What is their problem? They are missing a crucial step in the marketing arsenal — branding. The power of branding is that it is not just for your customers. When done correctly, it also creates a roadmap for you to follow internally, streamlining your planning and decision-making processes for years to come.

Outward Brand

This is what many people relate to when thinking of a “brand:” a logo, tagline, style of advertising, product packaging, etc. These are not the brand, but rather the brand elements. To be truly branded however, all of these elements are developed based on the core value of the company. The core value will stay the same, through product changes, service changes, and staff changes.

The value of this is in attraction. If you have spent the time identifying your ideal prospect [read: most profitable] and created an emotional reason to buy [read: comes back and brings their friends with them], then all your time and money is now focused on creating interesting tactics to engage a prospect you know will be profitable, rather than baiting the hook with whatever you have and hoping you’re fishing in the right pond.

The investment in developing a set message to a clear audience is rewarded by recognition, recall and referral of your brand. You can change ad campaigns, update packaging, and replace staff and if all reflect your underlying message, the brand impact will be carried over to your audience no matter how or who delivers it.

Inward Brand

Developing brand clearly improves external communication. Impressively, it can increase your internal efficiency as well.

What often bogs down the marketing process is planning, and deciding on a case by case basis what actions should be taken. We have seen marketing efforts derailed and budgets drained by everything from an aggressive ad sales person to a company executive driving past a billboard and insisting the marketing department book it.

It is so easy to latch onto what sounds like a great idea or a sure thing or to give up on a plan when no immediate results are seen. However brand marketing is not direct response, it is viral, increasing in scope and intensity the more it is replicated.

With a brand built on focus features, key benefits and a core value, it is easy to plan strategy and tactics to capitalize on your goals. And the next time someone asks you to place and ad, sponsor an event, or recommends a billboard rental, you will know if that is on your brand path or an expensive joy ride to who knows where, what we call an “off-road vehicle.”

The Reward

The effort of building and maintaining a brand must be constant. Your brand provides a roadmap but the destination is ultimately having customers so loyal they always choose your company and so zealous they bring their friends along. The value is in the opinion and the action customers are willing to take because of how they feel, and in the speed and accuracy of the decisions you can make to achieve your goals.

About The Author

Beth Brodovsky is the president and principal of Iris Creative Group, LLC. Brodovsky earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design from Pratt Institute, New York. Before launching her own firm in 1996, she spent eight years as a corporate Art Director and Graphic Designer, providing a sound foundation in management and organizational standards and structure. Iris Creative specializes in providing marketing and strategic communication services to clients in service industries and small businesses. For more information contact Beth at bsb@iriscreative.com or 610-567-2799.

The second biggest selling sex aid is of course the dildo, blokes and chicks across England enjoy dildos due to the size and shapes sex toys come in. You may get a 6 inch black dildo for your bedside drawer or a 12 inch glass dildo for underneath your bed. Sex aids are tremendous they make sex more interesting and give your other half an exciting time.

Sex toys might be bought from online retailers which get delivered next day and in plain packaging, or you will often even go down to your local marital toys shop and pick one up. The price for sex toys start from around ten pounds. The mass appeal and cost of sex aids is fantastic and that is why men and chicks like sexy toys.

How do you develop and preserve an exemplary reputation? First, you must believe that honesty, credibility and consistency are right… both personally and professionally.

Second, you must consistently deliver what you promise… no exceptions.

And finally, you must build and maintain positive relationships, and treat everyone with kindness and respect, regardless of the situation.

Here’s a personal example. When I help found my own small, competitive long-distance company I developed a policy on treating customers with specific guidelines and scripts for dealing with difficult ones. Sometimes our service consultants were in the unenviable position of having to terminate a customer’s service for nonpayment. As you might expect, this often resulted in a frustrated, angry or regretful call into our service center.

We could have used the opportunity to chastised and pressure these folks… many companies do. However, no matter what the outcome of the call, we made sure that every person was treated with kindness and respect… just as you would treat a friend or family member. Our representatives made every attempt to help these customers… often taking great leaps of faith. And the customers appreciated it! Why? Because it’s so rarely done these days! In other words, we continued to serve when others would not have.

This one policy resulted in more positive testimonials than our other, more formalized, programs. You’d be amazed at how many of these folks ended up becoming some of our best, and most loyal, customers.

