News | Small Business Branding

September 11, 2008 By Vera Raposo

Small Business Branding Affiliates

It’s official, I’m launching the Small Business Branding Affiliate Program!

You can access all the affiliate training and tools here. I’m also about to launch our very first product to help you with your business so if you’re wanting to find out the details of our upcoming launch than be sure to sign up as an affiliate right away.

I was also asked to be on the panel over at Moms Affiliate Expo tomorrow night, but today You can hear me live at 2pm EST presenting our program there.

You don’t have to be a Mom to listen in, there will be some very valuable information shared at the Expo for everyone. Hope to see you there!

Also, when you go the SBB Affiliates site, you’ll get a sneak peek at the name of my very first product which will go live very shortly.

File under: Featured, News

September 11, 2008 By Vera Raposo

Business News & Updates

Today I figured was a good day to update you on all that is happening around our home here on the small News business landscape. Since taking over the site there’s been alot of production happening behind the scenes.

We’ve updated our Media Page to show you exactly where the buzz is coming from and it’s great for our advertisers to know that we are actively promoting the site.

We are also looking into some pretty awesome partnerships in the near future to expand our reach even further. First on my list is to call up Entrepreneur.com to discuss some strategies that will benefit both of us.

At the same time, if you haven’t been by their site they also have a section for entrepreneurial women.

LIVE EVENTS

Recently I’ve been a part of 2 live events to promote the new Affilialte Center and our very first product that will launch very soon…. Get Brand Results you can sign up at the affiliate center to become an affiliate for the new product. I spoke at the Moms Affiliate Expo and also sat on the Affiliate Panel where other moms who are wanting to start affiliate marketing or become a better affiliate asked us questions. The event was held in a virtual conference room and even had video when I spoke so if you were there you could not only hear, and chat with me, but you could see me as well. I thought it was cool.

The biggest highlight for me was listening to Lynn Terry.. I found Lynn years ago when I was sitting inside my store wishing to not be stuck anymore in my physical retail store. Lynn is what they call a SUPER AFFILIATE and I got some great tips on how to better my affiliate promotions. Lynn got emotional about her own journey which lead me to send some Twitter love over to her….

Lynn Terry Twitter Love

Which then was picked up by tweelings_en a twitterer who tweets all about feelings with over 50,000 updates!

btw… one of the best reports I’ve ever read is Lynns Fast Cash Strategy which I got completely free because I`m a part of her Elite Networking Group. It`s worth it to be part of her group, Lynn is top notch with her advice. At the same time, its a hang out for me I love to see what others are chatting about and it`s a virtual home when I unwind. Just so you know, I`m not making anything on this recommendation, I did look for her affiliate program but I didn`t see it, I`ll have to ask her soon. In the meantime, I just couldn`t hold back this recommendation.

I will be re-visiting her Fast Cash Strategy because it deals with finding partners and nuturing the relationship to develop some serious sales for your business.

Over at the Product Sellers Seminar Ed and I spoke all about how to better brand your business when you are selling physical products and how you can easily differentiate and postition yourself from your competitors.

There was some great feedback from the events and I’ve also been working behind the scenes on our very own SBB Event. The funny thing is, I was planning it for well into next year, but it turns out when you have a great team things tend to get finished up pretty darn quick.

I`ve quickly discovered how much I love live events, I love the networking aspect, the immediate feedback, and the flat out fun of it all. I think Ed enjoyed it as well!

CONTENT CREATION

I`ve also been super busy with my latest website purchase Article Mojo, you`ve probably seen the ads I have rotating on the sides. I have some pretty awesome clients there who are ordering hundreds of articles at a time, thank goodness I have a team in place. It really doesn`t matter if someone orders 1 article or 100, or even 1000 we have a system in place so we can handle anything! ( Note: we do offer major discounts to high producers )

I was speaking with my good friend Nicole Dean, (who is the affiliate manager for Jimmy D. Brown) through instant messaging and we were talking about it. It`s funny how a close friend can see things you may not, and she told me that I need to coach business owners in systems since it`s second nature for me to create a system around everything that I do and can handle that type of production with only 1 assistant on the job.

