They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To the savvy marketer, it could just as easily translate into thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars.

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 Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal. To connect with Traci, visit her on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s not often that the writing of a behavioral economist is thought-provoking and easy to read at the same time. But if you pick up Dan Ariely’s new book, The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home, you’ll find it’s like having a conversation with an old friend, a very wise old friend.

Ariely’s self-depreciating humor and enthusiasm for human eccentricities will help you identify ways to improve how you love, work, innovate and manage.

Some of the questions he answers:

• Why large bonuses can make executives less productive.
• How confusing directions can actually help us.
• Why revenge sometimes seems so important.
• Why there is such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy.

Ariely also uses some of the research presented in his first book, Predictably Irrational, one of the most popular books on a previous best seller list. It deals with biases and unwise decisions.

Through fascinating anecdotes, he shows the negative and positive effects irrationality can have. He focuses on what we do at work and in relationships, what really motivates us, and how unwise actions can become habits.

The author says this is a highly personal book. In the second part, he draws partly on his difficult experiences as a burn patient. While he includes plenty of research, his reflections make for a well-balanced read, whether you read it cover-to cover or one part at a time.

If you are interested in prescriptions about how to defy logic and improve how you love the one you’re with, or how to improve at work, Ariely has some advice for you.

The Apple iPad has sold millions of units in its first few months. But the Amazon Kindle reader was also doing well. It has big advantages for people who mainly want a reader.

Sales of the Kindle went up after the iPad came out. Amazon reduced the price of their standard model to $189, which may be one reason. They predict sales of 3.5 million Kindles this year.

Amazon says the iPad, at one and a half pounds, isn’t the best device for sustained reading. It weighs much more than the Kindle, which can be held in one hand like a paperback.

Kindle’s “electronic paper” screen works better in sunlight, and it can run for weeks on a single battery charge if the wireless is switched off.

New Kindle Makes its Debut
The new third-generation Kindle became available in September. It is even lighter and faster than the previous model. It has a sharper type image, longer battery life and twice the storage space. It can hold up to 3,500 books.

The new unit keeps the free service that uses AT&T’s wireless network to download a book in less than a minute and has no payments or contracts.

Though the new Kindle weighs just 8.7 ounces, and the body is 21 percent smaller, it has the same screen size. With wireless settings off, the battery lasts about one month.

The new Kindle is priced at $189 for the 3G model, and $139 for a unit that uses Wi-Fi for wireless connections. Amazon boasts a huge collection of books. It has 630,000 e-books.

Janelle Johnson refuses to get dressed for work.

“I take a shower the night before and then get up and work in sweatpants and socks. It’s more comfortable and besides, I don’t have to worry about impressing anyone,” she says.

Johnson, a legal customer service representative from Perry, Ia., is one of an increasing number of workers who spend at least part of their workweek from the comfort of their own home. In fact, one-in-five workers spend at least part of workweek working from home according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2003 “American Time Use Survey.” Johnson takes calls from a spare bedroom turned office two days each week, and the personal benefits are endless.

As fuel costs continue to punish daily commuters and more home buyers move to suburban areas to capitalize on low interest rates and affordable housing, telecommuting has emerged as an attractive alternative to the nine-to-five office grind. And as technology continues to flourish, what once was limited to the artistic and sales communities is quickly becoming an integral part of any workplace.

Johnson, who works for Des Monies, Ia.-based Arag North America, was able to download her company’s software to her home computer, which shows incoming calls on her screen.

“My phone doesn’t ring when a call comes in, it just pops up on my screen. So I have to watch my computer all day long,” she says.

Employment experts agree that at-home work has infiltrated nearly every industry and has created new opportunities – and challenges – for the modern employee. Getting your company keen on the idea might be the only obstacle, says Bill Redford, general manager of the Niagra Falls, N.Y.-based Independent Homeworkers’ Alliance.

“Some companies seem to be fighting it, but the truth is that employees are more satisfied,” says Redford, whose company helps at-home workers find jobs and learn how to run a successful business from home. Finding a manager who embraces the idea is an important first step, he says. “Make a written proposal outlining the times you’ll be working, what you’ll be doing, where and how you can be reached and your flexibility to come in for meetings,” he says.

Flexibility is what many telecommuters cherish about their jobs, but that doesn’t give you absolute freedom. Paul Edwards, co-author of “Working From Home” (Tarcher, 1999), says that creating your own hours is a benefit, but you need to create a functioning work environment that includes consistent hours and a dedicated space to work – or you’ll soon find your work life taking over your home life.

