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Your Company's Image - What Are You Portraying?

Your Company's Image - What Are You Portraying?
By Anna Poole

All company directors are aware that much of their company's success can be attributed to the way their company is perceived by its customers. It is not enough simply to offer brilliant customer service or to stock a wide range of products; the company must also project exactly the right kind of image in order for it to remain a memorable supplier.

A variety of alternative and eco-friendly corporate gifts can really boost your companies corporate image to customers and employees alike. From pedometers, massagers and luxurious bathroom products to a full range of corporate gifts and merchandise made from recycled materials, these gifts are a great low cost marketing tool for companies of any size.

Distributing desirable promotional and corporate gifts is one way to ensure that the company is being marketed effectively. All too often, companies will market themselves purely to their intended customers, through advertising. It is easy to forget the powerful effect that corporate image also has on employees. Choosing top quality promotional gifts can incentivise your employees, enabling them to buy into the company's positive corporate image in the same way as customers. When employees do this, they feel greater levels of commitment and motivation towards the company, usually leading to an increase in productivity which could raise profits.

Companies operating across a wide variety of industries are now seeking to promote a much healthier image of themselves by moving away from such marketing staples as branded mouse mats and keyrings, and producing altogether higher quality, more creative promotional products. These include such promotional products as personalised gym equipment, for example skipping ropes and dumb bells, and even company branded mineral water.

Liz Logan of Brand It, UKs leading online corporate gifts and promotional items company. For more information visit http://www.brandit-catalogue.co.uk

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Branding For A Business-Consumer Relationship

Branding For A Business-Consumer Relationship
By Kaye Marks

A primary fact that should be at the hearts and minds and behind all the efforts of every advertiser is that a brand establishes the relationship between a business and its consumers. Whether you have a strong faithful relationship or a weak seasonal relationship with your consumers would depend entirely on your brand and your management and maintenance of its overall image.

A quick example would be to compare Apple and Microsoft. I'm sure most of us would agree if I say that Microsoft can be likened to a rather stiff, purely-business kind of person like your boss, or your calculus professor. And Apple, on the other hand, can be thought of more as a cool pal with the hippest gadgets and what-nots with the funniest jokes and wittiest quips.

Both statements on these two companies are neither right nor wrong. Instead of being objective statements, these are the perceptions that might stand for the kind of relationship each brand has on the public. They are mostly feelings towards a certain brand and consequently the business behind it.

Every businessman should know that before the creation of a business name or symbol, the conceptualization of what perception you desire your business to have in your consumer's minds comes first and foremost.

Bring Your Brand To Life

If you notice the examples I cited in the previous paragraph, I tied the brands to a person to better illustrate the differences between the two companies. In evaluating, managing and strengthening your brand, this can prove to be a very effective approach.

What are the basic elements that we use to identify a person? We associate a person with his eyes, his hair, his laugh, his personality, his talent and sometimes even an experience we witnessed with that person. Same thing applies to your brand.

If you ask someone if they know your brand, will they be able to pinpoint the colors present in your logo, the icons you used, the message or slogan tied with it or will they share an experience they had with your business?

Answers to these questions help you draw a picture of how your brand is perceived by the public. You can then use this to compare it with the conceptualized perception you came up with earlier on.

Identifying Strengths and Diminishing Weaknesses

Now that you have breathed life into your brand, you then have a more visual and moving representation of your brand in your mind and no longer just a symbol with some colors and a tagline. To be able to better identify weak spots and strengths, you can break down Mr. Brand into these parts: his skill, his appearance, his personality.

Mr. Brand has skills. Being a business owner, of course you know he has skills. But stepping into the shoes of the consumer, if you look at Mr. Brand, would you know instantly that he is credible enough and reliable enough for a task he claims to be good at? Would you trust that he has skills. We know a geek when we see one. We know a jock when we see one. Will people know or at least feel that your business is good at what you are doing when they see or hear your brand?

