Branding Steps for Start Ups

For start ups, branding can be particularly challenging, and not just because of limited or no budget, but because information out there is mostly geared towards existing businesses, businesses with a few years and customers under their belt. Some articles actually conflict with one another. A good example is on the subject of logos, some saying that you must have a logo while others claiming you don’t need one to get started, and both sides of this argument insisting that a business must have a professional, polished, and consistent look in order to succeed.

The conflict is not surprising since the term “brand” can have varying definitions. According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” To a vast group of marketers however, a brand is the value of the product or service offered to consumers; it’s the relationship a business has with its customers or clients.

In order to avoid confusion, let’s make sure we are on the same page with the terms brand and branding as used in this article:

A brand (noun) is the personality of a business as it is viewed by consumers; it is what people believe about your company and its product or services.
Branding (verb) is all the stuff you do to promote your brand and more importantly what you or your business does to establish and continue a relationship with your clients or customers. It is the process of discovering and then communicating the desired brand image to potential customers.
Since a brand is built on what others believe, the task for business start ups is to create a desirable personality for their business by having a unique promise of quality and delivering on that promise. In addition, creating a good impression is critical for start ups; it can mean the difference between success and failure.

The following 7 steps are meant to get you started in the direction of creating a brand for your business.

1. Get to Know Your Target Market

Actually, make sure there is a market before starting any business. Why? What’s the point if there is no one there to buy what you are offering? You cannot create a market; there must be a need for your product or service.

Hopefully, you have already done this step; if not, take the time and define your target market by creating customer profiles. Identify specific characteristics of your most promising potential customers (or businesses if you will be a B2B) who are most likely to purchase your product or service. Be as specific as you can.

Depending on your type of business and the product or service you’re offering, there are three options for getting to know your target market: surveys and questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups.

2. Define Your Promise.

It starts with having a clear, precise and attainable brand promise. Being precise helps making you stand out among the competition in your field. Being attainable helps you deliver on that promise.

To help you define your promise, ask yourself what unique value your services or product offers and how potential customers will benefit from them. What do you solve? What does your brand satisfy? What is your brand’s position? What does it stand for?

3. Check out the Competition

Believe it or not, competition is a good thing…it is an indicator that there is a market. It can also help to define your business and the value that you are offering and what make you different. What can or do you do that is better? What is unique about you and your business? How you are different or what makes you stand out from the rest in your field or industry.

Another thing you want to note is how they are delivering their promise, message and brand. Although it may not be possible to gauge how successful they are with their print advertising, it may be easier to see how their online campaigns are doing (for example, do they have a Fan Page on Facebook and/or Twitter and how many followers they have?) to decide if these venues are worth pursuing in your particular field.

4. Name your Business

The purpose of a business name is more than setting you apart from your competition. It should convey the business qualities you want to impart. It should be recognizable and easy to spell. Start by deciding what you want your name to communicate. Some of the work done in defining your promise will help to pinpoint these elements. Make a list of adjectives that call such qualities to mind and see how you can incorporate one or two in the name.

5. Define your main Call to Action

You would think this is a most obvious step, yet you won’t believe how many existing business neglect to define a specific Call to Action. After all it’s what this is all about. What do you want your customers to do? Call you? Click on the link? Sign up for a newsletter? Purchase a product?

Yes, you may have several goals that you want to accomplish. But it’s imperative for start ups to choose one main goal in the beginning. With many businesses this can be tricky as, for example, we want our leads to have options on how to contact us (phone and email). If you do end up with a few Call to Actions, then prioritize which one is your top preferred one, the second preferred choice, etc.

By clearly defining your main call to action, you will be better able to make a better choice when deciding what medium will be best to deliver it and greatly aid when it comes to designing these mediums.

6. Choose Which Deliverable Mediums to Use at the Start

A good strategy uses both online and offline mediums to get your message to your target market. But in the very beginning, when the budget is thin, deciding which medium brings the most return of investment becomes crucial. You will want “It”, whether it is a business card or landing page on the web, to be professional looking, which may means in this area you may have to invest some money to get those results.

Choose and invest in mediums whether print or web, that will deliver your main Call to Action to your target market now. Not every business needs a business card or full color brochure, likewise not every business type benefits from having a website. As your business starts to pull in clients and your budget increases, you can expand to other mediums.

The newest kid on the block, social networking, has proven quite successful for businesses to get their brand message out there. Although it may not be critical in the very beginning for most, it is a trend in branding that has gained steam and is rocketing forward with no signs of stopping. It may be worth devoting some time and looking into developing a social network marketing strategy as part of your marketing plan. Nowadays there are many avenues to get your brand out there for very little, almost no money, but they take time and planning on your part.

