No Limits Ladies.com

(Forgive me for getting to this so late!) Today's chapter in The Art of the Start has already been condensed by the author Guy Kawasaki himself The Art of Branding.

I love Guy's approach to branding as "simply applying the classic P's of marketing: product, place, price, and promotion (and sometimes prayer). Guy has also added another "P: proselytization, which is the process of converting others to your belief, doctrine, or cause." In this chapter he also covers this idea, also known as "evangelism" in addition to fostering community- another hugely important aspect of building a brand.

Guy goes on to say:

"The art of branding requires creating something that infects people with enthusiasm, making it easy for them to help spreading the word, and building a community around it."

I have a unique opportunity to witness this in action every Tuesday when I head over to the Rich Dad headquarters for our weekly meetings (it's the one day a week I have to get up early and drive anywhere to simu-work!). The company, love it or hate it, is a recognizable brand. They have been able to build and maintain this brand for more than a decade, and are still going strong.

RK was talking about building a brand just this morning (as if on cue!). He was talking about how Cashflow Technologies was started as a financial educational company whose product was the game Cashflow. The now famous book Rich Dad Poor Dad was written as a way to promote the game- and took on a life of it's own. RK said he found that he was turned from entrepreneur into author- which was never his goal. They have been returning to their original focus: the Cashflow game and financial education.

This game is the "product that creates contagion and infects people with enthusiasm" that Guy Kawasaki described in the quote above. People can join clubs and play the game for free. Everyone can leave having learned something practical that they can apply to their lives. Many find that they would like to educate themselves more. Who now are they going to turn to to continue their financial education? What company opened their eyes and was in front of them for 2-4 hours while playing the game? That is a great example of creating something contagious: branding in action.

Tomorrow we'll wrap up our study through The Art of the Start with The Art of Rainmaking and a bit on Being a Mensch!

For more about Guy Kawasaki, check out Art of the Start.com (his site) as well as Guy's blog