Presented at TechTonic Tuesday hosted by NCTechConnection. "Rising above the noise with your Tech Brand" Presented by Diana LaGattuta. Named one of Business Insider's "Most Powerful Women in Mobile Advertising" and Mobile Marketer's "Mobile Women to Watch," Diana LaGattuta Hale is an international marketing leader and pioneer in new media with global experience.

1. Creating Tech Brands that Rise
above the Noise
Diana@GiantHalestorm.com

2. Standing out is getting
harder and harder.

3. Increased complexity
Shrinking attention spans
PR is tougher for startups

4. To rise above the noise,
you have to start with a
little company soul
searching.

5. What makes your
company unique?
?

6. What does this company
stand for?
What does this company
stand AGAINST?

7. Biggest complaint about
your industry?
What makes you mad?
What can you do better?

8. What problem do you
solve?
What’s the benefit of
working with you?

9. The answers to these
questions lay the ground
work for your positioning
and messaging.

10. Can you answers these
questions without using
jargon or buzz words??

11. Form your unique POV.
Don’t be afraid to be
controversial.

12. Example: Beloved Brands

13. Don’t be afraid to coin
terms.

14. Example: “Shared Media”
Creates a platform for thought leadership and the opportunity to control the narrative.

15. Next, stop trying to sell
to everyone and narrow
your focus.

16. Who is your ideal
customer?

17. Get specific….
Age?
Gender?
What matters to them?

18. Getting clear about your
ideal customer will help
define your brand
persona.

19. It may also help you to
specialize and position
yourself as an expert.

20. Web Developer #1
Generic web developer
serving all industries.
• Speedy
• High quality
• Efficient
• Trustworthy
• PRICE
Web Developer #2
Web developer serving the
real estate market.
• Speedy
• High quality
• Efficient
• Trustworthy
• Knows my business
• Specialized templates
• Commands premium
PRICE
• Referrals

21. Example: Graphic Design for
Food Labels

22. Naming Your Company

23. No silver bullet when
choosing the perfect
name.
No guarantees of
success if you do.

24. The best names are…
Easy to pronounce
Easy to spell
Easy to remember

25. DO NOT ….choose a
descriptive name.
“Quality Lawn Care”
“Tahoe Builders”
Difficult to remember
Bad for SEO
Spend more in advertising to build brand recognition

26. DO NOT ….choose a word
or phrase that is ubiquitous
in your industry.
“Integrated Systems”
“Cloud Computing Solutions”
Difficult to remember
Bad for SEO
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

27. DO NOT ….use an acronym
or mix of letters and
numbers.
“W3i”
Difficult to remember
Only you will remember what it stands for
Same goes for products

28. DO NOT ….chose a name
that is hard to pronounce
or spell.
“Fage”
“Svbtle”
People are less likely to talk about you
Less likely to find you
Research indicates less likely to invest

29. You can combine a word
that is related to your
industry with one that is
not.
“MailChimp”
“LeanPlum”

30. Or blend words.
“Pinterest”
“Shopify”

31. Or jump on trends.
“NativeX”
“DeepMind”

32. DO work backwards from
the sticker.

33. When to name
your company
after yourself
• It helps people find you
in a Google search.
• You are the face of the
company.
• You want ideas &
approaches to be known
as yours.
When not to name
your company
after yourself
• You don’t want to be
highly visible.
• You want to appear
larger.
• When you plan to build a
bigger company that can
run on its own.

34. What is your brand
personality?

35. Every brand will have a
distinct personality
regardless of whether you
deliberately define it.

36. Without intention or
thought, you’ll end up
looking generic and “me
too” or worse.

37. Maybe that’s ok.

38. Or maybe you are
blazing new trails and
you want to stand out.
Do you dare to be
different?

39. What is the prevailing
personality in your
industry?
Refer back to what do
you stand AGAINST.

40. And consider your ideal
customer.
Create a brand voice
that speaks to them in
their language.

41. How will that be
reflected in
-What you say
-How you say it
-What you do

42. Action steps

43. Erase half the copy on
your home page.
And replace it with 4 awesome
sentences that describe how you
are different.

44. Kill the jargon.
Remove all the buzz words that
are over-used in your industry.

45. Run it by your mom.
Test your copy with your mother
or someone outside your
industry. If its gibberish to her, it
will be gibberish to a lot of
people.

46. Become a thought
leader.
Take your unique POV to your
target audience. A consistent
flow of byline articles can be
much more powerful than press
releases.

47. What makes a great
brand?
(Research findings from We Are Social)
1. A great brand’s value
proposition extends beyond its
products. (example: Red Bull
challenges peoples’ concept of
what is humanly possible.)

48. 2. Great brands don’t interrupt
people. They involve them.
(Much of Nike’s success stems
from its inclusive marketing.)

49. 3. Great brands aren’t just
differentiated. They make a
difference.
(People love brands like Toms
with a conscience. People value
companies like Salesforce that
live their values.)

50. Thank you.