Shattering the Branding Myths by: Diane Hughes / Williams Money Group

Branding


If you've been online long, you're sure to have seen many "gurus" give their ideas about branding. However, much of what you read simply isn't true. Over the years, many myths about branding have taken hold in the online world and spread like wildfire. The fact is: They are doing you more harm than good.

Branding is not one aspect of your marketing campaign. It is the combination of everything your business stands for. Branding is not created with a single, stand-alone event -- rather it is created over time through a series of strategically thought-out actions.

Let's take a few minutes to shatter a few common myths about branding and to introduce constructive, proactive branding principles that you can build on.

Branding Myth #1 - Your USP Is Your Brand

Absolutely not. While your USP (Unique Selling Position) might be used to help convey your brand, it is not - in and of itself - your complete branding strategy.

Branding Principle #1 - Your Brand Is All Encompassing

Your brand is built, and conveyed, with every action you take, with every product/service you offer, with every piece of communication you send, and with every contact you make with your customers.

Branding Myth #2 - To Be Remembered, You Must Have A Logo

Also not true. Look at companies like Marlboro (cigarettes), Puffs (tissue), and Ziploc (plastic bags). They simply use a specialized font with the product name. No swirls, no images, no "logo." While logos certainly are not "bad," they are also not mandatory.

Branding Principle #2 - Customers Remember You Primarily By How They Are Treated

The most innovative logo, the most attractive colors, and the world's best logo designer will do you no good if you don't offer excellent service. Customers remember you and your company by the way they are treated. Was their shopping experience good? Were all their questions answered? Were their problems solved to their satisfaction? These things go way further to help customers remember you than any logo could ever hope to.

Branding Myth #3 - Once Your Branding Strategy Is In Place, You Need Do Nothing More

This is probably the biggest myth of them all! So many online businesses are led to believe that once they have an amazing USP, and a snappy logo they have accomplished everything in the realm of branding.

However, just the opposite is true. Your branding strategy is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Defining your strategy is just one part of that process.

Here are some basic tips to help you define and implement your brand.

1. Decide how you want to be perceived by your customers. Do you want to portray an image of trust? Loyalty? Dependability? Innovation? Wide selection? Speedy service & delivery?

2. What makes YOU perceive other companies that way when you shop? Is it their selection? Customer service? Pricing? All of the above?

3. Make a list of the qualities you and your employees must display to customers in order to portray your desired brand.

4. Share the list with everyone in your organization and ask them to develop specific ways they can support the brand.

5. Compile a final branding strategy and share it with everyone in your organization.

Successful brands are those who are well defined and that have the support of the entire organization. Brands based on myths are those that simply have a spiffy logo, a "killer" USP, and the hope that the customer will "get it."

Would you rather base your brand on sound principles or myths? That's what I thought!

About the Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com
Sponsored By Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Branding in printing by: Florie Lyn Masarate / Williams Money Group

Branding


When you encounter the term branding in printing, the logos, designs and styles that are inherent are the first things that come to mind. Branding, if you dig deeper are not just these things. A more concrete definition of branding is the response that people have when they think about your business or company. The response may be in terms of emotional or intellectual aspect, depending on how the readers perceive them. Both ways, branding is the strong and consistent message that you impart and get through to the people.

Why is branding so important? It brings customer loyalty. If they have used your services, they will remember you for sure the next time they might be in need of something. Also they will be able to tell friends about you. In some cases, the logos and designs that the company has are the ones that stick most in their minds. If they do not remember other facts about you, chances are they will remember the logo and maybe even the colors in your printing designs. Understanding the customer's needs and issues should go hand and in hand with branding because this two works well together. One cannot always succeed without the other.

If branding in your business has already been established, it does not mean you can just leave it that way and relax. The brand that you have is also one part of your business therefore it should be maintained and updated often. As with the business itself, branding is also an ongoing process that should be reinforced if the business and booming and be exposed more in slower times. Wanting for your customers to retain a positive outlook about you is attained in branding. If your print job is losing the effectiveness your readers have gotten used to, they may also lose interest and think about using others for their needs. You would not want this to happen.

Building a strong and reliable branding for your printing materials can help your business or company more than you can imagine it could. Just think that it is not everyday people remembers and stays loyal to something. With the variety of other businesses available and easily accessible, staying loyal to one is getting more difficult to do. It is always best to maintain what you have started and continue it doing so for your customers.

Knowing what branding in your company's printing materials is one guarantee that you can be sure to result in revenue. But first, think what you need to brand about and how to keep it unique and memorable enough.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.colorprintingwholesale.com


About the Author

Florie Lyn Masarate got a flair for reading and writing when she got her first subscription of the school newsletter in kindergarten. She had her first article published on that same newsletter in the third grade.

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Back To Main Page Click Here for more articles Google Pharmaceutical Branding by: Jeff Marsh / Williams Money Group

Branding

Branding is such an important aspect of business that even apparently boring products such as pharmaceutical products, drugs and medicines become interesting and exciting.

Pharmaceutical industry branding is immature compared with the consumer and business-to-business segments—but that is largely by choice. For decades, a pharmaceutical company’s brand success formula was simple: discover a drug that was needed, introduce it to the doctor via a sales rep, and watch the prescriptions get filled. What is more, the products themselves, secured under a decade of patented protection, were almost guaranteed to generate large profits. Integrated brand strategies were unheard of and unimportant. A scientist—whose role was discovery and development, not marketing—directed the corporation.

