If you’re a small-business owner, creating a distinct brand image for your product or service is essential – and can be accomplished through some very simple methods. Karen Post, author of “Brand Turnaround,” offers tips for small businesses looking to create a memorable, impactful brand or image:

Start with a game plan – Ask yourself, how do you want people or customers to think about you or your business? Consider what your story is and what makes your product, service and company unique. Is your persona sophisticated and established, trendy and progressive, or creative and fun?

Make your marketing consistent – Keeping a consistent message across all your marketing materials and efforts can help customers remember your brand. Cross media consistency is key – from printed materials to website and online image — to reinforce the personality of your company.

Make it yours – Distinction cuts through clutter. Consistently communicate what’s unique about your brand and company. Whether you are at a networking event with business cards, using brochures and flyers to advertise or targeting prospects through postcards, Staples makes it easy to get a similar look and feel with professional design capabilities and print experts.

Audit your brand “touch points” – How does your marketing message come in contact with – or touch – your customers? Many small businesses reach customers through postcards, flyers, letterhead, banners, brochures and other marketing materials. Staples Copy & Print, for example, offers a full range of products and services that help businesses get their printing done quickly and easily, whenever and wherever it’s convenient for them.

While online marketing efforts like social media and search engine optimization can be effective tools for reaching customers, don’t overlook the continued importance of traditional branding tools. Printed materials such as postcards, letterhead and business cards continue to be a prime way for small businesses to communicate with current, new and potential customers and offer that lasting brand impression.

Digital printing technology has made it easier than ever to customize this type of material and get what you need quickly. Gone are the days when a small business would have to wait weeks for new business cards. Now, thanks to services like Staples Copy & Print, you can get customized marketing materials – including flyers, brochures and more – in less than a week. Simple items such as business cards can even be done in a matter of hours and picked up in store the same day.

Online services offer customization; however the professionals at Staples can provide guidance and expertise in customizing your marketing materials. Professional design capabilities mean you can leave all the technical work of creating print products to the experts. Or, if it’s more convenient, you can order products online and pick them up in your local store.

Creating and conveying a unique brand message is an important aspect of a small business’ overall marketing efforts. Fortunately, a combination of modern technology and traditional tools can make it easy for small businesses to communicate their branding message to current and potential customers.

A recent nationwide survey I conducted revealed that 78-percent of young adults between 21 and 25, known as Millennials, preferred to have an experience where personal engagement played a more prominent role. Instead of standing in line and receiving free samples, Millennials prefer the opportunity to ask questions and receive a coherent explanation about the product from a knowledgeable representative where an actual face-to-face conversation about the product or a demonstration takes place.

In the survey, Millennials stated that they think more of companies that take the time to discuss a product or service in person and they are more likely persuaded towards trial and discussion. Most importantly, after this engagement most Millennials would actually refer a friend to try the product after a good consumer engagement and promotional experience.

One of the most sought after things Millennials are seeking in consumer engagements are knowledge and information about a product and the company behind it. Essentially, it comes down to a personalized engagement where a product representative takes an interest and is able to offer knowledgeable information on their product, the competitor’s products and answer other various questions that may arise. This will help ensure a more memorable and successful consumer engagement.

Personal Engagement Creates Credibility and Trust

This type of engagement is important and valued among Millennials because, by definition, they are still young and learning. When a Millennial is engaged in a face-to-face conversation with a product representative who takes the time to teach them about the product, the educational process lends a significant amount of credibility for the company. This credibility translates into consumer trust, which means the Millennial is much more likely to try that product and stay loyal to it. Additionally, after learning about the product, the Millennial can speak more intelligently about it to their friends – an added bonus.

As a result, Millennials will think more highly of companies that take the time to demonstrate and discuss products, show how they work or why they are better than competitors during a marketing promotion or consumer engagement. For the marketers that are taking the time in consumer engagements to talk with Millennials to elaborate and demonstrate why their products are better, faster, safer, smarter, or tastier than competitor products, all while making it engaging and fun, the odds increase significantly that more trial, discussion and potential conversion will occur.