The appearance of your brand depends mostly on the performance of the overall appeal of your logo, the colors you used and the slogan you attached to it if any. Think of it this way, going back to your little mascot, does Mr. Brand look like he can fit in and stand out in a gala with your competitors? Or will he appear meek, amateur and feeble and eventually slink away to a dark corner neglected and then forgotten? Is your brand tied with the visual representation that can stick to people's minds even without associating your symbol with an experience or a commercial? Is it innovative and representative of your business and what you offer? Do you see room for evolution, reinvention and growth if the opportunity for expansion presents itself? If you answered yes to all these questions, then you're on the right track.

Going to personality, it may sound weird but images do have personalities. Compare the image of a fork with a flower. See the difference? Same thing goes for your brand. Whether you have a brand with a strong personality or a weak one depends on the initial impression people get by looking at it and remembering your ad history.

For instance, someone can say "I think Mac is cool because they have cool icons with cool vector ads for the iPod I remember seeing relentlessly everywhere I go." Right here, we introduced another factor important in establishing a strong brand. Consistency. Consistency develops not just recall but a stronger personality.

In this aspect of your brand, we combine, the visual and sentimental appeal with the emotions triggered in the recollection of your past ads. If you showed a consistent theme, mood and overall message all throughout your ad campaigns, you have established a stronger more prominent personality and all your color printing efforts have paid off.

It is not that easy developing a brand, triggering your desired impression, or the reputation that will eventually shower you with the big bucks. But if you start on the right foot, and pay attention to all these three aspects of your brand, success is a definite possibility. It is pretty fun too!

Kaye Z. Marks is a writer and an observer. She is continuously fascinated with the developments in commercial color printing technologies, which greatly help in the marketing and advertising campaigns of small to medium businesses.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Marks
http://EzineArticles.com/?Branding-For-A-Business-Consumer-Relationship&id=1093679

Branding Personal

Branding Personal
By Jason Mailey

When reading newspapers and periodicals, listening to media interviews on the radio, watching guest appearances on the TV and seeing who gets the speaking invitations you'll notice that it is usually those professionals who have positioned themselves as innovators and thought leaders through a carefully managed personal branding campaign. Well, that saying couldn't be more true when it comes to branding. This message becomes your personal statement.

Unlike the "image" branding we"re all exposed to every single day -- which is almost always built around a logo, blimp, slogan or song -- this is built around a specific person and/or personality.

Use these Business Networking Etiquette tips to achieve your networking goals:Jump on the "Brand wagon"Personal Branding is the message you send--and your audience receives--about you.

A speaker and author on the topic, delivers insights and principles that are proven to achieve WILD SUCCESS. This may also be used to boost the sales of a product, especially when their name becomes associated with a particular approach or system. The process is about having self-awareness of your strengths and talents, and then letting everyone know about your gifts, talents, and experience.

Take this opportunity to communicate statement and make it shine. Whether you are a professional ready to springboard to the next level in your career or an entrepreneur starting on your first business venture, personal branding can help you to bring your goals into focus.

And make no mistake, the difference between image and personal branding is like night and day.

http://www.tipsontherun.com/branding

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Branding-Personal&id=1092155

Corporate Logo - Your Tool For A Successful Business

Corporate Logo - Your Tool For A Successful Business
By Jennifer Salerno

A corporate identity of your company is the visual image of your brand. A company's values and attributes as well as personality are reflected through the logo of your company. This is the one which demarcates between your company and other companies. However one thing is very essential to learn before creating a logo, that is the usage of the principles of visual communications and merge them successfully with basic production techniques. Your company logo is the spirit and soul of your brand. It is better to communicate a powerful idea of your brand through a visual representation rather than abstract representations. A good logo design creates an everlasting impression upon your customers. Now whether you are starting a new business or you are looking to refresh your company identity, a good eye catching design will enable you to portray the right image for your company with a designed one. Two important things - originality and distinctiveness should always be the essence of your company logo.

