DIVADIGEST: MARCH '06, ISSUE 28

Success Breeds Success: Strength Your Brand by Leveraging The Strengths of Others

Successful people surround themselves with other successful people. They know that while "what you know" is vitally important, "who you know" is equally important. Many important referrals are gained through their connections to other successful people. You may not know any highly successful people, but there is still hope. It isn't just "who you know" that works. Using and recommending brands that everyone knows and likes also works.

Brand recognition accounts for a large percentage of sales made annually by big businesses. By connecting to these successful, recognizable brands, you are not only offering your customers more value and convenience, but you are also building your own brand recognition. When you buy coffee at the grocery store, you probably don't even look at all of your options. You probably pick up the same coffee that you have been using for years. Folgers? Maxwell House? Many restaurants only serve a particular brand of coffee, or ketchup, and they let you know this. They use trusted brands that are well known and very popular.

If you owned a printing store, you might use brand affiliation by letting your customers know that you only use a certain brand of paper, ink, or equipment. You would, of course, use brands that people know and like. You are not in the paper business, you are not in the ink business, and you are not in the printing equipment business. But you are in the business of printing, and therefore, you have need of those other businesses. You are making money for those other businesses by using their products, but at the same time, those businesses are making money for you because they are highly recognizable brands that people are drawn too. You are a great printer, and you are using quality products. In many cases, these businesses will give you discounts for using their products - and advertising that fact - exclusively.

Furthermore, you are not limited to brands or products. You can link your business or brand to places, people, and organizations as well. Figuring out which brands, places, people, or organizations to connect your business to isn't as difficult as you may think. Start by considering your target market. What other products or services would the people who buy your product or service be interested in? How can those other products or services be used to build your brand? Will these companies, places, people, or organizations reciprocate by offering their customers my product exclusively?

Pay attention to how other businesses use the success of other brands to bolster their own brands or businesses. Hotels, restaurants, car rental companies, auto shops, beauty salons, and even airports use this method to strengthen their own brands, and you can too.

Monique Danielle is experienced in helping businesses with brand strategy. You can visit her site at divadesignworld.com to find out how you can increase your brand recognition by using the brand recognition of others.

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--success brings more success--
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Website Design: Tools Vital to Your E-Toolbox

The competition to develop and maintain an effective website is pretty stiff, when you consider our current technology and the amount of creative education that most webmasters are armed with today. It's not enough to have a good website; in order to outshine your competitors, it needs to be truly outstanding. The amount of business that you do is often in direct correlation to the type of presentation that your website makes to consumers.

In order to achieve success, it's necessary to utilize the most state-of-the-art tools available, combined with creative, progressive thinking. Your approach should be one of careful planning, which includes effective design and development strategies in your website's presentation. All too often, webmasters are in a hurry to post flashy new changes to their websites, only to violate the most important principles of effective web design.

It's important to be honest with yourself when it comes time to evaluate your skills and creativity. If you have a flair for writing, an eye for color and a pretty good understanding of HTML, then you can probably get by with the design and implementation of your own website. If, on the other hand, you find yourself lacking in any of these areas, then it's best to leave the job to the professionals. One of the best examples of a firm that's outstanding in web design is DivaDesignWorld in Portland, Oregon. Known as a leader in their field, this highly successful company employs the cream of the webmaster crop and has developed a reputation for reaching the creative pinnacle in the design of their client's websites.

One of the ways in which to make your website exciting is to make it interactive. Most people truly enjoy the opportunity to directly interact with what they see on the screen, and those websites which are simply canvasses for two-dimensional information without the benefit of links and other forms of interactive tools will be far less successful in gaining customers.

The uniformity of your web pages is important. Using a variety of backgrounds and fonts may look nice to you, but they may leave visitors wondering if they're still on your website, or if they've been moved off to some distant spot in cyber-space. Avoid the confusion, and the discomfort of the adjustment from one presentation to another, by offering page stability. Don't use more than two different fonts within your website (one is best!) and keep a consistent background. Overwhelming visual effects can often drive visitors away from your website, which means lost sales.

Index pages are a critical element of a good website design. These serve a dual purpose, in that potential customers will be able to find specific pages or information more quickly, and the search engine software will have an easier time of finding all of your site pages. A good site map is the best way to ensure that this will happen.

There's nothing quite so frustrating as trying to navigate through a poorly designed website. If you've ever tried to access a particular web page, but couldn't find a link for it from within the web page that you're currently on, then you'll understand that frustration. Each page within a website should reference the index page or site map. It offers the convenience of being able to jump from any one point to any other point without having to search around for navigation tools, or constantly returning to the home page every time you want to find a certain piece of information somewhere else within the website. Viewers may become so frustrated by the inability to find navigational tools that they won't return, and you'll suffer a tremendous sales loss.

