Saturday, January 12, 2008
THE POWER OF BEING THE BRAND (PART2) - by Michelle van der Heyde
- by Michelle van der Heyde
We have already established that "brand" can also be defined as the recognition and personal connection that forms in the hearts and minds of your customers and other key audiences through their collective experiences with your brand (at every point of contact). Ideally the brand that emerges is a positive one, leading to trust, loyalty and advocacy for your offerings, increasing shareholder value and establishing long-term advantage in the marketplace. [Partial Info by (allaboutbranding.com)]
Are you the new brand on the block? Info by (allaboutbranding.com)
When building a new brand, the following four disciplines can be viewed from 1- 4 as sequential phases of development. However, when working with existing brands, each of the disciplines operates concurrently - they are interdependent and work together over time.
1)brand strategy
2)brand identity
3)brand management
4)brand experience.
Brand Strategy - Its purpose is to understand key aspects of a company's business, its marketplace, its customers and other key audiences, and then to use these insights to define an appropriate brand strategy. This sets the foundation for all other branding activities.
Brand Identity - Informed and directed by the Brand Strategy elements, the Brand Identity discipline provides the highly distinctive outward expressions of the company's values, personality and promise its identity system consisting of elements such as the name and logo that are used repeatedly to provide instant recognition in a crowded marketplace. It also expresses the organization's purpose and personality through a well-defined color palette, a characteristic design system and additional verbal branding such as a tagline and category-defining phrases for products and services.
Brand Management - The inclusion of the Brand Management discipline at this point in the process of brand creation an development, is critical for the three key functions it provides:
- Planning coordinated launch and delivery of brand messages, both internally and externally.
- Actively cultivating brand understanding, adoption and ability among employees and other involved in creating the customer's brand experience.
- Setting up a system and tools for monitoring and assessing the brand's health, to evolve the brand strategy, identity, experience and management over time.
These functions make brand management an essential discipline, both for rolling out new brands and for managing existing brands to best effect. It is the guiding hand that promotes the brand, protects its integrity and moves it forward.
Brand Experience - A customer's experience with a brand should be the result coordinated communications and company contacts. The goal of the Brand Experience discipline, however, is to enable companies to design a range of experiences that customers and other audiences will find meaningful, memorable, and associate explicitly with your brand. Doing this is the surest path to building brand trust, loyalty and advocacy.
Use My Name?
Yes, why not? If you have a criminal record, or you are an illegal alien I donât recommend this (as I said, the internet remembers everything). However, if you still feel compelled, make up an Internet ID, a nickname that is unique to you. With millions if not billions of internet users on the planet that will be hard so it has to be a creative nickname, keep it simple, check the search engines so you donât duplicate and then register it as your domain name.
However, if you are not any kind of trouble and havenât ever been before, then USE YOUR NAME AS YOUR BRAND! If you use your name as a brand, register it as a trademark (same rule applies for the nickname). I donât recommend that you use your name as your domain name, but I do recommend registering all domains under your name. You could register one domain with the same name as you, but it may lower your search-engine rankings as it is not a sought after name yet. The only benefit of it would be its uniqueness, which would fly out the window as soon as someone else registers the same or a similar name (especially if you have a more common name like John Smith). Therefore, it makes more sense to first become established, and then register a domain with your name. This method has had its successes, for example Oprah Winfrey, who was first established and then launched her website. Her website was and still is unstoppable, because âOprah Winfreyâ was and is a very much sought after term.
Do you remember what I said (in Part 1) about the enormous advantages that some Billionaires found in BEING their brand? If you donât remember, âGO BACK TO THE BEGINNING, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200!â because you are obviously not paying attention. Billionaires have become billionaires mostly because of business savvy and good branding. Becoming the brand that your target audiences love and trust is hard work. However the benefits of being the loved and trusted brand, include, but are not limited to (1) Endorsements, (2) Sponsorships, (3) FREE stuff, (4) Ownership and the choice to expand.
