Blending

 One of the biggest challenge we faced as a family was blending it. I was an only child however I grew up in a large family. I was used to sharing every thing. My children didn't grow up like that. I had 2 boys and 1 girl at the time when this took place. 

My daughter was extremely upset that she had to share her room. She didn't want them around and she had no problem letting them know that. She ended up going into a deep state of depression and she started to consider suicide because of what happened. I put her in therapy because I didn't want to lose my daughter because I decided to keep the feeling together. 

Then the shut down happened and that didn't make things any better. In fact it made things worst and I began to feel like taking the 4 little ones was the biggest mistake I had made in my life. 

That was another reason I ended up in therapy. I felt like a failure. I've since learned that I most definitely am not. I am a winner in every way. Yes we all have challenges to face. If everything was easy would it be worth it. I'm glad I didn't give up because now I see the fruits of my labor. 

My daughter is now 14 (she was 11 at the time) and she plays volleyball. Within the last month she actually goes outside and plays with the 4 little ones. It brings joy to my heart to see them getting along. 

Especially since this past May the adoption was final. So what's next? 

September 20, 2018

 She pretty much stated that dad had fathered his own grand daughter. It was at that point that it was confirmed that I didn't know him as well as I had thought. 

He and I started dating when I was in high school. So I thought I knew him really well but I guess not. I guess you never really know what anyone is capable of when enough pressure is put on you. Everyone has different breaking points and I guess he reached his. 

So how do I move on from there? All of my friends and family knew him. It was in our local news paper. It made the local news. My kids were teased at school and on the bus. There was so much pain at that time that it was hard to even find a reason to go on.

But I did go on because now I have 7 kids that need me to. It was no longer about me. I put myself in my foster children's shoes. They went to school that day hugged and kissed their dad goodbye and did not know that would be the last time they would go back to the place they called home. As for my kids they would have to share their rooms, their home and their mom for the rest of their lives. All because one person made a bad decision all of our lives, all 8 of our lives were forever changed. 

For about two and a half years I forgot about me. I went into automatic mode and just did what needed to be done because there was no one else that would. I forgot to take care of me and I almost burned out. I had a hard time loving my foster children. I had no problem taking care of them but because of my personality type I don't show emotions really well. I have a hard time feeling things. It doesn't limit me performing and doing what I have to but I come across as cold if you don't know me very well. 

When I realized I was having that problem I went to see a therapist because I didn't want any of my children to feel that I don't love them. Thankfully I am proud to report therapy has been working and I can say that I can easily give and receive love. But as usual there are always other challenges to face. One of the biggest ones was the blending of the family...

4 days after my son's birthday

It was about 3:41 on September 18th, 2018 when my life changed forever. I was walking to the bus stop to get my children when my phone rang. The number looked like a state number from DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services). I have a sister that works there so I thought it was her so I answered it. 

I did not recognize the voice on the other end so I quickly put on my professional voice. This unfamiliar voice asked for me by my full name. That sent a million questions running through my mind. Mainly because no one and I mean NO ONE at all calls me my government name. I know I'm a good mom, at least I thought I was. Was this going to be bad news? Had something happened to one of my children? When I get phone calls from certain people or agencies it has a way of shaking me up. So I proceeded to confirm that she had indeed reached Yolanda.

Next she identified who she was and why she was calling. I let her continue. Then she asked me if I would take in the 4 children that were living with my ex. Now let me give you a little background. He and I broke up at that time over 10 years ago. We broke up before my youngest son by him turned one. We have 3 children together and he never helped me with any of them.  He had 4 children by another woman who unfortunately passed away way to soon. 

The crazy thing was I had just seen him that same morning. So naturally I began to wonder what happened. Did he die? Was he in an accident? He looked fine when I saw him that morning. She couldn't give me details but I really didn't care. I just wanted to know if he was dead or alive and I told her I have the right to know that much because he is the father of my kids to and I need to know if I have to tell my kids bad news. She confirmed he was alive and that was good enough for me. 

So I told her I would take the kids. I thought it would be temporary especially since I had no clue what was going on.

 So I finally made it to the bus stop and waited for my kids to get home. When they arrived I told my daughter and my youngest son I don't know what's going on but the kids that live with your dad are coming to stay with us for the night. 

I believe in coping ahead in most situations. So I always let my kids know what's going on to the best of my knowledge. 

Anyway, my daughter couldn't accept not knowing the full story so she texted her older sister. 

Neither one of us were prepared for what her sister texted back...

I'm Back

Life is full of ups and downs so lets focus on the good so we can attract more of the good things into out lives. 

I never thought I would be a blogger but I've been doing a lot learning lately and one thing that seems to be a common thread throughout every book that I have read and listened to is "What do have to offer to the world?"

If you think about it, it really does make sense. We were all born for a reason and I've wondered what was my reason for being born for such a time as this. Will my role be grand or will it be small. I guess in the end it doesn't matter as long as what you do helps someone else. It because of me wanting to help someone that I've decided to share my story. 

Build Better Websites and Funnels

 In this day and age, any business that wants to thrive must go online.

With so many things going on around the world, and global changes that will forever impact the way people live and do business, going online is no longer just an option.

Not only to maintain their success, but even just to survive.

Sure, there are tools that are already available that any business can use to run their entire company and processes digitally.

However, any minimum amount of research will tell you that most of these products are expensive, complicated and limited in customization.

In other words, not very user-friendly, and definitely not suitable for all business owners, especially those who are less tech-savvy and might even be on a budget.

I mean, who can afford to invest thousands of dollars a month into a bunch of complicated tools, and on top of that, hire employees to manage the systems, right?

Well, if this sounds familiar in any way, I have some good news for you.

As an online marketer and blogger myself, I am always looking for new solutions for these everyday challenges we face as business owners.

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to my latest discovery.

GrooveFunnels is, by far, the best way I have found to be able to build websites, sales funnels and sell digital products online.

The best part? It’s FREE.

But the free value does not end there…

You see, GrooveFunnels is not just a website and sales funnel builder.

The co-founder of GrooveFunnels, Mike Filsaime, is actually a veteran in the Internet marketing space, and has put all his experience and expertise into one of the best suite of marketing tools I have ever seen.

I’ve also signed myself up for an account (it’s free), and for the past few days, I’ve had the chance to play around with it.

And you know what?

I can definitely tell you that this 100% free tool is perfectly capable of running your entire business, maybe even better than some of the expensive complicated tools out there.

I’m not exaggerating by any means…

From what I’ve seen so far, GrooveFunnels includes everything that I need to run my online business, all for absolutely free.

Here’s just a quick list of what I’ve gathered so far:

FREE sales, page and funnel building platform

Possible to build my own branded websites with full navigation

Can integrate with my own custom domain name

Able to sell my products with what they call a 1-click upsell

Capability to integrate upsells, downsells, and order bumps

Even has a way to create my own powerful affiliate program for my products!

And that’s just for starters, because there is so much more for me to explore!

I’m not even joking when I say that I am planning to change my ENTIRE online business over to GrooveFunnels!

I mean, why wouldn’t I?

It’s FREE, and it’s probably the BEST suite of marketing tools I have ever seen in my life.

By the way, there’s more…

I didn’t even mention some of my favorite benefits of GrooveFunnels.

As a member, I’ve also received a TON of community benefits.

I’ve been able to join their private Facebook group, connect with marketing experts inside, get help with all my problems, access private training within their own academy, ask questions through their helpdesk, and meet other like-minded entrepreneurs just like me to make the best use of these tools.

So, if you’re like me… Striving to grow your business, looking to learn more about marketing and getting to know some of the best in the industry at a more personal level, then you won’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

Sounds great, right?

But you might be asking… what’s the catch?

The catch is that GrooveFunnels is free, but for a limited time only.

GrooveFunnels is in its pre-launch phase, which means that many of the products have still yet to fully launch.

When they do, and as the products continue to get upgraded, GrooveFunnels may no longer be free anymore.

This means that now is the time to sign up for your free account, which would also qualify you for the additional software upgrades that they make as time goes on.

Awesome deal, right?

It’s called being at the right place, at the right time.

And that’s where we’re at right now :)

Don’t wait any longer, because I’m honestly not sure when this free offer is going to go away.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for your free GrooveFunnels account right now, and I will see you inside of the Facebook group.

Five Fabulous Reasons to Choose Facebook Ads for Your Small Businesses

Facebook Ads - an online advertising platform from the social media giant Facebook, Inc. provides a reliable, robust and returning online advertising platform that can help your business transform your online audience into your customers in a much convenient and faster way than other traditional and online marketing channels. 

There are many valid and proven reasons on why your small or local business should focus on Facebook Ads. Let's see some of the most convincing and sound reasons: 

Reason # 1 Facebook is a social platform and people love being social 

Your business can get customers by being professional, but if you want to retain your customers, you have to become social with them and that's what Facebook is all about - being social! People connects with people on Facebook and share with them what they love and what other may also love and that's the key for your business' promotion. Facebook has opened up a new dimension in business marketing - SHARE. When your customer likes your product or service content that you have put on Facebook, s/he is compelled to share it with others and this way you get what it is also known as 'Words of Mouth' publicity. So choosing Facebook ads can surely help you get lasting words of mouth publicity for your business. 

