Studying various target-marketing techniques and here is a thought. We have been reviewing companies who cross over into many sectors to identify with their potential customers. We have watched as they attempt to understand their customers buying behavior and how they try to create a desire to purchase. Few companies do this very well, few advertising agencies understand the dynamics of multiple markets. I have seen many advertising agencies squander their client’s money. In my company, our team has nominated a few companies for their understanding of their customers, we have only considered those companies who cross ethnic barriers, and market to multiple sectors and customers in many industries. My choice was Rolex and Nike. Others members of our team felt comfortable with were GM, Dell, In and Out Hamburgers, Starbucks, E-Trade, MFS, Coca Cola, FEDEX, Washington Mutual, Mastercard, Wal-Mart (new series of ads), GE and Southwest Airlines.

With consumer spending decreasing in the future due to maxed out credit card limits and the next downward business cycles companies will have to decrease their P and L contributions column for advertising expenditure. Who will emerge the winners of tomorrow’s markets? Those with significant standing brand names have the best chances. Who will avoid the drying up of the lake and continue to expand and develop new market niches and open more stores? I believe that the most customer driven companies will emerge as the great strategic planners that they are. In times of tough markets the companies who deserve the winners circle will shine bright and above the crowd. To be able to write great ads and to keep the customers happy, first you must understand the customers wants and needs, then you write the ads to fulfill these desires, then the tough part to deliver on that promise. Creating a new customer in a tough market is tough and it is a necessity. Without the new life-blood you cannot open more units and expand market share.

As other companies close stores rather than getting tough with the market, it shows the observers that they are out of touch with the needs and wants of the customers. Others will consolidate to keep up the numbers to impress shareholders and maintain stock price. This is a time when BS walks. A time when the strong survive, many will fail and pendants will ask: What happen to those business goals? What is being taught in Americas Business Universities? If a company cannot work together as a team in the heat of battle when the going gets tough then they will be defeated by those who can. The customer will choose the best value for them, they will vote with their desires. Advertising is important, but so is the follow-thru, without it all the advertising in the World will not build a customer following. Bringing in a new customer who is under-whelmed will simply turn into a one time purchase and adverse word of mouth.

I salute the winners in the market who understand the desires of the clients and continue to deliver on their promise. I salute the advertising agencies who help these firms by bringing in those customers. It is important to realize that we do not openly give praise easily or often. When we pass a judgment in the market place we do so for the benefit of all.

Those who go the distance and stay the course and Keep on Keeping on, will emerge and do so by carefully advertising to their core target markets without confusing their clientele even when they have branched into additional market segments, while keeping careful tabs on their core businesses. They are the ones who will find themselves respected by the others who got rained on too and made it thru. The innovators, the winners and the strong should be celebrated for they are the ones who refused to give up and to go the distance against all adversity, and against all odds.

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

You labor long and hard trying to create the perfect advertising piece but only about 20% of your copy is going to get read. The rest will simply be scanned. After all your work, your potential customers won’t even read every one of those well chosen words. Is your genius lost on them?

While it might sound frightening or frustrating, it’s a fact of advertising life. So what do you do next? There are some sections of your copy that potential customers are practically guaranteed to read. If you know what these are, you’ll see your sales increase dramatically. There are six key sections of your marketing copy to focus upon for success.

HEADLINES

Headlines have always been and will always be the most important section in any copy.

They are the first thing potential customers will see. They have the greatest impact on whether any of the other copy gets read. Your headlines must be enticing. Think of them as your opening line. If people aren’t intrigued, they won’t read any further.

Use strong active verbs (like slash, chop, quit, etc.) in your headlines. These words clearly demonstrate actions as opposed to more passive words (like reduce, think, consider, etc.). Most of the time, buying is an emotional action. The more you stir the emotions, the more you cause movement toward your ideal customer response.

Pay a lot of attention to your headline. It’s the powerhouse of your copy.

SUB-HEADLINES

If your headline has captured your potential customers attention, they will scan the sub-headlines. Think of sub-headlines as chapter titles. These sub-headlines, when read with the headline, should tell your reader the whole story. Always begin writing your advertising copy by outlining using this headline and sub-headline format.

