More on Building a Brand

In a previous post, we discussed building the brand: YOU.  We pointed out as a home business owner, you and the business are basically one and the same.  A different home business name may be used, but your clients know you as the owner, manager, and clerk.  Every business decision you make can help or hurt the brand: YOU.

What exactly is a brand or how is a brand defined?  Simply, a brand is a combination of perception, association, and expectation to an audience.  As a home business owner, your clients are the audience.

In an equation: Brand = Expectation + Association + Perception to the relevant community.

A brand communicates value, expertise, ideas, and personality to the audience.  Think about the comedian-ventriloquist Jeff Dunham.  If attending his show, you expect entertainment, laughter, and puppets.  Dunham created a perception, an expectation with Peanut, Walter, Jose, Achmed – and humor.  If your favorite puppets were missing, you’d be disappointed and the show’s value – to you – would drop.  Your expectations were not met, slightly tarnishing Dunham’s brand – to you.

Dunham’s puppets are the same as your service or product inventory.  You may be sick or sold out of certain items, but the client has expectations.  If you can’t deliver, your brand may be damaged a little.  One time is understandable, repeating the problem puts a negative spin on your brand.  Fortunately, the opposite is also true.  Exceed expectations and the following happens:

-        Puts you in a top position in your industry

-        Sets you above competitors – you deliver

-        Creates positive pre-sale expectations

-        Creates new opportunity

-        Adds value to your brand

Hopefully this brief article on branding helps you understand why brands are so important and valuable to individuals and business.  Your goal: create a positive image when the brand is mentioned, each time for every client, current or potential.

By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

Building The YOU Brand

You are a brand. Your personality, strengths, education, and accomplishments are all part of the personal brand: YOU. Like corporate brands, the YOU brand is viewed by others in unique ways: responsive, fun, cool, intense, etc. If you decide to start a home business, the YOU brand is associated with the business.

Personal branding is about expertise and marketing the YOU brand. You are an expert in your field and acknowledged as a reliable, go-to person. Ever hear of Conrad Hilton? Hilton was the founder of the well-known Hilton Hotels chain, a name associated with luxury and class. Hilton used his expertise in hotels to create a brand known throughout the world. Everyone is potentially no different than Hilton.

What is the YOU Brand?

Know yourself, what you do best, who you are, and how you want to be known. Are you a comedian? Serious and thought-provoking? A blend? Understanding YOU is the first step in successful building that brand: YOU. Consider the following messages the YOU brand sends:

- The qualities and results people expect

- The difference between your business and the competition

- Emotional reactions when the YOU brand is mentioned

When you sell services, people are buying YOU, not the service, per se. You will bring clients back with your work. That is branding. Be the best and YOU will become known.

Building the YOU Brand

The Internet has revolutionized personal and business branding. Write an article for a blog that gets re-blogged and quoted across the social network arena and YOU become instantly associated with that piece. Branding in days, weeks, and months not years. Repeat this action again and again, and YOU can be the next Suze Orman or Jim ‘Mad Money’ Cramer, Robert ‘Rich Dad’ Kiyosaki or Stephen ‘7 Habits’ Covey.

Choosing to brand using social media means working with the biggest and most frequently visited sites. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, posting often and with unique views and ideas. Engage your readers, responding to their questions and comments, and link to other popular blogs and websites. Be consistent with the message YOU is conveying. Don’t mix messages and confuse people about YOU.

Face to face networking is effective too. Attend industry events and conferences, trade shows and conventions. Expose the YOU brand as much as possible to all interested parties. It is difficult to predict a potential customer or who will talk about YOU.

Use a website to display expertise and experience. Don’t attempt to cover too many areas. Instead, narrow your focus, and make the YOU brand known in that area. Websites are often the first impression for many people; be professional and relevant. People are affected by color, font, text size, and content. Research these and find out what works for your business.

Everything YOU do, every article YOU post, and all clients YOU help become part of the brand: YOU. Do it carefully, responsibly, and confidently, and YOU will be successful.

By Dion D. Shaw

Dion D. Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs. New Day. New Opportunity.

image credit: employers.identified.com

Press Release for Business Exposure

A big issue facing all businesses – home, small, or large – is marketing or getting the word on the street.  How can others learn about my product and services?  Tweets, Facebook posts, emails and posting notices may help, but may not be enough.  This is a significant challenge if a business is locally based; more so when no brick and mortar presence (store front) is visible to passersby.  Internet businesses and home business fall into this category too.