Reason # 2 Facebook is the biggest social media platform among all 

Admit it, there are other social media platforms such as Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest but Facebook is the biggest of them and have largest active user base that your business can turn into customers. As of late October 2013, there were around 728 million active users on Facebook versus that of 200 million users on Twitter and that's not the end! Facebook is reporting a smart and impressive continuous growth in terms of user base over the quarters. So advertising your business on Facebook will surely get paid off. 

Reason # 3 Facebook Ads offer more customized, personalized and social features 

Facebook Ads offers more customized and personalized ad features that enables businesses to publish social ads that their customers (in this case Facebook users) love to see. Facebook's some of the most stunning ads features are: CPC vs CPM model: CPC stands for Cost Per Click that means you will only pay when people clicks on your ad. CPM means Cost Per 1,000 impressions that means that you will pay when people see your ad. Target Audience: This is Facebook's most useful ad tool. You can target your audience based on many criteria such as country, state/region, city, age, gender, ethnicity, interest etc. which would give you very niche and targeted audience especially for local businesses. 

Reason # 4 Flexible bid options for ads

Facebook offers very flexible and custom bid options for your ads. You can choose the bid value for your ad at your own or you can also choose from Facebook's suggestions that it gives you when you are setting up your ads. While Facebook allows you to choose as low bid value as you want to set, it also recommends you an average and optimum bid value that it believes will be best for your ads. And what's more, you can anytime change the bid value during your ads lifetime.

Reason # 5 Facebook support and free ad coupon 

While you can independently set and run your Facebook ad at your own budget, Facebook can also help you create and run your ads in a more personalized and perfect manner. It's program called 'Start to Success' is intended at small businesses that want to use Facebook ads to gain local customers. Facebook's marketing expert team can help you setup your ad and will do so on your behalf and will also offer you some credit that you can redeem for your Facebook ad budget provided you meet their terms and conditions and guidelines. 

And here is one more! 

While all of the above reasons seem to be convincing to any business to choose Facebook ads for online marketing, there is one more reason to choose Facebook Ads and it is the Facebook Insight and Conversion Tracking. While Facebook Insights give you detailed and actionable overview of how your ad is performing and how people are responding to your ad on Facebook, Conversion Tracking allows you to measure the conversion rate or lead generation rate in other words. Jack Bhanshali is a social media marketing expert and an internet marketing strategist helping small and mid sized businesses in Australia leverage potential of social media and other internet tools to grow their business. 

By Jack Bhanshali 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jack_Bhanshali/1634827

Facebook Ads Guide - How to Market With Facebook Ads

 Facebook is the Internet's largest traffic source in the US, and growing worldwide. In fact, it just took over the #1 spot - from GOOGLE!

 I wanted to show you a good system you can use to get into Facebook marketing quickly and easily. That system is Jonathan Volk's Facebook Ads Guide. Before I tell you about it though - I want to let you in on a secret... 

If you get into Facebook marketing, you will crush it. It doesn't matter whether you try and figure it out yourself or you find someone to teach it to you - I strongly urge you to learn about Facebook marketing. Right now, everyone is trying to figure out Google AdWords and SEO. 

Big business is playing with banner ads. Facebook hasn't even come up on their radar. Why? It's an unproven platform. Google AdWords has been around forever. Media buys and banner ads have been there too. But Facebook? With their own ad platform? There's only 'kids' there, right? Ummm... no. It doesn't matter what market you're in, you can find your target market on Google if you approach it right. That's what Facebook marketing is going to give you.... 

Targeting! Facebook Ads Guide Review - What You Can Expect The Facebook Ads Guide is a 40 page ebook, broken down into 6 parts: Finding and Structuring Products/Services To Promote A How To On Demographic Targeting Creating High Click Through Ads How To Crack Facebook's Bidding Strategy Making Your First Campaign How To Maximize That Campaign's Potential Plus lots of other stuff! Facebook Ads Guide Review - The Positives The cool thing about Facebook Ads Guide is that it's easy to follow and very actionable. You'll be getting your first Facebook Ad up this afternoon, no matter how much experience you have. Secondly, the approach that Jonathan takes is very intuitive and straightforward. The book is packed with some awesome strategies for getting high ROI from Facebook.

 Facebook Ads Guide Review - The Negatives For me, the guide was relatively basic... but I had to lose about $3K before I figured the RIGHT way to do Facebook marketing! Am I bitter about that? Not at all. For you to get that education in the form of an eBook - that's awesome... I live and breathe ROI and performance advertising, so I understand the Facebook marketing model that Jon lays out. If you're just getting into Facebook marketing, Facebook Ads Guide is the way to go. It'll teach you how to build and scale a campaign as high as you want to go. And with the rapid adoption of Facebook, it gives you limitless marketing potential.

 Facebook Ads Guide - Final Thoughts Overall, I liked Facebook Ads Guide. I wish I had it before I dumped about $3K into Facebook Marketing testing stuff out! I relearned a lot of stuff that will be useful in the near future. The part I liked the best was the in depth info on how to target specific customers using books, TV shows, magazine, etc. That info was awesome! Get free instant access to Jason's Internet marketing blueprint that'll walk you through some secret strategies he uses to crush it in niche markets and for top paying clients. Also, make sure you visit his Facebook Ads Guide Review for more information on Facebook marketing and to get the bonus he's offering! 

By Jason Drohn |

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jason_Drohn/389671

Enjoy what the new year has to offer

 I won't have another post until the 4th of January. Enjoy your family and friends and lets welcome what 2021 has to offer us. 2020 was a true test. We all had good and bad times from the BLM movement to the world wide shut down due to Covid-19. Lets take a moment during this time to remember those that we have lost along the way and Lord willing we will do better in the upcoming year.

I'll just leave you with a quote that will hopefully get you to see things differently.

“Be a reflection of what you’d like to receive. If you want love, give love. If you want truth, be truthful. What you give out will always return.” Kristen Butler

Ten Ways to Make Money Online and Earn Good Income

 The Internet offers great moneymaking opportunities for Individuals with computer knowledge and skills required to thrive in this online medium. There are a number of ways to earn money online but the ten best possible ways to earn money online are: 

Try selling things on the Internet. That is the simplest way of making money online using the Internet. Selling products on the internet through online shopping portals, virtual auction sites, or setting up a web store in your own website provides a great income opportunity to everyone who has something nice to sell to potential customers online. This is ideal for generating the required amount of revenue on a long-term basis and is the simplest of moneymaking options available online.

 For all those who believe that their photography skills can impress anyone, there is a great option to sell photos online and earn money. There are numerous stock photography agencies present online, which help you in selling your photos online. These agencies offer great incentives and income opportunities to budding photographers. The amount is paid on a per-download basis to these photographers after getting the royalty payment rights from them. This is a very useful way to earn money online if you have the required skill set. 

Several message boards have many visitors to their sites. These message boards are dependent on regular contributions from the forum members to keep the community alive and the conversation growing. As the message boards get popular, there are chances that more members that are new will join the forum and get their queries solved or contribute towards the discussion. These message boards get the sufficient advertisements to pay to their most active members, who have been posting on a regular basis, thereby giving them a chance to earn some money. 

Through various social networking sites, it is actually possible to earn money while going through different profile of people who are members of these sites. Some social networking sites pay its users money to improve page impressions in their profile to attract more visitors. These sites also offer money for uploading and sharing pictures and referring new members to the social networking site. The money given to an Individual depends on a proportionate payment structure setup by the site that distributes almost half of its advertising revenues to its members. 

Filling up surveys is another way to earn money online. Filling up market research survey may look like a very boring activity but the opportunities to earn money in this type of work are endless. There are thousands of research groups online, which would like to take your opinion about various things and in that process, pay you for presenting your opinion. For each survey completed, there are certain points or money given out to the users. Once the money-earning limit is hit, the survey team allows the user the opportunity to take the money or exchange the points for a certain amount of money.

Another great way to earn money online is through blogs. The process of blogging can help users earn lot of money online by putting in creative content in their blogs. There are two ways of going about this blogging activity: one is to create your own blog and write all the content on your own. This is a painful process where you need to do all the hard work to earn money. The second one is to setup a sponsored blog where you write reviews about products for companies wanting to promote their business. These blog sites pay you money for providing favorable opinion about a certain product. This is one of the best income opportunities present online. 

The internet provides the perfect platform for freelancers to earn money by providing services based on their skill sets. These may include talent such as writing, programming, graphic designing, and training. There are many websites where buyer posts their requirements for a particular assignment and freelancers can bid for that assignment. The buyer then selects the service provider for the assignment and assigns the task to them. This is one of the safest ways to earn money online and the website takes a certain cut from your payment as the intermediary to have got you the job. It is more or less a win-win proposition for everyone involved. 

The three other ways to earn money online is by betting, setting up an online business, or by playing computer games. Each of these options provides different sort of earning potential and requires different amount of effort to set the ball rolling and generate the required amount of income for you. 

In A cut throat online world of marketing you need certain tools to make your business a successful one. I have learn't from some of the very best big earners on the internet today and I am rapidly creating a name for my self and my business. Let me show you the route I took to a better life and financial freedom [http://www.bankonadam.info].

By Adam Woods |

 Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Adam_Woods/298886 

Just my 2 cents again... Let's change things up a bit...

