The Benefits Of Being Able To Print Postage At Home
The United States Postal Service or USPS has listened to its customers and realized the need for more convenience in postage. Giving people the option to print postage in their own home has led to a booming market for online postage companies. Besides the USPS website, there are many other authorized companies that sell online postage. Giving people the ability to print postage from their own computer has really revolutionized the world of postage.The USPS is the best known place for getting postage. In the high tech world we live in where everyone is online and every business has a website, the USPS has capitalized on this to start something new in postage. Online postage is where a customer can buy and print postage from their own computer. This eliminates the need to go to the post office or store to buy stamps. It is simple enough that anyone can do it and requires only a computer and printer - no special equipment.Before the USPS offered the ability to print postage from online sources the only way to print postage was through a postage meter. These meters were like a scale and printer combined. Mostly for use in businesses, meters weigh the mail and then print a postage label. These meters are still available, but usually only used by businesses due to the cost of having one. If a person does not use a certain amount of postage the rental fees can be too needless of a cost. With online postage a person only prints what they need without

Are You Wasting Your Money? Check Your Junk Drawer for Promotional Merchandise Insights
All of us have received promotional items at some point in our lives. Promotional merchandise includes "give away" items that businesses gift their customers and/or prospective clients. These items will have a business logo and contact information printed on them.As small business owners, most of us realize how important giving away promo items can be for our long-term advertising campaigns. The problem is knowing what to give.From imprinted ballpoint pens that you can buy in bulk for less than fifty cents each to old world style globes with fancy brass stands imprinted with your company information, there is promotional merchandise to fit into just about any business budget. Personally, I feel that the usability of a promotional item is much more important than the cost.If it is something that your client will never use or look at, the promotional item is probably a waste of money. What you want is something that will continually remind your customer or prospect of your business. Before spending a cent, there's a good way to figure out if you will be flushing money down the drain with your promotions: Check your junk drawer.I personally do not know anyone who does not have a "junk drawer" – that depository of stuff that you don't quite feel right about throwing away because it was either a gift or it might be useful sometime in the future. I actually have two junk drawers: One is full of rubber bands, twist-its, straws, a collec

Is ISO 9001 Registration For My Organization?
Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO 9001 2000 registration for your organization.Is the number of registrations in your market sector increasing?Are your competitors seeking registration?Are your customers asking about registration?Are registrations increasing in your industry?Are your customers asking you to become registered?Have your group HQ asked you to gain registration?Do you want to reap the financial benefits of registration?Have the number of customer or consumer complaints increased?Do preventable errors keep occur again and again in your business?It is not possible to state exactly what benefits will your organization will gain by having a formal quality system, primarily because each organization is different. However, I think it is fair to say that most organisations will benefit from having a formalized Quality Management system where:Work proceeds in an orderly and predictable way.The same old preventable errors stop occurring.Customer and consumer complaints fall dramatically.Your Management System improves.Internal communication within your organization improves.Returned product from customers reduces week on week.The quality of your product and or service improves.The level of customer and employee satisfaction improves.Your organization produces quality data to improve your business. and growth. A clearly defined and easily recognized identity has, in fact, become a critical success factor in today’s highly competitive business environment.

Just to lay some “groundwork”, here are ten reasons why doing so can have a strategically important effect on your bottom line.

• It’s easier to know who you are, which means:
• It’s easier to know what you do. (Helps develop goals)
• It’s easier to know how to do it. (Helps with implementation)
• Less energy is expended overall. (Creates efficiency in communications)
• Team building occurs naturally when staff can identify with a common symbol, common language and therefore common goals. (Sports uniforms are a good example. Every player feels like a part of the group.)
• You can match your image to your clients needs or view of his business. (A simple matter of “give’em what they want.”)
• With a clearly defined identity you communicate more efficiently with your customers, and they remember you more easily. (Memorability is easier when everybody clearly knows who you are.)
• Enhancements in the overall quality of your product or service. (Consistency always counts.)
• Benefits and unique qualities of your business are communicated more clearly to your clients thereby increasing sales. (Marketing tool)
• Helps set identifiable standards of quality in your product or service. Helps with a sense of reliability by developing a “brand identity.” (Brand names are trusted.)

So, what is a brand anyway?

As we begin the process of making recommendations for developing a brand identity let’s talk about what we really mean by “brand.” What is it, why does it work, how does it work and who makes it work.

Philip Durbrow, vice chairman of the international design firm of Frankfurt Balkind Partners, recalls, "When I first started working in branding, it became obvious that there were no clear universal definitions of key words like marketing, strategy, identity, image and brand. I've developed specific definitions so that we are clear on what we are talking about. Fuzzy words yield fuzzy thinking and fuzzy brands."

Some Definitions
There is very little consistency in people's understanding, or usage, of brand terminology. For clarity, we offer the following definitions:

A Product: is something that is produced to function and exists in reality.

A Brand: has meaning beyond functionality and exists in peoples minds.

Product Quality: has major influence on Brand Qualities.

Brand Qualities: are the thoughts, feelings, associations and expectations created by a Brand Identity.

Brand Identity: is the way in which a brand is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding: is viewing every customer related activity as part of the branding process and managing it accordingly. Everything a company does that affects its customer, affects the value of its brand.

