I recently attended a seminar in LA on personal brand. One great concept in this course was the idea of personal and professional consistency. Businesses work hard to create and maintain a brand image. So should individuals. Are you projecting yourself in the way you want to be perceived? A few examples: How do you dress at work and on weekends? Are you always on time to meetings or apointments? Do you avoid gossip at work and at home? Do you generally have a positive attitud

More and more, small businesses are understanding the importance of Search Engine Optimization to get their websites found. As I have mentioned in a previous post, this practice takes time and patience. I can take up to 6 months to start seeing results. If you are starting a new business, here are some tips to consider: 1) Purchase a domain names for 5 or 10 years, not just 1 or 2. 2) Purchase the .org, .biz .net etc versions of your name. 3) Pick a business name that is one

1-800-GOT-JUNK is a great name for a business that wants people to remember it. It leverages the old 'Got Milk?' campaign, and ads a 1-800 kicker. It tells you what they do and where to call. Seeing their trucks driving around town reinforces the brand. I recently needed some junk hauled and of course looked them up. However, their pricing seemed very high. With a little research, I found a local vendor, Oregon Hauling, that provided the same service for 1/2 to 2/3 the price.

At my very first marketing job in the early 90's, I was given an enormous project that no one else had wanted to tackle. I created a cost savings analysis to show customers how much they would save using our products. (The products where Token Ring network adapter cards that competed with IBM and Ethernet.) My undergraduate degree was in history. Nevertheless, I used common sense and put together straightforward financial calculations, combined them with marketing benefits an