One of the very first things you learn in the Guerrilla Marketing Coaching Program is that EVERY contact with your customers and prospects is marketing. Each and every point of contact – from the way you answer your phone to your e-mail signature to your website to those goofy photos you posted on Facebook – makes up your personal brand. All of it! If you don’t believe me, just Google yourself and see what you’ve put “out there.” (You can be sure that everyone else who is considering working with you is already Googling you!)

Okay, now as soon as you pull those not-so-flattering New Year’s Eve party photos down off of Facebook or Flickr, take inventory of your personal brand to ensure that you’re sending the right marketing message. How are you putting yourself out there? Is your marketing consistent? Is it intentional? Is it professional? Is there continuity in all of your marketing materials?

If you’re a copywriter and your e-mails are riddled with typos because you were just “zipping off a casual note,” what kind of message does that send? If you’re starting up a business but your e-mail address is still “Schmoopie102,” who’s going to take you seriously as an entrepreneur?

In the age of viral videos and social marketing, we’ve got to be more vigilant than ever about how we brand ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world. Obviously, this applies to our print materials, business cards, products and packaging. But it also goes for the way we act, communicate and conduct ourselves. (Jamie Lynn Spears, are you listening? So much for your “Britney’s sweet, squeaky-clean little sister” brand!)

You’ve got to guard your personal brand like you’re in a casino with hundreds of cameras trained on you. Think back to that scene in the remake of “Oceans 11” with Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. Casino mogul Terry Benedict gets caught on camera betraying Tess and he loses her, because – in the casino - “someone’s always watching.” Same is true on the wonderful world wide web, so mind your brand!

Oh, and please don’t visit my Facebook page until I have a chance to pull those photos!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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In prior posts I’ve mentioned my audio product launch on Halloween, Transform Your Fear into POWER. Part of my marketing strategy was to form joint venture partnerships with other business owners to help promote and market my program. You’ve seen these campaigns for years and probably received many emails inviting you to buy a book, audio, or program and receiving special bonus gifts with your purchase.

Most campaigns invite each partner to contribute a bonus gift, and become an affiliate to earn passive income in return for agreeing to send out an announcement on a specific date to their email lists and community. It’s a great marketing strategy (for everyone involved) when every partner follows through.

One of my partners didn’t. It took me over a week of sending emails requesting confirmation of their participation before I was finally told, ” Sorry, I was just too busy and have too much on my plate to support you as I had agreed.” Not the actual words. No offer to send an email out at that time to at a future point. Nothing at all.

I had been warned about including this person in my campaign because of a negative reputation and I opted to include them. Sometimes people will surprise you.

Your reputation is part of your brand. Keeping agreements and promises sends a message to others about your integrity, professionally and personally. That message tells others who you are and what you stand for. We pay less attention to what people say and more on what they do. Congruency….

* How often to you drop the ball in following up with others?

* Do you break your agreements and promises?

* Do you say yes to things you really need to say no to?

* How often do you make excuses for not following through?

* What justifications do you use? In other words, what do you tell yourself that makes it ok?

People talk. A negative comment to one person can snowball into multiple conversations. A message can be sent over the internet in a split second.

You cannot insure that no one will ever spread a rumor or have something negative to say about you. You choose to be a person of integrity in thought, feeling and deed to the best of your ability. And when you are not at your best, you show up and take responsiblity for your actions (or non-actions). Look for ways to make amends so that you can to restore your integrity and reputation. In that way you show up for yourself and the relationship or situation. Win-win.

What might you need to clean up to restore your integrity and reputation?

How do you want to be known?

Cheers!

Dr. Lorraine Cohen, President of Powerfull Living, brings more than 25 years experience in personal and business coaching, psychological counseling, and sales to thousands of spiritually minded business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders from a wide range of industries. Learn more about Lorraine’s services, success products and programs.

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British singing sensation Amy Winehouse may be the best musical marketing story since Madonna. In case you weren’t paying attention to the music scene – or to the tabloids - over the last year or so, Amy Winehouse is the 24-year old singer, songwriter, (and the latest celebrity train wreck) who sings the hit “Rehab.”