Headlines and sub-headlines are designed to make the sale. Barring that desired outcome, they can guide your visitors to read deeper into your copy. If you set up a structure of progressive sub-headlines, you’ll have a better shot getting your point across.

Where do your prospective customers read after the headline and sub-headlines? Typically, they will read any captions you have under pictures in your ad copy.

CAPTIONS UNDER PICTURES

Newspaper journalists were the first to use captions. A caption is a few words below a photograph to explain what the picture is.

People are in the habit of looking for the captions in order to relate the importance of the image with the information they are receiving. Captions in advertising pieces are highly read. Don’t waste the space! Don’t just use the caption to explain the picture. Use the caption to sell the product! Use descriptive benefit-oriented words in your captions for maximum impact.

So, they’ve looked at your headline, sub-headlines, and at the captions under your pictures. They might have already made the purchase decision. Congratulations! For those readers that haven’t made the purchase decision yet, let’s flesh out the advertisement with some choice sentences.

FIRST SENTENCES

When you scan a newspaper, what do you read? Almost everyone reads the first sentence or two of each paragraph. These sentences are vitally important. To get your potential customers interested enough to keep reading, add the punch here! Unlike a novel, advertising does not build to the climax. Great ads start with the climax and support its claims in subsequent sentences.

If you create exceptional first sentences, your potential customer will be more likely to continue reading the copy. And, as an added benefit, the first sentences in each paragraph may be enough to convince him/her to buy your product.

Now that you’ve captured their attention and they are reading further, use bulleted lists for benefits.

BULLETED LISTS

First, use bulleted lists when describing features or benefits. A bulleted list will leave more white space around itself and therefore look less intimidating to your reader.

Secondly, as with the first sentence in each paragraph, people also almost always read the first entry in a bulleted list. If it’s on target, they might keep reading. Make sure your first bullet point is extremely powerful and enticing. To keep the potential customer reading, make certain you are writing the copy with their concerns in mind.

The last, but not least, power spot in your copy you probably won’t even use. It’s the call to action.

CALL THEM TO ACTION

The very bottom of your ad copy is the last chance to close the sale! Take advantage of this valuable area. This is where your call to action should reside. What is the call to action? Telling your potential customer what to do next is critical to getting the sale.

A call to action could be “Visit our website today!”, “Call Today for your FREE estimate”, or “Call to Secure Your Seat Today!”. Tell your prospective customer what they need to do to move the acquisition of this beneficial product or service you sell into their home or office.

Time spent on your advertising copy will never be wasted. If you haven’t done it before, now is the time to review your copy to be sure you’re making the most out of these opportunities. Your ad copy is a one-way conversation. You must anticipate their questions and objections. These must be answered in your copy before you get the sale.

Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter” dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners to experience their own successful online business. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.

Well not everyone is aware that McDonalds also owns several other bands such as Boston Markets; 650 stores in 23 states, Chipotle Mexican Grill; 230 stores in 10 states, Donato’s Pizza 200 stores in 10 states, Pret a Manager 140 stores in 4 countries, Fazoli’s 400 units in 32 states and two countries. Of this the company derives 2 Billion in annual sales, this is not even counting McDonalds. Many people are unaware of this because McDonald’s has not connected the dots. However other franchise companies which franchise and have multiple brands have.

The question shall always be to you co-market to the same customers or serve separate niches. It depends, McDonalds seems to be targeting different customers althoguh if you consider in the US people eat major meals 2-3 times per day and there are 7 days a week, we are talking about 14-21 opportunities to feed them, now obviously other than single males, most of our population will eat the majority of meals at home. However how many of those meals will be eaten out side the home and of those visits to QSRs how many can McDonalds pick up.

Apparently after considering the additional 2 billion a year in sales, quite a few and remember McDonals is in 141 countries thus far so perhaps the cannibalization discussed in the franchising industry is a US thing for McDonalds and is not affecting it’s other brands here yet or all of it’s overseas markets for it’s stead fast Micky Ds Brand. Think about it Pizza, Chicken, Tacos, Italian and Pretzels? Oh yah that Hamburger thing will never work? Sure, that is what they told Ray Kroc in the beginning, guess they were wrong.

