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Branding, as a whole, is essential for any serious business because quite simply a companys brand is what distinguishes it from its competitors. In todays computer age, not only is it essential for many businesses to have an internet presence to stay competitive but also to create a brand online that your target consumer market will recognize. An effective internet branding, just like its offline counterpart, helps bring awareness to your unique business offering and drive customer demand.

While Internet branding offers vast opportunities for business, in order for it to be effective one must be able to attract and engage its customers doing this over the Internet is not an easy task. Internet branding is not as simple as putting up a website and adding your company logo and slogan. Your internet branding strategy should make your online brand visible and distinguishable.

Internet branding makes use of technological tools to create an online presence for your business. Graphics and animation, a compelling web copy, and overall website design that reflect your companys brand are some of the important elements that will bring your online brand alive. Additionally, an attractive website that helps customers easily and quickly find the information they need is the key to get customer interaction and eventually, business. Your Internet branding strategy should incorporate good design elements and ease of use to create an effective overall impression of your company.

A strong online brand image will make the difference whether a customer will buy from you online or switch to your competitors. Remember, that online customers can just leave your site and go to your competitors in a click of a mouse. Therefore, a lot depends on the impression that they get from your site. Internet branding seeks to deliver an immediate unique message about your business to your target clients.

Visibility is also crucial in the online business world. There is no use to having a website if Internet users are not aware of it and because of the vast number of websites, businesses are competing to appear at the top pages of big search engines like Google and Yahoo!. Most customers do not look past the first few search pages when they make a search query so ranking high in these pages gives you better chances of driving customers to your site. That is why optimizing your site is another major consideration in Internet branding.

As you can see, there are many requirements for a successful Internet branding strategy. For small or large businesses, hiring an Internet branding or marketing specialist will be helpful to give you focus on your efforts in creating an online presence that will become a valuable asset to your business.

T J Madigan has been established in online business since 1998 and is director of a number of successful online projects one of which is http://articles.net.au your best source for FREE and private label articles.

We go about running our businesses 24 by 7. We handle all of the customer issues, we make sure the numbers are right, we coordinate all of our resources. If there’s one thing we forget to do though is let the world know how uniquely we do things. I think the reason for this is because we get so involved in the business.

The bottom line is this-because we don’t communicate how we’re different, consumers assume that you’re like everyone else. In the marketplace, people generally perceive that one accountant is like the next, one landscaper is like the next, and one electrician is like the next.

The truth of the matter is that you and other businesses are different. But a majority of the time, businesses simply don’t communicate this. They go about their businesses every day and wind up in the same position that other businesses that don’t communicate how they’re different-the position of competing on price. And let me tell you that this just isn’t a good place to be.

The worst case scenario is a slow languishing death as you keep cutting the price to get business. I’ve seen this in pretty sizable companies whose long-term “strategy” was to gain as much market share as possible then sell. More often times than naught, however, these same companies wound up filing for bankruptcy. I’m sure you would agree that there are few benefits to competing on price.

Part of the foundational marketing strategy is to identify what makes you different. The truth is that as you are different, your business is different as well. Whether this difference, this uniqueness, has to do with your offerings, or your processes or your customer service, you need to pinpoint them (I suggest finding three ways that you’re different), and package them creatively.

By showing how you’re different on a consistent basis, the value to your ideal audience will rise. When your value rises, the sales cycle shortens and your customers are more likely to pay higher prices. This a much better option than competing on price, isn’t it?

Before I go on, I want to point out that years ago, having better customer service, or having a good product line, or having reasonable pricing might have been a difference. But in today’s world, all those things are expectations. Assume that you must have all of those things just to stay in business.

So what are some examples of difference, or uniqueness? It’s a financial planner who provides auto detailing while performing an annual evaluation. It’s a roofing company who provides a thorough inspection before offering pricing. It’s a real estate agent who sends a gift basket when she gets a listing.

Oftentimes I find that companies already have differences in their businesses and it’s just a matter of identification and, in some cases, enhancing those differences.

Does that make sense? Finding this difference forces you out of the commodity business and immediately begins to communicate how you are unique.

Scott Campbell owns Impact Marketing, Inc out of Atlanta, GA. He installs a marketing system, called the “Ultimate Marketing System”, into businesses and practices in the Atlanta, GA area.

Learn more about Impact Marketing and its solutions here at http://www.impactyourcompany.com.