A company logo should be created first while creating a corporate identity of your organization. A common design should be used to build a corporate image. It will help in the brand building process. The image should be such that it will be remembered by every people. The best designing draws upon the unique aspects of your concern and will help in creating a corporate identity as well as brand building. This type of designing does not use your company's attributes while creating a corporate one, but particularly when creating a whole company logo collection. You should pay for the best designing and should create a corporate design that reflects your corporate identity.

A style professionalism can easily be communicated to your customers by a quality logo design. The philosophy of your organization and the services performed are understandable by it. A logo should be simple rather than be trendy. "The simpler, the better"- This should be followed while designing it. The most crucial aspect of creating this, is the process of conceptualization. A good professional logo designer will develop many conceptual ideas for the logo and will combine various things before giving the final shape to it. They basically transform their ideas into sketches.

The most valuable asset of an organization is the brand identity. The logo is a strategically important part of the branding program. A corporate branding starts with it. A distinguish and a recognizable look is the key to the success of a company's identity. Your company logo should send the right message to the public. Brand identity is the most valuable asset an organization to gain a long term competitive advantage. A good logo design is ideal for better brand building; it should be lively and modern in appearance. It should not be altered and modified completely modified from its original design.

Jennifer is an expert Internet marketing professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Finance, Real Estate, Logo, Web-Design, Health & Medicine and many more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Salerno
http://EzineArticles.com/?Corporate-Logo---Your-Tool-For-A-Successful-Business&id=1098702

Branding Yourself Will Bring Greater Success

Branding Yourself Will Bring Greater Success
By Todd Ash

Branding yourself can actually have such a dramatic effect that you will become hunted rather than being the hunter for your next job opportunity. Branding yourself can actually have such a dramatic effect that you will become hunted rather than being the hunter for your next job opportunity. Branding yourself can make all of the difference in the success of your business and your career.

Create a Personal Brand that tells customers how you're different from your competition and build your relationships with them daily. The Brand Called You is the ultimate resource for building your Personal Brand, one that sells you, not your product or company. Creating a continuous stream of income from the internet has been the dream of all internet marketers. Many people are trying hard to build their online business through affiliate marketing.

Branding yourself is part of the many things that will help you create success, because it will help you to attract people from all walks of life to be your friend, your network contact, a new client for your business, or maybe someone who wants to introduce you to other of the same type of interest.

Branding yourself is a major part in internet marketing or the network marketing industry. Branding yourself is one of the most important marketing tricks on the books. We can make you stand out with branding that will make you proud. Branding yourself is the key to being different. A replicated site will get you replicated results.

Branding yourself is required to succeed in any field of work. Fluency in a foreign language tends to stand out quickly enough and is guaranteed not to be forgotten. Branding yourself is one of the keys to being a successful REALTOR?. Each Flyer will give you the option to include your picture, company logo, web site, and contact information. Branding yourself is just as bad.

Branding yourself is a concept that represents everything about your business or company. It sets your business and products apart from the competition. Branding yourself is the best way that you can generate sales and gain profits.

A business without a brand name is like a product that does not have a name. Branding yourself is the art of separating yourself from your competition. It is what attracts new customers with as little or no work at all.

Branding yourself is key to building your network of influence. When you volunteer for positions, help with fund-raisers or help with organizing committees make sure that what you do is fairly high profile. Branding yourself is part of a bigger picture that includes branding your website. Branding yourself is the key to professionalism not promoting some hotshot. Our team has a template system that you can plug into.

Branding yourself is more critical; the traffic you'll get isn't as important. Remember to include keywords in your byline: You want to be associated with the topic as much as possible. Branding yourself is one of the most important marketing tricks on the books; it is about being an expert or learning how to be an expert and then telling everyone about your knowledge. Branding yourself is one of the most important tasks you have as a small business marketer.

Branding yourself is a concept that represents everything about your business or company. It sets your business and products apart from the competition.