1) Being the endorser. The endorser gets paid, just for saying: âI like it!â Of course he/ she has to have a signed deal in place before they say it, or they donât have to get paid. Maybe it sounds a little cheap, but if you look at their bank accounts, you wonât think so anymore. Unfortunately, as with everything, you take some risk adding your name to a product. Many sports stars have gotten extremely wealthy by endorsing products and getting sponsored. Endorsements and Sponsorships can be the same, but arenât necessarily.
2) Getting Sponsorship. Imagine the sponsor is called âSuper Sponsorâ (just because I donât want to implicate anyone). People with âfamous facesâ can get sponsorship from just about anyone, for just about anything. The reason is that the âSuper Sponsorâ wants the person with the âfamous faceâ (a trusted brand), to give publicity to the sponsor (âSuper Sponsorâ) by publicly giving credit to the sponsor, (possibly in from of the press or tv) and letting the media know, that âSuper sponsorâ is a generous type of company. Publicity like this seems pointless, but itâs not, because not only did âSuper sponsorâ re-establish his position in our minds and memories, but also gave us a reason to like him (positive publicity).
3) FREE stuff. Famous people get free stuff. Not too much, but more than you think. This is a marketing gimmick used by high priced manufacturers, etc. who hope that they would either get an endorsement deal or just a very loyal customer. They market to the ones they believe will be able to buy from them - they are right to do so. This also increases the likelihood that the fans of the famous would pick up the trend. Donât misunderstand, low priced manufacturers sometimes try this too, but not usually on the famous, as it is not believable advertising. This advertising is usually done in some form of free samples, a survey or a competition.
4) Ownership and the Choice to expand. Smart people who have used their names efficiently (as a brand), like Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump, etc., choose to own the companies they built on those names. Iâm not saying that they are the sole owners, (I would not pretend to know), but owning your company, your name and your website, will be the difference between becoming an extremely wealthy person to being the one who is at the mercy of the rest of âthe boardâ. More to the point, the benefit of ownership is control. The ability to expand your business, expand your branding, expand your targeted customers and/or audience and the freedom to consider many new ways of advertising, e.g. a reality tv show - why not?
How are you going to do it?
Step 1: Iâve already discussed the domain name with you. Your job is to find a decent web host, open an account and purchase a domain, which you could register under the guidelines Iâve already mentioned. Choose a web host that allows you to have unlimited websites per domain, because it is more cost-effective and it is a lot faster. There are many that offer this, so donât just quit if you donât find it immediately! It is best to keep the domain name kind of general, because youâll want to use it more than once. The cost of the domain should be approximately US$20 to US$30 (maybe a little more or less), in which case it should be valid for about one year. The longer you want it for, the more youâll pay, so get the deal that works for you. Before you just join any web hosting service, visit every scam site you can find, to make sure you donât repeat everyone elseâs mistakes. A word of warning, donât choose a domain name that includes profanities or anything else that your friendâs great grandmother wonât like to read. You can do what you want, but bad language, etc. will make step three a lot more difficult. Your web host should have plenty of tutorials to help you set up your website or at least a brilliant customer service. Choose a marketable idea, like for example shoes, etc. Once you have chosen your topic (a good and at least semi-wholesome one), to feature on your site, make sure that you name yourself as the author of your page - again see customer service.
Step 2: Write an article that is content rich, keyword rich and relevant to your website, and donât forget to name yourself as the author. Warning: DO NOT COMMIT PLAGIARISM!
If you have used some information gathered from other sites, give credit appropriately.
Now that you have your article, insert a link, not a hyperlink, but the entire link, e.g. http://www.fantasticebooks.biz/business.html (exactly like your page address). Do this a few times in the article, in appropriate places.