Establishing yourself as the expert in your field will help you gain both recognition and respect. Luckily, that recognition and respect transfers directly to your company. If people trust that you truly know what you are talking about, they will feel good about investing in your product.

How to Gain Recognition
There are countless vehicles through which you can brand yourself as an expert. Budgets tend to limit what most companies can do, however. While television and radio appearances will reach the greatest number of people and are also the most personal, most cannot afford such an endeavor. Newspapers, magazines, and other publications are a more cost effective way of gaining exposure.

The Internet has become an increasingly popular place for business owners to showcase their expertise. The opportunities for brand establishment on the Internet are countless.

A website is the best place to start. Build a professional looking site with sound and informative content and you’ll have a source of expert information to direct customers to. It is wise to upload a variety of self-written material to that website. Whether it be e-books or articles, good writing commands respect.

Remember that it is okay to give away some of your precious knowledge free of charge. Offer the customer something useful up front and they will label you as a legitimate source to go to for whatever your company may offer.

Branding on the Internet
Once your website is in good shape, it is time to attract some site-goers. Article marketing is one way to do this. Appearing as an expert in these self-written articles published on various sites will give readers the option of linking back to your site.

Article marketing is an especially effective way to gain that expert status because it gives you the ability to dispense a small number of articles to a huge number of content-rich sites. The more places your name pops up, the more people will be exposed to your site and product. You can be assured you have risen to an expert level in the eyes of consumers once these associations are made.

Another way to display your expertise is through online forums and blogs. This is a bit more casual than article writing. It allows you to remain in the first person and talk candidly with interested web surfers. The conversational tone used in such settings will put many potential customers at ease.

Not only will they view you as an expert, they’ll also feel connected to you as a real human being. Similarly, such an environment gives customers the chance to ask questions as well as giving you the opportunity to back up your product in the face of criticism.

What to Highlight
While the language you use and the information you present is most important when it comes to branding, there are other things to consider. Perhaps most vital are your credentials. Related degrees, certifications, licenses and accreditations that you may have are always good to highlight.

For instance, at the bottom of an article you have written about your clown entertainment business for a circus magazine, you might include a small blurb that says something like the following: “Tom Jones received an M.A. in the Creative Arts from Bozonion University. He is a licensed Balloon Animal Artist as well as being certified in professional stilt-walking. Mr. Jones has been successfully entertaining for over twenty-five years.”

Find the right places to gain recognition. Put yourself out there and command respect through that exposure. Highlight your achievements and successes. Branding yourself as an expert is all about getting other people to recognize something about you that you already know. It is your business and you know your industry. Get out there and showcase your expert talents!

Johnny Albertson is a musician, blogger and writer. You can visit his blog, www.beatintheblues.blogspot.com, for more insights and pearls of wisdom. Albertson is a big fan of www.articlemarketer.com, an online article distribution service.
http://www.articlemarketer.com

The business world is all about first impressions. If a customer likes what they see right away, they are likely to invest. This is what makes branding so important. Your brand is what consumers will initially encounter when introduced to your company. You want your brand to entice potential customers to dig deeper and further explore what your company has to offer. With any luck, they will like what they see!

How to Develop a Brand
Begin by identifying your target market. You branding strategy will depend heavily on this factor. For instance, you will choose different approaches depending on whether you are marketing to wealthy, retired men or adolescent girls.

The spending habits, interests, age, gender, education level, and many other factors will play into your branding plans. Similarly, your target market will also dictate where you make your brand visible. If a wide margin of you potential customers read the New York Times, you’ll want to advertise there. If they are a more tech-savvy bunch, making your brand well known on the Internet will become a priority.

Once you know who you are trying to speak to, you have to figure out how. Decide what makes your company unique. What distinguishes you from the other guys? Why should a customer come to you instead of the competition? It is in developing those unique selling points that gives a face to your company.

Perhaps it is dependability, innovativeness, or creativity that sets you apart. Regardless of what it is, choose a couple of stand-out qualities and focus on them in the branding process.

Getting Your Brand Noticed
There are several ways to make your brand known to customers. The two main methods are the visual approach and the verbal approach. Any company would be wise to utilize both.

The visual approach involves a specific look to your brand that will be recognized no matter what the context. The best way to do this is through a logo. While it is helpful to have several versions of your logo to fit into different promotional settings, it is essential that a common “look” is maintained throughout.

Remember: what the eyes see, the brain remembers. Whether it be an identifiable font or a memorable graphic, the visual side of branding has become increasingly important in our media-saturated culture.

