Brand Quarterly August 2012 by Vesey Creative

Brand

™

Volume 1 | Issue 4

August 2012

Quarterly

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Who Are You? Dealing With An Identity Crisis

“Breaking News!” How To Write A Killer News Release Should We? Shouldn’t We? The ‘Company Page’ Decision “Trust Me” Overcoming ‘Brand Fear’

Brand Quarterly™

In This Issue 8

“Trust Me” Over Coming ‘Brand Fear’

The Paper Hyperlink

It’s Not Outsourcing;

“Breaking News!”

Design 101

Real Brand ‘Management’

Should We? Shouldn’t We?

Who Are You?

Who Can Sell A Franchise?

Wanted: Strategist, Fire Fighter, Diplomat

Time Is Money - Use It Wisely

Premature Solicitation

The Logo Lowdown

Say Hello To QR Codes

It’s Crowdsourcing

How To Write A Killer News Release

Supplying Content To Your Designer

Manage Your People To Manage Your Brand

The ‘Company Page’ Decision

Dealing With An Identity Crisis

Do You Need To Be Licensed To Sell Franchises?

– Oh, And Must Be Good Storyteller

Five Tips To Achieve More With The Same Time

Don’t Get Caught Out

9 Design Tips Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

From The Editor It’s A Golden Time... Hi all, and welcome to the fourth issue of Brand Quarterly. This issue reaches you with the London 2012 Olympics well under way. With medal tallies rising, personal bests and world records falling, it’s always an inspirational event for the global community as a whole. Adding to our own global community of experts, this issue sees the first members of Team GB make an appearance. Four new contributors based in the United Kingdom, each with plenty of advice and expertise to share. We’re enjoying great feedback and are so thankful for all the support received in helping us spread the word of Brand Quarterly. As a not for profit publication we rely on social media and word of mouth to promote and share Brand Quarterly. If you like what you read, please share it with your friends and colleagues, and assist us in reaching and helping as many people and businesses as possible. Last issues’ ‘Request A Cover Story’ promotion also received a fantastic response, so much so that we’re going to run it again! Congratulations to this issues winner - A. Milne who’s great question inspired this issues cover story. Your Kindle E-Reader is on its way, enjoy.

Fiona Vesey Vesey Creative

Want to be in with a chance to win the next Kindle E-Reader? Email us on studio@veseycreative.com with your cover story idea for our next issue. Enjoy this issue of Brand Quarterly and as always, we look forward to your feedback. Fiona Volume 1 | Issue 4 | August 2012 Brand Quarterly magazine www.brandquarterly.com Publisher/Design: Vesey Creative Ltd studio@veseycreative.com

As the publishers of Brand Quarterly, we take every care in the production of each issue. We are however, not liable for any editorial error, omission, mistake or typographical error. The views expressed by all contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Copyright: This magazine and the content published within are subject to copyright held by the publisher, with individual articles remaining copyright to the named contributor. Express written permission of the publisher and contributor must be acquired for reproduction.

Request A Cover Story...

...& Win A Kindle E-Reader.

Yes, that’s right. Just email the question or topic you would like covered. And, if we chose yours as our cover story for the next issue, you will win a Kindle E-Reader. Simply email your question or suggestion to studio@veseycreative.com

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Featured Contributors Allan Blair Beaton Allan Blair Beaton is a social media scientist, born on the west coast of Scotland, but with an international client base that includes Elite Athletes, Government Organisations, and SMEs of all descriptions. His passion for social networking and all things web enables him to provide his clients with the most up-to-date access and engagement on the social web. Allan is currently Managing Director of Social B2B Ltd. He is also an UK Ambassador for HootSuite and will be assisting with their Community teams across the UK and Europe.

Samantha Mckay-Challen A former journalist, press officer and public relations director, Samantha is a self-confessed word geek and PR expert with 13 years’ experience. She runs her own copywriting and PR business, The Word Angel, and specialises in providing businesses with bespoke, creative advice on how to raise their profile by more effectively engaging with target audiences via social and traditional media.

Graeme Golden Graeme has been in the communications industry for over 25 years. Starting in IT, he had a long career with Royal Mail where he held a number of senior positions including board member for sales and marketing at Royal Mail Electronic Services. Since then Graeme has worked in IT, software, manufacturing and print services. He is a strong advocate of cross media and multi- channel communications. Graeme started QR Code Scotland so he could provide clients with exciting QR Code designs and successful QR Code marketing solutions.

Ken Vesey Ken Vesey styles himself as a ‘QA Specialist, People Management Specialist, Facilitator, Implementer, and Technical Writer of policy and procedures’. His passion is towards the small business owner, whether in business or in education. Over the past 27 years, Ken has compiled a wealth of management knowledge whilst holding the positions of NZQA Panelist & Moderator, Learning Manager at the Employers and Manufacturers Association, and Regional Director of Training for the Order of St John Auckland.

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Andrew Vesey As a co-founder of the boutique Branding and Graphic Design agency Vesey Creative, Andrew lives his passion everyday – helping people and companies grow and be successful. He is a strong believer in continually upskilling, learning and staying relevant in business. It was this ‘education brings growth’ mentality that originally lead him to create Brand Quarterly magazine. Andrew brings to the table 15+ years of training and industry experience in Marketing, Advertising, Branding and Graphic Design.

Farrukh Mizar Connector of people, brands and ideas, Farrukh is a sales and marketing professional with an MBA and over 12 years’ real world experience working with FMCG, Retail, Corporate and Fashion-Luxury brands. He is also the founder of Tynderbox: Igniting Your Innovation – a global initiative to drive innovation through schools and universities and bring products or services to the market within 12 months.

Dr. Ivan Misner Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chairman of BNI, the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company, as well as a New York Times best-selling author. Called the “Father of Modern Networking,” by CNN, Dr. Misner is one of the world’s leading experts in business networking and referral marketing. As well as Brand Quarterly, Dr Misner also contributes monthly articles to Entrepreneur.com as the online magazine’s networking expert, and he is a featured blogger on BusinessNetworking.com.

Keri Sandford Keri is a Design and Marketing Coordinator with Vesey Creative. With 12 years in sales, planning and coordination, she easily brings together numerous Branding components and varied personalities into a cohesive plan. In her regular column ‘Design 101’, Keri uses this experience to help everyday business people understand designers and the design process. Allowing for a more effective result from the design portion of your Brand.

