How do ordinary people nurture their ideas into multi-million dollar enterprises? That is the question author David Vinjamuri attempts to uncover and understand in his new book, Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands.

Vinjamuri spends time with the people behind such successful brands as Columbia Sportswear (Gert Boyle), cragigslist (Craig Newmark), J. Peterman (John Peterman), Clif Bar (Gary Erickson), Baby Einstein (Julie Aigner-Clark), Burt’s Bees (Roxanne Quimby), and The Art of Shaving (Myrian Zaoui and Eric Malka). Some of our best-known brands were born after what may seem like little more than luck, but after getting to know these people through Vinjamuri’s observant prose, we can begin to think the way they did when they experienced their business epiphany, and hopefully distill their wisdom into a strategy that can be used in developing our own brands.

Vinjamuri befriends each of his subjects, spending weekends at their home and shadowing them on the job. We get a sense of their business acumen as well as their mistakes and how they learned from them and used them to become stronger. One chapter focuses on John Peterman, the founder of the J. Peterman Company. He built his mail-order business into $70 million in sales and reinvented the catalog as we know it, with a catalog wasn’t called a “catalog” at all.

Peterman referred to it as an Owner’s Manual, and it was sized differently than other catalogs of the day. These are just two of the “rules of marketing” that Peterman intentionally broke. Rather than the usual product specs, the Owner’s Manual described the items in romantic and exotic settings, almost as characters in their own short stories. This approach resonated with the people who actually owned the items, and was an attractive source of novelty to people who discovered the catalog through word of mouth or Peterman’s direct mailings, which only served to increase their popularity.

Peterman and his small but cultishly popular catalog business was forced into the mainstream by the buffoonish caricature of him as Elaine’s boss on the TV show ‘Seinfeld’ starting in 1995. While most business owners can only dream of getting that kind of publicity, ironically it damaged him in a fundamental way. In 1999, Peterman went bankrupt at a time when millions of people heard his name each week during prime time television. Through conversations with Peterman, Vinjamuri helps us understand that this happened for the very reason that his company did not follow the “traditional” model of what a business was supposed to do and how it was supposed to grow. We also come to understand how Peterman was able to quietly restore his lost cachet and rebuild the empire he lost

What we come to realize is that the people behind the brands were ordinary people just like us, who didn’t follow the rules. For the most part, they had no formal business training so they didn’t know what they were “supposed” to do to market their fledgling companies. They weren’t following the advise of marketing focus groups and big-ticket PR firms, they listened to their own advice; they were the consumers and focus group participants, and they put all of their energy and resources into meeting a specific need they felt needed to be addressed.

Many entrepreneurs got lucky, and took many risks that some people might not be comfortable with. For instance, Gert Boyle gambled her home and her mother’s home to get money for Columbia Sportswear. But the wisdom that leaps off the page for each of these “accidental brands” is that for the most part, these entrepreneurs were convinced that they were going to be successful, and didn’t let any perceived failure stop them. If they didn’t get the idea right the first time, they readjusted and started over.

For anyone interested in how brands are built this is a must-read book. For other small business owners seeking inspiration on how to think for yourselves, follow your own rules, and develop a strategy that might seem to be outside the norm, I highly recommend reading this book.

David Vinjamuri is Adjunct Professor of Marketing at New York University and President of ThirdWay Brand Trainers. Find out more on his website, AccidentalBranding.com.

Reading David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly, was like having a long lunch date with a helpful PR expert who answered all my questions. Scott, a Boston-based marketer who blogs at www.WebInkNow.com, developed New Rules from the ideas in his free e-book, The New Rules of PR. He patiently explains how the online marketplace has changed and why the old strategies don’t work anymore. Companies no longer need to hire expensive PR firms to reach their target market. The new rules of marketing and PR allow you to take your message directly to the buyer, by leveraging new tools such as blogs, vlogs (like a blog but with video entries) and podcasts. He gives inspiring examples of how real businesses have used new media, and his examples work for any type of organization that seeks to increase their online profile, from churches to rock bands to non-profits to commercial enterprises both large and small. Early chapters focus on case-studies and overviews of each technology that he covers. In later chapters, Scott delves into the how-to of integrating the technologies into your own online environment.

In addition to explaining the benefits and differences of these new marketing tools, Scott explains the etiquette behind them, such as how to handle comments you leave on other people’s blogs or respond to comments left on yours. After reading this book, the convergence of online technologies will seem less confusing, and will hopefully leave you with the feeling that these are things you can actually do and not just think about doing.

Though I am already immersed in the world of online marketing, I learned a thing or two. For instance, I will never again ignore an opportunity to send a press release, and I added a link to this blog in my email signature. Why had I never thought of that before? I’m sure you will come away from this book with a fresh perspective on your business, too. If you read it, or if you’ve already read it, please leave me a comment and let me know what ideas you’re ready to try!

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