The verbal aspect of branding is directly connected to the visual. Sometimes they are one in the same, other times the words appear alone, away from the established “look.” The wording involved in the brand becomes evermore vital when separated from the visual.

Choosing a good name for your company is part of the branding process. Be sure to choose a name that is descriptive. Don’t get too creative with made-up titles that “sound cool.” They might be pleasing to the ear, but they won’t be remembered by the brain. Whether a customer sees the brand name with your logo or in a newspaper article in plain text, they should instantly recognize it.

A tagline can also be helpful in bolstering the brand. Taglines should always be short and sweet. Something clever or catchy will stick in the memories of customers the same way an attractive logo will.

Marketing With Confidence
You thought coming up with a brand was challenging, now try maintaining it. A devotion to your brand displays a devotion to your customers. It also shows that you have confidence in your product. Consumers will perceive that confidence and subconsciously internalize a feeling of trust for your brand.

It is that positive gut-reaction that you want. A creative, confident brand is generally the face on a creative and confident company, and that is something any customer will notice and remember.

Johnny Albertson is a musician, blogger and writer. You can visit his blog, www.beatintheblues.blogspot.com, for more insights and pearls of wisdom. Albertson is a big fan of www.articlemarketer.com, an online article distribution service.
http://www.articlemarketer.com

College marketing courses teach the four Ps, in a marketing mix and are defined as product, price, placement and promotion. These four Ps are essential in developing a marketing strategy.

The marketing aspect of business takes into account what your business is going to sell and how it is going to sell it. It is how your company markets itself.

What your business produces to sell is a reflection of what you company is all about. In other words, your product could be your company’s brand, and your company could be a brand on its own such as Coca-Cola or Starbuck’s Coffee.

Whether your business produces duck decoys or electrical services, your goal is to build and sell a quality product that will ultimately be your company’s brand. Basically, we need to build a better mousetrap!

Why is it that Starbuck’s coffee is larger than Gloria Jeans’Coffee or Seattle’s Best Coffee? (Starbucks has recently purchased Seattle’s Best Coffee). I am sure some of it has to do with capital investment and timing, but most of Starbuck’s success is the result of marketing its coffee as a brand and developing the brand so that it is well known. This is known as brand awareness and brand recognition.

We are all aware that Starbuck’s exists and we are very knowledgeable of the company as a brand. As consumers, we are all brand conscious shoppers, even though we may not be aware that we are.

For example, what does GE stand for? Most consumers would say that GE sells washers and dryers, so GE must stand for washers and dryers.

Actually, GE puts more emphasis on the quality of everything they produce, which results in consumers buying most of the things GE produces, whether it is washers and dryers, home appliances, financial services, or airplane engines. As consumers, our perception is that GE produces high- quality products.

The same could be said for Carnation in the western U.S. (Nestle USA has discontinued the Carnation brand). Back in the sixties, the Carnation label meant that contented cows produced the condensed milk in the can. Does the mood of a cow really affect the flavor of the milk? Carnation made us believe that it did and that their condensed milk tasted better than the rest.

So what is it that you produce that distinguishes you from your competition? Some will say that your pricing should set you apart from everyone else. This may not be true because your pricing could affect the perception of your product. Consumers may interpret the price of your product as a reflection on the quality of your product. Be careful when apply price to your products.

Wine is an excellent example. Most people believe that higher priced wines are better wines. This also may be false. Quality makes a wine good, and many wonderful bottles cost less than $10.

Unless you are like Microsoft, where the demand of your product is greater than the supply, you cannot be as flexible with pricing as you might think.

Consumers are fickle: Anything you do to annoy them could cause them to stop doing business with you in the future. So, what separates you from the rest of the business owners in your field? It could be pricing, service, or quality. It should be that your product is unique and that it satisfies a specific need for consumers.

For example, if you are a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, plumber, or electrician, you will always be able to market yourself as such. Everyone needs your expertise. Keep in mind, though, that everyone does not need poor service, high prices, or poor quality. Your field is saturated, and consumers have choices.

On the other hand, some consumers will go with the first company they might see in the yellow pages or on the web. So your goal should be to separate your product by producing a quality product or service making yourself the first choice your customers think of when they realize they need something.

There are “barriers to entry” that marketers develop to keep competition at bay. What are the barriers that keep your competition at bay?