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Featured Contributors Fiona Vesey As a multi-award winning professional photographer, Fiona has a great eye for detail, which she brings to her role as editor at Brand Quarterly. Fiona is a co-founder of Vesey Creative, a Branding and Graphic Design agency which has recently expanded from New Zealand into the United Kingdom. She thrives in partnering with people and companies wanting more than just ascetically pleasing design. Her natural ability to build relationships, communicate and truly understand clients businesses is essential in to the process of creating result generating, people focused design.

Cath Vincent Cath is so passionate about creating lasting positive change for her clients that she is a keynote speaker on the subject. She has researched disciplines such as neurolinguistic programming and hypnotherapy, which may be considered somewhat left-field, to find every tool and technique to help business people make permanent changes Now she combines 10 years of conventional business consultancy experience with some dramatically effective coaching techniques to help clients reach their full potential.

Stephen Giles Stephen Giles is a lawyer, strategic advisor, author and multiple brand owner who is generally acknowledged as the leader in his field in Asia Pacific. He heads the Retail & Brands Group in Asia Pacific for Norton Rose - a law firm with 39 offices throughout Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and South Africa. He focuses on distribution strategy and structure, brand commercialisation, competition and consumer law and franchising, and his client base comprises many leading consumer and luxury brands. Stephen is also Chairman of the Franchise Council of Australia, and an advisory board member with leading brands Mrs Fields, Lenard’s, Pandora and Horseland.

Iona MacDougall Iona MacDougall, director of blackbear branding&communication, has worked with some of Scotland’s most successful business people and entrepreneurs. A member of the CIM, with more than 25 years’ experience of sales, marketing and brand positioning, Iona helps businesses of all shapes and sizes to raise their profile and grow. Showing the strength that comes from respecting brands and adopting the principles of good clear communication, Iona sets communication strategies that consistently express brands. By doing so, the brand’s positioning, offering and messages not only grab attention they make perfect sense to its target audiences too. 6

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

From The Web “Design should never say, “Look at me.” It should always say, “Look at this.” David Craib

Cooperative Content Marketing What Michael Phelps’ 19th Olympic medal can teach you about smarter online marketing Click the image to view via copyblogger.com

Richard Branson’s 5 Rules for Good Business During a recent radio interview on the BBC, the host asked Richard Branson what advice he would give to young people who want to start their own businesses. Click the image to view via Entrepreneur.com

Make Money & Make the World Better And what it has to do with your brain. Click the image to view via Inc.com

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“Trust Me” Over Coming ‘Brand Fear’ Like it or not, fear is a factor in all of our decision making. Whether it controls us or we control it, fear is still there. So, how can we help our potential customers overcome the ‘brand fear’ they experience and enable them to choose us over our competition? There are a combination of techniques, some sales and marketing related, others in the sensory (not just visual) identity area. The final decision on which option(s) will work for your business will depend on your product/service, target markets and budget. Here are a few of the avenues to consider when wiping away that fear:

Give Them A Trial Or Guarantee Allowing a customer to try before they make a commitment to you, will have a huge impact in alleviating their fear. After all, it’s the initial commitment that’s scary for a lot of people. A second option, which works well if you don’t want to ‘give stuff away’, is to offer a guarantee. I know I’m sounding like almost every business/marketing coach out there with the “What’s your guarantee?” line, but to be honest, it really is an effective tool. A guarantee will give piece of mind that the consumer can break their commitment to you if you don’t deliver. Oh, and don’t forget to educate your potential customers about it. Who cares how good a trial or guarantee you have, if no one knows about it.

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Making commitment blindly can be scary

Let The Science/Statistics Speak

Provide Social Proof

People put their trust in the experts (normally - just don’t use the weatherman). You can leverage this trust to educate the fear out of the buying decision.

You’ve heard this before I’m sure - testimonials from happy customers sell. Get feedback through surveys, social media and focus groups.

This doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. There are at lot of free and low investment information sources, as well as associations/groups that may ‘approve’ your brand if your values gel with their own. Does your product use eco-friendly ingredients? Is it healthier? Is it socially responsible? Then tell the market that. Don’t forget to talk with your suppliers as well. You can use their science and statistics to your advantage.

Andrew Vesey Vesey Creative

You don’t need to have a celebrity endorsement. However, if you do have the resources to do this, please, please, please make sure they actually use/ like your product or service. Many a brand has been damaged when consumers found out that a celebrity endorsement wasn’t real (picture your celebrity sitting in a cafe, holding a can of your biggest competitor’s drink - not good). This can also add to your cost, as normally you will be looking at a ‘lifetime supply’ of free products to make sure they don’t try someone else’s. So tread carefully - if you don’t see potential for a huge return, it’s probably not worth it.

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Fear is a reality in a buying decision. Help take it out of the equation

Be Honest/Relate

Work On The Subconscious

You know your brand values and you’re trying to attract customers with those same values. So let them know who you really are - show them that you are ‘just like them’.

Ever noticed why all the cleaning products in the supermarket are all bright colours and stark white? Simple, your brain links this with being fresh and clean and ‘sparkling’.

As with any relationship, honesty is always an important factor in building a strong brand, especially so with overcoming brand fear.

Use this type of sensory stereotyping to your advantage.

You can also relate to your customer by using the right tone, wording, music etc when you communicate. If you’re edgy and slightly irreverent, then communicate in that way. Where as, if you are all about class, professionalism and attention to detail, treat every communication as a piece of high-end artwork.

• What colours work for your brand? • Is there a certain style of music or aroma that will boost the feel in-store? • Eco-friendly? Then look, feel, smell and sound like it. • Bring out the thesaurus. What are those one or two words you can change to boost trust and appeal?

These are just a few of the ways you can break down that fear barrier and bring in the customers you want. There are plenty of options that won’t break the bank or require a full rebrand. It can be a scary undertaking at first (excuse the pun) and sometimes labour intensive - but the results are worth it. Everything you can do to make the consumers buying decision easier is a plus. Do what you can, when you can, and bit by bit, you will overcome that ‘brand fear’. 10

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

The Paper Hyperlink Say Hello To QR Codes Hyperlinks are great. They help you navigate the web with a simple click. Click on a hyperlink in an email and it instantly transports you to the web. Not only to the web, but to a specific web page relevant to your email. On websites hyperlinks help you navigate through long web pages, direct you to different pages - or even hop over to different websites. They are simple to use and when targeted properly take you to relevant on-line information and locations in one click. Now wouldn’t it be good if you could if you have a hyperlink on paper? Imagine reading a printed article or promotion and in one click being transported from the paper page to a web page.