STUDY

Blog Mastermind – This weekend I`ll be looking over the Blog Mastermind Program and putting together my first audio review for those who purchased through my affiliate link.

Traffic Secrets 2.0 – I have gone through the first 2 audios for Traffic Secrets and 2 of the checklists… I can tell you that I LOVE the checklists. It makes it super easy for me to go through and check exactly what I need to do. I have written down exactly what I want implemented it and have now outsourced it to my virtual assistant.

Product Launch Formula – Whoa baby this one is a doozie. I own the original PLF course and I studied it like a maniac and it did work in my scrapbook launch. I will be visiting PLF 2.0 some more before I do my new launch here.

I also have more reviews on other programs that I`m currently taking but for now I will be focusing on Blog Mastermind and TS2. Oh and just lastnight I picked up Piggy Back Launches by Jimmy D. Brown to see what he had to say about product launches, some cool insights in there.

SERVICES

Well this is coming along slowly but surely. I don`t just want to throw something out there and hope for the best, when it does launch it will be a really good way for you to run the online portion of your business. I have secured some really wonderful partners who see the same vision as I do for SBB. Watch for more details to come on this.

I think that`s it for today, I just wanted to share with you all the happenings around here. I even put together this site quickly while I was writing this to be the home for all of my recommendations, I`m tired of having links here and there on different sites. I`ll have to work on getting that site a littler nicer but for now it fits the bill. There`s tons more coming and I`ll be sure to update you more often on everything.

File under: News

August 1, 2008 By Vera Raposo

30 Day Challenge Comes Every Year Thanks To Ed Dale

There are many people who have no idea how to make money online. You have a website up, and we use all the traditional methods of advertising, word of mouth, etc. The online world is SO different from offline.

If you’re a business with a brand and a message you want to grow, then there is no other place I think you should be this year than at the 30 Day Challenge.

FINALLY IT’S HERE AND IT’S FREE!

Every year I look forward to the 30 Day Challenge because I know all year long Ed Dale and Dan Raine are busy testing, tweaking, and looking for the absolute easiest way to make a dollar online. But as Ed explains in his very first video he talks about how it’s not just about making your first dollar online, it’s about building a REAL business.

Now say you already own a business, and you have it set up taking orders right now. What if you could follow this challenge and seriously grow your reach?

The first part that I’ve seen so far talks about the basics you need to grow online.

MARKET RESEARCH
TRAFFIC
CONVERSION
PRODUCT

Ed will break these 4 parts down for you and take you through what you need to do to grow your traffic, convert the traffic, and make some money.

You will learn CUTTING EDGE stuff to making money online all for Free.

I remember it was the first time I found Technorati, a couple of years back I learned about Flock, and last year was when I heard about Twitter. You can follow me on twitter here. There is much to learn and I know that Ed is testing all year long.

This by far is the absolute easiest way to create a brand new business and there are many people previously who have taken on the challenge and now are extremely wealthy because of it.

If you don’t have traffic, you will never see the full potential of what can happen. Enjoy the challenge this year!

File under: Featured, News

July 23, 2008 By Ed Roach

THE introvert’s guide to selling

Not everyone throws on their spidey outfit and relishes leaping into the fray of the business sales arena. As a matter of fact a great deal of people sell because it is just part of what they do. If they could get the sales some other way, they’d probably jump at it. In the mean time all of the reluctant sales people out there, have to do they best they can with the few sale skills they have.

For the past few months I’ve been in touch with several reluctant sales people from around the world, and we’ve been sharing tips and techniques that has made selling a little bit easier. None of these contacts are Anthony Robbins clones or Dale Carnegie wannabe’s, BUT the one thing they did have in common was that they are introverts in an extroverts world. They’re tired of the books on sales that assume you love to put yourself out there.