If you’ve heard her sing, you’d know her distinctive style in an instant. And if you’ve ever seen the singer, I guarantee you’ll never forget her. Covered in tattoos, with heavy eye-makeup and her trademark beehive hairdo, Winehouse is impossible to miss.

Sadly, her enormous critical acclaim and six Grammy nominations have been overshadowed by her public self-destruction and reckless drug and alcohol abuse. She’s a favorite target of the tabloids and is right up there with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan when it comes to personal train wrecks. In fact, People magazine calls her “a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control.” Amy Winehouse makes Janis Joplin look like a saint. Let’s just hope she doesn’t share Joplin’s fate.

What’s any of this got to do with marketing, you ask? Consider the fact that in the cutthroat music industry, the chances of stardom are one in a gazillion. And when someone bursts on to the music scene like Amy Winehouse, you have to sit up and take notice. Her unique, soulful singing style, her distinctive looks and, yes, even her wacky behavior, create a remarkable brand identity. In “Sethspeak,” Winehouse is a purple cow in a huge herd of me-too musical cattle.

Sure, she’s immensely talented, but so are thousands of other performers. What makes Amy Winehouse stand out is that she’s so… Amy Winehouse! She’s carved out an unforgettable image and an unmistakable identity. Unfortunately, her personal turmoil is now part of that image but, if it doesn’t kill her, it definitely keeps her in the news.

Minus the drama, marketers should learn from Amy Winehouse. I’m not suggesting that you don a beehive wig or run out and make a drunken spectacle of yourself. But you do need to develop a brand. You need to be distinctive. And you need to decide what you stand for. Does Amy Winehouse stand out in a crowd? There’s little doubt about that. But do you? If not, what can you do to grab your share of the spotlight? (Preferably, without breaking any laws!) What can you do to make sure that you’re not singing the same tune as your competitors? Think about it, then go forth and build your brand!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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It's a dilemma that most small businesses and startups face: You must market and advertise, but you're strapped for cash. Fortunately, ideas, energy and imagination can make up for meager marketing budgets. Whether you're an established company or a nascent business, the marketing formula is the same. You'll need to start with:

1. The right message
2. To the right audience
3. At the right time

Here are a few ideas for stretching your marketing budget:

Maximize Internet marketing opportunities

The Web has opened up a world of low-cost marketing opportunities, from email and e-newsletters to blogs and podcasts. Also, consider search engine marketing and programs like Googll Ad Words, which charges on a pay-per-click basis.

Ideas and Resources: If you want to send an e-newsletter or conduct a low-cost email marketing campaign, try ConstantContact.com (as low as $15 per month). To build a list of prospects, sign up visitors to your Web site (a no-brainer) by offering a gift (a short report, 10 tips from an expert, or something humorous) or rent a targeted email list at Postmaster Direct.

Seek publicity

Send out press releases and look for "hooks" to get your company covered in print or on TV or radio. Also, make the most of trade showsby speaking on industry panels to position yourself as an expert in your field. (Speakers and panelists at trade shows often receive free registration.)

Ideas and Resources: PR Newswire.com details the components of a press release and offers other tools for publicizing your business. MarketingSherpa.com also features many publicity tips.

Adopt Guerrilla Marketing techniques

Guerilla Marketing is described as "a proven method of achieving profits with minimum money." After 14 million books in 41 languages, Jay Conrad Levinson's low-cost tactics are still going strong. Some of his tried and true tips include writing a column for your local paper, sending "off-season" cards (instead of holiday cards), and even slipping your business cards into relevant books at the bookstore or library.

Ideas and Resources Learn more about Guerrilla Marketing at www.gmarketing.com.

Harness the power of Word of Mouth marketing

Word of mouth, or buzz marketing, has been generating buzz of its own as a powerful and inexpensive marketing discipline. Create your own customer evangelists and let them spread the good word.

Ideas and Resources: Visit Bravenet.com to add a free "tell-a-friend" tool to your Web site, e-newsletter, or emails, or try the low-cost Tell-a-Friend Wizard. For more ideas on how to generate buzz, visit www.womma.org, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Consider low-cost, "do-it-yourself" media options

Before you invest in an elaborate direct mail campaign, consider sending less expensive mail such as postcards or birthday cards to clients. Piggybacking on existing community promotions such as participating in town days, and developing loyalty or frequent-buyer programs are other "frugal" methods.

