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How to Build a Strong Business Brand

Branding is not just your logo or tagline or the "look" and "feel" of your marketing communications. Branding is your customer's experiences and perceptions of your products, services, and employees. In actuality, your brand is what everyone else thinks your company and product are - it's what people say about your company behind your back. A branding strategy is the beginning of all customer contact behavior. When the budget allows, the branding strategy can become the basis for better advertising communications such as multi-media advertising, direct mail, trade shows, and expanded public relations. Branding your business may seem scary; however there is strong proof that branding is worth the effort. Listed here are some benefits of a strong brand. Branding is what gives your company value and separates you from your competitors. Enhanced perceived value allows for top pricing and shelters you from price competition. Branding will provide protection in times of negative press. A strong brand enables you to launch new products and services more quickly and cost effectively. Your brand will come to pass with or without your effort. Branding and managing a brand is tough work. Here are some no-nonsense guidelines on how to get started. To succeed, you'll need to get everyone involved from top management on down. Research the successful competitors. Study their communications and how they position themselves. Study what values are most significant to customers. Develop a questionnaire and interview key customers and prospects. Develop a strategy from the information you gathered. It must be achievable and differentiating. Leverage brand strategy by integrating marketing communications. Check for consistency of all communications from every department. Sending a cohesive message will build brand equity. Evaluate and measure performance. Make changes as needed but be patient. If branding your business has you overwhelmed, let me help. Take my FREE Business Branding Home Study Course.

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Creating A Solid, Recognizable And Clear Brand Isn't As Challenging As You Think! Business Brand Makeover: How to Transform Your Message Into a Powerful Brand That Makes an Impact and Attracts More Clients.

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How to Build a Strong Business Brand

Branding is not just your logo or tagline or the "look" and "feel" of your marketing communications. Branding is your customer's experiences and perceptions of your products, services, and employees. In actuality, your brand is what everyone else thinks your company and product are - it's what people say about your company behind your back. A branding strategy is the beginning of all customer contact behavior. When the budget allows, the branding strategy can become the basis for better advertising communications such as multi-media advertising, direct mail, trade shows, and expanded public relations. Branding your business may seem scary; however there is strong proof that branding is worth the effort. Listed here are some benefits of a strong brand. Branding is what gives your company value and separates you from your competitors. Enhanced perceived value allows for top pricing and shelters you from price competition. Branding will provide protection in times of negative press. A strong brand enables you to launch new products and services more quickly and cost effectively. Your brand will come to pass with or without your effort. Branding and managing a brand is tough work. Here are some no-nonsense guidelines on how to get started. To succeed, you'll need to get everyone involved from top management on down. Research the successful competitors. Study their communications and how they position themselves. Study what values are most significant to customers. Develop a questionnaire and interview key customers and prospects. Develop a strategy from the information you gathered. It must be achievable and differentiating. Leverage brand strategy by integrating marketing communications. Check for consistency of all communications from every department. Sending a cohesive message will build brand equity. Evaluate and measure performance. Make changes as needed but be patient. If branding your business has you overwhelmed, let me help. Take my FREE Business Branding Home Study Course. Click the blog link to be taken to the form to sign up. Business Brand Makeover: How to Transform Your Message Into a Powerful Brand That Makes an Impact and Attracts More Clients. Read the full article

