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Time | Topic | Notes |
| 2m48s | What is your USP? Unique Selling Proposition. Learn Maria’s 5 step branding process. | Please make note of the following five steps. They are vital to defining your company’s brand. |
| 4m24s | 1) Identify competitors and how they are positioned | You are not alone, so research competitors and analyze what they’re doing right and areas of weakness |
| 4m48s | 2) Investigate areas for differentiation | What are you/will you do differently? |
| 5m02s | 3) Develop a unique value-based positioning concept and statement | Write down a statement that identifies those things |
| 5m20s | 4) Create a tagline and key messages based on your USP | Don’t do this first; first do your research and what differentiates you. Your tagline is a short, memorable form of your USP. |
| 5m48s | 5) Use your USP and key messages in all your communications | It is important to be consistent with all your marketing materials |
| 6m10s | Research your competition | There are 5,000+ e-liquid companies on the market. Vapers always look for something new and different! Research sites of ones you respect and buy their products. Scrutinize their packaging and determine what you can do better. |
| 8m50s | How are they positioning themselves? How will you? | Based on price? Premium or mainstream flavorings? Do they focus on a particular market segment? |
| 10m22s | Areas of differentiation | Share your personal story; everyone is unique. Should you focus on a particular audience? Be disruptive! |
| 12m43s | Who are your customers? | You should know. |
| 13m15s | Who’s vaping now? The market is changing? | Know your general audience as well as your specifics. |
| 14m43s | E-liquid consumption for individuals per day chart | It helps to project possible volume based on customer count |
| 15m12s | What flavors are the most popular? | Fruit is #1, tobacco flavors are declining |
| 16m10s | Most vapers will not stick to a single flavor or brand | Flavor is the #1 factor in transitioning from cigarettes |
| 16m40s | Nicotine levels are dropping, many use no nicotine | Know your audience |
| 17m15s | Develop positioning concept and statement | What makes you unique? Determine that prior to developing a brand. Be sure it is customer focused. |
| 19m05s | Create your taglines and key messages | These are shorter forms of your positioning statement. Be consistent in your messaging. |
| 21m30s | Why David named his company “California Vaping Company” and how his tagline affected brand perception. | “Where is your e-liquid made” appeals to health conscious vapers and points out quality. |
| 24m10s | Case study: NicSelect liquid nicotine | The name also represents their core positioning and uses a powerful keyword. All marketing is consistent with the name and image |
| 26m15s | Case study: VapeOrganics | All marketing materials integrate the “organic” message |
| 27m25s | Case study: Cuttwood | How they became the market leader. They attend most events, host vape contests and sponsor outside the industry |
| 28m55s | Quick summary of how to brand your e-liquid | |
| 30m20s | What is a company name? | It should be descriptive, evocative, funny, or edgy. Get their attention. It’s OK to develop different brands under your current brands, each with their own identity. One idea for brand name: choose a music group or key event that happened while your target audience was in high school. |
| 34m40s | Logos | They should be unique, clarify your positioning, and can incorporate your name. It need not be expensive and you can use crowd-sourcing sites like www.99designs.com, or www.elance.com. |
| 37m25s | Branding identity | Use your logo, color and fonts with consistency, including your web site. Create brand identity guidelines. |
| 39m35s | Use keywords properly and abundantly | This is how your audience will find you. Stake your claim to your identity. |
| 40m30s | List of popular keywords | See attached keywords |
| 41m20s | Use your tagline properly, trademark it if possible | Make it short and punchy, and focus on the customer. You can modify an existing tagline or logo and define it as your own. |
| 48m35s | Questions & Answers: Should you trademark your tagline? | It’s not critical to trademark your tagline, but you definitely should trademark your brand name |
| 51m05s | Leverage your brand | Make it easy for others to share, use social media properly. Develop content worth sharing using photos and video |
| Questions & Answers: | ||
| 54m05s | Is there a way to find out if a tagline is trademarked? | www.legalzoom.com has the ability to search trademarked names. Learn David’s secret tip. |
| 55m0s | How important is it to create the “right flavors” vs. doing the correct branding and marketing? | Many of the buying decisions are controlled by the salesperson: the flavors have to be right, but so does the brand. You really need both. |
| 1h0m25s | How can you use unique and flashy bottle shapes to accelerate your brand? Does the bottle shape affect manufacturing cost? | Vintage e-liquid and High Roller Sweets have awesome packaging. The bottle can be the majority of the costs so be careful. If the bottles don’t fit on the shelves, they won’t get space. If the costs are out of line, you won’t be able to sell much volume. David shares his experience launching a perfume company. Older demographics tend to prefer fancier packaging and bottles. What you can learn from the liquor industry in regards to fancy bottling. Understand that it’s still disposable so don’t go too crazy. |
| 1h08m45s | Should you list ingredients on your label? How can you use the ingredient list to further your brand message? | Yes. In fact, the FDA will likely require this in the future. Watch out for words like “Organic”. You cannot say “Organic” unless ALL ingredients are organic, and nicotine is normally not organic. |
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Jesse is the Digital Marketing Director at VapeMentors and Chief Technology Mentor. He is an ecommerce and internet marketing expert with a background in business and technology.