So guess what? I’ve taken this valuable conversation and put them together in a little eBook that I am giving away for the asking. It was a pleasure putting together this information because of the insight it gave me. This is my first offering in the eBook realm. I call the effort, “The Reluctant Salesperson: An Introvert’s Guide to Selling.”

If you see fit to add this eBook to your reading, I’d love it, if you’d drop back here and let me know what you think. One thing about blogging that I find immensely gratifying is the breadth of opinion – all of it with the goal of helping all of us improve how we do business.

…for all the reluctant sales people who may be too shy to drop by my site and pick up a copy, I don’t mind if you get a friend to do it for you.

All the best.

File under: Archives, Beginners, Blogs & Blogging, Branding, Business, Employer Branding, Featured, Marketing, Media, News, Personal Branding

July 15, 2008 By Ed Roach

How to Make Brand Champions.

How many times has an existing customers asked you if you also do this or that? Your employees – how many of them understand your brand? Take a good look at all of your stake holders, do they have a good understanding of what your brand stands for? Chances are there is a mixed bag of understanding about your brand from your stake holders.

Brand Champions are advocates who promote and or refer your business to others. They are passionate about your brand and are active in your promotion. Many times even brand champions don’t have a clear understanding of what you do. So – here’s your chance to strengthen existing brand champions and empower others who could potentially become Brand Champions for your company. Lets tackle each of the stakeholder groups to shore up support for the team:

Employees:

• develop brand training that exposes the employee to the brand’s core capabilities
• give the employee a brand statement that they can use to properly explain the brand promise or key positioning strategy
• provide employees with apparel festooned with the brand logo and/or positioning statement
• be sure that they are aware of the company’s proud history
• develop a model where an employee has input on possible opportunities
• make available educational opportunities that can help employees make your product offering or service better
• make it possible for employees to belong to influential community groups
• for employees that have direct customer contact, be sure that they exhibit traits complementary to the brand personality and values
• help employees understand that a properly managed brand will benefit their incomes into the future

Suppliers:

• make sure suppliers know where they stand in the food chain of your brand
• let them know what is expected of them and how that impacts the growth of your brand
• be sure that they understand the culture of your company
• provide suppliers with apparel festooned with the brand logo and/or positioning statement
• be sure that policies regarding gifts or favors compliment brand values

Customers:

• provide them the opportunity to tell your story
• referral programs to reward their enthusiasm for your brand
• regularly survey them to be sure that you are exceeding their expectations
• make it a brand policy to go above and beyond what is expected
• get bodies in front of customers, don’t reply to heavily on email
• look for ways of enhancing the relationship with customers ( track their personal and professional motivations )
• provide customers with apparel festooned with the brand logo and/or positioning statement
• record testimonials from customer advocates, (don’t pay for these statements)
• quickly address problems and issues with professionalism
• nurture loyalty among customers by building relationships from sales transactions
• keep customers on top of changes and improvements to the brand

Management/Share Holders:

• be sure that everyone is singing from the same song sheet
• provide Management/Share Holders with apparel festooned with the brand logo and/or positioning statement
• be sure that this group understands and are loyal to the brand values and personality
• with every decision that effects the brand, be sure that the information flows down efficiently to the other stake holders
• be aware of executive decisions that could conflict with the brand
• audit your brand from time to time to be sure that the brand is not wavering in its focus
• be aware that the leaders of the brand impact it directly – implementing change should always compliment brand legacy

At the end of the day, Brand Champions will deliver a winning game plan. Branding is a team sport in the strictest sense of the word. If you have a tendency to go it alone,
you might find that your brand is stagnant. Your best chance at winning is when you allow stake holders to become part of the branding team. TOGETHER, YOU COULD BE A LEADER IN YOUR CATEGORY!

File under: Archives, Beginners, Blogs & Blogging, Branding, Business, Employer Branding, Featured, Marketing, News, Personal Branding, Technology

July 5, 2008 By Vera Raposo

Happy 4th of July!

American Flag

Happy 4th to everyone! Hope you’re enjoying time spent with family and friends on this holiday. For fun, here’s a great apple pie recipe for your dinner today, who doesn’t love a good slice of apple pie with icecream?

