In this tough economic climate it is very important to continue to market your products and services, and to raise your so-called ‘celebrity’ status for yourself and your business.

As a business owner it’s important to understand what we can do to become ‘celebrities’ in our own right.

Why?

Because as consumers; we view some people as “worthier” or “more expert” than others, just because they’re better known.

In fact, these people may not be any more talented than anyone else, but we assume that they are more skilled or talented just because they are more famous.

And because they’re famous, their names become currency in themselves. For example, think of how many movie stars make commercials for hair products, when they don’t even do their own hair!

It’s important for us to do what we can to add some sparkle of celebrity to our own names. Simply put; the better known we become, the more customers and clients we’ll be able to draw in, and the higher the fees we’ll be able to command.

One of the easiest ways to raise your celebrity status is to create your own ‘Special Event’ – one that will draw attention to your company and its core products and services. The benefit of raising your celebrity status with an event is that the event speaks directly to your target market and establishes credibility for you as a leader in your industry and makes you and your business better known.

Becoming better known is a stepping stone to achieving other goals like attracting new clients, participating in speaking gigs (especially paid speaking gigs), making connections with marketing partners, attracting talented employees, and other activities that generate more business.

I recently worked with a client and helped him create a ‘Special Event’ designed to draw attention and create awareness for a custom service he provided to his clients. It was a fun event, capped by a contest that allowed him to tap into radio, TV, and newspapers with traditional marketing strategies, and incorporate Internet Marketing Strategies, utilizing newsletters, a Blog, Twitter, and Face book. The event and contest were both successful and the client was subsequently featured on both Global and CHBC news.

Events like this take a little time to assess the opportunities, assemble the right marketing information, and apply the right marketing strategies.

If done correctly, it’s a great way to raise your celebrity status and Build Your Business.

Donald Robichaud is the President of the FloodLight Consulting team and can be reached at http://www.floodlightconsulting.com/  or at 250-768-9415

The goal of branding is to create in the mind of the end user the belief, or curiosity, that something special exists that didn’t exist before.

The brand happens when you describe what you do in a term that builds you into the partnership with your client. This is based on what they tell you they want, or things you see happening that they haven’t yet identified. The Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad are great examples.

Three ways to brand your business starting today:Personal Brand – Your brand is created by you and the people at your company. You emphasize the image of your company and de-emphasize the product. If you ask your end users, they will easily be able to identify your “people brand.” The most notable example of this is IBM. You can’t help but picture blue suits, white shirts and red ties. You can make a conscious decision to change your personal brand if it isn’t what you would like it to be. What should your staff look like?

Product or Service Brand – Brand is simply by virtue of the product or service being differentiable. The implication is that the service aligns with something the consumer wants – either by fulfilling a need, or solving a problem. Revlon is an example. They sell beauty, not cosmetics. What do your customers want? What makes you different?

Market Branding – You brand is by virtue of the target market that you take the product or service to. Your expertise and your specialty need to reinforce your target market. You won’t find a Rolex advertisement in Fishing or Popular Mechanics, but you will in Skiing and Fortune magazines.

Your brand will only have power if it is constantly reiterated and reinforced in the marketplace by everything you do – advertising, promotions, word-of-mouth, PR, etc. (Marketing Touch Points)

The goal of continually positioning your brand is to situate your product or service permanently in the mind of the consumer. The realities of your product or service have no bearing on the decision to use your brand. The only decision that counts is what your customers believe.

So what Ever you do…….Don’t be Generic!

If you do not create brand identity for your product or service, you are selling something generic. Positioning your product or service to be “brand identifiable” and make sure it is measurable in the eyes of the customer.

For this to happen, your customers must:
1. Understand what makes you different
2. Articulate it to others
3. Value your brand and be willing to pay more for it
4. Embrace it and defend it when it comes under attack

What are the benefits of Branding my business?
• Branding helps to unlock profitability
• Branding prompts consumer selection
• Branding builds name awareness
• Branding increases the odds of business survival
• Branding produces long term loyalty
• Branding differentiates you form the competition
• Branding allows you to introduce new services more quickly because of the trust you have created
• Branding builds a positive image of your business

If the customer can not differentiate your product or service on these criteria’s, then you will fall into a large gray, non-descript category.

Create a strong Brand and Build Your Business.

If your Brand is ….. not working!!!!

