Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

Advertise Merchandise Through Stands Perfect For Sales People |

January 19th, 2010

Author: A.Noton

Banner Stands Display perfect for sales people and their merchandise has come on strong of late. These versatile and highly portable roll up banners can be used by a salesperson in a number of ways and can also be transported quite easily whenever the occasion calls for a quick sales call or visit by a salesman or woman. They’re particularly fine for salespeople on the go all the time, too.

What might be most attractive about roll up banner stands is that they can allow a salesperson to take a bit of his or her company no matter where the sales call or presentation may be. Banners such as these are often seen at trade shows, exhibitions, seminars and conferences. And they work fine as a display medium that can deliver instant impact and memorable information quite easily.

There are a number of companies in the retail world that specialize in making up these sorts of roll up and banner stands and all are able to work closely with the company or the salesperson who requires a number of these display items. For sure, today’s stands and display banners are light in weight and extremely portable. Most banner displays come with a padded carrying case, as well.

The beauty in a system like this is that it is not electronic and requires no electrical outlets, plugs or motors in order to operate. A salesperson only needs to take it out of its case and roll it up from its display enclosure and that’s about it. This is an excellent way to enhance available sales space whenever on the road and at a conference or trade show, which can be important.

The reason they can be important is that most exhibitions and trade shows charge by the amount of space used by the exhibitor. With the need to control costs today greater than ever, it is a smart salesperson that will make maximum use of limited space by electing to go for one or more of these banner-type display stands rather than carting around bulky and weighty traditional displays.

As far as the specific information that would go on the banner, prices for such graphics are extremely reasonable nowadays. Many companies that sell the equipment also cell the graphics packages that a salesperson and his or her company can select from. Additionally, smart salespeople tend to go for two-sided banner displays so that people on both sides can get a glimpse of what is being offered.

When it comes to accessories, salespeople can choose to add what are called banner stand lights that come with a clip to hold the light onto the stand. It can be a great way to focus attention on the message displayed on the banner, as a matter of fact. Additionally, many of these lighting systems are extremely portable as well. They also are slender and usually come in 35 watt spotlights.

Banner Stand perfect for sales people and all the merchandise they may want to display or advocate for can be a great way to really get the message across in an insightful and highly memorable way. Additionally, they are also very portable and do not take up much space at all, which can help keep costs lower when it comes time to rent out an exhibition area, for example.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/advertise-merchandise-through-stands-perfect-for-sales-people-1572912.html

About the Author:
Manufacturer of trade show displays, banner stand display for both sale and rental. Offering roll up stand, trade show exhibits, to buy or rent and trade show items, such as hanging displays.

Scouting the Competition Online is Integral to Your Marketing Plan |

January 19th, 2010

Author: K. MacKillop

A great place to start in checking out your competition is the World Wide Web. Nearly every viable business has a website (not necessarily a good one), and you can learn an awful lot about who you are up against by finding and evaluating the sites of others in your industry.

The obvious place to start is with a basic search of your keywords. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the top three search engines, though Alexa, Ask.com and AltaVista are still holding their own as well. Your best bet is to print the top 100 or so results from each search engine, the review the results. You will likely find a lot of irrelevant entries, depending on your industry and keywords. Be sure to search for different but similar permutations of your keywords as well — there can be a surprisingly drastic difference among the results for various similar keywords. For example, if your market is people who are starting a business, check business startup and starting a business and start a business…the results will be different for each.

Once you have a stack of results, look through them for both direct and indirect competitors. You may also want to mark any business that offers a complementary service — trading links with them could enhance your SEO efforts. Check out the websites of your direct competitors. Read every page, follow every link. Take time to really get to know their site and what they have to offer. Take notes on any ideas you come up with to improve your own site. Book mark your competitors’ websites and check in often. Look for any changes in the products they offer or how they are marketing to their customers. If they offer a newsletter, sign up. If they write a blog, keep up with the latest. The most successful entrepreneurs get to know the competition as well as, or better than, the competition knows itself.

