I had breakfast with a friend recently who wanted to discuss personal branding. They felt that if they determined what their brand was or could be, it would change everything. But the truth is the real problem wasn’t necessarily their personal brand but their passion. Right of the top we put cost on table. “How much might this cost me Ed?” they asked. I just as quickly threw $5,000. at them, knowing the reaction – “5 grand, whoa that’s way to much.” Think so? Here’s the thing, 5 grand was not the issue. $100 might be too much, who knows.…

There is safety in numbers. There is also a great deal of knowledge that can be had if you take a sharing attitude. You don’t have to be an island. There are good people out there who would love to pick your brain and in return allow you into their inner sanctum of experience. I have been involved in a group exactly like this going on five years now. We got together after a design conference in Phoenix and had a burning desire to carry on the conversation . We are a small group of four companies within a 6…

When I first heard that Yaro Starak from Entrepreneur’s Journey was planning to sell this site, I felt like my own entrepreneurial journey was about to take another exciting and successful leap. It didn’t take long for me to decide to become the new owner of Small Business Branding. I started my first small business when I was 20 years old selling products from a booth at the local mall. So strong was my desire to be an entrepreneur that I ran my booth while working full-time as a District Manager for PCA International. As District Manager I was responsible…

Is your brand in a whirl? Many a CEO have ignored the signs and are afraid to contact their brand doctors. Some fear the embarrassment of having admit that they have long ignored the obvious and suffer from denial. Many simply have no idea why they are suffering and are just confused and anxious. If you are uncertain, here are a few things that might alert you that your brand is suffering from WhirlyBrand: Symptom: Your business completely blends in throughout it’s category. There is nothing to distinguish you. Diagnosis -WhirlyBrand: People confuse your company with that of your competition?…

If you want to increase the value of your personal brand, I believe that there is no better and faster way than blogging. I have been involved with putting my opinion out there for all to view and rebuke for a little over year now. I AM NOT A WRITER by any stretch of your imagination. As a matter of fact I don’t type home-row but use a quick hunt and peck technique perfected over many years. I consider myself an, “Opinionator”. It gives an air of respect to my open views on things that I am passionate about. You…

There has been a shift coming for some time, have you noticed? Sales used to be about catalogs, cold calls, doughnuts, lunches and lobby phones. But, not anymore, now sales is about the post choice, transactional components; how many, how much, by when, shipping methods, warranties, etc. Everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING is marketing. Check the new American Marketing Association’s definition in Rob’s recent ( 2/5/08 ) post. Marketing is no longer a “function”, but a process that includes every nook and cranny of an organization. Marketing is about “information”, both good and bad, that is available 24 X…

We’ve all been in that sales situation where you think you have it wrapped up and at the last minute it stalls. They stop returning your calls and emails, all correspondences are very short and to the point, the RFP is hanging out there, it seems like your prospect has simply fallen off the face of the earth. So what happened? Were they not an ideal client or part of your target audience? Was there secretly a competitor with an inside track or existing relationship (hint: there usually is, but that’s a different ezine topic)? Were they simply shopping to…

I started this article on the way back from Scottsdale, AZ the day after two of the biggest sports events in the U.S. ended on the same day in the same town. The day, outside of writing, was spent taking part in a sort of “luggage treasure hunt” sponsored by my favorite low cost airline, but that’s another story. Should the small, medium enterprise ( SME ) sector advertise? Should large enterprise advertise? A much different question, but from a directional perspective the following test can be both fun at parties, and quite telling. Ready? But, first you have to…

Let’s face it, what is a good idea? To any one of us, it is based on our entire world view. The answer stems from our collective experience. Every day we have ideas to improve our businesses. Some we write down, others we file in the hard drive of our brain and others we let slip away. The point is we need to be always searching for that good idea that will help grow our business. Where can you get this good idea? Is there a good idea store out there? Maybe there is a good idea pill. The fact…

For those of you that have seen the movie “Ray”, you might recall the scenes in which Ray Charles feels the wrist of young ladies he has been introduced to. Singer, musician Ray Charles was blind. Today, we are all a bit blind when it comes to how we are doing relative to fundamental marketing goals, such as; Generating Awareness, Building Interest, Facilitating Trial Sales and Sustaining Repeat Sales. So, like Ray, we are looking for “signals” from which we can design. But, how do we get those signals? In many cases there simply is no wrist from which to…