I recently came across this site and decided to engage the author for a comment he made in one of his posts. His comment was, “Remember, a true brand owner refuses to tell anyone’s story but their own.” I took umbrage with that comment with the following:
September 6th, 2007 at 11:39 am Mike, shouldn’t a brand owner be someone who “chooses” to tell their own story,”rather” than someone elses? Unless, you/they pay me to tell your/their story, then in that case, I will evangelize rather than “tell”. Just thinking that to refuse, might be burning a bridge.
Mikes comment was the following:
Mike Wagner Says:
September 6th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Marc,
You make a good point! No reason to burn any bridges.
The formation of the my proposition that a brand owner “is someone who refuses to tell anyone’s story but their own” comes from my consultative work with owners, senior executives and managers who often imitate the brand story of others rather than create their own unique story.
It’s an abdication of their own creative powers either individually or collectively to be authentic and different.
Plus, “me too!” brand stories are seldom remarkable in a noisy marketplace.
That’s why I suggest this “me too!” path is one that must be “refusted.”
Of course marketers get paid to tell the brand story of their clients. And that’s a good thing.
Still, the best is when a brand story finds such a deep level of affinity with consumers that they voluntarily tell the brand story of a product or service they have come to love.
Thanks for making the conversation all the better here.
Encouraging to hear from you.
Keep creating,
Mike
Which leads me to say that Mike is right and so am I!!! The bottom line is you need to create your own identity with your brand. You need to have uniqueness, and the product needs to be able to stand on its own without the primary selling point being a low price point. That’s the great thing about marketing or the challenge of marketing. Someone creates a product because they see a need. But then after they have created that product ,they are now in the same boat as their competitors, how do they differentiate themselves?
The essence of the true marketer is someone who can step in the shoes of their client and understand the product, the audience, the message, and the best method to get the message out there. Wouldn’t you agree? What am I missing?
Direct Marketing Observations 
Hi Marc,
Thanks for extending the conversation to your blog!
I really like it when you write, “the essence of the true marketer is someone who can step in the shoes of their client and understand the product, the audience, the message, and the best method to get the message out there.”
The old-fashion word for this is empathy.
I see marketers as bridge people.
They have exactly the empathy you describe for thier client and client’s product while at the same time they have a strong sense of empathy with the customer.
Great to be part of this conversation with you and the rest of the blogosphere.
Keep creating,
Mike