Nonitage

Branding used to be a fancy business word, but it is becoming more and more used in everyday business meetings. Finally! For decades, big corporations have used in-house, very well paid brand managers - someone in charge of managing everything that relates to the brand, including design, package and partnerships. You’ve heard enthusiastic talks about branding, but you are still not sure if you should get a brand management plan going for your business.

Do you need one? Any company with the intention and potential to become or to remain a top competitor in its field needs to develop a sound branding strategy. And that’s where the brand agency comes in. If you have a small or medium size business, you may not be able to pay a high salary for a full-time brand manager. If that is your case, you can benefit from working with a brand agency, and gain access to brand management consultants, plus an entire creative team available to work in various projects - from graphic design to web design, Internet marketing, advertising, media planning. Instead of working with multiple vendors that are unaware of your branding needs, you work with one single partner dedicated to create a stronger, more valuable brand.

Can I fire my marketing team? No! Some people think a brand agency would do away with marketing jobs. In fact, your brand agency would not replace your marketing department, but work with your marketing and sales people to provide them the tools they need to market your services more successfully, while advancing your business image.

How much does it cost? Working with a branding agency is surprisingly affordable. Think of this: how much it would cost, per year, to have an in-house creative department, plus a well-paid brand manager? That could easily cost your business $200K and more in payroll, equipment and lease expenses. With an experienced branding agency you only pay a small fraction of the costs of maintaining such a high-level team, but you still have full-time assistance. Besides, a branding agency can save you thousands of dollars a year in printing and production costs, through its suppliers and partners.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

Here we introduce 10 top tips on selecting corporate calendars and diaries.

1. First order as early in the year as possible, that way you get the best choice as popular titles will sell out fast.

2. If a bespoke or branded calendar is required, it needs to be designed very early in the year to avoid disappointments.

3. When choosing a promotional calendar, please do think about how your customers’ offices look like. For example is there room for a wall calendar? Or maybe a desk top calendar is better where there is lack of space.

4. When choosing a promotional or branded calendar format, please consider if the writing space available or not? And also, will your customers prefer one with writing space or not?

5. When choosing a diary, think about whether a desk or pocket type is best for your target market. Are they office bound where a desk diary would be best, or will they move, in which case a pocket diary would be more suitable a proposition?

6. When you have decided on which pocket or desk calendar best meets your requirements and then consider the best page layout and format. The options can be ‘week to view’ or ‘page a day’. Think about what will you clients prefer?

7. For branding of personalised or custom promotional calendars and diaries, please always send the best quality artwork possible, the higher the quality of artwork used, the better the result will be in the short to long run.

8. Ordering early also ensures you get delivery when you would like it, very important if you prefer your sales staff to deliver the promotional items by hand or if you need to send these promotional items and products abroad.

9. Remember everyone uses a calendar or a diary every day so they are one of the best forms of year-round promotion to add to your campaign.

10. A good way to find and source promotional calendars from suppliers in the UK is to look online such as at www.promotional-merchandise.org.uk where you can find anything from calendars and diaries to other promotional items, such as keyrings, carrier bags and corporate gifts.