Gone are the days when companies used to release products with out much thought to branding, especially pharmaceutical branding. Now pharmaceutical companies are are starting to work on developing the pharmaceutical brand even before the product is fully tested and ready for production.

Pharmaceutical branding is an important way of creating awareness among the public to the potential benefits of drugs and medicines. The marketing process and branding give the public ready knowledge of what the product is about and thereby induces them to buy that particular product from among many other similar products in the market.

As more and more pharmaceutical companies start realizing the importance and the power of brands. So how do companies brand their products to stay ahead of the competition? To start with a good name is important. In fact a great name is very important! A great name can increase the value of a product brand and in turn the revenue, where as a poorly chosen name can lead to disaster for the product.

Marketing teams are spending more and more resources on getting the name of the pharmaceutical product right. However naming a drug or medicine is not the same as naming an electronic consumer product. Careful thought and consideration to all important factors is required for a pharmaceutical product.

If the product is going to be sold internationally then the name should not be wrong when translated into the local languages.

The second most important part of pharmaceutical branding is the product logo design. The logo has to be in tune with the target market with the exact font and colors. Iconic pharmaceutical logo design or illustrative logo design can create a great impact on the consumers.

Then comes packaging. The packaging of pills and other pharmaceutical products is very important. Like the name, the packaging and pill can't look like other products that may sit on a nearby shelf.

Also psychological issues are carefully examined. Take the pill shape and color. If a pill is large, and might seem difficult to swallow, dark colors such as black will be avoided because they make it seem even larger. If the pill has high toxicity levels, then a "hot" color such as red is avoided because it subliminally gives off a feeling of threat, experts say.

Pharmaceutical branding also heavily depends on the marketing and promotional materials. Every thing from brochures to the product leaflet has to be crafted to reflect the brand and appeal to the target market. Pharmaceutical products for children should have bright colored cut outs and packaging to appeal to children.

Sponsored By Williams Money Group

About The Author

Jeff Marsh is the Chief Designer with Logo Design Works, a Florida based Logo Design and Branding Company. Jeff has more than 7 years experience in branding and design and has worked with many high profile clients such as Auto2Auto, TatAd, Simpson University, Prophets University and others.

Jeff can be contacted via email at articles@logodesignworks.com or on their toll free number at +1 866 910 5646

logodesignworks.com

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Small Business Marketing And Advertising: Branding vs. Direct Marketing

Branding


Too often, small business advertising and marketing campaigns prioritize branding at the expense of direct response--i.e., actually getting leads and/or sales right now. That is almost always a foolish and even dangerous proposition.

Small Business Branding Advertising and Marketing an Oxymoron?

Unless you're a ubiquitous consumer products company, the value of branding is far, far less than the value of direct response. What good is impressing someone with your brand if he or she never comes into contact with your business again? Why would they come into contact with your business again if you haven’t gotten a direct response?

Branding is essential for Coca Cola and Microsoft and all the other consumer giants because they don't need direct response. Their offering is available every time you drive down the street, so burning their logos into your eyeballs will actually make you more likely to buy. But if you have to search out the business, having a logo floating in your consciousness won't be enough to motivate you.

Even if branding alone could drive business, how long will it be before that logo or slogan or jingle has left your memory forever? A few hours? A day?

One of the basic requirements for branding is repetition. Numerous repetitions. Like seeing the little Microsoft flag every single day, in the lower left corner of your screen, on your computer's case, in magazine advertisements and on television commercials.

One visit to your website or one glimpse of your advertisement won't accomplish this—and remember, unless you have Microsoft’s budget, one exposure is all you’ll likely get if you don't get a direct response.

In reality, even numerous exposures to your brand might not be enough. There's only so much room for logos in people's minds, and you've got an awful lot of deep-pocketed competition for that space.

In contrast, if someone requested a whitepaper from you, or called in for more information, you would have their attention for much longer, even if you never followed up--which you could do, since you had their contact information.

The Two Cases when Branding Makes Small Business Marketing Sense

1. When branding enhances direct response rather than detracting from it.

Good branding enhances trust in your business. A good tagline, graphic design, and logo can also make it instantly clear what your business does, allowing users to go directly to your message without having to decide if you’re worth listening to.

Simply put: if you’re a watchmaker, put a watch in your logo, and the word “watch” in your name and your tagline or slogan. When you’re selling services picking a logo can be trickier, but it can be done. UpMarket Content’s logo is a scroll and pen. Just make sure your logo communicates what you do, rather than something foolish like a black rocket for an advertising agency.

Yet while branding usually enhances direct response, you should not hesitate to sacrifice branding if it hurts your response. If you find that a different tagline or font does significantly better in getting responses, run with them.

2. When you actually do have the opportunity to impress your brand on the same person dozens of times over the course of an average month.

For branding to work, you don’t just have to maximize total exposures, but exposures to unique individuals. Let’s be absolutely clear: in terms of branding, exposing 1,000,000 people to your brand once each is infinitely less valuable than exposing 1,000 people to your brand 1,000 times each. You have to maximize exposures to the same individuals. Aim for a hundred exposures per individual if you want to really enter people’s consciousnesses.

Of course, it may take far fewer than a thousand individual exposures. If someone is sitting in front of your branding advertisement for more than a few minutes, they may in fact be exposed to it dozens of times, each time their line of sight crosses it. But this kind of long-term exposure is likely going to cost you more.

How can you ensure that your brand advertising will maximize your brand exposure per unique individual? Place your brand advertising where users will come back often to see it. For instance, a banner on a website that has a strong following of returning users, or an advertisement on the local diner's placemat.

Even when branding does make sense, direct response will often also make sense, so you should combine the two if possible. For instance, at the bottom of a banner advertisement with your logo and tagline looming large, put a button labeled “get more information.” Or, underneath your businesses sign, put a telephone number with an offer to get more information.

Because if they never visit or call, who cares if they have your logo burnt onto their retinas?

About the Author

Joel Walsh is a professional content writer and founder of UpMarket Content, whose site has information on promoting your business with great website content: http://upmarketcontent.com [When posting on the web, please hyperlink this text as the visible anchor text: "website content"]

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Branding for profits by: Pavel Lenshin / Williams Money Group Branding for Profits copyright 2008 Pavel Lenshin

Branding


General meaning of the Brand is quite abstract. In short,
brand is the image of your product, if we speak about
product branding and/or the image of your company if we deal
with corporate branding or, in case with one man business,
brand of personality.

Since the majority of online venture start-ups are
represented by small businesses, that are 101% online and
the life cycle of digital products is relatively short, it
is wise to unite these branding terms into one e-business
brand, that reflects market’s viewpoint on your business as
an unique entity.
This viewpoint exists in peoples’ minds whether they are
your competitors, clients, partners, friends or your own
employees. That is why your brand is psychological by its
nature, what creates new challenges as well as additional
potential.

Strong brand in the mind of a person generates honoring
feeling to your company/product or you as a company’s “face”.

Poor brand may represent negative impression about your
product or be the result of an absence of that impression,
and I should say that it is much more advantageous to offer
a new brand to the market, then try to do something with bad
image. Since we are dealing with psychology, it is clear
that good image and reputation is very hard to build, but it
is even harder to restore.

If you want to reach the heart of you customers’ “likes” you
need to:

* Offer maximum quality no matter what you offer or do.
* Deliver pleasure.
* Be innovative.
* Address to people’s emotions.
* Evoke desire and interest.
* Provoke active response.
* Build trust by repeated contacts as a foundation of
long-term relations.

FACTORS that would STIMULATE and REINFORCE
your BRANDING:

---1. Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is number one passive
“brander” for your business, where you go UP (Unique
Proposition) the straight road of successful branding or
making your way through a very deep forest of competing with
other already established brands.

Suppose you have created new proposition, new kind of
service and if you have named it, for instance, “WebSky”,
then all people would call it “WebSky”, not “A service that
offers you 1. … 2. … 3…. and provides 1… 2…. 3….” It would
have a neutral brand from the very beginning, no need to
create, imagine or popularize it among hundreds of others.

Windows is a TM and great Brand for Operation System of
well-know software giant. Don’t you think about what makes
us pronounce “Windows” instead of “Operational system” or
“OS”? The answer is simple – Windows occupies more then 60%
of OS market. Microsoft’s OS in the informational society
plays the same role that would have played some imaginable
Oil Monopoly in the former industrial society. Hopefully
there is no oil monopoly but there is a monopoly of the
software “fuel” which is used by majority of computer
systems.

The idea behind Microsoft is also true with McDonalds, Coca
Cola or Mercedes-Benz and it is on the surface – they are
monopolies or, at least, oligopolies in their respective
markets with their respective strong USPs and therefore
strong brands.

So let us summarize this important fact – the more unique
your market offer is, the more unique, easy to remember and
easy to associate with your brand will be.

---2. The second thing is the size of your business in terms
of financial capacity and market share. Very few people
pointing to that fact, but its effect on your brand shouldn’
t be underestimated. No matter what product you offer to the
online market, it will surely lose the brand war, if your
marketing budget is $00.00 and your whole business is
located on some unknown unstable hosting as a result of
funds deficit.

Everyone speaks about great brands like Coca Cola, but no
one actually says, that it makes absolutely no relation to
an entrepreneur, who wants to start his own small practice
online.

Know your competition and develop the marketing strategy
that would reflect your business capacity, needs and suit a
marketing budget. The smaller your business is, the more
aggressive your branding should be. Branding has a feature
of building itself when your business is rapidly expanding.

---3. Corporate culture is another vital brand creator. The
epicenter of your brand is the company itself; therefore the
more positive and brighter the company "feels" inside, the
more positive, attractive and shiny it will look outside.

If your online venture’s stuff numbers you and your cat :0)
you can easily build a delightful business culture but, to
my regret, it won’t have a big influence on outside world.
What will have an effect is the popularizing of your
business values through partner networks and/or clients.
Friendly atmosphere that welcomes employees’ or partners’
creative initiative with the focus on development of
personality, is exactly what makes a difference and lights a
“fire” in the eyes of every person your company deals with.

---4. Know your market. This small sentence comprises an
understanding of the needs of your market niche,
satisfaction of your market needs via directed promotional
campaigns, adopting the development plan in compliance with
analysis of the strength and weaknesses of your business as
well as closest competitors.

Don’t devaluate your brand through wrong market approach.
People pay much more attention to their own needs as well as
to companies that satisfy their needs. The market offers
should be specific and directed to particular niche with its
unique problems, joys, hopes and needs. Don’t try to shoot
several ducks with one shot.

Your branding campaign should reflect the market you are
working with in a clear and highly beneficial way to your
potential customers.