“When I came downstairs this morning, I left the newspaper and my breakfast upstairs,” he says. “If you have kids, I suggest making a rule: unless there’s blood it has to wait until you come out of your office.” Edwards stresses that not all people are comfortable being segregators of their work and home lives. In fact, a study he did for his book found that 55 percent of telecommuters were integrators and preferred blending the two.

“Whatever way is right for you is fine, but it’s still important to keep an organized office, have specific parts of the home that are your work area and try to keep some regular hours,” says Edwards.

Redford says that what time you work isn’t the major factor. “I’ve met people who work best between 9pm and 3am in their pajamas, and if that works for you, that’s what it’s all about,” he says. Redford says that to be an effective worker you must have an office where you can close the door and eschew personal obligations. “If the phone rings and it’s a personal call, call them back or let the answering machine pick it up.”

Before her legal call commence, Janelle Johnson takes the kids to daycare, turns off the television and puts all of her personal distractions away in order to create a respectable work environment for the customer on the other end of the phone. Paul Edwards says that eliminating these distractions is an important way to make working at home work for both you and the company.

Another important aspect in Edwards’s eyes is to understand why working at home is good for your company. Studies show telecommuting is cheaper for businesses and creates happier employees, but you’ve got to find out what your company needs.

“When people work two days at home, that frees their work computer and desk to share with another employee, which reduces general administration costs,” he says. Edwards also says that many people are more comfortable when they don’t have to deal with office politics, a major nuisance for most workers.

Many telecommuters treat their at-home workdays like any other, including getting showered and dressed.

Communication is key for telecommuters because there will be no hourly updates around the water cooler. Redford suggests remaining in constant contact via e-mail and Instant Messaging.

Both Edwards and Redford agree that many employees suffer from feelings of isolation when cut-off from the office scene. Janelle Johnson is not immune. “Sometimes I feel lonely, but you also have the perks of recent technology, e-mail and Instant Messenger, that can keep you in the office loop,” she says.

“Find a way to break up the solitude and have human contact. Talk on the phone, or if you’re close, scoot in for lunch to keep in touch and get the daily scoop,” says Redford.

About the Author:
Matthew M. F. Miller, author of “Maybe Baby: An Infertile Love Story” (HCI, 2008), is a syndicated fatherhood blogger.

- Courtesy CTW Features

As companies emerge from one of the steepest economic downturns in history, they understand the significant reach and importance of using social media to promote and rebuild their organizations. A new CareerBuilder survey reports that 35 percent of employers use social media to promote their company. One-quarter (25 percent) of these employers said they are using social media to connect with clients and find new business, while others are using it to recruit and research potential employees (21 percent), or strengthen their employment brands (13 percent). The survey was conducted among more than 2,500 employers between May 18 and June 3, 2010.

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset – their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes.

Businesses of all sizes and industries report using social media to promote their companies. Twenty-nine percent of organizations with 500 or fewer employees said they do so, followed by 38 percent of companies with 501 to 1,000 employees and 44 percent of companies with more than 1,000 workers. Comparing industries, leisure and hospitality topped those surveyed with 57 percent saying the use social media to promote their business, followed by IT, (48 percent), retail (43 percent) and sales (41 percent).

When it comes to managing social media strategy, 43 percent of employers report that their marketing department handles social media outreach, followed by public relations (26 percent) and human resources (19 percent). One-quarter (25 percent) of employers have 1-3 people communicating on behalf of their organization, while 7 percent report that 4-5 people handle the work. Eleven percent said that more than six people communicate for their company via social media. Fifty-seven percent said they didn’t know.

Workers report that they are turning to social media sites for more than connecting with friends. They’re also using social media to research companies and jobs. Workers who come across company pages on social media sites shared what they would most like to see, including:

• Job listings – 35 percent
• Q&A or fast facts about the organization – 26 percent
• Information about career paths within the organization – 23 percent
• Evidence that working at the company is fun – 16 percent
• Employee testimonials – 16 percent oPictures of company events – 12 percent
• Video of new products/services – 10 percent
• Company awards – 9 percent
• Research or studies that the company has conducted – 9 percent
• Videos of a day on the job – 8 percent

On the flip side, workers also shared the biggest turnoffs when encountering a company via social media, including the company’s communication reading like an ad (38 percent), failure to reply to questions (30 percent), failure to regularly post information (22 percent) and removing or filtering public comments (22 percent).

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,534 U.S. hiring managers and 4,498 U.S. workers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government); ages 18 and over between May 18 and June 3, 2010 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset of U.S. employers and/or employees, based on their responses to certain questions).

With a pure probability sample of 2,534 and 4,498 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.95 and +/-1.46 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

As a small business owner you may hire people as independent contractors or as employees.

