CEO: Branding Is Your #1 Priority

Marc Rudov
Branding Advisor to CEOs
Author, Be Unique or Be Ignored

I wrote Be Unique or Be Ignored, the first of three branding books, specifically for the CEO, the brander-in-chief. If the CEO has low regard for branding, it will fail.

NOTE: What if you’re not the CEO, perhaps the VP of marketing or chief marketing officer (CMO)? Read this book and get your CEO to read it, too.

The CEO must have some expertise in every corporate activity — manufacturing, accounting, legal, HR, sales, R&D, Sarbanes-Oxley, Six Sigma, and Obamacare — especially branding.

How else will he know if or when someone is bullshitting, incompetent, or wrong?

Too often, the CEO gives short shrift to branding and/or assumes that anybody has the acumen for it. Both are huge errors.

The brand establishes the company’s purpose and direction. It is the company’s oxygen, the tip of its arrowhead.

Branding is your #1 priority, not an asterisk, whether you run a startup or a F500 enterprise.

Finally, branding is political in nearly every firm. Staffers — and many PR firms and ad agencies — fear being unique and resort to bland, generic, “safe” jargon to preserve their jobs.

That’s why companies within all industry sectors look and sound alike.

Scroll down to learn more about Be Unique or Be Ignored — and to get your own copy.

Like most CEOs, you assume your company is unique — because it sells the “coolest” or most-patented product in the universe, and explains it with hip industry jargon.

Unique Product ≠ Unique Company.

Assess your homepage: it looks and sounds just like those of your many competitors. White noise. Generic jargon. Cloudy.

Social media compound white noise!

Stop forcing customers, investors, and reporters to labor to grasp your brand, your reason for being. This raises your costs of sales, capital, and media!

SOLUTION: Get Be Unique or Be Ignored: The CEO’s Guide to Branding — NOW.

Why You Must Act Now

According to the Wall Street Journal, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s ex-CEO, asked Alan Mulally, ex-CEO of Ford, how he had turned around the world’s #6 auto manufacturer. Mulally’s answer: teamwork and simplifying the Ford brand.

In his book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal, posits: “All happy companies are different: Each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same [in the white noise]: They failed to escape competition.

Without brand simplicity, unique is impossible: your costs of sales, capital, and media will continue to rise — and your profitability and visibility will drop.

By heeding the principles in Be Unique or Be Ignored: The CEO’s Guide to Branding by Marc Rudov, you will simplify your brand.

The CEO Will Learn

What a brand is, and isn’t

Why branding is your #1 priority and directly tied to your firm‘s revenue growth, profitability, and valuation

Branding is critical for industrial, technology, commercial, financial, and healthcare products

The difference between branding and marketing

Your product is neither market nor brand

Jargon is a brand-killer

Weak brands raise your costs of sales, capital, and media

Strong brands beat competitors

Never brand by committee

Small comfort zone weakens your brand — and bottom line

How to emerge a unique standout from the white noise
of me-too competition.

PRAISE FOR MARC RUDOV

Marc Rudov’s insightful book on branding proves to CEOs that they can think, operate, and communicate differently than the competition, and win — BIG!!

Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media

If you want help getting your company noticed in today’s noisy world, this book is for you. Marc Rudov covers all the bases on the benefits of branding and proper execution. I highly recommend Be Unique or Be Ignored to every CEO, senior executive, and entrepreneur.

Patrick Bet-David, CEO of PHP Agency

I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from Marc Rudov’s Be Unique or Be Ignored. Marc has a gift for clarity, conciseness, punch, and wit. I’ve built and funded many companies; had I met him and his book 35 years ago, I would have saved myself many misses.

Peter Redford, CEO of TV Interactive Corporation and Inventor of AutoPlay, Flash, SoundBlaster, AirPlay, and the LeapPad

Marc Rudov’s book is a refreshing standout from the blur of marketing hype that passes for learning in this field. Boiled down to its essence, his book exhorts marketers to explain their brands in terms customers can: (1) understand and (2) get excited about. Easier said than done, as evidenced by website after website mired in almost incomprehensible technical jargon. Marc’s rework of the HP website is itself worth the price of the book. I found myself thinking, “Oh, that’s what HP is trying to say,” after reading Marc’s rewrite! Admittedly, Marc has some pet peeves that readers may or may not agree with, but they’re instructive nonetheless. The main message — timeless and timely — is well worth it.

Hobart Mck. Birmingham, Cofounder & Managing Director of The Perreault Birmingham Group LLC

With Be Unique or Be Ignored, Marc Rudov systematically chips away at our preconceived ideas about branding, revealing a sculpture that was always there. It takes patience and understanding to realize the obvious. My advice to CEOs: Don’t miss your opportunity to share in his insights.

Marc LaPointe, Director of Architecture, Friedland Properties; Chairman Emeritus, Retail Design Institute (NYC)

Marc Rudov’s Be Unique or Be Ignored is a wakeup call to CEOs who either dismiss the value of branding or delegate its execution to committees. Marc takes a sledgehammer to the conventional branding approach practiced by so many organizations. His no-nonsense, practical, must-read book helps the CEO, whether from a Fortune 100 or startup, understand why branding is so critical and so misunderstood — and how to make it the #1 priority.

John Racioppi, President & CEO of ECDS, LLC

Marc’s book is a great reminder that everything we do touches our brand. Every point of contact in the company has the opportunity to earn the “GutShare” of our clients and employees alike. Thanks for defining and articulating this, Marc!

Alex Potts, President & CEO of Loring Ward Group Inc.

I work with a number of clients across the global spectrum, from startups to Fortune 100s. After reading Be Unique or Be Ignored, I have completely changed the way I assess companies and their abilities to achieve sales growth. Marc Rudov’s book is a must-read for any CEO who relies on net new incremental revenue for success.

Larry Lopez, Partner at Australian Venture Consultants

Be Unique or Be Ignored: The CEO’s Guide to Branding by Marc Rudov is the best book on branding in years and a must-read for every person interested in his or her company’s success. Marc strips away the typical jargon (which he disdains) that dominates most discussions on marketing and branding and gets right to the point. If you read just one book on marketing or branding this year, this is the book.

James C. Chapman, Securities Attorney & Partner at Rimon, PC

Marc Rudov’s Be Unique or Be Ignored is a must-read for the entire C-suite and for anyone in a position of leadership. Rudov debunks an array of common misconceptions about branding and gets to the essence of why brands are of paramount importance to corporate success. I highly recommend this book.

Michael J. Burwick, President of Boston Advisory Group, LLC

Marc’s book is very good. I really enjoyed it. It’s prescriptive (no handwaving) and, to my pleasant surprise, changed my mind about branding and its role. Without question, Marc makes me think differently about branding.

Alex Osadzinski, CMO of Relias Learning

There are so many books on branding. I found Marc’s book to be unique and the best I have read on the subject. It’s a must-read for any CEO looking to cut through the clutter.

Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Energy Corporation

Marc takes the idea of branding and turns it into a brilliant and creative exercise. This book is nothing short of a powerful tool for anyone trying to create a brand.

Michael Parrotte, CEO of AGV Sports Group

 

Copyright © 2003-2024 by Marc H. Rudov | All Rights Reserved | Be Unique or Be Ignored™