A modern smartphone is like a mini laptop albeit with a very small screen and keyboard. Their operating system supports different software programs, or apps, and they have access to the web. They also have another key component for using QR Codes – a digital camera. To use a QR Code you need to download a QR Code Reader app from your on-line store. The good news is they are free and some phones now have them pre-installed. Starting the app starts your camera. Hold the camera over the QR Code and the app automatically reads the QR Code and connects you to the specific web destination encoded in it. It’s that simple.

Say you are interested in a new gadget you spot in a magazine? Then why not watch the video of the gadget in action. View a slide show of new fashion designs straight from a Sunday newspaper fashion supplement. Enjoyed an album review? Then listen to one of the tracks. What about entering a competition without licking a stamp, making a phone call or switching on your PC.

Most QR Codes you will come across will be small square boxes made up of small black and white squares - all fairly anonymous and a bit boring. But they don’t have to be. They can be different colours and, within limits, different shapes. They can even be branded which makes them far more impactful and recognisable.

The possibilities are endless. You see something interesting on paper and instantly connect to its web content – video, audio, on-line articles, e-shop, Facebook, Twitter …. Sounds great but also sounds a bit implausible.

With the enormous growth in smartphones and so many homes with WiFi - and WiFi hotspots popping up on every street corner - QR Codes are starting to appear in all kinds of print. Posters, magazines, newspapers, business cards, brochures, flyers…

Well there is a simple way of connecting paper to the web. It’s called a Quick Response Code - more commonly known as a QR Code.

Now you know what QR codes are you’ll start seeing them everywhere. And when you do, get your smartphone out and scan them.

A QR Code is a special type of barcode that can be “read” using a smartphone or pad. The QR Code contains specific web page address data and the smartphone interprets this data and enables the connection between paper and the web.

The trick for marketers is to firstly give consumers a compelling reason to scan their QR Code and secondly - to ensure that when a consumer does scan their QR Code they enjoy the experience!

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Graeme Golden QR Code Scotland

It’s Not Outsourcing; It’s Crowdsourcing In the corporate world, it’s called brainstorming. In sports, it’s called teamwork. In the music industry, it’s called collaboration. On the web, it’s called crowdsourcing. From being just a term coined by Jeff Howe, the contributing editor at Wired Magazine , in a blog in June 2006, crowdsourcing is a very real and important business idea that has grown with the rise of user-generated media such as blogs, Wikipedia, MySpace, and YouTube. When searching through Wikipedia, I found this elaborate definition by Estellés and González (2012): “Crowdsourcing is a type of participative online activity in which an individual, an institution, a nonprofit organization, or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity, and number, via a flexible open call, the voluntary undertaking of a task. The undertaking of the task, of variable complexity and modularity, and in which the crowd should participate bringing their work, money, knowledge and/or experience, always entails mutual benefit. The user will receive the satisfaction of a given type of need, be it economic, social recognition, self-esteem, or the development of individual skills, while the crowdsourcer will obtain and utilize to their advantage that what the user has brought to the venture, whose form will depend on the type of activity undertaken”.

What started a decade ago, as an outsourcing drive to find skilled cheap labour from China, India and Philippines has now turned a whole cycle to create a whole new business sourcing opportunity by having access to huge pool of talented, skilled and willing labour. The internet and social media have created a massive pool of “collective intelligence”—today that knowledge, passion, creativity, and insight are accessible for all to see. But now it doesn’t matter where the labourers are – they might be down the block, they might be in South Africa – as long as they are connected to the network.

Technological advances in everything from product design software to digital video cameras are breaking down the cost barriers that once separated amateurs from professionals. Hobbyists, part-timers, and dabblers suddenly have a market for their efforts, as smart companies in industries as disparate as pharmaceuticals and television discover ways to tap the latent talent of the crowd. The labour isn’t always free, but it costs a lot less than paying traditional employees. With a deft touch and a clear set of objectives, quite literally thousands of people can and want to help your business. From designing ad campaigns to vetting new product ideas to solving difficult R&D problems, chances are that people outside your company walls can help you perform better in the marketplace; they become one more resource you can use to get work done. In return, most participants simply want some personal recognition, a sense of community, or at most, a financial incentive.

Key Positives • • • •

Suitable for start-ups with limited budget Improve productivity and creativity Minimise labour, staffing and research costs Solicit feedback from an active and passionate community of customers • Reduce time collecting data through formal focus groups and trend research • Create enthusiasm for upcoming products • Manage risks associated with uncertain marketplace demand

Key Negatives • Not suitable for traditional top-down organisations • Crowds are not employees - limited control • Compensation in the form of satisfaction, recognition and freedom • Huge demand on time, attention, patience, good listening skills, transparency and honesty. • Management structure needs to be open and fluid

Farrukh Mizar Tynderbox

Recent Examples... Netflix, the online video rental service, uses crowdsourcing techniques to improve the software algorithms used to offer customer video recommendations. The team or individual that achieves key software goals will receive $1 million. Eli Lily and DuPont have tapped online networks of researchers and technical experts, awarding cash prizes to people who can solve vexing R&D problems. Threadless.com lets online members submit T-shirt designs and vote on which ones should be produced. iStockphoto.com allows amateur and professional photographers, illustrators, and videographers to upload their work and earn royalties when their images are bought and downloaded. The company was acquired for $50 million by Getty Images. Here is a list of some of the best crowdsourcing sites you can find around the web: Odesk Employers post their job requirement and members apply for the job. It’s just like your typical matchmaking service without the mixed signals and the requirement for dinner and flowers. Pickydomains It’s not easy to think of a domain name that embodies your business to a T in 8 characters or less. Business owners post their requirements and contributors get to create a name for that business. CloudCrowd Members also apply for projects but with a referral program that makes it twice more fun. Here you can make more money when your referral completes a task. Poptent Use this for video/advertising requirements. Amazon Mechanical Turk It is here because the list is not complete without it. Emblazoned on the banner are the words “Mechanical Turk is a marketplace for work”.

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“Breaking News!” How To Write A Killer News Release In a world dominated by social media people may think the traditional news release is dead but this is not the case. A well-written and properly researched news release is still a useful way to spread your message and raise your brand’s profile but - in an increasingly competitive arena - you need to ensure that yours really stands out from the crowd. Here are some tips to give your release the best possible chance of securing media coverage.

