Brand Image

Whether you advertise online or offline, it can become a grueling and expensive experience, with no guarantees.

I’m sure that there is not a business out there that has ever done any kind of advertising, that hasn’t lost a bunch of money, advertising their hearts out.

Advertising is elusive. Excitement builds because you spend large amounts of money place your ads, guaranteeing you lots of exposure, and sales through the roof. You think that you can’t miss, that this is the one that will work, and you bet your money on it.

Then you wait, and wait and wait, until you relies that you have just poured your money down the drain, and got nothing but a bad headache, and a slightly lighter wallet, for your efforts.

So you pick yourself up and try again, because you are not a quitter. You say to yourself that the next one has to be better. So you repeat the process once again, and again, always waiting for your "lucky break".

Meanwhile, your pockets are slowly being emptied, and you don’t have any sales. Your "great business" is going down the drain alongside your hard earned dollars.

We know that the one thing that everyone needs, is people! Well, not just people, but people interested in buying your products.

Sometimes that can be the hardest thing to find, no matter how much effort, time and money you put into advertising.

There has to be a better way. After all, there are millions of people on the Internet making money right now, and they had to advertise their products to do it.

They must have heard about Jason Potash’s Article Announcer. It really is a treasure. We use it for our business, and would be lost without it. It cuts our advertising time from weeks and even months down to a few hours a day, or every second day. Which most people who advertise online know, can be a very time consuming, and daunting task, with few results.

The advertising that we have done, so far, is very cost effective. We have spent zero, yes, that’s right, zero dollars on advertising so far, using this program. This does not mean to say that all your advertising will be free forever, but the choice is now in your ball court. We have full control over where, when and how we advertise.

There are ways to get your products, and services out there without breaking the bank. You can target your adverting to the people who would be interested in buying from you, and want to buy from you, because your products, or services are, "just what they were looking for". It’s called Niche marketing, and is becoming more and more popular all the time.

Random advertising is now considered less effective than Niche marketing, and advertising through articles is now one of the hottest ways to advertise.

Labels: Advertising

As a PR professional, your job is to get free publicity. You’re responsible for getting the company’s name out there with no hype, just news. The challenge is clear but once you take the field, you’re ready to tackle an exciting career in PR. And you won’t be bored either.

You’ll be writing press releases, organizing news conferences and producing company newsletters. You’ll even be a liaison between the media and your company.

Be a grasshopper. You’ll be handling several different projects at once so you have to be multi-task oriented. You have to give each project 100 percent of your attention without neglecting the other projects.

Show your colors. Be a chameleon. You better like people. You’ll be dealing with them a lot. And you have to adapt to any situation and be open-minded at all times.
Learn how to dance. No, not literally. You must have energy and stamina. There will be many nights you’re rundown and burning the midnight oil but you’ll still have to keep that smile on your face.

Long live the king! You’re the court jester. Nobody’s calling you a fool, but you’ll be the one generating ideas so be prepared to advise the king.

You don’t need all of these traits but a little bit of each will be helpful. Once you organize your first press conference or speak to a TV reporter about your new product, you’ll know you made the right decision when you entered PR

By: Bobby G.

Labels: Advertising

There are a number of things you can do if you want to know for sure whether advertising works or not for you. The first of them is to give your ad a fair chance.

Follow these basic rules and enjoy learning what the best way is for you to advertise. If your advertising doesn’t work, it is probable that one of these rules has not been followed.

Rules for making your print advertising work

1. Give yourself a fair sample to evaluate. As a rule of thumb, you should take no fewer than 3 insertions in a weekly or monthly magazine and 5 insertions in a daily title. Only the fanatical reader will read front to back of every issue. You need to allow for readers going on vacation, or just those who might miss an issue. You also want to give them a fair chance to have a need for your product. You can only make a decision about whether a publication’s readership provides a viable source of leads once you have given them all a fair chance to respond.

