"Only connect" says brand strategy author on new one-day course for London entrepreneurs

Simon Middleton, known as 'The Brand Strategy Guru', and author of 'Build A Brand In 30 Days' has announced a one-day intensive course, based on his new book, for London-based brand owners and entrepreneurs

Simon Middleton has advised companies, charities and entrepreneurs for years on how to create and market brilliant, distinctive brands. Now the 'Brand Strategy Guru' has a new book on the way, Build A Brand In 30 Days (Capstone), which he says will show anybody, with or without marketing experience, how to create a truly compelling and differentiated brand for themselves.

"It's not about your logo or your marketing," says the author. "Branding is about meaning. It's about what you and your business actually mean in people's heads and hearts."

That lesson, which he says is as applicable to chimney sweeps as it is to manufacturers or any other kind of business, will be at the heart of a Middleton's first dedicated one-day course based on Build A Brand In 30 Days.

The course, which is designed for entrpreneurs, small business owners and even those thinking about starting a business, as well as more experienced corporate marketers, takes the 30 key lessons of the book and compresses them into a day which Middleton claims will change the businesses and lives of participants permanently.

"Marketing on its own won't make your business successful any more," Middleton explains. "Instead you must connect with customers and audiences emotionally, authentically and inspiringly. That's what real branding is about, and that's what my book and course teach."

The first Build A Brand In 30 Daysone-day course takes place at Wallacespace St. Pancras on Monday January 25, 2010 and is booking now. Tickets are £495 plus VAT, and there is a 20% reduction for sole-traders, charities and non-profit organisations.

Full details can be found at www.brandstrategyguru.com

Simon Middleton, The Brand Strategy Guru:background

Simon Middleton has become one of the UK’s most in-demand independent brand strategy advisors and brand educators. He works all over the UK and speaks at conferences in this country and in Europe. Charismatic, humorous and inspiring, Simon has a reputation for provocative opinions and powerful ideas which conference audiences can put to practical use straight away.

Simon is the author of the forthcoming book Build A Brand In Thirty Days to be published by Capstone Wiley in April 2010.

He is also the writer, presenter and co-producer of a unique new series for British TV, The Brand Effect, the first TV series to look at the history of branding, its impact on the modern world.

Simon is a regular commentator on brand issues in media and has appeared on Sky News, Five News and on BBC’s Politics Show. Simon will also be seen on Virgin 1 in 2010, as expert brand advisor to Duncan Bannatyne in The Great British Holiday Show.

Simon has worked on brand, creative and training projects with a wide range of commercial organisations including: Aviva, Barclays, British Airways, Pret A Manger, Deloitte, McCann Erickson, Merial, Lovells, Xansa and Denplan.

He has also worked extensively with charities, including Comic Relief, St John Ambulance, London Youth, Voluntary Norfolk and Anthony Nolan Trust, and with public sector organisations including Wales Management Council and Norfolk County Council.

In 2007 he was awarded the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s regional Marketer of the Year prize.

Simon works at a senior, strategic, level as a completely independent strategic advisor: helping organisations to understand their brand challenges and opportunities, and to maximise their brand reputations. His distinctive approach is accessible and clear, utilising theoretically robust brand thinking and long experience in a way which enables fast progress and inclusion of key organisation personnel.

Simon is a member of The Institute of Directors, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, and The Association for Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts. He lectures regularly at the University of East Anglia and Norwich University College of The Arts.

In 2008 he became the first Brand Leadership Fellow of the University of East Anglia.

Simon is currently helping the Norfolk seaside resort of Hemsby to become a powerful and positive brand, and is trying to persuade British business people to become ‘more Swedish’ in their outlook.

When not busy branding Simon is the front-man of acoustic Americana trio The Proposition with a rapidly growing reputation on the roots and folk circuit.

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