Get To Know Your Media Each media has a different target audience so you need to understand what they are interested in writing about and how they report on stories so that you can package your story in the right way. Read your local newspaper/magazines and listen to relevant radio stations to really get to grips with their content and style. You can then feel confident about the relevance of your news release to the media in question. 14

Find A News Hook A great news hook is what pulls people into a story, engages their imagination and encourages them to read further. Human interest stories are always popular, especially with local media, as readers like to hear about how a particular situation has affected Family X, for example. Talk to your business partners, staff, customers; anyone who may have a story to tell which portrays your business in a positive light. And remember, news has to be ‘new’ so your release must be current or about something that is due to happen (not an event that took place last week).

Content Is King Firstly, a snappy and interesting headline is vital for grabbing a journalist’s attention and should encapsulate your story in one sentence. The first paragraph of your news release needs to include

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Samantha McKay-Challen

the five key ingredients necessary for effective reporting (who, what, why, when and where) as this is often the only paragraph a journalist will have time to read. The second paragraph should flesh out the story by giving some further detail. Include a quote from a relevant spokesperson but don’t try to fit too much in – one or two sentences at the most. If there is a photograph opportunity, include details of what it is, where it is, and when it is plus contact details. Put any other information (e.g. background information, relevant statistics, any interviews or imagery available) in the ‘notes to editors’ section at the end of the release – this enables the journalist to run the story in more depth if required. Also, keep the release as brief as possible. Journalists receive hundreds of news releases each day and don’t have time to wade through pages of irrelevant waffle so one side of A4 (two at the most) is recommended. And perhaps most importantly of all, use the spell checker and double check all spellings of names, places etc. Ask someone else to proof read it for you if that helps. Few things annoy journalists more than incorrect spelling and grammar!

Inform, Don’t Sell Nothing turns a journalist off more quickly than selfpromotion disguised as a news release. You (or your PR Manager) are bound to say great things about your business – this is not news, simply a guaranteed way to ensure your news release is deleted without even being read properly. The journalist is also less likely to read your next news release. Bear in mind that you need to develop long-term relationships with key journalists so it’s vital that you develop a positive reputation for providing interesting and relevant stories.

Keep It Local Remember that your story needs to have relevance to the people reading it so, if you’re targeting local media, it needs to have a local angle. For example, if you are rolling out an environmental programme in your city you could include the benefits of the scheme for local residents, plus a quote from a local councillor supporting the scheme. Similarly if you’re targeting national media, your story needs to have a national news angle i.e. be relevant to people across the UK.

Word Angel

Bring It To Life Bring your news release to life by including links to pictures, source material, videos; anything which provides the journalist with extra value and adds depth to your release. If you do use photographs, remember to include a picture caption stating the names and job titles of people (usually left to right) featured in the image. You don’t want to receive a frantic phone call from a journalist on a deadline desperate to know the names of the people in your photo – especially if you don’t know the information yourself.

Logistics Send your release in the body of the email not as an attachment as this can cause bounce backs and also makes it less likely a journalist will read it – although it is only one extra ‘click’, those precious few seconds make all the difference as the window of interest can close very quickly. And don’t attach logos; as keen as you are to see your logo out there, they can also cause your email to bounce back.

Contacts When sending out your news release, ensure that your contact list is up to date and includes journalists who write specifically on your sector. If yours is a restaurant business, research and include all the food writers as they are more likely to be interested in and pick up on your story. Update your contact list every few months as journalists move on and you need to make sure your releases are still reaching the right people.

Spread The Word Be utterly shameless in spreading the word about your news release. Upload it to the news section of your website if you have one (and you should); post the link on your facebook and LinkedIn pages; tweet the link to your twitter followers - anything to get your release out there and encourage pick-up and feedback. Social media is an excellent (and free) marketing tool so maximise on this. Good luck!

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When you’re creating and maintaining a brand, you’re working with designers. Whether they are in-house or an external team, designers and branding are never far away from each other. Design 101 is a series aimed at bridging the gap between you and the design world. Helping you to better communicate your vision with your designer and get an understanding of ‘how they tick’.

Keri Sandford Vesey Creative

Design 101 Supplying Content To Your Designer When working with designers, it is important to know the best way to supply content to ensure the best results. Following these simple rules will ensure there are no surprises along the way. Leading to deadlines being meet and getting the quality of work you are expecting. First off - a quick disclaimer: Read and follow the content supply guidelines given to you by your designer. There may be variations to the below items as every designer has their ‘quirks’.

Photos Bigger is best. Ideally supplying your designer with the full size original file or professionally retouched image will ensure you avoid any image quality issues. If you need your image to be adjusted or retouched, let your designer know when you supply the image and they will be happy to take care of that for you. Know Your Rights. Ensure that you have the right to use all images you supply. If you’re not sure ask.

include a copy of the original editable ‘vector’ file. This ‘vector’ enables your designer to create another file type if needed from the original, preventing any quality loss or distortion caused by editing second hand files. Don’t have your logo in a ‘vector’ format? Talk to your designer and get one created as soon as possible. Following your ‘brand book’ rules, your designer will be able to use the most appropriate logo version.

Text Proofread your content. While your designer should use spell check on your text, they are not editors/ proofreaders. They work on the understanding that you are supplying correct, fully checked text. Always supply text in a plain format. It is the designers job to layout your text and make it work for you. Use their expertise. Cross-reference any images with the text rather than placing them in the text file. Placing images in writing applications not only increases file sizes unnecessarily, it also destroys a chunk of the image data which leads to quality issues.

Logos And Brand Elements Supply your designer with your ‘brand pack’ which includes all variants of your logo, as well as other brand devices and instructions on proper use. Your ‘brand pack’ should contain a collection of common file types for ease of use, but it MUST 16

As a final note, communication between yourself and your designer is key. If for any reason you are unsure on what or how best to supply material just ask, I’m sure they’ll be happy to work through this with you.

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Experience Vesey Creative.

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Real Brand ‘Management’ Manage Your People To Manage Your Brand In past articles, I have talked about giving meaning to your Brand through customer services, hiring the right people and using quality as the base. Perhaps the biggest step after this is to manage your greatest resource – your people. Remember a Brand isn’t just a logo. It is in fact how you enact that Brand, which gives it meaning and sustainability in the eyes of the potential client.