2. Ensure your ad is given prominence. Why do the bad boys sit at the back of the class? So the teacher pays them less attention. In advertising you want to be right at the front of the class all the time. Unless you ask for it, you’re not going to get it. Always ask for a right-hand page (it really makes a big difference). Don’t be afraid to press for other positions too if you think they will make a difference. You can even make them bargaining chips in your negotiation. For example, "Promise me top-right of a right-hand page and I’ll book the ad now". Few Ad Sales reps will be able to resist that!

3. Compare results over a number of different media. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket � and don’t move sequentially from one media to the next until you find one that works. Test 3, 4 or more if you can, all at the same time so you can compare results like for like over the same timeframe.

4. Perform tests to maximize response. A fair test is one that is directly comparable to another. Ideally therefore, you should give each test exactly the same terms. (Same shelf life in the same publication). The sort of tests you can try include:

a. Headlines

b. Copy

c. Call to action

d. Ad size

e. Colour/mono

f. Other creative changes � register at Advertsuccess.com and get a free copy of "8 Creative Techniques for Small Press Advertisements", for more test examples.

5. Allow for differences between publications. Sometimes, certain media really do not work � even ones that we thought had to produce a ton of leads have been known to disappoint. There is normally a rational reason for it �perhaps it is not a readership that responds to classified advertisements; perhaps the readership figure is actually a lot lower than the circulation figure.

In our experience, we have found that controlled circulation or free publications are those most likely to produce disappointing results. It stands to reason after all, if you get something for free, you are less likely to read it from front to back than one you pay good money for.

You should allow for this in your campaign consideration so that you don’t expect too much from a publication that cannot deliver. There will be other criteria too that will affect what sort of response you should expect � criteria such as the circulation volume, demographics, frequency. Take account of these criteria when planning an acceptable level of response.

6. Beware the advice of your Ad sales rep. Whatever you do, if your advertisement gives disappointing results, be careful before you take the advice of your friendly sales rep. S/he will argue that you should try running it with a bigger size, perhaps to allow a larger headline or to give it a longer span so the readership have time to respond properly.

Remember, however helpful they are, media sales people have completely different motives to you. Of course they want your ad to work. Then you’ll be more likely to advertise again. But just remember, they get paid the same whether you get one response or a hundred. You don’t. Always remain in control of your ad spend and don’t let them tempt you to deviate from your budget.

I hope you will find this useful in planning your ad campaign. If you follow the advice I have given here, I am confident that you will enjoy more success with your print advertising campaigns.

By: Bobby G.

We all have a personal brand with social, cultural, intellectual, and personal needs that may not necessarily be addressed in our daily work. Address these needs and you begin to improve your brand. Here is my agenda for building your brand.

Join and participate in community and professional organizations Generate media coverage about your brand Stay in touch, or renew old ties with friends, family and business associates Let?s examine how each one improves your brand.

Join and participate in professional and community organizations The best brands grow, evolve and get better with time, while maintaining their special qualities from the past.

Professional and community organizations provide ample opportunity to learn and grow.

They provide professional development opportunities. They allow you to network with peers as well as with people you would not necessarily ever meet in the normal course of your workday.

For instance, I am a member and served on the board of our local International Association of Business Communicators chapter. This allowed me to broaden my contacts in the corporate communications world, as well as form a number of friendships I probably never would have developed. I?m also a member of the North Carolina Citizens For Business and Industry. Here I meet people from all walks of life and all work disciplines. Finally, I am involved with Charlotte Reads, a local non-profit that focuses on literacy issues. This allows me to use my communication experience in support of an issue I feel very strongly about.

But it?s not enough to just join groups: you must participate to benefit fully. As a participant you have the opportunity to stretch, to gain confidence in yourself. Learn to lead by involvement on the board or in a special project.

If you are a communicator by trade, try being treasurer for the group to exercise the other side of your brain, or take on a special project about which you feel strongly.

Generate media coverage about your brand

All that professional and community involvement will certainly lead to opportunities to leverage that involvement into news about the brand called you. And, of course, there will be promotions, new assignments, and awards at work, too. More opportunities to make headlines.