Ideas and Resources: Try a low-cost postcard service such as Modern Postcards.com. Your business can join an existing loyalty program such as MyPoints.com or establish a custom loyalty program with companies such as Maritz. Find dozens of frugal marketing tips at FrugalMarketing.com.

Additional Tips & Tactics:

* In a world of spam and impersonal emails, try sending personal, hand-written notes.
* Find a related but non-competitive partner and join forces to share marketing efforts.
* Do "grassroots" marketing research by talking to your customers one-on-one.
* Join newsgroups and online discussion groups to position yourself as an expert.

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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With the advent of broadband Internet access and the proliferation of free video hosting sites like YouTube, Blip.tv, Revver and Veoh.com, today anyone with a camcorder and an Internet connection can produce a video and share it with the world. Producing video for the Web can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Some benefits include:

1. Free or low-cost publicity and exposure for your company
2. Instant access to a worldwide audience on the Web, 24/7
3. The ability to use your video hosting site’s HTML code to add the video to your own Web site

Here’s a step-by-step guide for getting started:

1. Produce a short video

“Short” is the key word here, for several reasons: First, online viewers have a much shorter attention span when watching video on the Web. Second, longer videos mean larger file sizes. Most free video hosting sites have a 100MB limit; some even less.

Additional resources: For great, do-it-yourself, online video tools, visit Serious Magic and look at their inexpensive “Vlog It” software. Videomaker magazine also features tips for creating online video.

2. Output your video for online viewing

Once you’ve got your video, it still needs to be encoded and compressed to make it “Internet-friendly.” Video files can be enormous, but compression software shrinks the video file size so it plays more smoothly on the Web. Remember to save or export your file to an online-compatible size, which is 320 X 240 resolution; and compress it so it’s under 20MB, if possible. Be sure to save your video file in a format that most video sites accept, such as a Quicktime movie (.mov), a Windows movie (.wmv) or Flash (.flv) file.

Additional resources: QuickTime Pro (for Windows or Mac) is ideal for compressing your video and transferring it to whatever file format you prefer (Windows, Flash, MPEG). The software is about $30 (US) and is worth its weight in gold when it comes to converting files for online video.

3. Upload to several free video hosting sites

Now comes the fun part – You get to upload your video and share it with the world! Most of the popular video sites have relatively easy upload instructions: First, you’ll have to create an account for each site. The video hosting sites usually have a two or three step process that allows you to browse for your video file on your computer; add a title and description; and then click “upload” to post your video file. Most sites will also give you options for adding a thumbnail photo, selecting your genre or category or, in some cases, signing up for revenue sharing. (Don’t expect the money to start pouring in unless you’ve got a wildly popular “viral” video!)

Additional resources: Go beyond the obvious sites like YouTube and Yahoo, and upload your video to some of the newer, more feature-rich sites such as Veoh, Revver, VideoEgg and Stickam. Visit the individual sites for easy upload instructions.

4. Promote and share your new “online TV channel”

After you’ve uploaded your video, these free video hosting sites provide the option of “sharing” your video by giving you a link/URL that you can e-mail to your contacts. Most sites also include a great feature that allows you to copy the HTML code and “embed” the video into your own website or blog. Simply cut and paste the code provided into your own site. Finally, use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to offer “subscriptions” to your online videos.

Additional resources: I find the most “user-friendly” sites to be Blip.tv and VideoEgg. Sites like these and Brightcove.com tend to be geared toward businesses and a bit more professional. Popular (and free) RSS feed providers include Feedburner and Mefeedia.

Finally, keep in mind these special considerations for web video:

• Since your screen is typically much smaller on the web, avoid wide shots with a lot of people in them. It just doesn’t translate well on the Internet.
• Avoid pans and zooms. Rapid movement is harder to watch on a smaller screen.
• Keep it simple. Don’t go crazy with a lot of titles and graphics. They may be too small to be effective.
• Keep it short – Less is more on the “short-attention-span” Internet!