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s masterful book, “Blink”, where he talks about a recent research study where patients who sued physicians for malpractice, and those that chose not to, responded. The purpose of the research was to uncover why some people decided to sue a doctor over a “technical” error and others, whose physicians had committed identical errors, did not. What did they find out? Not surprisingly, the folks who did not sue indicated that they chose not to because they “liked” their doctor! Overwhelmingly, they said that he/she treated them with kindness, respect and really listened to their problems and tried to find solutions. They essentially “forgave” the technical error because they felt that their doctor really cared.

This was not so for the other group… A full 80% of the patients who did sue cited poor “bedside manner” as a major factor in their decision. Bottom line: Everybody wants to feel appreciated and respected, regardless of the circumstances!

During my years as an executive of my own company, I felt tense before answering strangers’ fated question, “So, Mary, what do you do for a living?” I was braced for anything from a blank stare to a tirade of complaints. Yet, not one of my current, or former, customers ever complained about how they were treated by any employee of the company… even though they may have had other concerns (for example billing errors, service outages). I was also grateful to learn that many ‘defectors’ eagerly recommended our company to others.

As a person far wiser than me said, “A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.” (Joseph Hall) So, it’s wise to remember that a stellar reputation isn’t gained only when things go right but when they go wrong as well.

And as a matter of fact, the way you treat others may actually “save you” if things really begin to unravel… because you’re going to meet the same people on the way down as you did on the way up!

Copyright 2005 Mary Eule

Mary Eule specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses get and keep profitable customers. Formerly a Fortune 500 marketing executive; founder of two successful small businesses and award-winning speaker, Ms. Eule is President of Strategic Marketing Advisors, LLC. and co-author of a new book, ” Mandatory Marketing: Small Business Edition”. She holds a master degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Log onto http://www.StrategicMarketingAdvisors.com for free articles, newsletter and helpful tools, tips and templates.

The fee structure could be a percentage of franchise fees in each sale and a percentage of royalties. The duties of the star franchisee [Regional Team Manager] should be clearly defined we decided for our endeavors and so I came up with these set of rules for our company, perhaps this might give you some ideas if you are considering expanding your franchise company. Below is my list of responsibilities and rules that I used in my company;

Regional team manager will not build or maintain a web site on behalf of The Company or the Franchisee. A web site will be furnished and maintained at the expense of the Franchisor on behalf of the regional team manager.

Regional team manager will be responsible for collecting all royalties from franchisees in their exclusive territory and forwarding all such monies immediately upon collection to The Company. will forward the regional team manager’s portion of collected royalties no later than the 30th of each month.

Regional team manager will be responsible for franchisees in their exclusive territory. Regional team manager agrees to visit each franchisee in their exclusive territory no less than once a month. Any marketing, technical, employee or other issue franchisees might have will be addressed by the regional team manager.

For this service the regional team manager will receive 50% of the collected royalties for each franchisee in their exclusive territory.

It is understood and agreed upon that nothing in this Agreement authorizes the regional team manager to make any contract, agreement, warranty or representation on Franchisor’s behalf or to incur any debt or other obligation in Franchisor’s name and that Franchisor shall in no event assume liability for, or be deemed liable hereunder as a result, of any such action.

Well this is what we did in our company of course I cannot give you legal advice as I am not a two-fit, lying, thieving, scoundrel, attorney. So, you need to get with one of those professional parasites and sit down without shooting them and ask them their advice on how to run your business and pay them $300 to tell you what you just learned here from me, someone who actually has had to make a payroll and who has actually done it. Consider this in 2006. If you are an attorney; go screw yourself. [in a nice way].

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Gambling whether in person or at a online casino means risk. There are a number of ways that the element of risk exists in gambling or playing poker. In fact the term gambling is synonymous with risk. However the unique thing about gambling is there are ways to control your risk. For instance, certain kinds of gambling games such as poker reduce risk by also requiring skill. Other forms of gambling such as craps are almost all about risk. The trick to succeeding at gambling is to know what risks are good and which are bad. While this is easy to say, the actual practice of reducing your risk gambling can be a bit tricky.