Decide which competitors are likely the best in the field and try to figure out how they got to be on top. Identify ways you can build your startup to offer something more or better than those competitors provide. What will be the thing that sets you apart from the others? Why will customers choose you over them? Be sure to keep an eye for any changes. If your competition is significantly bigger than your business, there is a good chance they have marketing professionals on their side paying attention to changes in the market. If they have been around a long time, they may have a good idea of which benefits to feature to entice your target market. Don’t copy your competitors, but use the knowledge from what they do to help you make the best decisions for your venture.

Once you have identified you key competitors, check out Alexa.com to see how they are doing on the internet. Alexa provides basic analytics on any website you search for, including page rank worldwide and in the US, user demographics, and the primary keywords used to find their website. You can also use WebsiteGrader.com to see how well a competitor’s website is optimized for the search engines.

Get to know your competition. If you are serving a local community only, add a search outside of your area to check out what similar ventures are doing.

One of the keys to marketing success is understanding the competition. Use the World Wide Web as a great way to research your competition, their marketing activities, and their product offerings. The more you know about your competition, the easier it will be to beat them in the marketplace!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/scouting-the-competition-online-is-integral-to-your-marketing-plan-1574751.html

About the Author:
K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur, is founder of LaunchX and blogs about starting a business. Marketing is so important when you are starting a business that the LaunchX System dedicates one whole unit to your marketing plan and includes four key marketing software packages. Visit LaunchX.com for a free Business Readiness Assessment.

How An Autoresponder Can Take Your Internet Business To The Next Level |

January 19th, 2010

Author: Ken Bishop

I have always been impressed with those affiliate marketers who can send out an email and make tens of thousands of dollars from one product promotion. I mean they write an email with a great headline, they write a few follow up emails to be sent out at predetermined intervals to help entice those who did not purchase on the first email.

The next thing you know their bank account is a whole lot fatter than it was before. Fatter at least as far as common people are concerned. Most super affiliates probably think they made a good days pay. Most common people which include beginner marketers would jump out of their boots to make that much money that quickly. How do they do it? With an autoresponder.

Some of you who are new to this may like me to answer what is an autoresponder? Autoresponders are programs that automatically respond to your emails without so much as having to click on your mouse. An autoresponder can come in a few different types. One type is known as a service. A service usually is purchased monthly and is stored on that service’s server. This system is great for beginners and pros alike. It is easy to use and has a professional look about them.

Some autoresponder services offer a free autoresponder but they have advertisements go out in the email you send. This is not very professional looking. The autoresponder services usually require a comfirmation for the user to be added to your list. This may seem harder to get prospects to join your list but it is important for spam laws. Besides, it gives you a more targeted and devoted list.

The paid and free services usually have backup servers in case something goes wrong with the main server. This helps protect your list from getting lost.

Another type of autoresponder system is a script that you can load on your own server. Some pro’s use this type of program which gives them more control. They can eliminate the need for the prospect to confirm joining their list in their email.

Another autoresponder program is available free in most hosting accounts. You do not have much flexibility with these autoresponders. They are OK for simple messages but I would not suggest this type if you are planning to be competitive on the internet.

Let me give you an example of an autoresponder and how it works. I will use a specific service in order to make it easier for you to follow along and for me to explain. You have a website or blog and you want to begin to start a list. You open your aweber account and click on list, then click on create and manage list, then create a new list. You fill in all the necessary information to start a list. The service will walk you through it.

Now you have your list made up in Aweber. Now add your follow up message. It could be your newsletter, your free ebook, a free report, whatever useful information you have that someone would want to join your list.

Now you click on web forms and create web form. Aweber will walk you through this process. You copy your html code and place the html snippet on your website or blog in the appropriate location.

Now your ready to grow your list. When people fill out their name and email on your website or blog, your autoresponder service will ask them to confirm their information by clicking a link in an email it sends out. When the subscriber confirms the service collects their information and automatically sends them your follow up letter you had previously loaded.

Whenever you have something important you wish to send out to the people you have collected on your list you just login to your autoresponder account and write up the information which could include affiliate links or products you have. You can now send that information to your entire list by pressing the send button. As your list grows you can see how an autoresponder can take your internet business to the next level.