 We have covered a few different topics here at 2nd Chances 2 Shine. Over the next few post lets talk about ways to make money online. 

Let's be honest with the way things keep changing with Covid-19 who knows when things will get back to normal. We don't even know if things will ever be normal again. This might be our new "Norm".

Have you had that talk with your children about how they feel about only being able to do school through distance learning? Or for those parents that are brave enough to send their children back to in person school or you don't have a choice because of work have you asked your children about how they feel about having to wear a face covering all day? 

How do you feel about having to wear a face covering all day? I only have to wear mine when I leave the house to go shopping or walk my dog and in the warmer months I feel like I'm suffocating but honestly in the winter it's not so bad. It keeps my face warm. 

So since it might never be business as usual again we need to come up with ways to support our families from home. So that's what we will discuss going forward. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to reach out to me. I may not always know the answer but I will always do my best to find for you. until next time...

Stay Safe,

Yolanda 

Need a Safe Space to Write a Book? 5 Great Tips to Create a Haven to Write a Book

Safety plus writing are two words that don't go together when you think about writing a book. Writing a book is about taking risks, trashing the comfort zone, escaping boundaries and letting out the words that need releasing. Writing goes against the very nature we have to survive at all costs, to protect ourselves, to feel comfortable, to find our safe spot in what often seems like an unsafe world. And yet, when you let go and stop resisting the free-fall into the book writing process, the creative flow feels like the safest haven on the planet. 

Why? Because you know when you write the book you want to write, you are in the truest place you can be, the place of grace in your life. In this moment, space, place of creativity, you sense nothing can truly harm you. You live the truth where you can touch everything and give it expression, a name, a face, a form, a story, a description. But how can you get to the point where you feel safe enough to plunge from resisting writing in order to stay safe into the zone where you feel safe enough to write the book you are called to write? Here are five easy tips to carve out your safe haven to write a book: 

1. Create a safe space to write a book. This will be different for everyone. For some, a.k.a. J. K. Rowling, a safe space to write a book will be in a cafe, surrounded by people and activity - anything but being alone with the blank page. The bustle of activity and background sounds, you discover, supports you to tap your creative flow. For others, a.k.a. Virginia Wolf, you need a room of your own to write a book - at the very least a space of your own, a place you can close the door, turn off the phone, shut down email, give yourself a set time where writing is your number one priority (and you will not even peak at an email). Put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, or wherever you write your book at home, and stick to it. Clearly define for your family and friends what "Do not disturb" means - that this is important for you and you will not be talking to them, answering questions, responding to text messages or emails during your book writing time, except for emergencies. Define emergency, i.e., "You have broken a leg" is an emergency while "you cannot find the mustard in the fridge" is not. 

2. Perform a writing ritual each time you sit down to create. I do a process where I call in my muse and the writing guides and ancestors who come to support a particular book I am writing. I light a candle and ask that the book I write serve the highest good of all, that it serve love. I imagine a circle of love and light surrounding me as I write. 

3. Ground yourself before you write. First, take a few deep breaths. Next, feel your connection to your heart and reach from your heart into the earth. Draw the grounding of the earth energy into your heart. Then, imagine reaching with that heart to the sky and bringing the expansiveness of the sky to join with the earth in your physical heart. Feel those energies of earth, sky and heart intermingling and expanding to fill and surround your entire being. 

4. Before you dive into writing a book, write free-form for 5 minutes. The point is to keep pen moving on the paper (or fingers on keyboard) and write anything without censorship and without stopping. Words and sentences can be disjointed and out of any coherent order. Letting go to write like this frees you from the "need to be safe" and in control and drops you into the book writing zone of truth-telling and creative expression. 

5. Stretch your risk-taking muscles daily. Once a day, do something out of the ordinary. Break your routines. Drive to work or to shop via a different route for five days in a row. Howl at the moon. Dance naked in your living room. Walk in the spring rain without an umbrella. Skip down the street or hiking trail. The point is to do something out of character, that's not controlled or protected or limited or safe. Nurture your safe haven. Then, Write a Book -- Transform Your Life now. Sign up for your free writing ecourse with Alissa Lukara to discover 7 key steps to write a book. Plus visit www.transformationalwriters.com for lots more writing resources. Alissa Lukara, author of the memoir, Riding Grace: A Triumph of the Soul, works with writers and authors who want to make a positive difference. She is an editor, writing coach, book whisperer, and online and in person writing workshop leader and presenter. 

By Alissa Lukara |

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alissa_Lukara/974642 

Want to Write a Book? The Best Two Word Writing Advice

What is the best advice you can hear to help you write a book? 

Two words: Show up. The more you show up to write your book, the better chance you will not only write a book, but complete and publish it, too. Here is its value. Showing up to write a book - whether you do it in systematic spurts or daily - reveals you take yourself seriously and give to yourself lovingly as a writer. One writer who took my workshop said, "I realized my life always comes back to writing... Now I don't wait until there is time and space for me to write my book. I schedule time to write daily and hold onto it. And I am writing...finally." Another writer from one of my writing groups echoed this wisdom, "Those two words - 'show up' - have been the most important writing advice I ever received to write my book. Since then, I show up and write for a few hours each day. Writing is what I love to do. It's also the discipline I need to get my book done. 

The writing does not flow every day. Some days, I sit in the silence. Other days, I do research for my book. At times, rewriting can seem tedious - and endless. But showing up to write the book, no matter what happens during the writing time, is part of the process. Showing up, I completed my manuscript." I recently attended a presentation by a successful screenwriter who also knew the importance of showing up to write. When she was already a successful screenwriter, she also became a wife and mother. She continued to write at home, but her children started to interrupt her with regularity. She could not concentrate on her writing and maintain creative momentum. Sound familiar? 

This writer did not hesitate. She sat her family down and told them, "I love you. You are important to me. But so is writing. And I can't write when you interrupt me. So it's your choice. I can either stay at home and write or rent a space and write or go to a coffee house to write. But know that I am going to do whatever is necessary to keep on writing." Miracle of miracles, her children began to respect her writing space, and she was able to stay home to write after all. 

I have found "showing up" to be critical to my writing process, too. As much as I believe you only need 15 minutes a day a few days a week to get started to write a book, I also believe in the value of showing up. Consistently. This consistency of writing practice lets your writer self grow strong. It lets your writer self know on a deep visceral level that you are there for it, that you will show up. That more often than not, you will not follow the multitude of other voices that call you to go, do, live, work, play, handle all that is other than writing a book. Right now, I am writing a novel. And as I have found with the other books I have written, at a certain point in the process, a book-in-progress cries out its need for a commitment of more of your time, more of your steady presence, your follow through, your showing up in order to birth itself. This need presented itself recently, and I made the dive to show up to write my book, heart wide open. The novel is finally revealing the fullness of itself to me in a steady stream of words, a steady flow of words and ideas and next steps. 

I dive and flow between writing, outlining, plotting and research, a watery dance with the depths of what presents itself to come through me in the still moments of the early morning or at night. I show up daily 5 to 6 days a week - even when I can't, mustn't. And the more I do, the more readily I slip into the writing groove, into the stillness from which the words arise to write a book. Dreams come in the night to support it, too. Ideas, phrases and scenes pop in unexpected as I am engaged in the rest of my work day or taking a walk in nature. Showing up to write a book is a commitment I - and you - must make over and over again. One morning, I may wake up "too tired" to write. I may feel uninspired. Or, the "to-dos" of my work day call. My cat wants to play the moment I sit down to write. Or, I remember an email that "must" be answered. I sense the tug of war rope threatening to pull me away from writing. I acknowledge it. Let go of the rope. Then, I turn to my writing desk, say to myself, I may not have the energy for it. But I will give the novel at least 15 minutes or an hour. That is something. Even if I sit there. And before I know it, a couple hours have passed, and I have given myself over to the creative process. 

Your "showing up" to write your book does not have to look like mine. In fact, mine changes from book to book, project to project. But however I do it, I'm more like a marathon runner as a writer. Other writers are sprinters. One writer friend does not move forward on her novel-in-progress until the day or two before each meeting of our shared writer's group. Then, she writes and rewrites for several hours before the group - and comes in with sparkling gems of writing. However you show up or don't, writing has patience. It will wait. If you can't commit right away, if you don't show up in a day or month, it will forgive again and again and again. Then, when you do show up, it will come to you from such purity, such sweetness and trust as you open your soft petals to it, and it opens its soft petals to you. 

For what your writing loves is intimacy. What it loves is mutuality. What it loves is the gifts you co-create to share with others. What it loves is filling the stillness, the empty places in your heart with the slow dance of words. What it loves is the joy you find in showing up. Write a Book -- Transform Your Life now. Sign up for your free writing ecourse with Alissa Lukara to discover 7 key steps to write a book. Plus visit www.transformationalwriters.com for lots more writing resources. Alissa Lukara, author of the memoir, Riding Grace: A Triumph of the Soul, works with writers and authors who want to make a positive difference. She is an editor, writing coach, book whisperer, and online and in person writing workshop leader and presenter. 

By Alissa Lukara 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alissa_Lukara/974642

Happy Holidays...