Are you sure it is just about the Real Estate? Or did you just quote someone in a Speech one day?

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

Using flyers is one commonly overlooked method of advertising offline. Flyers are extremely easy to create. They also allow you to exhibit some of your creative side, making it just that much more fun to make money.

In some areas, you may be able to put up as many flyers as you can afford to duplicate! The more flyers you put up the better chances you have of making money.

Go to the web site of the product your promoting, and save their web page to your hard drive. Modify the page a little bit so that it is in the form of a flyer, and be sure to include your own affiliate link on the flyer to ensure you make money.

Once you are satisfied with the way it looks, compile a list of all the possible places you may be able to put up your flyers,(ie) college campuses, neighborhood bullentin boards, supermarkets, etc. If you don’t have the time to place them, consider hiring someone to do it for you.

If your flyer directs your potential customer to a web site, then the only traffic you will receive are those people who would take the time to enter your web address into their Internet Browser. That’s pretty qualified traffic!

Let’s break it down and estimate the amount of sales/traffic you could receive from a well planned offline flyer campaign.

Say you print 500 flyers promoting an affiliate product that you signed up for. If you put up 500 flyers on bulletin boards that allow your flyers for two weeks, you have an almost 100% guaranteed exposure number of 500 times 14 or 7000 impressions. If 1% of 7,000 are converted to a $30 dollar sale, you have just made $2,100 or 70 sales.

Now that’s good money if you ask me.

All you have to do is find a way to convert your affiliate products web site to a flyer, and print out as many copies as you can afford. Then the small task of getting them circulated.

Several months ago I ran a test campaign similar to this and started to receive sales the day after I posted all my flyers.

You may want to add flyers as part of your advertising plan.

Copyright 2005 Paul Jesse

Paul Jesse is a rerired government employee turned Internet Marketer. For Work at Home Resources and Opportunities, visit his site at: http://www.SheaMarketing.com

What does it mean to be remarkable?

Brian Scudamore, CEO and Founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, who in 1996 was operating the million dollar plus company at the age of 26, said it means, “You’ve got to get out there and be loud and proud… You’ve got to stand out. You have got to have a brand that is worth remarking about.”

He learned much about this type of philosophy from the book Purple Cow, written by one of his mentors, Seth Godin.

It’s kind of like Sir Richard Branson’s recent flying superhero-saving nurses publicity stunt to launch Virgin Mobile Canada.

Like Branson, Scudamore takes risks. He and his company want to make sure they get noticed. After all, they’re “building the Fed-Ex of Junk removal.” He does know, however, that beyond the gorilla marketing, his strategies and his team of motivated employees and franchise partners are key to sustaining the brand. “It’s all about the people,” he said.

After changing the company name, from Rubbish Boys to 1-800-GOT-JUNK (Scudamore was looking for a more professional name and was inspired by the Got Milk campaign and the 1-800-FLOWER model, where it doesn’t matter where you are in the country, you can call one number), Scudamore knew he would be able to build a brand. It had never been done in the industry.

“Junk removal is not something new. It’s been around forever,” he said. “But, it is similar to some other industries where brands have come in and successfully dominated and created a very branded industry.

“Look at Starbucks. There used to be a mom and pop coffee shop on every corner. You don’t see that anymore. It’s all Starbucks.”

1-800-GOT-JUNK is heading in that same direction. Perhaps you’ll never find it on every corner, but July 2004 marked its 100th franchise. The company’s short-term goal is to have 250 franchise partners with system-wide sales of $100M by the end of 2006.

And, its long term goal is to be the World’s Largest Junk Removal Company with a presence in 10 countries by the end of 2012. “We’re building something much bigger together than anyone of us could ever build alone,” said Scudamore.

He is committed to maintaining and strengthening this type of team work. The growth of the company depends on it and it’s also what makes the brand special. ”We’re only as good as we make ourselves out to be. If we’re out there not delivering on our on-time service and up-front pricing that we promise, then our brand doesn’t build. People will start to look at us and say, ‘These guys aren’t as good as they say they are.’

