Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva, is the owner of The Creative Concept, http://www.TheCreativeConcept.com, a freelance firm specializing in the unique writing, publicity, and marketing needs of small businesses. She is also the publisher of Create the Dream! Magazine, a bi-monthly digital magazine for small businesses. To request a free sample issue and two other promotional gifts, visit the website, located at http://www.CreateTheDream.com
If it Walks Like a Duck...
Having a business that portrays a professional image has always been important, but the ability to trade in a global marketplace makes this all the more important. Gone are the days when you could depend on the fact that your customers will be stopping into your shop to discover how charming and professional you are. In those crucial moments before a buying decision, those who don't know you will often judge on appearances - if it walks like a duck, they'll quickly conclude it's a duck. And, in most cases, this occurs before you've ever had the opportunity to make your big splash. From the crisp lines of your logo to the personality you convey with your packaging, don't skimp on your overall brand appearance. Despite what your momma may have told you, what's on the outside really does count - at least when it comes to portraying your brand. The overall look of your brand can be likened to coordinating a terri fic outfit to wear on the all-important first date. You may have a great dinner jacket, or the perfect little black dress - but if you show up looking like you just rolled out of bed, chances are you'll be spending next weekend sitting at home...alone. Like a chain, your brand is only as strong as its weakest link. That said, select each component accordingly. Fonts: Simple & Classic
When it comes to fonts, less truly is more. Particularly for those with a creative flair, it is easy to fall prey to updating our marketing materials or website with the "font-du-jour." Save it for your scrapbook - nothing will dilute your brand, not to mention confuse your customers quicker than frequent appearance changes. Our goal is to become unforgettable, and that won't happen if your customers can't figure out who you really are. Another point - point size for fonts, particularly on your website, is very important. You may need to make certain design concessio ns to accommodate your market; for instance, if your market targets seniors, increase your font size to accommodate those with failing vision. Conveying Your Brand With Color
Many studies have been conducted on how color affects our buying preferences. From the commanding presence of a deep, ruby red to the regal elegance of purple, to the purity reflected by a simple white background - color plays an important role in our overall brand image. Be sure to select colors that create a visually-appealing palette, and are reflective of your market. For instance, a business targeting toys for toddlers is likely to feature bright, primary colors, in order to appeal to children. The same color scheme is not likely to garner favorable results if it were used to promote an investment product. After all, who wants Bozo the clown managing their portfolio? Thanks, but I'll pass. Knowing your market will go a long way toward helping you select a color palette that i s both attractive and appropriate. Just Picture It
If your small business budget can't bankroll a professional photographer to provide you with site imagery, royalty-free photos offer an affordable alternative. Sites such as istockphoto.com, dreamstime.com, and clipart.com offer inexpensive images in a wide range of subject areas - and, in some cases, allow you to request specific types of photos from their featured site photographers. These images lend a professional appearance to your site, without the associated price tag. You can sum up the takeaway in five little words...it pays to look good. Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is the owner of The Creative Concept, http://www.TheCreativeConcept.com, a freelance firm specializing in the unique writing, publicity, and m arketing needs of small businesses. She is also the publisher of Create the Dream! Magazine, a bi-monthly digital magazine for small businesses. To request a free sample issue and two other promotional gifts, visit the website, located at http://www.CreateTheDream.com
If you run a business, you often will find the need to gift something either to your existing clients or prospective clients. Choosing the right corporate gift can be a difficult choice to make, as you want to give them something that is distinctive, but at the same time reasonably priced. Sometimes, the products you may want to gift your clients may be too pricey and quite outside your budget. So, what do you give them? Well, have you heard of something called, a promotional personalised mug? A personalised mug with your brand logo would be the ideal gift for your business clients. It would add a personal touch and you can promote your business at the same time. Promotional mugs are the perfect way in which you can advertise your business. These are used by the whole family, as well as in office environments. Whether you like it or not when you are drinking tea or coffee, it is hard to ignore the special printed logo on your mug. People tend to carry their mugs around and leave them standing on places. This means that you have a lot more brand exposure. Since you are going to be spending so much money on these personalised gifts, it is important that you choose the right one to gift to your business clients. There are various different types of mugs that you can choose from. There are many online stores that you can choose these various types of mugs from. These stores offer excellent discounts on bulk orders. Such stores also offer plenty of packaging offers that you could avail of. Impressive packing always leaves clients or anyone for that matter quite eager to open their packages. They will always remember businesses or people who have gone out of their way to take the trouble and effort to send them these personalised and thoughtful gifts. Every business in order to succeed, needs to create and maintain strong relations with their stakeholders. By reinforcing to stakeholders that you are committed and de dicated to them, customers and clients will appreciate it and remain loyal to your business, as they know and understand your business and the way in which it works. Businesses need to have marketing tools in order to reach out to their customers. There are various tools that you as a businessman can use in order to promote your business. Personalised mugs, amongst other things are a very effective way to promote your organization. Neil Trehearn leads the marketing department of Buyking Ltd (http://www.buyking.co.uk) one of the UKs premier suppliers of promotional personalised mugs. Buyking specialise in providing a wide range of promotional products and corporate gifts, such as promotional wristbands, key rings, caps, pens, mouse mats, clothing and much more. Feel free to visit us for more promotional goods.
