Branding Articles & News
Wartime Hiring: 5 Steps to Attract Top Talent
A recent report, titled "The War for Talent" stated that over the next 20 years, employee talent will be what differentiates successful companies from those going bust. The late 90’s gave us a glimpse of the talent war, but was nothing compared to what’s ahead. Here are five ways to bulletproof your company before the battle begins.
Importance of Business Branding
Branding is very important to a business, whether it is an online or offline business. Your brand will be the first impression the public has of your business and could very well be the most important one. The goal in business branding is to give consumers a visual image of your company. Business branding is very important to a business because it allows the public to identify your company name on sight.
Image is EVERYTHING
The absolute foundation of your small business is your image. The way potential clients and/or customers perceive your business sets the stage for the way your product or service is recognized and ultimately judged. Image is everything and it will affect your business either positively or negatively.
Extreme Makeover — Small Business Edition
Have you ever watched one of those home makeover shows? You know the scenario. The homeowners have decorated or remodeled their house all by themselves. After awhile, they realize that what they did is unprofessional, it doesn't work, it's not what they want, it's not what they need, it's ugly, or they just flat out despise it. So, they hire an expert designer to help.
Hiring the Right Graphic Designer for Your Small Business
Every small business needs it, but not many have it. I am not talking about cash flow, clients or even your product or services to sell. Yes, all of these things are absolutely necessary. But, what I am talking about is something most small business owners overlook. It is the need to hire an expert graphic designer.
Creative Branding Increases Sales Through Company Recognition
The one thing that everyone has in common is that we are all consumers; we all buy. Every day, from daily small purchases, like your morning coffee and newspaper, to big monthly or yearly purchases, like a television or a car. But what influences your decision on what and where to buy. Surely, you have tastes and preferences but with all the competition for your purchasing power it is often small differences in the product that ultimately influence your decision.
How Brand as an Intellectual Property has Led to Corporate Globalisation?
Introduction Globalisation is referred to as a set of profound material changes that have an impact on relations between societies in the past few decades. The identifiable features of these material changes are witnessed in the development and growth of web, satellite transmission, fibre-optic technology, broadband operations, transnational corporations and the emergence of World Trade Organisation. Globalisation is transformation of how ideas travel and the nature of their ...
Picking The Design Company Which Is Right For You
So you’ve decided to go for it—you’re ready to choose a design company to create your logo and other marketing materials. It seems easy enough. After all, when you make a purchase online of, say, a book, you simply go to an online bookstore. You already know what you’re buying. But now it’s not so clear. You do a search for “design companies” and hundreds of names pop up, all claiming that they are the ones who should do your logo.
Branded Email: Email Branding is the Next Generation of Email
All You Need is Branded Email Or Always Branded Email There to Remind Me For the past 75 years, almost every form of popular communication has transformed from black and white to color. Newspapers, television, and computers are only a few examples. (Well, some computers went from green and white to color…) That leaves this question: Why hasn’t everyday email communication done the same? Think about it this way – your company probably spends quite a bit of money ...
What the Heck is Branding and Why Should I Care?
There's been a lot of buzz lately about branding. But what exactly is it, and who needs to do it? Simply put, a brand is what makes your business uniquely YOU! It's the way you present your business and how the world perceives it. And, importantly, it's the way your clients remember you when it comes time to make another purchase. Branding encompasses your key marketing messages and tagline, logo, marketing materials, image, and your clients' complete experience with you from ...
Branding: Bring Back the Jingle!
Did you grow up in the '70s and '80s? If so, you probably have a slew of campy jingles from various TV commercials filed away in your brain. Today, advertisers still use jingles to help identify their brand, but not nearly as much as they did "back in the day." Why is this?
The Top 10 Strategies for the Positioning of Success
Many businesses of today are often driven to compete striclty on price, quality, and features of their products and services. Companies who prosper over the long term don't simply offer the best deals, the best quality, or the most impressive bells and whistles. If you want to win big in today’s cutting edge world of business, you have to begin by thinking differently and by challenging the status quo. Whether you are a new or an established business owner, these ten powerful ...
Product Positioning for Enterprise Software and Information Technology Companies
Good marketing positioning is like good lying. No, we’re not suggesting that you lie when creating your company and product positioning. Anything but, in fact. But, it’s remarkable how much the properties of good positioning resemble the properties of a good lie.
Why Should I do Business With You?
It's the question that is on the minds of all our customers regardless of what products or services we are offering. Potential customers want to know what makes you so different and why should they do business with you as opposed to one of your competitor's.
Branding: What Not to Do
Here's a little story about what not to do as you carve out a name for yourself in the world of internet business.
A Lesson in Branding from Paris Hilton
I have never been a fan of Paris Hilton. I see her parading around in her odd-looking clothing choices, leading her loyal following of giddy anorexic schoolgirls around by their noses, and I think, "Skank." I saw Paris condescend to the working class farmers of America, and I didn't like it at all. So I decided not to watch her show. But I will say one thing about Paris. She's got branding down to a science. First she gets folks talking with that sex tape ...
Brand Boring or Brand Buzz?
I heard an advertisement on the radio the other day that surprised me, not because they were saying anything noteworthy, but because it was so banal. It was a national company’s ad. They pay an ad agency to write and produce their commercials. There are so many words at their disposal, so many descriptions, so many emotional statements to attract customers, why would they use the trite phrase, “ knowledgeable, friendly staff to serve you”? Even if they couldn’t think of anything exciting, ...
Quality and Service Yeah, Right!
One of the critical drivers of business success is having a unique competitive advantage. Most managers understand that to attract a larger share of the market, or find enough customers prepared to pay a premium price, they must provide something of greater value than their competition. For most managers, competitive advantage boils down to providing superior quality and service. Think about it. Is this what you are aiming for?
The Aim of the Name
Large corporations spend lavish amounts seeking names for their products that grab a consumer, or convey positive feelings. Book authors do the same. As do magazine writers.
Why You? Professional Identity Branding
You can have first-rate products and services, but if you can't establish the need, communicate the benefits and differentiate yourself from the competition in ways that make people want to do business with you, you’ll forever be selling up hill.
Trademark Issues in the Mobil Auto Business
There have always been trademark issues and lawsuits in the mobile auto service business. I know this because I own several such businesses. We first noticed a competitor in the Mobile Auto Detailing Business, which had a name "Mobile Auto Services" another "Mobile Oil Change" and still another "Mobile Car Care". Mobil Oil Company was marketing at the time their Gas Station Service Centers as "Mobil Auto-Services" "Mobil Car Care" and "Mobil Auto Care."
A good logo vs. a FABULOUS logo
If you had a choice, which one would you choose, a good logo or a fabulous logo? Think about it for a second here, although I know the answer is crystal clear. Because many of us settle for a good logo created by a credible logo designer just because he or she is a credible logo designer who charges low prices. For example, I had a client who paid $500 for a normal-looking logo which looked like something anyone else can come up with. A couple of color changes to the logo, alteration of the ...
The New Branding Awareness A Value Based Concept
The new branding awareness is about when you take ownership of a commodity, a special talent, concept or product. What is it that you stand for? What you stand for is an experience that your customers feel from you.
Light Up Necklaces Help Promote Red Doors Movie at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival Awards
June 13, 2005 -- Jane Chen (Producer) of the Red Doors Movie stated, “The necklaces have been a huge hit. Several people have offered to buy them. They are great at parties and at screenings - the red glow looks really cool in a dark room. Everybody asks about them when they see them so it's a great entre into talking about the film”.
Corporate Internet Branding — Branding Your Business Online
Let me tell you a story about Pete and a pizza. After a long day of fighting uncooperative pipes and fixtures, Pete P. Lumber, of Pete's DuperRooter, was looking forward to a nice, hot, decidedly Atkins-disapproved pizza — the stuff of which dreams are made. The week before, Pete was doing a bathroom remodel at Bob's historical Chicago bungalow. The house had only one bathroom, so Pete had to complete the project as fast as possible. Due to a series of unfortunate events, some of ...
A Successful Failure
A successfully positioned business sometimes doesn't win a new client. And that, my friend, is the point. Let me illustrate with an anecdote.
Trade Journals in Franchising
As many people know Industry Trade Journals in America have gone through a tough time in recent years due to slowing of advertising dollars. In franchising there is no difference. They use to give away subscriptions to Successful Franchising on franchise web sites; unfortunately that magazine was unable to weather the storm. They stop publishing in October of 2001. Now we see a re-emergence of Franchise Times, who has hired a new salesman, who is going to all the franchisors and telling them ...
Blonds Have More Fun!
In the book, The Blond Knight of Germany, American authors Toliver and Constable detail the life of the greatest fighter pilot to ever fly, Germany's Erich Hartmann. During WWII, Hartmann recorded 352 confirmed in-flight victories. To put it into perspective, very few American fighter pilots reached 100 in-flight victories. Simply put, Erich Hartmann reached levels of greatness most fighter pilots can only dream about.
Brand Building For Profit: The Colour Behind the Brand and Why I Wear Red Ties!
Colour is essential to building a strong brand. Many of you know my passion for wearing red ties. I believe congruency with your personal and corporate brand is essential for professionals in the services-based industries, especially consultants, coaches, speakers and trainers. A Special Report by Mairi Macleod in the New Scientist Magazine on 18 May 2005 argues red is the colour if winning is your game. She reports the Washington Redskins, Manchester United and the ...
Co Branding in Automotive Service Businesses
In a world of co-branding, point of destination strategies and co-op marketing; all industries are evolving and diversifying to capture greater profits within a single brick and mortar location. The same strategies are used on the Internet only you can see it happen faster in real time on Internet web sites. In general much of the new thinking has been customer driven due to lifestyle changes, low unemployment, time factors and quality of life issues of the consumer.