Cal Ripken has been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame - not so much for his baseball numbers as for the fantastic brand he created. Cal’s career batting average is not even close to .300, and he did not average more than 25 home runs or 100 RBIs a season.  Yet he is one of the most popular, memorable, and most marketable players of recent history.  Why? 

Throughout his 21-year career, Cal Ripken has been a living example of what marketers need to do to build a successful brand.  For Cal, building his brand came naturally.  It flowed from his love for the game.  Let’s look at the incredible, almost textbook branding lessons to be learned from Cal.

Stand for One Thing
You can’t be all things to all consumers.  It never works.  You have to carefully determine what you are selling, and I’m not talking about whether you are selling software or accounting services.  What is the soul or the vision behind what you are selling – what are you asking your consumers to identify with emotionally?  

Hundreds of baseball players are selling baseball skills, but that doesn’t turn them into a popular brand like The Iron Man.  Throughout his career, Cal was always selling RELIABILITY and DECENCY.  Consumers identified with his blue-collar work ethic and “bought into” his brand.  Day in and day out, everyone knew what they were getting from Cal.

Clarity of Message
Once you have determined what it is you are selling, you need to make sure that this is clearly communicated through all that you do - from your PR and marketing messages to your people on the street to the products and services you provide.  Not 9 to 5.  But 24 hours a day!

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From disparate beginnings, Christmas has become largely a cultural celebration for my generation - one meant to bring people together and place our focus on the people we love.

It has also become an uber-brand that represents intangible, un-buy-able values (peace, love, joy, family, selflessness) simultaneously with supreme commercialism.

I love Christmas: hot cocoa, a roaring fire, home cooking, decorated trees, lit up streets, friends around, and the overall heightened consideration of other people (which really should be more present year-round). And of course, the unavoidable and remorseless spending of money we don’t necessarily have.

I like shopping as much as the next red-blooded woman, and I love choosing gifts for people I care about, BUT I loathe the chaos that is the holiday shopping experience. Firstly, running a fully booked design firm means I am impossibly busy, and it’s hard to find time to brave the traffic, find parking, and wait in obscene lines at the counter. So I shop for a lot of gifts online, which doesn’t seem particularly festive to me. Something is lost.

Smart online retailers are starting to catch on. In the same ways that a brick and mortar store would decorate their shop for the holidays, internet based companies are learning to create a more festive atmosphere for their customers. We all know that emotion sells. And the experience you’re providing for your customers online can be just as lucrative as one you might create in your physical store.

Now, my own customers aren’t looking for the same thing as holiday shoppers. You’re business folk, and it’s not likely you’re going to hire a corporate designer as a gift for a loved one. But, I still felt like I should give a subtle little nod to the holidays, so I created a festive holiday variant on our website logo.

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Advertising and marketing is the industry you should get into if you want to make a lot of money very quickly because the advertising industry can actually make you your money back within a couple of years. We are all used to seeing advertisements for various products everywhere and the idea of extensively advertising brands buys into the consumer society we live in today. As a result, it is worth thinking about taking a slice of the pie and buy an advertising and marketing business.

In terms of the investment of time and money, the possible return is limitless. One advertising contract can generate millions in revenue so it is worth looking into the possibility of buying an advertising business for sale. However, there are factors that you need to examine before making an investment.

Your Advertising And Marketing Background
If you want to buy an advertising and marketing business then you first need to look at your own level of experience in business in general. Although it is not necessary for you to know anything about marketing and advertising when you buy an advertising and marketing business, it is essential that you have the business skills to be able to put the right people in place. There should be two separate departments in an advertising and marketing business – an advertising department to put together a selling campaign and a marketing department to establish the brand. Both have to have the top people in place so that the departments can establish themselves within the business and attract new customers.

If you are unable to put the right people into place then the advertising and marketing business for sale will fail, so it is more about the business than your specific advertising skills.

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Did Harley Davidson create the desire for rebellion and the feeling of freedom that comes from conquering the open road?  Did Starbucks create the desire for a sense of sophistication or for people to feel like they are part of a community?

Of course not!  Harley Davidson and Starbucks simply found wonderfully resonant ways to tap into these deep emotional currents that course through people’s veins.  However, it is important to remember that everyone does not have the same emotional imperatives.  That is why some people buy a Suzuki bike and many people prefer to buy their coffee at Dunkin Donuts.  That is how great branding works - companies find ways to connect with the emotional drivers that move their specific target audience.

When you’re walking down the grocery store aisle, have you ever listened to the tiny voices in the back of your head that are asking questions like, what does this product say about me as a mother?  What does this product say about my status?  Do I prefer to be irreverent or traditional?  Am I frugal or do I prefer to be decadent?

These are all brand questions your semi-conscious or unconscious mind is asking at warp speed.  In fact, according to experts as much as 90% of brand decisions are made at an unconscious emotional level.

So what does this all mean for us as PR professionals?   It means that purchasing decisions are made based on the strength of the brands you represent.  And brands are not built solely on our industry’s traditional view of PR.  They are the sum of the stories and experiences that your core target audience has had with a brand.