When a small entrepreneur understands what a brand really is, and learn to focus on their business development from that angle, then they will "grow up" to be the big businesses of the future. Big business that grows from the small entrepreneur standpoint are connected with the impact they have on their customers and the world - but are finally operating from a place of power. All of this comes from having effective branding for your business! Entrepreneurs have the power to "create something from nothing". Because of that, an entrepreneur absolutely has the power to change the world. Branding itself is a phrase that's generally misunderstood in the business world. Many people believe that branding is simply having a good logo; or seeing your business on letterhead, pens or baseball caps. These may make up part of your company's brand, but they are not the brand itself. If you were to close your eyes and think about the vision you have for your business. Think about what you are doing for your customers, and what you hope to do for your customers in the future. If you had everything at your fingertips, what is the biggest vision of your business you can muster up? Hold your hands out as if you're holding a watermelon between them, and image that your entire vision of your business is being held within your hands. If you could walk up to a customer and "hand" them this entire vision you've just placed in your hands - this is how you would most accurately and completely define branding. As Kim Castle of BrandU defines, "Branding is the precise and pinpointed communication of your company, your product or service, the value it stands for and the feeling your customer consistently gets from it." Establishing an effective brand is how you get your customers to feel good - and what keeps them coming back to your business time and time again. Janet Beckers is the host and founder of Wonderful Web Women. An award winning on-line community recognised for generous and honest marketing advice for women on the internet.To learn from the most successful women on the internet through live webinars, masterminds and forums absolutely free, visit http://www.WonderfulWebWomen.com and join today.
Did you know that there are many little things that you can do to your website, blog, sales letter or product that can drastically affect the size of your Paypal account? You see, there are a zillion and one products available on the Internet - and so is the Internet population! Making money online is all about the numbers. Because an Internet marketer can have hundreds to thousands of visitors visiting his website everyday, even the smallest changes can increase their profits dramatically. Branding: You can't afford to be too modest when you are trying to market your products on the Internet. Your product and your website on the Internet are like a small drop in a very large ocean. People's attention span is divided amongst millions of websites on the Internet screaming for their attention. If you want to skyrocket your online profits, you MUST be a branded product! You see, the online world is slightly different compared to the rea l world. Some people might be afraid to blow their horn in public (or to tell others how much money they are making online). But online, you can write (almost) whatever you want on your sales copy or your profile page. The most important thing you must do is you must stand out from the rest of the crowd! If you've achieved success in sales, make sure you 'flaunt' your Paypal screen shots before others. Do whatever it takes to let others know what's so good about you. Let them know that you are different. If you do things that are extraordinary, chances are, people will take notice and spread the word. One of the things you must remember about branding is that you must let others out there know what you specialize in. Take for example - Internet marketing blogs. If you search throughout the blogosphere, you will see a hundreds of blogs out there titled Internet marketing with __________ or __________'s blog on making money online. There are too many blogs with the theme make money online or Internet marketing so the best way to stand out from the rest is to focus on a particular niche. If you are in to SEO and you are good at long-tail niches, you should let others know about it rather than just focus on a generic SEO branding. It is easier to go for a sub-niche rather than a generic niche. Use your imagination and brand yourself creativel Graphical Enhancements: there are many people out there who actually ignore the appearance of their products. They would spend tons of money on their ghostwriters, their website, their autoresponder and even their work force, but the moment they neglect the appearance of their E-cover, they lose many precious sales because their E-cover for their E-book isn't attractive enough. The truth would scare you - many DO judge a book by its cover. Mini-site banners are equally important as well. Imagine, the first thing people see other than the