27Jul 2013 by Miss Kemya

The Power of Introductions: You Had Me at Hello

Branding, Networking
If you were at a networking event and a colleague introduced you to one of their friends, what’s the one word they would use to describe you? This scenario plays out all the time when we introduce two people, but really think about your personal brand for a second. What one word would a colleague or business acquaintance use to describe you to a new person? Would they say something like, “Hey I want you to meet <yournamehere>, she’s great.” or would it be something more splashy? The “she’s great” sounds pretty typical, like your standard introduction. Therein lies the problem. I read an insightful article on LinkedIn regarding personal branding and it talked about this typical introduction. How we describe people reflects their personal brand. So what one word would someone…
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28Nov 2012 by Miss Kemya

Your Personal Brand Deserves Higher Google Search Results

Branding
When people are looking to find out more about a person, what’s the one place they go to search? GOOGLE. Naturally, you want to know what someone will see if they Google you, right? I hope you’re performing Google searches on yourself regularly, so you’ll know what shows up in search. And what your friends, colleagues, current and prospective clients might see if they decide to Google your name. Your Google search results are a critical part of your personal brand online. Are you satisfied with where your name appears in Google search results? At the least, the entire first page should list you in a search for your name. Do you own your entire first page if you Google your name? BrandYourself, an online reputation management platform, created this infographic to…
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19Sep 2012 by Miss Kemya
How A Shiny Box Can Help Your Branding Strategy

How A Shiny Box Can Help Your Branding Strategy

Branding
Every business has competition. It doesn’t matter if you have 5 competitors or 5000, you have to be able to distinguish your business, ala your brand, from your competition. I recently spoke with a national company that couldn’t articulate anything about their brand. They had no branding strategy. If you have this problem you’re screwed! Here’s what happened: I met with a CEO who's been in business for over 20 years and she’s stuck. We started talking about marketing (of course) and I asked some basic questions. We identified a few of her key competitors, with comparable pricing strategies, similar target markets, etc. This applies to most businesses doesn’t it? Doesn’t this sound like your business? Note: I’m not talking about those companies that compete primarily on price. That’s another discussion for…
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19Oct 2011 by Miss Kemya

Is Your Brand Strategy Effective?

Branding
Consider these 2 scenarios Scenario A Your brand strategy is at its best: Prospects and customers know exactly what you deliver. It’s easy to begin conversations with new prospects because they quickly and easily understand what you stand for. You  close deals more quickly because your prospects’ experience with you supports everything you say. You can charge a premium because your market knows why you’re better and is willing to pay for it. Scenario B Your brand strategy is a work in progress: The market may not have a consistent view or impression of your product and company, but in general you think it’s positive. You haven’t thought a lot about branding because it doesn't necessarily seem relevant, but you admit that you can do a better job of communicating consistently with…
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12Oct 2011 by Miss Kemya
Event Recap: BarkWorld F-U-N

Event Recap: BarkWorld F-U-N

Blogging, Branding, Marketing Strategy
I jumped into the final quarter of 2011 by indulging in a new experience and making a bunch of new friends in the process. I had the pleasure of hanging out with the pet loving community at BarkWorld, what an experience! First, I have to personally thank Women Intelligently Networking via TarynP for sponsoring my ticket. I had no idea what I was getting into, but if you know anything about Taryn and Denise Quashie, founder of BarkWorld™, you know they know marketing and social media, so you just go with it! What is BarkWorld? According to the website “BarkWorld is THE social media conference covering ALL facets of social media, pet lifestyle & business education for all pet lovers.” This is EXACTLY what the conference is all about! Even though I’ve owned…
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31Aug 2011 by Miss Kemya
Use Features and Benefits To Promote Your Brand

Use Features and Benefits To Promote Your Brand

Branding
*Are you familiar with developing a branding strategy? If not, I would suggest you go back to the first exercise in “Lay the Groundwork To Define Your Brand”? Complete the questions, and come back to this post. You’ll be ready to CONFIDENTLY tackle this next exercise.* The purpose of developing your branding strategy is to figure out how to best convey your brand attributes to your market. You've already taken some steps to lay the groundwork for your company brand - you've looked at your company name, logo, and niche right? Let’s take a look at the 20 attributes you listed when you went through the earlier post. Consider each attribute as a product/service feature of your brand. You can use a simple features and benefits t-chart to find the best characteristics to…
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29Aug 2011 by Miss Kemya

Can I Find Your Product In Anytown, USA?

Branding, Marketing Strategy
Have you noticed how certain shoe brands are sold exclusively in limited retail outlets? How about clothes, ever notice some brands can be found all over the place, and yet others are only found in major cities? Notice how you can’t just go into your local office supply store and purchase a $2,000 gold-cased Montblanc writing instrument? Ok, then you recognize that where you distribute your products/services is an important component of a branding strategy! Did you know your branding strategy should help define your distribution channels? It should be a guiding principle when determining exactly how you want to position your product or service in the marketplace. This applies to both products and services alike. Here’s a few examples: If the Price Point for your product or service is…
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