This means our profession must become expert at how great brands are created and nurtured.  And we better start helping our clients build resonant brands from the ground up.  If we don’t, others will, and we will move even further from holding that coveted seat at the table.

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A trademark search can, in actuality, be many different things. In theory, a trademark search is performed to determine whether or not the mark you are hoping to use is already taken by another. This allows an individual to apply with a greater level of confidence for the use of a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (herein referred to as the USPTO). A trademark search is, ideally, a comprehensive, analytical way of researching a name, slogan or logo for prior use.

A trademark search can also be performed in a sloppy and ineffective manner, and may not protect you from potentially infringing upon another’s name or logo. This is why it’s important to ensure that the trademark research you have commissioned is done comprehensively and thoroughly!

It is not unusual for a trademark research company to charge hundreds of dollars for searching the USPTO, which you can do for free. Comprehensive research firms search Federal, State and Common Law records, which is a more logical and thorough way to research your name. When commissioning research on your name, it is important to ask the company you’re considering using to clarify what exactly their searches entail, each step of the way.

Companies may try and save money in other ways, including letting you pour through the raw data they collect without any summary of what it all means. It is important to be sure once you’ve decided to commission research on your name, that the information is compiled into an easily readable report. Examining the results of your research can sometimes be difficult, even when placed in an edited report. If you’re left to decipher the meaning of a company’s raw data, chances are you may under react or overreact to the results.

When searching your name, it is important that phonetic spellings of the name are searched, as well as vowel variations.

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At one point or another, we’ve all seen a product or business name with a small, encircled R floating next to it. You’ve probably wondered what this R symbol really means, and how exactly it got there in the first place. Most people will tell you that it means something to the effect of “registered,” but that’s only a small part of the significance behind the circled R.

It’s correct that this symbol does imply the term registered, but registered with whom, and how?

A “registered trademark”, or ®, refers to a name, slogan or logo that has been officially registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registering a trademark is beneficial to a business because it publicly states that your trademark is registered with the USPTO and therefore, you have exclusive rights to that name within your industry. This means that if your business had a registered trademark, and you found another business of a similar nature utilizing your name or logo, you would *likely have the legal right to use your name!

Each time an individual applies for a trademark, the USPTO performs a cross reference check of their name and/or design for similarities among Federally registered or pending trademarks ONLY. The USPTO search is lacking in State trademark AND US National Common-Law databases. Because the USPTO protects names in this fashion, you do not run the risk of another business utilizing and possibly soiling the reputation of the company that you worked hard to build!

Once you have applied for your trademark, the USPTO will consider it a pending mark for up to 18 months. This is among the many reasons why it is important to apply for your trademark sooner versus later. The sooner you apply, the sooner it is that you will be doing business under a registered, protected name!

*This is dependent on if the name is truly available at the time of filing.

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Building and developing a website is an ongoing process, but you need a firm foundation in place to ensure your site’s success for the long-term.  Your web professional must be able to provide three critical elements that will drive your future success, and each component plays a role in the overall look, feel, functionality, and rankings with the search engines.

Here are the three important things your web professional must provide to ensure your website’s success:

Website Design
Website design is closely related to website development, and involves the overall navigation and ‘look’ of your site.  This is how your site looks to both the casual visitor and the regular user; essential design elements such as layout, color schemes and other visual attributes fall under this stage of development, and your web professional must create something that is not only attractive but also as user-friendly as possible.  Website design must also take into account search engine guidelines and WC3 compliance; if a site isn’t designed with specific attribute sin mind, you can miss out on search engine ranking opportunities and lose traffic.

Website Development
Website development involves paying attention to the features, functionality and overall usability of your site.  A feature-rich site that helps users find the information they need and encourages them to return is a success – making sure everything you implement on the site solves a problem for the end user can help you stay on track with your business goals and build a quality site in the process.

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Many business owners get stuck during the phases of website design and website promotion; how do you decide which strategy to deploy first?

At first glance, it may seem as though one project comes before the other, but the truth is you need to employ both simultaneously to keep your site on the right track.  A website that is designed for the search engines must also be promoted effectively across social media channels and other marketing avenues; if the site’s design isn’t compatible with many of today’s Web 2.0-based technologies and interfaces, you could miss out on a critical portion of the market.

The Importance of Website Design
Designing a website that is not only relevant to your market but also optimized for the search engines will lay the foundation for your success.  Successful sites on the web today are driven by social media and Web 2.0 platforms; your website must have a few fundamental elements of Web 2.0 design interwoven to the site so that components such as articles, blogs, and video can be shared easily across the major social networks.  Without these components, you could be left far behind your competition and fail to reach your target market.  In the end, this means lower levels of traffic and infrequent visitors.

A website that is both SEO-friendly and W3C compliant is another important element to keep in mind; if your site isn’t indexable by the search engines, even the most creative website promotion strategy won’t bring you steady traffic for the long-term.

The Importance of Website Promotion
Promoting your website also plays a critical role in website development; with the right strategy and well-designed site in place, you will be able to build steady traffic while increasing brand awareness of your business.

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