There are rules that will help you determine how to classify the people you hire. This will affect how much you pay in taxes, whether you need to withhold from your workers paychecks and what tax documents you need to file.

Here are seven things every business owner should know about hiring people as independent contractors versus hiring them as employees.

The IRS uses three characteristics to determine the relationship between businesses and workers:

Behavioral Control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control how the work is done through instructions, training or other means.

Financial Control covers facts that show whether the business has a right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job.

Type of Relationship factor relates to how the workers and the business owner perceive their relationship.

If you have the right to control or direct not only what is to be done, but also how it is to be done, then your workers are most likely employees.

If you can direct or control only the result of the work done — and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result — then your workers are probably independent contractors.

Employers who inaccurately classify workers as independent contractors can end up with substantial tax bills. Additionally, they can face penalties for failing to pay employment taxes and for failing to file required tax forms.

Workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their proper status.

Both employers and workers can ask the IRS to make a determination on whether a specific individual is an independent contractor or an employee by filing a Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS.

You can learn more about the critical determination of a worker’s status as an Independent Contractor or Employee at IRS.gov by selecting the Small Business link.

It was 4:45 p.m. on a warm Friday afternoon in Traverse City, Michigan. The owner of Ferguson Lawn Supplies and Equipment, Ken Ferguson, and his son Chuck, were just about ready to close for the day. The phone rang and as Chuck answered it, he was greeted by a very desperate voice. It was Bob Jenkins, the general manager of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, one of their customers. The reason for his call to Ferguson Lawn Supplies and Equipment was that they had a very big problem. As Bob Jenkins explained, the Grand Hotel was getting ready for a very prestigious golf tournament that was scheduled to start the next morning. Their one and only Jacobson greens mower, the one that they used to trim the putting green on each hole of the course, had broken down. A few of the spring-loaded spreader fingers that actuated the pressure plate of the clutch assembly had been shattered. The golf course needed to have it repaired immediately, because the greens had to be mowed the next morning at 5:30 a.m.

In the extremely competitive business of lawn supplies and equipment, the Fergusons had a large area to cover. It included the upper half of the state of Michigan and the upper peninsula. Mackinaw City was 110 miles away, not including the ferry boat ride across the straits to the island. In addition to that, no motorized cars or trucks were allowed on the vacation island. It was going to take a minimum of four hours for them to reach the golf course via service truck. Chuck knew they needed to act fast if they were going to help solve this dilemma. After briefly conferring with his dad, Chuck asked Bob Jenkins if he could have the mower loaded onto a horse-drawn wagon and hauled over to the small airport that was located on Mackinac Island. The general manager answered yes, but asked Chuck to explain. Chuck replied that in an emergency like this, the Fergusons could use their family airplane to fly the repairman with the parts necessary to repair the mower.

After Chuck hung up the phone, he quickly called down to Larry, his top mechanic, to see if he would be willing to work a little overtime. Larry eagerly agreed. As an extra measure of service, they decided to pull out the back seat of the airplane and load up a brand new Jacobson greens mower to take along as a loaner. Chuck and Larry took off, and when they landed, they were greeted by a very worried Bob Jenkins. Chuck’s mechanic, impeccably dressed in his dark blue uniform, shining tool box in hand, went right to work on the disabled mower. It was repaired within 15 minutes. Bob was ecstatic. Then, in a grand gesture, Chuck and his mechanic unloaded the brand new Jacobson greens mower. They explained that they wanted to leave it as a backup (free of charge) just in case anything else went wrong with the repaired mower. They would pick up the loaner on the next service call. The general manager was more than satisfied. The next morning, the greens were mowed and the players commented on how beautiful the golf course looked. The prestigious golf tournament was a success. As it turns out, the brand new Jacobson greens mower never left the island. The general manager thought it would be a good idea to have a back- up mower just in case they ever needed it again.

The story doesn’t end there. A few months later, Ken Ferguson and his son attended the Annual Turf Grass Conference at Michigan State University. As they were sitting at their table finishing their dinner, one of their main competitors walked over and said, “Ken, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know how you keep the Grand Hotel golf course account. We’ve been calling on that place for years. We buy that general manager the best steaks, bring him the finest scotch, and we still can’t get any of his business! How do you do it?” Ken Ferguson looked up at him and replied “Uhh, I don’t know, it sounds like you’re doing everything right to me. I wouldn’t change a thing.” Through this lesson, the message is clear. By going the extra mile for our customers, by being there when they need us, we will keep them as loyal customers for a long, long time.

About the Author:
Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting Development & Training. He is a small business consultant, trainer, and author.