Finally, the survey also revealed that consumer engagement “experience” could lead to not only trial and consideration, but also increased loyalty and word of mouth promotion by Millennial consumers. It is not just about having a product representative at the promotion or activity, it is about what that company representative and the engagement have to offer in the way of conversation, knowledge and what is different, better, unique and centered on the consumer’s needs and wants.

Surprisingly in this age of Facebook and Twitter, the younger they are, the more they want face-to-face, informational engagements. Therefore, it can be discerned that if a company wants to attract younger people to its brand and build a longer relationship, that face-to-face engagement with knowledgeable people for the product must be part of any experiential and promotional campaign. Failure to include this can have a devastating effect on an organization’s long-term strategy. Unfortunately, most marketers are not getting the message and are missing out on a golden opportunity to help their clients create a long term relationship with a potential customer, which will in-turn lead to a long-term relationship with the client. In short, take the time to talk to the customer because the numbers do not lie. It is what they want.

About the Author:
Kevin Meany is the CMO of BFG Communications, based in Bluffton, South Carolina.

With a bit of creativity and a dash of marketing savvy, we can take the lessons of the comic book guys and gals, and put them to work for our own brands and marketing messages.

Do These Tights Make My Brand Look Big?
Any self-respecting superhero has to have a great looking costume. Now, you can liken this to your product packaging, your website, your promotional materials…essentially anything that visually depicts either your company or brand. Regardless of the form it takes, you want to be sure to take the time to craft yourself the proper costume. Take into consideration what market you are in, and how that market might be more receptive to certain colors, fonts, imagery, etc. Having the right look for the right market is as essential as having a superhero having the right costume to highlight his particular powers. For instance, what good is a cape to Aquaman?

Having a distinctive image — whether that be a big red and yellow “S”, or a little black bat insignia — plays a big part in your branding. This ties in nicely with your “costume.” It must play to your strengths, and serve as a singular image by which your customers can easily recognize you.

Select visual imagery that can grow with you and your business — something that will hold as much significance for your brand today as it will 10 years from now. It is much more difficult to change these things after you are established than to take the extra time to conceive it right the first time around.

When you are putting together your line, establishing your web presence, stationery, or even a business card — you should be working within a consistent framework. Pick a color scheme, a font, a graphic, and use it consistently. We’ve all heard of the “rule of 7” in advertising — think how much easier it will be to close that sale if during each of those seven times your prospect saw the same imagery.

Now, what about your super catch phrase? Not all the superheroes have them, but quite a few of the great ones do. Whether it is the Lone Ranger’s “Hi, ho Silver!“, or Buzz Lightyear’s(R) “To infinity, and beyond!” — having a great tag line leaves a lasting impression — long after you’ve flown, sailed, or rode away. Your own tagline doesn’t have to have super powers to be effective; but, it should be a compliment to, and a reinforcement of, your brand.

A helpful exercise to brainstorm for a tagline is to make a list of all of the products or services you offer. Next, list some descriptive terms to apply to your niche market. Are you using specific colors that could be employed in your tag line? If you get stuck, refer to a dictionary or thesaurus…try to come up with synonyms, rhyming words, etc. This process often leads to that “ah ha!” moment when the perfect tagline presents itself.

Without Gadgets, You’re Just a Creepy Dude in Tights
No self-respecting superhero would be caught without kick-butt gadgets. Without them, you’re just a creepy dude wearing tights. From Wonder Woman’s golden lasso, to Spiderman’s web to the Caped Crusader’s grapple gun, it is paramount to have the right tool for the job.

Your super-cool gear could include anything that helps you do your job more efficiently — but also those proprietary tips, products and lingo that are part of your day-to-day activities. By naming these tools and processes, you immediately claim them as your own, and lend them super-powers by association.