Your achievements are of interest to local print, broadcast, and online media, particularly the business pages. In Charlotte, the Observer has a weekly feature called On The Move spotlighting someone in a new position. The Charlotte Business Journal has a similar feature called Moving Up. If it is a big enough move and your company won?t do it, pay the estimated $150 to place it on BusinessWire or PR Newswire. Consider it an investment in your future. Don?t forget trade publications serving your industry and alumni publications.

Seek out speaking engagements and write uest articles, too. This is yet another way to publicize your brand. And don?t forget to do news releases when you make a speech or write an article. It?s all about merchandising.

To stay top of mind, you might even want to develop your own monthly e-newsletter like Think, the Hoover ink publication. Keep it mostly informational and limit the commercial material.

Yet another reason for having a monthly newsletter that shares your expertise.

The network of contacts you have built over your lifetime will be instrumental if you decide to start your own business, or change jobs.

So, heed this word of advice: always deal fairly with people. One bad experience with your brand can negate 10 positive ones.

Now, get out there and start branding.

By: Bobby G.

Labels: brand

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: The More Time You Spend on Researching, the Better

Here’s How:

1.Be realistic. If you live in Jakarta, have no experience and have only been submitting your info to top agencies, it’s time to re-evaluate your plan.

2.Contact a variety of agencies by mail. No one likes receiving cold calls or Emails from someone they don’t know. If you insist on calling, send a letter first. Wait a few weeks and then call to introduce yourself and verify they received your materials.

3.There’s no harm in contacting a variety of agencies but do your research. Check advertising job Web sites and your local newspaper to see who’s hiring. If someone’s got a position available, you’ve got a greater chance of being contacted than by someone you’ve blindly sent materials to.

4.Don’t be afraid to intern. Holding out for a paid position may sound like a great idea but think of all the experience you could’ve gained with an agency while you were waiting for the phone to ring.

5.Use your time wisely. Many agencies turn their interns into paid employees. But at the very least, you’ll be able to add this experience to your resume.

6.Don’t call out your lack of experience in a cover letter. It’s better to say nothing at all than to say, "While I have no experience…"

7.Don’t lie in your cover letter and resume. If you’ve been selling shoes for the past 10 years, don’t worry about sending a resume unless a job listing specifically tells you to do so. It may sound like an obvious no-no but many potential employees haven’t been hired because of untruthful info. Don’t get bitten by lies. Just be honest.

8.If you’re seeking a position as a copywriter or graphic designer, end SPEC ads as part of your package. (For more information on how SPEC ads can help, see the Related Resources at the bottom of this page.)

9.Contact the right person. Who’s the Creative Director? Don’t know? Find out. Always use the person’s name instead of "To Whom It May Concern." And don’t use "Dear Joe" instead of Dear Mr. Smith."

10.Contact smaller agencies. They may be short-handed at certain times of the year and need extra help. This could lead to a regular paying position.

11.Be persistent. Don’t hound an ad agency with mailing after mailing and call after call. But do be persistent and continue to mail an agency periodically if you’re still seeking a position.

Eventually, your name will keep coming up and the appropriate person will know who you are.

Tips:

Be professional. Dress like you want the job. It may seem like a no-brainer but many job candidates have blown it by mistaking ad agencies as casual and laid back. If you find out everyone wears jeans to the office after you’ve got the job, that’s one thing.

Why do you want this job? Why are you the right person for it? What makes you think you’d be a good fit for the agency? These are all questions that you should know the answers to. Prepare ahead of time. You never know if they’ll come up during the interview.

If asked if you have any questions, don’t say, "When do I start?" You don’t want to come off arrogant or cocky. You can show confidence ifn yourself without being conceited.

Don’t call right after an interview. They told you they’d have a decision by Wednesday. Don’t call on Tuesday or even Wednesday morning to find out if you got the job. Call late Wednesday afternoon, if you must, but waiting until Thursday or Friday is even better. You never know their schedule. They may have had to delay their decision because of an unforeseen problem.

