Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers' Minds (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jeffrey H. Gitomer (Author), Michael Tchong (Author) "It blows my mind to think how many professionals and business-people don't really understand commercial branding..." (more)
Key Phrases: brain tattoos, indelible mental mark, tattoo plan, Brain Tattoo, New York, Tattoo Tactic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Effective branding depends on the ability to leave a lasting (and positive) impression in the mind of the target audience. Brain Tattoos offers a practical approach -- no complicated theories, marketing jargon, or unnecessary babble -- that lets any business take its brand to the next level. Packed with tools that help readers identify their brand's purpose, personality, promise, and point of difference, Brain Tattoos will help readers:* Develop the courage to break the mold and become truly distinct* Discover ways to enlist customers and others as "brand ambassadors"* Grasp their brand's essence* Master brand building on any scale in any industry* Learn how to identify and use the most effective methods of brand communication* Learn how to leverage limited resources creativelyFilled with creative ways to maximize market impact, Brain Tattoos is a true "how-to" book written with in-the-trenches business and marketing people in mind.

From the Inside Flap

Your brand will be so strong, customers won’t be able to get it out of their heads!

A solid brand leaves a positive impression in the customer’s mind, but the impression made by an exceptional brand is virtually indelible. With Brain Tattoos, you will learn exactly how to make your brand truly distinct—and unforgettable. Karen Post isn’t going to waste your time with complicated theories or unnecessary marketing jargon. She is going to show you how to maximize your brand’s impact, with proven ideas and the practical tools she has used to help her best clients dominate their markets!

"Hands-on marketing help from a guru who lives what she preaches!" —Seth Godin, author, Free Prize Inside

"This book is brands-on action. Karen Post will show you a new way…to make your phone ring with qualified prospects, convert them to sales, and add value to your operation." —Jeffrey Gitomer, author, The Sales Bible

"Karen Post knows branding. From her own business identity -- the Branding Diva -- to her work with companies such as American Express, Bank of America, and Pepsi, Post's insights and experiences are fun and productive, and eminently applicable. The book's questionnaires, tattoo tests, and tool kits are useful tools to help business leaders and innovators rethink their personal and organizational brands and practices. Whether you're an internal Brand Ambassador or an external Brand Warrior, Brain Tattoos will help you improve and increase the impact of the mental imprints made by your business and your work." —Heath Row, Editorial and Community Director, FastCompany.com

Karen Post, The Branding Diva™, is a consultant on branding issues. For more than 20 years, she has provided strategic branding counsel and programs for organizations, associations, and individuals. Monthly, she writes a monthly column for Fastcompany.com, and produces BrandBites, a monthly fast brain-food fix on branding matters. She lives in Tampa, Florida.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Amacom; 1st edition (December 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814472346
• ISBN-13: 978-0814472347
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #632,588 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Branding is Everything and Everything is Branding, November 16, 2007

By	David M. Freedman (Chicago area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has a lot of creative marketing ideas. But throughout most of the book, Karen Post confuses marketing with branding. That is, she treats all of marketing as though it were branding.

In Post's view of the world, everything is branding and branding is everything. You brand your product or service, you brand your organization, and you brand yourself. The latter, your personal brand, she memorably calls "brand moi." You brand yourself not only to advance in your career or to promote your product or service, but to let everyone know (when you introduce yourself at parties, for example) who you are and what you're about.

Good Marketing Tips
If you look at this book as a trove of clever marketing ideas, you'll gain valuable insights and ideas from it. Post offers tips on how to tap into your creativity, conduct market research, promote customer loyalty, brainstorm a product or company name, design a logo, plan sales promotion and publicity events, build a more effective website, and more.

If you really want to learn about branding in the narrow sense, however, this book will only confuse you. The main problem is the lack of a clear definition. In the Introduction she explains (or tries to) that a "brand is a mental imprint." Then she leaps to this definition: "A Brain Tattoo is a stronger brand than the norm, rich with promise, bold with purpose, distinct and prominently inked onto your buyer's cranium." Two paragraphs later she says, "A Brain Tattoo is reality branding," though she never explains what she means by reality branding. Now we get the impression that a brain tattoo is a certain kind of branding, not synonymous with normal branding.

But then, throughout much of the book she uses the two terms synonymously. At the beginning of Chapter One, for example, she says, "A brand, or what I refer to as Brain Tattoo, is a psychological impression of value-based emotions, lodged in the mind of a buyer or prospect."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Branding (Work)book, December 12, 2005

By	Amanda (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

There are so many books on branding out there that try to explain the concept of branding. Most fail to do so, but instead, baffle the reader with jargon, theorems and charts. This book creates an easy to understand definition of branding. It also provides exercises to help build your brand and great real world examples to prime your branding ideas.

This book is very well written and very readable! Make sure you have a pen and paper to take notes and work on the exercises! This book will be a staple in your business book collection. I still refer to it months after reading it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Book!!!, January 14, 2005

By	J. Cerbo - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been involved in sales and marketing for the last 15 years. In that time I have read countless books on the subject of branding - some good, most bad.

I recently took a job as the president of a creative agency that was in desperate need of a new brand identity. Karen Post's book, Brain Tattoo has made my job infinitely easier! I found Chapter 5 - How to Construct Your Tattoo Plan - especially helpful.

What I love most about the book is that it is based on real-world, hands-on experience and not classroom theory.

I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in creating a memorable brand that will forever be tattooed in the minds of your consumers.