Does Super Branding Work for The Average Guy?
You bet it does. Recently I was reading an interesting news item in which a CEO noted that his company participated in many community events, and the company provided the employees with branded apparel (shirts, jackets, etc) to wear at these events. He noted that they gained a spike in business after each event — and in many cases, prospects specifically cited the logo wear as the impetus for making contact.

Now You’ve Got the Look – Are You Ready to Act?
Being a success in business is a lot like being a superhero. Superheroes, like business owners, have to willing to take action. They can’t be content to sit on the sidelines, and they don’t stand idly by waiting to see if someone else will swoop in and save the day. Both the business owner, and the superhero know that the time for action is now…and that you have to look within yourself to find the determination to succeed.

Action wins wars, sells products, and gets the girl. It’s as simple as that. How many times have you read the success stories of bootstrap entrepreneurs that have gone on to create empires from nothing? And, how many times have you asked yourself afterward, “what does he have that I don’t?”

Action can be the most important gadget in the superhero arsenal. And, it can be your most trusted tool as a business owner. Fortune favors the bold. That doesn’t mean you should be reckless, mind you. It only means that there is a time to plan, and a time to prepare.

There is also a time to fling off the Clark Kent glasses, rip open your shirt and display that Superman suit underneath. Grab your courage, your cape, and go for it.

Special Thanks to Luke Smarto for the awesome caricature of my own superhero character, the Promo Diva®.

About the Author:
Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is a business consultant and coach that specializes in the unique marketing and promotional needs of small businesses, authors and startups. Drawing on over twenty years of Fortune 500 experience in the fields of marketing research and promotion, Traci’s blog, Propabranda, utilizes pop culture and trends to illustrate business concepts and principles, and blends helpful tips and resources with a healthy dose of humor. Traci is the founder and publisher of Everything Small Business Journal. To connect with Traci, visit her on Facebook or Twitter.

The phrase “personal brand” has become increasingly more important in our lexicon.

Even as personal brand awareness has become more mainstream, the phrase still holds a certain amount of mystery for most people. We’re all accustomed to hearing about corporate brands — but branding oneself can often be a daunting task.

In working with clients to develop their brand strategy, I hear the same questions asked time and time again:

• Do I really need a personal brand?
• What do I use to define my brand?
• Is this going to cost me a fortune?
• Is this going to be difficult to upkeep?

Let’s tackle these one a time.

The answer to the first one is an emphatic yes. If you plan to conduct any type of business on-line, you have to be willing to invest the time and energy to package yourself effectively. Branding yourself is a necessary activity in order to turn perceptions into profits.

We all know that consumers will conduct business with those whom they know, like and trust. The more effectively you can communicate your brand, the easier it will be for you to build that relationship with potential customers.

In most cases, you already possess the assets that you need in order to begin developing and refining your personal brand. You distinguish yourself with such things as your personality, work ethic, processes, tools, knowledge, and experience — and these factors help you to convey your uniqueness and competitive advantage.

How many times have you heard commercials that tout a company’s “proprietary process?” You can utilize this same concept in your personal brand. By developing your own terminology, procedures, and processes, you begin to differentiate yourself from the competition. Reinforce these differences with repetition — use them in your website, your marketing materials, your social media profiles, and your interactions with clients.

Branding doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are plenty of steps that you can take that won’t cost you anything except your time. Reformat and repackage tools and content that you already have, and leverage them to showcase your talents and your competitive advantage. Use tools such as articles, white papers, audios, videos, and testimonials to illustrate expertise and to offer social proof. The key to making these tools pay off is the manner in which you employ them…and I’ll get to that in just a moment.

Maintaining your personal brand isn’t a difficult process, but it will require a bit of time and discipline. First, be sure to keep your materials current. If you have a new podcast, get it out there and share it. Keep your social media profiles current — making sure to update not only the content, but also your photo. If you often appear at industry events, make sure you post your event or travel schedule. You may find that doing so will lead to opportunities to connect with members of your network that may be attending, or live nearby.