That’s the problem with having such a well-established brand and reputation; you have to deliver on your promises. You simply cannot hide from a disgruntled customer, especially not when you’re wearing a big blue wig and standing beside a large mobile billboard, waving to the morning commuters as they pass by. The “Honk if you love junk” sign will not help either.

By Christina Lee

Christina Lee is Editor of The Image Architex Online Marketing Magazine (http://www.theIMAGEarchitex.com). Visit the site for more articles on branding and general marketing practices, opportunities, tips and ideas for small-sized business entrepreneurs, artists and producers.

Your print ads should do more than just get noticed. Their job is to bring you business, and if all they do is lay around and attract attention, they’re no different from the lazy employee who does nothing all day but look busy.

You wouldn’t give him more hours in the hopes that one day something productive will happen. And you shouldn’t keep running those “name recognition” ads in the hopes that one day sales will happen, either. You should fire those non-responsive ads and get some that pull their own weight. Here’s how:

1. Grab prospects with your headline. The single most important part of your ad is the headline. If yours is the name of your business, you are wasting your time and money by running it. Make it shout about the biggest benefit if buying your product or service, and you could increase response by as much as 300%.

2. Don’t talk about yourself. Talk about the benefits your prospect will enjoy by using your product or service. Focus entirely on your customer, not yourself, your history, your anything. It’s all about what’s in it for them.

3. Include a photo. Don’t make the photo the entire ad with only minimal copy, but do include one that supports what your ad says. Pictures in ads are like body language: they convey your tone and intention, and if done right add to your credibility. But they do not persuade by themselves. Only words can do that.

4. Ask for response. People won’t call if you don’t ask them to. Tell your prospect what it is you want her to do. Call for a free quote. Visit our web site. Come in today and stock up. Send in this coupon. You get the point.

Changing your ads from “name recognition” to “direct response” can not only increase your business, they can lower your advertising bill. Because they don’t have to be run over and over and over to be effective.

So “fire” your old ads today, and “hire” new ones that really produce!

Does your marketing forge an emotional connection with your prospects? It can. Lisa Packer delivers persuasive, targeted copywriting that dramatically increases your business. Unleash the power of words on behalf of your business by visiting http://www.dramatic-copy.com today.

How brand management can help utility organisations to create a ‘difference’.

Ever thought why are many consumers willing to pay more for a trusted name brand instead of a store brand, which often is the very same product with a different label and higher price tag? Reputation. A company’s reputation can be its greatest asset. Recent scandals such as that of AIG, Enron and WorldCom have seriously hampered the trust among stakeholder groups and widespread public scepticism about company ethics. If we look at the case of Andersen, the major reason why the company ceases to exist is because of the negative reputation that built up over a short period of time.

Also many other entities that were related to the Enron scandal have never recovered. Reputation is formed not only over time, but also over time as a function of complex interrelationships and exchanges between and among stakeholders and the organization in different contexts. This suggests that reputation is based on historical actions, and memories/perceptions of the stakeholders involved with the organization in a given situation over time. It suggests that a solid understanding of the criteria that stakeholders use in assessing reputation can aid in the development of a reputation.

Finally, if reputation is developed over time and as a consequence of a series of complex relationships and actions, there is a danger to the firm that is not always recognized. This is what can be termed as ‘reputational expectations.’

The value of a firm’s overall reputation is easily seen in its relationship to a firm’s revenues: as a firm’s reputation increases, so does their sale (Shapiro, 1982). A firm with a good overall reputation owns a valuable asset – “goodwill” (brand names, corporate logos and customer loyalty). A firm’s good reputation can translate into more credible advertisements (Goldberg and Hartwick, 1990). Brand names can often be repositories for a firm’s reputation (high quality performance on one product can often be transferred to another product via the brand name) (Moorthy, 1985; Wernerfelt, 1988).