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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Producing a television ad can seem a daunting and expensive task. Fortunately, with today's easy access to TV production tools, creating a TV spot is well within your reach. One caveat: While making a TV ad can be relatively easy, producing a GOOD one is much more challenging. Don't get so caught up in the production process that you lose sight of your advertising objective – it's not creative unless it sells! With your advertising message in mind, the three critical stages of video production are:

1. Pre-production – Planning, writing, scheduling, location scouting and all of the preparation and details before a frame of video is ever shot.

2. Production – The actual video shooting of the ad. Depending on your needs and budget, this could be anything from a one-camcorder shoot to a multi-camera Hollywood extravaganza. For this reason, it's hard to generalize about how much a TV spot will cost.

3. Post-production – While on the shoot, you may hear the common refrain, "We'll fix it in post." Post is where everything comes together to produce the ad – editing, graphics, music, titles, voice over, special effects and, eventually, a "final cut."

Here are 8 steps to producing your own television ad:

1. Set clear goals and a budget
Know and communicate your marketing objective. Determine your budget and develop a plan. What do you hope to achieve with your TV ad? Where, when and how frequently will it run?

Links and resources: Ad placement can affect your overall production budget. Consider low-cost options, such as cable or the local affiliates of ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS. Or find your local cable provider in the CAB directory and contact the advertising sales division for rates.

2. Determine your target audience
Television is still a mass medium, but you'd better know your target before you shoot! Who are you trying to reach, and will your message resonate with your intended audience?

Links and resources: For a reasonable monthly fee, DemographicsNow.com offers access to comprehensive market data to help you understand your customers.

3. Write your script
Craft your message and determine your content. Be sure to refine your script and storyboard — a visual representation of each shot in your ad — until you're convinced the commercial is ready to shoot. If you're not a scriptwriter, consider hiring an ad agency or a freelance writer to craft your ad.

Links and resources: NationalTVSpots.com offers scripting services as part of its TV ad production packages. Find screen and scriptwriters at Guru.com.

4. Plan the shoot
You'll need to decide on the "creative" for your TV ad. Considerations include tone, pacing, mood, style, music, etc. Should it be humorous? Dramatic? Animated? The clearer your vision before the shoot, the better television you'll produce.

Links and resources: Cheap-TV-Spots.com, which specializes in producing low-cost spots for entrepreneurs and small businesses, will help you focus your TV ad on what makes your business unique. Spring for a full-service production firm, such as BluelinerMarketing.com, if you want professionals handling all the planning as well as the execution of your commercial.

5. Consider ready-made video
Cut production costs dramatically by using existing advertising video footage and simply adding your audio message to it.

Links and resources: For about $500, SpotRunner.com lets you choose from an extensive library of high-quality ads that you can customize with your own message.

6. Use cable production services
Many cable companies and network affiliates offer production services to small businesses. If you're going to place your ads with them, you may be able to negotiate deep discounts on production costs.

Links and resources: Contact a local cable company, such as Time Warner Cable, to inquire about their production services.

7. DIY
Cut costs and maintain total control by shooting your ad yourself.

Links and resources: Software called "Visual Communicator" from Serious Magic allows you to create pro videos with just a Webcam and some pre-packaged graphics and effects.

8. Fix it in post
Post-production is "where the magic happens." Edit the footage from your shoot, adding music, graphics, effects and finishing touches. If you hire a production company, they should handle this for you.

Links and resources: If you're taking the DIY approach, use a simple program, such as Apple's iMovie or Final Cut Pro.

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

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FoundRead: We like Harvard Working Knowledge, and today we picked up another quick post by marketing guru, John Quelch. It’s billed as “How To Build a Global Brand,“ but we think his five simple rules for how to brand effectively are applicable to any startup trying to establish its name and image — globally or not. The good news here is that Prof. Quelch is cutting down your workload — in branding, it turns out that what matters most in the message are simplicity and consistency.

Professor Quelch compares the (lately) poor branding practices at Ford with the highly successful practice at Toyota to illustrate “the power of a single global brand” and how to get there.

1. The same positioning worldwide. (For F|R: this means in every market.) This provides a combination of functional product quality and innovation with emotional appeal. Think Coca-Cola.

