I started the Brand Insight Blog
with two, very simple ideas in mind:
1. Sharing knowledge is good for my business and good for my career.
2. If I write well and tell good stories, an audience will present itself.
In January of 2008 I had no plans beyond that… Just start writing. Stick to what I know — to what I’ve been doing for 25 years. And teach people something that’ll help them succeed in businesses. The rest would take care of itself, I figured.
And I was right, there is an audience out there. There are plenty of entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and business owners who keep coming back for more brand insight. More business advice. More practical, how-to tips. And more personalized branding assistance. In fact, the site has grown into a product in and of itself. A Brand, even. So thanks for reading.
About the author… John Furgurson is a brand strategist, writer and father living in the very livable town of Bend, Oregon. He’s co-owner of BNBranding.
Bio on John Furgurson John’s LinkedIn page John on Facebook
About my avatar… Gotta have a tiny little photo for all those social media apps these days. But I didn’t want anything reminiscent of all those real estate ads that I loathe, so I chose this picture of my kids…
Shot it myself while taking website photos for a client at a construction site. Evan and Elise were tagging along, as they used to do, and I caught them summiting a substantial mountain of earth.
Totally unscripted and authentic. No posing, no art direction, no photo shop work. Just kids, being themselves.
Heroic. Strong. Innocent. And full of possibilities. A lot like some brands I know.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello,
I work in the research industry – primarily focused in the areas of data collection and operations – love the action, the people and the convergence of arts and science. I’m in a new role now… While I was looking for sales leads I stumbled upon your blog. Appreciate your thoughts.
BTW I assume you found the webmaster/developer/web marketing know-it-all – also impressive.
Nice post I’ve bookmarked it on Digg under “About John Furgurson – branding advice & coaching”. So hopefully our friends can give you a visit. Kudos for content!
Hey there:
I’m a lawyer and privacy advocate at Abine, an online privacy startup in Boston (http://www.abine.com), and I write our privacy blog (http://abine.com/wordpress). I recently came across Branding Insight, and I thought it was excellent.
We’re actually going through a rebranding right now: the name “”Abine”" was a placeholder that somehow stuck, and none of our customers can pronounce it. It stood for A Bit Is Not Enough (when it comes to privacy). Ick. Anyway, the topics of privacy and branding may not have a lot of overlap, but the fact that you’re a blogger means that you’re involved in a lot of online privacy issues: things like how you handle copyright issues or takedown requests, whether you track your site visitors, and how you store your visitors’ data (if at all). When you’re a webmaster, all sorts of things can come out of the wordwork. I wanted to say hi and extend myself as a resource in the privacy and internet-tracking sphere. You cover a lot of topics, and I’d be happy to help if you find yourself in that realm in one of your posts.
My stance isn’t “”don’t ever use the internet”"–it’s a great part of our lives–but instead get control over the internet; make it safer; and keep doing what you’re doing–just be smart about it. That’s why we make software that blocks covert tracking, but doesn’t interfere with a person’s internet experience.
I would love to hear what you think about advertisers collecting data about you and your interests to target you with ads and to sell to third parties. Is it a concern? Something you don’t really worry about? Something you don’t quite understand?
I look forward to connecting soon!
-Sarah