Todd Ash Is An Entrepreneur and A Master Of Network Marketing.To Find Out More About Succeeding Online Click Here To Visit Toddash.com For Free Information.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Branding-Yourself-Will-Bring-Greater-Success&id=1101410

Hollywood Stars As Brand Promoters

Hollywood Stars As Brand Promoters
By Victor Epand

Brand, in the viewpoint of the manufacturer or service provider, is a feature that distinguishes the product or service in a market. A user may define brand as one that he can recognize and identify as an integral part of his life. In this age of modernization and industrialization, the consumer has emerged as the uncrowned king. He is the monarch of all he surveys. In addition, to attract his attention, organizations are ready to innovate and upgrade the ideas of promoting Hollywood stars as brand promoters.

The 4P basic idea of Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place has come to evolve mostly around Promotion, as market surveys indicate that consumers likes to buy a brand, not a product or service.

Moreover, to display promotion, companies are making a beeline for the most sellable of products, that is, the Hollywood stars. A popular proverb says that one can even sell dreams in Hollywood.

It is but natural that when the celebrities, who are the substance of our dreams, wave to us from the silver screen or stare at us from flashy bill boards endorsing a product, we simply cannot ignore the plea. After all, even for a flitting second, the user will feel that he or she is sharing something with his favorite idol.

Brand promotion by Hollywood stars not only enhance the longevity of the product, but also add to its quality and mass appeal. The conveyed image of a successful individual using the product creates a sense of demand and urgency for the consumer to get hold of it.. Better still, he begins to identify the product with the star, thus adding immensely to its recall value.

A user only sees a product when it is seen. Brand Promoters need some external factors and internal conditions to help them. Perception of familiarity, trust and contentment are foremost conditions that influence the choice of a particular brand over another.

Since the flashy world of entertainment and razzmatazz has easy recall value, the faces we adore and the style we follow compel a consumer to select that particular brand from the bouquet of choicest of products existing in the market. Market analysts have even noticed the trend of consumers to shift from one product to another once their favorite star leaves one company and starts to endorse another.

As Hollywood spawns the magic over almost the entire world, enticing the young and old, the poor and rich by its continued tales of fantasies and glory, emotions and intricacies, fervent admirers of the stars follow the fashion and style with bated breath. To some of them, turning down the plea of Hollywood stars to use his product is akin to sacrilege. It gives a sense of vicarious pleasure to the consumer and awards him a sense of supremacy over his idol, as he feels that he is doing a favor by adopting the product promoted by the star.

As the company and Hollywood stars laugh together all the way to the bank, the consumer is left clutching with his straw of imagination that has been so well played upon by the promotional blitz of a brand by a Hollywood star.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for used DVDs, used movies, and used car stereos. You can find the best marketplace for used DVDs, used movies, and used car stereos at these sites for used DVDs, used movies, and Hollywood star, products, service provider, brand promoters.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Hollywood-Stars-As-Brand-Promoters&id=1099425

E-branding - 7 Mistakes to Avoid

E-branding - 7 Mistakes to Avoid
By Brad Szollose

I am always astounded when companies treat the Internet like one big TV commercial. Banner ad click-throughs are almost non-existent, yet ad-buying continues onward and upward, ignoring the cold hard facts, (click-through rates are so low that time spent on a site is now considered a unit of measurement).

Social networking, e-shopping, viral videos and mobile phone content are in, banner ads out. The Internet is a golden opportunity for marketers to create a 1:1 relationship, but all too often, getting that close to a customer is too scary for most. Time to think out of the box with your Web initiative. Here are just a few clues to get you to stop treating Web 2.0 like a television commercial and kick your Search Engine Optimization strategy into high gear. The following are mistakes to avoid:

Mistake 1: You're treating your online brand like a brick and mortar brand.

According to The Cluetrain Manifesto, markets are conversations and the Internet is one of the biggest, most fragmented conversations ever created. It's a broadcast arena, a storefront, a publisher, a support group, a social network and something else we've yet to discover. It's about physical borders disappearing in favor of common networks - people gathering together to talk and it is anything but passive.