A firm will lose its perceived reputation if it repeatedly fails to fulfil its stated intentions or market signals. A market signal provides information beyond mere form intended to convey information, to alert another firm to its intentions, commitments, or motives. This consequential loss of its perceived reputation prevents the firm from signalling effectively since its signal will then be given little attention by its competitors. A firm, then, has considerable incentive to work hard to establish a credible reputation. Reputation between firms develops when firms are unsure about one another’s options or motives and where they deal with each other repeatedly in related circumstances or where past dealing with other firms are observable (Milgrom and Roberts, 1982a). Reputation formation typically occurs when other firms must attempt to gather the missing information via the signals given, by interpreting the initiating firm’s actions as indicative of its future behaviour. Companies, therefore, can use reputation and credibility as a means of predicting the actions of competitors. Reputation, though, is an imperfect attribute since there is always a time lag effect; companies must continually adjust reputation after the latest period (Shapiro, 1982). Reputation is always most timely just after the latest transaction; the attitude towards the next transaction is dependent on the prior attitude and its accuracy decays with the time between transactions.

The critical factor in the reputation lag is the time frame concerned with the speed and costs of learning (information flows).The concept of reputation depends on a firm’s initial beliefs and its observation of another firm’s past behaviour (DeJong et al., 1985; Rogerson, 1985; Sobel, 1985). By providing accurate information, a company enhances its reputation but at the cost of foregoing the possible immediate gain that could be made by duping competitors; the company, therefore, take short-term losses to build reputation and secure larger, long-term gains.

The idea “clouds gather before a storm” clearly indicates that organisations can often overcome intricacies. But that requires laying the foundations well in advance for dealing with a problem. The central strategy for such an effort is developing a strong brand. Essentially, businesses must brand themselves or be branded by their competitors. Johnson & Johnson is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most trusted companies. Their handling of the Tylenol product recall when several consumers died of cyanide poisoning cemented an already strong reputation because they put their customers’ safety ahead of short-term profit – even though the company had nothing to do with the product tampering. The impact of how their management and media relations staff behaved eventually resulted in higher sales of Tylenol after the product was reintroduced, in comparison to many other products whose sales never recover after a product recall. So just as healthcare companies whose products have a direct affect on human life, how important is reputation management for utility businesses?

Utility businesses provide the basic essentials to human life. This is one of the biggest reasons why firms in the utility sector have to keep strengthening their image in order to sustain in the market. This may hold true for any organisation in any business; however, the reason why managing reputation is important for the utility businesses is the very fact that their products/services affect human life ‘directly’. In other words, a low quality product such as ‘water’ can cost the life of a human being who consumes it. Evidence of people dying by consuming unhealthy water in Africa and India clearly proves the above point. And as it is said that a reputation once broken may possible be repaired but the world always keeps its eyes on the spot where the crack was, this applies very much in the case of utility businesses because of the products/services they deal in.

In my opinion, utilities should practice the art of branding whether they are a competitive enterprise or a monopoly operating in their domain. Customers are used to purchasing branded products, even if they are buying an intangible such as electricity. In other words, consumers still need to know they are purchasing this resource from a company that respects their community and quality of life and that they are buying it at a fair price. If such practices are not implemented and measured, then utilities run the risk of being overrun by competitors and other market participants. As a result, utility organisations have to think strategically in terms of developing their brand. By development, I don’t mean a logo or a brand name, but more so developing a relationship with your stakeholders. We often find companies benchmarking the output rates, but with the importance of branding growing as a mark of distinction, organisations need to start benchmarking their brand management.

Utilities should learn from the experience of Coca-Cola, which is universally known and admired. Coke, however, does not take its market position lightly. It continues to provide consumers with positive images to inspire loyalty. Utilities have the same kind of name recognition within their service territories. But, they could expound on that goodwill by continually selling themselves to the public and underscore that they provide an essential service that enables the world’s economy to function. How is that accomplished? Before the days of restructuring, the traditional means for doing so involved displaying dedication to their communities. It meant giving back and playing a role by sponsoring meaningful public events—a standard utility branding template. Being a monopoly does require being a good corporate citizen.

Utilities in recent years have been more encumbered with digging out from underneath financial issues. But, with a marketplace that demands newer and better services, the practice of branding must now extend beyond the old model. The public is gradually awakening to the notion that brands can be differentiated, even when it comes to buying electricity. People know, for example, that green energy is an option.