Now you know how an auto responder works, it is time for you to take action. This is the most important step. Doing it. It is time to start building your list. Start your newsletter, write a great report that your website visitors would find very useful. Write a great ebook or have it written for you. There are always PLR products you can purchase and rewrite to make them your own.

Just find something your visitors will be glad to give you their information for. Get yourself an autoresponder account and start collecting email addresses. Grow your Business.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/how-an-autoresponder-can-take-your-internet-business-to-the-next-level-1574765.html

About the Author:
For more valuable information on how to succeed as an affiliate marketer and much more you can visit Ken Bishop’s blog. Join his newsletter for even more great information to help you get your internet business moving to a more prosperous year. Learn to take action. Learn to make money. Visit him at http://InternetBusiness4u.ca

Roll Up Stands Excellent For Sellers And Their Merchandise |

January 19th, 2010

Author: Adrianna Noton

In this hyper-competitive sales market, it’s a fact that roll up stands are excellent for merchandise and sellers; it might just be the single most effective display tool they have available to them nowadays. They are very portable and can be picked up and moved about with ease as well as able to be taken out on a sales call at a moment’s notice, which is very helpful.

One of the most attractive aspects to these display tools is that a salesperson will be able to bring along a solid company when he or she goes out on a sales call or is going to attend a presentation or tradeshow and the like. They are popular among salespeople because they are a great way to display merchandise or information at exhibitions and trade shows, as a matter of fact.

Additionally, they can be found easily enough because there are a large number of retailers that specialize in making them and the graphics that go on to the banners. Many of these retailers are excellent at producing a memorable banner that will go onto the stand for display at trade shows and conferences. Most feature portability and low weight that goes easily into an included carrying case.

Also, another good selling point (to borrow a phrase) when it comes to these banner display stands is that they are purely manual in nature and don’t require any outside electrical hookups or access to electric outlets in order to operate. All that’s needed to be done is to take it out of its case and then pull up the banner and go to work. They help to cut down on space, as well.

What this means is that a company on a budget (and what company isn’t these days?) and its sales force will not need as much display space at an exhibition or tradeshow, for example. Soon enough, it will actually pay for itself through cost savings, all while providing a very attractive and powerful message that the salesperson can use to increase the impact of his sales pitch.

As far as the banners themselves, most of the display stand retailers also specialize in producing the graphics packages that can be placed onto the banners. It is a bit surprising to know that most such graphics packages can be relatively inexpensive, especially in comparison to other sorts of display tools. Most can also be done in two sides, which can aid in maximizing the message on the banner.

When it comes to accessories, most salespeople choose to add a couple of 35 watts display lights that can hook up easily to the banner through use of a universal clip. Lighting can be a great way to attract attention to a particular message on the display and the lights themselves are very portable and light in weight, which means that there will be little additional burden added to the salesperson.

As far as how effective these stands are, most experts rate them extremely highly. Roll Up or banner stands are excellent for sellers, it can make the perfect accessory for any salesperson that is on the go and needs to spread a company message in front of people as soon as possible. They’re often seen at trade shows and exhibitions, and can help to maximize the impact of the message on their banners.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/roll-up-stands-excellent-for-sellers-and-their-merchandise-1575977.html

About the Author:
Learning how to design a banner stand display is essential for a business. By designing a captivating banner stand, a larger group of audience will be reached, allowing the business to gain an advantage. Businesses that used a roll up stand have proven to be successful as well.

Building Brand Awareness ? Use all 5 Senses |

January 19th, 2010

Author: Joseph Lizio

As consumers, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements.  From television and radio ads to billboards and in-store signs – all touting the latest and greatest offerings of these advertisers – regardless if they are that great.

So, how does a small business (with a much smaller budget than its larger counterparts) actually compete (build its brand) in this world of constant advertising noise?

