The Ad-Free Brand

Today you can build powerful, enduring brands at amazingly low cost – without expensive ad campaigns, huge marketing budgets, self-interested outside agencies, or deep specialized expertise! All you need are passion for your brand, low-cost digital tools, and The Ad-Free Brand.Drawing on his experience helping build Red Hat’s billion-dollar global brand, Chris Grams integrates classic brand positioning concepts with 21st century digital strategies, tools, and practices. Grams presents great new ways to uncover, communicate, and evolve your ideal brand position…embed branding in organizational culture…collaborate with your brand community…avoid costly mistakes…and much more.  This step-by-step guide will lead you through the entire brand positioning process, while providing all you need to build a winning brand on a tight budget!

• Sidestep the clutter, cost, and ineffectiveness of traditional advertising

• Identify “points of difference” your customers will really value

• Develop brand positioning that “feels” true because it is true

• Dramatically reduce the cost of brand research

• Build your brand by guiding, influencing, and being -- not telling

• Quickly prototype your brand position, and apply what you learn

• Empower the brand advocates who know and love you best

• Communicate brand positioning with low-cost social and web tools

• Adapt classic positioning techniques for today’s new world

• Consistently focus first on low-cost, high-value strategies

• Evolve your brand for changing markets, customers, products, and services