Now that we’ve addressed the biggest objections to getting started, let’s talk about five simple steps you can take today to begin building your personal brand:

Google Profile

Setting up a free Google profile is an excellent way to control information that appears in the Google search results. Your listing will often show up on the first page when your name is entered, and your supplied photo will also appear with the listing. Your listing can include such information as a bio, places you’ve lived, employers, and a list of your website links and social media profiles. It will take you about 15-20 minutes to set up your Google profile, depending upon how much information that you decide to share — but it will pay long term dividends. Take a look at author, speaker and marketing strategist David Meerman Scott’s profile here.

LinkedIn Profile

Recently, I took a LinedIn webinar from speaker, trainer and advisor Kevin Knebl. When Kevin speaks about LinkedIn, people listen. Not only does he have a huge LinkedIn network, but he has over 800 recommendations — more than ANY other user on the network. His 90-minute webinar is a distilled version of a much larger presentation that he gives to companies all over the country — and it will leave your head literally spinning with the possibilities. LinkedIn can not only help you make invaluable professional connections, but it can be used for competitive intelligence, job search, and lead generation as well. Among the nuggets shared in his dynamic presentation, Kevin urges users to fully complete their profiles, and list employment going all the way back to your college days.

Quora

As detailed on their website, “Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question.” This website offers you the ability to showcase your expertise with warm prospects who are expressly asking for the information you possess. As anyone who has ever cold-called can tell you, it doesn’t get any better than that, folks!

When you set up your profile at Quora, you’ll be asked to specify your areas of interest. This helps the site identify questions you are best suited for. As your network of connections grows, you can also expand your areas of expertise. When you log in, the site notes any relevant questions that you may be interested in, and also suggests that you provide questions for any of your new connections.

Quora is on my radar for a number of reasons. First, there’s the obvious one of being able to submit questions and having them answered by experts. Second, it enables users to showcase their knowledge and potentially gain new business. Quora can also be used for content generation purposes — both on the question and answer side of the equation. Looking for a topic for your next blog post? Head over to Quora and check out some of the most recently-asked questions. Better yet, ask one!

Do you see a pattern among the questions in a specific topic area? Use that knowledge to your advantage, and build a white paper or ebook around it. For those inclined to think much bigger, use Quora as a market research tool to help you develop content for your next book as well. For a great example of someone who’s using Quora well, check out author, consultant and speaker John Jantsch’s profile here.

Memorable URLs

I often hear folks say that all the best domain names are already taken. I respectfully disagree. When you are in the process of setting up your new website’s domains, there are plenty of elements you can utilize to help you generate a great name. Don’t limit yourself to thinking only of your business name — consider using a keyword-rich phrase that potential customers may be using to find you. Are you a plumber in Houston? If you’re Pickett Plumbing, you could go with the obvious, or you could leverage the local nature of your business and use HoustonPlumber.com. Their website reinforces this brand prominently in the header, and multiple places in their keyword-rich homepage.

You can pick up affordable, recently dropped domain names by subscribing to a newsletter like the one offered from Just Dropped. You can even perform a limited-response search right from their home page. If you are a site developer, it might be cost-effective to purchase an annual membership to a site such as Deleted Domains.

Branded Social Media Hub

A branded social media hub is a central location where browsers can gain immediate information about you, your business, experience, expertise and presence on the social networks. Think of it as a bit of a cross between an on-line resume and a media room — it’s a place where you can show off your design portfolio, link folks to your book on Amazon, provide information about your background, offer copies of your white paper for download, share links to your audios from CinchCast or iTunes, and samples of guest posts you’ve done.

When you set up your social media hub, you’ll want to have an easy to remember URL that you can then use to cross-promote across your other sites, as well as your social media profiles. It could be a keyword-rich domain that helps you to dominate your niche, or it can be something as simple as ConnectWithTraci.com. Regardless of what you choose, the content that resides on that domain is what’s most important.