Brand building is a major factor in business success.  Brand building essentially rents space in current and potential consumer’s minds.  Thus, when they think about a need that is not being met or are simply in the market for your type of product, you want your company’s name or product brand to come to the forefront of these consumers’ consciousness.  Take for example in the 1960’s and 1970’s – Clorox Bleach.  For years, probably decades, Clorox made a name (built its brand) as the premier bleach product.  The company had so much brand awareness that there became a time when people quit saying the word “bleach”, the generic name for whitening clothes, and substituted the brand “Clorox.”  Thus, consumers related the brand name with the product.

Further, brand awareness can come from a visual experience.  Take the Nike swoosh.  Most people in the world will think of Nike simply by seeing its brand.

In the early years of the last century, print and radio (as mass market advertising mediums) really bombarded brand awareness.  However, each, while focusing on a certain type of mind stimuli, were extremely limited.  Print advertising focused on visual stimulus – where potential consumer would read or see ads with their eyes only.  Radio on the other hand, focused on the hearing sense – where potential consumers would only hear the ad – its words and its jingles.

When television came along, it was able to mesh these two together – both seeing the ad and hearing the words and jingle – it was the best of both worlds.

Why this is important is that people (consumers) use more than one sense to remember or identify an experience or in the case of brand awareness – remember a company or product brand.  Take NBC that has a very stimulating visual logo.  However, NBC also created and built its brand around three simple pings trying to create memory influences based upon hearing as well as seeing.

Having myself grown up in the television era, I am much more inclined to remember something if I both hear and see it together – it is like getting two exposures at one single time.

But, this also leaves my other three senses out of the picture – taste, touch and smell (know that the sense of smell is just as powerful as hearing or sight).

To build brand awareness in today’s market with so much advertising noise happening throughout the day means finding new ways to stimulate potential consumers.  This could mean utilizing the other senses as these senses have not yet been overwhelmed to this point.

At one time there were several companies working on smell-o-vision or providing smells through computer monitors.  Some restaurants hand out free samples to stimulate the tastes of passer-bys.  Even Pepsi used taste tests in attempts to build its brand.  Others may use in-store demonstrations to provide hands-on experiences for its consumers or waft the smells of cooking or baking to simulate the sense of smell in consumers.

In a world so thick with visual and auditory marketing competition, any business looking to build brand, to rent space in consumer’s minds, to be the go to company when people identify an immediate need either requires jumping into the middle of the current maylay hoping not to get eaten alive or lost in the noise or attempt to come at consumes from another angle – an angel unlike to already be overwhelmed. 

If you want to build the brand awareness of your small business in a world of noise – think about using the other untargeted senses.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/building-brand-awareness-use-all-5-senses-1580370.html

About the Author:

Joseph Lizio holds a MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship, is the founder of Business Money Today, has a strong commercial lending background and is regarded as an expert in small business and finance.

3 JV Marketing Techniques That Work |

January 15th, 2010

Author: Christian Fea

Has your joint venture taken off yet? Or are you and your JV partner still struggling to get noticed or even find that special niche? Joint ventures are a great way to promote a business idea with double the experience and double the resources. But without the right marketing strategy, your JV may sit stagnant with flimsy profits.

How can you give more oomph to your JV marketing and promotion? Take these marketing tools into consideration and put them into practice. You may find that your JV will start flying instead of coasting.

Joint Venture Design

What is your JV design? You should have a marketing design and theme for your business product. Here are some design elements to consider:

Color – What is your color scheme? Use colors that evoke emotions. For instance, reds are passionate, vibrant colors, while blues are subtle and more subdue. Use colors that promote your JV business idea best.

Logo – Does your JV have a logo? If you are jointly manufacturing a product or performing a joint service, you should consider having a professionally designed logo to add to all your promotional materials.

Graphic Standards – Does your promotional material have consistent graphical standards such as fonts, colors, and themes? Your promotional material will be taken more seriously when your graphics are consistent and professional looking.