The easiest way to reduce your risk is to play a gambling game that has less risk involved that other typical gambling games. The chief low risk gambling game is that of poker. Poker is perhaps one of the best games for limiting risk. The reason for this is that poker (unlike many other forms of gambling) introduces the role of skill. This means that while chance, and thus risk, are a factor, skill at poker can help stabilize the random elements of chance. Yet while Poker does reduce the elements of chance quite a bit, it introduces a whole new element of risk in the form of other players.

Other players at a poker table now become the representation of chance. Does the person sitting across from you have a better hand? Or perhaps the person sitting next to you got the card you needed to make your hand that more solid. In fact, in some ways, poker may actually be a risk even greater than any you can play. The question you need to ask yourself when thinking about sitting at a poker table is are you skilled enough to be there?

The above question does beg another question. What do you do if you don’t think you are skilled enough to sit at a table? Well if you have an internet connection the answer is simple. Play poker online. Most online forms of poker have low betting games that allow someone new to the game to learn the basics. Also most online poker sites group people into experience level. This allows someone to play with people of a similar level and thus not loose the shirt of their back to experienced pros.

In the end no matter how hard you try there is no way to completely get rid of risk in a gambling game. However part of the joy of gambling is the risk. Also without risk there is no reward. So take a deep breath, grab a deck of cards and get ready. It’s gambling time.

Clearly, that no longer applies to teens and tweens,
prepubescents 8 to 14 years old. These days, teens
and tweens are seen and heard, loudly and clearly.

What should business people do about these two
groups? Just wait until they grow up? No, not at
all. You need to take action now.

Though not always old enough to buy our products,
we need continuous marketing communications to teens
and tweens, starting now.

Properly done, that can develop a positive relationship
between tweens and teens and your business, positioning
you for future long term success.

As author Anne Southerland writes, get to them at
age 8 or 9 “at the cusp of tweendom.”

For years, the tobacco and liquor industries have
tried to reach kids with messages saying, “when
you’re old enough to drink or smoke, please use
our brand.”

The fast food chains market to kids, too. They aim
their TV commercials at children, since kids often
decide which fast food store to visit, after mom
decides that “she deserves a break today.” Dad
lamely completes the deal as chauffeur and treasurer.

The marketing payoff for fast food companies comes
from promotion to tweens and teens when they
reach the 18 to 24 age group, the heaviest fast food
user group.

A majority of 18 to 24 year olds eat most meals in fast
food places.

Extensive market research shows that those 11 and
older don’t consider themselves children anymore.

As an example, 70% of boys and girls at age 13 select
their own clothes. 60% of tween boys make their
own fast food dining choices.

Most boys at age 10 already know what kind of car they’d
like to buy.

In their own minds, those over 11 are now adults.

The 25 million tweens in the USA spend $51 billion
each year, and another $170 billion is spent on them
annually, mostly by parents and relatives.

The teen market has $175 billion in annual sales.
One high school senior in three carries a major credit
card. And 63% of teens are very well wired, mostly
by having their own cell phones and/or laptops.

Very interesting, you say-but what’s really at stake
here for me, as a business person? Plenty! There
are four major issues to consider:

1. The authority of parents is waningbecause some
parents are too wimpy to “train up their children in
the way they should go,” the Bible way.

Coneheaded, permissive Doctor Spock mushiness prevails
in many homes (”the children are our friends and we dare
not offend them”).

2. In the absence of consistent, wise parental
leadership, tweens and teens are strongly influenced
by peer groups and marketers, research shows.

3. Marketers have been blessed for many years by
Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). But Boomers are
starting to retire and, within 10 to 20 years, their
purchasing power will wane.

4. Serious marketing futurists think that today’s
tweens can eventually replace boomers financially,
since tweens are extremely quality and brand conscious
and are very glib spenders.

That being the case, why shouldn’t long term
marketers start cultivating tweens now?

While we deplore the decline in effective parenting,
my business believes that we should start relationship
building with tweens and teens right now to help create
our long term business success for these reasons:

1. Tweens and teens are excellent practioners
of “viral marketing,” today’s term for word of mouth
advertising. This is a cost-efficient way to
communicate.

2. Tweens and teens are unaware of the benefits of
self-employment, since parents often don’t know
these things and most schools are still creating
employees suitable to staff the Industrial Revolution,
which no longer exists.