2. A focus on a single product category. Think Nokia and Intel.

3. The company name is the brand name. All marketing dollars are concentrated on that one brand. Think GE and IBM. (F|R: Hewlett-Packard learned this the hard way!)

4. Access to the (global) village. Consuming the brand equals membership in a global club. Think IBM’s “solutions for a small planet.” (F|R says: replace “global club” with social network.)

5. Social responsibility. Consumers expect global brands to lead on corporate social responsibility, leveraging their technology to solve the world’s problems. Think Nestle and clean water. (Or F|R might say: think Google.)

5 Simple Rules of Branding [FoundRead]

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Entrepreneur Daily: Sports fans of all ages have plenty of team memorabilia to help them root on their favorite players. But what about the increasing number of grown-up gamers? How can they show off their gaming pride? Before G8 Brand, there weren't too many options. But now, this lifestyle brand hopes to change the public's perception of gamers and their sense of style. "I always wondered why nobody had ever done an apparel brand for gamers," said Tony Crisp, owner of G8 Brand. "What Quiksilver has given to surfers and what Volcom has given to skaters is what I want G8 Brand to give to gamers … a brand to call their own."

The first collection of t-shirts consists of high-fashion prints inspired by gaming designs and classic video game imagery. As for the future, the brand plans to launch a special artist series of tees, in addition to a signature series with some of the world's top pro gamers.

New Brand Targets Gamers [Entrepreneur Daily]

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Small Business Branding: Consumers are exposed to over 3,000 marketing messages a day. TV spots, radio ads, billboards, logos on t-shirts, packaging labels, coupons in the mail, pop up ads on the internet, kids selling cookies at the door – they are everywhere.

And yet you think the consumers you want to talk to are going to filter through over 3,000 messages a day – just to find yours. And because this task alone is not daunting enough, most businesses decide to make it harder by hiding their messages. If you are not consistent in ALL your marketing materials, you are wasting thousands of dollars and losing potential customers every day.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself to check your brand’s consistency.

- Are you using just one logo? Is it always in the same color?
- Are you consistent with paper stock – color, texture and weight?
- Is the tone of all your communications pieces the same – is it in one voice?
- Does that one voice match the personality and soul of your company?
- Do your sales, recruiting, internal documents, and other communications match your marketing materials?
- Do your ads reflect the same look, feel and voice?
- When you do your radio/TV ads – do you use the same talent for the voice of your company? Is he/she also on your answering system?

Do a Quick Brand Check [Small Business Branding]

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This is an article submitted by Ken Wisnefski. Submit your article! Find out more.

Introduction

Do you think there is a corner in the world where you can find a computer user who does not know of Microsoft? Is there anyone in the world who looks for information on the Web and has never heard of Google? These names are indelibly ingrained in our brains. Did you ever think of why?

Both companies are world renown. They have molded a brand name that is synonymous with success. Most experts will tell you that you need experience, excellent service/product, ingenuity, and commitment to become a success. These are all ingredients in becoming successful, but more help comes from customers than most think.

You need to provide optimal services or products to become popular with the public. Most celebrated companies will be happy to sell services and products and hope their acclaim continues. Some of the best companies do not realize their satisfied customers can become their most powerful marketing tool.

The customer knows best

It is important to foster a rapport with your customers, regardless of the size of your business. Experts in customer management will tell you that ideally, you want to make the customer-to-business relationship as personal as possible. The dynamic should be comparable to that of a mom and pop shop located in a remote, small town with their second to third generation customers.

How can you inspire this relationship? Listen to your customers. Comprise a customer testimonial page on your Web site. Customer testimonials can be incorporated into newsletters and fliers, but it will be seen by most on your Web site.

Promote testimonials

For most, the customer testimonial page (if there is one) is usually discreetly showcased, accessible through an obscure link somewhere on the bottom of the home page. This is a mistake.

Positive customer feedback needs to be exhibited as strongly as other content on the site. Browsers will come across testimonials and relate to the authors. Those who testified were once like them – looking for a provider of goods/services.

Good testimonials should be completely overt and conspicuous for all to see. Everyone knows that each business will have positive things to say about themselves through their content, but the customers can give unbiased, objective information. This is what a potential customer wants to see – no inside advertising, just the facts.