opening headline of the sales copy or land ing page is the banner itself. Don't use just ANY banner There are tons of PLR books out there that come with the PSD file for the sales letter.You can also combine pictures together to make the appearance of the full package even more enticing. Sales Copy Tweaks: In a sales copy, the most important aspect of the sales process is in getting the prospect's attention. Therefore, the headline is the most crucial aspect of the entire sales copy. After all, if the headline doesn't entice readers to read the rest of the sales letter, it is pointless to write the sales letter in the first place! Often when people are looking through a sales copy, a lot of them do not read the sales letter line by line. Often when people are looking through a sales copy, a lot of them do not read the sales letter line by line . Quick And Easy Ways To Boost Your Business Profits They often scan through the sales copy and they arrive at the end of the sales copy just to see how much it costs. One of the best ways to reach out to those 'scanners' is to use graphics to tell a picture. For example: If you are selling a membership site that provides the best content for resellers to market themselves, you can tell them: "Would you rather catch small fishes with what you are doing now or buy this membership and your business will bring in nothing but big fishes?" I think the illustrations in these pictures will bring home the point! Maximizing Niche Market Profits: Here are some 4 ways to tweak your site and you will be able to make more money from AdSense. 1. Use only one format when you are choosing your AdSense layout. The more consistent your design, the easier it is for people to click on your ads. Your goal is to try to 'mask' the ads to look more like links within the webpage. Sometimes, they may not feel that they are clicking on AdSense but at least it brings in more money. 2. Choose a color that blends with the background of your niche site. Once again, this also improves the clicks on the ads and hence, your income will increase as well. 3. Try and locate your AdSense ads where it is easier for people to see. Don't put them at places where people won't scroll too because that will prevent them from clicking them (or even seeing them for that matter). 4. Go for relevant keywords in your ads. According to some experts, Google doesn't really care about your content - rather, it scans the title, description and the URL.One of the best ways to promote a product on a niche site is to use a 'review' format. Take for example - a movie. When someone goes online to read about the review, they will tend to believe the reviewer and keep their opinion in mind when they go to a cinema. Notice however that the person reading the review will probably believe what the reviewer is saying. They don't sit around wondering if the movie critic is getting affiliate commissions from telling people to watch the movie. Most of the time, Internet marketers or even niche marketers become too 'sales pitchy' when it comes to affiliate product recommendations. They don't realize that a simple and 'unbiased' review will easily sway a buyer's mind. If you were to talk about a product as though you were reviewing from a 'neutral' point of view, you will be able to get more relevant traffic to your affiliate programs. You should create titles for your post like - ABC product review, or a review on product XYZ. After all, people would rather trust a neutral party rather than a salesman. Never Stop Testing: In a nutshell, you must never forget that Internet marketing and niche marketing is all about numbers. You must never forget to get as much traffic as possible because no amount of tweaking will increase your sales by a lot if you don't have any traffic to begin with. We won't talk about getting tra ffic in this book, but it is important to know that traffic is one of the most important aspects in getting sales. Once you have enough traffic, then tweaking and testing will improve your profits tremendously. Keep on testing your ads and your sales copy to ensure that you get maximum results because a small change really can affect a lot in your business. Warm Regards and to your success. Douglas Smith
Promotional wristbands are a great way to advertise your business, service, or organization and are an excellent way to keep your name in remembrance. For those who have a mission and need to see it accomplished, promotional wristbands can achieve the results you are looking for. Since the wearer keeps the wristband, it is a continual reminder of your service, product, or organization and continues to put your brand name in the forefront of the wearer's memory. This is one of the most important factors of marketing and promotional wristbands deliver results. One of the best aspects of using promotional wristbands is the fact that they are affordable and easily customizable to your exact specifications. They can be created quickly and come in a variety of colors and sizes. No matter what your