Placement has to do with the channel of distribution in which you sell product. For example, if you own a successful bakery and you want to grow your business by offering your baked goods to more than your current client base, where do you sell?

Currently you may only sell to the customers in your neighborhood, but let’s say you would like to grow your business and start selling to the local grocery store bakery or the local university foodservice establishments on campus. Placement identifies your distribution direction.

Let’s think of other strategies that separate your business from the rest. I think poor service is easy to figure out. If your business treats your consumers poorly or really doesn’t care about consumers after they have purchased your product, it will only be a matter of time before consumers pass the word along. Word of mouth is also an effective marketing tool.

Again, unless you have such a unique product like Microsoft did 20 years ago, you should take customer satisfaction into account. As small business owners, we don’t have the luxury of television advertising. We must rely on positive word of mouth. It is the best and least expensive advertising a small business can have. The quality of your product and the quality of the service you provide is going to get around.

I like to think of marketing strategy development as brand building. Everything you do to manage your business should incorporate brand building. When you are having staff meetings, ask everyone to think about the impact decisions have on your brand. As your staff engages customers, they should be thinking of ways to make such encounters a better experience for your customers.

When we think of marketing, the first thing some of us think about is getting our name recognized. This is known as promotion, it’s about getting your good name out there as opposed to just advertising. You are promoting your company and you are prmoting one particular product or all your products.

Marketing your company or products through print advertisements and billboards is a great avenue. But I want to make sure you understand the value of marketing a good company or product rather than just approving the advertising budget.

You need to understand what it is that you are trying to tell consumers about you and your business. They are going to want to know who you are and what you sell.

Consumers also want to know about the quality of your product, and they will also want to know if your company is good at what it does. That information can only come from their experience with your product and your company. Think of it this way: You never get a second chance at making a first impression.

When you are ready to advertise, it is important for you to know whether you have a unique product or service and if your product or service is a quality product or service. Most important, you need to know that you can satisfy consumers’ needs. Do you know what you customers really need from you?

Let’s look at this scenario:

Let’s say you have the budget for a billboard advertisement on Main Street and your agreement is for three months. In three months, 5,000 possible consumers of your product see your advertisement. Twenty of them are interested in your service. Of those, let’s guess and say that 10 never call, because they just simply don’t call. Four of them call but decide, for whatever reason, they’re not going to purchase just yet.

We need to find out why we lost those four potential buyers. If we don’t understand our product, we will never know why we lost those potential consumers. Three of the 20 potential consumers just don’t call because they heard negative comments. The other three actually come to us and buy our product or use our service, but wait; we made mistakes during the transaction and two of the last three are dissatisfied.

Here is the marketing question: “What did we lose by all that”? Well, let’s take into account the cost of the billboard advertisement, the cost of losing potential consumers, and the negative impact of our brand. We lost a lot! I can’t put a dollar figure on it, but I can tell you that we lost some serious money in this example. How; future business?

You MUST know your business inside and out before you present it to the general public. Part of this process takes into account some form of management, most of which is marketing. That means marketing the right product at the right time. We can market our product directly to specific groups of consumers, but we can’t do that until we know what it is we sell, how we sell, the quality of what we sell, consumer expectations, and our own expectations. Consumers can tell if you know what is happening in your business based on how you market your product.

I always say; consumer perception can make or break your business, unless you have supply and demand advantages. Here’s something fun. Notice your purchasing habits the next time you go to the grocery store, notice your buying habits. Why do you buy what you buy? Think about it.

Marketers play to particular stimuli that consumers react to. As a business owner you should create marketing stimuli that entice your future customers. Differentiate your business and your product or service. Create large barriers to entry, keeping your competitors at bay, and develop products or services that meet the needs of your customers.

Luis Luarca is the President of Allectus LLC, a management consulting company helping small to mid size businesses and is the author of “Business Management for Business Owners; How to Manage Your Small or Mid Sized Business”. http://www.allectus.com

Nowadays, it is quite fascinating how companies from different industries try to constantly outdo one another. If you are not observant enough, try checking out the all the creative advertising and branding strategies they use to their advantage just to gain at least a few significant steps ahead from their competitors. Its a constant battle on who gets to most patronage from consumers, which will equate to a bigger market share that would ultimately mean generating higher sales.