Tweens and teens need to learn about selling, business
planning, and how to develop themselves personally
and professional to be successful self-employed
persons.

3. Since 10 year old boys know what kind of car they
want, they should learn from marketers now how to take
care of a car–specifically, which products and
services they’ll need.

Now what is my busines doing to start communicating
with tweens and teens?

We’re taking the Tony Bennett approach. Explaining
Tony’s career resurgence, his son and manager, Danny,
said, “We didn’t make it cool to be Tony Bennett. We
put him in places where it was cool to be.”

These include Tony in concert with BB King, the late
Ray Charles, David Letterman’s Show and appearances
on the Simpsonsto name a few.

So, we’re starting to put my business and myself in tween and teen places where it’s cool to be.

John just got a “space” in the wildly popular with
tweens and teens www.myspace.com website.

In just one week, he’s been contacted by a local
computer service and repair firm and a lady selling
mortgage refinancing.

John has added Internet Messenger, because IM is very
popular with younger generations, as is text messaging,
especially tweens and teens.

Major portals recently launched their versions of
www.myspace.com. John has created “spaces” there as well.

And one consulting professional is teaching clients
how to mine existing portal directories to find business partner prospects, “talking” with prospects using IM.

That’s just our initial start toward teens and tweens.

What will yours be? How soon will you start?

John J. Alquist owns and operates Alquist Enterprises. John is a professional speaker, Platinum Author, and business consultant.
Visit him online at http://www.tell-it-well.com or contact him by email
john@tell-it.well.com or by Yahoo IM (screen name: Emancipator21).

Christmas gets more extravagant every year. Christmas is time for picking up piles and piles of wrapping paper and trying to figure out how to fit gifts in cars, even though every year we swear that the next year we will be better prepared. Everyone loves gifts (especially kids), but is that a reason to lose our minds every year at the mall?

Unfortunately, the majority of the population are unaware of what most people would like. The theory seems to be that if you just buy a lot of stuff for a person you will please them because you increased the odds. If you really want to go all out for someone, then do some research first. Inquire of someone who is aware of what they desire. Asking very specific questions throughout the year will aid you in finding the perfect gift. This will hopefully stop you from buying those useless gadgets and trinkets. There isn’t anything wrong with a gift card when ideas elude you. You can personalize these with a few home-baked cookies or ornaments, or with a personalized card that lets them know that you wanted them to have the last say about their gift. The point is that spending all day surrounded by presents is no match for the gift of family and friends being together.

A lot of people feel that gift cards are not personal, but of you think about it, you realize that giving a friend something he or she doesnt like or need is not personal either. Gift ideas are hard to come up with but gift cards are a great back up when questioning and snooping about fail. Most of the time people don’t know what they want, or won’t answer if they do. There are plenty of ways to please this group, too. Here is a great site for some personalised gift ideas for everyone.

When we communicate, most people make the assumption that this simply involves the act of talking; say what you need to say and that’s it. Communication however, is really about the
speaker-listener interaction and when viewed as such, leaves the assumption of “simply talking,” in the dust. In fact, each time we choose to communicate we should ideally focus on the needs and expectations of the listener(s). The goal becomes: How can I say what I want to communicate in a way that will be easily understood and have the desired effect?

While there are multiple approaches to attain this goal, the following 10 tips will serve as a practical guide to talk your way to the top, or your personal best:

1. Ensure that you speak with sufficient volume. The soft-spoken individual as well as the speaker with the boisterous voice will not have a positive effect on the listener.

2. Ensure that you speak at an appropriate rate of speech by factoring in the complexity of your message. A speaker who is either too rapid or tediously slow, will lose the listener’s
attention.

3. Ensure that you fully pronounce your words using effective articulation. When you omit sounds or mispronounce words, you may confuse your listener.

4. Ensure that you use variation in your vocal pitch, making your intonation more dynamic. When your voice lacks highs and lows, the listener may not be able to discern the key parts of your message.

5. Ensure that your nonverbal communication matches your verbal communication. So if you are conveying a positive message, you want a pleasant and upbeat expression on your
face. It is also beneficial to utilize good posture when you speak, as this will assist you in projecting your voice.