7. Brand Identity

Finally, the one step most people assume would be the first on this list. Why is it the last? Because your “physical” identity should develop from the steps outlined above (in fact, the information gleaned from the above steps will be critical to creating your brand identity).

Logo: The “face” of your business. This is where most start ups decide to cut costs and do it themselves. If you don’t know what vector graphics, jpg, pdf, png are, know or have Photoshop, Illustrator or other vector drawing programs, do yourself a huge favor; hire a professional designer. Freelance graphic designers will work with your ideas and your budget, and will advise and deliver accordingly.

Sharing steps 1 through 6 will help tremendously in the creative “sketch and brainstorm” sessions, so that the designer can create a logo that truly reflects for your business. You may also want to choose which colors you want as part of your brand and discuss these with your designer, which can give you more insight and feedback on your choices.

If you just don’t have any money at all, then go with a nice type (font) that reflects your business as an alternative until you can afford to have a logo professionally designed. Make sure the font is legible. DO NOT just simply open up Microsoft Word and try to create your logo with it! It will not save in a format suitable for printed mediums which need high resolution, normally 300px. Also many printers will ask for.pdf file in order to print. Use a vector drawing program, even if it’s just to create a type logo. For a free alternative to expensive vector programs, check out Inkscape. There are also thousands of free fonts online.

Tagline and/or slogan: A slogan and a tagline are not one in the same. A slogan is associated with a particular product, service or marketing campaign, whereas a tagline is a word or phrase closely allied with a business name and brand. It is not unusual to have several slogans to go with different products and varying services. However, a business will have only one tagline.

The tagline is a word or phrase that clearly identifies what you do or what you sell. It should capture three essential elements: 1)The business mission, 2)Your brand promise, and 3)Your brand as a whole. The tagline often appears in close proximity with the company name and logo, forming a single visual unit. Therefore, you may want to limit your tagline to 6 words or less.

Colors: Colors are an important part of any brand identity. Colors influence our emotions in a variety of ways. And color associations will vary from one culture to another. So if you’re brand will be playing in the global arena, it is crucial that you make sure the colors will have the impact desired. Once you’ve determined what it is that your target customer is looking for, you can best decide on the color to help them find it (now you see why knowing your target market should be Step #1 in the brand development plan).

Voice: If your business could talk, how would it sound? How you speak with your customers, your voice and tone, is just as important as what you say (or write in some cases). Voice refers to a combination of use of syntax, diction, punctuation, dialogue, point of view. Once developed, the voice of your business should remain constant. The tone of your voice, however, can be adapted according to audience and platform

Significance of Back Lighting in Cosmetics Product Photography

A lot of people try to shoot their products themselves. While it is a good thing to do, they actually do not have the skill set needed to get a good picture. Amateur photographers too due to lack of experience can leave a lack in a good picture. Decade of experience is a great teacher than just some photography tutorials. That is exactly where a professional photography service company like EtherArts Product Photography comes in to picture. This is what is necessary along with a professional photography gear and some knowledge of Lights and Reflections. In this article, we will share some light on the reflective Cosmetics product photography – Liquid Cosmetics in particular and what are the most important factors that you need to pay attention to for a successful photograph.Lighting the product takes most of the photographers attention. Every photographer would make efforts to light the product up appropriately. Some go beyond this to light it up so much that the product gets overexposed and is washed out in the pictures. Such images are poor photography. A smart and experienced photographer will pay attention to lighting up the product along with something called backlighting. Backlighting essentially means lighting the back portion of the product Or the background of the product. To do this it is necessary to pay attention to the below mentioned aspects of the product.Product Nature- Most important is the nature of the product to be photographed. Solid products differ a lot than the liquid containing cosmetic products. Hence we need to be careful while choosing the correct set up.Background- A lot of times, Ecommerce photography requires white background. Amazon requires a seamless white background for all their listings. This is a mandatory requirement. In order to get this white background, a lot of photographers tend to use extreme bright lights or use a high camera Aperture number. This results in the product getting ‘white-washed’ and practically disappears in to the light. The contrasts are low and the edges of the products look foggy. For Aroma Oil cosmetics photography, all we need is just the necessary amount of light in the background to get just the correct amount of seamless white. So be careful while trying to get the white background. A photo-editing software will be helpful in clearing what is left of the greyish-whitish background.BackLighting- Amateur photographers focus less on lighting. They believe that the daylight (sunlight) is the best environment to shoot products in. But they are mistaken. Studio Daylights are different. Use Daylight (white light) bulbs for the lighting. A dark room is a must for product photography. This allows the photographer to control lights as needed, mostly depending on the type of product is shot. For Aroma Oil Cosmetics Photography in particular, try using a low strength daylight bulb as a backlight. This gently illuminates the liquid inside the glass containers giving it the most enhanced look. The yellow or colored oil starts showing a nice color to it, instead of just a black or transparent liquid. This brings out the colors of the oils giving them the much needed wow factor to the photograph.