The art of advertising and branding is quite complicated than an ordinary person would normally think. All concepts are painstakingly developed and deliberated, researches and endless surveys are made to determine the markets current preferences. This is all geared towards making an intelligent forecast and calculation on the consumers reactions to certain products, and what would be the most effective approach in introducing such product in the market. In advertising and branding, nothing can be attributed to simple stroke of luck or an instant, phenomenal success. Everything is a product of grueling work. That is why advertising think tanks employs an elite team of highly creative people to conceptualize and ensure a certain products success in the market.

So how can one correctly gauge the victory or failure of any advertising and branding effort? Well, its quite simple, really. You can try showing a certain image, logo, color combination, a pattern or a tag line to a number of consumers, and if they are able to properly identify the product behind it, you one can say all marketing efforts have achieved a certain degree of success.

The very first key role of advertising and branding is generating awareness and recognition of a certain product or service. The second most important thing is to actually condition the minds of consumers as to what image you would want them to associate with the product, whether its cheap, durable, dependable, etc. This is the intrinsic value of advertising and branding and can be a little harder to determine. For example, if you mention toothpastes, what brand would first come to mind to consumers? Or if you ask for a most wonderful vacation hotspot, what would be the first word they would be likely blurt out? This does not necessarily mean they have actually been to that particular place, its their perception of the place for what they have seen and heard that made them believe its actually the top choice.

However, on the other side of the coin, once having established a very strong and powerful brand name, companies will find it hard to step away from its shadows. If in the future, the company would want to project a new image, or take on a different market position, it can be a difficult task to veer away for the identity that have been established. This would take another series of powerful marketing effort to transform the image of the product. It all whole new ball game, and a very expensive one at that. This is the beauty of advertising and branding. It is certainly the most powerful marketing tool that can make or break a company.

T J Madigan has been established in online business since 1998 and is director of a number of successful online projects one of which is http://www.articles.net.au your best source for FREE articles and information.

You can choose to read about all the marketing tactics you’d like, but the first step in a healthy business is the planning part of marketing. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “marketing event of the week”. But this isn’t how effective marketing is carried out.

I used to work for an advertising company (imagine that!) who reacted to the latest marketing technique. One such technique at the time was email marketing. The results were spotty at best not necessary because of the technique but because of the this-is-going-to-get-us-all-the-business-we-want mentality.

You need a planned approach which involves goals, logical steps, a budget, and partners. Anything outside of this project management approach will be knee-jerk and over time, unsuccessful. The most effective companies manage each area of the business, and that includes marketing. For some reason, many owners feel as though marketing runs on itself. Perhaps this was true in days past where one could put a sign outside the office, take out a yellow page ad, and business would walk through the door.

But in today’s world the competitive landscape is fierce. You must be good in all areas…quality, customer service, operations, accounting, management, and of course (and perhaps the most important area of all), marketing.

I would suggest the first step is to take out your business plan and develop a marketing plan that complements the vision (if you don’t have either I would suggest that you start writing). Determine how you’re doing first. This includes the business in addition to where you are in the industry as compared to others. This would involve some industry research. Then there are marketing planning steps that are essential.

First is to narrow and define the market you want to go for…in essence your target market. Starting with your ideal customer can help you to determine that. You must understand in order to be successful that you have to narrow your view down to those who value what you offer most. It’s so easy to play into the helping-anybody syndrome, and it will pull your business down quickly. You’ve got to say ‘no’ and be disciplined about this. Next is to determine a core message that will appeal to that target market and to package your business in that way. You want everything boiled down to a simple and targeted message.

Finally, you need to determine the appropriate marketing tactics for you business (e.g. direct mail, seminars, signage, etc.). Once you have defined these, you’ll need to set a budget and get help (ie. graphic designers, fulfillment house partner, etc.)

As you can see, an effective approach is a planned one…one that involves commitment and focus.

Scott Campbell owns Impact Marketing, Inc out of Atlanta, GA. He installs a marketing system, called the “Ultimate Marketing System”, into small businesses and practices in the Atlanta, GA area.

Learn more about Impact Marketing and its solutions here at http://www.impactyourcompany.com.

Many people say that the key to succeeding in business is through constant improvement and innovation, the ability to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the industry. So if you ever notice why some of your competitors enjoy more attention and interest than you do, you better move fast and find out the answer before its too late. Complacency has certainly no room in the highly aggressive world of business.

In marketing and advertising, branding goes beyond just merely creating a strong company name, it should also ensure that people would be able to easily recall it and would stay in the periphery of the consumers minds for a long time. A powerful brand would be able to differentiate your companys products and services in a highly positive way. In effect, this will create a lingering effect on consumers, thus making them potential buyers of your products or future clients that will seek your services. The company logo is unquestionably one youre your major marketing tool to get across the message that you would want to send out.