Marketing: means making it easy and motivating people to buy your product—through product design, pricing, packa

• You can match your image to your clients needs or view of his business. (A simple matter of “give’em what they want.”)
• With a clearly defined identity you communicate more efficiently with your customers, and they remember you more easily. (Memorability is easier when everybody clearly knows who you are.)
• Enhancements in the overall quality of your product or service. (Consistency always counts.)
• Benefits and unique qualities of your business are communicated more clearly to your clients thereby increasing sales. (Marketing tool)
• Helps set identifiable standards of quality in your product or service. Helps with a sense of reliability by developing a “brand identity.” (Brand names are trusted.)

So, what is a brand anyway?

As we begin the process of making recommendations for developing a brand identity let’s talk about what we really mean by “brand.” What is it, why does it work, how does it work and who makes it work.

Philip Durbrow, vice chairman of the international design firm of Frankfurt Balkind Partners, recalls, "When I first started working in branding, it became obvious that there were no clear universal definitions of key words like marketing, strategy, identity, image and brand. I've developed specific definitions so that we are clear on what we are talking about. Fuzzy words yield fuzzy thinking and fuzzy brands."

Some Definitions
There is very little consistency in people's understanding, or usage, of brand terminology. For clarity, we offer the following definitions:

A Product: is something that is produced to function and exists in reality.

A Brand: has meaning beyond functionality and exists in peoples minds.

Product Quality: has major influence on Brand Qualities.

Brand Qualities: are the thoughts, feelings, associations and expectations created by a Brand Identity.

Brand Identity: is the way in which a brand is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding: is viewing every customer related activity as part of the branding process and managing it accordingly. Everything a company does that affects its customer, affects the value of its brand.

Marketing: means making it easy and motivating people to buy your product—through product design, pricing, packa

way?

As we begin the process of making recommendations for developing a brand identity let’s talk about what we really mean by “brand.” What is it, why does it work, how does it work and who makes it work.

Philip Durbrow, vice chairman of the international design firm of Frankfurt Balkind Partners, recalls, "When I first started working in branding, it became obvious that there were no clear universal definitions of key words like marketing, strategy, identity, image and brand. I've developed specific definitions so that we are clear on what we are talking about. Fuzzy words yield fuzzy thinking and fuzzy brands."

Some Definitions
There is very little consistency in people's understanding, or usage, of brand terminology. For clarity, we offer the following definitions:

A Product: is something that is produced to function and exists in reality.

A Brand: has meaning beyond functionality and exists in peoples minds.

Product Quality: has major influence on Brand Qualities.

Brand Qualities: are the thoughts, feelings, associations and expectations created by a Brand Identity.

Brand Identity: is the way in which a brand is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding: is viewing every customer related activity as part of the branding process and managing it accordingly. Everything a company does that affects its customer, affects the value of its brand.

Marketing: means making it easy and motivating people to buy your product—through product design, pricing, packa

fer the following definitions:

A Product: is something that is produced to function and exists in reality.

A Brand: has meaning beyond functionality and exists in peoples minds.

Product Quality: has major influence on Brand Qualities.

Brand Qualities: are the thoughts, feelings, associations and expectations created by a Brand Identity.

Brand Identity: is the way in which a brand is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding: is viewing every customer related activity as part of the branding process and managing it accordingly. Everything a company does that affects its customer, affects the value of its brand.

Marketing: means making it easy and motivating people to buy your product—through product design, pricing, packaging, distribution, advertising, etc.

Brand Marketing: is pushing beyond product benefits to fulfill a strategic core promise. It means looking past the tangible to the intangible, accommodating buyers' practical needs while resonating with their deeper feelings.

Brand Strategy: means deciding which brands are going to be used to deliver which products and services to which customers. (This may involve usage of global brands, umbrella brands, megabrands, subbrands, flanker brands, brand extensions and brand families.)

Brand Equity: is the present value of the future combined purchases that are a result of the preference created, or the premium paid, for a brand's products.

Why do we want a brand?

All brands start by speaking to the needs and aspirations of an audience. The aspiration is the brand identity: that's a projection of how the brand wishes to be perceived by its target audience (as opposed to the brand image, which is the way the brand is, currently perceived).

Knowledge and appreciation of this core concept will allow the steward of the brand to develop the mission, build and nurture the market, maintain the brand philosophy, strategy, overall look and feel of the brand and, of course, the logo. What is the audience going to be satisfied with or disappointed by with the message coming from the brand? What is going to help build a strong brand identity (what would weaken it)? How can the aspirations for the brand identity be reached?

Who's Minding the Store?

The brand steward, usually senior executive from the parent company, must protect and cultivate the immutable core of the brand (about 50%) in order to ensure that the brand remains strong. The steward manages the part of the brand that must remain fluid (the remaining 50%) in order to keep the brand relevant and exciting. Typically we see a freshness and evolution in the brand's advertising and packaging, that's the part of the brand that is constantly evolving. The steward is responsible for overseeing the advertising agency's efforts to promote the brand, to develop brand segmentation internally (that is, the sub-brands) and to direct the packaging of branded products. The overall responsibility of the brand steward is to keep the brand on course and profitable.

Companies that have broad, strong brand recognition can diversify through their sub-brands more than narrowly focused companies. For instance, Brit Richard Branson, a courageous babyboomer, started his first business in 1968 at the age of sixteen and has cultivated companies in the entertainment area ever since under the umbrella, Virgin Group (www.virgin.com). First came Virgin Records. Ten years later Branson branched out to form Virgin Atlantic Airways, then a year later added Virgin Holidays. Two years after that Virgin expanded to include Virgin Airship & Balloon Company, Virgin Publishing and Virgin Hotels, among others. Branson, a highly visible and consistently strong leader, is the very essence of pioneer spirit and innovation. Consumers 'get' virgi