Step 3: In your search engine youâll find many sites that accept articles for free - make use of them, as they serve the purpose of free publicity. Open an account in as many as you can, and publish your article. This process can be made easier and faster with the variety of article submission software available of the market today. Make sure that the author info; the category and the links are correct, before publishing it. Remember how I warned you about choosing a decent name for your domain? Well, hereâs why: your links contain the full version of your name, which is accepted as part of your article, when you publish it. Websites that publish articles for free, not only screen your articles (for profanities, inactive links, too many links, pornographic materials, and inappropriate text, all of which will cause them to reject your article), but some may even âblacklistâ you from their site, for attempting to distribute inappropriate content. Read the specific article submission guidelines of each site before publishing.
Publishing articles increases your chances of getting a high ranking on search-engines, but if your keywords, page descriptions, etc. on your site (see customer service) are not up to par, it will take much longer than it needs to. There are some sites that will be able to help you with this (some will do it for free, but unfortunately most wonât). My site, http://www.FantasticEbooks.biz/business.html features a variety of software & e-books, which can guide you or even do it for you (if you are slightly new or uncertain of what to do, when and where). Getting your name on the web as many times as possible (in a positive way though), and using all that fame to generate money, is the way the grown-ups are doing it. Becoming a loved and trusted brand, on the Internet, is easier than on television, radio or print. If you donât believe me, give it your best shot and see what happens.
In the very beginning (part 1), I asked you to imagine a person, who has no company, no shareholders, no website, no physical brand other than their name. Imagine that person to be a billionaire. Itâs not impossible, but it seems rather impossible if not extraordinarily improbable, doesnât it? I mean, Iâm sure there are such people out there, but why donât we know their names?
So letâs mix it up a little. Imagine a person, who has no company, no shareholders, no physical brand other than their name and their website. Could you imagine this person to be a billionaire? Seems kind of realistic now, doesnât it? There are definitely such people out there.
Could you imagine one of these people to be you? It is your choice...
To read PART 1, which I highly recommend, go to http://www.Fantasticebooks.biz/business.html
Michelle van der Heyde (born 1985 in South Africa), is not only an active and successful affiliate marketer, but she is also the sole owner of www.FantasticEbooks.biz
We are not affiliated with the website www.gurucreation.com. We have linked to this website becauase we feel that it is a useful resource for for those looking to make money online.
Make Money Online
THE POWER OF BEING THE BRAND (PART2) - by Michelle van der Heyde
THE POWER OF BEING THE BRAND (PART 2)
- by Michelle van der Heyde
We have already established that "brand" can also be defined as the recognition and personal connection that forms in the hearts and minds of your customers and other key audiences through their collective experiences with your brand (at every point of contact). Ideally the brand that emerges is a positive one, leading to trust, loyalty and advocacy for your offerings, increasing shareholder value and establishing long-term advantage in the marketplace. [Partial Info by (allaboutbranding.com)]
Are you the new brand on the block? Info by (allaboutbranding.com)
When building a new brand, the following four disciplines can be viewed from 1- 4 as sequential phases of development. However, when working with existing brands, each of the disciplines operates concurrently - they are interdependent and work together over time.
1)brand strategy
2)brand identity
3)brand management
4)brand experience.
Brand Strategy - Its purpose is to understand key aspects of a company's business, its marketplace, its customers and other key audiences, and then to use these insights to define an appropriate brand strategy. This sets the foundation for all other branding activities.
Brand Identity - Informed and directed by the Brand Strategy elements, the Brand Identity discipline provides the highly distinctive outward expressions of the company's values, personality and promise its identity system consisting of elements such as the name and logo that are used repeatedly to provide instant recognition in a crowded marketplace. It also expresses the organization's purpose and personality through a well-defined color palette, a characteristic design system and additional verbal branding such as a tagline and category-defining phrases for products and services.
Brand Management - The inclusion of the Brand Management discipline at this point in the process of brand creation an development, is critical for the three key functions it provides:
- Planning coordinated launch and delivery of brand messages, both internally and externally.
- Actively cultivating brand understanding, adoption and ability among employees and other involved in creating the customer's brand experience.
- Setting up a system and tools for monitoring and assessing the brand's health, to evolve the brand strategy, identity, experience and management over time.