So what makes an effective corporate branding logo design? Contrary to what others believe, a logo is not just an ordinary symbol that represents your business. Such assumption could potential render the conceptualization of company logo as ineffective. To be able to maximize it to its fullest potential, a corporate branding logo design should be treated as an important communication tool that you can use to interact with consumers. Use your company logo to convey your companys message, to project a competent and highly capable company and most importantly would efficiently educate the consumers what is the nature of your products or services.

So here are some useful tips that could help you in creating a powerful corporate branding logo design:

Direct and concise - a logo usually comes with a tag line. It would be ideal to create a short one that would easily be recalled even by children. Avoid using flowery or elaborate words, as this would only defeat its purpose and confuse your consumers.

Distinctive and bold - a strong corporate branding logo design should be visible easily be seen even from afar and should not be confused with any other establishments. Being distinctive does not it has to be really a complicated design, this will only alienate and confuse consumers.

Graphic Imagery - Needless to say, if you are using an image for your logo it should complement the companys name and the nature of the business. Consistency is the key here since you wouldnt want to send out mixed signals.

Suffice it to say that brand name and brand logo is the primary tool in reaching out to consumers and developing consumer awareness. Anyone who sees a distinctive crown logo would readily associate it with Hallmark. So in conceptualizing your very own logo design, make sure to incorporate all the marketing and advertising elements to make it more effective.

T J Madigan has been established in online business since 1998 and is director of a number of successful online projects one of which is http://www.articles.net.au your best source for FREE articles and information.

The business world is all about first impressions. If a customer likes what they see right away, they are likely to engage with your internet marketing efforts. That first impression is the essence of your brand message. It’s the promise of what a consumer will encounter when dealing with your company. Create a compelling message, and you will entice potential customers to dig deeper and explore what your company has to offer.

How to Develop a Strong Brand Message
Begin by identifying your target market. Your branding strategy will depend heavily on this factor. Obviously, you will choose different messages depending on whether you are marketing to wealthy, retired men or adolescent girls. Your brand message goes even deeper than that. Your brand message is, in essence, a promise to your audience. Your brand message is the entire experience a consumer has with your organization.

So how does this promise tie into brand development? The spending habits, interests, age, gender, education level, and many other factors will play into your branding plans. If a hefty portion of your potential customers read the New York Times, the promise of your brand will be an upscale, intellectual experience. If they are a more tech-savvy bunch, making your brand hip, fast, easy and one step ahead of everyone else will hit the mark there.

Once you know who you are trying to speak to, you have to figure out what you will say. Decide what makes your company unique. What distinguishes you from the other guys? What compels a customer to choose you instead of the competition? Developing those unique selling points (USPs) will help you put a face to your company. Choose those stand-out qualities and focus on them in the branding process.

Getting Your Brand Noticed
Your brand, the promise of your company experience, exists only in relation to your consumers. There are two primary ways to realize this relationship: the visual approach, and the verbal approach. The visual approach involves the “look,” a strong visual identity that will be recognized no matter what the context. This includes logos, colors, layouts, images, any graphic representation of your brand and its message. Remember: what the eyes see, the brain remembers. Whether it be an identifiable font or a memorable graphic, the visual side of branding has become increasingly important in our media-saturated culture.

The verbal aspect of branding is directly connected to the visual. It also needs to stand on its own; especially in the context of article marketing, where the visual aspect is largely absent. The verbal message of your brand becomes even more importance when separated from the visual.

Establishing a strong voice and style for your company is critical. Everything you write — whether articles, press releases, site content, emails to your affiliates — is written in the same voice and style. Once you’ve established a strong verbal identity, consumers will begin to intrinsically know that they are reading something from your company.

The verbal brand often includes trademark phrases, a standard lexicon for job titles and departments, and an overall tone in everything your company puts into words.

A tagline is another effective way to solidify your brand message. Think of Taco Bell’s recent tagline, “Think outside the bun.” A strong tagline presents a vivid summary of the USP of the company. Something clever or catchy will stick in the memories of customers the same way an attractive logo will.

Marketing With Confidence
A devotion to the promise of your brand displays a devotion to your customers. It also shows that you have confidence in your product. Consumers will perceive that confidence and subconsciously internalize a feeling of trust for your brand. That positive gut-reaction is the sign of a successful brand. A creative, confident brand is generally the face of a creative and confident company, and that is something any customer will appreciate!

