Brand Barbarian - Ben Settle

Partial Excerpts (antilibrary)

Whipping Up the Hordes

Apple Computer fan brain activity reacted exactly how a religious person's brain reacts when presented with a picture of their chosen deity

glorious and - dare I say it? - irrational...  Power Of Branding!

you create something that transcends you... that is far more powerful, far more long-lasting, and far more impervious to being copied, knocked-off, or duplicated

Something that also effortlessly brings you money, influence, and power. That long outlives you and your business

And, even more important... that creates a "berserker-like" passion in your customers, clients, and buyers that has them promoting (and defending, if need be) you in droves

not following the lame and often idiotic branding rules corporate America, Madison Ave, and practically every social media "branding expert" and so-called influencer shooting videos in their cars adheres preaches

The kind of branding I am referring to is based first and foremost on human psychology and sound, principled thought, that consistently and reliably works in any media, for any kind of business, and for any kind of product, service, person, or character

Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther King Jr., and even Mother Theresa

And if you look at the root of what makes brands like theirs "tick", you will see something quite different than what appears on the surface. Something brutally simple

the best description I can think of for it is:
"Weaponized" Branding!

ultimately conquers the boring, predictable, overly-slicked-up & stylized brands you compete with in the minds of your customers and audience.

*Peter Montoya (author of A Brand Called You)

Everything you do to attract and maintain customer and client relationships

Your customers' experience (good or bad) is part of your brand. Your name and reputation are part of your brand. The carpet and wallpaper in your office are part of your brand. Your personality is obviously part of your brand. Where you live is part of your brand.

Your appearance, style, and grooming are part of your

brand. Social media posts you like, retweet, follow, and engage with are part of your brand

The rules you impose upon and the standards you require of customers and people you associate with arc part of your brand

and any other ways you communicate with and are perceived by your market and customers arc all part of your brand

Best part:

If you know how to exploit &wield this sharp, "battle axe like" weapon called branding the way I will show you inside this book, it's 100% possible and realistic - regardless of your experience, skill level, looks, popularity, or budget now - to create a brand that far outlives you

Whips Up A Relentless & Fearless Horde Of Ferocious & "Berserker-like" Customers Who Are All But Irrationally Loyal To You, Your Products, And Your Mission!

Sacking Your Enemy

the 3

"must-have" attributes that makes what you will read in this book all work:

• Honesty/ Authenticity

• Consistency

• Non-Neediness

Brand Barbarian Lesson 1: The Dirty Milk Test

ask yourself-every time you do anything related to your business, big or small -this question:

"Does this look, feel, sound, taste, or smell like anything anyone else

If it does, then something in the milk won't be clean to the most rabid and loyal customers and fans in your audience

Obviously, it's impossible to be 100% different all the time

For example:

It's why Marvel blew right by DC Comics when Stan Lee started

writing stories his way, instead of listening to his reactive publisher who just followed trends and copied DC Comics and their squeaky clean, "milquetoast" format

Brand Barbarian Lesson 2: How to Create "Mad Men" Mania in Customers

back in the old "mad man" advertising era, the main ad agencies all had their own unique flair, philosophies, and specializations. And clients gravitated towards the entrepreneur and philosophy they liked best.

it wasn't really an "ad" they wanted.

It was a philosophy and confident leader they could believe in.

The great copywriter Gary Bencivenga, for example, has a philosophy and methodology around what he calls "Proof Element Marketing."

And for decades he tripled down on it, specialized in it, and taught it as a matter of principle and as his personal philosophy for everything from creating sales copy to building products & offers

The great Ken McCarthy - founding father of internet marketing as we know it - has a philosophy revolving around

positioning

For my own business, I've cultivated a philosophy around infotainment (combining information with entertainment to sell, teach, and create & publish content) and have spent years working towards excelling, mastering, and honing it to ultimately build a 7-figure publishing business and methodology around that philosophy.

Having a philosophy & methodology-centered business automatically gives you a unique position in the market and a very dearly-defined brand where ...

Certain People Are Irresistibly Attracted To Your Brand, While Others Are Repelled By It!

But, you may be asking, how do you use this knowledge, exactly?

You make a list of all the core fundamentals ofwhatever it is you do, teach,

believe, and/or sell. Next, examine the people and businesses in your industry market and niche

Then, go through those fundamentals above you use the most, and that you have found the most successful, and that you're especially good at, but that nobody else has claimed as their main thing. And then you "break off' that piece from the market ...

And SEIZE That Position

Then, focus on working that into everything you do, sell, and teach

Yes, this obviously takes work and deep thinking and will power

Brand Barbarian Lesson 3: Have the Looks that Kill (In Sales)

That consistency and being an original "you" are extremely powerful. Because at the end of the day, they aren't first buying your offer. .. They Are Buying You!

Brand Barbarian Lesson 4: Make all Graphics in Thy Own Image!

While I don't believe in relying on graphics to define a brand, graphics and the "look" of your offers can still help differentiate you from all your lesser competition

starting on the next page you can see a compilation of some of my book covers

the two

things to notice about them all - as far as my brand goes - are:

1. Each cover looks completely different from each other (as do the insides, fonts, titles, and themes)

2. Yet each book cover is 100% "me"

The model for this is 1960's Marvel Comics.

There are both obvious and not-so-obvious reasons for doing this.

The obvious reason is because of what we've already talked about in terms of consistency and congruency

this is especially important because of the not-so-obvious reason:

People Hate Inconsistency!

it dials down trust, dials !illindifference, and dials out the desire to buy from you or associate with you. Dogmatically,applied consistency, on the other hand, lets you glide right past your market's skepticism, disbelief, and resistance to buying from you

One of the most profitable things I learned studying the great Robert Cialdini (the world famous psychologist who wrote Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion) was this power of consistency.

Brand Barbarian Lesson 5: How To create narratives of Hearstian Proportions!

One of the best books I've ever read about publishing, publicity, and creating a powerful brand that both attracts and repels with equal ferocity is the late William Randolph Hearst's biography The Chief

he was the first to publish news that was not balanced, was not boring

He was a particularly sharp thorn in the side of Theodore Roosevelt. And during World War One, the U.S. spent months trying to find proof Hearst was a traitor just to shut him up in his editorials.

created a Narrative about you, your business, your customers, your enemies, your history, your product line, your business philosophy, and everything else about your company that touches your customers' or would-be customers' lives

Create an story Such as how you got started, how you struggled,

Assemble a gallery of enemies - tangible

and intangible

to rail against on behalf of your customers. And, also, start looking for customers whose stories you can "zoom in" on

Everything that happens to you - good or bad - can potentially be added to your Narrative, which you can constantly tell people about via email, social media, podcasting, videos, or however you prefer to market. Although daily, consistent email lets you play this like a fiddle, and far better than social media, in my opinion

If you are not building, expanding, and adding to a Narrative ofyour own making, then you are missing out on having a brand that will not only piss off your trolls and haters - who will then become like your "unpaid interns" as they bitch about you and flame you with their boring marketing and brands - but that can bring you far more sales with far less effort than you can possibly imagine.