Active AimA Journey and Destination

What Makes a Brand Identity?

Branding is an aspect of every business that consist of visual elements and are used for

the company’s marketing purposes. Therefore, most business owners would hire a

professional logo designer to execute the concepts laid out by the company, which they

believe will help communicate the company’s business into the market. This logo will then

be used as a marketing material that will appear on business cards, envelopes,

letterheads, or other professionally related materials.

Establishing that brand identity is one of the initial steps that must be taken by a

company if it wish to achieve market success. Hence, this process must involve careful

brand planning and though to avoid damaging your business. You must also look into how the

customers might perceive the message being delivered by your brand, to avoid having it

work against you.

Designing the Brand

There is no need to reiterate the importance of your brand identity to the success of your

business. Therefore, this is an area of your business planning and startup that must be

left to the professionals, especially if you are new to the business industry. Although

you might have a sense of creativity, graphic designing becomes an entirely different

concept when it is associated with using it as a marketing tool.

Apart from being creative and visually appealing, the brand logo must have meaning and is

able to convey essential information about your company. Here are some benefits you can

get from hiring a professional to design your logo:

*The creation of your brand logo will serve as priority. Hence, you are able to set a

specific time-frame for the completion of the job to ensure that it is being focused on

closely.
*As a professional logo designer, it is their job to utilize their unique skills as a

graphic designer and incorporate their expertise on the importance of logo in relation to

the marketing side of your business.

Customizing Brand Design

Contrary to popular belief, designing your own company logo to use as marketing material

is not expensive. But of course this is relative, especially if you insist on using

high-quality materials for this but this is totally your own preference should you have

enough budget for this. If not, then a sound concept and a skilled logo designer will be

able to produce a strong brand.

After all, this is a business investment since your brand can impact your sales. This is a

relatively inexpensive investment with a potential for a lucrative profit.

Understanding the Importance of Branding

Several businessmen tend to neglect the creation of a brand identity. Therefore, most of

them fail in their business endeavors and yet they do not even realize where the lapses

are coming from. A brand identity is as essential as some of the basic priorities in every

business startup such as a business name, bank account, or operating system. And if ever a

brand is created, most business owners do not look into the details of the brand and thus

ending up with a brand that misrepresent their company.

Below is a list of common branding mistakes that must be avoided:

• Failure to create an efficient brand planning.

• Not giving full commitment to the management and review of the brand.

• Inability to establish internal branding.

• Lack of a sound marketing plan.

• Trying way too hard to create distinction to the point of inaccessibility.

Branding your business is never easy but once you recognize the factors that could impede

your business’ progress, then you’re on your way there

It is not a surprise to hear about people having their edge over others, especially with success spelled over their foreheads – this is the power of

influence.

It may be blunt to say that there are people more gifted and successful than others, but this is not about being mean or cruel, it is how the power of

influence affects the lives of people and how it helps maintain the balance of human nature.

There are several forms of human influence, but not matter what type it is, it will definitely set the tone for not only building character, but also

differentiates the men from the boys.

Influence is the key factor in shaping how man is able to stand taller than the rest, it is the authority that takes the role of leadership in an

organization or simply the voice that molds the opinion of others.

But generally, influence is what binds organizations, strengthens relationships, the defining thought in a somewhat difficult thought process.

Influence takes in many different forms and most commonly found in leadership, socialization, persuasion, advertising, sales, marketing and peer pressure,

for which it is most commonly seen.

Influence is commonly defined as power or authority.

Common beliefs point to influence as a trait among those possessing advanced knowledge, sizable wealth, a better career path, more physically attractive,

more assertive and with a much stronger character among others.

Influence can lead to persuasion which can sway other people to follow his line of thought or the idea he sells.

Aside from the physical ‘possessions’ of those who wield influence over others, there are also common human traits that these people are more blessed with,

like a high self –esteem, confidence, optimism and intellect, among many others.

For those people with social influence, on the other hand, it is imbued in people considered as experts in their respective fields of endeavor, for whom many

people look up to – that is their sphere of influence.

These experts render credibility and repute with their fields of endeavor, encompassing their influence over their fields of specialization.

Influence is not limited to an individual though, it is also manifested in areas like industries and businesses where it’s sphere of influence can be seen

over a territory where they may have cornered the market, besting other competitors in the area.

It can also be manifested in the number of people employed in a certain business, which raises the sense of moral ascendancy of the establishment directly

over their employees and their families, being their main source of income and livelihood.

The field of politics and governance also have it’s own sphere of influence, since politicians and government leaders maintain their influence over the

people for their leadership capabilities and governing capacities.

Their sphere of influence is over their constituents, who have placed them in a position of power based on their intellect, leadership traits and governing

potential, for which their constituents rest their confidence to lead and govern over them.

Police and military forces, on the other hand, are another form of influential forces, for which their sphere of influence is over the people and

establishments within their jurisdiction, for which they are tasked to maintain peace and order.

So by now you know how influence helps to balance the forces and characteristics of human nature, especially since it defines how strengths make up for the

weaknesses – that is the power of influence.

Parents influence is important as a child grows up. After all, they are the first people that will come into contact with them until they exposed to people

in school and the outside world. But this task is easier said than done which is why parents have to exercise certain techniques that are proven to be

effective.

When your child misbehaves, one technique to tell them what they are doing is wrong is the reprimand. Here, you basically call their attention and explain

why this is not the proper thing to do. Whenever this is done, make sure that you maintain eye contact with your child and tell them that there are

consequences for what they did.

Another technique that also works is called exclusion. Here, you tell your child to sit in a corner and then think about what they did. After several minutes

or an hour, talk to them about what happened so they know why it is wrong and why should not happen again.

Sometimes not doing anything is the best technique to use on a child. This is because scolding them or calling their attention will just encourage them to

continue doing it. Ignoring at times makes that type of behavior stop. Just remember to talk to them about it later on.

Parents, children and teachers have to work together should the child have a problem in school. The first to notice this is of course the teachers since they

are the one who grade them in the classroom and if something goes wrong, the teacher calls the parent to come to school to discuss the problem.

Once the parents finds out about it, reprimanding the child is not the solution but finding out what is causing it is the proper course of action. If the

child has poor study habits this has to be changed by removing whatever objects that distract the child from studying.

If they can’t do this, the parent can get help from the school by requesting help from the teacher to offer extra work after school or be taught by a peer.

This should be monitored daily until such time that the child’s grades improve and they can work on this by themselves.

Reprimanding the child is not the only way to have an influence on their lives. There has to be a balance so if they do something good, you should give

credit where it is due. You can give them a pat on the back, a handshake, and saying to them “good job” or “keep up the good work.” That way, they will know

that this type of behavior is good and they will continue doing it.

The techniques mentioned especially when it comes to bad behavior is a change from the traditional spanking which we probably got from our parents when we

were young. