Williams Money Group

Free Ads

2008-12-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

Free advertising. How to find? That is a question that is easily addressed. The real question is which ones work? Many times people have a hard time doing a search for "free ads" because they do not know exactly which keywords to put into a search box such as those found at Google .

Here are a list of the keywords and phrases that you can use to find ways to provide yourself with [free ads];

free classifieds affiliate

free classifieds how to make fortune
contentindex
free classifieds irresistible ads

free classifieds how to do order pulling
sitemap

msgcontroller
(email advertising}
{bulk emails}
[email marketing]
targeted
regular
adult

[free classifieds art of writing]
-email advertising-

how to buy visitors
what is a free classifieds affiliate
how can i use free classifieds to make fortune
how to make free classifieds irresistible ads

what is free classifieds order pulling
what is a sitemap

what is free classifieds art of writing
how to do email advertising

how to make free classifieds make it work
how can one buy visitors
wheretofindfree classifieds affiliates

howdoyouusefree classifieds in making fortune

whatarefree classifieds irresistible ads

whentousefree classifieds order pulling
sitemaps

thefree classifieds art of writing
howtodoemail advertising

whendofree classifieds make it work
howcanibuy visitors
listoffree classifieds affiliates

Simply type these into the search box and you will find a host of results that will more than help you along the way to finding free advertising programs

About the author;

John Williams is the founder of Williams Money Group and co-creator of the SlingAd Network
where you can find a list of his publications at places like social networking sites such as 6dgr and Yuwie

SlingAd Network Growth!

2008-12-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Advertising, local, regional, nationwide and worldwide, free, effective and low cost is what most consumers who want to place ads are looking for today.This is just an overview of what is sought after. There is a solution and it's called The SlingAd Network and the solution to your promotional needs is growing!

The SlingAd Network has on it's agenda the plan to cater to just about anyone and anywhere who has a firm need for effective ad results. The SlingAd Network is constantly adding programs that are easy to find on the search engines and in particular, Google and that are in most cases just what the viewer was looking for. The goal for the SlingAd Network is to fine tune it's concepts according to what the consumer is looking for and we believe that of course to be "High Value". What else would anyone expect. The difference here is that we provide the high value at much less cost as we always strive to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the two main ingredients that help us and our prospects reach their goals.

Currently, the SlingAd Network is being utilized by people in fourteen countries around the globe across most of our program platform and this number is growing each day right along with the traffic that we get visiting our Network! This is huge in comparison to the average results companies get and after only three months on the web!

For effective advertising, look closely at one of the fastest growing and most effective methods of advertising on the internet, the SlingAd Network!

About the author:

John Williams is the founder of Williams Money Group and the co-creator of the SlingAd Network.

"Johnny Sent Me!"

2008-11-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

There is a brand new happening called the mall of the imagination and it is brought to you by Williams Money Group an online enterprise with various investments of their own creations presented on the internet today. The newest program to hit the Williams Money Group portfolio is a program called "Johnny Sent Me!" based on a successful radio program that broadcasted weekly from central New York to New York City! The show presented then as it does now the online and offline shopper with the pleasant theme of "the mall of the imagination where the mall may be imaginary and yet the merchants in it are for real and they're the kind of merchants that are willing to put their money where their mouth is by giving you better than average incentives for you to try their products and or services!

This concept of this mall of the imagination is now online and ready to serve every local municipality in every county of every state in the country! It is now poised to go in Orlando, Florida. Tampa Florida. St. Petersberg, Florida, Illinois and spreading.

You can participate by submitting a video of your own making or utilize our services and have it placed along with a generous or better than average "Johnny Sent Me!" coupon that your customers can download and present to you in person for the offer. Your coupon will be furnished and created with a bar code that you can scan at your register for ad effectiveness tracking and instant record keeping for tax time! The fee is under structure for each area of the country and will soon be published with a firm price point that holds firm to address current economic conditions to give you twice as much for half the cost. We Can prove it!

Be on the look out for more information on this dynamic new and improved program, in the mall of the imagination on ...."Johnny Sent Me!"

About the author

John Williams is the founder of Williams Money Group and the co-creator of the SlingAd Network with Google Approved programs added regularly!

Test Your Shears Now!

2008-10-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

As a professional, you know how vital it is to work with quality hair styling tools. You want to maintain scissors your scissors with precise, sharp edges. After years of researching the finest hair styling tools and developing sharpening techniques that are unique in the industry, Salons and hairstylists everywhere can benefit from a good sharpening service. With quality sharpening services you will have quicker, cleaner cuts resulting in less fatigue and wear and tear on your hands and fingers.

You've heard the saying that "You're only as good as your tools", right? It's true!
Having sharp quality shears for your clients makes a world of positive difference for you and your clients and especially in the form of repeat business, the "Life blood of any business"!

About the author:
Located in Inverness,Florida and on the world wide web,

Cutting Edge wants you and your clients to experience the difference of their seven (7) step micro film sharpening process. For each $25.00 sharpening, Cutting Edge will give you a stamp credit to be used for additional or replacement scissors. You may accumulate up to 10 stamps (2 cards with 5 stamps each for a $100.00 total credit) to apply toward the purchase of a new pair of high quality scissors through Cutting Edge online!

Sponsored by Williams Money Group & SlingAd Network

Insomnia is Abnormal Sleep Pattern

2008-10-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Insomnia is a lack of sleep and has lots of degrees. There are three categories identified based on duration: 1. Transient 2. Acute 3. Chronic

Most people have experienced sleeplessness at some point in their lives.When under stress or pressure from work or in the time of terrible tragedy. Lack of sleep is NOT disease, it is symptom which affects all age groups but more often women than men. It was reported by Department of Health that every year 64 million Americans suffer from this problem.

1.Transient- doesn't last long,few days or weeks maybe.

2.Acute- is sudden,appears and worsens fast. It lasts between 1 to 6 months.

3.Chronic insomnia- lasts for years and if left untreated can be serious problem in anyone's life.

Finding the cause is not easy because of many different sleep disorders. To name few of them:depression,apnea, (person stops breathing), alcohol consumption,estrogen imbalance,lack of magnesium which also causes muscle cramps.

I am nervous type and I have a problem falling asleep at the beginning of the night, which is associated with anxiety disorders. When ever I have a problem of any kind, it MUST be solved right away or sleeplessness gets worse. It is Transient and I can solve it by managing my life better. No stress,no TV in my bedroom,no coffee and problem goes away.

Good news is, poor sleep quality CAN be cured or maintained by medication and change of life style. Find more info here...Insomnia Guide

Sponsored by Williams Money Group

New System Is Setting Downlines On Fire!

2008-10-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

How would you like to start saving yourself stress, time, energy, and money all at the same time from the use of a simple, duplicatable system?

I discovered the newest and most revolutionary website to hit the internet.

You are allowed to use this system free of charge to build YOUR business!

It is also proven to work as it is created by someone who knows what they are doing. The free website converts at an industry high, and the system will allow you to multiply the value of each member you receive.

Ignite Your Downline and Go Viral!

How would you like to start saving yourself stress, time, energy, and money all at the same time from the use of a simple, duplicatable system?

I discovered the newest and most revolutionary website to hit the internet.

You are allowed to use this system free of charge to build YOUR business!

Ignite Your Downline and Go Viral!

http://www.buildmydownlines.com/members/?s=38

No more stress from receiving no results.

No more waste of time figuring out the right things to do, be more effective.

Save yourself money by getting everything you need at the lowest price possible… Free!

http://www.buildmydownlines.com/members/?s=38

I will see you there!

chris probert

Sponsored by Williams Money Group

Healthy and Wealthy

2008-10-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Business Opportunity, Natural Products for People. Highlight and copy this website address: www.noniusers.com/lill for informations about the products and how to become a repersenative with the company. Highlight and copy this website: www.income-escalator.com/1315539 free to join froduct under $50.00. Ask for more info!

About the author: Lillie Nelson is a serious network marketer from Alabama and is interested in promoting only products and information that represent true value for the consumer!

Here Comes DubLi! Be Very, Very Aware!!!!

2008-10-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Imagine being able to influence a 300 billion dollar industry and, at the same time, run your own global business with all the advantages of an independent company, without the disadvantages and risks normally associated with an independent business.

Where you have the freedom to focus on what you are best at - thinking, planning, preparing strategies, solving problems and influencing others in a positive way.

If you are one of those people, dreaming about starting your own business and becoming your own boss, then DubLi Network - with its ready-made business concept - has prepared the foundations for your successful future.

If the above sounds interesting to you, then DubLi Network strongly urges you to look through the information on this website. You will discover ways of being productive that you might never have thought existed.
Sponsored by Williams Money Group

Who Would Like To Turn $50 into a $1 Million a Month or more

2008-10-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Warning: It sounds crazy but I’m dead serious about
what you’re about to read…I Guarantee It!

Skeptical! Of course you are….and you should be! Look, if this revolutionary program can put thousands, tens of thousands or even the possibility of a million or more in your pocket in the next 90-days you’d be silly not to continue, right?

And, get this. Maybe even a million a month!

This is a Ground Floor Opportunity!

We are just launching this unprecedented cash-flow machine!

This is your big chance!

As many of you know the opportunity to get in early on any unique business is the key to meteoric wealth-building success.

Most MLM programs don’t offer the premier quality of our products or a fraction of the potential this plan offers……and they want $100, $150, $200 or more a month.

But, you won’t pay $200, $150 or even $100 bucks to start your money machine cranking cash.

Your total cost to get a vault full of products and start cashing in on this unique money making formula is just $85 and a commitment of $50 a month.

For less than a daily cup of Starbucks coffee you have the opportunity to create an avalanche cash flow for you and your family this month, next month and for the rest of your lives.

But, you must get started today to take full advantage of the tidal wave of riches this plan will be producing.

But, Wait There’s Even More!

BONUS

“Create Cash Now With Email”

A $97 VALUE ABSOLUTELY FREE!

If you enroll in the program today you will also get my 7-step program of how to “Create Cash With Email.” Learn the secret strategies the pros use in any business to put more money in their pocket.

1-Year 110% Money Back Guarantee!

That’s right! If you’re still skeptical…this program Guarantees You Will Make Money Or 110% Of Your Money Back…..

Try our program for one year, a full 360-days and try our unique money-making plan and if you don’t generate more money than you’ve invested in that year I’ll give you every dime of your money back plus 10% interest for your trouble.

You Have Absolutely No Risk!

No other program can do this! You know why! I know this cash-generating plan will work for you! This is how absolutely certain I am that you can make a ton of cash with my unique proprietary plan…..but you must get started today

But Hold On!

Get Started For Free As Long As You Like!

That’s right! Prove it to yourself. Test drive the program, see how it works for you. Simply put 15 minutes a day following my proprietary Step-By-Step Plan and watch the money that you could be making roll in.

Why would I do this?

Because when you see this powerful money making program is for real…..I mean really simple and for real… I know you’ll sign up for immediately….. cuz you won’t want to miss out on any more of the real live spendable cash!

Remember, you have nothing lose

The Rest is up to you!

PS. I dare you to find a more comprehensive money making plan anywhere. There isn’t one! So if you are ready to get serious about making money, you have absolutely NO RISK to find your answer.

There is not one MLM program out there who will give you a one-year guarantee that you will make money or you will receive an immediate 110% of your money back and let you test drive it for free. What are you waiting for? Get Started Now!

Click on the link below to get started!

https://826766.everymonthamillion.net

To our success,

Connie Pusins

Sponsored by Williams Money Group

SlingAd Auctions

2008-10-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Do I hear?.... and of course the following words echo a price!
That is the standard call for auctions across the world! Auctions you say?
Yes, auctions. Today, auctions are quite different than the standard offline world of selling and buying goods and or services like that of the world reknowned Christie's Auction house who is now taking advantage of the world wide web to get the word out about them, and with good reason!
In today's online world, there are literally millions of different auctions being advertised in virtually every country and from coast to coast. Examples are police auctions, private auctions, ebay auctions and SlingAd Auctions to name just a few. Additionally, there are different ways to hold or conduct these various types of auctions. There are free auctions, reverse auctions and so on the list goes. An example of free auctions is the newly added SlingAd Auctions which is free to the public and with absolutely no fees whatsoever when you sell an article to others.
This of course offsets the traditional auction online that charges fees in order for the company to make a profit.

Reverse auctions on the other hand will charge an upfront fee for participants to check current bid prices and of course often times the seller is the auction company itself.
The main advantage to this kind of auction is the ability to get yourself name brand items at lower prices than you could in most other cases as the price goes down every time one checks it.

To digress, a fee free auction has an advantage in that the seller will often times sell quality name brand items at similar low prices and of course nobody pays a fee to participate.

The discussion about auctions could go on forever and yet, my fingers are getting tired, so I guess I'll call it.... a night! Yes.. pun intended!

John Williams
SlingAd Network

Williams Money Group & Branding

2008-10-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to get the word out about yourself is by using "Social Networking"!
Today, you can find tons of social networking sites on the internet.

There are different kinds of social networks to choose from or in fact, you can use them all.
They are; sites that allow you to upload photos of yourself and write articles to attract traffic to yourself or to your website. There are sites that allow you to post blogs, music, photos and videos too! Speaking of videos, one of the most widely used social networks on the internet today are strictly for videos like the new SlingAd Videos, a site that gives you primary positioning in getting noticed in that most of the already popular video sharing sites are overcrowded and you kind of get lost in the shuffle.

Why are they so popular? One of the reasons is that when you post blogs, videos and so forth, you can use what are called "Keywords", words that allow people to find your postings when they type such keywords into a search engine while looking for such topics.
The advice here is to think of what it is that you want to get noticed and to think of what you yourself and others might type into a search engine in order to look for such content.
Doing this allows you to be creative and of course to get ranked higher in the search engines, ultimately getting you the attention you deserve!

So, if you've been wondering how to get your message out to the target audience of your choice without having to spend a small fortune in advertising, then try the various types of social networks mentioned in this article and you will see results!

About the Author;
John Williams is the founder of Williams Money Group and the Co-Creator of the SlingAd Network, a collection of web 2.0 programs that allow you to get your message out for free and at low cost.

Williams Money Group & Branding

2008-10-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Look At These!!!!!!
For all of you aspiring photographers out there, you have got to see your next inspiration!! Mike is a friend at Yuwie, an online social network and is one hec of an artist. His keen eye for the right shot is awesome. You will be awe struck by his work! Mike is branded as "MyInnerEye and has some of the most wonderfully versatile ensembles of photos that you can frame in any size you want. Are you looking for that one of a kind decorative piece that can inspire you and bring back any feeling you can think of? This is it! See Mikes Work Here and get some ideas of how you can brand your business successfully!--- SlingAd Network Presents Don't Miss This Also -- "More Art Here" John Williams Co-Creator - SlingAd Network

Williams Money Group & Branding

2008-10-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

"Team Work Makes The Dream Work" is a phrase that my latest friend online likes to extol to his viewers. His name is Tim G., and man oh man what a giving individual!

Tim spends his time helping others to achieve their dreams of online success with the use of many quality programs that are known for cutting through the bull out there. Yes, it is possible still to make a living online despite how hard it can seem to do so sometimes! Tim also encourages others to achieve online success by way of his radio show online.

When it comes to branding, there are many ways to do it. Although Tim does not have a brand per say, you can look at his style of branding in the form of slogans. Tim's most famous slogan is mentioned above and worthy of a re-mention; "Team Work Makes The Dream Work"!

It is this kind of unselfish and giving spirit that makes Tim G. an example for all to follow.
Read more about Tim G. At The SlingAd Network

About the author:
John Williams is the founder of Williams Money Group and Co-Creator of the SlingAd Network

Internet Branding by: H. Vanoy Barton / Williams Money Group

2008-10-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

In the beginning there was traffic. It was easy to come by in 1993. Publish a web site and the entire web world would know about it and visit within a month. In fact in the days of yore one could visit every site on the Web. I know. I've done it several times.

And the offline saw that traffic was good and they came - by the millions. Thereafter publish a web site and you would be lucky to have any hits other than your own development hits within a month. And the people knew that traffic was good, yet they had little, or none. Challenge spawns opportunity. Hence directories and search engines arose and the people rejoiced for the millions could now be found. And so the first iteration of the Web passed and the found and the lost were as one - eventually indexed.

Commerce and competition arose, as it always does with every technological advance, business models decried the wild west confusion of the web and mandated order and profit. And the traffic remained good yet the people lamented because the ecumenical nature of traffic was replaced by the bought and the paid for. And the major brands rejoiced for the traffic was good and it could be bought, tamed and redirected. Yet, throughout it all the pioneers and the foolhardy and the diligent and the brave remained steadfast, for they had become digital in their outlook and on was the state of the Web. The traffic increased, though not for all. Traffic is the river that always flows. And so the second iteration of the Web passed and the lost were further still and the found paid with money or arduous labor.

And the third iteration dawned and Google became the word bandied throughout the land. The clouds thickened for many and cleared for some, a new term arose in the digital land, although long a staple in the of the analog. The term is brand and the nature of it will continue with the next episode.
Sponsored by SlingAd Network
--------------------------------------

copyright 2005 H. Vanoy Barton. You are free to utilize this article on your website or ezine as long as no changes are made to article, author byline is included and the following live link is included:

Article courtesy of This Is Info http://www.thisisinfo.com

About the Author

H. Vanoy Barton, a fifteen year veteran of the Internet is founder of This Is Info.

Stop Branding Your Products and Start Branding Yourself! by: Wild Bill Montgomery / Williams Money Group

2008-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Branding has power. Real power. A power that you can
measure. But for those of us who have the dream of
creating our own Internet Empire from our home cubicle
or kitchen table, the Real Branding Power comes not
from branding your business or product, but from
Branding Yourself! Branding "You" (a phrase borrowed
from Rick Beneteau) is a power that you can't afford
not to understand and use.

"Branding Yourself" is the application of certain
techniques which will help you gain popularity on the
Internet by making yourself well known, maybe as an
Expert in your field. When people recognize you as an
expert you will gain popularity by means of more free
publicity than you can imagine. Picture seeing an
article written mentioning your name as an authority on
Marketing or mentioning you for nothing more than
quoting something you said. The point I'm trying to
make is that you are seen as an Authority or better
put, a "Personality". Now, try to fathom thousands or
even hundreds of thousands of people seeing you in the
same light. This is what successful Self-Branding is
all about. You don't need to necessarily be an expert.
You just need to be seen, heard and talked about.

How do you Brand Yourself? There are many techniques
and methods, but it can be as simple as a hidden
personality trait, a nickname (maybe something like
"Wild Bill"), or helping others by consultation or
assistance. You must look for ways to literally become
a Celebrity in the eyes of the world or at least a
small, select part of it. It could be by getting your
name known as the "guy/gal who had the answer or made
the comment". Is that all there is to it? Of course
not.

The one thing I am slowly and surely learning about
marketing on the Internet is that you have to build a
name for yourself before people will trust you and
trust your products. Trust is a big issue on the
Internet. Can you blame people? The Internet is overrun
with rip-offs and fast-talking scam artists. Their
whole existence is centered on the sole pursuit of
relieving you of your money for a product with lots of
promise and no result.

I recently purchased a book by Rick Beneteau, called
"Branding You and Breaking the Bank". Now you might
think that Rick had some kind of big money backing him.
"Sure", you say, "that's the only way to get into the
big time". Well, let me tell you Rick started out a few
years ago from the very bottom. The one thing that he
understood that many of us don't, is that you must
Brand Yourself, whether it's as an expert in marketing
or the guy next door who'll help you out with a
problem. But, one thing is for sure; Rick knows how to
do it. Would you like to learn more about Personal
Branding and how to get your name known and respected?
Learn how to get thousands of dollars worth the free
advertising?

Is this a recommendation for a product? I have to say,
without a doubt "YES"! But I am so thrown back by this
book, that I simply had to write an article around it.
Many of you may have read some of my articles, and I
know that some of you read them religiously (thank you
very much). Those of you that do, know that I do not
write articles supporting products in this manner. I
may have mentioned a product in the process, that's
part of the Biz. But, I cannot stress enough the
importance of "Personal Branding". I wholeheartedly
support and recommend Rick's Book, "Branding You and
Breaking the Bank".

This Powerful new book puts YOU on the fast track to
becoming an Internet Celebrity. Not only does Rick
teach you step-by-step how he did it; he also asked
many of the top Internet personalities to share their
success secrets with you. If you're at all serious
about achieving success on the Internet, you need to
start Branding YOU and Breaking the Bank!

Do yourself a favor. Check It Out!

I'll be e-Seeing you Soon

Sponsored by SlingAd Network

About the Author

Wild Bill Montgomery

Home of the "InfoZone" Business and
Marketing Article Archives!

Nation Branding and Place Marketing - The Place by: Sam Vaknin / Williams Money Group

2008-10-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Some countries are geographically disadvantaged. Recent studies have demonstrated how being landlocked or having a tropical climate carry a hefty price tag in terms of reduced economic growth. These unfavorable circumstances can be described as "natural discounts" to a country's price.

What can be done to overcome such negative factor endowments?

In classical microeconomics, the element of "place" in the marketing plan used to refer to the locus of delivery of the product or service. Well into the 19th century, the "place" was identical to the region where the product was manufactured or the service rendered. In other words, textiles weaved in India were rarely sold in Britain. American accountants were unlikely to practice in Russia. Distribution was a local affair and networks of dissemination and marketing were geographically confined.

A host of historical and technological developments drastically altered the scene and frayed the straitjacket of geography.

The violent disintegration of the old system of geopolitical alliances led to the formation of massive, multiplayer trading blocs within which and among which the movement of goods and, increasingly, services is friction-free.

The vast increase in the world's population - matched by the exponential rise in purchasing power - created a global marketplace of unprecedented wealth and a corresponding hunger for goods and services. The triumph of liberal capitalism compounded this beneficial effect.

The advent of mass media, mass transport, and mass communications reduced transaction costs and barriers to entry. The world shrank to become a veritable "global village".

The value of knowledge (processed information) has fast risen to surpass that of classical (physical) goods and services. Information has some of the properties of a public good (for instance, nonrivalry) - coupled with all the incentives of a private good (e.g., profit-making).

Thus, the very nature of distribution had been irrevocably changed. The distribution channel, the path from producer to consumer (in our case, from country to foreign investor or tourist, for example) is less encumbered by topography than it used to be.

Even the poorest, most remote, landlocked, arid, and disadvantaged country can nowadays leverage air flight, the Internet, television, cell phones, and other miracles of technology to promote itself and its unique offerings (knowledge, plant and animal species, scenery, history, minerals, cheap and educated manpower, cuisine, textiles, software, and so on).

The key to success is in a mix of both direct and indirect marketing. Nowadays, countries can (and do) appeal directly to consumers (ads targeted at tourists or road shows aimed at investors). They present themselves and what they have to offer, circumventing brokers and agents of all kinds (disintermediation). Still, they should not fail to cultivate more traditional marketing channels such as investment banks, travel agents, multilateral organizations, or trade associations.

With many of the physical obstacles to marketing removed in the last few decades, with the very concept of "place" rendered obsolete, promotion emerged as the most critical facet of nation branding and place marketing.

Sponsored by SlingAd Network

About the Author

Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He is the the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Branding, control and results - Submit Articles in Your Own by: Andy Beard / Williams Money Group

2008-10-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

Article distribution is currently booming on the internet. Authors do it for a number of reasons.

- It is a good way to be picked up by the search engines.
- The backlinks from your resource box can help your search engine position.
- You have the possibility of secondary traffic if your article is picked up by a popular website or ezine.

Various products and services have become available that help you distribute your articles to the 100s of article directories and mailing lists.

a) Software that speeds up maunal submission, or can in some cases do this automatically. b) Services that distribute articles in your name c) Services that distribute articles on your behalf, but in their own name.

The Double Edged Sword

Many people pay a premium rate for article distribution on their behalf, without the worry of having to join various article directory sites as a member, giving their own email address, and receiving lots of emails from various Yahoo groups.

Unfortunately what they don't realise is that often this devalues their work.

1) In the author section on many sites, the name of the distribution service will be shown, not that of the original author.
2) Author sections of many article directories are a unique marketing venue. Many visitors will visit the author profile before reading an article all the way to the bottom. Most profiles could have one or more websites listed.
3) Within RSS feeds from the article directories, the distribution service might be shown in the byline, not the original author.
4) Many article directories allow an author to change or modify their resource box. If an article was submitted using an account owned by a 3rd party distribution service, that avenue will be closed.

Complete Control

For authors who want complete control of their branding, either submit manually, or use article submission software. You will receive more emails, but can always have a special email address for this purpose. Googles Gmail service I find is an excellent choice. Article Announcer and Article Submitter Pro are two examples of such software.

Limited Control

Use an automated submission service that ensures you are the author. There are services that signup for members to directories on your behalf, using a username and password of your choice. One such service is Article Marketer.

The Inconvenience

You will have to confirm your membership to many distribution points, and some will continue to send emails containing articles from other people. Yahoo groups normally allow you to select a digest mode, or to not receive emailed articles at all. Most of this is a one time effort, although you will have to be on the lookout for important messages on the email account you use.

The Massive Gain

They are your articles, and you should gain maximum benefit from them.

Using article distribution is much like a varient of Pareto's 80/20 rule. You potentially gain 80% effective results compared to manual distribution, for 20% of the work.

However if your method of article distribution doesn't give you all the possible credit for your articles, rather than 80% effectiveness, you might only be getting 60% or less.

Managing your own article distribution with tools such as Article Announcer or Article Submitter Pro gives you complete control to achieve your 80/20 goals. A service such as Article Marketer which gives you full credit, and reasonable control, might be 70% effective, for 10% of the work.

Refining your processes, and only using the most effective method where it benefits you the most, you can maximise your return for the work invested.

I use a combination of service and software for my own distribution.

Sponsored in part by SlingAd Network
About the author:
Andy Beard has worked in Sales, Marketing and Localization for the last 15 years, primarily in the computer games industry.

Magnetic Branding - How to Attract vs. Acquire Customers by: Phillip Davis / Williams Money Group

2008-10-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

What makes a company brand magnetic -- one that seems to effortlessly attract customers, revenue, media attention and employees alike? It only requires a look at nature itself to discover the answers. Invisible forces such as magnetism and gravity have a constant influence on our lives. They govern us without our awareness of their presence. Their enegies are not overt and go largely unnoticed, yet they govern so much of what we do.

Just as in science, magnetic companies and brands are ones that are aligned and “pulling” in the same direction. Magnetism works when electrons are charged and line up in the same direction. In much the same way, when businesses are charged behind a unified and coherent message, employees and customers alike will begin to align themselves to that vision. The target customer is no longer a “target”, since they begin to find you. The emphasis slowly shifts from atrificially capturing customers to naturally attracting them.

Magnetism then comes from a distilled and powerful sense of purpose. This purpose revirberates throughout the organization and intuitvely instructs the organization’s members to act and behave in ways that promote this vision. The cost of top down driven, internal messaging is greatly reduced. The process becomes more natural, more fluid and instinctive.

So is this purpose the same as a mission statement or brand strategy?

Yes and no. Most mission statements are written in boardrooms and sit in nice plaques on the walls. Purpose is something that comes from the heart, and it needs to come from the heart of top management. Again, this is about alignment, and if top management is all about maximizing the bottom line, it cannot create a magnetic company whose mission statement expounds the virtues of altruistic, self sacrificing service. It just won’t vibrate, resonate and ultimately attract the desired customer. So you can also say magnetic companies are genuine in nature. Their values are consistant at all levels of the organization. Profit then becomes a natural byproduct of doing what the company believes in, whether it’s delivering on price, quality or service.

How does a company find its purpose? It’s already there, waiting to be acknowledged and promoted. For example, many owners I’ve dealt with felt passionate about their quality, but also felt compelled and pressured to compete based on price. They are brainwashed by their sales force or other outside influences to believe they can only compete by selling for less. When these company presidents/owners begin to realize there is an audience that doesn’t buy on price alone, they become emboldend and that energy translates throughout the company- enegizing everyone. Soon “the talk” is about product quality and innovatioins, new customers appear and old (time consuming, complaining, incongruent) ones begin to leave. The company, the brand, the image, begin to align and “pull” in a quiet but powerful way.

An Optometrist came to me years ago, desparte to create an image of speedy service, to combat the one hour vision centers that were devouring the market. When I asked him how long it took him to provide the service, his reply was “one week, but I think I can get it down to three days”. Someone looking for glasses in one hour is not going to be thrilled with waiting three days. So I designed a campaign with a headline that read “We take time.” It went on to extoll the vital role of vison in our lives and why it’s important to wait to make sure an eyeglass prescription is done right by a professional. The doctor felt I had completely missed his point, but he trusted my judgement and ran the campaign. The phone began to ring and one lady said “I haven’t had my prescription filled because I was waiting to find someone who took more than one hour to ‘grind’ my glasses”. He has run the ad for over 15 years and “taking the time” has now become his position in the market. His revenue, share and bottom line all increased when he became comfortable and congruent with who he was and what he did best- regardless of the market.

Transforming a company or brand from mediocre to magnetic requires refocusing on the passion that created it and aligning all else around it. Rather than chasing the market, the market will find you. And that makes work, and life in general, much more attractive.
Brand Example Here - SlingAd Network

About the Author

Phil’s life goal of “creating environments where people thrive” reflects his desire to assist in both personal and corporate growth. With 18 years experience as the president and owner of a full service advertising and branding firm, Phil posseses a marketing "sixth sense" that has helped launch several national and internet companies. Phil resides with wife Michelle and four energetic offspring outside Asheville, North Carolina.

CAFTA Drives Manufacturing PR Branding Messages by: Thomas Cutler / Williams Money Group

2008-10-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

TR Cutler, Inc., specializes in public relations for manufacturers. According to Thomas R. Cutler, President & CEO of the firm, "The Central American Free Trade Agreement is benefiting U.S. manufacturers by eliminating tariffs on many American goods imported by Central American nations. Manufacturers in Central America are initiating PR campaigns to develop a market presence in the U.S.; U.S. Manufacturers are initiating PR campaigns to develop a Central American market presence."

Cutler's team includes Dean Schmidt, Vice President of PR Advantage Affinity Program and works with manufacturers and manufacturing associations to determine what is newsworthy and merits media coverage. Schmidt brings operations expertise to the team and will establish measurable impacts and metrics for manufacturing clients and noted that, "The passage of CAFTA is a strong indicator of global marketing in the manufacturing sector. The need to establish branding and market awareness in new markets requires aggressive PR campaigns."

Cutler is ranked as the nation's leading manufacturing journalist. Cutler founded the Manufacturing Media Consortium. This is a group of more than 2000 journalists worldwide writing about trends, data, case studies, profiles, and features in the manufacturing and industrial sector. Cutler worked with hundreds of media outlets to expand the coverage and importance of the manufacturing media coverage.

Cutler created the Mass Marketing Manufacturing Media Blitz, a comprehensive 90 - 180 day program allowing manufacturers with little web presence or with a new product introduction to go from zero to sixty in a short-term PR campaign. Cutler has authored more than 1000 articles for a wide range of manufacturing, industrial, and business journals, dailies, and month trade B2B publications. Cutler also authored best-selling Manufacturer's Public Relations and Media Guide. Cutler has been the spokesperson of the ETO (Engineer-to-Order) Institute, since 2004. The organization has quickly become the key resource for non-repetitive manufacturers. # # #
Sponsored by SlingAd Network

Branding Concepts by: Michael Bloch / Williams Money Group

2008-10-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

"Branding" is the process by which a company employs marketing strategies to get people to easily remember their business and products over anothers...essentially, it's applied psychology.

As a child, I was introduced to a relatively new hamburger chain that had begun in Australia. I still visit that burger chain regularly 25 years later. Not a lot has changed over those years in regards to this particular company and I guess that's one of the reasons that I am still a customer. I know each time I walk into that establishment what I am going to have, where everything is and God help them if they ever remove the item from the menu! Even if they radically changed the decor, it would make me nervous. Many millions of people around the world would feel the same......

One of our countries major supermarkets has a habit of occasionally moving products around in their stores. It works well for them as it increases sales. Customers who usually seek out particular products are exposed to other items as they hunt for their favourites. It is a highly annoying tactic and only works in this situation because the supermarket is very competitive in pricing and range of products. People are not so patient on web sites and continiously moving items around on your site will see you losing traffic....nothing surer.

After having worked in management of another major fast food chain outlet, I learned that once a company has established a presence and become successful, any changes to operation must be carried out extremely carefully. Our patrons became very attuned to the company, they were essentially a part of it. Their perceptions and opinions needed to be taken into account every step of the way, and not just in regards to the products.

Why?

We have succumbed to the branding experience..... it makes us feel "safe"

Branding isn't just about logos, it's the entire "feel" associated with a company. In these days of bleeding edge technology and rapid change, people still enjoy going to places that follow a pattern of operation. This very much applies to our websites. Your logo should appear on every page, your domain name and one line blurb contained in every email, your theme consistent throughout your site. Granted, quality content is king, but it's important that visitors remember where the content came from. Branding establishes recall abilities of your site.

Recently, I decided that I was going to change the colour schemes on my site due to the research that I had carried out on the psychology of colour. Many articles I had studied suggested that black was not really appropriate for a site about web design. After discussing the plans with a few regular visitors, I was surprised by the response. The feedback was for me not to change the colour in any way. Even those people who did not feel that black was appropriate considering the nature of site did not want me to change it. They were "used" to it. It was a constant on the site, the same as the logo placement and general navigation structure. So it is all staying. My plans were to make the site look more in tune with other very successful web presences that focus on web design. What was I thinking!?!?!?

Branding is not only about constants, but individuality..........

If some one told you that they were going to establish a hamburger franchise and the logo colour scheme would be red and yellow, you would probably think they were insane. Red tends to signify danger and yellow is purported to be the most annoying colour of all. But try telling McDonalds that.....

But having stated that, if you are just in the planning stages your site, I suggest that you do be careful in your choice of navigation, logos and colour schemes. If your site is established with a good traffic flow and you are considering revamping it, it is of the utmost importance that you consult your visitors first via some sort of survey before any radical changes are made. Otherwise the many hours of hard work that you put into the upgrade, as well as the hours invested in developing the original theme, may be lost.
Example of Results!

About the Author

Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

ARE YOU BRANDING YOURSELF? by: Tom Falco / Williams Money Group

2008-10-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

Are you placing your email address and URL on
all correspondence?

Many people forget to add this to important
mailings and even their business cards.

Today, most people prefer to email messages than
make phone calls, so it is very important to have
your email address on all letters, invoices and
business cards.

Make sure your URL (web address) is on everything
that you send out. Keep "branding" your business.
Keep that URL out where it can be seen.

It's not enough to have your phone number and fax
number on your business cards or letterheads. Add
your email address and URL if you have one.

It's important also to have a signature on all
emails that go out. There
is a cool free "signature writing"
service at: http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com/freeads.htm
check it out.

Don't be left behind. Promote and brand your business
every chance you get. It's the professional thing to do.

Some say it takes up to nine times for people to see your
name before they will do business with you. If that is
true, then it's very important to have your name and
email address out there.

Try to encourage email exchanges. The more emails you have
going back and forth, the more credibility you will build
in your potential clien't head.

Offer something free. Make people email you for information.
This way you are opening the door to email correspondence
without spamming. Your goal should be to have the person
email you first asking for information or just a simple
question. Once the ball starts rolling, your various email
exchanges can easily turn into sales.

It's important to have a pop account or an account that
reflects your company or website.

Using generic @aol.com or @hotmail.com really puts a damper
on your look and makes you appear unprofessional. Plus,
when you email
a person with your own private "branded"
email address, you are actually
advertising your company
just by the mere action of sending a message.

Joe@bikeseller.com sounds better than joe@aol.com
Or Mary@thegiftstore.com is much better than mary@hotmail.com.
Isn't it?

Brand yourself. Brand your business. Do it today.
Sponsored by Williams Money Group

About the Author

Tom Falco is moderator of "The Swap-O-Rama" List where you
can swap anything from ezine ads to hotel rooms and more!
Sponsored By Williams Money Group.

Keywords (a waste)! Branding Comes First! by: Meredith Gossland / Williams Money Group

2008-10-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords... establishing an internet presence is said to be all about controling the hot keywords. But the fact of the matter is that establishing your company as an industry leader is much more important.

I did a little research on the keywords used by large companies and found that keywords were really secondary to having a great brand identity.

Coke.com uses a total of 3 key words, Saddleback Church uses just 2. Can you guess what they are?

Building a great business and letting people know about it through traditional methods can drive business to your site and is far more cost effective than pay per click. Pay per click is like having a store on Main Street and being charged for everyone who looks in the window of your shop. Would you let a city do that?
What if the newspapers charged you for everyone who read your ad in the paper whether they purchased from you or not?

Focus on developing your business reputation and customer service, tell everyone you meet to check out your website, then give them services on the site that are useful, entertaining, interesting and are updated frequently.

Why do you have a website? Internet customers are great but they are tremendously fickle. Not only that most are just surfers. What if you owned a business in a mall and the mall charged you for everyone who entered your store would you bid against a similar store in the mall to be charged a higher price for every person who walked by your window?

Just as Las Vegas Casinos are the winners and gamblers are the losers. Search engines are the winners pay per click clients are the losers.

The popularity of Saddleback Church is the result of marketing technique that is totally and completly dependant on building relationships from small groups. The church has 2,600 links on Google, 17,100 on Yahoo (Alta Vista) but these links were not purchased or created on link sites. They come from real people who have heard about the church and are interested in the product. Coke has 10,200 links on Google and 18,000 on MSN do you think they purchased those links. Look for Coke under the key word soda or carbonated drinks they aren't even in the top 50.

These are companies that have worked to create their business first and the website followed.

Go to www.sitereportcard.com and check out the keywords used by Coke and Saddleback Church. I don't think you will be surprised. They have built a name in their respective communities and can be found on the internet by that name. No 499 keywords, no pay per click, no cons or traps.... just good business branding and great reputations.

If you want to see if your keywords are effective check out Wordtracker.com

About the Author

Owner Lasting Impressions 2 - Custom Business gift baskets, greeting cards, Customer Service Tips
Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Branding Versus Search Engine Optimization by: Kevin S. Kantola / Williams Money Group

2008-10-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Branding versus search engine optimization is a marketing dilemma that larger companies will need to come to grips with on the Internet. Often companies will need to decide whether to promote their own brand name as their main keyword phrase or optimize for a more generic keyword phrase.
For instance, one search engine report states that 1.3 million visitors per month search for the term "Best Buy." This same report states that the term "electronics" is searched for by 1.1 visitors per month. The obvious choice in this scenario is for Best Buy to optimize for their own brand name first and the word "electronics" second.

But take a competitor such as Fry's Electronics. Approximately 95,000 visitors search for the term "Fry's" every month, far short of those who search for "electronics". Does this mean Fry's Electronics (a partner with Outpost.com) should optimize for "electronics" first and Fry's (and/or Outpost.com) second?

Currently, a search on Google for "electronics" will show that Best Buy does not show up in the first two pages. Fry's (Outpost.com) is on the second page. But let's take a further look to see who is in the number 1 position: Sony.

Sony, with 450,000 searches per month for the word "sony", has managed to grab the number one spot for its brand name and the generic name "electronics". A search of the Sony homepage source code will reveal that this page is optimized for both words, "Sony" and "electronics." By optimizing for both words Sony has nabbed a lot of traffic neglected by Best Buy and perhaps even exceeds Best Buys traffic in doing this.

Another issue in branding is trademark infringement. Courts have upheld that websites using another company's branded name in its metatags is engaging in trademark infringement. For instance, a site about cats would be infringing if it put the name Best Buy in its metatags in hopes of gaining traffic from this trademarked word. Large companies have to protect themselves from others stealing traffic that is rightfully theirs. These companies cannot however protect a generic term such as "electronics" as that is fair game for all electronics companies.

So, in order to create the largest return on investment, large companies need to optimize their websites both for their own brand names and for the generic, high-traffic keywords and keyword phrases relevant to their sites. Otherwise, they are letting tons of online business just slip away.
Sponsored By Williams Money Group

About the Author

Kevin Kantola is the CEO of Search Engine Optimization Resource ( and has written many online and offline articles over the past 20 years.

Articles and Internet Branding: 5 Steps to Success

2008-10-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Are you ready to become an internet marketing expert? Are you ready for a massive conversion rate plus unlimited residual streams of income for your web-based business? Excellent! I'm here to focus your mind on the job at hand. Today you will learn how article marketing is the means to the end, and that end is PROFIT.

Web marketing success happens one project at a time. The formula we're about to discuss works best when your product is information-based. Meaning, if you're an expert in your niche, other people are going to want to learn Your Secrets. You can use this to your advantage- by creating marketable products that deliver information (your Secrets) to customers who are willing to pay for it. You will then use web articles to lure in your prospects.

How will you go about this? Take it one step at a time.

Step 1. Select a niche market. What are your interests? Where does your expertise lie? Wherever that is, is where you will focus your next marketing project. Let's say it's real estate. Your Marketing Mission is: make your name recognizable within the realm of real estate. Build yourself up as an expert in the buying and selling of property.

Step 2. Create an online persona and brand for your business. For continuity's sake, let's go with the real estate example. Suppose you want to be known as the Inside Expert on house flipping for profit. Sounds like a great plan to me! Now grab yourself a web designer and a great copywriter and get going on perfecting that image of you as the Real Estate Go-To Guru!

Step 3. Develop an informational product that readers can buy directly from your website. You've seen those kits that all the Experts are selling, right? Who told you that you can't sell one on your website? Nobody. So, get going. Start pulling all nighters if you have to, just get that kit written and make it powerful so that your buyers will go, WOW! I can't believe what I learned from this guy/girl, and for such little money! Hire a ghostwriter, if you really want to get this project cracking. Either way, as Nike says: Just Do It.

Step 4. Write articles to build your credibility. If you've been reading my "series of internet marketing articles" in order, you'll already be familiar with the concept of article marketing. This is where you use an Article Distribution website like Ezinearticles.com to help deliver quality articles to end users who will feature your articles.

(Note: I listed this as Step 4, but really your articles should be flowing as early as Step 2.) As part of your brand-building strategy, stream a steady flow of web articles to content-hungry webmasters who fall into your topic category, who will then spread your sage advice all over the internet. If you're burdened with time constraints, hire a ghostwriter to do this work for you. At the end of the articles, include a bio that directs them to your website. From there, they can learn more about you and what you can offer them.

Step 5. Direct your customers to a sales letter that teaches them about your product. Again, you can do this with article marketing. An easy scenario to follow: You write an intriguing article featuring five tips on how to gauge the real estate market. At the end of the article is your bio, which directs the reader to a link where a sales letter page opens. That sales letter will then contain certified testimonials from happy clients and customers of yours. All of this will further enhance your reputation as a qualified expert.

The final outcome: clicks to your website, where visitors use PayPal or another easy money transer in exchange for your informational product. The profit's in your pocket. Beautiful! YOU DID IT! Give yourself a pat on the back. Take a vacation!

Of course, if you're going to be an internet expert, it's a smart idea to create multiple areas of expertise for yourself in more than one niche. Again, articles are the means to the end. Suppose now that you're done with your online real estate venture, you've figured out that Copywriting is another God-given talent of yours that can be leveraged for profit. Time to create a Brand New Internet Personality! How will you do this? Easy. Follow the five steps I mentioned above, only replace each mention of real estate with Copywriting.

Do you see the INFINITE POSSIBILITIES? Good! You've got plenty of work to do. So stop reading, and start writing those articles!
For Publishing Articles Visit -- Recommended Site

About the Author

Find out how crisp, targeted copywriting can make a world of difference for your business. Dina Giolitto is a Copywriting Consultant with ten years of experience. Sponsored By Williams Money Group.

Importance of Branding: What's in a Name?

2008-09-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Branding is perhaps the most important facet of any business--beyond product, distribution, pricing, or location. A company's brand is its definition in the world, the name that identifies it to itself and the marketplace. A model may be beautiful, but without a name, she's just "that girl in that picture." Where would Norma Jean be without Marilyn Monroe, or who would imagine Coca-Cola as just a soft-drink manufacturer? A brand provides a concrete descriptor to customers and competitors alike, a name for a product or service to distinguish it from anything else. Bob may run a hobby shop, but trying to advertise as "The hobby shop a guy named Bob runs down the street a ways" is financial suicide. Each customer will have to describe the shop, who Bob is, and what the shop does every time someone asks about it. This makes the process of recommending a good hobby shop too much work for the average customer, and far too much work for a user looking for hobby shops on the Internet. A customer looking up Bob's hobby shop will have an easier time of it if he or she knows to refer to it as "Bob's House of Hobbies," and the customer can then refer others to Bob's hobby shop by name, increasing the potential advertising exponentially. Developing a brand involves more than just picking a catchy name and placing an ad in the newspaper--a brand is more than a unique string of letters denoting a particular product; a successful brand is a mnemonic trigger that makes a consumer feel a certain way when the brand is thought of. For those who drink cola-flavored soft drinks, which is more appealing on a hot day: a cold cola soda, or an ice-cold Coke? Coca-Cola has spent 100 years developing their particular brand of cola-flavored soda as a refreshing beverage and a seminal representation of a market segment. Coca-Cola has used a combination of direct marketing, give-away techniques, and multi-product cross-branding to achieve maximum brand recognition and visibility in not only its immediately competitive market, but in markets as diverse as Coca-Cola branded race cars and housewares.Brand loyalty is an integral part of building a brand, as consumers usually have a choice of products in the same market segment, and so a successful company will come up with a way to keep consumers re-buying their product or coming back to their location rather than going to a competitor. These brand loyalty-building efforts may come in the form of coupons, incentives such as many grocery chains' technique of "grocery discount cards" or "loss leaders," meant to draw consumers into the store, where they will hopefully buy products along with the discounted fare at a higher profit ratio. In exchange for these discounts and grocery cards, many companies collect information about buying habits and average spending amounts, the better to tailor advertisements and better-focus future promotional efforts. Once a consumer is hooked, brand loyalty tends to result in higher sales volume, as well as loyal customers being less sensitive to price changes of their favorite brands (within reason, of course), as well as less sensitive to competitors' incentives. Studies have shown that it takes 5 times as much money to gain a customer as it does to retain one. That's 5 times as much money as could have been spent on other things.A brand is who your company is, and what it is selling--it is as important as naming a baby, and should require the same amount of effort to develop it, but if done well, can mature into a successful and profitable adult. Sponsored By Williams Money Group© 2008, Wholesale Pages UK. All rights reserved.
About the Author
William King is the director of All Wholesale UK, Wholesale Pages and Wholesale-Canada. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

©2008 Williams Money Group- All Rights Reserved

Branding Fiasco -- Better Be Who You Say You Are! by: Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE / Williams Money Group

2008-09-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Our experience as customers offers great instruction into the concept of branding. Come with me on a recent "experience" and you'll see what I mean. Here's the situation:

I want to order an 800 number. On my AT&T bill is a customer services number. I call it. A voice mail gives four options. None of which I want. Just TRY to get a representative. I am instructed to dial another number. I am given three options. Hit 0 for operator and the disembodied voice says I have called after hours. The hours are 7am - 10-pm Monday- Fri. Eastern Standard Time.

Fine. It is now 4am Monday in California. They should be open. By 4:30am in CA I have called repeatedly and punched in all the prompts until I am ready to punch someone. I am still told by a disembodied voice that the offices are closed. I try another number. This time, I reach a computer voice.

Computer:"I'll try and help you. Tell me in your own words what you want."

Me:"Toll free service."

Computer:"I'm sorry. I did not understand. Let me tell you what services we offer..."

Me:"I want a person"

Computer:"Tell me, in your own words, what you want."

Me:"Toll free service!"

Computer:"I am sorry. I do not understand what you want."

Me:(screaming) "I want a person."

Computer:"I am sorry. I..."

SLAM!!!!

I call 00 in frustration. "Operator!!"

Operator: "How can I help?"

Me:"I have been trying without luck to get someone in customer service. I have been caught in a voice mail hell with an atavistic voice. How do I talk to a person?"

Operator:"I am sorry you are having problems. You can talk to a supervisor."

Supervisor:"Can I help you?"

Me:(heatedly) "I want to ask about a toll free number. I have dialed three numbers and cannot get in. It says the offices open at 7am and now it's almost 8am EST!"

Supervisor:"Oh, sometimes they forget to turn off that message so the phones can ring through. We have to call and tell them."

Me:(incredulously) "You mean the PHONE company has employees who do NOT know their first order of business is to turn on phones to answer customers!"

Supervisor:(calmly) "I am sorry. Let me give you a different number than the one you have been calling. You need to call the office for AT&T 1-800 Easy Reach.

"Easy Reach?!??!?" Who are they trying to kid! I call this "Impossible to Reach".

Branding Lesson #1: Your name sets up an expectation. Live up to it or suffer.
There is a promise established in what we advertise and name things. Southwest Airlines had thought to create a baggage claim delivery time slogan. Then they realized that due to the configuration in a few of their terminals, to quote such a time was almost impossible. They dropped the campaign even though it would have been true in MOST of their sites.

Branding Lesson #2: Your business sets up an expectation. If you don't deliver for yourself - how can you deliver for the customer?
A phone company that doesn't answer the phones is a scary thought. We'd expect it of any other business, but the phone company!! If you own a paint store and your store is in sorry need of paint, what does that say? If the waiters in a restaurant cannot tell you about food on the menu because they never get to eat it, what does that say? Look at your business with critical eyes. Would you do business with you?

Branding Lesson #3: The past never counts. The present creates the brand.
It is the actual in-the-moment experience that creates a brand in a customer's eyes. Brand is a living entity that is re-earned, renewed, or revoked with every interaction. Advertising only creates awareness. I am convinced the very best, most unique, most competitive maker of a "brand" is the well-trained, empowered employee who can disregard systems and procedures in order to continue a human interaction. As more organizations substitute technology for people, the company that answers its own phone and get humans connected in short order will win the day.

(c) 2008, McDargh Communications. All rights reserved.

Reprints are appreciated and must include byline, contact information and copyright.

About the Author

Eileen McDargh is founder of McDargh Communications, a consulting and training company specializing in inner and interpersonal skill development for the purpose of improving the life of a business and the business of life. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

What is Branding and Why Do You Want It? by: Susan Dunn, Internet Marketing Coach

2008-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

Talking about branding is like talking about leadership. There are coaches and courses which purport to “teach” leadership, but as we all sense – that’s why we want so badly to learn it – leadership comes from character and inner qualities. It’s an extension of beliefs and values the person holds and then acts out in their life, an integral part of their personality. You can’t pick up “character” in a seminar. It comes from years of reading, work on yourself, exposure to great literature, great art and great people, and plain out experience.

Leadership isn’t going to a seminar and coming back saying, “Let’s do a mission statement,” it’s being so devoted to mission yourself others can’t wait to get around you, find out what it is, and partake of it.

Leaders lead because other people want to follow them. There’s no other reason. Not the paycheck, not the stick … just that feeling when we get with someone – “Hey, I want to go where they’re going. Count me in!”

Leadership isn’t a surface thing, and neither is branding. It’s what you stand for, your personality. It’s your soul and what you’re about.

Fiddling around with your logo and business card are superficial things. They make an impression on your consumer, yes, but they don’t have power; they only have “veto” power. No one ever booked your services because of your business card, but someone may have vetoed you because of it. There are some terrible business cards out there, and people DO form immediate and initial impressions. I’m thinking of the therapist I know who – believe it or not – has a neon fuschia business card. This is not the person I want doing therapy on me or anyone I know.

On the other hand, I never looked at an attorney’s business card – they’re all the same, even the same font – and said, “This is the man I want to represent me in court.”

The way you get your brand across is projecting your personality – who you ARE – in every aspect of your business. What your webpage looks like, the wording, the inclusion of quotes or not, graphics, the way you handle your customers, how well you deliver products, promises and services. Your products and your style.
We bond with businesses the same way we do with people – through their personalities.

When I think about Dave, God rest his soul in peace, and Wendy’s, I think ‘just a comfortable place to be.’ Actually I knew Dave, our kids played soccer together, and he was just the same way in person as he was on the t.v. screen. Now THAT’S branding.

Branding means starting with your values and beliefs, projecting these into everything you do, and going forward from there.

EXAMPLE

When I went into coaching, I did so because I wanted to help people, but in my own way, according to my beliefs and values. Coaching is not therapy, but one thing that frustrates me about therapy is the tight scheduling. You can be in the middle of “And then the man put a knife against my throat…” and your session is over.

I wanted to remove this element from my coaching practice. I wanted to be known for exceptional service, commitment and connection. I wanted to be a place people could come in their warp-speed lives and know they would receive the time and attention they deserved.

How we handle “time” is an important part of our personalities. Here are some of the ways I play with time to project my brand:

–My website is loaded with information that takes a long time to read.
–My website takes a long time to load. We are not in a hurry here.
–Each of my Internet courses comes with the opportunity for unlimited email with me. Learners are free to respond, react, question and dialogue with me for the duration of the course.
–I answer each email individually.
–I don’t use autoresponders anywhere in my practice.
–I don’t arbitrarily limit the time of the coaching session.
–I don’t require a contract. The time is open-ended
–I don’t ordinarily book clients back-to-back. This isn’t an assembly-line.
–I offer the Don’t Die at 50 Weekly Organizational Calendar© but wait til you see it. It isn’t talking about “polish your shoes.”
–I deliver my ebooks personally, that is by email with a note. Sure this could be an autoresponder thing, but that’s not my style. If someone has the courtesy to buy something from me, they deserve the courtesy of a personal note.

Everything I produce and the way I deliver it is branded.

How about you?

BUSINESSES HAVE PERSONALITIES

Paul Temporal, author of “Advanced Brand Management,” asked people to describe two competing companies’ personalities “as if they were people” and here’s what he got.

People defined Company A as “sophisticated, arrogant, efficient, self-centered, distant and disinterested.” Company B, the competitor, they defined as “easy going, modest, helpful, caring, and approachable, and interested.”

Not surprisingly, 95% of the people said they’d rather do business with Company B, and, not surprisingly, Company B was way ahead in the competition.

START WITH YOUR VALUES & YOUR BELIEFS

When you think about branding your business, sit down and think about what’s important to you and what you want to project. Then make sure everything you do speaks of this. In other words, walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk

If it’s your intent to treat customers with respect, operationalize the term and make sure you’re actually doing it. Respect isn’t a concept; it’s an action.

Modernizing your image (logo, collaterals) “won’t effect a change in brand values,” says Temporal. “The heart of the brand remains the same – what it stands for or its personality.”

Consumer perceptions of quality, service and other intangibles are your brand, and what keeps them coming back for more. Are you approachable? Are you interested? Do you care? Do your actions show it? Your customers won’t be fooled and they have choices.

About the Author

©Susan Dunn offers personal and professional development coaching, Internet marketing and article-writing services (www.webstrategies.cc/articles.htm ). Visit her on the web at www.susandunn.cc and mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.

Sponsored by Williams Money Group

Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design by: Ray Smith / Williams Money Group

2008-09-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say “any business”, I mean it, absolutely any business—even if it’s a mom-n-pop shop. “Corporate image” might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers. Irrespective of the size of the business it is very important to determine how do you come across to your potential customers? How do you compare to your competitors? These factors are largely determined by your branding and marketing strategies. Branding tools like logo designs, business cards etc goes a long way in creating your corporate image. Any marketing communication material should ideally have your corporate logo on it, which would give more credibility for your business as well as help your client to perceive your business as a professional enterprise.

Logo design is an absolutely indispensable part of corporate branding strategy and should always be assigned to professional logo designers. A professional logo designer is not just a graphic designer but he should also have ideas about branding and positioning of business. Depending on your requirements he will create a logo that would successfully exude the nature and attitude of your business. He also needs to understand the media in which you are going to use your logo; it can be web, print, electronic media (TV commercial etc) or a mixture of all of these. The logo should be compatible and equally attractive wherever you might choose to use them. While working on any of our logo design orders we ( http://www.mycorporatelogo.com/customlogodesign.htm )always try to capture as much as information possible, from the client.

Basically there are 4 types of logos, glyph, alpha-glyph, alphanumeric or a combination of any of these. There are a number of factors that should be looked into to determine what would be the ideal solution for you. A professional logo designer or a specialist logo design firm can definitely help you with decision making in this aspect.

Types of Logos
Glyph: This includes symbols, icons, pictures etc that represents your company. These are most widely used for secondary communication rather than business logos, except for few like, Apple. Glyphs though used rarely as logos, if created properly by talented logo designers can be extremely sophisticated and create a deep impact as a corporate identity. However, we need to be careful that glyphs need to be done by well experienced professionals, an amateur attempt can simply male your logo unattractive and useless and might even cause loss of credibility to your business.

Alpha-Glyph: An alpha-glyph logo uses a letter from the name of the company to graphically convey the nature of the business. At times picking the first letter of the company name and designing it in a particular way also do this. Ideal examples of this type of logos can be seen with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), IBM, Honda, Motorola, and Oklahoma State University. This type of logo is also not used very commonly and shares the same advantages and disadvantages as the glyphs.

Alphanumeric: This is a very common type of logos and is also used by some of the most reputed and well-known companies in the world. To name a few, Microsoft, Sony, Fed Ex etc. These logos are nothing but the name of your company written in a unique way with typographical effects. The typographic treatment gives a unique look to the logo and there is generally no issue with getting a Trademark. These logos are comparatively easier for amateurs to create however to get the best effect from an alphanumeric logo it’s always better to work with a professional logo designer. Choice of font, color, letter spacing etc can make big difference in creating an impressive corporate logo.

Combination Logos: This is the most common type of logos and is found everywhere. Most of these are actually glyph or alpha-glyph with an alphanumeric company name. It is the arrangement of the company name and the image and their color combination that plays the most instrumental role in the effectiveness of the logo. Some good examples of combination logos are UPS, Red Hat Linux and Intel.

Placing your corporate logo on all marketing collaterals including business cards, brochures, flyers etc helps you to mark those collaterals as your company property and establish your corporate identity.

Logos and marketing materials are integral part of a company’s brand establishment strategy. A logo done by an amateur can ruin the credibility of your business in no time but when done by a professional logo designer can definitely add value to your business. A professional logo designer can help you to decide which type of logo is best suited for your business and can make people perceive your company as a huge corporate house with much credibility even when it might be just an one man shop.

It’s the image of the company that matters, if you intend to portray a positive and impressive image of your company go for a professional logo design today.

About the Author

Ray Smith is a marketing Expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge on branding and internet marketing.
Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Corporate Branding – Don’t Forget Your CDs! by: Adam Platzer / Williams Money Group

2008-09-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

Companies have been branding their collateral materials such as letterhead, envelopes, business cards, etc. for years. In fact, we often identify a company by its familiar logo or special color scheme. Branding works!! At the same time, many companies send customers and vendors large files, proposals and presentations on CD-Rs. Since CD-Rs have become the “new and more efficient” way of exchanging important information, it would seem that more companies would find it valuable to brand their CD-Rs also.

Most CD-Rs purchased by businesses come from retail office supply stores. These generic CDs usually have the logo of the retail store or disc manufacturer printed on the label. So why promote the store that sells the media? Companies are missing an excellent opportunity to brand themselves in this manner!

Another positive to branding with this type of media is in the perceived value of the media itself. People tend to keep CD-Rs because they are perceived as something of value.

To make sure that you don’t miss this important branding opportunity, here is the solution! Find a CD duplication vendor who will provide your company with branded media. Yes, you too can brand your company by arranging to have your logo screen printed on each piece of blank media you purchase (ours is pictured above). Also, the quality of the media will be much higher than the media you purchased at the retail office supply store.

When artwork for your company logo is created for CD-Rs, enough room should be left on the disc to write specifics about the disc’s contents, such as version number, serial number, a date, a person’s name, etc. A process called Perfect Printing is an option for customizing this information after your company logo has been screen printed on each blank disc. The combination of your screen printed logo and the Perfect Printing of specific content will give your media a more professional look. Furthermore, anyone looking at your discs will see your company name over and over again.

So, what are you waiting for? Start branding your media today!!!

Branding - More Than Just a Statement - A Memory Scar

2008-09-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Conjure up in your mind broad rolling meadows with runs of cattle or stock of some type, all discriminate by virtue of a registered brand. That's a most common and accepted understanding of branding.You have just now used your mind to develop a picture that promises easy recall. You may not yet be aware but there's always a new secret marketing aid being developed and made available ... nearly every day of the week. I'd be one of many that could point out who the target group is for all of these hidden treasures and industrious salespeople. But if you're reading this, then take a bow and a large step forward! You are in fact the "demand" component of the supply that's being generated. Now what happens when you also join the ranks of the industrious? It doesn't take a whole deal of thinking to recognize that you can easily get lost in the traffic, especially if you are starting up a business of your own. Being known as an absolute is a very real way of defeating some of that traffic; not the only way but a very effective one.Your general copy writing and headline creation tactics certainly help the cause but in a saturated market environment you need to embrace every advantage.Exactly what then, can you do, to be noticed? Question well asked and the answer ..... consider branding yourself. The reason branding works is that it gives individuality to the value you provide to those that come to your site. If they don't come to your site then its through your e-mails, e-zines, blogs and advertisements. It makes folk recall your Site and perhaps even prompts them to bookmark. Do it right and they might even opt to scan for forthcoming product that carries your brand name. You'll be far more noticeable if you can create something that settles on someone's mind. Catch the imagination of your readers, use unique or quirky themes and make that difference that magnetizes your audience. By way of example, let me relate a branding experience using a quick story.... tangent if you will.There's a huge red rock located in the middle of Australia that was at one time known as Ayers Rock. More recently it has adopted the term Uluru. The rock and the country around it belong to a group of Aboriginal people called Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. So, the people also have been renamed and are now referred to as "Anangu" because it's easier. These people have a history rich in story and in this case they identify the various faces of the rock using that approach. One saga goes something like this..... A long, long time ago, in the time of the Tjukurpa, which the Aborigines call the dreamtime, the animals gave shape to a rock. There was a young woma python, or Kuniya, that was passing by and was surprised by a group of Liru, which are venomous snakes. Kuniya, not being from that area, was affronted by the Liru who threw spears at the python and killed him. So hard did they throw their spears that the points made holes in the rock. The Pythons ancestor, also a Kuniya, was so angered by this that he killed one of the Liru with a stick. So, on the west face of the rock there are holes that are said to be from the points of the Lirus' spears and on the south face of the rock, Kuniya the woma python can still be seen as a dark wavy line on Uluru. Now the story in itself doesn't mean a whole lot but if you are ever able to visit Uluru, you will happen to find a south and a west side of the rock that now has individuality because it's been branded. To any one else this is simply a rock but to you, you now know there exists Western and Southern rock walls that hold special understandings. These are unique and remembered even if not in the original light. Get yourself branded and stand out from the rocks that exist in your niche marketplace. Start with your ads, an article or two and build from that into your website. Regardless of what appearance might do to enhance any efforts, it's generally how you stick in a customer's mind that produces results.
About the Author
Dave Jones is a business promoter hoping to encourage new starters into improving their financial futures Sponsored By Williams Money Group

©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Internet marketing and keyword search - why with branding?

2008-09-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

by: Angelique van Engelen / Williams Money Group

Online marketers are busy mapping that magical space where the overlap between real life and the internet is at its most poignant. Where else would they be looking than where real people are actually s p e l l i n g out what they are planning to buy - searches on the web?

Every online marketer does it. Buying keywords like crazy. But that is just about how much you hear when you try to focus on this area of internet marketing. It's a wild goose chase and it's unlikely a method will materialize in any recognizable form until the dust has settled. If it ever will.

The keyword business is about the most competitive business transacted over the web, so -as with most of the information on web related business- it's unlikely you will come across any lengthy piece with a comprehensive overview of what's going on where.

It's somewhat ironic that it's live and learn because in theory, the marketing community should be in its walhalla with the arrival of the internet. Hasn't it been the marketing dream for centuries to get to the stage where a potential customer takes an action? At the end of a marketing ploy, in offline terms it's called the hit, the transaction, the sale, closing the deal.

The specifics of keyword buying may be intransparent, but slowly more information is being gathered about the process of online buying. It is striking that this is not exactly a reversal, from the offline process, but slightly. From the beginning onward, the marketer can count on a lot more commitment from his potential customer simply because targeting is so much more specific if the process kicks off with the customer's action.

Keyword marketing is much more powerful compared to the offline marketing techniques, simply because it is the customer's actions that set off the spiral.

To forego the keyword search as a marketer means you miss out one vital element in the communication cycle your client goes through before purchasing a product. Inefficient marketing was mainly the issue leading to the demise of the dotcom sector earlier on and, having learnt their lesson the hard way, marketers are now finding out more about what customers really want before launching campaigns. From the customer's own words. Sounds great in theory. In practice, the landscape is bewildering to say the least.

Having the rights to certain keywords means you are dominating the results that search engines will present to people who type in those words. What is so great about this is that unlike in the real world, online marketers have way more insight into what makes people buy. Because they have access to what actions customers take even before they would be onto them had they been in the offline world.

Mountains of gold on the horizon. But the sector is still showing a lot of vulnerability and online marketing is in dire need of improvement simply because the phenomenon is so new. The big advantage to customers is that people can find what they are looking for faster and more efficiently than on any other medium. But still the gap between what customers are specifically looking on the web for and what they are offered is considerable.

Customers are too often puzzled, searching a product on the web and finding lists of items with brands totally alien to them. If an online campaign is not backed by offline action, its chance of survival will drop dramatically. Many product campaigns are faltering because adverts are simply being thrown in a surfer's face in irrelevant contexts, they are annoying or ill timed.

ONE big area where online marketers are not taking enough heed of the expertise of their offline peers and where they might lose the battle, is branding. Too much direct mail-type marketing means that credible, trustworthy branding is unlikely to occur. Type in a generic search term for a product and find yourself amazed at the outcome. Reading the results, you'd think you'd landed on Mars.

Branding the old fashioned way is a lot more time consuming than any internet marketer will naturally be inclined to think. Branding is an exercise of timing, planning, researching and optimised launches. It takes time before people are used to new products. Psychological studies confirm time and again that we buy what we think is safe, comfy, familiar, nice, soft, handy, easy, whatever the word to indicate a certain comfort zone that creates an entry for marketers. It's a known fact that you first need to see a product about umpteen times before it has become a part of your reference frame. If you don't believe this, move to a foreign country, visit a supermarket and try not to feel totally lost. It's impossible.

Only if we are familiar with a product brand, we think that purchasing it will better us. If we don't have at least a vague positive idea when we purchase a product, no brand building has been done or not enough or it has not connected with us.

Although branding of products offered online is something quite new, it is quite amazing that outright stupid mistakes are made here. Where online marketers are often wrong is where they are measuring search engine advertising the way they would direct marketing. True, much of search engine advertising resembles direct marketing, but realistic measurement of people's attitude towards the products advertised, should include more than only whether or not they buy it. Brand measurement takes place when all the responses are analysed, even why a product is not purchased or not immediately or not at a specific platform.

In forgetting to measure any customer behavior outside the conversion rate, they completely forego the power of branding. They don't realize how much greater click through and conversion rates would be if their brands were recognized and trusted by that same audience.

Here is an example of just how effective a campaign can be when branding's taken seriously. The marketers have got it so right, that their campaigns themselves have become an overnight brand known for controversy. Called Gatoring, after the company that made the software enabling it, this advertising has come under scrutiny of the courts. What people are upset with is that popup ads are thrown on competitors' sites. If are looking for a particular brand of car for instance, a popup of a competing brand would pop up. Despite its dubiousness, gatoring shows just how effective online marketing can be - when marketers do their homework.

About the Author

Angelique van Engelen is a writer at a Netherlands based content writing agency. Email her at AngeliquevanEngelen@contentclix.com

Sponsored by Williams Money Group

Think Beyond Today and Start Branding Your Future by: Raymond Johnston Jr/ Williams Money Group

2008-09-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

One of the subjects that has been thrown around
a lot lately is branding. I guess it is something
that I have done for years without realizing it.
Yet once I really started thinking about it, I
realized that it is something too many people
spend no time or money doing.

The large companies spend millions doing nothing
but getting their name in front of customers.
I have not had a television in years but the
normal routine of people has probably not changed.
A commercial comes and people are off doing the
dishes, off to the bathroom or finish filling
out your list of things to do for tomorrow.

Even though the mind set of people is to other
things while the commercials are on, advertisers
still spend huge money to get their name mentioned
in a 30 second spot. Why? Even though a lot of
people are doing other things, they still hear
Drink Pepsi or Coke is the one.

Sure these people want you to watch the commercial
and by running it over and over, they hope to
accomplish this. But the real branding here is
for you to hear or see their name. The more you
see it, the more likely you are to remember it
when you are making a decision on what to spend
your money on.

When banner ads stopped producing the kind of
response they once were, prices for them started
dropping. If you need to pay bills this week, it
is not the method of advertising that you would
want to choose but for branding it is great.

A few hundred thousand banner impressions can
do wonders for your name recognition. And today,
with a little shopping around, you can get them
very cheap.

I keep a constant watch on Ebay for banner
impressions. Watch a few auctions and get a
feel for what kind of prices they are going
for. Then start watching for some good deals.

There are a lot of places that will put your
banner on their site with unlimited impressions
for a month, two months or even more.

There have been a few companies lately offering
unlimited banners for the life of their site.
Banners may not be the road to getting rich if
you are trying to sell them but they sure can
be a nice way to get a little name recognition
for the advertiser.

A little word of caution here. Check out the
person who is auctioning off the product. Ebay
allows feedback on every transaction and you
can get a pretty good picture of what kind of
person you are dealing with. Make sure you
check before bidding.

Here is a link to the section that has banner
auctions.

http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/category11763/index.html

So many people think they have to get a return
on their advertising investment today. You will
find those who are very successful are always
looking towards tomorrow.

Start thinking about the long term when spending
money on advertising. A little money on branding
yourself each month will go a long ways towards
assuring your business success in the future.
Think beyond today and start branding your future.

About the Author

Raymond Johnston Jr is the publisher of Money For Hire Ezine. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Branding, Sloganizing and Search Engine Marketing by: Ralph Tegtmeier / Williams Money Group

2008-09-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

The descriptions search engines offer when displaying
search results are generally retrieved from two
sources:

a) the displayed page's title tag;

b) the displayed page's description meta tag or, in
default of same, the first characters of the page's
body text; the number of characters displayed is
limited, with some engines picking up a maximum of
150 characters, other offering slightly more;

c) the displayed page's keywords meta tag - while this
meta tag's content will not be excerpted for the
displayed text's description proper, it is one of
several factors determining which search results
are displayed at all and in which order (ranking).
(Note that this is a generalization - some, though
few, search engines refuse to take into account any
meta tags. Obviously, different rules apply in
their case.)

Both a), b) and c) should relate to the specific
page's content, not the web site's or its corporate
owner's overall theme! That is why they are placed
individually in each page's header in the first
place.

There is a popular misconception amongst web
marketeers regarding search engine positioning
mechanics, namely that web page meta tags and titles
are to be employed as instruments of branding.
However, if true at all, this would typically apply
exclusively to a web site's main or index page.
One of the metaphors commonly used in propagating this
erroneous marketing policy is that of the "business
card".

While it is true that a search result functions as a
site's public representation it must also be noted
that this should always relate to the specific page
displayed: anything else may legitimately be deemed
diversionary tactics, meaning that the page could be
penalized for "spamming". (Yes, the respective search
engines' definition of "spam" varies widely and is all
but consistent. Also, in several cases it notably
lacks a consistent logical basis, but that is not the
topic at discussion here.)

This aside, it should be remembered that it will be
both, a page's title and its description which will
induce a searcher to actually click on the link and
visit the site.

Hence, a page's description as displayed in search
results is more akin to a product precis or summary
than a general corporate business card and should be
construed that way.

A unified approach, presenting one and the same
promotional text on each and every page displayed
by the search engines, while seemingly making sense
from the corporate image point of view, actually
constitutes a severe and unnecessary self-restriction,
effectively hampering the overall online marketing
efforts.

A practical example
-------------------

Let's assume that you are running a used car
dealership with an online presence (web site).
Your company's name is "Honest John Autos Inc."
and your main corporate marketing slogan which made
you famous all over your home town is "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"

You offer a fairly extensive variety of used cars
in your products palette, ranging from farmers pickup
trucks to vintage American autos, foreign luxury and
sports cars, etc.

Your web site has some 150 pages, all of which you
will submit to the search engines for indexing.
The pages are well focused and carry specific titles, e.g.:

- "50s Chevvy Beauties"
- "As good as new - Oldsmobile special offers"
- "Luxury finally made affordable - the Porsche
Paradise"
- "Agro Cars - the Pickup Center"
etc.

Now if you insist on putting your "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"
slogan in every page's description tag, all you will
be able to rely on to pull visitors to your site is
your page title. But while it may appear to you that
the slogan is a nice marketing reinforcement of the
page title "Agro Cars - the Pickup Center", fact is
that you might as well qualify the title message with
a specific description which is a lot more to the
point in relation to the title - and to the surfer's
original request.

Hence, you might wish to describe your Agro Cars page
in a more focused manner, e.g.:

-----------------------------------------------------
"California's largest selection of second hand
agricultural pickup trucks - excellent condition, and
no-questions asked 30 days full refund guarantee!"
-----------------------------------------------------
(150 chars.), or similar.

This will usually be a far stronger incitement to
visit your page if the web surfer is actually a
serious buyer-to-be. It will also help pre-qualify
your web site traffic by eliminating visitors not
resident in California or perhaps not interested in
buying a pickup in another state than their own.

And there are even more advantages: the page will be
highly topical from the search engines' point of view,
which will normally improve its ranking considerably.

Since the page description will be indexed along with
the keywords meta tag and the body text, you will
increase your overall search engine coverage and
enhance the possibility of your page being found under
search phrase combinations you may not specifically
have optimized it for. (You can't do them all, and
some phrases and keyword combinations are so unlikely
or even contorted, it's highly probable you won't be
able to think of every possibility in advance.)

Thus, while you may be targeting the keywords or
search phrases "used cars", "second hand cars" and
"pickups", the example above may also give your page
a good ranking for combinations such as "+used
+pickups +guarantee" or "pickups California", etc.
Compare this to the limited scope of your "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"
slogan!

So what about branding and sloganizing, then?
---------------------------------------------

Don't confuse the media you are working with!
And, of course, determine what your web site is
really about: do you actually want to sell products
and services online or, at the very least, draw
buyers to your brick-and-mortar sales rooms? In that
case you should proceed as suggested above, leveraging
the possibilities offered by keeping your page tags
flexible and focused.

But even if branding (without actually targeting
online sales) is all you care about, your web site
will still require some enticement to motivate people
to visit it.

You might offer some regular sports or betting
results, feature some online games, organize a
sweepstake, etc. These, too, will require focused and
well described web pages, else no one will come and
check them out. (Nobody will visit CocaCola's web site
merely for the heck of it or to imbibe their online
promo, unless they offer some entertainment and a prize
of sorts to do so.)

So there are some generic limits to conventional
branding on the web, and you will be well advised to
heed them. Search engines aren't the best medium to
try for it: you may sink a lot of money into the wrong
corner of the marketplace that way.

You may, however, push your branding considerably by
other activities than search engine optimization:
press releases, newsgroup participation, banner ads,
reciprocal links, online reviews, free trial
downloads, client testimonials, etc.

If you're interested in a professional, high quality
marketing package tailor made to your specific
requirements, we suggest you check out our strategic
partners at California based Wolfblast Interactive
Inc., <> - you won't get
better value for your money anywhere!

Remember that search engines are supposed to be user
tools, not mere brain dead corporate billboards! If
you want to make your mark and increase your
(preferably pre-qualified) search engine traffic, make
sure to service the user first: this will in fact turn
out to be the best investment in your search engine
focused online marketing.

Users will appreciate it if your search engine
rankings prove to be relevant, informative and
truthful. Just like you, they don't like wasting
their time on confusing, misleading or nondescript
search results.
And lots of studies have shown that search engine
optimization is actually the most cost-effective
marketing activity of all. It is bound to give you a
much bigger bang per buck for the simple reason that
it's a fairly lasting effect (at least, by internet
standards it is): Many of our clients are still
profiting today from search engine positioning work we
did for them 10+ months ago - no banner ad campaign can
beat that, not in absolute terms and certainly not for
that sort of money.

Search engines:
"Play them right, and they will feed you.
Play them wrong, and they will eat you."

About the Author

Ralph Tegtmeier is the co-founder and principal of
fantomaster Ltd. (UK) and fantomaster GmbH
(Belgium), a company specializing in webmasters
software development, industrial-strength cloaking and
search engine positioning services. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Small Business And Branding – Why And How? by: Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury / Williams Money Group

2008-08-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Small Business And Branding – Why And How?

by: Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury / Williams Money Group

When we speak of branding most of the time people try to relate it to big business house, however, the fact is that every business needs to establish their brand in order to survive the competition. This is nothing new; experts and management gurus had been preaching the same sermon for years now but what they have not told is why you need to brand your small business? How is branding going to help you to establish your business? How can you establish your brand without spending a fortune on it?

You might be having a very small business but would you like your client to perceive your business as a small time entrepreneurial effort? Definitely not, and your business cards, letterheads and other marketing collaterals does just that. They create an impression to your clients that you are an established business house of considerable strength and not just a mom-n-pop shop.

While you have read till this much, you might have started to plan to get a few home printed business cards or visit the website where you saw the preformatted business cards being sold for peanuts. Beware! The quality of your business card is an indication of the status of your business and your clients are intelligent enough to understand the difference between a standard designed perforated business card and a professionally designed business card printed on good quality card stock.

Most of us, including you, would prefer to consider the stability of a company before making a purchase decision. Once you have established your brand with a professionally designed logo, business card and other marketing efforts it becomes much easier for you to build your credibility among the customers.

Getting a professionally designed custom logo is one of the very important elements of branding a business. A logo is not just a symbol or a piece of graphics; it is actually your corporate identity. A properly designed logo can leave long lasting impression on your clients and will never let your business slip out of their minds. It also makes your business easily recognizable. Just think, wherever you see the Golden M of McDonald’s do you really need to think twice, what company is that referring to? A good logo should ideally exude the nature and attitude of the business.

Once you have got a logo for yourself it becomes easier for you to establish your brand. You can use that logo in your business cards, letterheads and other accessories. Don’t you think it is going to make a difference if the pack that you use to deliver your products to your customer has the logo of your company on it? And if you are using a reusable pack, your customer might just use the same pack to pass on some other goods to one of his friends- what happens then? Yes! Your logo gets noticed by one other person, you add one more name to the list of your potential customers. You are on your way to establish your own brand.

Similarly with business cards, as they get passed on from one person to the other, more and more people knows about your business and the potential customer base increases.

Having a business card or professionally designed logo also shows your commitment towards your business.

A short, easy to remember punch line is another useful tool for branding. Getting a tag line printed on your business cards or your business stationery makes it easier for people to understand the nature of your business. Ideally, your tag line should not only say about what you do but also speak about your USP.

Having said all that, the ultimate question that most of the small business people would have is, how much does it cost to get all these things done? I’d say, “not much”. Money is always a problem for most of the small businesses (that’s why they are small, otherwise most of us would like to open a Microsoft and be as rich as Bill Gates) but if you know where to look for, you really don’t need to spend a fortune to get a professionally designed logo or a business card. There are loads of websites that offer them really cheap and some even allow you to decide the price that you want to pay. (Check out this twin sites, http://www.mycorporatelogo.com and http://www.mycorporateidentity.com ).

So, if you think you are tired of being a “small business” and its time to grow up, take the first step; establish your brand!

About the Author: Ray Smith is a marketing expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge on branding and internet marketing.http://www.mycorporatelogo.com

Source: www.isnare.com
Sponsored by Williams Money Group

Google Immere Branding Guide VOL 2 by: Brent Nolan / Williams Money Group BRANDING ACROSS MULTIP

2008-08-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

The consistent delivery of a brand message is vital to the long term success of any brand, but with so many possible delivery mediums how do companies ensure this is maintained? Print, television, internet, multimedia, cinema, radio, dvd, the potential is endless, without taking into consideration the possibilities of emerging technologies such as pda's and mobile technology.

Immere are often asked to make recommendations on various delivery mediums and how companies should apply their branding. Although it is fantastic to see companies considering the endless branding opportunities, they are often neglecting the most important aspect that ensures brand success. This is where we encourage our clients to take a large step back and before they focus on the delivery medium, evaluate what are they actually trying to deliver.

Companies are delivering what Immere refer to as a 'brand Idea'. A brand idea should be a single idea of your company or product, with the aim being to have the company brand idea equal the consumer brand perception. It is vital that companies establish a strong brand idea as it is your lifeline within a competitive marketplace and your point of difference from your competition.

Once a company brand idea is defined, choose a medium, or mediums that allow you to speak directly to your customers. Consider the way in which customers interact with the delivery medium, taking into consideration how this will effect the experience and ultimately, the perception of your brand. For example, consider the difference between branding online or via television, one encourages you to sit forward and interact, the other to recline and relax.

Often through lack of understanding, companies replicate their brand across various mediums with the same visual treatment. Wrongly they assume that if it looks the same, people will receive the same message. Consider this, there are two images of the same car, one is static online and the other is in motion on the cinema screen. They are the same images, but different in delivery, will this communicate the same brand idea?

Consumers have high expectations of how your brand should be delivered, a dynamic television commercial cannot be replicated across to an internet site and convey a consistent brand message, nor should it be expected that a great website will also work as a television commercial. The impact of motion, sound, texture, interactivity and visual style are the foundations of your brand message and act uniquely to each delivery medium. Brand delivery is as much about the texture of the paper you choose, as the colour you print on it. The interpretation of colour has different meaning across various mediums, a flat olive green may look refined and contemporary in print, but online can look flat and lifeless.

In most instances it may be beneficial to have simultaneous delivery of your brand message across multiple mediums, reinforcing the brand idea with larger market exposure. The repetition of your brand idea will re-enforce the company values, ensuring that you are 'front of mind' when it comes to making a purchase decision.

The perception of you brand will also be effected directly by the consistency of your branded message. Undefined, inconsistent brand messages only confuse the consumer, making it difficult to build a lasting impression of your company or products. Below are 3 simple Immere rules to ensure brand success:

1. QUALITY Quality product or services, quality time to develop the brand idea, quality application of the brand message.Invest time in developing a quality brand idea. Make sure you evaluate the message your customers are receiving, the standard of visual application and how your brand will compete in the marketplace. Always insist on quality!

2. APPLICATION Choose a delivery medium that allows you to speak directly to your customers, innovate in the application of your brand message and consider simultaneous delivery across multiple mediums for greater impact.

3. CONSISTENCY Vital to the long term success of any brand, think repetition to re-enforce your company brand idea and ensure that all branding is always consistent to the company brand idea.

For further information on branding across multiplemediums, speak to an Immere director. Sponsored By Williams Money Group
About the Author

Brent Nolan is the Senior Designer at Immere, an Australian advertising, branding and design company. Immere's clients include Ansearch, an Australian search engine and directory.

Immere Branding Guide VOL 1 by: Brent Nolan / Williams Money Group

2008-08-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Good branding is vital to the long-term success and growth of your company, however, branding concepts are often poorly understood. For this reason Immere have put together a few simple ideas for consideration when branding is on your company agenda.

BRANDING ..... WHAT IS IT? Branding is much more than the creation of a logo or a name. A brand reflects the customers perception of your company and the quality of products and services you provide.

A 'brand idea' is the message that companies communicate to the marketplace about their products and services. Companies control the message they deliver, but have little or no control over its perception by the marketplace.

Immere's goal is to ensure that: Company Brand Idea = Consumer Brand Perception

REMAINING FOCUSED One of the biggest challenges that companies face is maintaining a constant brand idea, that is, communicating the brand consistently and effectively across multiple mediums such as television, print, internet etc.

It is important to focus on a single brand idea that can be reinforced by repetition. This allows customers to not only develop a firm understanding of your brand, but more importantly to remember your company or product when it comes time to make a purchase decision.

Confusion is a brand's worst enemy.

A brand idea must remain focused to deliver a single message to ensure the meaning is never lost. Sometimes it is best to keep things simple!

BRAND DELIVERY Ineffective brand delivery leads to miscommunication of your company's core message and values, eroding any goodwill you may have in the minds of existing and potential clients.

Focus on the quality of your branded message as it may be more effective than the quantity. With so many potential delivery mediums, it has become increasingly vital for companies to establish a consistent brand idea. Poor execution in one medium effects the perception of the brand as a whole.

Traditional avenues of delivering the brand idea are becoming ineffective and costly. This is due to consumer awareness of competing products and the over stimulation of advertising in the market, especially on television. It is necessary for companies to be innovative in the way they place their brand in the market place, ensuring a strong point of difference from competition.

BRAND LOYALTY Good branding is an investment that when executed correctly, ensures your company is 'top of mind' when an existing or prospective client is considering a purchase in your chosen market.

This attracts and maintains customer loyalty, and works as your best defence against competitors and those targeting your clients.

REBRANDING & BRAND DEVELOPMENT Establish a 'brand plan' for your company and/or product that outlines future brand directions with the potential to cater for change in the market place. It is important to continually revisit the brand to revitalize and strengthen it, but remember, too much change can be threatening or confusing to the consumer.

It may take years to establish a brand but it can take seconds for the meaning to be lost. To quote Jack Trout (author of Big Brands Big Trouble):

"Remember the Titanic!"

It is imperative that companies evolve their brand position, differentiate themselves from their competitors and invest quality time on being innovative.

LEVERAGING BRAND RELATIONSHIPS Establish working relationships with complementary companies for brand leverage. Associations with other credible brands can assist in reinforcing your brand idea.

An example of this is when Immere assisted New Idea with point of sale branding for a joint promotion with Bosch and Channel Seven's The Auction Squad. Each brand offered something unique and complementary, building on the credibility of each brand's history to ensure the success of the promotion.

It is important when considering working with other brands that a careful eye is kept on maintaining the individual brand ideas. Leveraging other brands is a fantastic way to enter new markets or gain further exposure for your brand, but it is pointless if it confuses or conflicts with individual company brand ideas. Sponsored By Williams Money Group
About the Author

Brent Nolan is the Senior Designer at Immere, an Australian advertising, branding and design company. Immere's clients include Ansearch, an Australian search engine and directory.

Branding = Focus by: Martin Lindstrom / Williams Money Group

2008-08-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

Branding = Focus

by: Martin Lindstrom / Williams Money Group

Over the years I've frequently been asked what the secret formula is for successful branding. What people are really asking me is how to make their brand a global leader, like Coca-Cola.

Well, sorry guys. There's no magic hidden in the process of building a brand. What successful brand-building is all about is following three simple principles. These form the crucial guidelines that help ensure you build a successful brand.

Branding is all about focus. When I say focus, I mean a lot of things. But the most important points are:
·your focus on a specific audience;
·which is reflected in your focus on a specific values;
·which is reflected by your clear focus on a specific tone-of-voice.
I know it sounds banal, but defining your unique target group is fundamental. Let me give you a couple of examples.

McDonald's has always been a family restaurant, and never a burger bar. What's the difference? None. But the family focus is a positioning strategy that's reflected in everything the corporation does. McDonald's knows that by targeting families it hits one of the most attractive, loyal consumer groups available: they get into the parents' wallets via the kids' minds. Knowing the strength of this strategy, it's no wonder that McDonald's has become what it is. And, by the way, the audience focus doesn't mean that McDonald's misses out on attracting teenagers, tweens or grown-up singles to their restaurants. Obviously, McDonald's restaurants are full of such consumer groups. But, by attracting a target audience, McDonald's hasn't scared off other consumer groups away. Just imagine McDonald's targeting teenagers. Do you think any families would show up?

A famous vodka brand decided to take targeting to the extreme by focusing on alternative audiences, like the gay community in the USA. By hitting this community in trendy bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, the product became fashionable and, so, a wider and wider audience was attracted to it. By now the vodka in question is one of the world's best-known brands, yet it's been raised in a very alternative background.

Having considered the importance of your brand's audience focus, let's look at its message. What is it your brand wants to say? What tracks should it leave in the consumer's mind after exposure? What are its values? If I were to ask you what impressions spring to mind when I mention the word "Lego" you'd probably speak of "a creative construction toy", or simply "colorful plastic bricks". If I mention "Rolex" you'd probably respond with something like "high quality Swiss watch". "Mercedes-Benz"? "A high quality German car".

The principle is simple. What would you like the consumer to think, and not think, when they perceive your brand? Don't be too ambitious. You can't make the consumer say everything you want. For example, you probably didn't say, "Just Imagine…" when I asked you to respond to the concept of Lego, even though that's the product's slogan today. Focus on your brand's values, and communicate these consistently.

That's the third important factor in a healthy branding strategy: communications consistency. Being consistent means delivering your brand's message using a tone-of-voice that becomes recognisable as the voice of your brand: that communicates the brand's values to its target audience day after day, year after year, everywhere, anywhere! A good rule of thumb to consider is this: when you start feeling sick and tired of your brand's message and voice, its connection with the consumer's recognition is probably just beginning. Remember, you are exposed to your brand thousands of times more frequently than your customers are. So don't let your own frequency of exposure affect your communications decisions.

Consistency is applicable in every facet of your brand's consumer communication strategy: ensure your brand targets its audience consistently, that it communicates the same message to it, that it personifies and transmits the same values, that it is exposed with the same vocabulary, nomenclature, design elements and graphics every time.

Many companies fail on the consistency prerequisite, even the big ones which you'd think would know how to handle this fundamental branding challenge. Take Swissair for example. I bet you know the name, but do you know that Swissair is also known as Crossair, Flightline, Jumbolino and Swissair Express? Each of these sub-identities are accompanied by a version of the Swissair logo, even though they all fly internationally. I'm sure there's a logical reason behind the airline company's divergent branding strategy. But I wonder if Swissair's customers understand it.

So, why didn't I define design consistency as a factor in its own right: the graphic design, the logo, the look that surrounds the brand? Well, because these elements are not what creates the brand. They support it and can help accelerate recognition and therefore, speed up the branding process. The "look" is a necessary element in the consistent communication strategy, but it's just an element. If your brand possesses the most beautiful logo and is associated with perfect identifying design, yet it has no clear audience focus, no value focus and no tone-of-voice focus with which to deliver its well-honed message, I doubt you'd ever succeed in building your brand. However, by following the guidelines established by these three principles, you're likely to score the brand-building goal, even without a fabulous logo.

Strong branding has nothing to do with a beautiful logo. But it has everything to do with your brand's message.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Martin Lindstrom, Chief Operating Officer, BT LookSmart and author of "Brand Building on the Internet". Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Branding that Sells by: Maricon Williams / Williams Money Group

2008-08-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Selling at a given perspective can be viewed as tedious and meticulous. If you include the overall process, that will make the subject a little complex.

Selling, according to a poem, is everyone’s business. Selling is knowing who’s your competition, market and what is important. It is knowing your service, idea, product and your market needs. It is knowing what are accepted and what are not. Selling is knowing how to treat and be treated. In a nutshell, selling is knowing – knowing the line of work of selling.

Successful brokers and agents are saying that when they have assimilated data successfully, chances are they are going to bag a purchase. Salesmen are saying that if they have already determined the needs, objectives and goals of the potential client, there is no need to sell, they will just come. Businessmen, on the other hand, are saying that if there is already a mutual feeling of trust and confidence it will be easier to sell.

One of the striking strategies in selling is by branding. Coke, Revlon, Adidas and the rest of the widely-popular brands became bearably popular by reason of branding. Branding, so to speak, is image building. It imbibes a certain stigma in connection to the thing it is associated with. Though the widely used kind of branding is done with products, branding can also be done to services like in legal services that a lawyer is offering. Also, it is applicable to persons especially celebrities and politicians. Branding is oftentimes widespread during the building up stage of a star and for politicians, in times of election.

Almost all large companies are using branding in order to solicit familiarity and brand retention. This is the reason why companies at the middle stratum are thinking that it involves large amount of money in order to make branding possible. This is not always the case. Branding can be made by using promotional materials like printed T-shirt, key, tags, mugs, pens, bags, CD holders, badge holders, calendars, clocks, caps, balloons and other promotional specialties. This is what we call image branding along with direct sales approach.

A brilliant selling investment need not be expensive. It just needs a dash of imagination, creativity and a slice of resources. The goal is to make the consumers think about the product to make him forget the rest of the products being marketed. Try this type of strategy and be the living witness of its impressive results!

About the Author

Why Branding Is Vital For Your Home Business Success by: Mal Keenan / Williams Money Group

2008-08-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

On a hot Sunday afternoon when your body fluids have been drained dry by the scorching sun, which would you rather order? Coca Cola, or Jeebejus Sweet Soda? The answer is as clear as it is universal. The more established brand would be chosen almost every time.

This is why branding is very important in building a home business. Cyberspace is fueled by information, and information travels fast. Everything on the Internet is delivered with digital speed. Competitions would sprout from out of nowhere on a daily basis. The only way to contend is by beating them to the punch when it comes to consumer recall, and this can be done through effective branding.

In building a home Internet business, much care and attention must be given to your enterprise’s name. It is the means by which people would refer to it, after all. Once a name has been decided on, the next logical step would be to build on that brand and expose it to as many people as possible.

Building a brand, and consequently, building an online presence, can be as fast or as meticulously slow as you want it to be. As we’ve mentioned earlier, everything on cyberspace is faster, and this includes branding your home business. But you also proceed at your own pace, and in the process, giving your market the impression that you’re emphasizing quality over popularity.

Here are some branding techniques you could use to help you in building a home Internet business:

* Always use your name. A lot of people are hesitant about online transactions. Giving them your real name would be taken as an invitation for their trust. Additionally, your name would give them something to remember you by.

* Article marketing can help in branding you as an expert on the subject you wrote about. And you being a representation of your enterprise, will in turn help in branding and building a home Internet business.

* Consider crafting a logo during the planning stages in building your business. Visual representations are sometimes easier to remember than written words.

* Build relationships. Relationships would help you achieve a level of credibility and reliability. Additionally, those whom you have befriended would be more than willing to give a good word about you, either in private correspondences with their own network, or publicly by giving you a testimonial for your products or services.

* Provide bonuses and excellent after-sales services. These value added attractions would make your clients feel special, and they would remember you well because of it. Consider this detail in building an online business.

* Publish your own eZine. Having a constant medium through which your thought and your business messages can be conveyed would be a fantastic vehicle in building your brand.

These are but some of the more popular ways of branding, as utilized by veteran Internet marketers. It would serve you well if you’d follow their footsteps and give a good start in building an Internet business that would be remembered for a long, long time.

About the Author: Mal Keenan can show you step-by step how to set up and run a successful online home business. Learn the 7 essential strategies to internet marketing success. To receive your free 7 day mini-course visit: http://www.malkeenan.com For a home business you can believe in, check out: http://www.malkeenan.com/pips.html

Source: www.isnare.com
Williams Money Group

Co-Branding For More Traffic by: Barrett Niehus / Williams Money Group

2008-08-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

By Barrett Niehus

The opportunity to promote your web site on the internet grows daily. Unfortunately, so do the number of sites that compete for product placement and web traffic. As a response to this increased competition, many savvy marketers are turning to co-branding to provide them with an edge over their competition. By participating in co-branding programs, these web marketers can provide more tools, resources and "sticky" content than their competitors.

A co-brand program is usually an arrangement where a web page, company, or organization allows a licensee or participant to include the licensee's logo or brand on the product offered by the licensor. The benefit to the licensee is increased brand exposure, and the ability to offer a product that would otherwise be unavailable to their clients. The benefit to the licensor can be increase advertising revenue, or in many cases on the internet, increased web traffic. An example of this type of co-branding would be syndicated stock ticker that could be posted on your site, and branded with your logo. An example of this can be found at the Wall Street Trader Co-brand site http://www.wstraders.com/index.cfm?CobrandApp=1

The opportunities to co-brand on the internet are expanding from content to actual software and products. IP Ware real estate software http://www.freetrainer.com/cobrand.htm offers free co-branding and co-branded web links on the software's start page so that consumers are exposed to co-branding every time they start the software. The Internet Toolpad http://www.itoolpad.com/ will actually insert your logo into a host of freeware for a small charge. There are also a number of organizations that will accept co-branding in exchange for cross promotion and increased traffic.

Regardless of the type of co-branding, the benefit in increased traffic and site "stickiness" is apparent. By using the branding and promotional resources on the internet wisely, the internet marketer can offer more options, better solutions, and more attractive content
than their competition.

About the Author

Barrett Niehus with IP Ware Wealth and Income software , Create wealth with real estate and retire rich today. IP Ware is actively seeking partners who want to improve their financial status and promote their organization. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Branding and Internal Communication by: Robert F. Abbott / Williams Money Group

2008-08-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

In the I-HR newsletter, moderator Beth N. Carvin asked if the idea of branding could be used, effectively, to improve productivity and retention. This is an expanded version of my response to her question:

Yes, I think you can use the idea of branding as a tool for improving employee productivity and retention.

Let's approach it from the perspective of a manager communicating with his or her subordinates. If the manager sets out to build a positive reputation over time and over a series of messages, then we might say he or she is embarking on a branding exercise. It's an attempt to create the trust and goodwill necessary to have messages both accepted and acted upon.

Marketers branding products do essentially the same thing: send out a series of messages designed to build a positive reputation over time.

And, when messages to employees enjoy trust and goodwill, then the manager can use communication to increase productivity and retention.

For example, in publishing employee newsletters for my corporate clients, I've always emphasized the need to provide articles and information of value to readers (the employees). By doing that, employees come to see their company newsletter as a useful resource, and not management propaganda. That, in turn, opens the door to asking employees to do or not do certain things (safety measures, for instance), and getting a positive response from them.

In a sense, referring to this process of building trust and goodwill as branding might be just a semantic exercise. However, I think that when we put a name to a process, we make it easier to comprehend and follow. And, that may be the real value of referring to branding in the context of employee communication.

Let's also look at this issue in a broader sense, too, because it's important to remember the different roles of communication in productivity and retention. Three generic types of communication figure in our thinking: instructional, contextual, and motivational.

Instructional communication provides information that helps others do their jobs more efficiently. Contextual communication provides the bigger picture, which should help recipients do their jobs more effectively. And motivational communication shows recipients the benefits of responding as we've requested.

To build trust and goodwill, the instructional communication should be accurate, timely, and functional. The people who receive our messages should be able to act on them, and know they can act on them with confidence.

The contextual communication should be relevant and helpful. It should put the task or issue in question into a framework that helps others understand how specific tasks or issues fit into the strategic flow.

And, the motivational communication should focus on them, not on you. It should show them the importance of their contributions.

In summary, think of branding as the process of building trust and goodwill, a process that makes it possible to increase productivity and retention through communication.

About The Author

Robert F. Abbott
The process of branding, as it's viewed by marketers, might be used in employee communcation, to increase productivity and retention through communication. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

Side-Step The Big Business Branding Techniques That'll... by: Corey Rudl / Williams Money Group

2008-08-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

From the e-mail I've been receiving lately, it's clear there
is a lot of confusion surrounding the topic of online
branding.

Nike, Coke-Cola, Budweiser, McDonalds, Levi's, Amazon.com...
these are the branding masters. Now the question is, HOW
CAN YOU MODEL THEIR SUCCESS?

These days, online branding is being preached as one of the
big "Do or Die" marketing strategies. So everyone wants to
brand their e-business -- but no one is exactly sure what
branding is, how it's done, or where to start.

What is branding, anyway?

Branding is about building a COMPELLING ASSOCIATION
between...

A) Your company, your logo, your products, etc.

AND

B) An image, an emotion, or a memorable message that
embodies -- implicitly or explicitly -- the BIGGEST
BENEFIT you have to offer your customers.

Effective branding creates the kind of FIERCE PRODUCT
LOYALTY that leaves customers indifferent to the marketing
tactics of the competition.

It's what compels you to walk past all of those no-name-
brand on-sale colas at the local grocery store and pick up
the 6-pack of Coca-Cola that costs three times more. It's
what makes children plead and beg to go back to McDonalds
again and again. And it's what has made the phrase "Just Do
It" synonymous with Nike.

Say "Amazon.com," and people think of "The Earth's Biggest
Bookstore." Go to Burger King because you can "Have It Your
Way." Buy Energizer batteries because they "Just keep
going, and going, and going." And "When you care enough to
send the very best," send a Hallmark card.

But the slogans and taglines are only part of it. Think of
the Hallmark commercials. These tearjerker mini-dramas are
built around love and family values, ending with someone
showing they "care enough" by giving a loved-one a Hallmark
card. THEY EVOKE STRONG EMOTIONS THAT DRIVE THEIR SLOGAN
HOME.

And think about the Nike logo -- the "Swoosh" that
represents the wing of the Greek goddess Nike, the
personification of victory. While it's probably safe to say
that the majority of people are unaware of its mythological
significance, THEIR LOGO HOLDS JUST AS MUCH MEANING AS THEIR
NAME.

It's all very impressive, right? Well... yes. But before
you jump on the bandwagon, let's take a realistic look at
the "big branding picture" to see where your small or home-
based e-business fits into this.

First, let's debunk the THREE MAJOR BRANDING MYTHS I
frequently encounter...

MYTH #1:
I need to make my company or product a household name.

TRUTH:
You'll be most successful and most profitable if you
CLOSELY TARGET YOUR MARKET! Focus on getting your business
name and your advertising in front of your best potential
customers -- the people who have an expressed interest in
what you're offering -- as opposed to everyone!

MYTH #2:
Branding my business online means buying thousands of
dollars worth of high-visibility banner impressions.

TRUTH:
Banner advertising just isn't as profitable as it once was.
Ads that once pulled 5% to 10% click-throughs are now lucky
to pull 0.6% to 0.8%, if even that.

You'll be far more successful if you focus your limited
advertising dollars on more performance-based advertising.
Pay for customers... not overpriced, unproven advertising.

MYTH #3:
I'll need to spend a lot of money if I want to gain
brand recognition.

TRUTH:
There are plenty of free and low-cost techniques that
you can use to brand your e-business.

If you're a small or home-based business then, chances are,
you don't have the millions of advertising dollars it takes
to build a nationally recognized brand and make your company
a household name -- at least not yet!

So let's SKIP THE HIGH-PRICED LARGE CORPORATE BRANDING
TECHNIQUES that I'm seeing pushed everywhere I look...

-- after all, these strategies simply don't translate
to e-businesses with limited advertising budgets --

... and instead, let me give you some practical information.

COST-EFFECTIVE BRANDING TECHNIQUES
THAT YOU CAN START USING TODAY:

1) DEVELOP A STRONG UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION

Imagine yourself sitting across the table from your best
potential customer. In one sentence -- one very short
sentence -- clearly communicate how he or she will benefit
from doing business with you.

Your message should be clear, the language simple, and it
should be easy to remember. There's no room for wordy
corporate mumbo jumbo here.

I know this is a pretty tall order... but your hours of
agonizing, writing, brainstorming, and rewriting will pay
off in the end. This will be the message that your market
will identify you by and associate you with.

2) TARGET YOUR MARKET

The beauty of running an online business is that you can
reach literally hundreds of thousands of targeted potential
customers all over the world -- people who want to buy what
you're selling -- for little or no cost.

It's what has made it possible for small and home-based
business owners like you to take the Internet by storm and
MAKE OUTRAGEOUS PROFITS WITH VERY LIMITED ADVERTISING
BUDGETS.

Why would you turn a blind eye to this CRITICAL ADVANTAGE by
spreading your limited advertising dollars across the entire
web -- trying to sell your product to everyone -- instead of
focusing on those people who want to buy from you?

It just doesn't make sense.

So I know I've already mentioned this, but it's worth saying
again. It's ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you target your
market.

3) WHENEVER POSSIBLE, MAKE YOUR MESSAGE INTERACTIVE

If you can compel people to actively engage your marketing
message rather than passively hear or view it, you'll
dramatically increase the probability that they're going to
absorb it, remember it, and repeat it.

One of the best ways to make your marketing message
interactive is through VIRAL MARKETING. To read a previous
Marketing Tips article that explains exactly what you can do
to make your marketing message viral, visit...
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue33/page1.html

4 ) BE CONSISTENT IN VOICE, FORMAT, AND DELIVERY

In order to engrave your brand in the minds of your target
market, you need to consistently repeat your message to
them...

* DESIGN A SIGNATURE FILE that contains your message and
attach it to the end of every e-mail you send. It costs
you nothing and it's an easy, effective way to repeat
your message to those people you have direct contact
with -- your best potential and repeat customers!

* Your web site design, logos, and graphics should, if
possible, VISUALLY EMPHASIZE AND REINFORCE your message.
Check out the McDonald's web site at http://www.mcdonalds.com
Does that yellow and red look familiar? Think about how
you can similarly use your web site design to further
impress your brand in the memory of your visitors.

* Your NEWSLETTER CONTENT AND YOUR WEB SITE CONTENT should
all ultimately contribute to your marketing message.
There is no room for distractions like articles or links
that don't move you towards your main goal (to sell your
product, remember?).

5) NURTURE EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS AND
SUBSCRIBERS

If they already know you, if they're already familiar with
who you are and what you do, if they've already bought
something from you, then you should be building on these
existing relationships.

MAINTAIN REGULAR CONTACT VIA E-MAIL (it's free!), and
consistently remind them who you are, what you do, and most
importantly, how they stand to benefit from continuing to do
business with you.

If you play your cards right, not only will you PROFIT FROM
THEIR REPEAT BUSINESS, you may also persuade them to "spread
the good word" to others with similar interests.

6) BE VISIBLE TO YOUR BEST POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

A big part of branding is obviously about getting your name
in front of your best potential customers, so that when the
time comes for them to buy, THEY'LL CHOOSE YOU OVER THE
COMPETITION!

Here are a few powerful ways that you can do this...

* WRITE ARTICLES that contain information that will be of
interest to your target market and then offer them to
industry newsletters and web sites free of charge. Web
masters and editors will appreciate the free, quality
content, and you'll get your name and URL in front of
your target market.

* PARTICIPATE IN NEWSGROUPS AND DISCUSSION FORUMS where
your target market hangs out. This is an easy, no-cost
way to develop your reputation as an industry expert.
Simply make yourself available to answer questions and
provide participants with information that they will value.

* SUBMIT YOUR WEB SITE TO THE SEARCH ENGINES AND
DIRECTORIES. Also be sure to search for directories that
are geared towards your industry and request a listing.

* REQUEST LINKS FROM SITES WHERE YOUR TARGET MARKET MEETS.
This is not only a great way to increase your visibility,
it's also an extremely powerful way to attract large
volumes of highly targeted traffic -- yet it's frequently
dismissed or overlooked!

* USE BANNER ADVERTISING - IN MODERATION! With well-
designed banners and a targeted ad campaign, you CAN
make money with banner advertising. Just be sure to
educate yourself on the latest, most cutting-edge banner
techniques before getting started.

To read an article on designing effective banners that
really work, visit...
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue35/page1.html

* START YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM. With your own
Affiliate Program, you can enlist an army of affiliates
who will spread your name and your marketing message
across the web -- and you don't pay them a cent until
they make a sale.

To read an article on how you can start and profit from
your very own Affiliate Program, visit...
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue19/index.html

DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL:

With branding being hyped as one of *the* marketing
strategies to pursue right now, I worry that some of you
may be steered off-track.

While it's a good idea to be aware of and actively direct
how your e-business is being branded, remember that there is
a key difference between creating awareness and actually
closing sales.

Given the innumerable marketing strategies that you can use
to simultaneously create brand awareness AND draw targeted
traffic to your web site, there is no reason for you to be
spending your limited advertising dollars on branding
techniques that don't return a significant profit.

Avoid being sucked in by the myth that the entire web needs
to know who you are. Focus on your target market and
realize that most forms of traffic generation ultimately
enhance awareness of your brand.

You are spelling out your brand message, directly and
indirectly, with everything that you do, say, and sell.

About the Author

Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly
successful online businesses that attract more than
6,000,000 visitors and generate over $5.2 million each year.
Sponsored By Williams Money Group
http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html

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

2008-07-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

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

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

2008-07-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2008-07-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Small Business Marketing And Advertising: Branding vs. Direct Marketing

2008-07-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

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"]

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

2008-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

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

2008-07-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

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

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.

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

2008-07-14T15:02:00.001-07:00

Technorati Profile

The Art of Successful Branding

2008-07-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

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 for rates and samples.

Williams Money Group

Personal Branding Techniques for Real Estate Agents and Brokers

2008-07-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

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

Industry Pro Interview: Branding – Turning Your Customers In

2008-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

The SpiderWeb Master

2008-05-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

My name is John Williams and I am a SpiderWeb Master.
What is a SpiderWeb Master? It is one who has mastered a profit and lead generating system that does not fail when applied step by step. Best part is that the system is free to use. You can make money without spending a dime! You can make mega money by spending a little. It's up to you.

My experience in marketing goes back for more than thirty years in areas like Radio, T.V., Internet, Insurance and Banking. This system however is a break through. Yes you've heard that before and yet unlike all of the rest, You may have my system for no cost to you. No cost now and no cost ever. Get it and see. No strings. If you think you see any strings, call me at 407-610-0062 and I'll prove to you that the system is free.

In all of my years in marketing and advertising, I've never used a system that is as effective as this. Check it out. You will jump for joy that you did!

As for me peronally, I'm a "Regular Joe" so to speak who loves to do most of the things that decent smart working people love to do. The reason that I say "Smart Working" is that if you work hard, you may as well do it smartly and you'll make alot more money that way.
My interests are varied and my philosophy is work hard and play hard, smell the roses and the coffee too 'cause we only go around once! Get my system and... work smart.

By John Williams/Williams Money Group