If people are hanging out on the Internet doing their thing, how do you think marketing is viewed? Marketing to this giant conversation is viewed as a mechanical intrusion to be completely ignored. Doc Searls, in his preface to The Cluetrain Manifesto, points out that, "Markets are conversations; and conversation is fire. Therefore, Marketing is arson."

What marketers assume is that consumers can't see this fake conversation, and that is where the big disconnect is taking place. Consumers have formed a story about your brand that has nothing to do with the official corporate message. Time to wake up.

Brands that have been created exclusively for the Internet, get this. They know that the Web is about creating trust not banner ads. They have formed a relationship with an Internet-savvy customer that respects their individuality. People are not "consumers" in cyberspace - they are people.

Commerce in the Internet Marketplace is secondary to the Internet's main purpose: conversation. Today a brand must romance the digital native and give them what they want, when they want it and how they want it. It may take you months to develop a relationship before getting a sale.

Brands that started in the Brick and Mortar World are seen as the outsider - a buzz- kill attending the biggest party in the world. You just won't be accepted as a Web brand no matter how hard you try.

This is why Amazon is the leader on the Internet while Barnes & Noble is number 2. What if Amazon tried to build a store in every mall in America? They'd fail. An Internet brand can't compete against a real world brand anymore than a real world brand can compete with an Internet brand. The overhead alone would drive the Cyber company out of business.

Read my Blog article, The Online Brand Vs. The Real World Brand for a rough idea of what I am talking about.

Want to reach your online audience? Try hiring an Internet-savvy marketer. That's the first step to winning some credibility. Don't just look at the resume, ask her what was the most unusual way she reached her target and met her goals. The cyber- savvy is the one you hire.

Mistake 2: You have nothing more than an online brochure.

I was recently consulting with one of the largest consumer brands in the U.S. when their VP of Interactive Development asked me why their site wasn't getting any return visitors. I told them point blank that, although they had flash all over their site and it was well designed and had SEM software and support staff, they had nothing more than a very expensive brochure.

Look, Web 2.0 is about figuring out from your customers what they like, then give it to them, even if it doesn't appear to affect the bottom line. Figure out how to create that one-to-one relationship with them and your brand will be golden. Stay on your toes - today social networks and viral videos are hot, tomorrow, who knows?

But, here's the scary part of all this: You have to get rid of the wall between your brand and your customer - it's no longer a closed system. It's not about a bevy of corporate lawyers giving you a list of stuff to say on your FAQ section. It's about one human being forming a relationship with another group of human beings that just happen to be working for your brand. It's a chance to be a part of the online conversation and join in on what is being said about you. Scary yes, but rewarding.

When your people talk with customers, remove the shackles of corporate speak you have locked around their necks. Train them instead to be themselves. Remember, people can sense a lack of authenticity. If you aren't part of their online conversation, the real conversation, you are dead.

Mistake 3: Your content is old.

This one needs very little explanation. If you haven't updated your site's content, there is no reason for people to revisit. Do you think that might be the reason no one is coming back to that web site you built a year ago?

Take a page from your favorite Blogger. Some Web Log Authors give us new and fresh musings everyday, while others only once a month. Either way, be consistent, personal and in-depth. Give your audience something to sink their teeth into, otherwise forget it.

Try twittering. It allows you to send out mini content to a list of cell phone surfers and online supporters. Keep it short though, twitter is about one or two sentences. Steve Jobs twittered that he was nervous before a keynote address. The audience picked it up on their iphones and were more receptive when he came on stage. It also allows for a human connection to a very popular executive.

I wish more CEOs twittered. It would go a long way to building their company's brand and engender trust by their shareholders. The Information Age is about staying in touch.

Mistake 4: Your strategy is not bold enough.