The concept of developing your personal brand may be one you’ve relegated to the back burner for awhile, but I hope that you won’t leave it there. Gather your text and URLs ahead of time, and put them into a single Notepad or text file for easy cutting and pasting. Collect any images you want to showcase, and drop them onto your desktop. The time you take to do these two steps beforehand will significantly increase your efficiency in setting up these profiles.

With a small time investment and a bit of creativity, you could be well on your way to developing the brand you call “you” in 2011.

About the Author:
Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is a business consultant and coach that specializes in the unique marketing and promotional needs of small businesses, authors and startups. Drawing on over twenty years of Fortune 500 experience in the fields of marketing research and promotion, Traci’s blog, Propabranda, utilizes pop culture and trends to illustrate business concepts and principles, and blends helpful tips and resources with a healthy dose of humor. Traci is the founder and publisher of Everything Small Business Journal. To connect with Traci, visit her on Facebook or Twitter.

“No one likes to stare at bare walls all day,” said Adrian Salamunovic, CanvasPop co-founder. “However, instead of buying the same old mass-produced art, why not take the opportunity to apply your corporate brand to the walls with style and creativity?”

With ten different filter effects to select from — several of which will allow those with lower-resolution images to take advantage of the service — users will easily find a style to reflect their taste. Certainly, the service works best with higher-resolution images (the site notes 150 dpi as a starting point). The site offers a live help feature, and even notes they will scan your image for you if need be.

CanvasPop’s short-run process makes it affordable and easy to create branded artwork that could include product photography, versions of print ads, or even your company logo. With sizes ranging from 8″ x 10″ all the way up to 24″ x 72″, many other ideas for this technology spring to mind:

• Trade show tabletop or booth signage
• Prints of media coverage (magazine features, local press, etc.)
• Special promotions and limited time offers
• Commemorate special events, company milestones or community involvement
• Offer as prizes for your fans in social media communities
• Sponsorship signage for events
• Encourage photo submissions from employees for display
• Include as free signage to your wholesale clients with qualifying order
• Authors – immortalize your book cover for launch events, signings, etc.
• Patent or Trademark certificates, etc.

Having worked in a corporate environment for many years, I wish that this service had been available back then. It would have been a welcome change to the dull wall treatments and motivational posters that typically adorned our hallways — many of which had seen their better days in the early 1960s.

I would have much rather seen us feature our own company innovations, along with those team members that made those innovations possible. That kind of goodwill-generating gesture would pay far more dividends than some of the lame “team-building” exercises they sent us to over the years.

Consider a bright, colorful triptych of your most popular products, fresh off the cover of your newest catalog. Or, perhaps you feature one of your largest clients, for whom you just created a multi-million dollar innovation. What might imagery like that do for your lobby, conference room or break room…not to mention the individuals that gather there?

CanvasPop has developed corporate art for such notable names as Absolut Vodka, SpikeTV, Red Bull, and Zappos. Even the New York Museum of Modern Art uses CanvasPop’s state-of-the-art printing services.

With technology advances like CanvasPop at your disposal, there is no excuse not to add another dimension to your branding activities. Have you tried out their service? I’d love to hear from you — or better yet, share a photo of your branded art with us!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Perhaps your business is suffering from an identity crisis – struggling to capture the attention of your target audience. By employing a simple psychological technique, you can begin to burn a lasting impression into the minds of your prospects and visitors.

It’s not mind control — the answer is imagery.

The use of imagery is a powerful psychological technique that has been used across a myriad of industries; in fact, you’ve no doubt been influenced by imagery many times as a consumer and never realized it.

Employing Imagery to Improve Brand Recognition
One of the tenets of a successful business is having strong brand equity. If a potential customer cannot remember your name, brand or product within moments of leaving your website, your chances for converting them into a customer are significantly diminished.

As human beings, we have photographic memories. This skill has been hard-wired into our genetic make-up long before words and written language were even conceived. Our ability to recall an image and associate it with a particular subject or event is far greater than our capacity for remembering simple text alone.

