When I met Tim Shannon, CEO of Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, he had a familiar problem. His industry had become saturated, hyper competitive and market share was shrinking. Faced with this challenge, Tim did what great executives do — managed costs, improved efficiencies, redesigned the company web site, etc. etc. And while many of his efforts helped, he felt it was a daily uphill battle, one of diminishing returns. Have you experienced the same thing? Then it just may be that you are executing all the right answers, doing all the right things, but just on the wrong problem.

That’s because the real problem was the problem itself.

As business owners, we too often assume we know what industry we are in, and we often define it by the products and services we provide. In this case, Tim offered real Nascar racing adventures, so it was only natural to assume he was in that business — high speed race car driving on legendary tracks. It was only natural then to assume his competitors were others providing similar services. But that wasn’t Tim’s “pivot point.”

What is a “pivot point?”

It’s the magic behind your business. It’s the real benefit, the key attribute, the special recipe, the common ingredient to all that you provide. In Tim’s case it was not the high performance engines, the famous tracks, the super sonic speeds — it was pure excitement itself! Behind ever pulsating trip around that track, the driver felt something, something powerful and emotive, something that made him or her jump out of the car at the end of the race and scream at their top of their lungs — “Wow!!! What a head rush!”

The feeling of life itself. That’s what Tim was really selling.

So here’s the question… is that experience, that ingredient, limited to just Nascar driving? Or can it be delivered a number of ways? How else can you have a life changing moment, the type of event that is a paradigm shifter, one that has you feeling like you left your body behind? And for a matter of moments, and perhaps just one moment, you are totally focused on right now.

Well the good news is that Tim not only got it… he got it big time! He’s now expanded his “Full Throttle Living” message to include a brand new offering, a day in the life of a B-17 fighter pilot! This from his new World War II Adventure site…

Imagine being thrust back in time to 1944; you’re a WW II aviator whose squadron is about to embark on another deadly bombing run over Nazi Germany. Strapping on your parachutes to embark on an extended “bombing run” in an authentic B-17 bomber, you will find yourself fully immersed as you relive a day in the life of a combat warrior.

Now that’s finding your message! It goes beyond cars, beyond planes, beyond entertainment, to the essence of living out an adventure, experiencing another person’s reality, whether a Nascar driver or a bomber pilot. And that is a very powerful and liberating experience. Sharing that message is way different than being “in the race car business.” That’s why we formulated the tag line “Full Throttle Living.” Tim’s team in now totally “on target.” Look for these and many other meaningful, memorable and life changing experiences to come along soon. What other Full Throttle ideas could Tim offer? Give your suggestions. See how it’s no longer limited to a track or a runway? What would make your heart pound and change your life’s perspective?

Now ask yourself how this concept can be applied to your own business. What is the key ingredient, the common demoninator, the piviot point around which all your services rotate? Do you know what it is? If not, your products and services are probably not congruent. Your offerings are all over the board with no consistent theme or message. You may find yourself struggling to know what to do, what to cut and what to expand. It all comes down to knowing who you are and why you do what you do. For Tim, it’s his life’s passion to provide life changing experiences. And now that he’s clear… he’s flying high!

So perhaps these aren’t the best of times. Business is off and you’re feeling a bit frantic. You wonder if you should slash prices across the board, make new offers, lay off staff, or just hibernate until Spring ‘09. First of all, realize you are not alone. A great number of business owners nationwide are facing these same questions and challenges. But what to do?

My advice would be to get clear.

“Get clear?” you ask incredulously.  “That’s it?”

Yes. Get really, really clear.

It’s at these times of duress that we tend to get reactive. It’s like the old saying about the politician, who having lost his objective, redoubles his efforts. If we are not clear, and if we’ve lost our sense of direction, how does going faster help? What typically happens is that we take on the wrong type of work, from the wrong type of clients, all at a deep discount, stay busy for the sake of busy work, make little to no profit and go nowhere. Not much of a plan eh?

What if you took slower times in business as an opportunity to get focused? Here’s another way to look at it. If you were a lumber jack and your ax blade had become dull, you could either decide to keep swinging harder, or you could take time out to sharpen your ax. For many business owners this seems threatening. They feel they don’t have time to sharpen their ax, they have to pay the bills, make calls, stay busy. But in the end they swing with a dull ax and get nowhere, working harder and harder with less and less to show for it. And they also get exhausted. Sound familiar?

On the other hand, what if you took time to hone your message. Perhaps you have a confusing business name that communicates one thing, a tag line that doesn’t match, an outdated web site, three versions of your logo, a blog that sits idle and a newsletter that’s still on the “to do” list. You’ve been so busy the past few years reacting to business, you haven’t had the time or the need to keep your brand message clear, concise and compelling. In fact, it’s gotten down right fuzzy. Now is the perfect time to go through a brand audit… a review of just where you are now in the market, and where you want to be. Does your current image, message, and product offerings all line up? Are they speaking with one voice? Or are you pushing quality products here, low prices there, touting your service extraordinaire, and introducing a baffling array of new ideas and goods in hopes that something, anything, will “stick.”

