, but it's it it has to be true for you. Okay? If you are super Funky, yeah, and you know shoot them or so they shut up kind of people colorful and friendly and then reflect that It or vice versa if you're like very serious and introvert I mean you're not gonna have like a website that it's all blank and has nothing in it But you don't have to pretend you're like super friendly. I love everybody you can just be yourself Just sort of like your nicest possible self so all this is to say that a Brand is not a logo, but you know that already Your brand is organic. It's it's an organic leaving breathing being that can be You know nurtured Made to grow or it can also be made to die a horrible death if you don't treat it really nice so You have to give it your best You have to it's your baby. Just really think of it as your baby and When you step on a poo think united Because we all do you know, we're you know, just you know own it Apologize it fix it if you can learn from it and Go on we're human we step on poo on occasion This is me and Day after tomorrow here, there's gonna be slides because I gotta go home and put them there You're very welcome