Ken Vesey Approachable Consultancy

When talking to organisations I find, not a surprise I must add, many tell me they identify people who they think will make a good manager. Promote them, and then leave them to their own devices. Well what’s new in the world?! Some tell me they have an HR person on board who will assist them to ‘sort out their problems WHEN they occur’. That’s putting the cart before the horse. It doesn’t matter how many staff you have – one or 20. They need to be managed. You only need one ‘problem employee’ to destroy your Brand. If you only have one staff member, you’re on the back foot. A problem employee can take up a lot of your time and cost you money. It is like absenteeism. Research has shown you suffer a larger proportion of absenteeism from people at work than those who have not arrived. Have you ever thought about how productive each staff member is?

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

I haven’t even asked about toilet breaks, wandering around, smoke breaks, personal telephone calls, just standing around waiting for a customer etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a slave driver! However, it is interesting how you view the world when you are self-employed like me. I can only invoice for the actual work I do. No work, no invoice. Having conducted this exercise many times over the years, I would suggest (very non-scientific I might add) the actual productive or ‘billable’ time per staff member is not what you think. Here are the typical results I have found. 1. Starting work – 15 to 25 minutes after official start time 2. Refreshment breaks – 25 to 40 minutes 3. Lunch – 20 – 30 minutes over allowable time 4. Finishing time – 15 – 20 minutes before actual time 5. The other incidental times – 1 to 1.5 hours If you add this up, you will come to around 3.5 hours of non-productive time per staff member. Not at my place I hear the cry!! Perhaps you are right. The only organisations, which do not seem to suffer from this, are the manufacturers with machines that do not stop. So in essence, you have employed a person for 8 hours of billable time per day, and in fact, they have made their own personal arrangements to give you 5.5 billable hours. Try and change this in a hurry and they will all scream “I need more money because you are expecting me to work harder!” What a way to try to convince managers they need to manage - I use it because we all are conscious of the bottom line. If we are allowing our staff to ‘get away with this’, what else are we letting them own. Your Brand? Here is an example to work through for yourself. Just jot down a few figures. 1. When is the official start time for your staff? 2. Now when do they actually start being productive in the morning? 3. How long is the official refreshment break? 4. How long do they actually take and how long before they are back in productive work? 5. How long is the lunch break? 6. Again how long do they actually take and how long before they are back in productive work? 7. When is the official finishing time for the staff member? 8. When do they actually finish?

In fact, they do own the Brand so to speak, or at least they should. Staff should be living the Brand at all times. However, it is your job to manage the positive aspects of the Brand ‘behaviour’ you wish to see. Don’t let your staff fall into ‘Brand Absenteeism’. Let them know what you expect, give them the opportunities to succeed, monitor their progress and reward their efforts. In other words: Put the ‘Management’, back into Brand Management.

Brand Quarterly™

Should We? Shouldn’t We? The ‘Company Page’ Decision To begin with, ‘the social web’ presented a problem for businesses. The value of social media was clear, but how could they take advantage of platforms designed for individuals? Thankfully, all the major social platforms were quick to realise the role that businesses had to play. This is how company pages came about. Recently, company pages have crept back into the headlines. Services like Google+ and Klout have allowed companies to create business pages. Twitter have also started experimenting with ‘enhanced’ brand pages giving companies even more reason to invest in their micro-blogging service. Has all this attention got you thinking? Wondering whether you should have a company page? Well, I hope this article will help. 22

Do We Need A Company Page? On Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ this is an easy one. If you own a business you should have both a personal profile and a company page. This is how these platforms have been designed. They work best if you use them that way. Company pages are a valuable channel for building awareness, getting to know your customers and building your online profile. If you run a business, you NEED a company page. The one exception to this rule is Twitter. Twitter’s guidelines for businesses are far more flexible. Though they do offer large companies access to ‘enhanced’ brand pages, most companies simply use a standard Twitter account. The simplicity of the platform means that, unless you are a multinational corporation, this is by far the best option.

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Building Your Page When most people build their personal pages they speak too much about their business and not enough about themselves. With brand pages this is exactly what you want. When you are writing your company page make sure you focus on the primary aims and endeavours of your business. Remember: the key to building trust, influence and brand sentiment is AUTHENTICITY. Though you may be tempted to copy and paste content from your website and duplicate it on all your company pages, this really isn’t the best idea. Aside from the issues created by duplicate content, each platform is slightly different. Your community on LinkedIn might be very different to your followers on Google+. You need to write your pages with this in mind. Write in a way that appeals to your community on each individual platform. As with any webpage, when you’re building your company page it’s important that you pay close attention to the way it looks. One of the most important elements is your avatar.

On all the major platforms, your avatar occupies a dominant position and will always draw people’s attention. Make sure that your company logo is consistent across all the different social platforms – and that it displays correctly on them all.

Allan Blair Beaton Social B2B

Company pages are a relatively recent social development. Though many companies are using them, very few are using them well. When you build your company page ask yourself these questions: • What do we want to achieve? • Who is our ideal community member? • How can we deliver more value to those members? If you can answer all of these questions, and implement strategies that solve them, you will already be using your company page more effectively than 90% of businesses.

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Who Are You? Dealing With An Identity Crisis “We produce the highest quality, elite products on the market Get your’s today at any good discount store!” Doesn’t sound right, does it?

One of the keys to having a Andrew Vesey strong brand is knowing your Vesey Creative core brand values and sticking to them. Unlike the example above, a truly elite, quality product would never been seen in a discount store. It just doesn’t fit with their brand values and overall image. Unfortunately, a majority of businesses don’t get this right. They either fall into the trap of trying to do too much, or they just don’t pay attention to the details. That’s why it is so important to review your brand regularly to catch these issues and fix them. Let’s break them down into a few simple groups:

The Jack Of All Trades - Master Of None I’m sure you’ve seen this one. “We specialise in: • Residential real estate • Commercial real estate • Rentals • Investment properties • Project marketing • Subdivisions • Real estate finance...” The list seems endless. Now, I’m not saying they don’t do a good job with all of these services, but let’s be honest - they don’t ‘specialise’ in anything. If you want to be seen as a specialist, tell people what you really specialise in. You may have different staff who specialise in all of those areas, but what about the business itself? Your business specialises in ‘A’ and/or ‘B’, and also offers a comprehensive range of supporting products/services. Look at your service/product offering, work out what you do best and why it is important to you to do so. Then let people know.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde I use the ‘Jekyll and Hyde effect’ to illustrate companies that have a strong, singular brand value but seem to constantly make drastic changes. Whether it’s a new value every season, or worse, every promotion, this kind of brand switching is confusing for the consumer and detrimental to your brand strength. Not only that - the stronger and more effective the brand messaging, the worse it can be. Think about it: You have whole heartedly convinced the consumer to love you because of your values. Then everything changes. You convince them again. Then everything changes - again. This may work a couple of times, but pretty soon confusion will set in. Customers expect one thing, and get something completely different. Were you lying to them the other times you told them who you really were? Can they ever believe anything you say again? Hard to fix? Not really. The key, as with fixing any of these issues, is to first know who you are. And then? Stick to it. Don’t confuse your marketing messages with your brand values, don’t change your story every few months. Change your marketing messages as often as is required, but review them to ensure the underlying tone and message fits with your brand values.