Recently Burger King decided to take the Whopper off the menu. They did it half-heartedly by doing it at a few of their restaurants, and then filmed people's response. It did nothing to affect the bottom line. We yawn and life goes on.

But Starbucks, on the other hand, closed down all their stores all across the United States for an entire evening. Bold and decisive, Howard Schultz took a stand against mediocrity, closed every store and retrained every Starbucks employee on what coffee meant. The next day Starbucks opened to fanfare and a return to great customer service. People noticed and wrote about it in The New York Times.

Bold moves like that can only get bold results, and I predict Starbucks will have a 15% increase in revenue this quarter as a result of such action. It creates a buzz on the street. Try it sometime.

Mistake 5: You're not facing the truth about your Brand.

Dunkin' Donuts recently started to provide lattes on their menu. They've had flavored coffee for years, but the lattes were an attempt to compete with Starbucks, and with that one action, I could see just how much of a disconnect Dunkin' Donuts has with their customers.

You see, Dunkin' Donuts is an all-American brand that served a working nation for over half a century with delicious donuts. Coffee is necessary for their brand because coffee and donuts go together like hamburgers and French fries. But coffee is their secondary market, (sales may seem like coffee is their primary market, but tell that to the customer). Dunkin' Donuts may try, but they have very little in common with a high-end coffee chain that provides coffees from around the world.

Remember, your brand has a position in the customers' mind, and that position represents one thing and one thing only. Starbucks represents coffee. Dunkin' Donuts represents donuts. One is a white-collar brand and the other is a blue-collar brand. The customer for Starbucks wants to pay top dollar to feel as if they are getting the Italian coffee shop experience, while the Dunkin' Donuts customer is looking for value and speed. The consumer will NEVER see them as equals, because consumers NEVER change their minds about a brand. For Dunkin' Donuts to think they can compete with Starbucks is a lesson in futility. But try telling that to the board of directors.

Don't be afraid to listen to the online conversation about your brand. David Felton was so frustrated with his local Dunkin' Donuts that he built an online message board to complain about his local franchise. The complaints from regular customers were so great that the 5,000 franchise owners were forced to respond and correct the mistakes...sometimes within hours. It made Dunkin' Donuts a better, stronger and customer-focused company. But somewhere in the executive suite, they didn't get it. Felton's Website was shut down after much harassment from Dunkin' Donuts. They paid Felton an undisclosed sum, but DD never seemed to understand what was happening. The market was telling them they weren't perfect. Instead of being the first company to listen to complaints and adjust accordingly, they chose to silence their customer - the lifeblood of their brand. They didn't like the message they were hearing and instead of listening, they ended the conversation.

Take a lesson for your own brand. Yes, it may not be what you want to hear, but at least it will be honest. After that, work on meeting and exceeding customers' needs.

Mistake 6: Are you focused too much on the Internet, traditional marketing or both?

Years ago, many a business needed nothing more than an online brochure. Today, the online store is so easy to build and maintain that not having a web presence is seen as a major red flag to a company's stability.

Many a mega-brand has an online store because it is a duel channel for sales. Best Buy is a good example of this. I love to browse their brick and mortar stores and grab some bargains. But their online brand is very important as well when I have no time to physically shop.

Maintaining a 1-800 number and a Web store at the same time can be hard. But if you want to do it right, then I suggest that you take a look at QVC, HSN, the above- mentioned Best Buy, Circuit City, B&H Photo and others too numerous to mention. Take a good look at how they promote one store against the other. QVC and HSN promote their sites from their popular television shows. They drive traffic through a live broadcast, but it doesn't end with the program. The site continues to run the promotion for a limited time. Updated content and limited time offers will drive traffic and if the offering is a good one, it will create conversion, (browsers who buy).

On the other hand, maybe you are a restaurant and need to have a web presence. Try offering take-out orders through your website with an automatic discount for orders over $25. I've seen restaurants do 70% of their evening business through take-out. Some even have to shut down the restaurant so the kitchen can handle the online orders.