Grand Ole American Pie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pound Golden Delicious apples, cored, cut into 1/2 inch slices (6 cups)
1 pound Granny Smith apples, cored, cut into 1/2 inch slices (6 cups)
1 (15 ounce 2 crust) package refrigerator piecrust
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 (12 ounce) jar caramel ice cream topping

Instructions:

Combine butter and cinnamon together in a large mixing bowl. Add both types of apples and toss to coat. Line two large baking pans with aluminum foil. Heat oven to 475 degrees. Roast apples one pan at a time for 5 minutes turning once while roasting. The apples should just start to brown around the edges. Allow the apples to cool right in the pans. Reduce oven heat to 375. Bring piecrust dough to room temperature. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. In a mixing bowl combine the brown sugar, flour and salt. Place the roasted apples, both pans juice included into the bowl with the brown sugar mixture. Coat the apples well. Place the apples in the pie plate. Flour a flat surface and roll the second dough out to a 14 inch circle. Cut 4 slits in the dough. Place the dough over the top of the apples. Cut dough to 1/2 inch beyond plate. Crimp edges. Place the lightly beaten egg in a bowl. Add the water and mix together. Brush the top of the pie with the egg mixture. Place aluminum foil around the edge of the pie to keep the crust from browning too much and becoming hard. Bake 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil from the edges and bake 35 minutes longer. The top should be a golden brown and the filling bubbly. Drizzle with the caramel topping as soon as you take the pie from the oven. Cool.

File under: News

July 3, 2008 By Ed Roach

People – ya gotta love ‘em!

If your brand is your reputation (and it is), then it’s important to keep it on track. Everything that you do and say will reflect on that brand. How you say it is one of the toughest tasks when trying to keep your brand image compelling over all media.

I regularly drop into blogs and business consultant’s websites to check out some tip or suggestion that I may find of use. I can’t tell you how many times, I’m confronted with a brand image that absolutely contradicts the message they’re sending. As consultants, they are by nature a people business. Their job is to help people with problems and situations in their area of expertise. What sort of message are they sending if their sites and blogs are totally void of humanity. Not a single shot of a person. I want any consultant I hire to like people.

Businesses in the manufacturing sector are also guilty of this error. Lots of shots of real estate but nothing of people actually working the shop floor. One , that made me chuckle said that it was “their people that made the difference”. Guess what was missing in their literature?

The restaurant and hotel industry are great for this – lots of shots of expansive dining rooms, luxurious guest rooms and health clubs with no “body” in any one of them. As people, we all love to look at other people. We are a social species by nature. How you position people emotes a certain attitude. Diversity among the people we use, sends a powerful message. We go where the people are. Have you ever noticed that people are more apt to check out a new restaurant or store if there are people there when they get there. Nothing is more alluring than a parking lot full of cars at a store opening. There is nothing inspiring about a health club with no sweating bodies in sight. Humanity inspires us.

In the use of people shots, one simple tip in setting up the shot is an old design rule. Never have the model looking outside of your frame. It sends the eye away from your message. They should be looking in – our eyes follow their eyes. One that I employ is cropping. In a head and shoulders shot, cropping off the top of the head sends the readers eyes downward into the eyes of the model. When ever I use pictures of people I am always careful when choosing their use. I want the message to be consistent across the board and their use must compliment my brand. Even my own picture sends messages. One shot I particularly like is to a peer of mine – not friendly enough. “You are much friendlier than that picture suggests”‘ she often tells me. When we got together, she shot one that was more appropriate in her mind. It is the one most often seen of me out there.

Use people (images) to your advantage. Have them in your corporate colors. Be sure that they are of the correct demographic. Don’t have a genX ‘er in your materials if they are not your target audience. The wrong shot can alienate as powerfully as the perfect shot. Overall, remember that when choosing people shots for your brand, they must conform to your brand message. Don’t sacrifice this important point on the alter of creativity. Your brand communicates a specific message to its audience who are willing receptacles.

Say Cheese!