 Have a wonderful holiday... hug a little tighter... laugh a little louder... smile a little bigger... but most of all enjoy your loved ones a little more than before... 2020 has been a true test... I’m so grateful to have made it thus far... HAPPY HOLIDAYS WORLD....

Just my 2 cents again... writing a book

 I once had someone ask me if I could think of any well known person in the world that has made a name for themselves without having a book published at some point. I sat and thought for a while and surely everyone that I could think of have all written books. 

I remember when I was a child book writing seemed like an unreachable goal in my life. It seemed like it would cost thousands of dollars and that I would never be able to get my hands on that amount of money. However, thankfully this thing called the internet came along and leveled the playing field. I know it will still cost something but now it seems like it is within my grasp. 

I think that writing a good book is another way to brand yourself. We all have a story to tell and you never know how what you have gone through in your life will encourage someone else to continue living theirs. My pastor once said "Not everyone can hear your voice." He didn't mean because the people you are talking to are deaf but that sometimes the way we say things might not be the way the people we are talking to need to hear it. 

I know I tend to be blunt and straight to the point when I speak to people but not everyone can handle that. Sometimes I have to put some sugar on it to make it sweeter just to get my message across. I wholeheartedly believe that we don't just live for ourselves but we live to help those that we come in contact with from our children to the stranger that you say hi to as you walk by. 

I believe it was Maya Angelou that said "there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

Tell your story to the world it will change someones life...

Yolanda Smalls

Successful Brand Marketing Strategies For Online Marketers

 

What are brand marketing strategies and how can utilizing brand marketing strategies help an online business? Just like a bricks and mortar business, an online business also needs to suggest a positive image to the customer. In spite of what many people believe, branding is much more than creating a company logo and using a specific color scheme. Brand marketing strategies should also include the purpose, focus and image of the business. Let's discuss some of the benefits with regards to brand marketing strategies. 

Benefits of Branding: Having your own brand helps people to remember your company as opposed to companies using a common name. Brand marketing strategies are about helping the target market to distinguish your company focus and purpose. Consumers are more likely to turn to your business when they are aware of what you do and what you're all about. Brand marketing strategies also will help you to become well recognized. People who may not yet have done business with you should still be able to recognize who you are and what you do. If they see your advertisements on the internet, receive your newsletter, receive regular mailings from your company by email, etc. then you've established a brand identity. When the tine arrives that they require your product or service then your company will be the first that they think of. Using brand marketing strategies will help get and retain customer loyalties. It is a fact that people bond closely with brand identities. 

The astute consumer wants a quality product or service from a company they know they can trust. In delivering great brand identity people tend to remember you and your company. Quite frequently they'll refer family, friends and associates to you based on their level of satisfaction. Buyers will pay for image, it's that simple. Society is very "brand aware." Commonly people associate certain brand names with superiority and only choose to purchase certain brands for that reason. Brand marketing strategies can reward a business well when done wisely. When a consumer only wants one certain brand of a product or service, they are willing to pay any price to get it. Establishing a great brand using brand marketing strategies will give your company a superior brand image and make the consumer forget about the competition.

Brand Marketing Strategies Initial Steps Of Branding Yourself

It's worth repeating that branding is much more than a logo and color scheme or a catchy motto. When using brand marketing strategies there are some initial steps that should to be followed to create a successful brand image. 

Step 1: Brand Marketing Strategies Focus On the Competition A key factor in creating a successful brand image for the network marketer is to set yourself apart from the competition. It's imperitive to find how the consumer sees the competition and to recognize how the competitor sets themselves apart from others. Identifying the competitors weaknesses and strengths is also important. When the competition's weaknesses are learned it's much easier to learn from their weaknesses and can be an asset in helping to portray your business in a more positive manner. 

Step 2: Brand Marketing Strategies Recognize Your Strengths Once the competition's weaknesses are known the focus should move to defining your own company's strengths. Running a target market analysis can be most advantageous when what is learned from it is used. The usefulness of this tool will be realized by confirming that your company strengths are actually important to your target market. In knowing your company strengths and what strengths are important to your customers, you now have the ability to market these successfully to the public involving them in your branding campaign. Branding marketing strategies have to be implemented properly to work. 

Step 3: Brand Marketing Strategies Be familiar with Your Customer Getting familiar with the consumer is another key branding marketing strategy not to be ignored. Find out about their buying behaviors, how frequently do they buy? Are their purchases a select few or a wider array of services and products. Asking these types of questions can help to better market to the consumer. Also finding out your target customer's needs, standard of living, attitudes and mindsets. In discovering and working with these personality qualities another key to marketing success has been found. 

Step 4: Brand Marketing Strategies Be Your Brand Be your brand, live your brand by making certain that your company truly expresses the brand identity you've established. In other words if you've established quick response time to customer inquires as one of your brand marketing strategies, then you must give response time to your customers. Every member of the company should live your brand and be your brand for your brand marketing strategies to be useful. How to Make Sales With Branding After the brand marketing strategies are in place then what? When thinking of the McDonald's brand what comes to mind? Do the golden arches come to mind or Ronald McDonald? Similarly it is important to choose a niche online and brand our business accordingly. Get recognized for doing well in I area before moving on to another. Here're some of the things needed to sell online with branding after the brand marketing strategies have been implemented. 

1) Your own company website. This shows that you're in fact a serious entrepreneur. Nothing screams amateur more than somebody showing a replicated affiliate web page. Your own domain hosted website is a wise brand marketing strategy. 

2) An auto responder service and opt in form are two "must haves" in brand marketing strategies. Very likely your site's visitors won't purchase or join on the first visit. So when they leave your site you may lose them for good unless you capture their name in an opt in form. In doing this you are able to follow up with a series of emails messages. The follow up email messages help to reinforce your brand name in your target consumers' minds. Remembering to keep the follow up at a respectful level of persistence can win sales. All serious entrepreneurs must have an auto responder service. In adding to this brand marketing strategy you can increase your chances of capturing visitor names by offering a free gift like a report or eBook. 

3) A profile picture of yourself and online signature adds not only a personal touch to your brand marketing strategies but lets your readers see that you are a real person. 

4) Sound, if your speaking voice is pleasant then put a voice recording together with your profile picture and signature to help humanize your company website and establish a relationship with your audience. This is a great brand marketing strategy that works well for many marketers.

5) Start a business blog. Your blog can be an add on to your primary domain or if you're working on a tight budget you can use a free blog service at least until you start to realize some profits. Every brand marketing strategy discussed here can be used into a free blog. The blog should be updated often with fresh, unique content that is relevant to your niche. The message of the blog should remain a consistent one, so off topic content should not be added. The goal is to keep the theme and message consistent. Readers of your blog can be kept updated about your blog's content by using RSS feeds. 

6) A final brand marketing strategy that will be very important to the online marketer is a domain name. A domain name can be registered and forwarded to point to your blog if you don't use an add on to your primary website domain. Showing your audience that you've registered your own domain will show them that you are serious about your business. Brand marketing strategies should be an integral part of all online business as people do want to do business with people that they know, like and trust. Linda Saville Trempe is creator of "Affiliate Online Marketing Strategies & Program Review" [http://freetrainingblog.com] Linda is active as a Super Sponsor at Tissa Godavitarne's Acme/GDI Support Forum, enjoys mentoring others seeking success, blogger, webmaster and author. She resides in Colorado Springs, CO and is mother of a grown son & daughter and grandmother to 3. She is an entrepreneur working in various niche markets, an avid business blogger and writer. 

By Linda Saville Trempe 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Linda_Saville_Trempe/353926

The 7 Pillars of Branding

 Although the question of branding has always been essential part of marketing and has been approached with multi-dimension models, sometimes these studies have been made without systematic approach or with full of redundancy or ad-hoc views. Unlike marketing which has the widely-known and usable, practical 7P-model, branding still misses such a sort of basic structure which makes the skeleton of all branding story. Here I am making an outline of such a simplified model to help people in successfully designing brands and also to better understanding the already existing ones. I collected 7 layers of the branding with 7 different tasks to be completed in everyday actions. I hope this can be useful for the readers, too. Right before entering this syllabus, we need to define what brand and branding is: in our view brand is a vision that is related to a specific company, product or any specific entity which lives in people and materializes to them. Branding is the art of deliberate control over the whole process. 

First pillar: Publicly known A brand always defines a smaller or bigger group of people who are somehow aware of the product or the service in question. This is the prerequisite or trivial condition of all brands: if you are the only one who knows a specific service or uses a specific product and no information is publicized, the service or product is unable to evolve into a brand. This is the primary task of all marketing efforts, making our specific product or service (along with its whole branding costume) widely known on the addressed market: the majority of the marketing budget is used for this purpose. At this point we normally pay attention to the details of the publicity of all brands: target segment(s), its content, geographic, demography, media, communication methods, timing etc. 