Try it. You may find a nice blend between your Web presence and your brick and mortar stores.

Mistake 7: You're too literal in your message.

Many years ago I attended the annual stockholders meeting for a company in which I I was heavily invested. The executive team took several actions that irked me. These changes made me realize they would be going out of business. The first mistake they made was a name change. Someone believed that adding the word Digital to their brand would change the markets' perception of what they did, (They were an interactive design agency).

The second thing that irked me was they changed the company's tag line to "A Full-Service Interactive Agency that Forges 1:1 Relationships through Channel Marketing Partnerships with Strategic Players in the Online World." I felt like I was reading an article for a science magazine instead of a company whose job was to bring powerful experiences to the web-savvy visitor.

I dumped my stock as quickly as possible.

If your primary marketing message is attempting to convince shareholders how great you are in dry corporate-speak, you have a problem. Your message should be simple, on target to your consumer audience and, most importantly, stir the emotions.

When your marketing message sounds like a bank poster, time to rethink your marketing...quickly.

What will help most is that you begin to understand that the Web is not a passive media. People go online to do research for every product they buy. The research they get is not from a corporation telling them how great the product is, they are getting their insight from regular people who are using the product now. They're asking questions about how well your products work, and what isn't so great about your brand.

Try listening to your consumer by creating advocacy sites and real dialogue through social networking. Listen to the conversation and follow through with the changes. Or you can continue as usual - ignore the marketplace, market around the problem and hope the next version will fix itself. If your product stinks, no amount of marketing can fix it on the Web. Word gets around fast these days and the one thing Netizens are really into is telling the truth.

Listen to the conversation and change with it. By focusing on getting it right, your SEO strategy will become easier and more profitable. Jumping on a band wagon because everybody else is will teach you a lesson on how to waste money. Being strategic and listening to the market will help build a better relationship with your customers. Let me know how it works.

Thanks again for reading,

Brad Szollose

May I recommend?:

Check out Umbro. http://www.umbro.com on the ultimate soccer experience alongside great content and a mega store. They are always updating the site with complete makeovers, flash, videos, and driving rock music. Well done.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible by Jerri L. Ledford

http://www.amazon.com/SEO-Search-Engine-Optimization-Bible/dp/0470175001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207770716&sr=8-1

Former Dot Com IPO Boomer Brad Szollose, is an award winning leadership strategist, author and professional speaker who coaches executives and entrepreneurs on how to operate in the Information Age.

For more info, go to http://bradszollose.com

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http://EzineArticles.com/?E-branding---7-Mistakes-to-Avoid&id=1100173

Using Colors in your Brand

Using Colors in your Brand
By Justin Kander

Color is the most important part of your brand image, as that is the literal picture people think of when they imagine your business. If your brand has colors that fit your business, the results can be quite powerful. Unlike other business decisions, choosing colors takes knowledge of psychology and art, plus the designer must also be very creative and unique if they wish to make an appealing and thought-provoking color scheme.

Choosing the colors for your business is difficult, as you need to take a long time to think about what would work. Once you pick your colors, it is difficult to change them, because then the majority of previous branding work would have gone to waste. Color schemes should match the aura and feel of your business. If you sell a light, calm product and want to be seen as easy-going, you should use a mix of two or three tinted colors. If you want to be seen as a very strong, powerful company, then multiple, heavily contrasting colors should be used. Unlike other parts of your brand, color scheme cannot be changed later on without drastic negative effects.

If your business goes through a large change, such as moving from a medium sized company to a large company, or adding several additional categories of products, then some changes to the scheme could be made. However, it is not the colors that should be changed, but the way they are arranged. For example, if your color scheme was gradients of black and red in a rectangle, you could change to gradients of black and red in a yin-yang as a symbol of your growth. As long as the shape change is not too drastic (a yin-yang is essentially a circle and rectangle to circle is still consistent with geometric shapes), it can be executed successfully.