In order to publish your website, you're going to need a domain name. Though it's very probable that the best names will have been taken by other firms, a bit of creativity and careful wording can gain you the extra points that you need for a higher search engine ranking. Start by determining which words would best describe your company and/or its products. Once you come up with a winning combination, use those words in your domain name and the title tag for your website's main page.

Keywords and phrases are what it's all about when we strive to obtain a high ranking on the major search engines. Keep in mind that these should reflect your business in the best way possible, so that potential customers will easily find your website when searching through major engines on the web. These words and phrases should be relevant and should populate each page of your website, in order to gain a higher ranking and become more readily visible to consumers. There are some rules to follow here, though. If you appear to be using keywords to simply litter the search engine with them in order to achieve a higher ranking, you'll be penalized for doing so, since this is considered "keyword stuffing". When the "powers that be" assign rank designations, they have the technological tools that are necessary to scope out natural and unnatural sentence structure. If your wording comes across as being a member of the second group, you'll get bumped to a rank that's far beneath what you would have achieved if you'd used naturally flowing sentences.

Web pages should be given the individual attention that they deserve. This is also true when it comes to populating them with keywords. Since each page should be reserved for a specific topic, then the keywords shouldn't be generic enough to apply to any particular web page, but should be more specifically designed to reflect each unique page. It's important to ensure that the information on the page and the page tags match; otherwise, you'll suffer in the search engine rankings.

By keeping these few tips in mind, you'll be on your way to a more productive - and more successful - website that will aid in increasing your client base and boosting your sales potential.

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Marketing Videos

Have you been wondering why that marketing video you commissioned a few weeks back didn't generate the kind of sensation it should have generated? Although no one expects an Oscar (but then, who knows?!) for getting a high-performance marketing video shot, if it proves to be a total flop, it not only affects the credibility of your organization, it also needlessly wastes crucial resources.

Over the years, as a marketing expert, I have observed a few traits about the various marketing videos that make them click. They are not the sure-shot way to the film-making stardom, but these videos more or less achieve what the company that commissions them expects them to achieve.

The script is the backbone

The script that you get written is the core part, the most crucial part of your video, because the entire video shoot is woven around the script. It should be fast-paced, it should be able to grasp the attention of the viewer, and it should be able to convey the central message of your campaign. Your script should cater to your audience. Keep lengthy harangues and wordy monologues as away as possible from your script. Writing a video script, contrary to what most like to think, is not an in-house job: you need a professional who is aware of the nitty-gritty of film-making.

A meticulously written script also helps you schematize the entire concept before the actual shooting begins.
Keep the video short and crisp

"Short is sweet" cannot be truer in the case of a marketing video. Remember that viewers who are being exposed to your marketing message have, intentionally or unintentionally, a short attention span. They are impatient and they easily get put off if you don't say what you want to say and be done with it as fast as possible. Various researches have proven beyond doubt that people can easily retain short and succinct messages but forget lengthy talks unless they are extremely important and captivating.

The ideal length of a marketing video should not spill over 10 minutes. It's been observed that beyond this point, viewers begin to lose interest.

Preparing a shorter marketing video seems daunting at the outset but actually it is not. You just need to set your priorities right and focus on what you really want to communicate. The greatest messages in the world have also been the shortest ones.
Limit your speakers

Some people just love to wax eloquent about their organizations and if possible, about themselves. Remember that your marketing video is not a home video being made for your boss's mom -- it is being made for an audience that might be interested in buying your product or investing in your next IPO. Only those people should be in the video who can add value to it, who can contribute genuinely towards making your marketing video effective.

It's good to have a main anchor person and a few others who really have something to say. A person like the chairman or the CEO brings in a sense of authority and hence, should be given some coverage, but it should not be more than one or two minutes. Remember that leaders believe in action, not in delivering interminable speeches. While speaking in front of the camera, the person should look and sound comfortable, lucid, confident and amiable. Every aspect of your video throws light on the overall image of your organization.
Stress on production quality

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, every aspect of your video throws light on the overall image of your organization. Unless you are experimenting with some sort of bohemian surrealism, the quality of your marketing video should be high, if not exceptional. Good camera equipment, right angles, correct focus and proper lighting can make a difference of earth and sky. The last thing you want to show your target audience is a shabbily made marketing video

That's why it is vital that everything is planned before hand, every single shot is pre-conceived and well laid out, and only well-qualified professionals are commissioned to shoot and then edit the video. It costs more, but it pays well too.
Finding a niche is a must

Your marketing video should aim at targeting a particular segment of the market. Sometimes we want to address such diverse an audience that we cannot decide what to say to whom, and consequently, end up addressing nobody in particular. The entire purpose is lost.

Rather, your marketing video should focus on one type of audience at a time even if it means commissioning different videos for different market segments. This will definitely yield higher results.
Do you really need it?