Consider a press release.  The media is still the most significant and powerful form of marketing yet invented and provides instant credibility and exposure.  How often have we heard “I read it in…” or “I heard it on…” so it must be true?  This concept, known as ‘social proof‘, prods people to browse or purchase. A story in a local newspaper or trade publication is often a golden ticket for curious shoppers and can instantly create clientele.

Press releases are used on the Internet too, potentially creating traffic from search engines such as Google or Yahoo and exposing a business to a larger audience.  This is a major advantage when a target market is geographically large or the business sells via the Internet.

Tips for writing a winning press release

- Consider the ‘newsworthy’ nature of the release.  Why would a journalist write your story?  A journalist writes to sell copy – the article – not your product or service.  Give them something unique and they’ll gladly write about it. FOR FREE!  Both sides win; the writer sells more copy and the business gains clients.

- What is unique or distinctive about your product or service? Have you recently opened a theme restaurant or patented the Chia Chinchilla?  Do you have a new product or service for your target area?  This product or service may have succeeded elsewhere but is fresh and original where you are.

- Write in an inverted pyramid style.  This is different than fictional writing in which a story builds.  In a press release, put the important points first – who, what, where, when, how, why – and leave the details for the second half.  Readers like to skim and the first lines must catch their attention.

- Be short and to the point.  300 to 500 words, no more.  Be concise, simple, and relevant.

- The title of your release should be less than 10 words.  More becomes an article and is boring.  Make it catchy and grab the reader.

- Include contact information.  Address, phone number, web site (URL), or email.  Ensure the person that responds to inquiries knows the product or service.  Don’t turn off new clients with bad information.

- Use PRWeb.  Prweb.com is an Internet press release distribution service.  A business owner and friend of Homepreneurs, Craig Knickerbocker of American Industrial Werks,  comments:  “I highly recommend if at all possible spending the extra money on the press release service that will get your release listed in the search engines. Usually this will happen within 24 hours of release. For PRweb this cost at this time is about $200.00. This is how you get the search engines to follow your links (called backlinks) which you will of course included in your press release. I can’t stress enough how much difference this makes in boosting your site with the search engines.”

Many resources are available for your business to become known: Facebook, Twitter, mass media, Prweb.com and more.  Use them to boost your visibility.

By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunity.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed (other than American Industrial).  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012, All Rights Reserved

7 Ways To Promote Your Business Online For Free

Every business needs promotion, regardless of size. This is especially true for the home and small business ventures that don’t have large box stores or sell online.  The big question: what are some effective yet cost-effective ways of marketing?  In the article, 7 Ways to Promote Your Business Online for Free, Kim Bhasin brings out several suggestions that are fairly easy and FREE.  Free does not mean cheap, ineffective or any less valuable.  To the contrary, many of Bhasin’s suggestions use the Internet as a communications media.  Using the Internet allows for potentially huge audiences and customers.  Nothing in history compares to the power and reach of the Internet as a marketing medium.

————

7 Ways To Promote Your Business Online For Free

By Kim Bhasin

You may not have wads of cash to spend on marketing in the early stages of your startup, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t effective ways to get your brand out there.

Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply, through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events. Now there are all kinds of opportunities out there on the Web—you just need to know where to look.

Here are seven ways to promote your business online that won’t cost you a dime:

1. Use the three big local listing services

Registering your business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps. All you have to do is fill out the form and register, then get your business verified through their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or snail mail. Yahoo! also has a big database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. It’s free, and is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up. Microsoft’s Bing has a similar service that’s easy to sign up for.

2. Embrace social media

Social media isn’t just a tool to gain exposure—it has now become a necessary time investment for every business to make. You can tie in ads and offers on your Facebook page and have a direct channel with your customers on Twitter. Networking on LinkedIn—both at the personal and company level—can be another way to help your startup.

3. Start a blog

A blog not only helps your company get its name out through followers, but is a way to connect with your consumers more directly. But remember that one of the major keys of blogging is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. A dormant, abandoned blog is worth nothing.

4. Put up multimedia on YouTube and Flickr

YouTube provides a free way to distribute creative promotional videos, but in order to succeed you must put up content that people want to view and are relevant to your business—a simple ad will not work. A Flickr profile can also help by giving you one place to compile all the photos for your business, and allows you to link back to your website.

