5 Types of High Impact Business Branding

By Alek S Jones 

In today's busy world, branding has become more important than ever to ensure that your message is seen. Simply put, branding is a type of advertising that promotes your brand. This could be your company, your restaurant, your band or even yourself. A brand is a way to gain recognition and build trust, comprising of corporate design, slogans, logos and many other elements. But without effective branding strategies, your brand may as well be invisible.
Branding Options with Visual Impact

Visual impact is essential when it comes to branding, in order to ensure that your potential customers start to recognise your logo and associate it with your company or brand. While there are many different ways to do so, some of the most effective options include the following:

1. Social media branding - your Facebook and Twitter pages (and your Google+ pages if you have one of those) should reflect your brand clearly. Customised pages help your audience to identify your brand instantly, and also enforce reputation and trust. Basically, if your logo is pink and whimsical, and your slogan is something like 'we know what girls want', you need to ensure that your social profiles bring this across, because this is what your customers will expect. Social media branding can be done by your web designer or yourself if you have the technical skills, and are a fairly cost-effective option with a good reach.
2. Taxi Cab branding - if you live in a busy city such as Cape Town, you will more than likely have seen a branded cab at some point or another. Cab branding uses the high-traffic routes within the city to gain maximum exposure for your brand. High quality decals are applied to the body of the cab, which is then driven around the city. This is a cost-effective option that has a huge audience reach.
3. Promotional branding - branded t-shirts, caps, pens and other items are excellent for promotions or on-going branding. There are many companies that can print your logo onto almost any item, which can then be given out to employees, customers or any other stakeholder. Unique gifts for clients can also be branded, offering a great way to build relationships and reputation.
4. Vehicle branding - similar to cab branding but with a more limited reach, vehicle branding offers a way for sales employees, company owners or other key employees or managers to promote their business with branded decals that are placed on their own vehicles. These are popular with real estate companies and restaurants, but the reach is limited to the area in which the vehicles are driven.
5. Word of mouth branding - a fairly new type of branding is word of mouth, in which experienced promoters, influential bloggers and other key figures promote your brand. Parties in which your product is introduced, blog posts, social media discussions, videos and many other tactics are used to harness the power of word of mouth promotion.

Many companies assume that branding is the only way to help their business grow. In reality, branding comprises a number of different marketing areas, and as such, the best approach is to include branding as part of your online and offline marketing strategies for the best results.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6848775

Creating Brand Awareness With Printing Services

By Irene Test 

Beyond the message and ubiquity, a brand is an image, one customers associate with a particular name, product, or company. An image is imprinted onto customers' memories, and if done correctly, it results in better recollection and brand loyalty over time. Customers, however, will not flock toward you initially; you, instead, need to go where they are. In the modern world, this can be any place from vehicles and transportation centers to roadways to their homes.
Printing services can assist with the production of such an image. Although your marketing department should develop the visuals beforehand, a company offering printing services creates the physical embodiments of the image. Billboards, vehicle wraps, placards, and even direct mail postcards can all be printed through one source.

Signage - a general term covering indoor and outdoor displays, banners, placards, and building wraps - is a popular approach to developing image awareness. Present in several forms and in multiple locations, signage creates a visual presence that entices potential customers to want to learn more. While ideally tied in with other advertising approaches, signage essentially takes the individual to your store or business location and leads him or her to the product. It's a direction that, when expressed with clarity, defines a brand on a larger scale.
Vehicle wraps and billboards, often present in metropolitan and other high-traffic areas, result in a high number of visual impressions. Printed on vinyl or a perforated window film, a vehicle graphic is installed onto a bus, car, or similar transportation, and as it goes around town, thousands of potential customers, which turn into millions over time, notice your message. Because commuters frequently view vehicle graphics and billboards, this method of branding goes right toward your target age demographic.
Printing services not only assist with large-scale advertising campaigns but also are necessary for any smaller documents. At a tradeshow, for instance, potential customers and clients may notice your booth and walk over to request more information. Do you have it? Brochures and booklets condense your company's message and services, becoming the substance behind your brand. Any customers, in this instance, now recognize you visually and are well-informed of your offerings and mission.
Direct mail is another small-scale approach to reaching potential customers. Printing services, in this regards, can assist with getting your message to all demographics. Through variable data, printing a set of direct mail postcards is not uniform; rather, graphics and messaging on one type of document can change to address all possible customers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6854321

Branding Mistakes Related to Business Cards

by: Gayle Hawks

Everyone knows that if you own a business or provide some type of service you need to have a business card. Business cards are a means of marketing your company and telling a prospective client who and what you are – and what you do. But what exactly do you need to have on your business card?

Most people think that the standard items listed on a business card include:

The name of the company

Your title

Your address

Your other contact information such as e-mail address, telephone, etc.

Your services or specialties

But which of these items really need to be there? Let's look at them one at a time.

The name of the company – unless it is a big corporation with a brand name that will ensure that you get inside the door, the company name is not absolutely essential. Instead you can use something like "Make an Impression Using My Limo Services" if you are a limousine driver and want to increase your customer base. People will know that you have a limousine service so they don't need to know that the name of the company is ABC Services because it doesn't mean anything.

Your title – if your title really means something like an Engineering Consultant, then it's important to the services you provide. But if your title is Vice President of the B Team that doesn't really mean anything.

Your address – this is important because it confirms that you are a legitimate business. Many people who work from home do not like to put their address on their business card, but you need to have some address like a post office box so that people will have confidence that you are a legitimate business.

Your other contact information – this is vital and probably the most important part of the business card because it is the way that people can contact you. After all – that is the whole point of providing a business card.

Your services or products – most people will not take the time to read a list of services or products. For one thing – those products or services may change over time and consequently your list will be obsolete.

Keep the business card simple with pertinent information that is essential to new business. Also, don't be afraid to create several different business card versions - keeping in mind the different types of uses and circumstances where they will come in handy for marketing your company. A simple card may be best in certain situations, but a full fledged, information packed card that uses the front and back of your business card may be the best thing to give out in other circumstances.