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Last week, I talked about how you could use visual cues to communicate your brand. This week, I’ll talk about how you can use audio cues. And, because I’m talking about audio, I thought I would do this week’s post in audio, as well.

You can hear this week’s post in two ways: via streaming audio below, as well as downloadable mp3 that you can put on your iPod or other mp3 player.

Download mp3

Now on to this week’s topic.

When you hear this , what do you think about?
How about this:
And what about this?

If you said NBC, Vonage and the Harlem Globe Trotters, then you’ve been influenced by those company’s sound branding efforts.

Do you listen to any of the shows on Blog Talk Radio? How does each show begin? You guessed it! With a branded audio clip!

So, how can you use this technique to help brand your business? Here are three suggestions.

1) If you use teleseminars and other audio products in your business, get a signature tune and place it at the beginning and end of all your recorded audio. Marnie L. Pehrson of IdeaMarketers and Create A Wow uses this technique. Listen to any of her audios from CreateAWow.com, and you’ll be treated to her signature funky country guitar riff.

2) Develop a signature sound bite and use it whenever you have a speaking opportunity. Maybe it’s a way of communicating your core concept, like how Nancy Marmolejo uses the words “sizzle” and “SizzibilityTM.” Maybe it’s a catch phrase like Verizon Wireless’s “Can you hear me now?” or Wendy’s famous “Where’s the beef?”

3) Maybe you have a distinctive vocalization. Take Cindi Dawson of TeleseminarSuccessSystem.com – she’s got a contagious giggle that she cannot suppress that always makes me smile. And who can miss William Shatner’s strange way of pausing in mid-sentence and emphasizing every other word?

Be creative. An audio cue that communicates your brand doesn’t have to be fancy … just consistent. The audio cue basically tells the listener in an instant that this belongs to this particular brand.

Again, audio cues can be:

• music
• tone combinations
• a way of talking – accent, word choice, tone, pitch or rhythm
• a catch phrase

I hope this post was helpful and gave you some ideas for how you can use audio to brand your business.

Next week, we’ll talk about how to use intangible things such as quality, customer service and more, to communicate your brand.

Further Resources:

How to Create a Podcast Audio Logo (Part II)
By Anne Holland, President, Marketing Sherpa

Sound branding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Building Brand Value Through the Strategic Use of Sound
by Noel Franus

Heard the Latest in Branding?
By Rebecca Lieb, The ClickZ Network

NOTE: This is not a verbatim transcript, but rather the script I used to create the audio, which is slightly different.

PS: Wondering what sound branding goes with the image I used in this post? Here ya go:
Center: “Where’s the beef?” — Wendy’s commercials in the 1980s
Top Left: “Doh!” … among others … Homer Simpson of The Simpsons
Top Right: “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?” from Different Strokes
Bottom Left: “Inconceivable!” … The Princess Bride
Bottom Right: “Zoinks!” … among others … Scooby Doo