If you want a visitor to remember your business name, products and principles – give them an image that defines your business. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished:

• A memorable logo or tagline
• Images that educate
• Images that evoke emotion
• Images that demonstrate benefits
• Imagery that tells a story

Serving up text alone will render your message forgettable – pair the same message with imagery, and the pictures will subconsciously trigger the brain to recall the textual content that was present alongside the displayed imagery.

Burning Your Brand into their Consciousness
We have a massive capacity for picture recollection, and nearly all pictures trigger a memory. Knowing this, we should strive for a cohesive image that will reinforce our brand with consistent color, logo, tagline and images.

For example, if you want a child to remember the word “dog,” show them a picture of a dog and every time they see that picture they will repeat the word ‘dog’. This same memory technique is even more powerful with adults.

Your logo is the print embodiment of your brand, and it will be immediately associated with it. Slogans may be catchy, but a logo is memorable. People may be able to remember a slogan, but they are not likely to recall where they read it and what it represents.

Of course, this principle is not relegated simply to logos. Imagery can be interspersed into textual content to trigger positive emotional responses. Images that represent happy memories or feelings can subconsciously influence consumer opinion. For someone promoting children’s toys, powerful imagery would constitute images of happy children – for a business offering stress reduction services, they might opt for imagery that features a waterfall, or a tranquil sunset.

Best Practices

• Select an easy-to-read font for your logo, tagline, web headers, etc.

• Avoid falling prey to selecting fonts that will portray your business in a less-than professional manner.

• Select a color scheme that relates well to your business niche. Do you offer environmental products? If so, consider selecting nature-inspired colors for your color scheme.

• When designing your web pages, be sure to pair colors that will be both pleasing to the eye, and easy-to-read.

• Don’t panic if you don’t have a logo. There are many affordable services available on the net, including several do-it-yourself formats. For the true do-it-yourselfers, consider adapting stock art or clipart to create your logo. Just be sure that you familiarize yourself with the usage rights before you create your masterpiece.

• Choose a name that reflects your business. If you need inspiration, make a list of the key descriptive terms for your business, and then look those words up in a dictionary or thesaurus.

• Creative = Memorable. A great example of this is Three Dog Bakery®. TDB’s website immediately conveys a sense that the company cares about pets. The principals of the company share their story about their dogs on the website; this makes them instantly relatable as people. Clever plays on words, like their “dogalog,” are sure to strike a chord with avid pet owners, and that is precisely what they should do. From the lively color scheme to the whimsical graphic images, this is a site you’ll remember long after you’ve cleared your browsing history.

Remember, a consumer must be presented with your advertising message on the average of seven times before making a purchasing decision. Don’t dilute the value of your brand by being inconsistent. Instead, reinforce your image with every contact. Consistency pays dividends.

The subconscious triggers work in two ways: first, they will immediately influence our emotions and second, they possess the power to remain ingrained in our memory. If we were to happen across these same images in the future, we are likely to associate them with the business where they first saw them, as well as the context in which they were offered.

You probably cannot recall the first line of the last book you read; however, I’d venture to say you can recall the cover color and any photo or illustration it featured. Now, as you begin to focus on that cover, you’ll notice that more details about the book will come to you. This is a perfect example of the psychological triggers at work.

Employing this knowledge will not only prevent your business from facing its own identity crisis, but it will enable you to begin the process of burning your brand into the subconscious mind of your potential customers.

About the Author:
Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is a business consultant and coach that specializes in the unique marketing and promotional needs of small businesses, authors and startups. Drawing on over twenty years of Fortune 500 experience in the fields of marketing research and promotion, Traci’s blog utilizes pop culture and trends to illustrate business concepts and principles, and blends helpful tips and resources with a healthy dose of humor. Traci is the founder and publisher of Everything Small Business Journal. To connect with Traci, visit her on Facebook or Twitter.

“Our Lips Are Sealed” is a song written by Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin and Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall.

Discover a 4-Step Process

Luckily, I’ve got a 4-step process to share with you that will enable you to develop and implement your own reputation management strategy — and I’ll be sharing it in a free teleseminar on Thursday, August 12th at 7PM EST.