function or needs, you can easily ensure that your message is delivered in an amazingly simple way- just by using promotional wristbands. Making a lasting im pression is key to any successful promotional strategy. It isn't enough for potential customers simply to be introduced to your product or company name, but additionally, they must make a connection with your product. The connection should also be one where the wearer will repeatedly be reminded of your company name and product. When wearing a promotional wristband, the customer is reminded of your service or product every time they glance at their wrist. This ensures that your product or organization is making a lasting impression and that your company or product will not easily be forgotten. There's no doubt that one of the best advantages or major benefits of using promotional wristbands is the cost factor; wristbands are a cost effective marketing tool that fit well with any budget. Not only that, but wristbands are also stylish and popular, making them an even better marketing choice. When choosing wristbands to create an impact and cause the wearer to conti nually remember your mission, product, or service it is wise to pay close attention to color and design. If you have a logo that you are using, be sure to use complimentary colors within the wristband as well. You might find that it is best to order wristbands in a wide variety of colors and styles, to ensure that there is a wristband for every preference or taste. This will make certain that your wristbands will become part of the customer's garment selection and will be worn more frequently. In addition to choosing color, styles, and logos it's also important to come up with a slogan for your promotional wristbands that expresses the core values or nature of your organization. The best way to ensure that your wristbands impact the wearer and make a lasting impression is by choosing your wording carefully. Sometimes, a little goes a long way as well. You don't necessarily need to write out a full sentence stating your mission plan or objective. Often, it's just a few simple, yet powerful words that will create the impact that your organization is looking for. When thinking about your mission, service, or product try coming up with a few power words that express your purpose. Use these words and you're sure to have wristbands that will not only impress but will also impact the wearer and those whom the wearer comes in contact with. Goods For Giving specializes in promotional wristbands, personalized items and a range of promotional products. The company pride themselves on customer care and also offers in-house engraving and graphic design services.
Building a business consists of bare bones efficiency, you can make a profit using plain text, black and white print, and bare essential elements. But does it work as effectively as a business built with solid bones design and an attractive façade? When I serve dinner, whether it's at a wedding where I'm catering or here at home to my family, I consider the presentation of the food as well as the menu combination. A bare bones meal consists of meat, side dish, and vegetable, but there's more. Cooked carrots, mashed potatoes and roast beef may all taste wonderful ground up on the plate, but what happens if you present them with a bit of flavor? Add some butter to the potatoes and maybe some fresh chopped parsley? Perhaps you add a spoonful of gravy to the sliced roast beef, and a little orange glaze to the carrots? The appearance of the food on the plate suddenly becomes an attraction and you'd serve it to company. But why not to your family? < p>As a caterer, I learned that the better the food looks, the more I can expect to be tipped for the job. If I add those tasty little touches of color to the plate and increase the flavor with visual appeal, not only does the food taste better, but I can charge more. The same happens with many businesses. Visual appeal doesn't cost anything extra in most cases, simply a few seconds more time, some thought, and a bit of application are all that's actually required. You can use a can of spray paint and apply your name to the side of the building and throw up some random accessories with no thought to what they say about your business, or you can take a moment and plan the application using your brand and get the recognition you deserve. A better way to start a business is by developing a plan that will generate an attractive business that draws your customers in to see you and brings them back time after time for high quality product and services. When your custome rs receive quality and more than they expect for their hard earned money, they come back, time after time and again. Are you ready to bring your customers back time after time? Jan Verhoeff at ADvertiZe will teach you how to Present high quality information to your readers in ways that drive traffic. Visit http://advertizeyourbusiness.com today and sign up for your FREE advertizing and marketing article campaign templates.