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Free Website

I am part of several Facebook groups where I am constantly reading posts from women who have dreams of starting a business but struggle with the high costs associated with web design. I completely understand! I have been wanting to find a way to serve my female business friends better. How can I use my services to help dreams come true? We are all on this business journey together and the struggle is real. This is what I came up with.. I want to do my part to help the dreams of these women come true. I want to make a change and help as many women as I can turn those dreams into reality. Therefore, if YOU or someone you know would benefit from having a FREE website, please forward them this information. For a limited time, I will build your website/blog free of charge when you purchase a new hosting account. EVERY website needs hosting for the website to operate. Your website WILL NOT work without this. My web hosting services & site maintenance costs ONLY $25/ month. There will be no cost to create your website, the only costs associated will be the $25 per month to host it on my servers. I am offering this on a first come~first serve basis and will have limited spots available each month for these free website design projects. I can only fit in a certain number of these projects in my schedule which is why spots are limited. In my private theme vault, you will be able to pick a WordPress theme of your choice. Only themes in my vault will be used for these projects. You will provide me with images and web copy, I will use these to customize your chosen theme for you.  Fill out the form below. Once submitted, I will get back with you regarding additional information to get the project scheduled. I am so excited to be a part of this journey with you! As a recap, here are the steps to get the project started. Step 1: Fill out the form below. Step 2: Sign up with Asana project management system. You will receive notification via the email provided in the form below. Step 3: Choose your WordPress theme from my private theme vault. You will receive this link after signing up with Asana Step 4: Purchase hosting. Will receive email with payment information. Step 5: Send me your images and web copy. Step 6: Launch your site. Easy peasy, simple...that's that! :-) Here are some of the specifics.... Each theme comes with a pre-designed logo. I will update it with your business name/tagline. These pre-designed logos are not one of a kind logos. If you want a logo designed specific for your business, let me know. I will design one for you at 1/2 off.I will create 5 total pages (the home page set up as in the demo, plus 4 supporting pages ) you will provide the images and web copy for all these pages. Example of pages: About Me/Us | Work with Me/Us | Contact | Portfolio | Services etc.You provide at least 5 blog posts and images for these posts (if you choose a theme that has the blog on the home page you may need to provide more.)I will set up the sign-up/opt-in forms where indicated on the demo assuming your newsletter is preferred with chosen theme.I will create up to 3 email accounts for you and email forwarding if needed.I will link your social media accounts where indicated on the demo theme you choose (you provide me with your social media links.)Fully responsive design displaying beautifully across desktop, mobile and all devices in between.Design completed in 10-14 days in most cases (this truly depends on how quickly you respond to questions and submit needed files/information/images/copy etc.) I use Asana as my project management system. All correspondence will be made through this system, this ensures no information is lost. You will also receive a contract to sign via HelloSign. I do not work without a signed contract, this is to protect both of us during the project. :-) To learn what you get with the monthly hosting and website maintenance services go here. Since my goal is to maintain a personal relationship with my clients, there’s no guarantee how long I’ll be offering this to NEW clients. So take advantage now! Let's get down to business....:-) Fill out this form NOW!!!! Once you submit the form, I will be in contact with you using the email you provide. Please allow 24-48 business hours for a response. In this email, you will receive additional information to get the project scheduled. Spots are given on a first come~first serve basis AND are limited. Therefore, submit your form ASAP! Read the full article

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How to Add Snow to Your Website?

I really love snow, its something we typically don't get here in Texas. We haven't had a good snow day for quite sometime. Snow on my website is probably the closest thing to snow I will get :-) Since I added snow to my website, I have been getting a lot of requests on how to do it. Therefore, I thought I would give you the step by step instructions on how I did it. Pretty simple actually, its a plugin called WP Snow Effect by WPManiax. I use the free version directly from the download plugins area on WordPrss. (WPManiax website has the Pro version to order if you want that.) For the free version, go to Plugins from your WordPress dashboard and search WP Snow Effect and upload/activate the plugin from here. Once you activate the plugin, you can use these settings that I have or create your own. You can make the snowflakes bigger or smaller, you can also tell it how many you want to fall down. Here is the screenshot of the settings I have on this website, if you want to duplicate what you see in the screenshot - go for it!

The only thing I couldn't get to work on my site is which pages to show on. I really only wanted it for the home page. I couldn't get it to work no matter what I had checked, it would still show on all pages.  Therefore, I kept these settings as is. Maybe it will work for you :-)  Read the full article

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What is Gutenberg?

If you pay any attention to the WordPress community you may have heard some rumblings about something new coming soon. Something that is going to change the way you use WordPress. Something that is going to change the face of WordPress. That something is Gutenberg. What is Gutenberg? Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress, said, “It’s time for WordPress’ next big thing, the thing that helps us deal with our challenges and opportunities. The thing that changes the world. Gutenberg.” Gutenberg is a new project in the WordPress community that has a lot of people excited and a lot more people apprehensive. It is a new visual editor for WordPress that will allow you to drag and drop element blocks into your posts and pages. It is a significant change from the current editor and has received mixed reactions from WordPress users, developers, and designers. This new visual editor is named after Johannes Gutenberg, the man who in in 1439 was the first European to use movable type. He is credited with the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink for printing books; adjustable molds; mechanical movable type; and the use of a wooden printing press. The purpose of this change is to help those with little tech experience to easily and simply create different formatted types of content. The Gutenberg visual editor will be released in WordPress 5.0, which doesn't have a firm release date yet but will probably be sometime in 2018. You may be wondering why a new visual editor is even needed. The current editor works just fine and everyone is used to it, so why change it? The current editor is very old and has limitations. If you want to format the content extensively you have to do in the text editor with HTML, edit the CSS, or even edit theme files. Advanced formatting is impossible with the editor as it currently stands. While Gutenberg doesn’t fix all these issues initially, it eventually will. Test Drive It If you give Gutenberg a test drive before it is officially released in WordPress 5.0 you can do so by downloading and activating the plugin from the WordPress plugin repository. I highly recommend giving it a try before its release in WordPress 5.0 so you know what to expect and you won’t be surprised by the changes. Follow the steps below to install and setup this plugin: Login to your WordPress administration dashboard with administrative privileges. -Go to the “Add New Plugin” page (Found in the menu under Plugins). -In the top right hand corner search bar type in Gutenberg. -The Gutenberg plugin will be the first plugin in the results. -Click on the Install Now button. This will download the plugin to your WordPress site. -Click on the Activate button. This will turn the plugin on. Once you have activated the plugin you will see a new menu option on your dashboard, aptly named Gutenberg. While there are no settings you need to set, the options allow you to see a demo of the plugin in action, a link for support, a link to leave your feedback, and documentation. The official launch for it is November 27, 2018.   To download the free guide and checklist go to https://creativelybranded.com/what-is-gutenberg/   Read the full article