MAJOR WAYS of online branding:

1. All possible kinds of online promotion: banner
impressions, classified ads, solo ads, articles submission,
web-site traffic building, opt-in email campaigns,
promotional joint ventures, ezine publishing, viral
marketing. All these ways of branding positioning are to be
niche-oriented.
2. Expand your e-business network by running
partner/affiliate programs.
3. Co-branding by means of strategic partnerships, joint
ventures with the established brands in non-competing
markets, for additional market and branding exposure.
4. Unique personal and/or corporate culture.
5. Informational and design representation of your business
Web-site.
6. The product/service itself. It is mainly through them
your clients acquiring positive or negative experience of
dealing with your company.
7. Domain name, design, logo, motto, TMs, SMs are the main
subsidiary representatives of your brand. That is why they
should be clear and supplement each other in conveying your
“message”.
8. Testing and measuring the response rate of your branding
efforts.

Why branding is so important? Because it, firstly, creates a
platform via loyal market surroundings for easy and quick
business growth; secondly, increases perceived value of your
whole company. Do you want your own company to develop
smoothly along with exponential growth of its market value?
I do.

About the Author

Pavel Lenshin is publisher and web-designer, who offers:
+ Powerful package on how to run Private Info Business. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Branding vs. Direct Response in Small Business Marketing and by: Joel Walsh / Williams Money Group

Branding

Too often, small business advertising and marketing campaigns prioritize branding at the expense of direct response--i.e., actually getting leads and/or sales right now. That is almost always a foolish and even dangerous proposition.

Small Business Branding Advertising and Marketing an Oxymoron?

Unless you're a ubiquitous consumer products company, the value of branding is far, far less than the value of direct response. What good is impressing someone with your brand if he or she never comes into contact with your business again—and why would they come into contact with your business again if you haven’t gotten a direct response?

Branding is essential for Coca Cola and Microsoft and Sheraton and all the other consumer giants because they don't need direct response. Their offering is available every time you drive down the street, so burning their logos into your eyeballs will actually make you more likely to buy. But if you have to search out the business, having a logo floating in your consciousness won't be enough to motivate you.

Even if branding alone could drive business, how long will it be before that logo or slogan or jingle has left your memory forever? A few hours? A day? One of the basic requirements for branding is repetition. Numerous repetitions. Like seeing the little Microsoft flag every single day, in the lower left corner of your screen, on your computer's case, in magazine advertisements and on television commercials. One visit to your website or one glimpse of your advertisement won't accomplish this—and remember, unless you have Coca Cola’s budget, one exposure is all you’ll likely get.

In reality, even numerous exposures to your brand might not be enough--you've got an awful lot of deep-pocketed competition in this game. People must be exposed to your brand again and again and again, not just for a certain span of time, but forever. Otherwise, your brand will get pushed out of their minds by all the logos that do appear again and again and again.

In contrast, if someone requested a whitepaper from you, or called in for more information, you would have their attention for much longer.

The two cases when branding make sense in marketing your small business

1. 
   When branding enhances direct response rather than detracting from it.
   

   
   Good branding enhances trust in your business. A good tagline, graphic design, and logo can also make it instantly clear what your business does, allowing users to go directly to your message without having to decide if you’re worth listening to.

   
   

   
   Simply put: if you’re a watchmaker, put a watch in your logo, and the word “watch” in your name and your tagline or slogan. When you’re selling services picking a logo can be trickier, but it can be done. UpMarket Content’s logo is a scroll and pen. Just make sure your logo communicates what you do, rather than something foolish like a black rocket for an advertising agency.

   
   

   
   There is, of course, nothing saying that you can’t work a little branding into your direct response, and indeed, you should. All your web pages, whitepapers, brochures, newsletters and other collateral should be in the same font and using similar color schemes. But if you find that a different font or color scheme does significantly better in getting responses, it’s the brand that has to give.
   

   
   


2. 
   When you actually do have the opportunity to impress your brand on the same person dozens of times over the course of an average month.
   

   
   Let’s be absolutely clear: in terms of branding, exposing 1,000,000 people to your brand once each is infinitely less valuable than exposing 1,000 people to your brand 1,000 times each. For branding to work, you don’t just have to maximize exposures. You have to maximize exposures to the same individuals.
   

   
   

   
   Aim for a hundred exposures per individual if you want to really enter people’s consciousnesses. Of course, it may take far fewer than a hundred individual exposures. If someone is sitting in front of your branding advertisement for more than a few minutes, they may in fact be exposed to it several times, each time they come across it. But this kind of long-term exposure is likely going to cost you more.
   

   
   

   
   How can you ensure that your brand advertising will maximize your brand exposure per unique individual? Place your brand advertising where users will come back often to see it. For instance, a banner on a website that has a strong following of returning users, or an advertisement on the local diner's placemat.
   

   
   




Even when branding does make sense, direct response will often also make sense, so you should combine the two if possible. For instance, at the bottom of a banner advertisement with your logo and tagline looming large, put a button labeled “get more information.” Or, underneath your businesses sign, put a telephone number with an offer to get more information.



Because if they never visit or call, who cares if they have your logo burnt onto their retinas?







About the author
Joel Walsh is the head writer of UpMarket Content . Sponsored By Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Technorati Profile

The Art of Successful Branding

Branding


Branding: it’s a term that carries great weight in the world of advertising. Successful branding is best illustrated by the world’s most prominent corporations, but it’s no less important to the small business owner. Your Brand is your identity; it’s every single puzzle piece, fitted into the big picture of your company. From your name and logo to your business philosophy and corporate mission; from your advertising campaign message to your design elements; from your products and services; all that is owned, produced, stated, sold and marketed by your company falls under the broad heading of your Brand.


What exactly is a “brand?” The term probably originated at a time when when ours was a strictly agricultural society. Ranchers take a branding iron to their cattle, as a way to signify they OWN those cows. Likewise, modern corporations choose a logo to brand their name into the mind of the consumer. Every time you label an ad or website with your company logo; every time you take a political stance on behalf of your corporation, you’re putting your brand into effect. And if a brand indicates ownership, then it should be your ultimate mission to dominate, or own, your niche. Brand your company. Own the cow.


How do you determine your style of branding? Analyze your audience. Zero in on the group you’re trying to reach. Are they male, female, or both? What's the age group and economical level? What are their spending habits, their values? How do they TALK? What are they concerned about? What do they think they NEED? Where will their focus be in six months? And most importantly, how does your marketable product fit into the scheme? If you never really get to know your audience, you can read all the marketing how-to strategies in the world, and it isn't going to mean diddly-squat for your business. It isn’t going to help you build your brand.


What’s the next step? Always, always, always put yourself in their shoes. Jump right into their heads, if you can. Think of your audience during the business-plan conception process. How do they communicate? What do they find visually appealing? Are you marketing to senior citizens? Use bigger fonts, a nostalgic tone, and a morally forthright attitude. Is it the filthy, stinking rich whom you’re trying to attract? Save the Crazy Eddie shtick, because money is no object here. Every bit of energy used to promote your brand should be focused toward winning over your key customer.


There will be a time when you completely lose sight of who you’re trying to attract. This, in turn, dilutes the power of your brand. You’ll be in the middle of writing an ad, when suddenly your head is racing with potential buyer types. This happened to me once during my writing stint with a digital media company who sold Santa Claus greetings. In my sales letter, which went on for pages and pages, there was no limit to what Santa could do! He could praise tiny tots for using the potty. He could play matchmaker to a couple of young lovers. He could patch up an argument you had with Aunt Freida in Topeka. All of this was great, but it was really convoluting Who We Were as a company, and our Santa was becoming a Jack Frost of all trades. It was no good! So we went back to square one. And through simple words and a more narrow focus on our original audience of children, we finally captured the Magic of Christmas that we had originally intended to be Our Brand.


Reflect your brand in everything you do; from your website design, to your public relations, to how you go about selling your product. Once you’ve done this, the next step is to create Brand Awareness. This is achieved through consistency. You can dream up the most brilliant ad campaign on the planet, but if you’re not consistent about putting it in place, you’ll never establish brand recognizability.


If the tone of your company is “fun, light and noncontroversial”, steer clear of anti-war demonstrations. If Arial is your font of choice, then don’t go switching it up mid-campaign and putting out affiliate program materials using Tahoma. If tongue-in-cheek humor is how you attract attention, don’t line your website borders with super-mushy personal ads. Ask yourself: will this resonate with my key customer? And use your logo and company tagline wherever possible—in your email correspondence, on your website, as your letterhead, on your business cards, in your advertising and on your product packaging. Remind people of who you are. Burn your brand into their minds.


To some extent, branding is following the herd... emulating respected companies that capture what you’d like to be known for. Still, a wise entrepreneur must never forget that today's success story is tomorrow's dot-com that went under. "What sold" for someone else may not work for your company. Just because Joe Baloney made millions selling with a bilingual circus clown doesn't mean that will work for you... or that anyone's even going to find it remotely interesting in six months. The market changes like the tide, depending on what direction society is going in. Where they were before, which way they're headed, and wherever it's likely they'll end up... socially, economically, ethically, politically, culturally, intellectually, psychologically, philosophically.


How will you know that you’ve branded successfully? When people start listening to you. Not just hearing what you say, but letting you call the shots. You’ll know it when people start imitating you, too. You’ll start seeing knock-offs of your products and your company image. This may flatter you or it may annoy you, but when it happens, it’s your cue to lead the pack in a new direction. That's how to stay on top of the Branding Game.


The day that you find yourself functioning as a real, live spokesman for a group of individuals, is the day you’ve achieved Brand Recognition. The day that you make the front page news headlines is the day you’ve become a household name. But a word to the wise: once your brand achieves true power, someone will try and take you down. Remind them that you own this cow.


Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
About the author:

Dina Giolitto is a New-Jersey based Copywriting Consultant with nine years' industry experience. Her current focus is web content and web marketing for a multitude of products and services although the bulk of her experience lies in retail for big-name companies like Toys"R"Us. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.comfor rates and samples.

Williams Money Group

Personal Branding Techniques for Real Estate Agents and Brokers

Branding

A key principle of marketing is to find something unique about what you offer as the basis of your sales message. Even if what you offer is a commodity, there is always one thing unique in your business -- you. A big error made by many Real Estate Agents and Brokers is to try to develop an institutional image like most big companies. People do not like to do business with institutions; they like to do business with people. In advertising terms, branding is the "image" created in the minds of people when they see or hear a name, product or logo. Companies invest a lot of money in creating and maintaining their brand, but the Internet has sparked a new trend called "Personal Branding". Personal branding isn't only important for promoting a product, business or political cause, but also for promoting yourself for advancement within your own organization. It involves developing your personal reputation. Branding can be done to any product, or any person. Before undertaking an exercise in personal branding, however, consider your distinctive strengths and abilities and what they offer the market place. Traditionally personal branding was for sporting celebrities who gained enormous coverage and following through their sporting prowess. Movie stars have also had celebrity status and association since movies began.

A personal brand is about creating strong, favorable associations in the minds of people that you encounter. If you don’t actively do this, they will still make associations. Therefore, it may be better to be proactive and undertake the branding exercise for yourself, you cannot control what they think but can give them some information to assist with the associations.

WHY BRANDING OURSELVES?

• Places you in a leadership role
  

• Enhances prestige
  

• Attracts the right people and right opportunities
  

• Adds perceived value to what you are selling
  

• Earns recognition
  

• Associates you with a trend
  

• Increases your earning potential
  

• Differentiate yourself from the competition
  

• Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target customers
  

• Confers top of mind status
  

• Increases authority and credence of decisions
  

HOW DO WE BRAND OURSELVES?

Like any branding exercise, the key to personal branding is having a good product, one which you understand and pitch to the right market. The first step in personal branding is knowing who you are, find out what strengths your brand possesses and how these strengths can help you. Personal branding is not about presenting a façade to the public; a poor product will not stand up to market scrutiny. This is also a choice of brand elements, people you deal with, the look that you have, and how you conduct yourself. Once this has been done, determine what you are going to offer. As a product what do you do, what need does the product of you satisfy in the market. Next figure out the position you will take in the audience of your mind. What unique space do you wish to occupy and what unique associations do you want people to recall when they think of you? Finally, once you have established the first three steps, manage your brand over its lifecycle. That is keep visible, be consistent and be yourself. According to Montoya, the well-known personal branding guru, the key to managing your personal brand is word-of-mouth (WOM), the most trusted form of communication.

How does one go about building a personal brand? Recognize your personal strengths and gifts! Think about how you best connect with people, consider what your target audience needs and wants, identify the value you deliver to meet those needs and wants, and communicate in a way that reaches your constituents in their hearts and minds and via the channels that work best for you

Functional associations are important such as timeliness, quality, dedication; as are emotional associations like inspiring, leadership, being an innovator.

The three C’s of personal branding are clarity, consistency and constancy.

Clarity deals with being honest about yourself and your strengths and promises of value attached to your personal brand and being clear in the way you communicate them. Often, for simplicity, you must focus on one or two aspects that are most vital and focus on communicating them. Think about the things you associate with prominent artists or mangers, and they are unlikely to be complicated.

Consistency is keeping things consistent for the customers. This does not mean staying stuck in the past, but just not undertaking drastic changes. Coca Cola have had a consistent message for 50 years; the message evolves continuously and is not stagnant but is consistent. Artists like Madonna change every three or four years, but there is a consistency to the change.

Constancy means being visible with your brand and maintaining an on-going level of awareness in the marketplace. Oprah Winfrey is visible constantly, and although most of people do not have the visibility or exposure of Oprah, they can still be visible in a smaller audience. There is no point trying to build a brand image quickly to coincide with a new exhibition or performance you may have coming up – brands take time to build in consumers minds.

A FREE PERSONAL BRANDING TOOLKIT FOR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

NetReal.net, a company noted for its template-based Real Estate Web design solutions, offers a Winter Holidays Gift for Real Estate Agents and Brokers – the Personal Branding Toolkit: http://www.netreal.net/personal_branding.php The Personal Branding Toolkit contains the “Essential Marketing for Real Estate Professionals” ebook and 17 Real Estate Reports and the tools to personalize them with your name, contact info and photo.

NetReal’s editorial team put together the top 25 highest- rated Real Estate marketing articles of 2004, and created a must-have e-book - “Essential Marketing for Real Estate Professionals”. The ebook covers Marketing 101 , Network marketing, Personal Marketing, Customer acquisition and retention, Telemarketing & Direct Mailing, E-marketing. You can personalize this e-book with your data and send it to your contacts, absolutely free of charge. This is a great way to offer a helpful gift to your colleagues and partners.

The “17 free Branded Reports” allow you to create your own branded Real Estate reports (for buyers, sellers, investors, movers) with your contact info and photo/logo and an exquisite design. Distribute them to your prospects or clients as e-docs or printed materials, or upload them on your website. Show your professionalism with these great tools to acquire new clients.

The Personal Branding Toolkit for Real Estate Professionals (http://www.netreal.net/personal_branding.php) is free for everyone.

Dan R. Vella is marketing editor for NetReal.net. NetReal.net (www.netreal.net) is a privately-owned company providing real estate web sites and marketing solutions for real estate industry, focusing especially on the low-cost end, and empowering the real-estate agents through the use to Internet technologies with the most affordable costs.