It is important for companies to realise the branding cannot be done in one day. It is a continuous process that can help companies endure even the most severe storms. For example, a utility may get hit with a lawsuit centering on its level of emissions, or the media can challenge the operational management in case of floods. The public may be quick to buy into the notion that utilities generally are more concerned with boosting their bottom lines than with providing communities a safe environment. But, communications strategies and outreach programs that are out front and continuous can greatly assist in overcoming the matter from a public relations angle. If consumers properly receive a branding message, then they might accept a negative situation or a minor scandal involving their local utility, the case of J&J as mentioned above. It’s equivalent to the electorate generally believing that the Labour government in power are inept. While the media oftentimes portrays the efforts of “lawmakers” as buffoonery, despite that sceptical view, most voters still “love” their own local MP. Hometowns stand by their own citizens!

In other words, developing a utility brand is not just about selling. The process needs to be holistic, involving all the departments within the organisation and also being incorporated into the corporate mission and vision statement. This doesn’t just mean that communities and consumers buy into the message. It also means that every employee must embrace the company’s message as they always act as “brand ambassadors”. Effective branding is about honouring commitments to all stakeholders.

Branding, of course, is easier when the product or service being offered is the first of its kind or when firms have to compete head-on for business. A crowded marketplace necessitates that all companies pursue perfection, a strategy that continually raises expectations. Without such commitment, most companies are doomed to mediocrity—a losing formula over time, given that the dynamics of the economic landscape are constantly shifting. Regulated utilities, meanwhile, must “provide a warm blanket” and be prepared to adapt to a competitive environment, say experts.

Utility businesses who develop a reputation for high quality command premium prices for selling high quality products, example British Gas, United Utilities, Powergen etc. This premium is the incentive necessary to induce the provider to sacrifice the potential short-term gains possible through lower quality. This premium is the rent on its reputation so as to repay the cost of building and maintaining a reputation. In the early years of a new product – especially a capital good, whose reliability and durability may take years to demonstrate – users and competitors often have little other information on which to base their actions. Having a good reputation also ensures high quality firms will be larger and have more customers, since fewer customers will depart from high quality firms in the long run and more will arrive because of word-of-mouth activity from other customers.

In sum, reputations are intangible and complex – for the main drivers of reputation creation are embedded deep inside the firm. Reputations act as a gauge defining and giving a firm a sense of identity. In a world where products, markets and industry boundaries are in constant flux, branding can set companies apart by giving them strong identities and improving shareholder value. By branding, an enterprise is making both an implicit and explicit promise—a contract with the marketplace to cement a relationship. When it comes to branding, utilities generally get a stamp of approval. And that goodwill could translate into increased revenues or a better standing with regulators.

Gaurav Bahirvani
MBUS(2004,UK),MSc(2003,UK),BMS(2002,INDIA)
Mailto: gaurav.bahirvani@gmail.com

About the author:
Gaurav Bahirvani lives in Manchester, England, and is currently working as a Corporate Brand Development Analyst with one of the biggest multi-utility organisations in the United Kingdom.

Gaurav is also a Media & Business Services consultant with The Council of Advisors, New York.

The big news on Wall Street last year was the initial public offering of Internet search engine Google. If you were a visitor from another planet, you might be asking yourself, What big, sophisticated, high-technology company is behind the success of Google? Could it be IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Oracle, SAP, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Dell, Xerox, Sun Microsystems, Philips or Siemens? Of course not. The brains behind Google are two Stanford students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who launched the Web site in 1998. Some six years later, the two founders are worth billions.

All the advantages:

With some exceptions big companies seldom launch new brands that become big successes, even though big companies have all the advantages. Big companies have the resources, the people, the credentials, the distribution networks, the media contacts. I can’t think of a single advantage an individual entrepreneur has over a big global conglomerate. Yet there wasn’t a big global conglomerate behind the success of brands such as Starbucks, Red Bull, Linux, JetBlue, Amazon, Yahoo!, eBay, Priceline, Monster.com and a host of others.

Nor for that matter was a big global conglomerate behind the success of most of the big brands of the past. Brands like Apple, Microsoft, Digital Equipment, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, SAP, Siebel, Compaq, Quicken, McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, Papa John’s, Wendy’s, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Wal-Mart or Costco. I repeat. Big companies seldom launch new brands that become big successes.