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Be True to Yourself

If your online marketing material stimulates an image in your mind that is just not you, likely you've been trying to model your approach after someone else or you've been using work produced by someone else without giving them the benefit of knowing you, learning your approach, sharing your ideas and interjecting your personality into the material. So, what's the solution? The solution to this dilemma is to be yourself and let your personality show through in your online marketing materials. If you are writing a blog entry in the midst of a snowstorm and it is "a bit nippy outside" don't hesitate to say so. When you let your personality shine your image will be your own, not one you have crafted that will change from day to day depending upon what you have read most recently. There's lots of talk about branding in regard to online marketing. The basic principles of branding are to decide on the image you wish to portray and what message you want to drive home. While some people could write a book on how to brand your business, there are really only a handful of factors to consider - your image, your purpose and your message. The purpose of a brand is to craft something that will stick in the minds of people and help them to remember your business. Creating and building a strong brand does not have to compromise your personality. The only real decision is whether you want to be casual or professional. In the world of online marketing, retaining your personality and your identity will go far in branding your business. You'll be much happier with the long-term effects of your online marketing if you don't try to be someone you are not. Be yourself and have fun. Read the full article

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How to Brand Your Business Using Your Senses

Have you ever thought about your brand with your senses in mind? And how your senses can play a huge role in cultivating a brand image? I am taking the whole idea of BRANDING and giving it a new spin, to show you how easy it is to give the wrong impression about your brand. I am going to show you how to brand your business using your senses. When curating your brand, think of it in terms of what your client will gain when viewed by each of their senses-hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling and touching. . Basically, your brand is the result of everything your potential client’s senses and what they can pick up on about you. It's the image you present at all times. From your company logo and color scheme all the way to the manner in which your employees dress. Think of what your colors portray. Are they giving the message you want to give? It's what your potential clients hear from AND about you. From what they hear about you in the media to how your customer service team handles incoming complaints. Are former customers likely to speak kindly about you? Are you and your employees pleasant when you speak? It's the feeling your client gets in all their dealings with you. From their satisfied or unsatisfied interaction with you to the relationship building activities you carry out. Do your current clients and potential clients feel they can trust you? Do they feel your honesty? It's also the pleasant or unpleasant scents that get associated with you. Everywhere from the scent of your product or facility, to your employees. Yes, your employees. 😊 Do your customers get a scent of cleanliness? And lastly it's also the tastes that get associated with you. From the taste of your product (if it's a product meant to be tasted) to the quality of coffee or tea you serve. Your brand encompasses everything about you. You can see why it's important to always put your best foot forward. Bottom line, branding is essential to establishing your identity and consistency is the key to effectively doing that. I hope this helps you think a little more about your brand and how to brand your business using your senses. Take time to examine with your senses what message you are giving your customers. Read the full article

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5 Reasons Every Business Needs a Book

