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What Your Image Says About You

Written by: Gloria Starr

Article Overview: Image sells.

What Your Image Says About You

What Your Image Says About You

We all have an image, whether we design it consciously or not. How we look and feel about ourselves is heavily influenced by our childhood experiences and our self image as an adult. Clothing and appearance are among the most important criteria we use to judge people. Clothing in a business environment covers ninety percent of the body, so it is inevitable that it makes a very powerful statement.

Successful people generally look successful. They wear clothing that looks attractive on them. They are well groomed, speak well and carry themselves with confidence. The message that comes across is that they feel good about themselves. If you feel confident about your clothes, hairstyle and personal presentation you will send out a positive and confident message. Clothing and presence is a silent and powerful language, a visual shorthand. Is your personal presentation a true reflection of you at your best?

There are lots of smart people languishing in the lower echelons of companies and one of the main reasons may be their lack of understanding the importance of image, personal presentation and effective communication skills.

Companies place a premium on dress, manners, effective body language and the subtle rules of knowing precisely what to say and do in any given situation.

As companies scramble to break into new markets and win global contracts, image has become the key that opens the door. The demand for skills that enable executives to perform appropriately in business and social circles has skyrocketed.

Key players in the corporate arena are masters of communication and corporate vision. The truly successful are aware that everything about their personal presentation and their corporate trappings must be coordinated and polished to project a message of congruency. Professional posturing and positioning is taking place at all levels within companies. Employees need to be aware that they are company ambassadors.

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Article Tags: dress for success, Gloria Starr, image, impression management



Related Forum Posts
OT: A pocket coinholder - Many years ago, I picked up a pocket coinholder. Coin carrier - I'm not sure of the correct term. I think I may have gotten it through Sharper Image, but actually I'm not sure where I got it. But I loved it. It was a small black plastic square, with four spring-loaded columns so you could stack a certan number of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies in each column. It either broke or I lost it, and I've been searching for something similar ever since, but have been unable to find it. Anyone know what I'm talking about, and where I could get one? If not...someone do some reverse engineering and build one - properly marketed I'm sure it could take off!
Re: What or Who Sparks Your Business Interest - It's interesting to see what the different motivations are by Age Category. I've noticed this around me: 20 to 29yr olds: Motivator: Money 30 to 39yr olds: Motivator: Success/Ambition 40 to 49yr olds: Motivator: Family comes first 50 to 59yr olds: Motivator: Leaving a legacy i've only gone that far in my analysis. Of course this is a braid generalization but I find that it helps direct my marketing to individuals in different age brackets. The product/service can be the same but the Marketing message (Benefit Statement) to a 20 year will revolve around "Money" vs. a 30-something would be on their "Self Image"
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - [quote="jvprosperity":2r71nzqq]Kevin, your situation is very common. Get's me wondering if advertisers are just being lazy and "blanket" areas with advertising hoping that some will stick and get people to respond. mathew1 used the word "targeted" alot but I think that's what most advertisers are either not doing or not going deep enough in their targeting. I disagree that direct mail is more important to small business. Yes, it get's done more often within small businesses but that's 'cos of a small budget and them being forced to utilize it to it's fullest. Big Business focus so much more on Branding and Image Management since they have larger budgets but they also do a fair bit of direct mail and other methods.[/quote:2r71nzqq] Hi Andy, I'd say "naive" is a better word. In fact, "blanketing" areas with unwanted solicitation/ads is costly and will only hurt small businesses in the eyes of consumers (who will resent it).
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - [quote="Kevin":k7jhujz8]But how do you prevent people from just throwing out your direct mail as unwanted solicitation? Anytime I get direct mail, I toss it out. I've noticed solicitors using cheap tricks like printing the message in "hand writing" to make the letter seem more personal. Who are they trying to fool?[/quote:k7jhujz8] Kevin, your situation is very common. Get's me wondering if advertisers are just being lazy and "blanket" areas with advertising hoping that some will stick and get people to respond. mathew1 used the word "targeted" alot but I think that's what most advertisers are either not doing or not going deep enough in their targeting. I disagree that direct mail is more important to small business. Yes, it get's done more often within small businesses but that's 'cos of a small budget and them being forced to utilize it to it's fullest. Big Business focus so much more on Branding and Image Management since they have larger budgets but they also do a fair bit of direct mail and other methods.
Re: Traffic! How do you get it? - Traffic is the lifeblood of your internet business and it is one of the most popular questions asked all the time how do I get more traffic. The following are some good strategies that are proven to work to help ou gain traffic to your website A) Forum Marketing b) Article Marketing - (Where you distribute your content is the key to success with Article marketing) c) Video Marketing d) Blogging e) Social Media ( sharing content amoungst a targeted network of friends or creating Fan Pages and updating) f) Ezine advertising ( send solo mailings to email lists of people within your niche) Go to google and type in your niche name followed by ezine or newsletter g) Pay per Click H) Joint ventures and ad swaps ( generally will need a list of email subscribers of your own) I) Classified adverts online J) Banner and Image ads - go to google and type in google image ads - full tutorial their I would reccomend you pick one strategy and learn it until you can generate some great traffic and then you should look to move on and implement other strategies.


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