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John Williams Articles

Guest post by: John Williams

ASAP Brand Test: What Word Describes Your Brand? - Click To Read Article
I created the ASAP Brand Test to help businesses develop a brand or design a company logo quickly and efficiently. The test includes four simple steps, and when these steps are tackled strategically and specifically, a business can feel confident that they have the necessary foundation to develop a successful brand.

5 Things a Great Logo Design Can Do for Your Brand and Business - Click To Read Article
Your company logo is one of the most important elements of your brand. It instantly communicates a promise to consumers and evokes emotions. Most people don’t even realize how much a simple logo can do for a brand and business, but as a business owner, you need to understand everything that a great logo design can do, starting with the five things described below.

What's Your Brand Image ROI? - Click To Read Article
If you’re like millions of other small businesses, creating a professional visual image is key to your success. After all, your image - as seen on your business cards, marketing materials, packaging and website - is the first and sometimes only chance you have to introduce your company to potential customers. If your customers like what they see, you’re one big step closer to getting their business.

Does Brand Imitation Work? - Click To Read Article
To Copy or Not to Copy, This is the Question.vWe all know that it’s tempting to copy the competition. There is safety in conformity – a certain “comfort factor” in being similar. After all, the other company knows what it’s doing, right? Not always.

Personal Branding Tips - Click To Read Article
A great deal of time and energy are expended to create memorable brands that add value to company marketing strategies and (in the case of public companies) pique the interest of the investment community. While company brand equity is certainly important, the significance of personal branding should not be overlooked as a key to success.

More Mileage from Branding - Click To Read Article
Let’s say your online business-or your local business with an online presence-has some really strong customer stories. Where can you place these stories on the Internet to enhance your brand, boost credibility and support your sales and marketing? There are numerous online ways to use customer stories. You could try any or all of these:

Niche Branding - Click To Read Article
It is a common misconception that if you’re not casting a wide net with your marketing, you’re leaving money on the table. Actually, the opposite is true. It’s more expensive and usually less profitable to sell a range of products to a wide audience. Furthermore, if your product or service is too similar to a competitor’s, price will always be an issue. When price is your only point of comparison, it’s tough to build a successful brand – especially if you are a small business. Targeting a niche market is a great way to avoid these issues. But how do you find the right niche?

Business Identity Secrets - Click To Read Article
A few years ago I owned a toy company. At the time, I heard an interesting philosophy on packaging: that you should design your toy’s package so artfully that when children opened it and touched your product, they were just a little disappointed. Maybe this sold more toys in the short run, but I can guarantee it didn’t in the long run. Because when perception trumps reality, your brand is the loser.

What to Do, What to Avoid: DIY Logo Design Checklist What Not to Do When Designing It Yourself - Click To Read Article
Have you ever noticed how many articles there are on creating your own marketing materials? These articles concentrate on things you “should do” – like “know your audience”, and “say it with pictures.” Now, I’m not saying that’s bad. That’s great. But you should also know what NOT to do. That’s what this article is about. Specifically, it’s about what most do-it-yourselfers are TEMPTED to do but shouldn’t.

Logo Design & Your Favicon: Spotlight Your Brand Online - Click To Read Article
By now, you’re probably familiar with the term “sticky website.” The phrase refers to a site that compels visitors to “stick around.” In order to entice visitors to stick around, however, your site must first project the image that you are a credible (i.e., large) company. If potential customers don’t have this comfort factor, they are likely to bounce before they even see what you offer. There are many aspects to developing a credible, “sticky” website, but one easy and valuable way is to create a “favicon.”

Success Stories Boost Branding - Click To Read Article
Whether your business is local (like a home remodeler) or global (like an online specialty retailer), you can make a tremendous brand impression by telling stories-real-world stories illustrating how your business has benefited customers.

Global Branding Starts Here - Click To Read Article
Telling memorable stories about your customers’ real-world experiences can build your credibility, add moxie to your sales/marketing and luster to your brand. Stories are readily available to any business that has satisfied customers-and that means every viable business on the planet. You can adapt customer stories to a variety of business needs, for instance by tailoring their length and details to fit different venues and audiences.

5 Tips for Writing Quick-Read Copy - Click To Read Article
Click here. Buy now. Free trial offer. The world of advertising is full of short and snappy copy promising instant gratification. After all, most prospects simply don’t have time to read thoroughly. They skim. They glance. But if you’re betting they’ll wade through long paragraphs of narrative copy, it’s time to adjust your expectations. Your copywriting must be clear, compelling, and to the point. These days, the best copy is served a-la-carte, allowing readers to sample one message here, taste another message there. Which leads us to the most important rule in writing copy that sells: Make it “digestible.” Rely on headlines, subheads, captions, and bullet points – short snippets of copy with key nuggets of messaging. Long blocks of copy tend to overwhelm readers. They snooze, you lose.

Matchmaking 101: Creating Sales Tools That Build Your Brand - Click To Read Article
If you’re like other entrepreneurs, you know a good logo is important to branding your company. You may already have a great logo. Now what? How can you create a variety of marketing materials that build your brand? In a word: Coordinate. All your materials should tie to one another graphically. They should convey the same look and feel, or image, and evoke a similar emotional response in your customer. When viewed side by side, your stationery, brochures, and other promotional materials should create a cohesive “family.” Of course, your materials don’t need to “match” each other completely, but some elements should remain consistent from one piece to the next:

Key Ways to Convey Quality - Click To Read Article
Let’s say that what differentiates your product or service from the competition’s is quality. It may seem like advertising “quality” would be a breeze, right? Unfortunately, it’s not. Customers hear the word “quality” all the time –often from companies selling low-quality products. In this sense, quality is like trust. If a salesperson resorts to “You can trust me,” it’s often an indicator to beware. Accordingly, if a company is too direct in how it advertises “quality,” customers may ignore the claim or be suspicious of it. So how can you prove that your product or service is the real deal? Following are some often-overlooked ways to convey quality.