Changes can potentially work out very well, especially pre-planned changes. Letting your customers know of a big alteration can stir excitement and anticipation. Websites that pre-announce redesigns usually see substantial response from their visitors/members, and the same could work for any business. Whatever changes are made, the colors must stay the same, because those colors are in everybody's mind and you do not want to throw all that away.

Justin Kander is the marketing director of http://www.getprocash.com, which allows users to easily make money online.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Using-Colors-in-your-Brand&id=1100651

Don't You Wish You Were A Magnetic Brand

Don't You Wish You Were A Magnetic Brand?
By Vijay Thambiayah

Ever felt one of those days when your confidence was lagging? Many of us would have gone through such occasions surely. And if you have, did you notice how no matter what you did during such occasions you did not feel competent enough. You are not alone. A competent person is a confident person. Both confidence and competency share the same bed...with you in it of course!

The power that you feel in being confident and competent attracts people to you. You radiate magnetism that others will notice and make them trust you - and enables you to influence them too. And at this point you become the brand YOU.

Many of us want to become the brand? The brand that we see in others and yearn for! Can this personal brand be developed? Can we learn the "how to'? If you set yourself the goal and motivation to become the brand YOU, you can do it. The SECRETS to "Brand YOU" can be in yours if you only know what it really takes and follow them well.

"Brand YOU" is all about you developing the qualities that attract people to you - and research has shown that people would be drawn and influenced by YOU if you are ethical, positive minded, knowledgeable, purposeful, a good communicator, forward looking, have high EQ, confident, competent, credible and motivational. Develop these traits and watch how your personal power and influence increases with the people you meet and work with. Learn from those who have these traits, look up books, magazines and ezines that can help you understand and grow these traits and make it a point to choose you who move around with - birds of a feather flock together for good reason!

Do all these with passion, with a zeal driven by your wish to be that somebody, the magnetic "Brand YOU" that you want others to see yourself as - confident and competent! The brand that attracts others to you.

T. Vijay is the owner of www.PeerComms.com. Contact me for your company's needs in communications and branding that can help set them on the path to a more profitable future. Click here to subscribe to my Newsletter that is worth US$37.

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Affordable Branding Solutions, And The Power Of Cocktail Party Chatter

AchievementRadio.com's

Affordable Branding Solutions, And The Power Of Cocktail Party Chatter
By Kevin D Browne

Why is it whenever anyone is looking for affordable branding solutions they always start looking into those things that they are completely UNFAMILIAR with?

You know like buying web traffic or getting into SEO discussions, or blogging and pinging?

Don't get me wrong...all of those are things that can be done. But they should be done when real relationship tactics have been exhausted!

With the emergence of Social Networking and one site in particular, Neofuse, newer and much smarter ways are popping to the surface that will allow small business owners to start that "cocktail party dialogue" and to continue it with those prospects that literally tell the business owners that they want to be talked to!

Sound impossible?

Actually it couldn't be easier.

Imagine having a sophisticated OPT-IN device which literally sits on top of your existing website. This Flash overlay works 24/7 to get your hottest prospects to opt-in to some free content that YOU provide.

Is it a bribe? Sure it is, and that's why the content that you provide be so meaningful to those people.

We know, statistically, that it takes between 5 to 7 exposures of a new good or service for a person to pull out the old Visa Card thinking that they are getting the best purchase possible. So why not take the cocktail party approach?

Why not keep telling those people who just opted in to learn more, more?

Delivered through emails, your content should shine and raise you above anyone else in your field.

By the time these prospects are done with your content, they should be begging you for more...and that's what great emails will do. Because a great email (or better yet...a series of them) can roll over objections!

A series of emails that effectively take every one of the objections to the sale and rolls over them...how's that for affordable branding solutions?

To learn SPECIFICALLY how you can begin to PUSH your content forward and FINALLY make big time money online, visit http://infonetting.com/PUSH/push_sq3_neo.html and FINALLY make the money you know you should be making online!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_D_Browne
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