Before embarking upon the video marketing campaign, you have to make sure the whole thing doesn't turn out to be an exercise in futility. Does your organization really need a marketing video campaign? Commissioning a marketing video just for the heck of it, or just because your neighbor's company got it made, isn't a wise thing to do. Get a marketing video only if your organization really has something to communicate through this medium. If you have no definite message to convey, it'll show in the video.

Keeping the above mentioned points in mind will help you not only define your approach towards getting your organization a prolific marketing video produced; it will also help you decide whether you really need such a campaign. While looking for a production company you need to make sure that they are fully qualified, well-versed with their skill, and have vast experience to deliver the right kind of video campaign to your organization.

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Start With A Plan - Make Your Advertising Campaign A Success

An advertising campaign costs both time and money. It takes quite a bit of work, but if the advertising campaign is handled correctly, the results make the time and money invested well worth it. If the campaign is not handled correctly, not only is the time and money that you have invested at risk, but your businesses reputation could also be at risk. To avoid this possibility, you need an advertising campaign plan - a good one.

Monique Danielle of divadesignworld.com knows that you not only need a good plan, you also need good information to make that plan work. She specializes in planning advertising campaigns with her clients, and works to get the information needed to ensure that the campaign will be a success. Monique, who is based in Portland, Oregon, knows that you start a successful campaign, by first gaining the knowledge that you need about your market, determining what you need your campaign to accomplish, then by writing copy that appeals to your market and accomplishes your goal. Monique offers the following advice for each step.

1. Gain Knowledge About Your Market - You need to know who you are trying to reach. Gather as much information as possible about your target market, and try to narrow down the specifics. For instance, you may know that your target market is men between the ages of 18 and 25, but you can further nail down your market by determining specific things that these men between the ages of 18 and 25 all have in common. Perhaps your product or service is only valuable to men between the ages of 18 and 25 who live in a specific region, or participate in a particular sport or activity. Be as specific as possible.

Once you know exactly who you are trying to reach, figure out where you will reach them. Television, newspapers, magazines, professional and trade journals, radio, etc. Make a list of media that you can use to reach your audience, then narrow that list down. For instance, for newspapers, you may find your specific audience in the sport section or in the community section. Narrow down each type of media that you plan to use. This will help you be more effective in the development of your campaign materials, such as press releases, print ads, banner ads, and other promotional material.

2. Determine What You Need To Accomplish With Your Advertising Campaign - Determine long term and short term goals of your advertising campaign. Does your ad need to produce immediate results, or can it produce immediate and future results? Is your product dated - will the price or the product itself expire on a given date? Is your goal to build long term business relationships or to make quick one time sales? Do you just hope to increase your website traffic? Be as specific as possible when stating your goals of the advertising campaign.

Also try to mix and match goals. For instance, your goal may be to make quick one time sales, but see if you can work in a goal of building up your businesses reputation as well during this advertising campaign. Remember that advertising campaigns cost time and money. Plan to get as much mileage as you can out of it.

While determining what your goals are, you have to know what your limitations are in terms of time and money. You may find that there isn't room in the advertising budget to do the advertising that is necessary to reach your goals. If this is the case, you either have to adjust your goals to match the budget, or adjust the budget to match your goals. Often, the only choice is to adjust the goals to match the budget. Don't lose heart! Simply think harder and work with your copywriter to create the best ads that you can with the money that you have. Don't be afraid to use a redirect in order to get your customers to where you want them to be. In other words, it may be cheaper to get your potential customers to your website than it is to get them to your store. Use the advertising to get them to the website, and the website to get them to the store.

3. Write Copy That Appeals To Your Market And Accomplishes Your Goal - Once you know who you are trying to reach, where they are, and what goals you want to reach with your advertising campaign, you have enough information to write an effective copy for your advertising campaign. You can choose to write your own copy, or you can hire a professional copywriter. Unless you are experienced, hiring a professional is usually your best bet.

Whether you write your own copy, or hire a professional, you need to make sure that your copy matches both your market and your goals. Make sure any professional that you hire understands both. You also need to understand the media that you will be using, and what the quality of the ads used in that media need to be. Another way to determine the quality of your ads is to look at your competitors ads. Make sure that yours are higher quality, or avoid using the same media.

Keep in mind that your future customers will need to see your ad an average of seven times before making a purchase. If your product or sale is dated, you will need an advertising schedule that will allow them to see the ad at least seven times, and still have time left to buy before the expiration date. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your ads will draw the attention of your potential customers. This doesn't mean that it needs irritating flashing red lights. It means that you need to know what your customers need and want and cater to that in your advertising. Tell them how you can improve their life in some way. Grab their attention, convey your message, tell them how you can improve their lives, and do it in as few words as possible - the longer the copy, the greater the expense.

Planning an advertising campaign and producing effective ad copy isn't easy. Keep in mind that it can cost more than just time and money. Your reputation could be on the line. If you need more information or help, contact Monique Danielle at divadesignworld.com. She can get you started on the right path or walk the entire path with you. If you need her to, she can even walk that entire path for you.

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