The CUSBA Linkedin Group had these terrific quotes posted this morning. They were compiled by mycomeup.com I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. # 1 – IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad “Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.” # 2 – Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway “Rule no. 1: Never lose money. Rule no. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.” # 3 – Steven Jobs, Apple Co-Founder “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” # 4…

What’s your brand saying about you? It’s all over the street – nobody really knows what you do there at ABC Co. It’s not like your customers or potential customers are spreading bad news about you, it’s more the fact that they’re not saying anything at all. There is no buzz. Everybody knows you but for some reason that’s not translating into tangible business. You appear to be doing everything right on the ground. But are you really? From my experience dealing with SME’s (small to medium enterprises), a common misconception about marketing is that have to list everything that…

English: Mission: STS-41-B Film Type: 70mm Title: Views of the extravehicular activity during STS 41-B Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, mission specialist, participates in a extra-vehicular activity (EVA), a few meters away from the cabin of the shuttle Challenger. He is using a nitrogen-propelled hand-controlled manned maneuvering unit (MMU). He is performing this EVA without being tethered to the shuttle. The picture shows a cloud view of the earth in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I’m always on the lookout for new technology. Not in terms of expensive big-time technology, but everyday little solutions that make my…

If you been following some of the posts here, you would have noticed that I have been promoting my new book, “101 Branding Tips.” (Shameless plug) What you may not know is that I, under no circumstances actually believe that I will become the next business best seller. My motivation for the book was to expand my audience. It was to bring to the attention of a wider market, my opinion. In doing this, I could potentially increase business. Every book has all of my contact information. Each book, whether it is the hard cover or Kindle version, places this…

This week only I’m giving away the Kindle version of my new book, “101 Branding Tips – Practical tips for your brand that you can use today.” This offer has no strings attached. What I would love is that you return to the Kindle bookstore and leave a review. My goal is to give away a thousand ebooks by this Friday the 16th of November. As of yesterday I handed out over 350 Kindle versions. Get it HERE.

ONE: Frankly it takes a lot of work to stay on top of my brand. If only I could just push a button like the Staples “Easy Button” ( which I have on my desk). I hate that I can’t! TWO: I hate having to remind businesses that their brand is more than their logo. I have every design shop and ad specialty shop to blame for the mis-information I guess. (I could be painting with big a brush too) THREE: I hate companies who don’t realize that branding is a top down initiative. Without the captain on board, who’s…

We are all experts in something. You might be humble in your discussion of your expertise, but be assured that you ARE an expert. I think that it’s imperative, that you share that expertise with your audience and allow them to benefit from with their exposure to you. October has been a good month for exhibiting my expertise. On Tuesday past I spoke to 120 women leaders when I presented to Athena International in Chicago. Yesterday I was interviewed on List Builder Tele-Summit, an initiative spear-headed by Donna Ward and Rodney Rich. Next week, I’m featured at the grand opening…

Has your competition ever accurately described what you do to a potential customer? My guess is not so much. Most promotional activity among small businesses in my experience does little to define a brand but does plenty selling clever slogans, flashy images, real estate and special offers. To ignore your brand position is to deny yourself the corner of your customer’s mind that tells them why you are the go to people for what they are looking for. Without a defining brand position you are among the gray matter all of your competitors are fighting for. The quick fix, the…

If you’ve listened to our past podcasts, you would have learned about Kelly McCausey. Kelly is the owner of SoloSmarts, a resource and podcast for small businesses. She’s always gives me something to think about and some fabulous action steps each time I talk to her, no matter how ‘old’ the topic seems to be. Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to get Kelly on the phone with me to talk about website statistics. It was such a good chat, we went over time. We covered things like: Why you’re missing out big chunks of free market research when…

When ever I sit down with owners of companies it is inevitable that the question arises, “When will branding help?” The easy answer to this is when the perception on the street isn’t what you, the leader of your company would like it to be. If your market doesn’t having a flattering opinion of you – branding can help. If your offering doesn’t differentiate itself from other similar competitive product offerings and you can only sell on price – branding can help. If your sales staff are tired and unmotivated – branding can help. If you’d like to freshen up…