Here’s one simple test. Can you communicate your basic brand message in a matter of three to four words?

What if you took one day out of your schedule to simply relax and observe. Don’t try to figure things out, or reason, or solve, or react, — just observe what’s going on. Don’t think… feel. A walk in nature is a great place for this type of exercise. Smell the earth, watch the leaves, hear the sound of water. Then ask yourself, “Why am I in business?” What is your real motivation? Does it reflect your vision, passion and direction? If you walked into this business today, and it wasn’t yours, how would you feel about it? Does it convey a sense of purpose, mission and direction? What seems to fit and what doesn’t belong? Now might be the time to streamline and unify your business, your passion and your message into one cohesive brand. A brand that stands for something singular. And if that were so, what would that one thing be? Can you get it down to three words? One word?

You can take time to get clear. Or blindly redouble your efforts.

You can take time to sharpen your ax. Or just keep swinging a dull one harder.

When it comes to moving forward, clarity can be a real confidence booster. Your decisions will be then based on insight, and will energize you. You’ll recognize what builds your message and avoid what scatters it. You’ll act with focus and purpose. And in times like these, that’s not just smart… it’s brilliant.

I’ll confess… not every great brand name comes from Tungsten. Ouch! There, I said it. It seems to be good sport these days to make fun of the names that other naming firms create, and with good reason. Some of them do seem a bit on the dim side, probably due to client, trademark or legal constraints we never hear about. But what I notice most are the really great names, the ones that make us light up and take notice. I always recognize when I see or hear one of these high wattage names because my first thought is “Wow! I wish I had thought of that one!” Creating one of these names requires the naming trifecta of skill, opportunity and good fortune.

So I’m going public with my naming jealousy. As to completely purge myself of these inner naming demons, I am going to openly confess and list some of these names for all to see. Perhaps you’ve also come across great, clever, original and witty brand names that were blindingly brilliant. If so, feel free to add your suggestions to the list. Perhaps we’ll send the top nominee a Crystal Light Bulb in honor of the recognition. Here’s my list…

FireFly - A mobile phone for kids. Not only does this name have awesome alliteration, it’s also evocative and engaging. It engenders a sense of carefree summer nights,  running barefoot through grassy meadows, and the glowing illumination of these mysterious wonders. Kudos to whoever came up with this one. I wrote to the company to provide proper credit but have not heard back.

Spoon Me - This one was coined by my good friend Alexandra Watkins at EatMyWords.com. Alexandra and her team do a great job, especially with food and product names. And this fun loving name for a fast growing frozen yogurt franchise simply tastes great.  It provides the perfect double entendre for scooping up dessert while snuggling your significant other. The owners of this company should fork over a bonus for dishing up this winner.

PODS - Okay, so I cheated. I added one of our own names. But it’s not very often that an acronym name actually works. Portable On Demand Storage proved to be a hit with the client and their customers, helping to define the category. This type of branding opportunity doesn’t come along often, so we did our best to think “inside the box.”

Roomba - How often does a name work on this many levels? This round little vacuum made by iRobot moves all over a “room” in dance-like fashion (as in the Cuban rhumba) sweeping debris right off it feet. This is one name that does everything but suck.

So that’s the start of the list. Add on, disagree, vote, or groan. Just send in the best and the brightest and we’ll see if there’s a clear winner.

If you ever wanted to know more about the effects of branding, then simply follow politics. This year we saw Hillary Clinton attempt to own “experience” early in her run for office. When it didn’t gain much traction, she shifted to a populist approach, which gained her votes but eroded her brand consistency. Barack Obama has been more successful with staying on his message of “change.” McCain too has done a great job of owning a word… “maverick,” and herein lies the problem. It’s the “be-careful-what-you-wish-for” syndrome.

By owning “change,” Barack can stay true to form by offering alternative after alternative to any emerging problems. It’s a fairly safe position to own, especially in a down economy. His only downside is if things were to become very good economically and people didn’t want change any longer. Doubtful in the short term.

McCain on the other hand has painted himself in a corner. He must now consistently be “maverick-y” to continue his brand promise. That can be a great word when you are running for president, but not so great a word if you’re sitting behind the desk in the oval office. It puts him in a perceived oppositional stance, where he has to continually perform as a maverick in his own party, against the other party, etc. to reinforce his image. McCain would have been much better served to forget the word maverick and embrace the word “reformer.” Instead he straddled both themes and got labeled more with being the maverick (only one click away from “erratic”) A reformer works within the system to improve it. A maverick disrupts it.

Here’s where the branding lesson comes in. As business owners we often spend much of our time and energy (wittingly or unwittingly) trying to own a position in the market, only to find it doesn’t serve us. Perhaps we constantly pitch ourselves as the price leaders, only to resent the low margin jobs we get. Or we talk up our “we-can-do-it-all” capabilities, only to find ourselves spread too thin. Ask yourself what one attribute you and your company are most associated with, and what it would be like if you succeeded in totally owning that word. Would it really help? Could you really deliver? More importantly, would you want to? If not, it might be time to reconsider your position and pivot to something you can consistently deliver to a buying audience.

Right now people are buying change.

They are so-so on experience.

And they are a little leery of maverick.

What can you consistently provide? Is there a market for it? If you don’t like what you’ve been getting, look at what you’ve been putting out. And then thank all our candidates this year for their very valuable branding lessons.

I have a confession to make. The things I teach are really the things I want to know. For years I’ve been advocating the importance of defining who you are as a company, not what you do. Most companies tend to identify themselves by their products and/or services, and in doing so, limit their potential.

A better approach is to define your company by an attribute, something that’s timeless and less subject to the changes and volatility of the marketplace. An example you ask? CompUSA defined themselves by both a product (computers) and a geographical indicator (USA). They went out of business this past year. Meanwhile another company, selling similar goods and services, continues to thrive. Their name?

Best Buy!

Everyone wants the best buy possible. But customers may or may not want a “computer.” How does this relate to me taking my own advice? Glad you asked! I was under the impression that I had already done this work… I had a name that was a metaphor, Tungsten, and I wasn’t limited in name to one product or service. But behind the name I limited myself to naming, tag line creation and corporate identity. All those things, when done well, create clarity.

So here’s the big “Ah-ha!” Why not just offer the end benefit directly? Why not just provide brand clarity?

For many companies, the name isn’t the problem, or at least the biggest part of the problem. In many cases, a brand lacks overall consistency. The name, while perhaps not the best, is not that bad. But the tag line goes in a completely different direction. Or there’s no tag line at all! The web site copy might be highlighting the company’s commitment to quality while also screaming low prices. In short, the brand image is cloudy, murky, confusing and dull. While a great name would certainly help, it might not fix the core issue. And that issue is the lack of clarity.

And that’s what Tungsten, the filament in the light bulb, the 1000 watts of brilliance, is wired to do!

How can this help you?  We can do for you what we always do–create brand clarity! And we can provide this whether or not you need a new name. In essence, we provide a brand audit, a run through of your name, tag line, positioning statement, mission statement, web site and collateral materials and check for consistency of message. We’ll look to see just how you’ve positioned your company, and how you can “pivot” this positioning to reach a greater audience.

Apple made the pivot from a computer company to a digital lifestyle provider.

3M transitioned from Minnesota Manufacturing and Mining, into a company known for innovation.

So to recap…

Volvo is not about selling cars, it’s about providing safety.

Rolex is not about selling watches, it’s about providing prestige.

Tungsten is not just about naming, it’s about providing brand clarity, and naming is one way we do it.

Hopefully by sharing my “Ah-ha!” it will get you thinking about your “Ah-ha!” How clear are you about your company? Who are you really? Are you defining yourself by your products and services or by the real reason your best customers buy from you, and love you, and refer you? What is that reason? Is it being clearly communicated in your name, your logo, tag line, web site, by employees in their conversations, in your ads, etc.? In tough economic times, it’s easy to simply get busy and spread yourself thin. Rather than being reactive, take some time to get clear. By focusing on who you are at your best, your core benefit, you can attract like-minded customers who appreciate your clarity and your brilliance.

Laura Ries makes a compelling case for the addictive quality of creating line/brand extensions. In her view, the temptation to increase market share, by borrowing on the equity in a well established brand, is just too great for many business owners and brand managers. In many ways it parallels the way we Americans have tapped the equity in our homes, like giant ATM machines. Brands are much the same way, containing monetary worth, but only to a point!  By borrowing on the strength of an exisiting brand, it often weakens it, so these decisions have to be weighed carefully.

In some instances brand extensions can make sense.  Diet Coke is a good example. It’s close to being the same tasting product, minus the cup of sugar. So that line extension opened the market to those on a diet, without changing the basic flavor or delivery method. Where brands get goofy is when they stretch it too far. At what point is Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke no longer Coke? I advise clients that brand extensions work when they are built on the same axis, or piviot point, as the orginal product. By that I mean that the extension has to deliver the same end benefit.

Example?

For Rolex, a brand extension needs to deliver prestige. A cheaper Rolex watch would fail that test. But a luxury Rolex interior in a Mercedes might work well. So it’s not that brand extensions don’t work at all, it’s just that they need to be firmly rooted in the product’s core promise. Apple has extended its brand into the music arena by staying consistently small, cool, innovative and user friendly. Apple took the same brand attributes and applied them to their iPhone. A cheap computer would fail as a line extension for Apple, but a small, cool, innovative GPS system might work well.

So take a look at what you’ve been slapping your name on. If you have been reckless with brand extensions, I would suggest you come out of denial and practice Laura’s 12 step program. It works if you work it.