JV Advertising

Where do you advertise your joint venture product or service? Are you marketing on a local, regional, or national level? The methods you use to advertise can make a big difference in the success of your JV. Consider how you use the following:

Print – Consider the above-mentioned graphic and design standards for your print ads. Are your print ads eye-catching? Where do you place your print ads? Newspapers? Magazines? Local programs? Print ads are expensive. Be sure to place your ads in print medias that will be seen by your target consumer.

Radio – Radio ads are relatively inexpensive and can be effective. If you wish to promote through radio, be sure to talk with various radio stations and have them provide important demographical information.

Television – Television spots can be produced from the local to national level. Have you seen the local auto dealer ads? Usually they have low production value, but they get the message across clearly. National TV campaigns will require big bucks spent on production including writing, actors, equipment, and of course, cost of placement.

Internet – Your Internet marketing strategy should include at minimum a website for your JV product. You should also take advantage of paid Internet marketing such as pay per click or pay per call, where your ad gets placed on top of search results for specific key words.

Joint Venture Marketing in Social Media

And don’t forget the power of networking through social media. It’s free and with a good promotional strategy you can build a huge customer base.

YouTube – Create short, creative videos that promote your JV business.

Facebook – Facebook allows you to create a business page and promote it among all Facebook members.

Twitter – The popularity of Twitter allows you to promote your business 140 characters at a time. Tweet about your JV business and acquire followers. You can send out links to your website or even promote coupons in your tweets.

Your JV promotional strategy is important to the ultimate success of the venture. Be sure to take advantage of every promotional opportunity available to you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/3-jv-marketing-techniques-that-work-1573200.html

About the Author:

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

How to Do Effective Direct Sales Marketing |

January 14th, 2010

Author: Tom Preston

How to Do Effective Direct Sales Marketing

Networking is undoubtedly a very brilliant way to easily grow your business to several heights. No matter whatever business you would do and whatever product you would sell, it’s all the way you market your product, which rightly determines your profit and turnover. So what is the secret of easy growth without much struggle in business? It is simply the direct sales marketing, which makes the real twist and turn in any business.

You must first build your contacts in a better way that people would find it easy to find you. There are several ways to achieve this. Make sure that the contacts that you build are similar to your business so that you do not store unnecessary contacts, which would make you lose the track as such.

Direct sales and marketing also ensures that you are directly visible among the crowd and you do not have to struggle much to get noticed. This anyway determines your visibility, which would help your clients find you soon and easy. There are also some other ways of implementing direct sales and marketing in a much larger scale. One of the advanced ways of doing it is to make use of the internet to find the ways to market yourself.

There are several websites, which can put advertisements for you flashing every time an user logs into the website. As there are millions and millions of users making use of the internet each day, you would probably have a very bright chance of being easily noticed and recognized with this mode of direct sales marketing.

Direct sales and marketing can apply for several modes of businesses starting from private companies to home-based business. In any case, direct sales and marketing plays and wonderful and an important role as people always like to see what and from whom they get products directly. This is also a way of making people believe and rely on the company completely without an element of suspicion or doubt.

Social networking would certainly be a bigger part in any sort of direct sales marketing. You would be easily able to meet the entrepreneurs of your kind in several states and countries and share with them your experiences and knowledge. With the advent of computer technologies and internet, it has become certainly very easy for anyone to share anything at anytime without much hassle or any kind of difficulty as such.

Direct sales marketing can even happen online with the use of emerging social networking websites which dedicatedly maintain a community of your choice, taste and niche wherein you can find people who have the requirements that would exactly match with yours. This would make your direct sales marketing job easy and a simple cake walk. So all you need to do is to brilliantly choose the right option of making your direct sales marketing completely effective and hassle-free. In this way, you would simply be able to achieve what you desire in a very few milestones.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/how-to-do-effective-direct-sales-marketing-1556576.html

About the Author:

Please visit my site for more info and tips about this subject, thank you.

http://sentinel-midnightfire.blogspot.com/

Brochures That Sell and the Myth of the USP Exposed! |

January 14th, 2010

Author: Jay Huling

Judging from a lot of brochures coming out of ad agencies nowadays, a lot people must want to waste money.

Because that’s exactly what their brochures are doing.

Probably because those who created them – the very people who profess to be experts – have no idea what they are doing and wouldn’t be able to create a brochure that sells even if all the money in the world was on the line.

But their money isn’t on the line.  Yours is.

That’s why I want to help you.  Here are three tips to help you make sure your brochure sells.

START SELLING ON THE COVER

Identify and communicate your top selling benefit right away – on the cover.  It’s your headline, your reason for being, your line in the sand.  Give someone an incentive to stop, look, and open to page two.  Sell me now.  Make sure it tells who you are, what you offer, and what the prospect gets from you.

So many art directors just want the cover to “look good.”  That’s fine.  But make sure it looks good and sells.  The person who said “a picture is worth a thousand words” never had to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door.  If you just put a pretty picture on the cover of your brochure, that is a PASSIVE way of selling something.  You are requiring the reader to interpret what that picture means to him or her.

In essence, you’re simply crossing your fingers and saying a prayer.  Don’t do that.  You want to direct . . . manipulate . . . persuade . . . and force communicate your message so the reader receives it exactly the way you want him or her to receive it.

 IGNORE THE MYTH OF THE U.S.P.

You’ve no doubt heard of the unique selling proposition.  You’ve also heard of Bigfoot and the Bermuda Triangle.  None of them exist.  USP exists in the mind of marketing people.  But not to Joe Consumer.  Ask someone off the street what is the difference between Coke’s USP and Pepsi’s USP, and you’ll have that person staring at you with a befuddled dear-in-the-headlights-caveman-seeing-fire-for-the-first-time look.

The buyer cares about what the buyer gets.  Period.

The theory of the USP was first introduced by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company and explained in his book Reality in Advertising

But apparently most “experts” have never actually read the book.  Like preachers who’ve never read the Bible, they’re dogmatic about something they know nothing about.  And they lead you astray.

Rosser didn’t teach that you “had to be unique.”  He taught that every ad must make a “unique proposition.”  But the key is that your proposition is something either your competition can’t or – and here’s the key – DOESN’T make.

Brand people always like to ask “How are we unique?  What’s our USP?” 

But as Rosser explained, that’s not what USP is all about.  You are not unique.  So get over it.

Question:  What is the difference between Tylenol and Excedrin?

Answer:  Nothing!

Both have the same pain-fighting ingredients.  But one is “positioned” to relieve body aches and the other is “positioned” to relieve headaches.

But in truth they are not unique.  Your challenge is not being unique – it’s presenting yourself as unique when compared to the competition.

So take ownership of your strongest benefit and promote that on the cover.  Even if your competition offers the same thing.  Make it yours and it will become yours.

I free you from the chains of this myth.  You don’t have to be unique.

DON’T STOP SELLING UNTIL YOU HAVE RESTED YOUR CASE

Your ad agency will tell you, “No one will read all that.”  If that’s what they tell you, this is one thing you know for sure:  Your ad agency is stupid.

The people who are willing to buy, want to buy, and have the power to buy are the people who want the most information about what they are buying.  You must OUTSELL your competition.  Give those people hungry for information exactly what they want:  All the things they get buying from YOU. 

Again, this is where you “out-unique” your competition.  You might be a complete carbon copy of the other guy down the street, but if you tell more than he does, you will sell more.  Because your complete story will be told.  Whereas your competition will leave things out of mind, out of sight.

Let the skimmers skim.  That’s okay.  But give strong meat to the mature who crave emotional reasons to buy your product.  Because they are the ones WHO WILL buy.

And be sure to ask for the order.  Call your reader to action.  Tell them to do what you want them to do, whatever that might be:  Visit your store.  Log on to your web site.  Call your 800 number.  Whatever it is, call them to action.  Tell them how to act and make it easy to do so.

Do it right and they will.

Follow these tips and let me know how it works for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/brochures-that-sell-and-the-myth-of-the-usp-exposed-1563524.html

About the Author:

JAY HULING is a freelance copywriter with 22 years of experience writing and producing marketing, advertising, and direct response materials for companies all over the country. These companies include the American Lung Association, Atlantic Marine, Barnett Banks, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Citigroup, CSX, GATE Petroleum, Regency Centers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vistakon, and many more. Find out more about Jay Huling at www.jayhuling.com.

BOOK BRANDING.ARTICLES |

January 13th, 2010

Author: Robert McClure

Forms of invasive branding

Those in the marketing and graphic design fields that have worked on brands won’t be surprised – branded golf holes, branded urinals, fake bloggers and even branded beach sand are uncovered as examples of branding going too far. Conley doesn’t say that we don’t need branding – he’s not one of those who think everything should be “no logo, no brand” – but in Conley’s view branding has become more of a Band-Aid or a solution to inferior products instead of companies actually fixing the broken product. He criticizes executives for becoming “so focused on the strength of the all-encompassing idea – the brand – that they ignore the physical properties that compose it.”
Conley gives numerous examples of forms of invasive branding that threaten people’s understanding of life and culture. He asks “What does it mean when our ‘sense of meaning’ and our ‘sense of identity’ are shaped by someone trying to sell us something?”
After talking with a branding fundamentalist, Conley notes “The more he describes branding, the more it appears to consist entirely of vague idealism and seemingly vain efforts to create something meaningful and permanent of what is often superfluous and transient. The simpler the product, the more Byzantine the branding seems.”
Watch out for Cincinnati
Conley doesn’t see the ad agencies as being the people behind all of this. In fact, he writes that branding has “superseded the advertising industry, either claiming advertising outright or dictating the message that advertisers are allowed to deliver. Increasingly, marketing has also become a division of branding.” He also has no qualms pointing fingers: apparently, Cincinnati, Ohio is a hotbed of professional invasive branders.
Watch out graphic designers!
Conley ties branding into graphic design pretty plainly for designers: people don’t understand design – they don’t “get” it. But clients “get” branding. They get the idea that a brand can make their product better, more appealing to consumers. So, to many companies, graphic design is to follow branding; that is – graphic designers should design for the brand, instead of the other way around.
Look at this website, there are thousands of Articles on almost all subjects, plus more links for your help.      http://www.toparticlereviews.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/book-brandingarticles-1570162.html

About the Author:

Obsessive Branding Disorder is a book about branding by a non-brander. In fact, Lucas Conley is a business writer who controls his resentment of the excesses of branding he describes. Conley investigates and explains in detail the extent to which branding has seeped into modern culture, and how far companies will go to promote their products.
Look at this website, there are thousands of Articles on almost all subjects, plus more links for your help. http://www.toparticlereviews.com

Does Your Advertising Have the Right Angle? |

January 2nd, 2010

Author: Rick Smith

Advertising copy is often written with the thought that people care about corporate self-promotion and product descriptions. This type of of company or product centered advertising does not usually perform well because ad copy with the right angle targets specific needs that people care about. If you want better advertising results, write clear copy with a sharp focus on relevance.

Traditional advertising will typically emphasize the delivery of a corporate brand message, but effective advertising is not just about selling a product or a company. Explaining to people how their individual needs will be satisfied is a key to good advertising. What you say to people, and how it is said can make a big difference, and speaking directly to a persons felt need can generate more response.

Example:

Instead of saying, “US Fitness is a national health club operator with the best facilities.”

You might say, “Get in shape. You’ll feel better, look more attractive, and your confidence will shine.”

Cear advertising is more important than corporate creative. You should talk to your potential customers like real people. In a typical conversation, they probably wouldn’t say, “I want to start a full service exercise regimen.”  They might say something like, “I want to get in better shape.” In trying to sound more professional, some advertising copy fails to clearly answer the key question “Why is it important to me?” which is what people really want to know.

Effective advertising works best when it is directed at needs that people already care about, which is speaking to a felt need. Most people probably don’t have a burning desire to drive out of the way to get to a crowded health club and exercise, but millions of people wish they were healthier, looked better, and felt more confidence.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/does-your-advertising-have-the-right-angle-1542578.html

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Written by Rick Smith: Online advertising agency services, Auto Dealer Website Design

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