The Blind, Leading The Blind Do you have a clear understanding of your brand values? Do your staff? It’s not uncommon, for companies to struggle with their brand because they don’t really know what they should be doing. Whether the brand values were set by former staff who didn’t pass them on, a small business owner just hasn’t had the time to sort them out, or staff haven’t been educated properly, the problem caused is the same.

is also an important insurance measure for staff turn-over. No more losing key information when an employee leaves.

How do people delivering a product or service follow through on a brand promise if they don’t understand it themselves?

Once you have this information, it’s time to educate staff (and the consumer).

Obviously, a large investment in a training program isn’t available for most companies, but with a few simple actions you can get good results.

The Politician

First of all - If you don’t know, you have to work out what delivering on your brand promise looks like. Then ‘write it down’ or record it somewhere. It’s much easier to pass the message throughout the company when there is a solid record of it. This 26

The final group we’ll cover is the brand that is presented as something different to each person or group. Just like your stereotypical politician, kissing babies, shaking hands and telling each person whatever they think will get their vote. As you know with real politicians, it never lasts. At some point you have to deliver.

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Do you know who you are? No? Then how will anyone else?

This type of strategy may work well short term, but long term, when all your customers have been disappointed and don’t come back, you’re in real trouble. It’s not always blatant ‘campaigning’, sometimes, you just get caught up with trying to make everyone happy and before you know it, you have 35 different brand values. Focus on what your core beliefs and brand values are - the real ones, not the ones you think others will like. You can then ensure you deliver on those values and promises and leave the ‘marketing speak’ to make your values appeal to as many people as possible.

All of these pitfalls are as easy to get out of as they are to fall into (sometimes easier) and it doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money. In the majority of cases these tips will help save you money and make more in the long run. Brand value and brand messaging shouldn’t be confused with marketing or promotional messaging - that should change regularly and remain fresh. This is about your core values and letting the consumer know what you are about, and why you do what you do. So, with that said, it’s time to bring out the full length mirror and stand your brand in front of it. Find your true self, present it to the market, and you will have your best chance at success.

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Who Can Sell A Franchise? Do You Need To Be Licensed To Sell Franchises? One of my US friends drew my attention to an investigation launched against an Arizona-based franchise broker due to an alleged violation of Florida’s real estate licensing statutes.

Stephen Giles Norton Rose

Apparently, the allegation stems from Florida’s broad statutory definition of “broker” in the real estate law, which says that a “broker” is any person who receives compensation for (among other things) offering “the sale, exchange, purchase, or rental of . . . business opportunities” or who “takes any part in the procuring of . . . purchasers of business opportunities.”

The alleged violation related to an advertisement for a franchise opportunity. My US friend commented that in his view there was a strong argument that franchise brokers who offer for sale business opportunities or assist in procuring purchasers for those opportunities would be considered “brokers” under Florida real estate law. This raises an issue that everyone involved in franchise sales should be aware of - no matter where you are in the world. A quick scan of the numerous business opportunity and franchising publications and directories in Australia would find literally hundreds of similar advertisements. Essentially, the same definition applies in Australia to activities that need to be conducted by a licensed real estate agent in accordance with the various State licensing laws.

Can anyone sell a franchise? 28

As far as I can determine few franchising brokers are licensed real estate agents, let alone licensed to operate in every State in which they operate. And franchisors are increasingly seeking to get involved in the sale of franchises and businesses, sometimes through people who are not employees of the franchisor. I am not aware of any Australian prosecutions, but suspect it is only a matter of time. Failure to comply with the relevant legislation in your region is typically an offence, with fines and other consequences. However where a franchisor is involved there may be further exposure, notably in relation to the enforceability of any franchise agreement signed. This is an issue that merits specific advice, but the following should raise alarm bells: • situations where actual sale of business advertisements are placed for a specific business; • remuneration arrangements that are akin to commissions or success based; • franchisors that charge a fee for assisting with the sale of business process and the franchisor actively seeks potential purchasers; • franchisors or third parties that get involved with the sale of existing businesses, as opposed to greenfield sites where there is no existing business. Franchisors selling franchises or indeed their own corporate stores is typically not a problem, but when third parties are involved either as the vendor or to help facilitate the sale the matter merits consideration.

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BRAND

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VESEY CREATIVE LIMITED presents in association with BRAND QUARTERLY a VESEY CREATIVE production ‘BEACON IN THE STORM’ starring YOUR BRAND and OUR TEAM offering BRAND ESTABLISHMENT, BRAND REVIEW, BRAND MANAGEMENT, BRAND IMPLIMENTATION and BRAND DEVELOPMENT based on YOUR COMPANY VISION supported by a VISUAL IDENTITY MANUAL plus Graphic DESIGN, PRINT MANAGEMENT, WEB DEVELOPMENT and MARKETINg consultancy in conjunction with Strategy, tRADE SHOW DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL MEDIA, PHOTOGRAPHY and COPY WRITING produced by FIONA VESEY directed by ANDREW VESEY

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Wanted: Strategist, Fire Fighter, Diplomat – Oh, And Must Be Good Storyteller When writing to customers or staff, the principles and theory for great communications are the same. But the practicalities are quite different. Marketers have scoping, planning and delivering campaigns down to a fine art. They work to clear objectives. The responsibilities between the client the agency are clearly defined. And they can tightly target their messages to each audience group. In contrast, the strategies for successful internal communications and managing the brand can be complex. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Internal communicators need to be all things to all people. You only need to look at extracts from a couple of recent job ads to see what I mean “…. must have had exposure to conflicting situations … the ability to navigate your way around … good at handling difficult people ... manage internal stakeholders ... have a strong commercial focus …”

Iona MacDougall Blackbear Branding & Communication

When you come right down to it, internal communication is internal marketing. Just like marketing, internal communications pull together all the strands that reflect your brand’s tone of voice but it’s your brand as employer who is talking. And like any brand manager, the internal communicator works hard to create a strong positive emotional attachment between the brand and its audience.