Building the Brand

Once a business has accumulated and read a large number of testimonials, they can begin to see patterns in responses. What exactly about the products/services is so appealing to the customers? What products/services get the most positive feedback? What (if anything) needs to be improved? What separates the company from the competition? Finding the answer to these questions will begin to shape the image of your brand.

Most companies believe that they choose their brand. They believe the public at large will accept what they are told. There is too much competition for people to be persuaded into accepting something before they have proof of its veracity.

Testimonials can aid in building the brand of your business. A “brand” is about perception and your testimonials are just that – the perception of your customers. Word-of-mouth is the greatest marketing tool imaginable, but costs a business nothing in advertising costs. The investment comes from having an excellent product/service to provide.

The dynamic of the interaction between a business and its customers is the “brand.” If a business has customers that have positive associations towards the business, this equals the “image” of the business. The image is shared by the existing customers and is to be potentially shared by new customers.

Getting Practical

Thus far, it may seem that we have been speaking theoretically, and not about how to come up with a physical brand (logo, slogan).

Working with a graphic designer can ameliorate the process of composing a logo. The logo should originate from the feeling that comes from the customer feedback.

Collect the testimonials and survey them for likenesses. What adjectives are used to describe your business? What analogies or references are made in relation to your business? Is your business prided on speed? Is it prided on efficiency? Is it prided on customer service? Create a symbol based on a conglomeration of the feedback. This will be your logo.

The same process can be used for a slogan. A slogan usually will have something to do with the mission statement or the ideology of the business (Ex: eBay - “The World’s Online Marketplace”), but it can be a combination of this and the relationship with the customers (Wegmans – “Everyday You Get Our Best”). It is best to combine the company’s mission with what it can provide for its public. The choice is yours, but the latter seems to make more of a connection with the customer.

Ken Wisnefski is the president of VendorSeek.com, a site that specializes in connecting business consumers with qualified vendors from an Approved Vendor Network that provide competitive price quotes for their specific service category.

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Mind Petals: Business brochures and commercials that ridicule their competition, insult customer intelligence. I don’t want to buy a car from a guy who tells me why everyone else in his field is unworthy of my patronage. I do want to support companies who state examples of why their “unique” strategies work better. We’re not stupid consumers. We don’t expect companies to endorse their competition. So, as entrepreneurs, we need to advertise as consumers.

If there’s something you don’t like about what your competition does – set yourself apart by showing how your system exceeds their quality. Nothing portrays this better than testimonials from satisfied clientele. Your customers are more apt to believe in your product if they see results from their peers.

Post testimonials on your site and brochures. Beat your competition without spitting a negative word their way. New businesses successfully beat the veterans all the time. Just remember that how you choose to run your company now – sets the tone for your permanent professional image.

Dis-count the Competition? [Mind Petals]

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Entrepreneur: It's a brand new work world. And I do mean "brand."

It used to be that only large businesses worried about branding. To thrive, they had to distinguish their company from the competition. This meant carving out a niche based on competitive advantages and specific corporate attributes. They crafted and maintained a strategic brand--a unique, useful promise to current and prospective customers--to gain brand equity and loyalty. This was business, after all.

But things have changed. The 21st century is the age of free agents and custom ringtones. Nike doesn't just sponsor Tiger Woods; Tiger Woods sponsors Tiger Woods (check out the personal logo on his cap). Today, branding occurs at the individual level. This is especially noticeable in service industries, but increasingly in others as well. Everything about you, from the type of cell phone you carry and the vocabulary you use, to the brand of coffee you drink, says something about who you are and what you can do for the rest of us.

In business today, your most important job is to promote yourself. You probably won't work the same job from graduation until retirement. More likely, your future depends on leveraging your strengths along a winding career path ripe with possibilities. To take advantage of these opportunities, you need to stand out in a crowd. You must become your own brand.

Know - and Brand - Thyself [Entrepreneur]

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FORTUNE: Lingerie retailer Bare Necessities spiced up sales by making it easier for women to find undergarments that fit online.

