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Branding is a common practice for businesses who want to put the right foot forward for their customers. Many companies make the effort to create attractive logos, craft marketing messages, and reach out to users by appealing to their cultural and aesthetic values. A great example of branding can be found in Dunkin’ Donuts popular commercials. This spot perfectly reflects the communities and attitudes of Dunkin’ Donuts’ stronghold in the Northeast. The actors are diverse, showing yuppies and blue collar workers alike, and it exemplifies the core of Dunkin’s customers.

But what about branding for potential employees? It’s rare to see a commercial or advertisement focusing on what it’s like to work for a company, though it could be the key to recruiting employees that would best fit in with the specific mission and values of a business. Branding for employment can not only help with recruiting efforts, but can also help current employees reflect your image when dealing with vendors, customers, and interviewees.

First, it’s important to have an accurate idea of the company’s goals, values, and mission in order to create an effective brand. What does your organization want to accomplish? What kinds of people do you currently employ? What are your goals for future hires? Examine company documentation for answers to some of these questions, and create an outline of your corporate culture. This does not need to be a fixed framework, and it should be able to adapt to changes within your business. By assessing current values and goals, you can establish future branding for your potential employees.

Aside from just looking at existing documentation, an accurate employment brand should include input from a wide variety of your current workforce. One simple way to gather feedback and determine the reality of your values is to survey employees from various business units, levels, and backgrounds. Many businesses conduct bi-annual surveys of employee satisfaction, and many even survey job candidates and hold exit interviews for those moving on to other opportunities. The feedback you gather could be surprising, and it will definitely help you get an accurate idea of how your company is perceived by those who know it best.

Once you have determined your stated values and the current perception of your brand by employees, it’s time to bridge the gap between the two. Determine how your actual brand is different from your desired brand, and take the steps necessary to match them up. For example, if a survey of your workers reveals that they see the chain of command is disorganized, make efforts to clear up the hierarchy and retrain management in communication techniques. Job hunters will pick up on internal problems from interacting with interviewers, and it may cost your business the best hire for the position. Listen to the suggestions of current employees, and you will be able to present the best impression to interviewees.

Walmart is a good example of a company which has struggled with employment branding. Though this commercial tries to show a festive, positive work environment, the public perception of working for the retail giant is better aligned with this satirical commentary. By listening and responding to the needs of current employees, businesses can avoid the Walmart curse of terrible employment branding. Remember, job candidates are not just interviewing to show you their skills, they’re also there to see if your work environment appeals to them. Careful branding, backed up by the willingness and ability to make changes, can help any business attract the talent they need to succeed.

For those of you who remember being awestruck while watching the classic children’s movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, get ready for this: lickable wallpaper has entered into the modern marketplace! Earlier this month, Welch’s took out a full-page print ad in People magazine to promote their brand of grape juice. But there was a new twist: the ads provided lickable samples, using technology developed by a company called First Flavor. The ad was met with mixed reactions, most of which pertaining to what this Wall Street Journal article has dubbed “The Ick Factor.” The internet buzz generated by this new concept suggests that some may have been turned off to the product based on their initial interpretation of having to actually lick a magazine (and who knows where it has been?). However, the truth is that these lickable ads use the same technology as the dissolvable breath freshening strips that have been on the market for a while now. Even still, there are those who are not entirely convinced that this will be a sanitary form of marketing. After all, what’s to stop someone from tampering with a pile of magazines?

While this is not the first instance of this type of advertisement being used (The Wall Street Journal sites a similar ad campaign being used by CBS to promote one of its sitcoms), the Welch’s ad has received a lot of attention. Radio host Shari Elliker and her crew at WBAL AM 1090 even did a test run of the ad for a segment on her morning show. This attention has lead some ad experts to believe that such multi-sensory advertisements will draw a new pool of customers and strengthen the connection with existing ones. All publicity is good publicity, right? However, these experts also warn that there may be no middle ground with this type of advertising. Lickable ads will either be massively popular or a complete flop based on the response to their flavor.

Still, there are many consumers who can’t get past the perceived “ick factor,” and there are many more who believe that even if they could, there are too many opportunities for tampering and endangering public health. One blogger reviewing the Welch’s grape juice ad wonders if this whole concept is “a lawsuit waiting to happen.” Additional feedback indicates that some consumers feel the big bucks the company is spending on these ads (which, in fact, costs hundreds of thousands more than a normal print ad) would be better spent on other marketing ideas (i.e. - free samples of actual grape juice, discount coupons, etc.). And while there were a few blog reviews that were positively endorsing this ad, the overwhelming majority of them listed reason after reason for why this was such a bad idea.

Behind us are the days of the simple scratch-and-sniff ad, but whether or not this new marketing scheme will be effective has yet to be seen. There certainly seem to be many concerns in the consumer pool that will need to be addressed. One thing’s for sure: this ad got people taking about Welch’s, so it’s clear that their marketing team must be doing something right!

You have a new idea, product or service. What’s the first thing you want to do? Share it with someone! In business terms, you want to share it with the world and hopefully make a profit. When it comes to marketing your product or service you have several options on how to go about it. You can stick to traditional, cut and dry advertising efforts, such as print, television and radio - or you can take a more creative approach and use some more modern agile approaches to marketing.

In 1983, Jay Conrad Leninson was considered the pioneer of guerrilla marketing with his take-no-prisoners approach to marketing for small and medium size businesses. Individuals make guerrilla marketing more complicated than it really is far too often. Guerrilla marketing is simply a more effective way to stimulate an idea, using both traditional and non-traditional methods. Being able to combine both traditional and non-traditional marketing efforts is what makes guerrilla marketing so unique. In doing this, you fast track your message to the public.

Standards still exist in guerrilla marketing even as a low-cost alternative, more so than in traditional marketing. The planning, insight and execution involved in guerrilla marketing often takes more attention to detail than traditional marketing.

Through the evolution of guerrilla marketing, agile marketing has aroused. One could even draw a parallelism to agile development, a process of sending web applications to the market faster. Agile marketing is focused around using preexisting relationships along with flexible ideas and tactics through the internet to deliver significant information to potential and current clients. Social networking, business blogging, wikis, forums, email branding, web site communication and newsletter campaign management are all outlets in which agile marketing is made possible.

One big mistake people have when using this approach is that fundamentals go out the door. Whether it’s a newspaper ad or a social networking event planned within Second Life (see Second Life blog) it is important that you still have a clear understanding of your customer, the market(s) you’re in and what you want to accomplish.

Whether it is guerrilla or agile marketing you chose to pursue to penetrate your idea or service to the public, it is important to have clear business goals and measurements. Having these defined will help you decide on which traditional and non-traditional marketing options to select. Clearly defined goals and measurements coupled with an open mind and researching will allow you to have more options and uncover greater possibilities in your marketing direction.