5. SEO your company website

Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in the world of constant Googling. Pick up a book or head over to an online how-to-guide on SEO and make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines.

6. Press releases

Every time your business does something newsworthy, don’t hesitate to shoot off a press release—maybe folks will pick up on it. They’re a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity, and having free distribution of them is a bonus. There are dozens of websites out there that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release.

7. Join a relevant online community and contribute

Every niche has communities online that you can get involved in. But just signing up for a forum and posting every once in a while about your business isn’t beneficial for anyone, and will likely just annoy people. Actively contribute and build a rapport with the community, while keeping your business out of it. Passively promote your business by putting a link in your signature or mentioning it only when the context is appropriate.

Kim Bhasin is a reporter for the War Room section of Business Insider. Previously he worked for a financial and strategic management consulting firm.

He is also currently a graduate student in Business and Economic Reporting at New York University. Kim holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Pace University and a BSc in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University.

Article Source:

 

http://www.openforum.com/articles/7-ways-to-promote-your-business-online-for-free?intlink=us-openf-nav-ymal-t9a7pv4r6

 

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunities.

Start Your Business Planning Now

Chris Gattis left an excellent comment on Homepreneurs blog today: “…Most small business start-ups begin with bootstrapping techniques to offset a lack of cash. However, many hopeful entrepreneurs are sitting on the sideline waiting on the economy to get better before starting. Now is a great time to get started. The generally down economy will keep you focused on finding sales and keeping costs in check. Once the economy picks up, and it will in time, you’ll have an organization and systems in place ready to leverage for growth.”

In our opinion, Chris is right on target.  The economy is still down, but starting to show signs of life.  Planning for a small or home business should start now.  As suggested, bootstrapping – to help oneself without the aid of others – is cost-effective and an educational way to learn all aspects of running a business.

Following the idea of bootstrapping, we’d like to suggest some resources and articles that can help you in this effort:

Financial

This is often the biggest issue when considering entrepreneurship.  Here are some suggestions to consider:

Use personal savings to start.  Ask family members if they can add a little here and there, look at CrowdFunding options, read these articles for startup funding options and creative funding ideas.

Benefits

Next to financial concerns, many younger entrepreneurs are concerned with medical benefits.  This is a valid concern, given the lack of national heathcare in the United States and the high cost of buying medical plans for yourself and perhaps a family.  If you currently have a job and are planning on quitting to start your own business, take the COBRA option from the employer.  This will cover medical costs for up to 18 months though you will pay 102% of the personal plan cost.  Paying for COBRA coverage will be far less expensive than an independent plan.

Consider a hybrid of working part-time and running your business on the side.  Hompreneurs recently posted 2 lists of companies that provide benefits for part-time employees.  For as little as 20-25 hours per week, one can get medical coverage and more while working on your dream.

You may also consider starting a business on the side while working your full time job.  This allows you to maintain benefits and financial health while starting the business you’ve always wanted.

Business Ideas

Startup ideas are easy for some, very difficult for others.  Homepreneurs lists dozens of home business ideas for you to consider or perhaps spark an idea of your own.  Here are a few highlights:

8 Great Work-at-Home Business ideas

Starting a Business in a Rough Economy

Home Healthcare Business Options

Home Business Options with Good Income Potential

and for part time business:

Part Time Jobs at Home

Business Resources on the Internet

The Internet is a home business and small business owners best friend, confidant, and resource for information.  The article about free or low cost Internet resources will help guide you and suggest technical and business assistance.

Marketing and Branding Your Product

Successfully launching a business requires considerable effort in marketing, branding, and getting exposure for your product or service.  Here are suggestions for low cost marketing, and bootstrap branding.

Many resources are available to help the novice – or experienced – entrepreneur plan and launch a business for as little startup capital as possible.  We suggest using this free one-page business plan to get started and put your ideas on paper.

We hope this list of resources gives you ideas for a business and provides some helpful tips.  Best wishes for your success!

By Dion D Shaw

Dion D Shaw is the founder and owner of Homepreneurs

Homepreneurs.  New Day.  New Opportunities.

Disclaimer

Homepreneurs does not endorse nor have any relationships with any of the services listed.  Homepreneurs receives no compensation or consideration for its suggestions.  Homepreneurs strongly urges all interested parties to conduct research and accepts no responsibility for any losses incurred.

© Homepreneurs 2010 – 2012