The most important part of your business image is your "brand". Brands become an integral part of your customer's expectation set. Your customers are more likely to return for repeat business if they are able to associate positive attributes to your business. You want your customers to see your brand, and immediately recognize it as a core need of the highest quality. There are key attributes of every successful brand. As a business owner, your success lies in the choices you make early in your business development plan. Developing a business recognition plan is one of the first things you should do when you establish your business. For example, almost everyone recognizes the Starbucks logo, or the Coca-Cola logo. Why have these brands had such great success? There are certainly other coffee shop and soda options. Brand recognition success is rooted in your own business image. As a business owner, you must first determine what unique qualities yo u offer to your customer. Do you offer expedient services, at the last-minute? Or do you have a special product at a great price that customers can't find anywhere else? Or do you offer special complimentary services that set you above your competition? Capitalizing on your unique services/products you bring to your customers is the first step to successful brand recognition. You can capitalize on what you offer by utilizing great design in your website. Great design is attractive, consistent and easy to use. You must use up-to-date and modern graphic design in order to have an attractive website. Also, your website must be dependable and consistent. It would be foolish to use a different logo or template on the different pages of your site! Finally, your customer wants a website that's easy to use. The easier it is to use your site, the more business they can complete with you. You can improve your site's usability with easy-to-use navigation sets that are consi stent throughout your site. Some of the worst sites are those that have constantly changing toolbars and navigation buttons. This turns your customers away and frustrates them when they're trying to purchase products/services from your site. Once you have your site up and running, don't think that you can just let it go! The more you update your site, the more "in touch" your customer will feel with your company. Customers will see the often updates and immediately recognize that you're dedicated to your business. A great way to utilize updates is to update your site for the seasons. If it's November, a Thanksgiving theme is great to connect to your customers! A great example of a brand that utilizes this is Google, who changes their overall "Google" logo every season and holiday. Once you have a memorable and unique design, you can begin advertising your new business logo. Putting your brand out in the public's eyes immediately draws customers to your site. By u sing good business practices, your customers will associate your brand with the positive qualities you bring to the market and keep coming back. As they are satisfied, they will spread the word of your site, and you'll find that your brand recognition plan is a success! For more information on brand recognition and other business concepts, visit Global Web Expressions online. If you need help in developing a plan for your brand recognition online, go HERE.
Personal branding is the powerful but simple concept that promotes everyone to the CEO position of themselves. Although the term has only been around for a little over a decade, the idea itself is probably as old as the first salesperson that discovered he wasn't the only wheel maker. Yet personal branding may be more relevant today than ever. Why? Because most marketplaces are no longer local and the competition for a product or service now requires survival tactics. Understanding the keys to building your personal brand begins with creating an image and more than a little passion. Knowing your skills, strengths, values and goals is the foundation of solid personal brand construction. When the right elements are in place, your brand is visible, unique and a reflection of your authentic self. There are infinite ways to grow your personal brand once it's been established, but only a short list of essential keys to ensuring successful results and m aximizing your potential: - · Explore your own truths. Building a strong personal brand demands an honest assessment of what you have to offer. It's about knowing your weaknesses as intimately as you know your strengths and assets. It's as much about spending the time to analyze what you are not willing to do to achieve success as it is commiting to an agenda that you know you can and will follow.
- · Be original. The definition of personal branding stems from the theory that there is something different about our unique blend of talent, personality and principles. Make a list of all the creative things that sets you and your brand apart from everyone else. Finding a niche you know you can fill better than your competitors do is the beginning of making a name for yourself.
- · Perfect your skills. Keeping the mindset of a student of your craft can be an invaluable tool to a winning brand. Very few marketable skills remain stagnant in any business or service industry. Staying open to the fact that there is always something new to learn or a way to improve what you offer will keep you competitive and at the top of your game.
- Establish credibility. Become an expert in your given field by aspiring to know more about what you do than anyone else doing the same thing. Position yourself as a source of information and be willing to share that knowledge. Create a reliable and credible personal brand that makes you the authority among your peers or colleagues.
- · Remain open to new ideas. Understand the critical concept of change management. Many markets are in a constant state of evolution and changing faster than we can write about it. Good personal branding means staying true to your own core identity. However, it also means being flexible enough to make adjustments and explore new developments as inevitable changes occur.
- · Know your audience. Build your brand to attract your special audience. As simple as it may seem, it is often overlooked during the formative stages of brand building. Do your own research and learn what customers or clients want and need. Find out what price points, services and ideas they respond to and how you fit into the picture. Never assume that mastering your skill or product automatically makes you a marketing expert. Investing the necessary time to become one will pay off immediately and in the long run.
- · Act with integrity. One of the most notable characteristics of the best personal brands are those built on the golden rule. They become quality brands through consistency and honesty. It will always be advantageous to honor commitments, respect the rules and treat others fairly. And whether that personal brand belongs to a scientist, plumber or engineer, they understand the irreplaceable value of the image their personal brand projects.
Maurisa Westbury is Chief Training Strategist for OnlineTraining2Go an e-learning solutions company specializing in providing computer based training via the Internet for individuals, small to medium sized businesses and the association market. OnlineTraining2Go offers an extensive catalog with over 2500 topics. The company also offers career coaching, FREE teleseminars and webinars related to career developement and personal growth. If you're ready to reinvent yourself, get noticed and move to the next level in your career get your FREE report on career advancement and success now HERE
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