By Marcia Yudkin

A brand goes beyond a company name and tagline. It is a complete personality or set of values, sometimes even a story line, along with repeated visual, auditory and behavioral elements. When you decide to invest in creating a brand, follow these guidelines to ensure that you get your money’s worth:

1. Be distinctive. You’ll land your company in expensive legal hot water if you attempt to steal or encroach on another company’s identity. Apart from legalities, you tend to get the most bang for your branding buck when you generate a powerful contrast with competitors’ images. Do something different.

Smartfood popcorn’s glossy black bags still stand out on store shelves as few other food products do. And what macaroni-and-cheese maker besides Annie’s offers free “Be Green” bumper stickers and information about the company mascot, a real rabbit named Bernie, on the packaging?

2. Repeat, repeat, repeat! The more times your slogans, logo, stories, colors, themes, values and other elements come before your intended public, the greater their effect. Normally, if you have XXXXX dollars to spend this year spreading awareness of your brand, you’re better off creating thousands of small impressions than spending it all on one blow-out event.

Think of the radio and TV ads that sing in your head while you’re trying to concentrate on something else. No matter how catchy those tunes, they wouldn’t do that if you heard them only once. The same goes for the world’s most creative bank logo. When prospective customers also see that image on magnets at their friends’ houses, on tote bags at the day care center, on thermoses in taxicabs and on the uniforms of the local softball league – then it’s really starting to make an impact.

3. Be consistent. Branding works best when you use the same colors, the same musical theme, the same company name and the same symbols in all company materials and environments. The store shouldn’t be called “O’Reilley’s” on T-shirts and “OReilleys” in the newspaper ad.

Sounds obvious, but even powerhouses like IBM have neglected this rule. In the early 1990’s, IBM had several hundred different logos and slogans circulating. In mid-1994, it laid down the law on which identity elements were authorized and which prohibited. Partly as a result, in 1995 IBM rose to the position of the world’s third most valuable brand from position number 282 the year before.

4. Be persistent. Those within a company will be tempted to change the image of a brand way before it’s time to do so. Never modify or update a central element of a brand just because you’re tired of it. If it’s working, it can continue working for decades.

Since the 1880’s, Ivory soap has successfully called itself “99 44/100% pure.” Marlboro has linked itself with cowboys since the 1950’s – and the brand has a current value of around $13 billion. Betty Crocker has changed her hairstyle, but she’s been wearing red and white since her first appearance on food products in 1921.

5. Don’t water it down. A brand must stand for something and must be linked with something specific in the minds of your public. When Packard, which had been America’s top luxury-brand car, suddenly announced in the 1940’s, “Now everyone can afford a Packard,” the company slid into deep trouble. Cadillac picked up buyers who’d previously wanted the cachet of a Packard.

6. Evolve as necessary. Brands may need to mutate when they’re perceived as misrepresenting a company that has changed or as out of step with the times. A dramatic example is the updating of Betty Crocker, who lost the original gray flecks in her hair over time and changed from homey-looking to dressed for success to more informally attired as society changed.

With bank mergers now epidemic, it’s crucial to try to keep brand equity going. When one bank does not simply swallow the other, designers have come up with elegant new combinations of old identity elements — one color from company A and one from company B, one syllable from each, a new shape incorporating symbols from both banks, etc.

7. Protect it. Registering a trademark gives you a measure of legal exclusivity on your brand identity, including sometimes even a color scheme, a product’s look and feel or an interior decorating scheme. Even so, you may need to police unauthorized usage of your brand elements by searching out offenders and sending cease-and-desist letters. Contact an intellectual property attorney for details.

Don’t let your brand name degenerate into a generic term. “Aspirin” used to be a brand name, as did “Escalator.” You may feel flattered that people are using your product, service or company name to stand for its entire category, but when that kind of usage becomes widespread it can open the door to competitors having legal license to trade upon the investment you’ve made in injecting that name into people’s minds.

About the Author: Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and ten other books hailed for outstanding creativity. Find out more about her new discount naming company, Named At Last, which brainstorms new company names, new product names, tag lines and more for cost-conscious organizations, at

NamedAtLast.com

.

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Submitted by: Mary Lorainne

In this current busy world of ours, the time to eat would probably be the time when the whole family could gather round, partake in the food and spend some quality time talking about how their day was. For any mother for that matter, preparing a meal for the family would probably be one of the most satisfying feelings that you get especially if your family enjoys your cooking. But the busy schedule of mothers who have their own careers doesn t give them the luxury of time to prepare and cook meals once they get home tired from work. Majority of them either order takeouts or have food delivered to the home. I strongly believe that a mother should at least even once or twice a month engage in cooking for a day or two for her family despite the busy schedule.

Choose recipes that you think you could well handle or prepare. Select those with ingredients that you are quite sure that your family would love and eat. It would also help the budget conscious to choose dishes requiring ingredients that you more or less have in your refrigerator or pantry to avoid purchasing a lot of ingredients. I know that there would certainly be some ingredients that you couldn t find in your kitchen but at least you would be buying only a few more items and you spend lesser time shopping for them. Take advantage also of items on sale. You could always concentrate your dishes for those ingredients that are currently being sold on sale for promotion. Kindly check your newspaper for sales being offered.

This is the best time for you to practice and put your cooking skills to work. To facilitate, prepare all the necessary ingredients that you will be using. If you will need the aid of a cookbook, I suggest that you write the recipe somewhere else to prevent from staining the book with spillage. Cook those recipes that require longer cooking time first, with the dishes requiring shorter cooking time last. I would even suggest that if you have other family members who would want to learn or basically love to cook, ask them to join and help you. They not only learn to prepare and cook new dishes, you get to bond as well.

As they say food nourishes not only the body but also the soul. Spend time to cook for your family.

About the Author: Mary Lorainne writes about

kitchen depot sale

,

Cookware discounts

and

Chef’sCorner promo

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Submitted by: Nick Jerrat

The use of search to source local services has exploded in recent times, in part driven by the new features of search engines to easily locate local businesses.

Google Places provides the

easiest and quickest

way to be listed near the top of a Google search for location specific keywords. As such, it is important to take advantage of your free business listing in Google Places.

Google Places allows you to easily add a one-page business listing using a simple web interface. You can add photos and videos to your listing and you can edit your business information anytime you wish. You can also add your business description and business categories. Google Places gives your business a

basic online presence

even if your business does not yet have a website. Your Google Places listing is used in Google Maps and local Google search when people type in keywords relating to your business.

Get listed

Creating a Google Places listing is easy. Visit http://www.google.com/places and follow the instructions. In some cases, your business will already be listed. If this is the case, you may claim your listing, check and edit business details and add additional details. You will be asked to verify your business information via mail, business phone or mobile. Google sends you a confirmation PIN which you can then use to verify your listing.

Managing your business listing

Once your listing goes live, it is important to manage it and keep it up-to-date. Here are some tips on how you can maximise the visibility of your Google Places listing:

Provide complete and accurate information

To help users and visitors find you easily,

make sure that your location is placed correctly on Google maps.

During setup, you may drag the map marker to your exact business location. Make sure your physical address points to a precise business location. You can also check the Google street view image to see if your business is shown. Google removes listings with PO boxes as these are not physical locations. If your business has a website, list your official business website because Google may use information from it to improve your search results. You may also provide information such as phone numbers, opening hours and payment terms.

Finally, you should add

photos and videos

to make your listing really stand out.

Include keywords and business categories

When adding your business name to the top of your listing, make sure to not include any marketing taglines, URLs or keywords, as your listing may not be approved. You may include any taglines or keywords below the heading in the business description field. For example, if your business is a restaurant in Sydney, make sure you include the search terms ‘Sydney restaurant’ and ‘restaurant in Sydney’ in your 200-character business description.

Take some time to choose the most

appropriate and specific business category

for your listing. You may select a category from a list that Google provides or you may enter your own category if you don’t see one that matches your business.

Get reviews

Ask your happy customers to review your local listing. Getting good reviews – in addition to accurate business information, keywords and categories – may improve your rankings in local searches. Make sure that you respond to your reviews too!

Follow Google Places Guidelines

Make sure that your listing obeys the guidelines set by Google as violations may suspend access to Google Places or other Google Services. You may view the guidelines at http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528

Some final words

Google Places is a free service every business should take advantage of. In some cases, it can result in a top of Google ranking for local searches, without the efforts needed to obtain a Google organic search listing. The best way to secure a high ranking in Google local search is to manage your listing well and maximise all the options and fields available in the listing with your business keywords.

About the Author: Nick Jerrat is the founder and Managing Director of

IdeaBank

, provider of innovative web design and web marketing services. He has worked with several businesses and clients across Australia including Tony Gattari of

Achievers Group

and

Peter Irvine

.

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