These functions make brand management an essential discipline, both for rolling out new brands and for managing existing brands to best effect. It is the guiding hand that promotes the brand, protects its integrity and moves it forward.
Brand Experience - A customer's experience with a brand should be the result coordinated communications and company contacts. The goal of the Brand Experience discipline, however, is to enable companies to design a range of experiences that customers and other audiences will find meaningful, memorable, and associate explicitly with your brand. Doing this is the surest path to building brand trust, loyalty and advocacy.
Use My Name?
Yes, why not? If you have a criminal record, or you are an illegal alien I donât recommend this (as I said, the internet remembers everything). However, if you still feel compelled, make up an Internet ID, a nickname that is unique to you. With millions if not billions of internet users on the planet that will be hard so it has to be a creative nickname, keep it simple, check the search engines so you donât duplicate and then register it as your domain name.
However, if you are not any kind of trouble and havenât ever been before, then USE YOUR NAME AS YOUR BRAND! If you use your name as a brand, register it as a trademark (same rule applies for the nickname). I donât recommend that you use your name as your domain name, but I do recommend registering all domains under your name. You could register one domain with the same name as you, but it may lower your search-engine rankings as it is not a sought after name yet. The only benefit of it would be its uniqueness, which would fly out the window as soon as someone else registers the same or a similar name (especially if you have a more common name like John Smith). Therefore, it makes more sense to first become established, and then register a domain with your name. This method has had its successes, for example Oprah Winfrey, who was first established and then launched her website. Her website was and still is unstoppable, because âOprah Winfreyâ was and is a very much sought after term.
Do you remember what I said (in Part 1) about the enormous advantages that some Billionaires found in BEING their brand? If you donât remember, âGO BACK TO THE BEGINNING, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200!â because you are obviously not paying attention. Billionaires have become billionaires mostly because of business savvy and good branding. Becoming the brand that your target audiences love and trust is hard work. However the benefits of being the loved and trusted brand, include, but are not limited to (1) Endorsements, (2) Sponsorships, (3) FREE stuff, (4) Ownership and the choice to expand.
1) Being the endorser. The endorser gets paid, just for saying: âI like it!â Of course he/ she has to have a signed deal in place before they say it, or they donât have to get paid. Maybe it sounds a little cheap, but if you look at their bank accounts, you wonât think so anymore. Unfortunately, as with everything, you take some risk adding your name to a product. Many sports stars have gotten extremely wealthy by endorsing products and getting sponsored. Endorsements and Sponsorships can be the same, but arenât necessarily.
2) Getting Sponsorship. Imagine the sponsor is called âSuper Sponsorâ (just because I donât want to implicate anyone). People with âfamous facesâ can get sponsorship from just about anyone, for just about anything. The reason is that the âSuper Sponsorâ wants the person with the âfamous faceâ (a trusted brand), to give publicity to the sponsor (âSuper Sponsorâ) by publicly giving credit to the sponsor, (possibly in from of the press or tv) and letting the media know, that âSuper sponsorâ is a generous type of company. Publicity like this seems pointless, but itâs not, because not only did âSuper sponsorâ re-establish his position in our minds and memories, but also gave us a reason to like him (positive publicity).
3) FREE stuff. Famous people get free stuff. Not too much, but more than you think. This is a marketing gimmick used by high priced manufacturers, etc. who hope that they would either get an endorsement deal or just a very loyal customer. They market to the ones they believe will be able to buy from them - they are right to do so. This also increases the likelihood that the fans of the famous would pick up the trend. Donât misunderstand, low priced manufacturers sometimes try this too, but not usually on the famous, as it is not believable advertising. This advertising is usually done in some form of free samples, a survey or a competition.
4) Ownership and the Choice to expand. Smart people who have used their names efficiently (as a brand), like Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump, etc., choose to own the companies they built on those names. Iâm not saying that they are the sole owners, (I would not pretend to know), but owning your company, your name and your website, will be the difference between becoming an extremely wealthy person to being the one who is at the mercy of the rest of âthe boardâ. More to the point, the benefit of ownership is control. The ability to expand your business, expand your branding, expand your targeted customers and/or audience and the freedom to consider many new ways of advertising, e.g. a reality tv show - why not?