Contact us today and start Marketing and Branding your Business!!

FloodLight Consulting – 250-768-9415

Branding

Branding strategy, global branding, online branding, corporate branding, digital branding, product branding, internet branding, web branding, branding logos, corporate identity, advertising, marketing, branding, design, identity, brand

How many Business Cards will you be handing out in the hopes of building your Business?

At FloodLight Consulting, we know that if you build your website with a marketing strategy in mind as a first step, this will lead to a better strategically designed website, leading to better website construction, design and Internet Implementation.
 
A website, built with a positive internet marketing strategy and message, will speak to your clients, generate a response, and greatly assist with its appeal to search engines and visitors alike.

A website that speaks to your clients’ challenges, with content that offers solutions to their issues, including testimonials about your services, will engage them to contact or purchase your product and/or services.

The importance of your website cannot be overstated, as 80% of buyers visit a website before contacting a business; this is due in part to the web’s influence in buying patterns since2005.

Your potential clients make decisions quickly as to whether they call you or ultimately buy from you.

Think of your website as the hub for your Marketing and Branding activities. No matter what marketing style you are using—direct mail, email, referral generation, PR, cold calling, etc.—this style is driving buyers to your website. Your website is the portal by which clients and prospects are using to learn more about you and your services.

They are searching for information to validate you as a professional in your field.

Your potential clients have a need for your service and your website must offer a solution to their problems. You must be able to speak to the challenges that your clients are facing.

If they find what they are looking for, they will take action. They go to your website to form an impression of you and interact with your brand.

FloodLight Consulting  – Build Your Business – 250-768-9415

http://www.floodlightconsulting.com/

http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/

A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand
by Dmitry

One of the key elements of building a strong brand is color selection. Every color has a different feel and various associations. By choosing a color or a combination of colors for your brand identity, you will take on those associations. Colors will evoke certain emotions and feelings towards your brand so it is vital to choose a color that will represent your identity effectively.

Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.

Why Color Matters
If you own a color in your industry, this color will symbolize your product. This can act as a great identifier. For example, if you sell physical goods, your packaging will stand out from the competition. The color will also be recognizable on any promotional media and your logos.

Where to start?
There is a great new tool which can help out with color selection called Cymbolism. It’s an interactive survey of color and word associations. Every page loads a new word, for which you have to select a color you feel best represents it. The results are then aggregated and you can see most popular associations either by color or by word.

To help you select the right color for your brand I’ve aggregated the results from Cymbolism, and also provided examples of logos that use each color: (Click on chart for full view )

These aren’t the top ten words that represent each color, these are just the words that happened to have been entered and processed by Cymbolism and came out on top. Having said this, the sample size is quite large and the selection should give you a decent indication of what a color stands for.

I’ve also included some multi-colored examples at the end. Some brands choose not to associate themselves with one color. Instead of two or three colors, they choose four or more. This represents variety. This makes sense for brands that are platforms or marketplaces as they host vast amount of different applications or goods.

There are also two more colors that haven’t made it on the list: black and white. These are arguably not even colors, and they will go well with pretty much everything you choose. White you probably shouldn’t use because you won’t be able to print the logo on white paper unless the white is used on a darker background. Black is a good complementary color to use and a lot of brands choose to have the text set in black because it is neutral and serious.

How to select your color
Look through the table above for a quick overview of what each color stands for. Some questions to ask yourself:

What color do you like?
What color represents your brand’s personality?
What color suits the characteristics of your product/service?
Color’s aren’t tied to any particular industry — though some may be better suited for some services/products than others. You should aim to pick a color that will represent your brand’s personality best. One that will give your customers the right impression the first time they see it.

You aren’t limited to one color. Some brands like eBay choose to go with many colors to represent variety — but you can also choose a couple of colors that work well together.

Consider differences in cultural interpretations of your color. For example in the Western world, white is considered the color of purity and peace, however, in some parts of Asia white is the color of death. Make sure the color you select will give the right impressions in the markets you’re present in.

At the end of the day, the color you choose should be something you like, not just something you worked out through a formula. The brand colors tell others something about your company, but it is also something you should get behind and enjoy. If you don’t like the colors in your logo, then you won’t very happy seeing it every day on your stationery, your website and your product packaging. Select something that represents your company, but at the same time something that you like as well.

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