Struggling to bring in new clients? Not sure what to do next in your marketing plan? There’s one simple answer you probably haven’t considered: Write a book. It’s true. This one thing—especially if it’s an actual printed book rather than a Kindle or eBook—has the power to grow your business beyond your expectations. You’ll experience a whole new world of opportunities simply by having your name on the cover of a book. Authority Imagine you’re at a conference or local networking group and you meet two coaches who both specialize in business branding—something you know you need help with. One coach says all the right things. She’s been in business for years and worked with some top-notch business owners. She has great ideas for how she can help you solidify your branding. The other has a similar history and story, with one added bonus: she’s just handed you a copy of her latest book. It’s a professionally printed, substantial publication that practically exudes confidence. Which coach do you think shows more authority in her field? The one with the book, of course. There really is nothing better when it comes to establishing your authority in any niche than having a book with your name on it. Expertise So why does a book speak so highly of you and establish your authority so well? Because it gives you a platform to show off your expertise. It’s like being invited to present on any topic you choose on the world’s largest stage. Not only that, but your readers are a captive audience. They’re listening—in that moment—only to you. That’s a powerful position to be in, and one that gives you an opportunity to really show off your stuff. Market Reach No matter how many readers Google sends your way, no matter how much traffic your YouTube channel receives, nothing will ever compare to the number of potential readers Amazon and other online booksellers can bring your way. Positioned correctly, your book can reach millions of new readers, and thousands of potential clients. Combine that with the expertise and authority we know comes with being a published author, and that’s a recipe for success that can’t be beat. Better Than a Business Card If you’ve ever been to a conference, you’ve no doubt collected a stack of business cards. You get home and toss them in a drawer, and six months later you throw them out, without ever having contacted the people who gave them to you. But if one of those people handed you a book instead, what happened? You’ve likely read it (or at least leafed through it). You almost certainly didn’t throw it away. And you remember it—and the person who wrote it. Press Opportunities Turn on your television to any interview show, browse through Huffington Post, or listen to any of a number of popular podcasts, and you’ll quickly see that most of the guest speakers and interviewees have written a book. The fact is, interview shows depend on interesting, insightful guests to keep their audiences listening, and there’s no better applicant than an author. Writing a book will open up many, many opportunities for appearances that you may never have without your name on that cover. Do you have to write a book to be successful? No. But there’s no denying the fact that a published author will find she has a much easier time growing her business than the coach who keeps putting it off until later. Read the full article

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Face Your Fears and Gain Control of Your Life

We’re all human and therefore we all have fears. Some of us fear death, others fear being alone, and others fear social situations. If you can think of it, there’s someone somewhere that’s afraid of it. But fear is a normal part of life! It’s what protects us and keeps us safe. There are times, though, when fear can hinder us and stop us from enjoying life and experiencing new joys. When your fear starts to limit what you do in life, you need to conquer that fear. Does your fear of flying stop you from traveling to visit family members or prevent you from taking the vacation of your dreams? What about socializing with coworkers after work? Have you turned down social invitations simply because you were anxious about not knowing anyone in the group? If your fears are stopping you from taking advantage of the new opportunities in your life, then it’s time to regain control of your life and disallow your fears from paralyzing you. After all, you can’t live in a bubble! It’s time to start living your life instead of watching life passing you by. To help you gain control of your life, here are a few tips on how to get over your fears: First, identify your fears. Get a piece of paper and write down exactly what you’re afraid of. It doesn’t matter how long the list is, whether it has one thing or 15 things on it. And it doesn’t matter if these fears sound irrational. No one needs to see the list other than you. This is about you taking control and getting over your fears. Next, figure out why you have the fear. Try to remember a specific incident that might have caused the fear. Maybe your fear of flying intensified because you’ve been on a turbulent flight. Or maybe your fear of dogs stemmed from being bitten as a child. If you’ve blocked out these memories because they’re too painful to remember, a professional can help you reach those memories and decipher their meaning. A professional can also advise other forms of treatment, such as hypnosis or the emotional freedom technique (EFT). Now the hard part begins: overcoming or conquering these fears. Be patient and be prepared to do some work because, just as the fear took time to manifest, it will take time to conquer. Take Baby Steps In the movie “What About Bob?” there was a therapist who had a patient who was afraid of everything. The therapist used the “baby step” approach with this patient, which simply means taking small steps, one at a time, to gain more confidence and eventually overcome the fear. What would your baby steps be? It depends on your fear. If you’re afraid of social situations, slowly start going to different events. Start with small groups, perhaps in very open environments, then transition slowly into larger gatherings. The purpose here is to prove to yourself that there’s nothing for you to fear. Socialize with a small group of friends you already know. Polish your social skills among people who already know you. You have less to lose and won’t feel as if you must say the right thing at all times. If you’re afraid of dogs, take this same approach by visiting a friend who has a dog. Small dogs are much less intimidating (although they might bark more frequently). If your friends don’t have dogs, ask your local vet’s office or animal shelter if you can visit. Fear of flying is much more difficult to conquer because of the expense, but you can look into hypnosis. Also, some airports or flight schools might have classes in airplane simulators that help you feel like you’re in an airplane. That type of plan will take more research but will open the world to you. By facing your fears and finding a way to overcome them, you will open up your life to many more opportunities. Take control of your life and take action! Read the full article