Over the past 27 years, he has worked with his clients and helped them to change their business paradigms. Tom shows small business owners how to “think outside the box,” tap the potential of their managers and employees, and take action to help make their businesses more profitable and successful.

He is author of two books, Making Service Count – Leveraging Customer Satisfaction to Make Your Small Business More Profitable and his second book, How to Keep a Positive Attitude in a Sometimes Negative World. His business articles have been published in over 47 countries and have appeared in local publications such as Crain’s Business, the Detroit Free Press.

Have you ever wondered if getting an MBA could help you start your own business? By pursuing an MBA, you learn a little of everything about running a business. Often entrepreneurs are so focused on one thing that they have blinders when it comes to certain areas of owning a business. Research has shown that the failure rate for small businesses started by MBAs is about 50% less than the standard failure rate. As part of my MBA degree, I have taken a variety of classes and now feel fully equipped to start my own business.

Here are ten benefits that an MBA can provide to an entrepreneur:

• An MBA increases your network. You will meet potential customers, business partners and friends that will last a lifetime. If you specialize in finance, you can find a marketing expert in your class and you can also get plugged into a network of alumni working at a wide range of companies around the country.

• An MBA provides you with the knowledge of marketing strategy that will help you understand your customers and competitors. This can give you an advantage over your competition and will enable you to better price, promote and distribute goods and services that will satisfy your customer’s needs.

• An MBA will help you learn how to find an unmet need in the market and determine viability of business concept by evaluating major risks through market research. Many schools even offer opportunities to present your idea to potential investors at Entrepreneur Challenge competitions.

• An MBA offers you the opportunity to become a better manager by learning how to manage different types of personalities and how to motivate your employees. Classes are offered in organizational behavior and human resource management with lessons on how to create a high performing workplace.

• An MBA teaches you how to write a business plan that will convince people to invest in your business idea.

• An MBA teaches you about the legal environment for a new business. It can help you effectively manage intellectual property and decide what business structure is best for your new business.

• An MBA challenges you to stay organized and learn how to multi-task. Going to grad school while starting a new business venture may be one of the hardest things you have ever had to do. You learn how to set a schedule, prioritize and meet deadlines. It is important to learn this in business school because your future customers will not be happy if they receive a product late.

• An MBA makes you a proficient user of accounting and finance information by giving you the skill of interpreting, understanding and using basic financial statements. You will also learn how to acquire venture capital and how to launch an IPO.

• An MBA allows you to ask questions and learn from guest speakers. Speakers at my school have included CEOs, entrepreneurs, executives and venture capitalists. Other perks of an MBA degree is a mentor program that offers one on one coaching and leadership development advice.

• Most importantly, an MBA helps you learn how to communicate effectively. A person may have a great business idea but if he or she is not able to get their message across, the great idea will go nowhere. Learn how to influence desired outcomes through presentations that are confident, well-delivered and sincere.

I hope this information has helped you see the benefits that an MBA can provide to an entrepreneur. It may be tough but I encourage you to take the leap because it can make a huge difference for the future of your business.

About the Author:
Classy Career Girl is a consultant by day and MBA student by night. She blogs about her journey through business school while working full time and loves to research and write about career advice, work-life balance and stress management. You can read more about her journey on her website http://www.classycareergirl.com.

Traditional public relations and what is generally referred to as online PR are definitely different animals. In general, traditional PR or media relations has to do with placing articles or segments in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. Unlike other forms of marketing such as advertising or direct marketing, PR is a story-based process. The objective is to pitch a compelling story to the media which meets the media’s needs but also garners coverage for you or your business.

When placing stories in the media, you want to highlight your product or service, but in order to be successful, you also want to educate, to enlighten and, if possible, entertain. Effective PR is not about fluff and hype. It is about pitching the media a strong story that educates, entertains, enlightens and it gives the readers, viewers or listeners information on a particular topic or field that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

Perhaps the most important aspect that differentiates public relations from other forms of marketing is that the stories go through the same scrutiny as other articles or segments that are featured in the news. They are vetted. There is verification (or at least there should be). There are editors and segment producers that assign and review stories before they run. This gives stories that appear in the media the validation and credibility of being the news. That gives them a trust value that a commercial or print ad can’t deliver. Most anyone with the money to pay for an ad can buy it. The phrasing and the copy is that of the company. That’s fine. It’s an important marketing approach that works, but appearing in an ad is very different than being featured in an editorial story. The trust value that comes from being featured in the news is immense.

Whereas there are some online magazines and news sites that work in the same way that the traditional media works, what is generally referred to as online PR is more akin to marketing or advertising than it is to traditional public relations. Generally, there is not third party verification. There is not a vetting process where an editor or producer fact checks or reviews the article or segment that has been submitted. What is referred to as online PR generally has to do with blogging, posting information on social media sites, email marketing campaigns, and online press release distribution.