Task 1: design and make your publicity However, the fame of a product or service is not exclusively based on the publicity gained (mostly depending on the money available for promoting the brand) via frontal, push-type of promotion. Money spent on communications is a very important factor to reach the second stage of publicity: the people involved in the communications flow will probably share the information with each other and start a - sometimes very simple and few words - discussion about the product or service heard. The act of sharing the information with each other happens or has happened with all known brands. Suggestions, opinions made in public are very important in articulating brand and thus creating or strengthening/weakening brands. This is why the importance of Facebook in contemporary marketing cannot be overestimated enough, or, with similar effect, the customer service/problem handling has always been focal point of customer satisfaction and branding, too. The publicity of branding therefore incorporates all means of sharing the information related to a specific brand or service. There are two basic type of publicities: there is of course the strictly controlled information sharing method (typically: marketing communications) and we also have to face a second publicity, the huge uncontrolled means of communication. When we are thinking on designing a new brand or just examining an existing one, we have to enlist all the ways how the specific brand gains publicity and sort them by relevance with regards to the public coverage and effect, making special attention to the uncontrolled ways of publicity.

The success of controlling publicity is a key to profit from branding, however, public control will never mean information monopoly over the media and over the outcome: even situations when a company has theoretically 100% control over the situation (e.g. customer care desk at the office or shop), it is always a challenge to control what is exactly happening there, what is going to be told or heard. Thus, from micro to macro level the publicity always carries a huge uncertainty factor with regards to reach, direct effect and future implications. 

Second pillar: Associative and narrative - stories around The discussions initiated and information shared publicly about a brand (or a branded product or service) would show up the next major characteristic of brands, that is, the power of the coupling or association related to the branded products or services. In other words, branding means that we create stories around a brand. Brand identity or personality, brand vision, brand promise are the official stories reflecting the narrative of a generic brand on different levels. Marketing creative planning is exactly doing the same around a specific product of a brand (e.g. 'The environment friendly Toyota Prius' as a story), while general brand stories (I mean the Toyota brand in the example) or associations are on higher level only. We therefore have to consider several layers of brand stories or narratives when examining them. It is very useful when these stories are consistent and formed professionally and are not contradicting to each other. Brands are incorporating many stories and ideas not just from individual products and services determined by the company but stories and ideas also coming from the public. Unfortunately - as we mentioned above - we cannot control the majority of the perceptions of our brand. Individual opinions, perceived qualities, good or bad experiences are building the narrative universe, or more simply, the stories of a brand. 

Task 2: define and drive brand stories Notwithstanding the above, we can drive these brand stories and narrow them to the desired ones on at least two-three different areas. The mission statement of a company/organization is the very source of official brand stories and determines the branding direction via its written values and operational reasons. Secondly, the slogan or the tagline of a brand (like LG's Life's Good) is meant to embody the driving narrative story and works like a magnet: collects all the associations around a brand. The third layer of story comes along with specific products or services: repeating the slogans, taglines while inserting the logo of the brand on individual products/services makes the specific product or service painted with the general brand's associations and qualities. The individual story of a product or service is like a topping on the branding cake. Pure brand campaigns on the other hand are always aiming outlining and fixing the desired main stories and narratives of qualities in the customers. Controlling publicity cannot be done without controlling the stories attached to a specific brand and seems the major task of all branding and communications managers. Here, we have to highlight a related issue which behaves like the blind spot of the branding: rebranding. Rebranding campaigns are to change the very basic story of a brand. This is the reason why these campaigns fail many times and real rebranding is a very seldom event. 

Third pillar: Concrete and multiplicative form In real life we always give tangible forms to brands because we want to make profit from our money spent. Brand without concrete product/service to buy (or without a related person when we talk about personal brands) is useless or just a promise (like the newly planned Jolla mobile OS with only a demo video). The embodiment of a Brand is an essential part of its very nature. Normally we use the power of a general Brand Name for many individual products. An already existing brand hands over its potentials (its stories of qualities, usage, value etc.) to specific, individual products and even when we see a new product of an already known brand we are already having a presupposition or sense of certain expectations towards the brand new product. A VW car is perceived for many as a reliable one; however, it may happen that a much lower quality is introduced in a new model than what the brand had fulfilled at its predecessors. 

Task 3: make several appearances to utilize brand power Most times we may say that a brand is transferred into several products and therefore it is multiplicative. It is very seldom that an earned reputation of a brand represented in only one product or service. For example the perfume 4711 seems to be transferred only into one product for a long time, but the brand's product portfolio today consists of more than one item: after shave or even shower gel is also produced. Start-ups typically own only one product and normally the first product is the one that determines and forms the brand later on. Initially, the brand is typically built upon on only one product or service and this is why it is very sensitive when entering a market with a new company and a new product: it also determines the future brand and products the company assessed with. Personal brands, seen superficially, are not multiplicative: a person who has double face (see politicians) and therefore not able to form a consistent and concrete personal brand, are subject to lose their reputation and their face rapidly. This is because brands can have only one concrete (credible) story, without major contradictions. The multiplicative nature of personal brands should be investigated from another perspective. In case we regard a person's appearances in public as concretizations and multiplications of his/her brand, we are closer to the truth and we understand better why celebrities and politicians are so keen on public appearances. 

Fourth pillar: Unique proposition The history of branding is stemming from the wish of making a producer's goods identifiable. This is not just to ensure the identity of goods but also to prevent from copying and forgery. The brands around us are still carrying these old attributes: the logo of the company/brand is expressing the uniqueness of a brand (supported by law as trade marks) and helps us to identify a specific brand in the universe of brands and signs. Sometimes it is very hard to make distinction based on the products/services alone: Pepsi and its rivals put in a neutral glass next to each other are unidentifiable, so the use of branding techniques is crucial for gaining profit for both companies. Just like in the cola case, the technological industry also heavily relies on the branding when selling its products or services: PCs, laptops, smart phones or internet accesses are very similar to each other. Or, a tax advisory service consultant firm is facing real challenges to provide specific brand vision. 

Task 4: find and use the means of brand differentiations The unique proposition of the brands has to be built up and shown for the public: the individual logos of brands on devices for example help the company to make distinction from their competitors and help the customers to identify different market players in order to make a personal choice of preference. Most times companies heavily rely on the unique brand distinguishers, like stories about their unique market segment, tailor-made products, additional services they provide etc. Sometimes, when stories among a group of competitors are very similar or compatible (like the Big Four Auditors) and even their service is similar, a common story may evolve around them focusing on more the similarity and indirectly expressing the exclusivity of the group members. 

Fifth pillar: Value When we identify a brand on its telltale signs (e.g. design) or logo we do not think on what we see first (the product itself) but rather we focus on the brand value represented by the specific product or service. We may say (even without seeing the product) that if you are having Martin Logan stereo speakers that is very cool, but if you are having Philips that is not so awesome. Different brands represent different values: there are low-end and high-end brands with many in between. Start-up companies have to position their brand value on the axis predetermined by the existing market players. Making decision on positioning the companies' services or products on the lower or higher end of this axis has nothing to do with ethical values: a low-end, cheap car helps many disabled or poor people without doubt. Rather, making the choice of brand values determine the market we are about to target. And this target market decision affects our business outlooks directly. When Toyota launched it Lexus series and decided to focus on the higher end cars they probably considered the higher profit option. The value of a brand is also expressed in a more measurable way. In general ledgers brands are valued as a part of the company's goodwill and are very sensitive for new product introductions and for amortization, too. From financial point of view brands regarded as assets that have been created due to investment and are also subject to lose or increase their values. 

Task 5: define and carry brand values The value of a brand emanates into individual products of a company and the value of the sold products affects the value of the brands. More surprisingly, the value of a brand may transfer over the buyer persona influencing the perceived value of a person in a certain group of people (see Apple fan-effect) while the network-effect of the public also modifies the brand value (exclusivity, limited models are also able to increase brand value). The relative price of a product or the whole branded portfolio both has very special connection with the brand value: the higher the price positioned the harder to imagine low brand value. This is because the narrative of the price (see Second pillar) influences the brand value. Other narratives of a brand (how durable it is, for instance, or which celebrities are using this brand) heavily effect the brand value, too. Similarly, the extent of public spread (see First pillar - how much the brand is known, how much spent on advertising) also effects the brand value. Brand value is determined by several other factors even not listed here. It is partly the result of deliberate actions of the company (market positioning of the brand and its products) but also exposed to external factors (like time) and public opinion.( LG's rebranding from the low-end Goldstar brand to the higher positioned LG showed that value propositions of a brand require efforts in both areas. Grundig made the opposite U-turn when sold to Chinese company.) 

Sixth pillar: personal relation All the pillars encountered previously are summoning on personal level because the nature and the definition of branding 100% relates to human feelings and perceptions. Most cases we can translate this personal effect and feelings to perceived brand values and the position of a brand in the customers' head. People know or do not know, like or dislike brands, become haters or fans of brands, recommend or just accept certain brands. 

Task 6: turn personal relation to action As a result, this personal disposition of a brand clearly ends up in the relation to the act of buying. We, marketing professionals should not deny the aboriginal intention of our branding efforts to influence buying decisions on personal level. We are not just simply influencing people in business for the sake of general human aims: we do not want world peace; we do want to have our specific products and services sold. We want to convince John or Clair Smith as individual customers to select our service or product. This is the action we - or more generally: the investors - expect from any investments (including brand campaigns) made. Fortunately we not all live in the business sector, not all follow business aims (i.e. sales) in our lives. Surprisingly, non-profit organizations are not so much different from business ventures from this point of view. Non-profits also want to have a specific action to be reached: an action that is maybe appearing directly (like giving donation for starving people) but can be mental action or change to be targeted (for instance diversity campaigns). The personal relation to a branded entity can be outlined in a matrix where on the first axis we can define the readiness or probability of buying action (or in a non-profit: readiness for action) and on the second axis we may highlight the level of brand's emotional acceptance. The personal relation to a specific brand with regards to the ultimate sales reason can be mapped as shown, but we should not forget that personal emotions and relations to brands are much wider than presented above: some people feel that their beloved brand is expressing also their way of life, involving several other actions well beyond a simple shopping; or just feeling neutral about a brand while the person is not going to be represented in any commercial situation (like myself with any hunting brands, although I know some of them). We should therefore identify very precisely the personal relations to our brand of our existing and potential customers and we should make focused actions to harvest the branding efforts we have previously made. 