Group Travel Tips for Direct Groups: Part 2 – Planning Your Trip Timeline

Now that you have decided on the purpose of your group trip, where you want to travel and what time of the year, you will now be faced with the task of planning your group tour. There will be many questions to answer, lots of details to complete and numerous deadlines to meet. Knowing what to tackle first, what decisions to make and what support you will need throughout both the planning period and on the trip will help make the process run smoothly. The key is to plan far in advance.The planning all begins with a timeline. Following are some general guidelines for mapping out the period from when the seed is planted until the departure date. Note: This timeline may differ depending upon your type of group, what destination you have chosen and when you may be traveling.18 Months Prior to DepartureWho will be invited to participate?
Determine the approximate length and dates of the trip.
Begin researching your chosen destination to find out what attractions, museums, theme parks, outdoor adventures, water parks, etc. you would like to attend and the costs associated with each.
Begin researching transportation, hotels, vacation homes, dining and shopping (if applicable) and the costs associated with each.
If this is a school trip, talk with the school principal and/or administration to receive their approval.10 to 12 Months Prior to DepartureSet firm dates.
If flying, final pricing may not be available until 10 months prior to departure. Also, arrange transportation to and from the airport when you have secured your flights.
Motorcoach/minibus companies also work 10 months in advance. If traveling by motorcoach or minibus, you should begin the quoting/booking process now and choose a transportation company.
If you are traveling by van(s) from your hometown, then begin the quoting/booking process from van rental companies.
Begin the hotel/vacation home resort quoting/booking process. After receiving the quotes, choose a hotel/vacation home resort and book it!
If you have decided to include meals in the trip, begin the group-friendly restaurant, dinner show quoting/booking process. After receiving the quotes, choose which restaurants your group desires and book them!
If shopping is important to your group, this will be a good time to request a meet/greet to obtain discounts from the shopping center/retail store.
If you are a youth group, determine who your chaperones will be which may include parents, teachers, sponsors, etc.
Project the estimated/approximate cost per person.
Announce the tour including the cost per person and start promoting it by means of email, flyers, posters, website, social media, newsletters, etc.
Set up a deposit and payment schedule for each member in your group as they sign up.
If participating in a music/dance/theatre festival, fill out all paperwork and submit.
If you desire travel insurance, now is the time to research, fill out paperwork and submit.6 to 9 Months Prior to DepartureContinue promoting the trip via newsletters, social media, emails, meetings, etc., keeping interest alive in those who have signed up and possibly attracting a few more to sign up.
If you are a school group, scouting troop, youth group etc., begin fundraising activities if needed.
If your trip is an educational tour, create a list of reading materials or study exercises to prepare students for the trip
Distribute a copy of the itinerary to all members of your group (meetings, association, youth group, scouting, religious, reunion, etc.)
Participants should be signed up with deposits paid.
Confirm all reservations including hotel/vacation homes, transportation, attractions, dining, shopping, travel insurance and anything else.4 Months Prior to DepartureContinue promoting the trip via newsletters, social media, emails, meetings, etc., keeping interest alive in those who have signed up and possibly attracting a few more to sign up.
Contact anyone who has shown an interest but still has not committed.
Continue fundraising if needed.
Collect payments per your payment schedule.3 Months Prior to DepartureFinal payments are due from those who have paid deposits, made payments, etc.
Finalize lists of all participants and choose roommates for hotels (if applicable), seating arrangements on the motorcoach (if applicable), and/or seating arrangements on your flight if flying
Purchase all theme park, attraction, water park and dinner show tickets and begin making final payments to your chosen hotel/vacation homes, restaurants, transportation companies, etc.1 Month Prior to DepartureSchedule a final meeting to confirm the details of your trip including packing lists, travel tips and any last-minute information.
Make sure you obtain emergency contact, medical and allergy information from each traveler.
If you are a youth group, make sure parents have your emergency contact information.
Make sure all permission forms, travel insurance forms, etc. are completed for each traveler.As previously stated, the above timeline is a general guide and can differ depending upon your type of group, what destination you have chosen and when you may be traveling. Use this timeline as a guide to map out your trip from the start of planning to the departure date. By employing this step-by-step process, you will be able to successfully plan each stage of your group trip resulting in a smooth tour without any surprises.