I hope you’ll join me for this light-hearted, information-packed hour full of actionable tips and resources.

How to Attend

Please register for the event at this link, and I’ll rush you the call details. Can’t make the call? Register anyway, as that is the only way you’ll be able to receive the replay audio file.

A record number of people across the nation are unemployed and looking for work.

Career development professionals are creating new strategies to help clients increase the chances of getting noticed among the throngs of job applicants vying for positions. One such professional is Martha Schottelkotte, director of career services at Brown Mackie College – Cincinnati. She guides students and graduates regularly as they create resumes and seek employment to begin new careers.

Schottelkotte introduces students to the concept of personal branding. Branding is a term borrowed from marketing, where brand names are carefully managed. In marketing, a brand is an intangible collection of perceptions in the consumer’s mind about a product or service. A brand name helps to raise awareness and build trust in a crowded, competitive marketplace. Personal branding is the process of distinguishing the essence of an individual’s relevant career attributes and communicating them consistently throughout the resume and interview.

“We begin work on personal branding by looking at brand icons that we all know, like the McDonald’s arches,” Schottelkotte says. “The icon represents the business and how they want to be perceived.” The same principle works for individuals. The resume becomes a personal marketing tool to communicate core attributes, not just as a medical assistant or paralegal, but also as a human being. “For a truly effective resume, you must know who you are and what you stand for,” she says.

To this end, she next asks students to develop a personal statement of philosophy. Schottelkotte shares the one she wrote for herself with students as an example to guide them in writing their own. “So many resumes out there are overblown, copied, or misrepresentative of the person applying,” she says.

“Writing a personal statement of philosophy helps students crystallize who they are and how they want to be perceived by the world. It gives them a launching pad for how they can effectively and authentically market themselves.”

In developing the statements, key words come up for each student as they describe themselves. When they distill their life views into five or six key words – such as integrity, enthusiasm, accountability, or reliability – students can develop a greater understanding of themselves and what drives them as a professional. “It truly helps them to focus on themselves, and personalize the content in a resume,” says Schottelkotte. “It’s not just about where you worked and what tasks you did. It’s about your range of skills, what you have accomplished, and how you accomplished it. It comes down to who you are at your core, and translates to what you bring to your work and your employer.”

As students read their personal statements of philosophy aloud in class, Schottelkotte says, “There’s always hugging, and sometimes tears, as they see each other in a new light. It reminds people to be conscious of other people’s stories.” In an interview, they can weave attributes from their personal philosophy into the conversation.

“The dominant interview questions are behavioral,” Schottelkotte continues. “What you’ve overcome, how you would take action in a given situation. Students get a heightened sense of confidence when they’re able to respond to interview questions in a more authentic way. They’re no longer as anxious going into an interview.”

Recent college graduates and experienced professionals alike can benefit from personal branding during a job search. The discipline and soul-searching required to develop a personal statement of philosophy seems to be well worth the effort. It results in greater understanding of self and heightened authenticity in professional endeavors.

- Courtesy of ARA

Due to widespread concern about negative customer reviews on Yelp, Propadoo.com is offering a way for businesses to take control of their on-line reputation.

Testimonial & search engine marketing firm Propadoo.com announced today that it is providing 6 month full-featured accounts for free for any business that believes it has been has wronged by negative reviews on Yelp or other review services.

Propadoo.com enables businesses to leverage positive customer testimonials as an SEO (search engine optimization) tool as customers place the positive testimonials on the Propadoo site. Powered by this user-generated content, the Propadoo profile gets indexed by the search engines offsetting negative search results.

Propadoo not only provides the vehicle for customer testimonials to rank in search engines, it enables the positive testimonials to be found on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook as well. “Our platform is a simple way for companies to improve their search engine rankings and get positive buzz about their business in the social media environment” says Mueller.