Seventh pillar: Exposure to time We have already mentioned before the amortization as an important factor in brand values. The simple reason of amortization is that the brands (via materialized products/services) and the customers live in time. The general life exposure to time factor represented in concrete shapes with regards to brand itself and to its specific products/services. (Amortization is only the result of that process.) Brand perception very much effected by the products/services in timeline (e.g. how much up-to-date the product is reflects the brand's state-of-the-art nature) and on the other hand the brand itself (without looking at individual products) also has an individual character which has its own life-cycle (how old a brand is, what type of products they represent). 

Task 7: Consider time: plan and replan over time Brands do not last for ever and are changing over time, even without deliberate actions. Amortization expresses the time-factor in economic terms but all the pillars mentioned before has a time layer. The repeated actions of marketing campaigns, the product developments or changes in market environments change the face of the brand even if it is not perceived by the company. The sad story of Nokia is a perfect example of how this specific brand was effected by the time factor in all possible way, from the publicity of its phones (a complete new generation has skipped Nokia phones), through the changes in the narratives attached to the brand, with the refreshed need to be unique again to the sharp decline of the brand value. 

By Zsolt Egri 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Zsolt_Egri/1603668

Understanding Branding Importance in Marketing Your Business

You may have heard something about marketing "branding," but maybe you don't truly understand what that that means exactly. Some people think branding is like positioning, but it is actually different. The main difference is that positioning is a fluid concept. In other words, you can position yourself at different times in different markets as different things. Branding is more set in stone-- it's a hard-core recognition factor. Branding is more about following rules because if you don't follow those rules, things don't look the same and people won't remember you. When you put out your marketing pieces, you want to create a similar look and feel so that people remember you. And you want that similar look and feel on every piece you put out. The good thing is that you get to make the rules... colors are the same, style of lettering is the same, logo, etc. However, there is some flexibility as long as you follow the rules. You can't go too far out of bounds, but you can change some things within the framework of what others can still recognize. Branding in your marketing has to make you feel something. A technology company can't have an old-style font -- you might not think that they are very advanced.

A brand consists of eight basic building blocks: 

The name 

The logo (brand icon) 

The brand's colors 

The slogan and brand messaging 

The sound of the brand 

The overall look and feel = the brand's position 

Packaging the brand 

The brand experience

A brand is a greater sum of its parts. It is always more than just the nuts and bolts, the pieces; great brands are always the result of the whole equaling more than the sum of its parts. Branding is about making the consumer or buyer more hip, more in the "know," more cool than anybody else. We are a generation and a nation wanting to be special. We want to be richer, more beautiful, better dressed, and more effortlessly gorgeous than any other generation that we know.

Benefits of Branding Your business needs to create a positive image in the minds of consumers. Contrary to what most people believe, branding isn't just a logo. Your business's purpose, focus, and image all combine to create your brand. Why should you make this effort? Below are a few benefits: 

You are remembered: It's hard to remember a company with a generic name. You may not be able to distinguish their purpose and business focus. And why would you call a company if you couldn't tell what they did? Branding your business ensures that consumers will know what you're about. 

You gain customer loyalty: The fact is, people build close bonds with brand identities. Consumers want quality products that they can trust. So, your business should have an identity that your customers can cling to. If your company delivers great products and services and has a great brand identity, people will remember you. Additionally, they will often refer you to friends and family. 

You become well-known: You want the people who have not done business with you to still know who you are and what you do. If they see your ads on billboards, hear them on the radio, see them on television, or any other media, they will know your brand identity. And when the time comes that they need your product or service, your company will be the first to come to mind. 

Consumers pay for image: We are a very brand-aware society. People commonly associate brand names with quality and may only buy certain brands for that reason. If people only want one brand of a particular product, they are willing to pay a higher price. Having a great brand will make your company have a superior image and cause consumers to forget about the competition. 

When you have distinguished your business through branding, the marketing has the capability of becoming so profound that little else is necessary. Developing your brand takes time and effort, but after it has been solidified, and after customers have had the chance to identify with it, your sales can increase naturally. You won't have to spend as much time planning marketing strategies to attract the public. 

Online Branding

Branding, as a whole, is essential for any serious business because a company's brand is what distinguishes it from its competitors. In today's computer age, it is necessary for most businesses to have an online presence to stay competitive. Effective Internet branding, just like its offline counterpart, helps bring awareness to your unique business offering and drive customer demand. While Internet branding offers huge opportunities for business, in order for it to be effective, one needs to attract and engage its customers. This isn't easy on the Internet. Branding is not as easy as putting up a website and adding your company logo and slogan. Your Internet branding strategy should make your online brand noticeable and apparent. Branding utilizes hi-tech tools to create an online presence for your business. Graphics and animation, compelling web copy, and overall website design that reflect your company are some of the important elements that will bring your online brand alive. An attractive website that helps customers easily and quickly find the information they need is the key to getting customer interaction and eventually, business. Your branding plan should include good design elements and ease of use to create an effective overall impression. A strong online image will make the difference between a customer who buys from you online or switches to your competitors. Remember that online customers can just leave your website and go to your competitors with the click of a mouse. A lot depends on the impression they get from your website. Branding seeks to convey an immediate unique message about your business to your target clients. 

Promoting Your Brand

If you haven't already initiated a brand for your company, now might be just the time. Use these simple techniques in the promotion of your special brand. 

Make your brand as unique as possible: Catch the eye of the public by creating something different -- something that people have not yet seen. Instead of doing what has already been done, go the opposite direction and be creative. Don't forget the legal dangers of copyright infringement related to borrowing or stealing from another firm's design. 

Display stability: Take time in the development process to establish your brand and accomplish the look you really want. It's better to spend sufficient time in the beginning fine-tuning your design for the desired outcome rather than to play with it after it's been revealed to the public. Changing your brand, and all that's involved with it, including colors, slogans, logos, and tag lines, doesn't support an image of reliability and longevity. 

Stability should be maintained with branding: If you have integrated a brand into your company's marketing, use it all over the place. It should appear on all of your marketing materials, business cards, website, and printed items. The same is true for your packaging. Your brand should appear on all of your products. 

Give your brand away to the public with diverse promotional products: You can help your brand to saturate the consumer population by handing out precious, yet low-cost, items. Promotional products encourage possible customers to keep in mind your brand and your gift every time they are used. 

Conclusion 

Branding is just like the old coat of arms that families used to have connected with their name. It instills respect, fear, and wealth. Likewise, a country's flag gets people to feel a certain way about their country. Think about what message you want to convey. What do you want recipients of your promotion to think about you? What image of your company do you want to put out there? That is your brand. When people see you continually as one thing, they begin to expect the same from you and they get used to you. We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee. Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company's Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies. His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development. Mr. Cohn earned a Master's degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master's degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. Mr. Cohn is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 

By Michael Cohn 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Michael_Cohn/404898

How To Create A Brand - Build Your Brand Development Strategy

How To Create A Brand? There are four effective steps in brand development strategy to create a brand: 

1. Choose the brand name and logo 

2. Establish the brand in the minds of customers 

3. Brand Sponsorship 

4. Develop the brand What Is Brand Equity? 

How to create a Brand is no way different from founding your business. It takes time. Gradually you can create Brand Equity. Brand equity is the differential effect when consumers react more favorably to a brand than to a generic or unbranded version of the same product. Whenever we think of buying a smartphone the very first name strikes us is - the iPhone. Ask why? It's because of comfort and authenticity delivered by iPhone to its users. Apple throughout their years of research and experience has created a state in our mind of ultimate luxury and comfortability in using their products. There may be a few more similar products of others in line with Apple iPhone and may be superior to that, but the identity of iPhone gives it the edge over others- no matter what the price tag is. This edge is the Brand Equity. 4 Steps of Brand Development 

Strategy 1. Choose the Brand Name and select the Logo: While building a brand development strategy name plays a vital role. A good name and style can add positives to a product's success. It is the most difficult task to start with. Simplicity is the first step. The name should be easy to pronounce, recognize and remember. Moreover, it should suggest something about the product's benefits and qualities. Names like Google, Nike, Facebook, Apple, KFC etc. are among the most established brands all over the world. Interesting fact about those names is that they are easily translatable in different languages around the world. Hence the meaning of a particular word should not be something which indicates bad, wrong or negative. Again the name should be extendable to cover up multiple product lines. For example, Amazon.com started its business with bookselling and now has been extended to multiple product categories. Once chosen, the brand name should also be protected. Means in many instances brand names were eventually mixed up with the product category and people cannot differentiate the brand identity from the product category. For example, Xerox is a company builds copier machines, but doing a photocopy is often termed as doing xerox.'Xerox' is to be pronounced as a noun and not as a verb. Many people find it hard to distinguish between the product and the service which ultimately hampers the brand name of the Company. 

2. Establishing the brand in the minds of customers: An interesting saying by a marketer- Products are created in the factory, but brands are created in the mind. This can be done in multiple ways- At the basic level, it starts with introducing the target customers the product and its distinguishing characteristics. Let's took the example of Amazon's Kindle- e-book reader. Amazon targets its customers, saying that it's an e-book reader having a distinguished feature of reading books in a virtual format. In this stage, they are simply introduced with the product and has a very low level of impact. The more effective way a brand can be positioned by associating its name with desirable benefits. Thus, Kindle is beyond an eBook reader- it is lightweight, on the go dictionary, stores thousands of books which are easy to search, no glare and zero distractions. The strongest brands go beyond establishing features and benefits in customers' mind and positions itself on strong values and beliefs, rooted to a deep emotional bonding. Like reading books in Kindle is an absolute pleasure and presents itself as book lover's new best friend. When placing a brand in human mind, the marketer should establish a mission for the brand and a vision of what the brand must be and do. 

3. Brand Sponsorship: Brand sponsorship can be of three types: Private Brand sponsorship Licensed Brand sponsorship Co-branding Private Brand Sponsorship: Lots of advertisements and social marketing strategies work behind the big brands to emerge and are termed as National brands. But for smaller Companies, it may not always be possible to endorse brands with a huge out of pocket expenses. In those scenarios, brand sponsorship is very important. As against National or Manufacture's brands, there are Store brands. In recent decades store brands are gaining more from the market. Here's why? Big shopping malls like Big Bazaar, Walmart resale products at significant discount rates especially the generic or no-name brands. They endorse the products citing its advantages or putting side by side comparison with the top brands. The association of the big resellers with less known products works as an aid in uplifting the brand value of the product once termed as 'no-name'. Private brand sponsorship is also followed in online shopping too. As we can see small or lesser known mobile manufacturers are recently tying up with Amazon to sell their phones. In fact, this strategy is working great as the 'no-name' brands are getting the support of the big brand stores be it online or offline. 

Licensed Brand Sponsorship: In this brand sponsorship, some companies buy the names and symbols of other manufacturers or creators with a fee and endorse its products under such brand name. This is a common thing in the fashion industry like Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci, Armani etc., where the Companies are using the names and initials of well-known fashion innovator. This type of branding turns out as an added fillip but with a pinch in the pocket. 

Co-Branding: Under such a brand sponsorship strategy, to established brand names of different companies are used on the same product. Because each brand dominates in a different category, the combined brands create broader consumer appeal and greater brand equity. For example, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance where Bajaj is a dominant player in the automobile sector and Allianz is a German financial service major. Now since Bajaj wants an entry in the insurance sector and Allianz wants an entry in the Indian market, they jointly made a brand 'Bajaj-Allianz' to reap the fruits of the Indian insurance market. Co-branding carries some limitations too. Such relationships usually involve complex legal contracts and licenses. Co-branding partners must carefully coordinate their advertising, sales promotion, and other marketing efforts. The onus lies on both the partners to carry the co-brand with trust and dignity. 

4. Developing Brands: To augment the brand equity it is very important to prepare a brand development strategy incommensurate with changing business scenarios. There is no hard and fast rule to dictate over. Line extensions: Brands name of a product can be extended to an existing line of products to accredit new forms, colors, sizes, ingredients or flavors of an existing product. However, line extensions involve some risks. An overextended brand name might cause consumer confusion or loss some of its specific meaning. Brand extensions: It happens when a current brand name is extended to a new or modified product in a new category. For example, Nestlé's popular brand of noodles Maagi has been extended to its tomato ketchup, pasta, soup etc. A brand extension gives a new product instant recognition and faster acceptance. But one should be careful while extending brand as it may confuse the image of the main brand. Multi-Brands: Multibranding offers a way to establish different features that appeal to different customer segments, lock up more reseller shelf space and capture a larger market share. For example, a reputed company sells multiple varieties of soft drinks under different brand names. These brands are fighting each other to reign the market and as a result, they individually may have a smaller share of a pie, but as a whole, the Company is dominating the soft drink market. The major drawback here is the individual brands obtain only a small market share and may not be very profitable. 

Conclusion Brands are not created in a day or two; you ought to have the patience to grow it. The above - mentioned points suggest some best practices to build a brand, but the real test begins in the field. Brand development strategy differs from place to place, even urban branding and rural branding are way different in their practical applications. Remember that behind a successful brand development strategy, there lie lots of endeavors, a vividly clear vision and above all an uncompromised quality of product or service. Author Name: Deep Sikder The author is the founder of http://www.Bihog.com which deals with exploring and evaluating money making ideas and help people in developing their skills accordingly. The site also addresses issues on personal finance, branding, and marketing. 

By Deep Sikder 

 Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Deep_Sikder/2489512

Brand Creation and Criteria for Development conclusion

2.0 Top Branding Mistakes Branding, a commonly used term throughout the business world, essentially means to create an identifiable entity that makes a promise of value. It means that you have created a consciousness, an image, an awareness of your business. It is your company's personality. Numerous businesses try, but many fail at creating a successful brand. For more on the definition of a brand, read What Is a Brand? Here are 10 of the most common mistakes: 

1. Not thinking analytically. Too many companies think of branding as marketing or as having a catch phrase or a logo. It is more than simply vying for attention. A brand warrants attention on a consistent basis, represents something that your audience wants but does not get from your competitors. For example, it could be providing the best customer service in your industry - not just through your tagline or logo - by actually providing the best customer service in your industry. 

2. Not maintaining your brand. Too often, in a shaky economy, businesses are quick to change or alter their identity. Too much of this confuses your steady customers. For guidance, think of big brands - Nike, for instance, has used "Just Do It" as a logo for years. One rule of thumb is that when you have become tired of your logo, tagline, and branding efforts, that's when they begin to sink in with customers. 

3. Trying to appease everyone. You will never be able to brand yourself in such a way that everyone will like you. Typically the best you can do is to focus on the niche market for your product.  

4. Not knowing who you really are. If you are not the fastest overnight delivery service in the world, do not profess to be. Too many business owners think that they are providing something that they don't. Know your strengths and weaknesses through honest analyses of what you do best. 

5. Not fully committing to branding. Often business owners let the marketing and advertising department handle such things as "branding," while they work on sales and other important parts of the business. But sales and branding are tied together as integral aspects of your business. Many Fortune 500 companies are where they are today because smart branding made them household names. 

6. Not sharing the joke. If only the people in your office get a joke, it is not going to play to a large audience. The same holds true for branding. If your campaign is created for you and not "them," your brand will not succeed. 

7. Not having a dedicated marketing plan. Many companies come up with ideas to market themselves and establish a brand identity but have neither the resources nor a plan as to how they will reach their audience. You must have a well-thought out marketing plan in place before your branding strategy will work. For help putting together a marketing plan, see How to Build a Sound Marketing Plan for Your Business. 

8. Using too much jargon. Business-to-business-based companies are most guilty of piling on the jargon. From benchmark to strategic partnering to value added, jargon does not benefit branding. If anything, it muddles your message. 

9. Trying too hard to be different. Being different for the sake of being different is not branding. Yes, you will be noticed, but not necessarily in a way that increases sales. 

10. Not knowing when you have got them. Companies that have succeeded in branding need to know when to stop establishing their brand and when to maintain that which they have established. Monitor the results of your branding campaign. If your small business is a local household word, you can spend more time maintaining your professional image. 

2.1 First Steps for developing a brand Before you develop your brand identity, you have to assess your business, how it operates and the messages that you want to - and are able to - deliver consistently to your customers. You must be realistic right from the start. There are five key areas to consider. 

1. Work out your business, product or service's core competencies. These are what you achieve for your customer, not necessarily what you do. For example, a good wine shop's core competence is selling wine that its customers enjoy - not just selling wine. 

2. Assess who your existing and potential customers are and find out what they like and what they don't. For example, if they are driven by competitive pricing, there is little point in you presenting yourself as a premium-price supplier of the same products offered by your competitors. 

3. Find out how your customers and your employees feel about your business. Reliable? Caring? Cheap? Expensive? Luxurious? No-frills? Later in the process, these emotional responses (brand values) will form the basis of your brand message. 

4. Define how favourably your business is viewed by customers and potential customers - this is your perceived quality. Do they trust your business, product or service? Do they know exactly what it does for them? What do they think of when your brand is mentioned to them? Low perceived quality will restrict or damage your business. High perceived quality gives you a platform to grow. (Stephen M. Wigley, et al,July 2005) 

5. Consider how far you can develop your business with its current customer perception without moving away from your core competencies. The amount you can change your offer is your brand stretch. For example, a shop known for selling fresh sandwiches could also consider selling homemade cakes and biscuits without going outside its core competencies. But selling frozen ready meals too may stretch its brand too far. (Stephen M. Wigley, et al,July 2005) 

2.2 Managing the Brand A brand will not work instantly - it will develop strength over time as long as your business consistently communicates and delivers your brand values to customers. Keep all your staff involved in your brand and your business. As your staff will be responsible for delivering the brand, they all need to feel a part of it and believe in it. Discuss your brand values regularly with your staff so they are clear about them.(R.E. Rios et al,Jan 2009) 

Encourage them to offer suggestions to improve your systems so the brand values can be more easily delivered. Monitor your customers' response to the brand regularly and continually review how your brand values are communicated to them. Get regular feedback from friendly customers and find out if what your business is doing for them matches the expectation your brand creates. Ask dissatisfied customers or former customers too - you learn useful lessons about your brand through honest criticism. (R.E. Rios et al,Jan 2009) Regularly review your products, services and systems to make sure they efficiently back up your brand message. For example, if freshness is one of your brand values, are there ways you can deliver the product even more quickly? Once the brand is developed within your own business and your existing customers, you can use it to attract new customers. Use your core competencies to show the benefits of your business to potential customers. Show what your business can do for them, not just what you do. Make sure every communication with potential customers is also consistent with your brand values. Advertisements and sales literature to potential customers must be visually and emotionally consistent with what you provide to existing customers. 

2.3 Extending the Brand A successful brand can offer opportunities for a business to grow. However, if you are introducing new products or services, you must make sure they are consistent with your existing brand values. Stretching a brand too far reduces its strength and can damage it. If you are introducing new products or services, consider carefully if they fit with your core competencies and brand values. If they do, brand them in the same way as your existing products and services so they benefit from your existing branding. If they don't, you should consider branding them separately. If your new products or services remain within your core competencies but not your brand values, you can consider a diffusion brand. A diffusion brand is a different message with its own identity tied to your existing brand. For example, an insurance company's core competence is getting things put right after they go wrong. If it introduces a new service that repairs items rather than pays for their replacement, it should be a diffusion brand: the Fixit Service from XYZ Insurance. Remember that any problems with a diffusion brand will also damage your main brand, so treat the diffusion brand with similar care. If your new products or services fit neither your core competencies nor your brand values, you must brand them separately. 

2.4 How Long Will My Brand Last? Your brand should last as long as you want it to. Barring unforeseen circumstances, such as the sale of your company, a change in leadership, or a major shift in your audience or product offering, your brand is the most important and permanent manifestation of your company and its values. It used to be conventional wisdom that your brand should last 20 years. In the information age, that seems like a long time - and it is. (Tim Ambler et al,July 1996) Your brand might not last that long because your company might change into something else in months, not years. Still, you shouldn't plan on changing your brand with any regularity. It takes discipline and vigilance to build and maintain a brand. You want it to work for you in the long haul. In time, it will assume a life of its own that transcends the company itself. 

3.0 Conclusions Having consider all the above mention results if a company wants to stand out in his field and make a distinction between themselves and their competitor there is no cast of shadow that they need a branding to explain an unusual line of business through which earn above average return other wise if they don't have a dedicated marketing plan they have to lose the market.As you learned you must have a well-thought out marketing plan in place before your branding strategy will work. As a result we found that branding is one of the undeniable segments of our business. References 1. Josephine Collins,(March 2008) Think global, act global: Global Brands Group has gone from a standing start in 2003 to today's international brand management business. Co-founder and co-chairman Jonathan Sieff tells License! Global how that has been achieved 2. Kenneth A. Fox,Journal of Business Strategy (Nov-Dec 2002) Brand naming challenges in the new millennium. (Brand Management). 3. Michael Long and Chris Czajkowski (June 2007); Brand management--consistency breeds success: brand development involves integrating all elements to create a consistent message that reaches the target consumer 4. R.E. Rios and H.E. Riquelme, (Jan 2009)Brand equity for online companies. 5. Stephen M. Wigley, Christopher M. Moore and Grete Birtwistle. (July 2005) Product and brand: critical success factors in the internationalisation of a fashion retailer.(Retail Insights: Papers from the 8th International Conference of the European Association for Education and Research in Consumer Distribution. 6. Tim Ambler and Chris Styles. Marketing Intelligence & Planning 14.n7 (July 1996); Brand development versus new product development: towards a process model of extension decisions. 

By Meysam Salimi 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Meysam_Salimi/1109802

Brand Creation and Criteria for Development continued...

1.2 Branding a Start up For start-up and small businesses, branding often takes a backseat to all of the other considerations - such as funding and product development. This is unfortunate, for a company's brand can be vital to its success. Dollar for dollar, it is as important and needed as any other start-up activity. Recently, a software management company, temporarily named TallyUp, invested in a branding assignment. Its flagship product, a software suite that tracks and runs bonus incentive plans, needed a clear identity and platform to appeal to its target audience - primarily financial executives. The name TallyUp, while somewhat descriptive, didn't capture the appropriate and required level of sophistication to attract the desired clientele. TallyUp retained a branding consulting company; they recommended the name Callidus, which is Latin for expert and skillful to effectively and in an instant communicate their position. While both names communicate a similar concept, the new one works on a completely different level. 

Callidus better suits the ideal position of the company. Serial entrepreneurs have a great deal of wisdom to share about branding and positioning. You can gather additional useful advice on the challenge of brand development from someone like Thomas Burns, whose story is covered in our article, Building a Credible Brand for Your Small Business. If you're concerned about the cost of brand development, take heart. While it's easy to spend a lot to create a brand, you don't have to. Read our article, How Much Does a Brand Cost? to understand the price range of brand development. 

1.3 Creating a Brand Once you have worked out your core competencies, brand values, perceived quality and brand stretch, you can communicate them to your customers. Build the message into everything your customer or potential customer sees and hears before they have any direct contact with your business. Make sure your company literature reflects your brand values. If necessary, redesign your logo and company stationery so it provides an immediate visual link to your brand values. (Kenneth A. Fox,Nov-Dec 2002) For example, if speed is a brand value, add an indication of movement into your company's designs.Reconsider any advertising you may do. Is it in places that reflect your brand values? Does the copy reflect your brand values? Make sure your staff understand the brand values and believe in them. Your staff's attitude and behaviour will influence the success of your brand more than any promotional activity. Remember that if you make strong customer service a brand value, the brand is damaged if one customer feels that whoever they are talking to doesn't care about service. Review your systems and make sure every point of contact that a customer or potential customer has reflects your brand values. For example, if being friendly is one of your brand values, make sure anyone who answers the telephone or has direct contact with customers is friendly. (Kenneth A. Fox,Nov-Dec 2002) 

1.4 How Much Does a Brand Cost? How much you can expect to pay for the creation of your brand is the $64,000 question. The answer is that the fee doesn't have to be astronomical, but it can be depending on who you decide to do business with. Creating a brand is often a classic case of getting what you pay for. Your cousin may create a name and commensurate logo (without applications like letterhead, signage and packaging) for $500, or you can pay an international identity and branding company $100,000. In theory, that $100,000 should by you higher quality images and plenty of targeted branding theory, but that isn't always the case. (Kenneth A. Fox,Nov-Dec 2002) Our recommendation is that emerging companies look for an in-between solution. Look for a company that is experienced in branding small or start-up businesses, and that understands your timing and budget constraints. Reputable firms charge anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000 for a name and logo. You should be thrilled with the product and get terrific results from a firm in this range. (Michael Long et al,June 2007) Before choosing a branding, naming or identity company, scrutinize its portfolio to make sure their style matches your tastes. Also, don't hesitate to ask for references-they should be proud to provide them. Call a couple of the references and find out whether they liked working with the firm. Finally, remember that branding is a serious, long-term investment. If you're going after or have received outside financing, it should be a line item in your budget. Building a brand is a core business activity, as important as leasing office space, recruiting the right people and developing your product or service. (Michael Long et al,June 2007) 

1.5 Finding the Right Branding Company Companies that create branding and identity are often difficult to distinguish from graphic design firms, but how they go about creating your brand may be much different. There are several important steps to select the right company to help you to brand your new business. First, ask your contacts which companies they know that specialize in branding. Conduct Internet searches for "naming" and "corporate identity" and "branding." Think extensively about what types of names and logos appeal to you. Research the firms that created the brands that you most admire. Be aware of the firms' creative styles. Choose a company with a track record for unique and original names, not one that has a history of creating coined names. However, don't go with a highly creative firm if your constituency is very conservative and traditional. (Michael Long et al,June 2007) Contact a handful of companies and take note of how quickly they get back to you. Do they seem motivated or preoccupied? Is the person who returns your call a partner or a sales representative? Meet with a few different companies and trust the chemistry. If it's there you will know it; if it's not, keep looking. Make sure that the person with whom you initially meet? usually a partner or owner - will do, or at least direct, the work. That way they will be personally motivated to produce results for you. (Michael Long et al,June 2007) Ask each company about its process. How forthcoming are they? Are the representatives willing to talk about their procedures and the steps that they'll take to create your brand? Make sure you talk about money; they may ask you if you have a projected budget for this project. It's acceptable for them to ask, but it's also okay for you to hear first how much it will cost, without disclosing your budget. How quickly do they get back to you with a written proposal? If you agree on Tuesday to work with them and you haven't heard from them by the end of the week, this might not be a good sign. Again, be smart and go with your instincts. 

By Meysam Salimi 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Meysam_Salimi/1109802