Return On Branding Investment- ROBI

"What will be my Return on Branding Investment?"
"Why should I invest in Branding when I can get same results by hiring more salespersons?"
It’s the salesperson that actually cracks the deal and keep the stone rolling. I totally buy in your point, but at the same time I cannot underestimate the power of Branding.

Branding is the differentiating factor between your product & product of a xyz company.
Once you are established as a brand then your salespeople don’t have to fight to create a visibility space for themselves. Branding is responsible to deliver leads and shorten the sales cycle to generate revenue at a cost and risk in line with other investments that a company might make.
Calculating ROBI is really tricky, first you need to understand that it’s a once time investment & you gone reap the benefits of that for a long time to come. To understand the benefits of branding you need to look at the bigger picture.
Once you established as a brand, your Marketing spending will decrease or in other words return on marketing investment will increase.
Branding is, and always will be, a creative endeavor. If it’s executed properly then it can drive your sales,you can market your product at a premium price. It just sets you apart from the crowd and that is what required in the today violent market place where new product & service are being launched almost daily.
Choice is yours either you can always remain in the battle field, remain uncertain about when a new company product replaces you & throw you out of the business, or create a permanent place for yourself.

You Inc

Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in an 1997 article by Tom Peters.Personal branding is about managing your name — even if you don’t own a business — in a world of misinformation, disinformation.

When branding yourself remember that you must create a strong and consistent brand. You cannot skimp just because it's about you.
Strong brands are clear about who they are and what they are not; which is why branding yourself can be an easy process. You already know who you are and what you are not. Strong brands are also consistent; it's easy to be consistent in who you are.
Ways to create strong personal brands:
Get Google aid:

Register the URLs for your name and variants, and consider creating a blog. The objective here is to own the first 1-5 results that appear on search engines if someone searches your name. I don’t think most people should be bloggers, but having a Google-friendly and SEO-rich blog platform like Wordpress or TypePad that is updated even twice per month as an online journal is worth the investment for having first say in your image. This recommendation comes from Mike Fertik, CEO of the much-buzzed ReputationDefender.

Create positive FootPrints :

Dont display impulsive behaviour, before hiting the Internet think twice. Its a public place. Even if you delete a webpage or portion of a page, this deleted content can often be found via a cached version of the older page on Google. It’s easier to put up than it is to take down. Good dirt hunters — or just head hunters and job interviewers — will find your MySpace page and related “private” pages.

Personal Branding is an ongoing development that exists throughout an entire lifecycle. As your experience, competencies, physical and emotional attributes grow, your brand will enhance, much like in a product-lifecycle. Corporate branding and personal branding are very well connected. The only apparent difference is that instead of marketing a product or service, a person is being promoted and sold to a recruiter.

Treat yourself as the product and sell it! You, Inc. exists whether you want it to or not

Some extracts are taken from:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Why Small Business Fails

Building an online business has become one of the most popular forms of entrepreneurship, and with good reason. The statistics clearly show that there’s money to be made on the Internet, in fact, last year’s e-commerce retail sales in the U.S. alone amounted to a whopping $4,495 billion dollars.With billions of dollars being made through the Internet, it’s not surprising to see new online businesses cropping up by the thousands each and every day. Unfortunately, over 50% of those businesses will fail within the first year.
Well, there are usually a number of different reasons that determine the outcome of a business; however, an online business can fail hard and fast without the all important key of marketing.Marketing is one of the most powerful cards an online business owner can play, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune, in truth, some of the best methods are actually free. But, whether it’s from a lack of marketing, or simply that a business owner’s marketing knowledge and skills aren’t up to par, good businesses are disappearing because their owners aren’t marketing their businesses like they should be.
It’s not the idea or the business concept that failed but it’s the way it was brought up didn’t clicked. It’s like selling the best Ice Cream on an island, do you think anyone gone come & have it. No.
First you need people at large to know about it, let them know that you are there & what you sell & why they should come to you. Some people have the view that if my product is world class then no matter what customer gone come, they say my products & services are superiors, but did you ever given a thought how people will come to know that you provide best in the class. Those of you still have doubts then take an example of Apple, there products are world class but at the same time they do world class marketing.
There are time-tested and proven ways to market an online business, and one particular technique that will never phase out as being ineffective, is a press release.A lot of Internet business owners tend to shy away from offline media outlets purely because they’re businesses is online.
It’s quite simple, you need to shout & tell people about what you intend to do or working on. It’s the awareness, whether you’re donating a portion of your sales to a charity, offering a new product, or announcing a hot holiday special, you can weave your business news into an attention getting press release.
PLACES TO SUBMIT YOUR PRESS RELEASE
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
http://www.prlog.org/
http://www.free-press-release.com/
http://www.pr9.net/
http://www.i-newswire.com/
http://www.1888pressrelease.com/
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/BizNews/pressrelease.htm%3c/li%3e%3cp%3e
http://www.businesswire.com/

Learn.Un-learn.Re-learn - Litrates of 21st Century

“The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”- Alvin Toffler , Future Shock

Education is not a one-way system where information is passed on to another person but rather a highly complex process where one needs to react and respond to raw information and eventually convert this into knowledge. More importantly, this is not a process that ends but rather something that we need to continue doing so over the course of our careers. Learning is difficult, but what is much more difficult is unlearning things. As world is changing at a very fast pace & we need to adopt new techniques & skills to survive in the market place. Flexibility to adopt & implement new skills & techniques is the only way to succeed in this world, we can’t be rigid. We should be open to change & change can only happen when you change your mind set - You need to learn, how to Unlearn. Unlearning is tough, for example I can’t think of unlearning my name and surname or unlearning to walk. Unlearning can be a one-shot deal or a daily practice. It can help you become open to new skills, experiences, behaviors, and knowledge. In order to pick up a new skill, even if it's similar to something you already can do, learn what makes it different. All of us repeat things that worked in the past, even when they don't apply to the now. Repeating isn't always a bad strategy, but when there is a significant difference, the old approach holds you back. Unlearning doesn't require you to toss out all your accumulated experiences; it just asks that you stay open to different ways of getting things done. Once you learn, how to unlearn - World is all yours. Start Learning or better Re- Learn.

Branding Basics

Branding is no longer for Fortune 500 companies. Branding is required by every organization,once you developed a great product or service, let’s start building brand over it. Initial branding requires investment, but once done successfully you will reap the benefits for life long. It’s a two way process, first your Brand is recognized by your products & services, then it’s the products & services that are recognized by your Brand.
Every product has its own life cycle & ultimately it dies off, but Brand is forever.
Branding of any product and service should follow some constants that help in establishing a brand in the long run. The internet branding strategies should have the following constants in your branding formula:
Follow the Brain way:
Everyone remembers A for Apple. Why? We tend to remember and associate ourselves with simple things and choose to ignore or forget complex ideas. The most popular brands in the world have very simple, easy to remember logos.
Unique & Recognizable:
Your brand should have individuality, should be different. The brand should stand out from other similar product or service; otherwise the whole idea of branding is lost. Branding is all about to create your unique identity.
The three most important branding features that every brand should posses are brand promise, brand attributes and brand personality.
A brand promise is a promise or commitment the company makes to its customers. Brand is all about the trust that you build with your customer. The promise should be clearly stated and tells about the most important benefit of the product or customer.
Brand attributes are the features that describe the customer’s experience & should expect from your brand, like quality, innovation or customer service. The attributes help the company to deliver the brand promise.
Brand personality is the characteristic the customer experiences when they experience the brand. This is like a feedback for your Brand & helps to strength your Brand Promise.

Once a Brand incorporate all these features, then success is for sure.

Branding & Marketing in digital world

All Companies involved in media and communications are being buffeted by the continuing growth of the internet.
Times are changing, most new era marketers understand the power of promotion and branding as well as the benefits of low costs real-time connectivity offered by the Web.
Traditional media — broadcast and cable TV, print, radio and outdoor — will not be as profitable in the future as it has been in the past. Digital media, already the fastest-growing sector of all media channels, will continue to take more share. Currently it comprises only 7% of global advertising spending, but change has started & it won't be a surprise that within few years’ digital marketing & promotion will surpass combined spending in traditional media.
We see lots of web marketing tools. We talk about Google, Yahoo & MSN for whatever big or small, be it buying a house to watching a movie. Lots of decisions are being taken with the help of Internet.
So now it’s a challenge for organizations to survive in this digital age. We are in the middle of digital age & it has brought the competition to the next level. Now you are not just competing with your neighbor, whole globe is your play ground.
Now the game is at different level, so companies need special tactics to survive in this digital world. Old techniques can no longer be applied as the playing field has changed altogether.
Organizations need to establish themselves as brands, only then they can survive in this digital world, as loyal customer will decide the future of any company. Better Services & products only can no longer keep you in the market, as someone else will replace you with better service & products pricing. So the key deciding factor will be to establish oneself as a Brand in this true digital market place.
Organizations need to learn that it’s not easy to establish itself as Brand in this digital age. Though it is universal that you need to provide world class services & product but these products & services need to be aligned to your brand image.
Brand is just a customer perception of your service & product & it requires investment & strategy to stay in the customer mind & once it’s established you need to spend to keep it there. Once that is done your products & services could be distinguished among the crowd.