“Leading Expert” doesn’t come close to describing Deb Gabor’s passion for brands. More accurate? Brand Guru. Brand Impresario. Brand Evangelist. She’s written the book on branding (twice!) with bestsellers Branding is Sex and Irrational Loyalty. She’s the founder and CEO of Sol Marketing, a strategy-led marketing firm obsessed with solving major business and branding problems for clients in every industry. Companies throughout the world use Deb’s Brand Values Pyramid, Ideal Customer Archetype, and “Brand Swagger Questions” to align their teams and articulate their brands to audiences.
Deb and her team at Sol Marketing have introduced her revolutionary brand strategy for organizations ranging from international household names like Allrecipes, The Associated Press, Dell, Microsoft, NBC Universal, NPR, NTT Data, and Siemens, to exciting emerging brands like hint water and Indagare. Deb also lends her brand authority with frequent contributions and commentary to major news outlets such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, FORTUNE, Inc., MediaPost, New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Business and marketing organizations regularly call on Deb as a keynote speaker and workshop leader, relying on her as an inspiration for executives to embrace the power of branding to create Marketing That Sells.
Quote:
“Your brand lives in your customers’ needs and desires, as well as their perceptions of you and their connection to you. Branding is not an inside-out activity; it’s an outside-in activity.”
Featured Topics:
Branding Masterclass – Build a Brand that Attracts Legions of Irrationally Loyal Fans
The best brands in the world create the condition of Irrational Loyalty – which is a bond so strong that customers would feel they were cheating on your brand were they to choose an alternative. The condition of Irrational Loyalty is available to every brand in every category, serving every kind of customer.
Strong brands help their customers solve problems, present a positive image to the world, feel empowered, feel accomplished, and feel like the hero in their own personal stories. Think about what happens when you’re feeling like you’re on top of the world and everything is working out the way you hoped it would. No matter which cliché you use to describe it—the feeling of having wind in your sails or the world on a string—that feeling connects deeply with your emotions. Bestselling author and branding expert Deb Gabor puts you in the mood to create a powerful brand that connects with your most important customers – the ones most highly predictive of your success.
- Define what is a “brand” and how branding is like sex
- Understand the importance of branding for informing business strategies
- Learn the foundations of brand strategy
- Gain insight into why even B2B and hard-core technology companies need brands
- Assess the timing for engaging in branding activities
- How-to: roll up your sleeves and create the foundation for your organization’s brand
Branding is for Unicorns
The Ideal Customer Archetype: Do you ever wonder how top brands create irrational loyalty among their users?
The world’s most profitable and well-known brands bond in highly emotional and compelling ways with the customers who are most likely to spend the most money with them. Sol Marketing CEO and founder Deb Gabor leads this highly interactive workshop guiding attendees through identifying and profiling the customer who is most highly predictive of a startup’s success using the “Ideal Customer Archetype” methodology. Through the use of hands-on exercises, audiences learn to use this method to go beyond traditional demographic and firmographic profiles to hone in on behavioral and attitudinal attributes that enhance the climate of consideration for their brands and products.
- Understanding the ideal customer archetype methodology
- Getting inside your customer’s head
- Segmenting and targeting customers
- Bonding emotionally with customers
- Becoming part of customers’ self concepts
Craft Your Brand (Personal Branding)
Most personal branding talks are either very academic or theoretical. Deb believes you shouldn’t need a Ph.D. to understand branding. This fast-paced, highly interactive master class based upon the branding methodologies Deb and her company have employed for decades to create some of the best-known brands in the world. This session isn’t just educational, it’s a hands-on, how-to workshop– in plain English– for building or reigniting your personal brand so you can achieve your personal and professional goals.
- You probably never wondered what getting “in the mood” and how your personal brand shows up have in common.
- The concept of “irrational loyalty” and how a brand that killed 11 of its customers is still a fan-favorite
- The three magic brand questions that unlock all your personal brand potential
- How to create a head-turning personal brand that makes your audience the hero
Hacking the Elevator Pitch
Whether you are out at a conference, mingling with friends, or you just so happen to know somebody who knows somebody who’s able to help you take your company to the next level, you’ll get this question: “What do you do for a living?” Or, “What is your company about?” This is the perfect opportunity, not to necessarily “sell” your business, but to make people want to know more about you and your company. The infamous “Elevator Pitch” was created for just such an occasion.
An elevator pitch is a conversation, or an ice breaker, that will (hopefully) lead to a deeper dialogue about the functionality, and specialty, of what you and your company can offer. In practice you typically have just 60 seconds to leave an exciting, impactful, and meaningful impression with whomever you come in contact with. So make them count. This highly-interactive, hands-on session will provide you with the building blocks for an exceptional pitch that raises your audience’s eyebrows and leaves them wanting to learn more.
- Be exposed to the Anti-Elevator Pitch and how it serves as an invitation for further conversation
- Start to think of yourself as a “brand” and leverage that to your advantage
- Learn everything that needs to be in your elevator pitch and everything that doesn’t
- Create the building blocks of your own pitch – starting with communicating from a place of “WHY” and culminating in the unique qualities that can make you stand out
- “Hack” the elevator pitch at critical points to create a cohesive story about you and how you make a client or a hiring manager the hero in his or her own story
What people are saying…
LISA SHARPLES, CO-FOUNDER, FEXY MEDIA
“Deb believes that getting the customer laid is the ultimate goal of every brand. Because of your brand, the customer feels they can accomplish more! She’s right.”
KRISTEN MULLIGAN, MIDDLETOWN COMMUNITY
“Deb’s methodology leads you to understand how your brand can bond indelibly with the customers most highly predictive of your company’s success.”
JODI KAHN, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, FRESHDIRECT
“Deb’s formula is precise and very thoughtful. Deb has deep experience in helping companies face reality and find brands that open territory that can build businesses.”
In Branding is Sex, brand dominatrix Deb Gabor explains how proper brand positioning gets your customers in the mood. In just seven short and sweet chapters, Deb covers these juicy topics and more:
- How the most successful brands in the world get their customers laid
- How to never fail The Bullshit Test
- Who your brand should hop in the sack with (and it’s not who you think)
Don’t rot in the brand graveyard like Blackberry, Oldsmobile, Circuit City, Compaq, Blockbuster Video, and Pets.com. Get your sexy back and move from being “just friends” with your customers to being long-term “friends with benefits.” Branding is Sex provides you with a concrete foundation and a basic how-to plan for building or re-igniting your brand without needing a PhD.
Eventually, every organization faces a serious branding disaster. Think of United Airlines, Wells Fargo, Uber, and other companies whose tribulations made front page news. Poor business decisions, corrupt cultures, or just plain bad luck can lead to major PR meltdowns, sending once-loyal consumers fleeing in droves. But there’s a right way to handle controversy and come out stronger on the other side.