Look Big, Win Big: The 5 Cardinal Rules of Logo Design - Click To Read Article
Your logo appears on everything from your letterhead to your website, reaching customers, prospects, suppliers and the press. In other words, your logo reaches everyone and is the first impression someone will have of your company, therefore your logo needs to create a favorable introduction. Present yourself clearly and dynamically, and you’ll look like a pro, even if your office is your basement.

The Science of Logos - Click To Read Article
Your company’s logo will go a long way toward defining your brand, so the process to create it should not be entered into lightly. Whether you choose to work with a design team, or use resources available to produce your logo yourself, you must be aware of how varying images, shapes, typefaces and colors will showcase your company.

Branding Trends: Delivery Channels Take Forefront - Click To Read Article
In looking at current branding trends, and what might be around the corner in 2007, what strikes me most are not the tactics being used, but the mediums being called on to disseminate the messages. Marketers can no longer rely on traditional outlets such as TV, radio and print ads to “get the job done�; they must take into consideration all the new media at their disposal, including blogs, podcasting, mobile phone-based programming, social networks, and RSS feeds.

You, Inc. What it Takes to Build a Personal Brand - Click To Read Article
It’s a brand new work-world. And I do mean “brand.� It used to be that only businesses worried about branding. To thrive, they worked diligently to distinguish their company from the competition. This meant carving out a niche based on competitive advantages and specific corporate attributes. In other words, they crafted and maintained a strategic brand – a unique, useful promise to current and prospective customers to gain brand equity and loyalty. This was business, after all.

A.S.A.P. Branding” Part IV: Picking a PMS Color - Click To Read Article
Perhaps nothing is more single-handedly important to your branding efforts than color. Today’s consumers face more choices than ever before, yet have less time to devote to product comparisons. One of the best ways to develop a lasting connection with your consumers is on an emotional level – and nothing evokes emotion better than color. Furthermore, color plays a huge role in memory recall. It stimulates all the senses, instantly conveying a message like no other method of communication.

A.S.A.P. Branding” Part III: Why Every Brand Needs an “Adjective - Click To Read Article
You may be wondering why, as my headline states, every brand platform “needs an adjective.” By this I mean every brand needs to own a word in the mind of consumers. Why? Let me illustrate with peanut butter - Jif peanut butter, to be specific. For decades, television ads for the Jif brand ended with the tagline, “Choosy Mothers Choose Jif.” Obviously, the branding strategists behind Jif hoped to associate this word “choosy” with their peanut butter. (Notice how superior product quality is implied, not stated, through use of the folksy term, “choosy.”) Today, Jif’s tagline remains virtually unchanged. Talk about a successful branding strategy: Jif has been the leading peanut butter brand in the United States for over 27 years.

A.S.A.P. Branding-1, Learn these smart shortcuts to branding your business quickly and effectively. - Click To Read Article
To successfully brand your small company, you must know who you are and show who you are in every aspect of your business--but especially in your promotional materials. Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Do people choose your product because of its quality--or because of its price point? You can't be all things to all people, so you have to decide just who you are. Strategically pinpointing your niche in the market will simplify all your branding efforts. Every visual aspect of your brand should consistently point in the same direction. But when you're first starting out, how can you do this quickly and cost effectively?

Brand Extensions: Is it Time to Broaden Your Horizon? - Click To Read Article
When I interviewed graphic designers for my agency, I’d always get a little nervous when they claimed they could double as a great copywriter. That’s because good design and good copywriting require two different skill sets rarely found in one person. I’d experience the same nervous reaction when clients discussed “brand extension,” or launching a new product related to their existing brand. It’s not as easy as it seems.

5 Tools to Build Your Brand Platform - Click To Read Article
There’s a lot of buzz these days about having a “brand platform.” Perhaps you’ve heard the term, but aren’t sure what it means. Rest assured, you’re not the only one! Even within the advertising industry, you’ll find disagreement over its definition. What one guru calls a “brand platform” another calls a “corporate image.” Don’t be confused. Regardless of what you call it, you need it. A brand platform serves as the springboard for all branding decisions.

Top 5 Biz Card Blunders (& How to Avoid Them) - Click To Read Article
Perhaps nothing is more important to making a good first branding impression than your business card. In addition to the information on your card, its look and feel also send a message about your business– in fact, a card’s look and feel send a stronger message. That’s why I’m perplexed by the many poorly designed business cards I see these days. Sure, one can log on to various websites and “design� and print cards for free. But that doesn’t mean one should.

Brand Aid: The Basics of Branding - Click To Read Article
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does “branding� mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?

Business Card ABCs - Click To Read Article
Many people overlook the value of having a professional business card that accurately reflects your brand image…yet this small piece of paper can be an important part of your collateral package. It often is the first item prospects receive from you, so it your first opportunity to make a strong, positive impression on them. The preponderance of do-it-yourself online business card printing companies is an interesting and somewhat troubling phenomenon. With limited exceptions, it is fairly easy to spot an inexpensively produced card. When you choose to “go cheap” on your business cards, what message does that send to those with whom you wish to do business? Are you really doing yourself any favors by missing out on the opportunity to start building a positive brand image right from the start?

Before You Build Your Website: 8 Common Misconceptions - Click To Read Article
If you’re feeling pressure to create an Internet site for your company, you’re not alone. Even if you don’t want to sell your products or services directly over the Internet, simply maintaining a professional-looking, well-functioning Internet site can help a new company seem more established. (Conversely, having an unappealing, poorly functioning site hurts.) Before you get started on that online component to your business, though, consider the following common misconceptions:





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