webrealtor@gmail.com

Article Sposored By Williams Money Group

Copyright 2008 Williams Money Group

Industry Pro Interview: Branding – Turning Your Customers In

Branding Information

When you say the word “branding”, most people think USP (unique selling proposition). However a USP is far from the equivalent of a brand as we’re about to find out. What is branding? Is it just for “big boys”? And how the heck do you create one, anyway? Rob Frankel (http://www.robfrankel.com) has been called "the best branding expert on the planet" and is author of "The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build Big Time Brand™ on the Web or Anywhere Else", (available at http://www.revengeofbrandx.com). He now shares some insights with us that will shed a little light on the branding mystery.KARON: Thanks for your time, Rob. I know your schedule is packed.ROB: You’re welcome!KARON: Well, let's start with the basics... everyone in the world has heard the term branding but it is still widely misunderstood. What is the basis of branding and - more importantly - why should a business care about it?ROBFRANKEL: Branding is THE most misunderstood aspect of marketing. Here's the best example I can give. Just as you're more than a simple name and a face, a business is more than a name and a product. So a brand is as much the way you do things as what you do.A business should care about it, because THAT'S the stuff that inspires loyalty and motivates people to evangelize the brand. That's where the money is, in more ways than you can imagine.KARON: So for those who think branding is coming up with a USP and just plastering it all over everywhere... what would you say?ROB: A couple of things: First, my own branding (Big Time Branding) is not about a USP at all. It's about a UBP… Unique Buying Proposition. THAT'S the problem with almost all brands -- they concentrate on what they have to sell instead of why people want to buy. Also, many confuse branding with advertising and PR. That's because old ad hacks try to pass themselves off as branding people. Fact is, "First you build the brand, then you raise its awareness."The brand happens long before either advertising or PR… internally and externally.KARON: Just like I might wear the same jeans and t-shirt as another woman but I'm very different inside. It's that difference that makes the brand.ROB: Branding goes down to the core. In fact, I have a Ubiquitous Brand Test in my book: "Are we doing it the way?" If the answer is no, you're not branded.Here's another example: Can I send you $100,000 in cash?KARON: Well of course you can!ROB: I'd like to overnight it to you. Is that okay?KARON: Sure it is!ROB: Okay, but you have to pay for the shipping... you want me to send it US Post Office or FEDEX or what?KARON: FEDEXROB: Most people say FEDEX... and rightly so. Because FEDEX has a brand image that communicates how they won't let the businessman down. And most people will gladly pay $15 more for the exact same service, even though they're basically the same. That $15 difference is pure branding profit.KARON: Good Point! Now let me ask you this... how do you respond to the statement that branding is just for the big boys?ROB: JUST THE OPPOSITE!!!! The less money you have, the stronger your brand has to be, because you rely more on your users evangelizing for you. The big boys have the WORST brands because they tend to buy their way out of their problems.KARON: So, as small business owners, we have to have the complete package - we have to have it all together for our branding to "work"?ROB: Of course. Remember, that the point of Big Time Branding is to "turn users into evangelists for your brand”. Otherwise, what's the point?KARON: So how do we do that? I realize it's a process and not a 2-step "thing", but give those that have done little or nothing with branding a starting point.ROB: The problem is that branding has to be done from the outside in, because that's who the brand is for -- people who DON'T know you. Most business owners are too focused on what they've got to sell, not on how they can be "the best solution to other people's problems."KARON: Boy do I agree 100% with you on that!! With copywriting (my specialty) it's the same way! If you don't know your target audience - can't really get inside their minds - your copy will just be a list of nicely worded facts. ROB: Exactly!KARON: OK... then tell me this... What is the most widely made mistake when trying to brand yourself or your product?ROB: The most common mistake is not heeding the Prime Directive: "Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your competition; it's about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem." KARON: Amen to that!! ROB: They just keep cutting their prices and thinking it's a sales or advertising issue. They keep looking in the wrong places.KARON: And we know for a fact it is not pricing. That's why people pay $15 more for FEDEX. That's why people pay $68 for Liz Claiborne jeans instead of $25 for Lee.ROB: Got that right!KARON: Wow! Some good info here, Rob. I appreciate it very much. Well, any closing words of wisdom?ROB: I would add that everyone out there is constantly selling, selling, selling. Big Time Brands know that while advertising grabs their minds, branding grabs their hearts. People invest their non-rational loyalties into brands that help them. Make a hero out of your user and you'll turn them into brand evangelists.KARON: And since "most buying decisions are emotional", you have to hit 'em where they live :-)ROB: Yeah, it's okay to build a business strategy where part of it is to have people like you!****** Also, here’s a Business Essentials Subscriber Freebie… you can visit http://www.RobFrankel.com/frankelaws.html for some inside information straight from Rob’s book “The Revenge of Brand X”.
About the Author
Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should be, too! Karon is Owner and President of KT & Associates who offers targeted copywriting, copy editing & ezine article services. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Branding