Carol Palmatier is the brand manager at Article Marketer, a highly popular article distribution service. Take advantage of the power of article marketing to build your brand identity.
http://www.articlemarketer.com

It was the famous publicist PJ Barnum who said in 1855 “I do not care what people say about me but get my name right”.

In today’s international marketplace, getting names right is vital.

Marketers and brand managers are becoming more and more concerned that their newly created name will be inappropriate in their target markets.

We’ve all seen middle aged marketing executives embarrass themselves when trying to appear trendy to the youth market but things get even worse when attacking overseas markets.

What many people don’t realize is that innocuous English product names often do not travel well. So called, ‘bad’ names, names which embarrass, offend or are just plain unsuitable, are profligate.

Bad products names, bad brand names and even bad company titles, are continuously spawned and the headlong drive towards globalization has given unwelcome publicity to all of them. There are many instances of where things have gone awry, most of them too rude to mention in this article.

It’s not just names which need careful attention, straplines can go just as wrong. Take for example, Electrolux, the Swedish white goods company, who used the strapline “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux” to great effect when promoting a vacuum cleaner across Europe. Unfortunately, when they used the same line for the US launch they became a laughing stock as ’sucks’ means something is ‘very bad’ in America.

Bad translations on apparel can also convey the wrong message. Take the slogan “I saw the potato”, instead of the correct Spanish translation of “I saw the Pope,” used on promotional T-Shirts for the Pope’s visit to Miami.

The cost of such a damaging event cannot easily be counted. The very fact that a product might have to be hurriedly withdrawn, or quickly re-badged can have a catastrophic effect on the image, position and value of the brand and, of course its owner.

How can one put a value on that? The cost can be enormous, with the repercussions leaving careers in tatters. It seems almost ridiculous to many outside the marketing business that there are still organisations that undertake no due diligence and take a chance on it being ‘alright on the night’.

Most sensible people take out insurance to cover them for almost every event and occasion, yet when instances of such obvious potential devastation occur, it is always too late to do anything about it.

Traditional remedies such as expecting your advertising agency to provide such a service is, with some exceptions, a waste of time. It’s like asking your dentist to give you a diagnosis in respect of a pain in your toe.

You might expect your translation agency to offer this service but, unless they are very experienced and have regularly handled the needs and demands of checking words worldwide, again you could be wasting your money. Proper checking involves much more than whether the word means something contentious or just risible in a foreign language.

So, what can be done to reduce the risks of things going wrong? Fortunately, there are a few simple but highly effective precautions which can be taken:

1. Remember names change with speech

There’s a world of difference between the written and spoken word. Accents and dialects play havoc with the pronunciation of English words and vice versa.

Most of have had an experience of the way our own language is treated by foreigners. We sound similarly strange to foreigners when we try to speak in a language which isn’t our own. Before deciding on a name, simply ask a native speaker of the target language if it sounds OK to them.

2. Avoid names that can’t be pronounced easily, or at all

Although this sounds like another blatantly obvious point, it’s something which many people forget completely. Many languages have an alphabet and a way of speaking which makes the reading of English words difficult or, in some extreme cases, practically impossible.

For instance, all words in Japanese end in either a vowel or the letter ‘n’ so it makes sense to chose a name which follows this convention. By doing this, you can be confident that your Japanese customers will be able to pronounce it without difficulty or embarrassment.

3. Avoid names that confuse

A name may meet every other criteria but due to culture, product qualities or its position in the market place, it may still confuse its intended consumer. This fault will seriously endanger product positioning and so clarity must be established.

Many years ago the then President of the USA, John F Kennedy was making a speech close to the Berlin Wall. He finished off in an effort to try to identify himself with the long-suffering inhabitants by announcing to his audience “Ich bin ein Berliner”. Unfortunately, and unknown, to the President he was telling everyone that he was a doughnut; a Berliner being the popular name for a local pastry.

I am often amazed that companies spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars launching a product with a name which is so obviously wrong that it would have been flagged as inappropriate immediately had they undertaken proper checking.

The cost of checking is tiny compared to the damage caused by not doing so.

Peter Bennett is CEO of London Translations Limited which specializes in international name checking and linguistic assessment: Download his FREE report “International Brand Disasters and How To Avoid Them” from:
http://www.london-translations.co.uk/validata