How are you going to do it?
Step 1: Iâve already discussed the domain name with you. Your job is to find a decent web host, open an account and purchase a domain, which you could register under the guidelines Iâve already mentioned. Choose a web host that allows you to have unlimited websites per domain, because it is more cost-effective and it is a lot faster. There are many that offer this, so donât just quit if you donât find it immediately! It is best to keep the domain name kind of general, because youâll want to use it more than once. The cost of the domain should be approximately US$20 to US$30 (maybe a little more or less), in which case it should be valid for about one year. The longer you want it for, the more youâll pay, so get the deal that works for you. Before you just join any web hosting service, visit every scam site you can find, to make sure you donât repeat everyone elseâs mistakes. A word of warning, donât choose a domain name that includes profanities or anything else that your friendâs great grandmother wonât like to read. You can do what you want, but bad language, etc. will make step three a lot more difficult. Your web host should have plenty of tutorials to help you set up your website or at least a brilliant customer service. Choose a marketable idea, like for example shoes, etc. Once you have chosen your topic (a good and at least semi-wholesome one), to feature on your site, make sure that you name yourself as the author of your page - again see customer service.
Step 2: Write an article that is content rich, keyword rich and relevant to your website, and donât forget to name yourself as the author. Warning: DO NOT COMMIT PLAGIARISM!
If you have used some information gathered from other sites, give credit appropriately.
Now that you have your article, insert a link, not a hyperlink, but the entire link, e.g. http://www.fantasticebooks.biz/business.html (exactly like your page address). Do this a few times in the article, in appropriate places.
Step 3: In your search engine youâll find many sites that accept articles for free - make use of them, as they serve the purpose of free publicity. Open an account in as many as you can, and publish your article. This process can be made easier and faster with the variety of article submission software available of the market today. Make sure that the author info; the category and the links are correct, before publishing it. Remember how I warned you about choosing a decent name for your domain? Well, hereâs why: your links contain the full version of your name, which is accepted as part of your article, when you publish it. Websites that publish articles for free, not only screen your articles (for profanities, inactive links, too many links, pornographic materials, and inappropriate text, all of which will cause them to reject your article), but some may even âblacklistâ you from their site, for attempting to distribute inappropriate content. Read the specific article submission guidelines of each site before publishing.
Publishing articles increases your chances of getting a high ranking on search-engines, but if your keywords, page descriptions, etc. on your site (see customer service) are not up to par, it will take much longer than it needs to. There are some sites that will be able to help you with this (some will do it for free, but unfortunately most wonât). My site, http://www.FantasticEbooks.biz/business.html features a variety of software & e-books, which can guide you or even do it for you (if you are slightly new or uncertain of what to do, when and where). Getting your name on the web as many times as possible (in a positive way though), and using all that fame to generate money, is the way the grown-ups are doing it. Becoming a loved and trusted brand, on the Internet, is easier than on television, radio or print. If you donât believe me, give it your best shot and see what happens.
In the very beginning (part 1), I asked you to imagine a person, who has no company, no shareholders, no website, no physical brand other than their name. Imagine that person to be a billionaire. Itâs not impossible, but it seems rather impossible if not extraordinarily improbable, doesnât it? I mean, Iâm sure there are such people out there, but why donât we know their names?
So letâs mix it up a little. Imagine a person, who has no company, no shareholders, no physical brand other than their name and their website. Could you imagine this person to be a billionaire? Seems kind of realistic now, doesnât it? There are definitely such people out there.
Could you imagine one of these people to be you? It is your choice...
To read PART 1, which I highly recommend, go to http://www.Fantasticebooks.biz/business.html
Michelle van der Heyde (born 1985 in South Africa), is not only an active and successful affiliate marketer, but she is also the sole owner of www.FantasticEbooks.biz
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