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Storytelling: Your Autoresponder Secret Weapon

What makes you read a blog post or article or email? Interesting stats? A clever turn of phrase? An attention-grabbing headline? All of those things can pique your interest, but they won’t keep your eyes on the page. For that, you need a story. As a coach, service provider, or blogger, your job is to craft a narrative that draws your reader in and keeps her interested. Do it right, and she’ll share your content with her friends and colleagues, greatly expanding your reach. Do it poorly, and she might read your post or your email, she might even buy from you. But she won’t remember you, because you won’t have made a connection. Share Your Personal Stories One of the best ways to build a relationship and grow your audience is to share your personal stories. Tell your readers how you got started, what lessons you learned along the way, and how your life and business were improved because of them. Personal anecdotes don’t even have to be business related to have an impact. Did you notice a fantastic marketing strategy while standing in line at the supermarket reading the magazine headlines? Share the story. Did you learn how to treat customers better by dealing with your cell phone company? Tell your story. By making the connection between a memorable event and your coaching business, your readers will remember you long after they click away from your site or close your email. Write Case Studies Another powerful story telling technique is case studies. Tell your readers exactly what your coaching client did to double her income last year, or how another client took your advice and grew her mailing list by 150% in six months. These beefed up testimonials (because that’s all a case study is) will keep your readers interested in learning more from you. Connect Unrelated Stories in New, Interesting Ways Want to really make an impression? Make unusual connections in your story. Share the struggles Frodo faced as he made his way to Mordor to destroy the ring, and how that relates to business today. Or talk about the squirrel in your yard that bravely defends his territory every time you take the dog out, and how it reminds you of your early days in business when you were convinced that competition was bad. By making a connection between completely unrelated topics, you can quickly craft a blog post or email that will get readers thinking, and that they’ll remember for a long time to come. Avoid the Awkward Segue One word of caution though. Don’t toss in a story just because you think you need a “hook.” You’ll know you’re doing this if you can’t easily transition from the story to the purpose of your post or email. If you find yourself saying something like “Ok, that’s enough personal stuff, now let’s get back to business,” you’re trying too hard. Your stories should naturally flow into business, if you want to make a big impression. And trust me, when you get this right, you’ll suddenly find your posts going viral and your profits soaring. Read the full article

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4 Solutions for De-Stressing Your Business Starting Right Now

What if you could save an hour a day starting tomorrow? That’s 5 hours per week, or more than a half-day off. Imagine closing up shop at 11am every Friday without worrying about all the stuff that didn’t get done. You can do that, when you put these 4 solutions in place, and you can do it right now. Proper project management. If you’re still managing your team with email and Skype messages, stop it. Things get lost, messages are forgotten (or never received) and balls are dropped. Not to mention all the time you spend sifting through your endless list of emails for that one piece of information you need. Sign up for Asana today, and start putting all your projects there instead. You’ll have one place to look for tasks that are still outstanding, and be able to tell at a glance what needs your immediate attention. Proper documentation. Do you find yourself reinventing the wheel every time you have to record a podcast or upload a video to your blog? Take 5 minutes and document the steps, then next time you have to do it (or better yet, when you hand it off to a VA) you’ll be able to quickly work out what needs to happen. There will be fewer mistakes, and the work will get done faster. Create a business organization chart. If you have multiple people on your team, this is critical. Rather than everyone coming to you for questions—or worse, asking the wrong person and getting the wrong answer—take the time to create an organization chart. Add it to your operations manual and make sure your team knows where it is and what it’s for. Now, rather than your Skype chat blowing up with questions all day long, you’ll have time for the more important tasks. Use time blocking. Get out your calendar and start making appointments with yourself. Decide when you’ll check email and when you’ll work on client projects, then stick to the schedule. These self-imposed deadlines will not only force you to get the work done, but they’ll help keep you focused, so rather than wasting time on Facebook, you’ll be working on your business. All of these systems can be set up in an afternoon—at least initially. But the time they save you when you use them consistently is phenomenal. An hour a day is just the beginning, but you have to take action. You have to put in the work first, before you can earn the rewards, but the benefits are sweet. In the end, you’ll wonder how you ever managed before you did these four things to improve your business. Read the full article