Your People Are Your Top Brand Ambassadors As you are well aware, a brand isn’t something physical that you can touch. It’s character. It’s integrity. People instantly recognise what a brand is. Think of it along the lines of your company’s reputation. Now think about who in your organisation brings your brand to life? It is of course the people who work for you. Each time a customer talks to a member of your team, they leave with a lasting impression of your brand. For this reason, I believe your team is arguably your most important asset. The employer who doesn’t recognise this, and fails to keep their team informed about what’s happening, when and why is missing a trick.

All companies communicate with their workforce. Some do it consciously, with great deliberation, thought and planning. Others do it haphazardly – almost by chance, without much thought or consideration.

Culture Cascades From The Top An organisation’s culture has a huge bearing on its internal communications. And the culture stems from the senior team. To have any chance of success, internal communication needs to be championed from the top. If not, messages will be blocked half way down the organisation – before they even get to your team. In an ideal world, every senior team would recognise this. In companies that do, people are well informed. They understand the business and

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what it’s about. They know what to expect from their employer – and they know what is expected of them. People are generally motivated and loyal. As such, they are the best brand ambassadors you can wish for. The chief executive who appoints a senior communication specialist, and invites their input at strategy meetings, will be further rewarded with a coherent integrated approach to their communications. There are countless benefits from having one person responsible for all a brand’s communications – internal, marketing, press office and corporate affairs. They are plain for all to see especially when a business finds itself dealing with a crisis and going through major strategic change. These situations test the most seasoned PR professional. A good, clear and decisive strategy for communicating such news to staff and customers can save a brand’s reputation, its market value – and confidence generally among its influential stakeholders. Where senior teams only pay lip service to internal communication, it’s a quite different story.

We’re One Team, With Many Faces The headache internal communicators suffer that marketers don’t is people’s desire for their business area to have its own visual identity. This poses major risks. It dilutes brand values and confuses people. One solution is to create a look and feel for each division. That way people quickly grasp what part of the business is talking to them – and your one team, one brand stance is protected. Having won the sub brand battle, your mind can then turn to other matters, such as delivering campaigns where stakeholders have conflicting objectives.

Strategist, Fire Fighter And Diplomat To The Rescue By their nature, complex projects can throw up conflicting objectives for communication campaigns. An IT department introducing a new computer diary system will want to tell people something different to the sales director, who will want his sales team to understand what it means to them and their customers who want to make an appointment. A skilled communication specialist will address the concerns of both camps. And the more complex or high profile the project, the more stakeholder interest it’ll attract which can result in a long list of people to consult when it comes to approving and signing off the materials. 32

Something that external communication generally avoids.

Talking Sense Unlike external communications, where creative teams are well versed in how to express the brand’s tone of voice, internal messages tend to be written by people from across the company – this can be a finance manager, IT analyst or legal adviser. Just like customer communications, internal communications need to work hard to grab attention. But there’s little point in producing a glossy newsletter or guide, if the person reading it can’t understand what’s been written or why. So another skill to add to the list for an internal communication manager is the ability to write. All to often, internal communications are full of clichés and jargon that can leave people feeling stupid. Respect the intelligence of those who work for you. Write in a way that makes sense. Clearly explain what’s happening, why and what it means to them. Anything else is a waste of time and money because people won’t read it.

Size Really Doesn’t Matter While it has a bearing, the size of your business isn’t your principal consideration when it comes to setting your internal communication strategy. What matters, is doing what you do, well. I’ve seen global companies with operations across four time zones do it very well. On the other hand, I’ve seen small organisations with a team of 25 people working in the same office, doing it badly – or to be perfectly blunt, not talking to each other at all. And mangers who micro manage, tend to make bad situations worse.

Different Strokes For Different Folks Unlike marketing campaigns, where you can tightly target and research your audiences, there are few if any similarities among the people you work with. They are different ages, at different stages of their career. They read different newspapers. They may work in different parts of the country – even in different parts of the world. In these cases, internal communication specialists need to factor in cultural differences, time zones and language too. And depending on their role and responsibilities, people’s interest and knowledge of the topic will vary too. All they have in common is that they all happen to be paid by the same person – you. To finish, here’s something to think about the next time you go to press the send button. It’s a word from the author Lawrence Clark: “Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.”

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Make sure your brand promise is believable

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Time Is Money - Use It Wisely Five Tips To Achieve More With The Same Time How is it that you get to the end of the day and sigh: “I’ve got nothing done today”? Of course you have worked hard, but maybe not on what you intended.

Cath Vincent

Most of us try to solve the lack of productivity by simply putting more hours in…and those hours tend to get soaked up in the same way. Follow these simple principles to get back more time.

1. Decide Your Top Three

4. Keep Away From Email!

Before you go to bed, work out your top priorities for the next day and put your energy into those in order of priority.

The biggest factor in “unexpected time loss” is email. (Warning: unexpected time loss can also occur when drinking rum, but I can’t help you with that one.)

2. Do What’s Important Before What Seems Quick And Easy

If you can, avoid opening your email until you have at least accomplished your first major task.

If you start the day with “I’ll just do such and such, it’ll only take a few minutes” and you keep devoting time to those inconsequential tasks, the day runs away with you AND you are depleting your energy on things that won’t drive your business forward.

Only ever open your inbox when you are ready and able to act on what’s there. Otherwise whatever turns up in your inbox will derail the plans you had or nag at you even if you’re not working on it. That’s exactly when you find yourself exclaiming “where did the day go?”

Instead, start with your top 3 The top 3 are commonly called “big rocks”. If you imagine trying to cram a selection of assorted rocks into a vase, you’d be better to get the big rocks in first because the tiniest pebbles will easily fit in afterwards.

3. Work In Focussed 1.5 – 2 Hour Time-slots Multi-tasking is the enemy! Instead aim to focus exclusively on a task until it is complete 1.5 – 2 hours is a sensible amount of time for focussed activity and you are way more likely to complete tasks this way. This will add to the overall sense of achievement which massively boosts productivity and job satisfaction too.

When dealing with email, the only actions are: file it, act on it, or delete it. Don’t look at it and say – erm, will have a think about that one. Act on it now!

5. Don’t Drain The Well Not very easy to do for you workaholics out there, but you need to take some time out of every day for yourself. That may sound unrealistic – I know, believe me, this has been tricky for me too but I invite you to try it because it pays dividends. Even just 15 minutes a day will make you feel more energised – and it adds up to 60 hours of free time a year that you otherwise aren’t getting. It’s even better if you can find an hour a day. If you’re not used to that free time, you may even wonder how to spend it, but find a way. Start a list of things you like to do – take a walk, have a massage, bake a cake. I promise you it will make a difference.

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Premature Solicitation Don’t Get Caught Out Has someone you didn’t even know ever solicited you for a referral or business? I call this “Premature Solicitation.” (Say that fast three times and you might get in trouble!) Dr. Ivan Misner

I’ve been a victim of “premature solicitation” many times. I was recently speaking at a business networking event, and, before my presentation, a man came up to me and said: “Hi, it is a real pleasure to meet you. I understand you know Richard Branson. I offer specialized marketing services and I am sure his Virgin enterprises could benefit from what I provide. Could you please introduce me to him so that I can show him how this would assist his companies?” Here’s what was going on inside my head: “Are you completely insane? I’m going to introduce you, someone I don’t know and don’t have any relationship with, to Sir Richard, whom I’ve only met a few times, so that you can proceed to attempt to sell him a product or service that I don’t know anything about and haven’t used myself? Yeah, right. That’s NEVER going to happen.” I am pleased to report, however, that with much effort, I was able to keep that little monologue inside my own head, opting instead for a much more subtle response. I replied, “Hi, I’m Ivan, I’m sorry – I don’t think we’ve met before, what was your name again?” That surprised the man enough to make him realize that his “solicitation” might have been a bit “premature.” I explained that I regularly refer people to my contacts, but only after I’ve established a long-term, strong relationship with the service provider first. He said thanks and moved on to his next victim. What was even more amazing to me was that a few months later I blogged about my experience on one of my favorite online social networks. A great dialogue ensued with most people sharing their horror stories and frustrations about people who pounce on them at networking meetings asking for business even though they’ve never met the person before. However, every time I start to think this is an almost universal feeling of distaste for that approach to networking, I am brought back to reality by the minority of people who still think that this is actually a good networking technique.

BNI The Referral Institute

To my astonishment, a man on the forum actually wrote: “I don’t happen to believe that you need a relationship with the person you are asking first. What you must have is a compelling story or product/ service that would genuinely benefit the referral. The fact that you had not cultivated a relationship with the person has become irrelevant because, more importantly, you had been in a position to help [your contact] benefit from the introduction. If it’s of genuine benefit to the person being referred, I don’t see the problem. It’s about the benefit of what’s being referred rather than the relationship with the person asking for the referral.” And he finished this astonishing point of view with: “Who am I to deny my contacts something good?” Wow. What can I say? The “relationship” is irrelevant! All you have to have is a good story, product, or service and I owe it to you or any stranger (who says he or she has a good product) to introduce him or her to a good contact of mine! Really? People really think this way!? According to this writer, it doesn’t matter if I actually know or trust the person wanting the business. As long as the person has a good product (or so he says), I should refer that person because I would otherwise “deny” my contacts “something good”! I absolutely disagree with this. I would ask anyone interested in business networking to keep the following in mind: 1. Networking is not about hunting. It is not about one-shot meetings. 2. Networking is about farming. It’s about cultivating relationships. 3. Don’t be guilty of “premature solicitation.” Do not ask someone for a referral or for business until you feel confident that THEY know and trust you. 4. Use networking opportunities to meet people. Then, schedule additional times to connect so that you can build trust before asking for business. You’ll be a better networker – and a more successful entrepreneur – if you remember these points.

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The Logo Lowdown 9 Design Tips Your logo is front and center in your brands visual identity - so let’s make sure it’s as powerful as it can be. Here are a few these tips to produce the best results for your brand.

Be True To Yourself: Nothing builds a strong brand like staying true to your brand values. Write them out and use these during the brainstorming process. Don’t know your brand values yet? Then sort them out BEFORE your start creating your visual identity.

Keep It Simple: Get rid of as many unimportant details as you can. The less distraction you offer, the more powerful the impact.

Text vs Image: When you say ‘Logo’, a majority of people naturally think of an image with a company name supporting it in some way. This doesn’t have to be the case. Looking to major brand names and you find a number of them use stylised text only, while a few forego their name all together.

Black And White: Before you get carried away with colours, gradients, textures, etc - make sure your design works well in black and white. This means solid blocks of black and while only, not shades of gray. Doing this is vital to ensure the most options for logo usage. Screen printing, laser cutting, moulding, die cutting, embossing, foiling and many other techniques will require this ‘on and off, black and white’ style of design work.

Size Matters: Who cares if your logo looks great on a billboard, when it impersonates an incomprehensible blob on your business card - or vice versa. It needs to work at any size. Following the tips above will help, but make sure to test it out. Print out different sizes from 1cm to the largest page size your printer can handle.

Think About Options: Be realistic about how your logo will be used. There will always be times when a variation of your base logo would work better. Plan now for these eventualities. Have a black only variant, and think about a white only ‘reverse’ logo.

Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Your logo is a snapshot of your brand. Make it count.

What about a different orientation or proportion? Sometimes you’ll need options to fit into awkward positions. Doing this now (and putting them in your brand book) will ensure a consistent brand image and avoid issues with others changing your logo to fit their design.

Be Elemental: Look at your logo as a collection of elements. What part can be extracted and used as a ‘brand device’? This gives you an additional design element for your branding without creating another ‘distraction’. And, as it ties in with your logo, it helps with the overall strength and consistency of the brand image.

Get The Right File Types: Make sure your logo is designed in a ‘vector’ format. This gives you the best options for use, alterations and scalability. When you have your final design, make sure you have a copy of the original EDITABLE ‘vector’ file.

common file types and colour formats to ensure you always get what you expect from a supplier. Also, remember to include the information from your brand book regarding proper use of your logo.

Use Protection:

Fiona Vesey

You’ve invested your time and money into creating a strong logo to build your visual identity around - protect that investment.

Vesey Creative

I won’t give you any legal advice here as I’m not a lawyer and every country has different regulations and processes. What I will say to you is, at the very least, Trademark your design in your own country. Get legal advice and research intellectual property information available from your government agency.

You have your logo designed, protected and ready for use. Now - time to get it out there...

Along with this, get a collection of logos to give to suppliers (designers, newspapers etc). This collection should include all variations created, in all the most

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