“Manage your reputation before someone manages it for you” says Mueller. “Send any existing testimonials you’d like to promote to the search engines, Twitter & Facebook to mytestimonials@propadoo.com and we will set up your free account. Please include a link to the ’review in question’ to qualify for the free account.”

About Propadoo
Propadoo.com turns customer testimonials into a powerful SEO tool making it easy for businesses to collect, manage and promote customer testimonials to your website, the search engines, and social networking sites.

In the world of web 2.0 and beyond, perception is reality.

It goes far beyond the “court of public opinion;” in fact, those who fail to harness and utilize the tools that are readily available quite often fall victim to the same. Your brand and your reputation in the market are your most valuable assets — take the time to invest in protecting and nurturing those assets.

A Few Examples of What NOT to Do
Out of frustration with Paypal, users created a website documenting just how many times the service has screwed them over. From high transaction fees to questionable dealings, everything that bugs people about Paypal is documented on a website that ranks relatively high on a Google search. There are anecdotes, in-depth recordings with customer service, and an archive of bad dealings that runs several pages long.

Paypal’s response: very little. In an era when responding to online attacks is a simple as typing out a blog post, one of the largest online companies decided to do absolutely nothing to control their brand. There’s no post on the company website documenting why the website is wrong, no response to major bloggers explaining why mistakes sometimes happen; there’s just absolutely nothing.

Another recent example involves the Facebook fan page of chocolatier and food behemoth Nestle. What started as a reminder to fans not to use Nestle’s trademarked logo in their avatars quickly escalated into a heated debate between the fans and an unknown Nestle representative — with the latter posting snide remarks that would make most social media users cringe. The resulting fallout — several anti-Nestle fan pages have sprung up to discuss this, as well as the debate regarding the use of palm oil and the destruction of the rainforest.

As the voice of consumers becomes even greater, companies are going to need to respond directly to these types of allegations and accusations, no matter how unfounded or ridiculous. Unlike Paypal’s silence strategy, or Nestle’s snarky social representative, there are many ways to tackle these problems head on. Here are four solutions to make sure your brand does not end up the target of endless negative discussion:

#1: Create your own online presence.
It could be a blog, a Twitter account, or any other type of online zone. No matter what, it needs to be relatively interactive, and it needs to be easy for people to find. The greatest move online PR has made is the rapid shift towards the open model. Ten years ago, you needed to move through a communications agency to reach key industry players. Now it’s as simple as reading through their blog. Add an online profile for your brand, no matter how basic, and make it easy for people to contact you through it.

#2: Own your name.
No, not just trademarks (although those are important) but domain names and search results. Search engines are a massively popular way to sort through information and search for discussion on our favorite brands, and without your own presence there it’s easy to find other people controlling your brand for you. Register any domains that could be used to hurt your brand, and create a company blog that pushes you to the top of the search engines. When people search for your brand, they should get you directly, not a third-party website.

#3: Be active.
Got Twitter? Get it. Got Facebook? Get it. The energy you invest into them will be paid back through the control that you have over your marketing efforts. When you do not have your own platform to respond with, other people can brand you against your will. Invest in the small amount of time it takes to keep customers and clients updated by using some simple social media services to get your name out there. And when it comes to your interactions — be approachable, be genuine and be interesting.

#4: Support your community.
There’s a community for everything, even if it’s Russian doll collectors. No matter what your niche or specialization is, you’ve got an audience out there and it’s up to you to control their discussion. By taking an active part in promoting your brand online, you create a community and give yourself a platform for your own voice. Online branding is all about controlling the channel of discussion, and by putting your voice out there you can flavor the discussion of your community.

About the Author:
Traci Hayner Vanover is an author, publisher, consultant and publicist, with over 20 years experience in the fields of sales, market research and promotion. Traci’s work has been featured in national magazines, books, ebooks, and websites. She is the publisher of Everything Small Business Journal. When she’s not working on ESBJ, Traci works with private clients as a publicist, copywriter and consultant. Find out how Traci can help you position your brand and take advantage of social media by visiting her blog at http://promodiva.com.