6. Ensure that you practice active listening skills. Be aware of the temptation to interrupt and judge others. Do your best to allow others to finish their thoughts, and resist the urge
to formulate your response while others are speaking. When it is your turn to speak, attempt to paraphrase the other person’s input. This will help determine if you have an accurate
understanding of what was said. Try asking questions to learn more about a subject.

7. Ensure that you strive to build your vocabulary, as this will assist you in your speaking, listening, and writing skills. Jot down unfamiliar spoken and written words you come across, and try to decipher their meaning from the context. Always refer to a dictionary to verify the meaning as well as the pronunciation of a word with which you are uncertain, before
attempting to use it. Aim for variety in your choice of words and be prepared to offer examples when necessary.

8. Ensure that you use correct grammar when speaking and writing. Avoid common mistakes in pronoun usage (e.g. Incorrectly saying “Please feel free to contact John or
myself.” vs. “Please feel free to contact John or me.” or “between you and I” vs. “between you and me”). Be aware of subject/verb agreement (e.g. Incorrectly saying “each of them are coming to the party.” vs. “each of them is coming to the party.”).

9. Ensure that you determine what your goal is for a particular interaction and choose the appropriate style. If you need to establish leadership and a position of control, use more directing statements vs. questions, take the lead in initiating topics, substantiate your thoughts based on facts and experience, be comfortable disagreeing, and speak concisely with confidence. If however, you are new to a situation or choosing a position of neutrality, you would respond more than direct, ask more questions, present statements with a qualifier (e.g.”I know this may sound naive.”), avoid direct disagreement, and build on what others say to maintain a conversation.

10. Ensure that you periodically evaluate your communication style. There are several options for doing this including the following: occasionally audiotape or videotape yourself speaking, listen to your voicemail message, observe how others react to you when you speak, and also observe the speaking styles of others in your environment and compare how the reactions they receive may differ from reactions that you receive.

An unfortunate but nonetheless harsh reality is that the art of communication is on its way toward becoming extinct, perhaps due to the advent of technological advances. Regardless of
how sophisticated our culture becomes with computers, PDAs and the like, the only proven method of being at the “top of your game” is to master the tips of talking. It’s never too late to
be your own personal “top banana.”

**For further information on this topic, contact Dale Klein (Corporate Communication & Speech Specialist;
www.speech-matters.com, dale@speech-matters.com).

Dale Klein is a Corporate Communication & Speech Specialist and is the owner of SPEECH MATTERS. As an expert in helping others communicate, Dale’s clients hire her when they want to have an impact on their listeners. Dale makes a difference for people who want to improve their public speaking, interviewing, networking, presentation style and interpersonal communication.

Disposable underwater cameras are ideal for a wide variety of outdoor adventures where water, sand and rough use might come into play. Use them underwater, (many models are actually waterproof from 15 to as much as 50 feet underwater) but also use them above water for many outdoor shots in sunshine or on a light cloudy day at the beach, the pool, or even the desert.

An underwater disposable camera can also be called an all-weather camera since it is ready for anything at anytime. It’s ideal for shooting outdoors in wet and even snowy conditions. Think of it as not only waterproof but also weatherproof, allowing you to use it to get some great shots in the great outdoors. Use it in the rain, on the slopes, on a boat or in the ocean. Use it while snorkeling, skiing, fishing, boarding, or surfing. Take great photos of sunsets, wildlife, waterfalls or crashing waves.

The disposable underwater camera you buy should be extremely durable and rugged. It should be easy to grip and take pictures, even with gloves on. It should fit in your pocket, beach bag or purse.

Most of these cameras are pre-loaded with 400-speed film with 27 exposures, and include a shock resistant, heavy-duty housing that floats. They are cheap (you can pick up a disposable underwater camera for about $6.00 to $20.00) and even cheaper if you buy them wholesale in quantity.

Not all underwater cameras come with a flash. To get really nice underwater images, your best bet is an external strobe so you won’t create “”backscatter”" (which looks like snow or dirt in your pictures). Also remember when taking your photos, especially when snorkeling, to keep the sun behind you and to take advantage of that beautiful blue clear water. With a disposable underwater camera you really can take great pictures anywhere and at anytime.

Disposable Cameras Info provides detailed information about digital, wedding, and underwater disposable cameras, as well as cheap and wholesale disposable cameras. Disposable Cameras Info is the sister site of Underwater Cameras Web.