by: Phillip A. Ross / Williams Money Group

Branding Often the more a thing is discussed the less it is understood. Words have a point of diminishing return. That point is crossed when the effort to be clear and precise counts every tree standing, but misses the proverbial forest. Such is the case with branding. Because the idea of branding is all the rage, people are tempted to think that it is a new idea. It is not. It’s roots reach back into history. The Old West Let’s go back to the Old West where brands were burned into the hind quarters of cattle. The thing branded was the cow, the product produced by the ranching endeavor. The brand itself was the twisted iron logo on the end of the rod that left its image or mark on the hide of the cow. Cows were roped, tied and branded in order to identify them, should they be stolen. The brand was a mark of identity, as it is in the corporate world. Some ranchers also used their logo as a welcome sign wrought in iron over the gates of the corral or over the road leading to the rancher’s home. Again, the brand identified the ranch. Some ranchers even got their cowhands belt buckles with the ranch logo to identify them as employees. And over time logoed merchandise began to pop up on boots, hats, shirts, etc. Identity The brand is essentially a mark of identity. It identifies the ranch or company, and has come to represent or suggest the values and character of the company, and of its leaders. The brand is associated with the character of the company, as well as its products. The early history of branding was always personal. Where does the ranch or company get the values and character that are associated with it? From its owners and leaders, and from their business practices. Branding as we know it today is the art of instilling and communicating the values and character of a company or organization through association with its logo. Psychology calls it symbolic association, and finds it to be foundational to the learning process. Symbolic association has deep roots in human experience and in history. Fish, Cross & Swastika We find that branding as a practice began very early in history. The sign of the fish and the cross were symbols used by the early Christians. Over time they became Christian brands. The Roman Emperor Constantine had a vision of a red cross in the sky before the battle of Saxa Rubra, October 28, 312, near Rome. He put that red cross on his shields and flags, branding the Holy Roman Empire for centuries. On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, a red flag bearing the Swastika became the official emblem of the Nazi Party, as Hitler branded the Third Reich. While our emotional reaction to the Swastika is usually negative, both the fact and the intensity of our response to it points to the power of branding. Most people probably have an emotional reaction to the examples above. That emotional reaction is the aim of branding. It must be recognized that a branding effort does not always turn out the way the campaign intends. The cross was intended to be a symbol of derision, but became a symbol of grace and mercy. The Swastika was intended to be a symbol of the triumph of the Arian race, but has become a symbol of evil. In both cases branding was achieved, but not in the way intended. Of course, companies want the emotional association to their brand to be positive—even to generate an urge to splurge, or trust sufficient to sustain a transaction. But regardless of one’s personal reaction to a symbol, the fundamental mechanics of branding involve soliciting an emotional response to a symbol. There are two fundamental elements in the branding process. The first pertains to the symbol, the second to the association. The Symbol The symbol itself must be familiar. The more the symbol or logo is seen, the more familiar it becomes. The most successful branding campaigns will have a lot of sustained media coverage and use a variety of advertising mediums. This does not mean that smaller campaigns cannot be successful, only that their success will be smaller. Familiarity is primarily a function of exposure. The Association Secondly, the emotional content of the association also needs to be familiar. Of course it is true that new desires and/or emotional content can be created. But the effort is both time consuming and risky. The result might be other than the desired effect. The more successful method for creating a symbolic association employs well-established and widely valued characteristics, like love, honor, truth, freedom, etc. Successful branding campaigns establish symbolic associations between their products and/or company and such noble characteristics. What is noble inspires people, and what inspires is remembered and discussed. It creates buzz. And buzz is branding’s engine. To discuss the art of branding apart from these foundational elements is to miss the forest for the trees. However, branding is more than a mere advertising campaign can accomplish because the symbolic association that needs to be made for the branding to be successful involves the core values and character traits of the company— its leaders and its business practices. Prior to branding, core values, character issues and company policies need to be determined, developed and deployed within the company. Because the process of branding reveals the values, character and policies of the company, those things need to be right, and be in place before they can be successfully revealed. Premature Branding A premature revelation of these things can be disastrous to the intention of the branding campaign. To be branded as hypocritical and shallow is worse than no branding at all. Again, branding occurs when an emotional response—any emotional response— is associated with a company symbol. The art of branding is to solicit the right emotional response. So, what can be done to promote a brand? Begin by working to establish core values and character within and throughout the company. To be successfully branded is to be known widely for who you are. You want a great branding campaign? Be a great company. Aspire to the values and character traits of greatness and nobility. Herein lies the key to branding success. ©2008 Phillip A. Ross About the Author Phillip A. Ross, entrepreneur, freelance writer and owner of Business Specialties , lives in Marietta, Ohio, and provides identity products and promotional services to position companies and organization for substantial success. Sponsored By Williams Money Group.

Williams Money Group & Branding

Branding used to be a fancy business word, but it is becoming more and more used in everyday business meetings. Finally! For decades, big corporations have used in-house, very well paid brand managers - someone in charge of managing everything that relates to the brand, including design, package and partnerships. You've heard enthusiastic talks about branding, but you are still not sure if you should get a brand management plan going for your business.

Do you need one? Any company with the intention and potential to become or to remain a top competitor in its field needs to develop a sound branding strategy. And that's where the brand agency comes in. If you have a small or medium size business, you may not be able to pay a high salary for a full-time brand manager. If that is your case, you can benefit from working with a brand agency, and gain access to brand management consultants, plus an entire creative team available to work in various projects - from graphic design to web design, Internet marketing, advertising, media planning. Instead of working with multiple vendors that are unaware of your branding needs, you work with one single partner dedicated to create a stronger, more valuable brand.

Can I fire my marketing team? No! Some people think a brand agency would do away with marketing jobs. In fact, your brand agency would not replace your marketing department, but work with your marketing and sales people to provide them the tools they need to market your services more successfully, while advancing your business image.

How much does it cost? Working with a branding agency is surprisingly affordable. Think of this: how much it would cost, per year, to have an in-house creative department, plus a well-paid brand manager? That could easily cost your business $200K and more in payroll, equipment and lease expenses. With an experienced branding agency you only pay a small fraction of the costs of maintaining such a high-level team, but you still have full-time assistance. Besides, a branding agency can save you thousands of dollars a year in printing and production costs, through its suppliers and partners.

To measure how strong your brand is copy and paste: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html). Then click "Take the brand strength test". This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company's brand. It's a great tool to see where you are today.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation. Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America's largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies. Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner so that people at all levels can understand.

By John Williams-- Williams Money Group