When we last met Bare Necessities, the lingerie seller, based in Avenel, N.J., was profitable but battling a personality problem: It lacked one. Enter FSB's Makeover artists - five experts from Frog Design, the product design and branding firm known for its work with Apple. The Frog team led company employees in creative exercises that sparked fixes, which CEO Noah Wrubel says boosted growth.

"Business is unbelievable," he says. The family-owned firm won't give figures, but an industry magazine pegged its 2006 web sales - now about 90% of revenue - at $26.2 million, bringing total sales for that year to around $29 million. In 2005, Bare Necessities had total sales of $21 million. This year sales should hit $35 million.

The Makeover revealed that many women find buying underwear tedious and ego-deflating. Guided by the Frog session, the company revamped its branding and website (barenecessities.com) to change that. Now the site gives advice on fashion, quality, and, most important, fit. To execute this work, the company set up a new web-focused creative department and hired Victoria's Secret veteran Jessica Jackson as vice president of E-commerce, a new post.

Move over, Victoria's Secret [FORTUNE]

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Influx Insights: One of the secrets behind the new premiums was that they didn’t rely on advertising, instead they found a way to get the bar staff and bar tenders on their side and used the power of recommendation.

Even though the brand's owner, the Swedish government is due to sell its prized asset, early in the year, Absolut broke a new ad global campaign and yesterday launched a fascinating new initiative.

Absolut is known for its bottle, but also its flavors, at one moment in the late 90s, it seemed like the brand was launching a new flavor a week. The brand is now taking its flavor story in a new direction by launching flavors named after locations with specific recipe designs.

The first one out of the gate is Absolut New Orleans- mango flavor with a black pepper kick. The new flavor will be limited to a run of 35,000 cases.

This is a very interesting development for a brand trying to escape from the tyranny of ubiquity by becoming more local and limited. It allows Absolut to be relevant to important drinks markets and gives them the opportunity to create a new conversation with bar tenders.

Absolut Local [Influx Insights]

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BusinessWeek: Just because there is no one selling a particular product or service doesn't mean it's automatically a good idea to try. Conversely, a competitively crowded industry shows that demand exists, as well as a viable market. The key to business success isn't finding an empty field, but defining your company narrowly—no matter how crowded a marketplace you're entering.

There are many ways you can differentiate your company, says Reid Carr, president of Red Door Interactive, a small Web development firm based in San Diego. "You can choose to sell to different people, such as small businesses; you can find new distribution channels; you can stratify the industry's price points by introducing a luxury class; or, you can redefine your selling proposition," he says, noting how Starbucks (SBUX) revolutionized the coffee shop by selling an experience rather than just a beverage.

However you choose to be different, you must be great at the basics and exceptional at your defining factor, Carr says. "The key here is to know who you are and who you are not." Another way to get a toehold in a mature market is to watch for change or stagnation in that industry and capitalize on it. "Even in highly competitive industries—perhaps even more so than in noncompetitive markets—there are external and internal market forces that will create change in the dynamics," says Eric Basu, president and CEO of technology firm Sentek Consulting in Mission Hills, Calif. "Successful companies and entrepreneurs aspiring to enter a competitive market will observe the winds of change and seize opportunities arising from changes. A successful entrepreneur will often have prepared for entry into the industry by securing capital, establishing connections, possibly occupying a sentry position, and otherwise laying the groundwork for opportunity."

Starting a Business in a Crowded Market [BusinessWeek]

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Inc.com: Whether it's quality, selection, product knowledge, or customer service, small retailers can leverage a stronger brand identity to take on big-box competitors. For far too many large corporate retailers, their primary strategy is to build sales through low prices, to leverage their sheer size into economies of scale that drive down their costs and allow them to offer the lowest possible prices. Their entire business model is built on volume, and the primary tool of choice in their toolkit is price promotion. Sales, circulars, coupons, special events -- however the promotion is structured -- the offering is built around price.

Building brand equity for your store is a critical element in maintaining pricing integrity, protecting margins, and assuring long-term profitability. Building brand equity requires clarity of purpose. When customers think of you, they will focus on the one thing at which you excel. Focusing yourself and all of your people like a laser beam on that one thing, whether it be quality, selection, product knowledge or customer service, and building everything you do around that core mission, is the key to building retail brand equity.

Building Brand Equity [Inc.com]

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