WEBSITE ARTICLES

I'm sure you have started to notice our INSANE dedication to branding EZSolution. This concept is constantly on my mind, so I thought I would share some branding strategies that have been working for me.

About five years ago, I meet Marlin Miller (MDM Creative). He started to talk to me about branding. Quite honestly, I just didn't get it!

I understood how Coke and Pepsi do branding with mass advertising, but branding for my little business? How is that possible without an ad budget of over $100,000? And why did I even need branding? After all, I don't market to consumers! Right?

About four years ago, Marlin talked to me about the issues I had with my logo. He had no arguments from me. My logo really only worked on my website. It was in full color and down-right impossible to have in one color. This was really my first step into branding.

Next, I started to look at my business cards. I liked the personal branding that I saw real estate agents doing. So I tried taking my picture myself. It was okay. I started to use it on my business cards, my website, and my yellow page ads. Marlin kindly suggested that I hire a real photographer. That was money well invested.

I'm sure you have noticed that when I use a photo of myself, you see one of two photos. The concept is being consistent and focusing on personal branding as well as EZSolution branding.

This last year is when I really got crazy with the branding. Now I get it!

Branding is not just people recognizing a company name or a person, but is making the association that the company or person is an EXPERT at something. Whether it's true or not is not the point. Branding is the market perception.

I upped the ante by writing a book. After all, if you are a published author you must know what you are talking about. Right? This has given me instant credibility when I talk with prospective business owners. I recommend that every business owner write a book. This was a simple process. It took me three months from start to finish.

Next, I bit the big bullet and purchased three vehicles and wrapped them with crazy graphics. It has been nine months of having four vehicles on the road and I am now seeing the benefits. I recently attended a Rotary meeting. There were six business people at the table. I knew one of them because he is my client. The five other people knew my business because of the vehicles. -WOW-what great brand awareness.

What I hope you take out of this article is that even a small company can create branding/expert status in the market.

Take a look your website. What else can we do to create a stronger brand on the homepage and also throughout the site. Here are some suggestions:

• Add video to the homepage and interior pages
• Add free reports to download
• Sell your book
• Add video testimonials
• Add success stories

If you would like to talk directly to Marlin, he can be reached at 717.285.3789.

Thanks - Tom