Stretch Brand

From Microsoft to Apple, and many non-technology companies in between, I’ve spent my career creating or re-shaping brands and developing positioning strategies. Much has been written about business brand development, but less about building sustainable personal brands and defining how you are positioned. Why? Because effective personal brand development is a highly nuanced activity, and hard to adhere to without strong internal resources, clear and balanced ambition, and sustained personal commitment.

It’s one thing to say, here’s a hot company or…

I don’t expect that this list will make it to the David Letterman show, but maybe it should.

Part 1 of this article addressed a lot of content and technical aspects like fonts, spacing and legibility concerns. I never got around to the obvious “Don’t make your business card oversized so it doesn’t fit in a man’s wallet”, or “Don’t use metal business cards unless you really want a body cavity search the next time you try to board an airplane”.

Those are all easy…

The advent of the internet has fundamentally changed the business landscape. In addition to allowing businesses to interact with customers more easily, it has also enabled them to build up strong brand identities relatively quickly and cheaply. Not only that, but businesses can operate around the clock, meaning that it is possible for people to shop online or view a company’s profile whenever they want to.

As with any business, branding is of utmost importance: it should be strong, concise…

In launching a new business, branding can often be an aspect given far less attention than it really deserves, and this can cause a number of problems and issues in the future. The brand of a product or service, or the company as a whole, can make a huge difference as far as its success is concerned. Think of the many brands which are clearly in the general public’s consciousness, and then ask yourself, how they managed to get there.

In…

The one question every business, branding, and marketing consultant asks is “what makes you special; what makes you different?” If you want to grow your business and get to the next level, defining what makes you special is a good place to start.

Most businesses are copycat companies, selling the same thing, in the same way as most of their competitors, making for a real challenge in providing an adequate answer to the “what makes you so special?” question. But fear…

Developing a brand strategy can be exciting, but at the same time intimidating. Your brand image is a major part of your marketing plan, but executing it may be a tad more difficult. Building your company’s brand image and identity is a very important step and you want to do it right the first time.

Your brand strategy is something that you will want to implement and promote throughout the life of your business. Branding your image throughout your store…

A long time ago I heard the story about a man whose daughter told him there were ripe apples on the tree in their yard. He went out with an axe and a bucket, picked the five apples that were ripe and put them in the bucket. Then he chopped down the tree, laden with green apples. He couldn’t wait for them to ripen. We need to continually brand ourselves so that when prospective customers “ripen”, you’re their natural choice…

No matter what your line of business, branding may well be your most important tool or getting consumers to remember you long after your advertisement budget is spent and forgotten.  Now before I start touting companies like Coca-Cola, or branding masters like Donald Trump and Martha Stewart, I want to assure you that branding does not necessarily mean spending lots of money on marketing or cool logos.  Branding is about getting the public to remember your brand, even if they…

In this article we are going to take a look at how you can use the concept of branding yourself to build your business writing and submitting articles.

Many people do not think about articles and how they can use them to brand themself and brand their internet business!

Branding is defined as the process of creating a unique, positive and recognizable identity for a product or service. Ranchers do it to keep track of which cows are theirs.

Major corporations such as…

Emerging technologies continue to force the most sacred corporate dogma and business practices to evolve. While many old tools and techniques are being rendered obsolete the traditional stationery ensemble – letterhead, business card and envelope – is more vital than ever.

Next to a logo the basic stationery package is the most fundamental means of graphic communication in any business’ branding arsenal, and one of the most powerful self-marketing tools at your disposal. An engaging business card, letterhead or envelope can command undivided attention, communicating…