Deadly sins

There are two reasons for this phenomenon, which we call the "two deadly sins of marketing."

The first deadly sin is timing.

The good book says, "There is a time to be born and a time to die." The time for a brand to be born is before the category is established in the mind. It was 14 years after the launch of Red Bull that the Coca-Cola Co. finally responded by launching its own brand of energy drink-KMX Does KMX have enough energy to overtake Red Bull? Not a chance. Once a competitive brand is established in the prospect’s mind, it’s almost impossible for a me-too brand to overtake the leader.

32-year head start

It was 32 years after the launch of Southwest Airlines that Delta finally responded by launching its own no-frills airline called Song. You can’t give your competition a third-of-a-century head start and expect to build a brand. All the momentum is on Southwest’s side. Not to mention the money and the resources. Imagine spending all day in the boardroom at Digital Equipment Corp. trying to persuade the chief executive and his staff to launch a serious 16-bit business personal computer before IBM did. No luck. We don’t want to be first, said the chief executive. And I’m not concerned about IBM, he continued, because if IBM does go first, "we’ll beat their specs."

Well, IBM did go first with the launch of the PC in August 1981, the first 16-bit serious business personal computer, a product that went on to dominate a fast-growing market. And Digital Equipment did follow with not one, but three different lines of personal computers, none of which made a dent in the marketplace in spite of their presumably better specs. IBM had become the standard, and if you wanted to participate in the personal computer marketplace, you were only a clone. Digital Equipment lost Too bad. Digital Equipment had the credentials to dominate the PC market. Brought to you by "the world’s largest maker of small computers" was the tagline for Digital Equipment’s new personal computer.

Imagine spending all day in a boardroom at Xerox trying to persuade the corporation to launch a desktop laser printer before the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet got strongly established. No luck. Too bad. Xerox had the credentials to dominate the laser printer market. In 1977, Xerox had introduced the 5700, the world’s first successful laser printer.

Second sin

The second deadly sin is naming.

A big company wants to put its own name on a new brand. This is generally a mistake. New categories generally require new brand names. In spite of IBM’s head start in business PCs, the company eventually lost out to Compaq and Dell, both new brands created especially for the personal computer category. To most prospects, IBM meant mainframe computers, not PCs (It’s interesting to note how many marketing people chide IBM for not moving fast enough into personal computers, when in fact they were first. "Mainframe mentality" is their usual complaint.).

Imagine spending all day in the boardroom at Continental Airlines, trying to persuade management not to name its new no-frills airline Continental Lite. You have two choices. Either you can make the entire Continental system a no-frills airline (the preference) or you can give your new no-frills airline a different name than Continental. No luck. Continental Airlines crashed The company went ahead with Continental Lite, an airline that took off and then just as rapidly came down to earth, after losing many millions of dollars.

Then there’s Kodak, a company that is paying the price for not giving its new digital camera line a different name than Kodak. Kodak means film photography, not digital photography. The irony is that Kodak invented the first digital camera (back in 1976.) Yet the Kodak name locks the company into the past. Like Digital Equipment and IBM, Kodak had the credentials, the organization and the resources to dominate an emerging new category, but not the foresight to recognize that a new category needs a new name.

The exception

One exception should be mentioned. In 1994, Bill Gates asked Richard Barton to develop a Microsoft CD-ROM idea involving travel guides. Barton convinced Gates that the CD-ROM idea would fail, but that an online travel agency might succeed. Furthermore, he persuaded Mr. Gates to give the project a different name than Microsoft. Richard Barton called Microsoft’s online travel agency "Expedia." Seven years later Microsoft sold control of Expedia to USA Networks for an estimated $1.3 billion.

How Strong Is Your Brand? Do You Really Know? Do You Care? Would you like to take a simple test to see where your company’s brand is now? Click on the link below:

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others.

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Your corporate identity is a graphic expression of who you are as an organization. It plays a major role in what sells your company and its products. Everything that identifies your business, including your logo, color scheme, and tagline, work together to create an image that your customers remember. Building a corporate identity that bolsters your business objectives is a subtle, yet important part of achieving business success.