Pitching bloggers is a process unique to the Internet; it is not quite the same as a pitch to a traditional media outlet, since what bloggers are looking for varies quite a bit. Your best bet is to study the blogs you’re submitting to. Don’t pitch the same way you would a media outlet. Bloggers are not looking for PR releases and media oriented pitches. They are looking for what interests them and their readers. Make your contact personal and don’t make it a pitch.

Sending out press releases through such distribution sites as PRWeb and PR Newswire is another online PR approach. Again, this is different from a traditional media approach. Here you are not so much looking to land mainstream media via your releases (if you are, rethink your strategy); this is primarily a tool to help your online ranking and visibility. When using this approach often the more releases you send out the better, which is the opposite approach you want to use in a traditional PR campaign. Be sure to map keywords to the press releases. Use appropriate keywords in the title, sub title and in the body copy of the release. If you’re going the online press release route, use social bookmark services such as furl.net and del.icio.us to archive your releases.

Although online PR can influence the media, its main function is to communicate with others on the net using various online sites and blogs. The most powerful approach is to meld traditional PR with an online marketing approach. Using this approach, you can utilize the validation of traditional PR and the global reach of online PR to create a marketing program that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

About the Author:
Anthony Mora is the President and CEO of Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. and author of Spin to Win. He specializes in public relations, image development, media training and Transformational Marketing. Visit him online at http://anthonymora.com.

When businesses decide to move forward on a purchase, they base their decision on a value assumption of what they feel they’ll get out of the product they buy. While there are those businesses that always purchase the cheapest available option, there is no way to consistently get good value and quality by always going for the lowest possible price. Eventually, they’ll get burned.

Understanding how price is linked to value can help your company position its products and services to garner the attention of prospective customers.

Increased Competition from a Global Economy:
We’ve all heard about the global economy. While we know what it means, sometimes we are not fully aware of its impact. We tend to operate in our own little world, and see our competition as being closer to home, or at least relegated to whom we know and see.

In truth, your competition is but a few clicks away; if customers can find a product they perceive as being a better value, your company will lose business.

A global marketplace brings global competition — customers don’t lack for options to select from, and they no longer have to accept the status quo. Your company has to be faster, smarter, and better at everything in order to keep your customers, and sell to new ones.

Case Study Analysis:
Does your product last longer? Does your product offer more benefits to customers and allow them to save money? If you’ve ever had a product that does these things, but not been able to turn these selling points into sales, then you’ve failed at putting these product attributes front and center in the eyes of your customers. Effective supporting documentation about your product or service can help you address this.

Now, we’re not talking about infomercials — you need solid, substantiated data that illustrates the benefits of the product or service your company is offering. It’s not enough just to say it does what it does. Customers hear that same pitch from everyone. Instead, give them proof. Keep it simple and provide them real case study analysis on how the product works.

Social Proof in the Form of Testimonials:
Anyone can get a testimonial from a customer. A company could sell the worst product in the world and still find someone, somewhere, to say it’s the best thing since Wonder® Bread. Therefore, forget about the simple and straightforward testimonial that says the product does what it does. Been there, done that.

What you need is to provide your customers the ability to speak directly with other customers who’ve benefitted from working with you. Perhaps you conduct a teleseminar with a client, and allow them to share their results — and field questions directly from other prospects during the call. If you have an active forum or community within your website, this provides an excellent platform to allow customers to share their results. Focus on developing excellent customer service both before and after the sale, and the raving fans and product evangelists will follow.

Product demonstrations that matter:
Forget the controlled demonstration. Take it a step further and perform a product demonstrate at your customer’s facility. Being able to show the product is one thing, but having the ability to troubleshoot problems for your customers is something else entirely.

Customers need to feel taken care of — if they see your product and your sales people as the solution to their problems, they’ll come to see your company as a valued and trusted partner. Your sales team must be seen as experts in their field. If they are seen as experts, they’ll have the ability to make your products shine.

Selling products and services is all about solving problems — alleviating the concerns and apprehension of customers. While your company may be both professional and reliable, your customers may have dealt with companies that were less than dependable. Focus on addressing those concerns and providing proven solutions, and you will consistently turn more prospects into customers.

About the Author:
Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is a business consultant and publicity expert specializing in working with small businesses, authors and startups. Drawing on over twenty years experience in the fields of marketing and promotion, Traci’s blog, located at http://www.PromoDiva.com, blends helpful tips and resources with a healthy dose of humor. Traci is the founder and publisher of Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal.