Communicate your Brand
Tactical communication for your brand
A Great Brand Means Nothing if No One Knows about It By Karen Post All right, youve spent time, money and resources on developing your brand. You clearly know who you are, youve decided on your brand difference, youve found folks who want what you have, youve mapped out the great experience you will deliver and now you must employ the big brand bangand resonate your message through every point of market contact. This is where so many organizations bust the brand, big time. They lose focus, spend mega bucks on meaningless mayhem and forget the basics of clear, compelling and consistent communications. I recommend all organizations have a brand plan and a Brand Bible. The brand plan should include your brand goals, strategies and tactics for getting the word out. The Brand Bible is the internal book you train and empower your employees with so they become brand warriors. The Brand Bible should address the brand history, its purpose and how to protect the brand equity that it earned though graphic usage and language protocol. Exaggerate, accentuate and eliminate. When you are designing a communication program for your brand, you must remember that your audience is assaulted with thousands of brand messages daily and many of these messages are fragmented, convoluted and darn right confusing. So to make sure they get it, my simple rule of thumb is Exaggerate; dont be shy. Accentuate, put the spotlight on the important stuff and finally eliminate all the wasteful, meaningless junk that does not significantly speak to your brand. Run all your communication activities through the brand filter. If it connects with your brands purpose, personality and promise and screams the big brand, then its a keeper. If it doesnt and its still a totally awesome promotional or communication tactic, then look at what you can change so it can work for your brand. If that becomes too much of a stretch, then just forget about it. There are always many other killer ways you can spread the good word on your brand. Many folks think brands are built by advertising. Some are certainly fueled by it. Should you decide advertising is part of your branding mix, then make sure you adhere to these guidelines. Risk. Theres a road named Risk and its the most direct path to brand success. Thats right. Incredible advertising usually takes an untraveled path. It goes where its competitors are afraid to. It stands out from the crowd. It creates a memorable, distinct mark on the minds of its market. Does your advertising look and sound like ten of your closest competitors? How will the buyer know its you? Reach. Are you buying your ad space or time in the right target zone? How long will that impression last? What is every eyeball or ear costing you vs. another way to touch them? Does the math work when you add production and insertion costs? Relevance. A great advertisement should look, sound and feel like your brand persona and be a relevant value to the buying market. Tap into the whole brain of your buyer. Dont just shove your product features down her throat. Most consumers dont like the way that tastes anyway. Hit them where they live. Upset people. Make them think. Challenge them. And remember brands are 70% emotional and 30% logical. Repetition. And whatever you do, without frequency you are hosed. Let me repeat. Without frequency you are hosed. In most cases, the average human needs to be exposed to a message at least seven times before it makes a tiny dent in the brain. So if you are buying a sixteenth of a page, black and white ad in a daily journal and running it one time, the sales or awareness generated from that single insertion may be your home run for that quarter. You must repeat your message over a period of time for it really to sink in. Advertising is important, but not always the single answer to getting the word out on a brand. Many successful brands grow and prosper without traditional media spending. These super brands become super stars because they take advantage of all points of contact, both internal and external communication avenues. Consider your employee training programs, the manuals, videos and events. These are all strong routes for your brand message. Signage, uniforms, delivery trucks, visual merchandising, point of purchase materials, your Web presence and your operations environment should not be dismissed as they are also vital communication channels. Understand the intense power of style, graphics, type and language in all your communications. They all aid in telling your brand story and contribute to the solid brand imprint you place in the minds of your market. About the Author About the author Karen Post, The Branding Diva, is an author, national speaker and consultant on branding, marketing and communication issues. For nearly 20 years she has provided branding counsel and communication programs for individuals; start-ups; local, regional and national companies; politicians; and nonprofit organizations. For more information contact Karen Post at kp@brandingdiva.com or visit her at www.brandingdiva.com. Hats-Statement of fashionajay patsThis article briefly summerises waning importance of hats as fashion statement
I miss the days when a hat was a necessary accessory to your outfit. I have loved hats ever since I saw Audrey Hepburn, as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffanys, emerge from her bathroom in her black cocktail dress and wide brimmed black hat. That black mushroom hat with the simple white gauze wrapped around it symbolized class and style to me. For centuries hats have revealed more about a person than any other form of communication. The way a hat is worn can convey the emotions of the wearer. A hat crooked to the side is considered stylish and worldly. A hat worn low shielding the eyes sends the message of someone who wants to be left alone. A hat can show status; Marie Antoinette would not allow any of the ladies of her court to have higher headdresses than her own. Religious preference can be expressed through headwear such as a yarmulke or a mantilla. Hats can be used to the extreme to make a political statement or just as easily be used to simply keep your head warm. Though the interest in hats has fallen considerably in the last few decades, they are still a beautiful and powerful item to have. The 1930s and 40s were amazing years for hats. Everything from the pillbox, wide-brimmed to the simple cap was something a woman had to have in her closet. The greatest thing about hats was that women from all walks of life could wear them. Modern hats gave each women a touch of class, whether going out for the evening or attending church a hat enhanced whatever outfit they wore. A hat can give the wearer an air of authority and confidence. Hats were always useful for a woman to make a powerful statement about her rank in society and a new fashionable hat can create a new craze. When Jackie Kennedy wore the pillbox hat to JFKs Inauguration it would make her a style icon. From the beginning of time humans have been putting something on their heads whether it was a tribal headdress or simply animal skins to shield their eyes from the sun. Hats originally were made of anything from straw, grass, animal hair or fur, but as the modern age emerged and milliners turned hats into a business, hats became exquisite pieces of art made of silk, velvet, leather, and tulle. Soon hats were decorated with ribbons, flowers, feathers, gauze and veils. Even fruit was a useful decoration for a hatthink Carmen Miranda. Hats were such a needed item with women that it is difficult to believe that hats would ever be considered out of date. But times have definitely changed, and if a woman were to wear a pillbox hat today and isnt the Queen of England than it is likely she would be laughed at. The 1960s were the death knell for hats. People began to dress simpler and the hippie generation took over. Extravagance was out and simplicity was in and you rarely saw Jackie wear a hat after she left the White House. Ever since then, headwear is mostly restricted to baseball caps, headscarves, and woolen caps for the cold. Now fashionable hats seem to be only for older society women and the only place left to wear the extravagant hats of old is at the Kentucky Derby. But I dont believe that hats are through just yet. A brave soul from time to time can still be seen wearing her favorite wide-brimmed straw hat or another wearing a stylish beret. I will never believe that hats are out of fashion, because too many women still love hats. Audrey Hepburn loved hats and who is going to say Audrey Hepburn isnt fashionable? About the Author Ajay Patole is a qualified management professional working as sales manager and runs a site 'Venturemall',a cool hangout to play money games,buy and sell in auctions,date and photochat.It is available at URL http://venturemall.tripod.com and newsletter to rediscover true colors of life at http://www.topica.com/lists/venturemall.Also he runs a community 'Venturecon', for entrepreneurs which is available at URL http://groups.msn.com/venturecon.
Dhpp - A Must Feature In Dish Network Satellite Tv
If the speed is faster than before and you don't have trouble, then definitely it is the router's problem.
That's where DSL Internet access comes in. You can get an all-in-one broadcast solution with your wireless dsl modem. High speed internet has become part of our lives; many of us depend on it for our very livelihood. You can also find many simple configuration tools and web-based interfaces to modify any settings to connect to your Internet service provider.
This technology for Internet connection can be up to 150 times faster than your dial up connection would be.
Residential DSL High Speed Internet You will also find the residential DSL high speed internet offers a higher bandwidth for downloading than uploading because the users most often use it for downloading rather than uploading of files. " The answer is by researching what providers are out there and who has the most to offer for their price. You can do this by following a few different steps and looking up a few different service providers. DSL, or 'digital subscriber line', is that handy set of technologies that allows you to browse the internet at warp speed. If the computer is old, then its processing chip might be incompatible with the modern high-speed wireless DSL router and this could be the reason why your speed is impeded. |