How do you want your business to be recognized? What image do you want to call forth in people’s minds? You may choose an identity that is fun and wacky if you run a family fun center, or calm and serious if you operate a funeral home. The mistake many businesses make is to not think about it at all. Your company has a corporate identity whether you intentionally developed one or not. It can be difficult to turn an unplanned image around. And chances are, it doesn’t convey the image you need to boost sales.

The best identity plan is one that is strategically designed to answer the following questions: What is the essence of your company? What message are you trying to send to your key audiences? What kind of name represents your desired image? What is the look and feel of your logo? Will the color and texture of the paper you print your business cards and brochure underscore the image you want to convey? How about the voice you use to do radio advertising? Everything must work together consistently to reinforce your image again and again and again.

There are dozens of ways that you can carefully develop your identity and project your businesses’ personality. Specific, intentional creative choices will deliver a desired impact. A professional designer can help take your corporate identity to the next level. He or she can also help you develop marketing materials to reflect your image. Here are some elements to consider:

1. Business Name: Your company name should reflect your business personality. It should also be concise, memorable, unique, and appropriate to your product or service.

2. Logo: An effective logo is visually simple and easily recognizable. It symbolizes the essence of your business. The shape of your logo expresses different meanings. For example, curves can signify an organization that offers supportive services. Straight, sharp lines can represent a company with a technological focus.

3. Typographic Identity: The font that you use should complement your logo. There are thousands of fonts to select from, choose carefully since each offers subtle visual elements that can reinforce, or detract from, your business image.

4. Corporate colors: Different colors elicit different emotional responses and further serve to enhance your identity. For instance, deep blues represent trust, while oranges and yellows are fun and playful.

5. Tagline: What is the most important message you want to deliver about your business? A tagline describes your business in a short phrase that can be included on your letterhead, business cards, brochures, and so on.

If you are just starting your business, carefully think through all of the identity materials you use to promote your company. And, if you have been in business for a while and your identity doesn’t represent your level of professionalism, consider revamping it. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression. What does your identity say about you?

Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven, is the owner of Kinesis. Kinesis specializes in marketing, graphic and website design, and business writing. Visit http://www.kinesisinc.com for more articles and free marketing wisdom.

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The success of a business plan stands or falls on its ability to get potential investors to take a moment to read it. Nothing works better for doing this than well-written headlines designed to interrupt and engage investors. Here are five fundamental rules for writing and incorporating headlines into your business plan.

1. More important than anything else, try to get investors’ self-interests into every headline you write. Make your headlines suggest to investors that there is something about your business plan or venture they want. This rule seems so obvious. Yet, absent omitting headlines entirely, it is the rule most often violated. Replace overused one word headings like "Company", "Products", "Market", Financials" with headlines that appeal to investors’ self-interests like making money, protecting their investment, or building trust.
2. Be sure to get news worthy information like new products, new uses for old products, or technological breakthroughs into your headlines whenever possible.
3. Avoid “curiosity” headlines. Marketing and advertising professionals have proven through testing and experience that the effectiveness of the average curiosity headline is, at best, doubtful. For every curiosity headline that succeeds in getting an investor to read further, a dozen will fail. Instead, combine curiosity with news or self-interest to create a single, more compelling headline capable of drawing investors into your plan.
4. Take a positive angle with your headlines. Avoid headlines that paint gloomy or negative pictures of your business venture or markets. For example, if you are targeting a market with millions of suffers, emphasize in your headlines how the business venture can benefit them.
5. Demonstrate through your headlines that here is a business plan that will generate results and is backed by evidence. Let your headlines educate investors about the opportunity, risks, and the available options.

Of course it goes without saying that in using any of these rules be sure to make your headline believable. In most cases, “too good to be true” headlines will not draw experienced investors into your plan.

Mike Elia is a chief financial officer and an advisor to venture capitalists and leverage buyout specialists. His business plan ebook "Business Plan Secrets Revealed" shows how to make your business the most appealing investment choice to venture capitalist, bankers, and other business investors. For his free business plan guide visit http://www.business-plan-secrets-revealed.com/free-business-plan-guide.html