Labels: Agency

The headline should summarise the whole offer. It should grab the eye, and make you want to read the subheading. The headline should intrigue and captivate the reader. It’s sole aim is to make the reader continue on to read the body text. You should take great time and trouble over the headline. Lets say we’re selling a book on home security, yes, I know, boring and you might start with something like this:

"CRIME FIGURES UP"

This is very bad, but typical of an amateur. People don’t care about ‘crime statistics’. That’s boring, they only care about their own house or car being broken into. OK, how about this:

IS YOUR HOME AT RISK?

A bit better, but not brilliant. it does personalise it and does play on peoples fear. It’s still pretty weak though. What we need is a headline that will grab you by the throat and force you to read on. How about this:

HOW TO BURGLE YOUR OWN HOUSE AND STEAL YOUR OWN CAR

Now that’s what I call a ‘killer’ headline. You’ve just got to read on, haven’t you? Always think very carefully about your headline. Make it extremely intriguing, interesting or exciting. If you’re selling a ’straight’ product, then use a slightly different approach, the headline should state what the product is, with a few adjectives in front. Say for a Tea Trolley, your headline would be:

New, Italian, Fold-away TEA TROLLEY

There should also be a picture of the product. the picture and the headline simply act to grab the eye of anyone who is remotely interested in purchasing this type of product.

Rule Two:- The Subheading

The subheading should expand upon the story hinted in the main heading, and draw the reader inexorably into reading the body text. Subheadings for straight products should outline the main features and benefits of the product. Again, boring, but this is what works, A subheading for the Tea Trolley would be:

"New from Italy, Lightweight, Fold-away Trolley is available in your choice of three colours."
As I say, boring, but this is what works, so don’t try and get clever or ‘arty’.

Here’s the subheading for the security book:

"I’ve nicked hundreds of cars and done over fifty burglaries. Would you like to know what I’ve got in mind for YOUR place?"
Brilliant, or what??!! You’ve just got to read into the body text, haven’t you?
Remember this is the MAIN function of the heading and subheading. Notice the quotes, it seems as though the guy was talking to YOU, the reader of the advert, but the quotes imply that it is just something that this burglar said, some time ago, to whoever it was he was speaking to.

Rule Three:- The Copy
Always overstate the product, but within the bounds of truth and reasonableness!
For some reason long copy, sell books. People will actually read an entire page of text if the story is strong enough. for straight products, the body of the text really just gives the feature and benefits, together with a slight allusion to an improvement in lifestyle.

A classic piece of rubbish for the security book would be:
"We at ACME security have been leaders in the field of home security for over seventy years, winning the Queens award for industry on at least five occasions."

So what? Who cares? What’s that got to do with ME?
Here’s an important little technique which can be used to fascinate your readers. it’s the ‘reverse’ technique. In this technique, you take what is considered an obvious and well know fact about your subject, and then state the exact opposite in your advert.

We all know that in order to keep burglars out, we have to lock doors. Right? I mean, that’s obvious. OK we’re going to take this obvious fact and simply state the exact opposite. like this:

Why leaving doors UNLOCKED can sometimes be better than locking them.

"How can this be?" you ask yourself.

Why fitting a car alarm can sometimes result in car thieves flocking to break into your car.

"What’s that?!! surely with an alarm fitted, they’ll give your car a miss?" Well it depends. There are several reasons why sometimes (which is all I said) the opposite might be true. For example, if you have a car alarm then that means you have something worth stealing. also car thieves are full of machismo and they like stealing difficult cars, they stay clear of the easy ones because there’s not enough danger and excitement. Most car alarms can be bypassed. Get the idea?

Labels: brand

A recent survey of advertising agency employees revealed a whopping 66 percent are more creative in the morning. Only 14 percent say they’re more creative at night. The other 20 percent were more creative at various times throughout the day.

Capitalizing on everyone’s brightest ideas isn’t impossible, though. There are certain factors you can add to the working environment to make sure you’re getting the most out of the creative process.

Meeting Space

So you want to have a morning meeting? What does that mean for Jenny? She’s already said she does her best thinking at night.

The first thing you want to do is make your meeting space comfortable.

Right on Target

You just landed a huge client: Granny Grable’s Green Beans. So much to do. You need a brochure, POP, Web page and a print ad campaign.

Focus on one project at a time. Instead of getting everyone’s thoughts on the size of the brochure and then moving on to the type of POP that would be most effective, just take it step-by-step.

Start with the slogan for Granny Grable’s Green Beans. Get everyone’s best one-liners. Then you can move on to other tasks - but give each one its own segment of time.

Getting Matt’s ideas on the brochure, Jenny’s ideas on the Web page and you’re just left with a bunch of cluttered ideas. Those thoughts could’ve been worked into a great ad campaign if they’d been given the proper attention. Now they’re just forgotten and the stress kicks in as your deadline approaches.

Don’t Shatter Their Light Bulbs

If you haven’t already, develop a "No Bad Ideas" policy. It seems so trivial but you wouldn’t believe how many great ideas never make it to the table. Some people are still afraid of being embarrassed – or even worse - having their thought being proclaimed: BAD IDEA.

Build on Those Light Bulbs

You have your "No Bad Ideas" policy in place. Now take those ideas and build on them. Matt has a great idea. Jenny offers her input on Matt’s idea. And so on.

Allow and encourage everyone to take a good idea, build on it and turn it into solid, profitable advertising.

Feed the Fire

A lot of people ignore the most basic of human needs. We all need energy!

Add fuel to your creative fire with food and drinks. If Jenny’s hungry, she’s going to be more focused on what she’s going to have for lunch than how she can improve the brochure copy for Granny Grable’s Green Beans.

When incorporating these five fundamentals into your creative process, don’t limit everyone’s ideas to meetings. Keep an "Open Door" policy.

Labels: Image

While Brand X cola or even Pepsi-Cola may win blind taste tests over Coca Cola, the fact is that more people buy Coke than any other cola and, most importantly, they enjoy the experience of buying and drinking Coca Cola. The fond memories of childhood and refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a little bit better cola taste. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful.

What makes up a brand identity?

A good brand name gives a good first impression, is easy to remember, and evokes positive associations with the brand. The positioning statement tells, in one sentence, what business the company is in, what benefits it provides and why it is better than the competition. Imagine you’re in an elevator and you have 30 seconds to answer the question, "What business are you in?" The category descriptor lets your customers know what "hook" to put your branding on in their mind. Linking your internal organizational values with your brand builds trust with your customers. Brand archetype and personality adds emotion, culture and myth to the brand identity by the use of a famous spokesperson (Bill Cosby - Jello), a character (the Pink Panther), an animal (the Merrill Lynch bull) or an image (You’re in good hands with Allstate).

Brand associations are the attributes that customers think of when they hear or see the brand name. Ideally, you want customers to think of what they want from the brand (e.g., reliability and the benefits of reliability) and then associate that attribute with your brand name.

Is Branding just for large companies?

No, BrandSolutions’ process can be applied to any business, organization, or product. The techniques of branding have been kept secret for many years because they provided a competitive advantage to those companies that used them. Our process takes the proven principles of branding used by companies like Microsoft, P&G, GE, and Coca Cola and puts them into a simple, understandable, and easy-to-use process. This process can be used by retailers, service businesses, manufacturers, businesses, and organizations of all types and sizes.

How do we determine our brand identity?

Brand has been called the most powerful idea in the commercial world, yet few companies consciously create a brand identity. Do you want your company’s brand identity created for you by competitors and unhappy customers? Of course not. Our advice to executives is to research their customers and find the top ranked reasons that customers buy their products rather than their competitors. Then pound that message home in every ad, in every news release, in communications with employees, in every sales call, and every media interview. By consistent repetition of the most persuasive selling messages, customers will think of you and buy from you when they are deciding on whether to buy from you or your competitor.

Labels: brand