Having a brand image is not a “have or have not” proposition. Everyone has one. The problem is that you might have more than one brand image, depending on whom you ask. You know yourself, but depending on whom you talk to, others may think you’re something completely different. That’s when a brand image company can help. You need to consider hiring a brand image company that identifies your most powerful brand image and then works to make it your only brand image. The phrase “brand image” gained notoriety when sales patterns began to show that feelings and visuals associated with brands were powerful motivators to purchase products. It isn’t just products that consumers buy. It’s their associated personalities and values.
People like people who are like them and value the things they value. The same goes for brands. People will buy products whose brands represent things they value and like, whether it’s fun, power, money, intelligence or numerous other qualities. Sometimes, a brand can be powerfully focused when it’s associated with an actual person who has the same type of attributes with which a company is trying to brand a product, such as, for instance, Chunky Soup and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb: hearty, strong and reliable.
Great brand images are instant, positive and unique among competitors. Brand images can be reinforced through such vehicles as packaging, ads, promotions, customer service and word-of-mouth.
Good brand images are easy to see. Volvo is a good one. Immediately you think “safety.” That’s a brand image. A weak brand image, on the other hand, elicits a slower and less certain reaction. What does GM stand for? Who knows? But GM has a few strong sub-brands. Everyone knows what a Corvette is about…HIGH-SPEED FUN!
Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.
Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.
This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.
Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.
Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.
Those who visit the internet are always happy for some extra cash. Social networking sites, which are very popular recently, offer them a new channel. Theses sites allow people from different background to get together to share and exchange information. Now let’s talk about how you can make a profit using these sites.
As we all know, one of the fastest ways of marketing is through word of mouth. If you get some good reviews of your website, products or services, chances are many more people will stop by your website. Advertising is all about making good use of this word of mouth communication, socializing with people who have similar interests grouped together is one good way. However, the hardest part is to find a suitable social networking site. If the genre you pick is too broad, there will be fierce competitions. If it’s too narrow, the customer base will be too small to make a profit from. Your choice should neither be too popular nor too exclusive.
It is proven fact that things of one kind come together, it is also true to human beings. Those who share similar interests are more than likely to stay with each other, which can be utilized by business people. This offers you a potential core customer base and all you need to do is finding their common interests. These people also socialize with other groups, if your products work well for one group, the news will travel fast.
However, to foster such a big influence, you need to be someone of good character on the social network site, maybe one of the leaders of a certain group. You also need to remember by heart that you can only benefit from long-term relationships. Regular greetings with you friends online go a long way.
Yet social networking sites have another advantage over traditional strategies. You will be able to keep up with what your customers need. By constant communication with your customers who are also your friends on these sites and promoting your products by MySpace layouts, you can get the latest information you need to upgrade your products and services. Considering the large amount of dollars businesses splash out on marketing campaigns and advertisements, there won’t be any methods that are more cost effective than social networking sites because they are usually free to register.
There is no doubt that places like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are growing everyday and the trend will continue. This is a huge potential for business people, every single new registered user can be their customers in the future. Now go find the suitable social networking site for you and have your business grow with them.
Did you realise that it is really possible to get a mobile completely free of charge includingfree line rental? What that means is that you can get a free cell phone handset with free inclusive text messages and free inclusive minutes without paying a bean for them!By now your thinking that this is a bogus deal, but rest assured this deal is completely legitimate!The way to benefit is to play mobile phone shops at their own game. Understand this, mobile companies promote 12 month free line rental deals to get prosepective buyers through the door. They then attach lots of clauses to the offers to lower the numbers of people that actually take out and correctly obtain a 12 month free line rental deal.Free line rental mobile offers operate by the customer sign up for a mobile phone contract as normal, and make sure they pay the bill as they would with any other contract. Then, at pre defined dates within the 12 month term of the mobile contract you need to claim cash back. At this point the retailer who sold you the mobile sends out a cheque. Typically three individual claims need to be made before you recover all of the cost of your mobile phone.Now, the retailers make this process pretty difficult, as they stipulate that you provide phone bills (which may be lost). They also stipulate certain days for the claim to be made (which you may not remember) and impose various other loopholes and tricks. This is why you must be smart and beat them at their own game!Fully read the contract, record all dates, do not lose the paperwork and make your claim punctual and you should geta mobile completely free for 12 months!The simple fact is the retailers don’t mind throwing away a small number of these handsets free of charge as it is a good publicity for them. Being able to push “cost free cellular phones” promotes the standing of their store, and, as they recognize just a few customers are likely to jump past all the clauses essential to obtain a 12 months free line rental deal, it doesn’t really cost that much money!A 12 months free line rental promotion may not be the best for everyone as you have to be organised and be sure you properly finish all of the steps of the claim properly, but, a 12 months free line rental deal is definately something worth considering if you are price conscious.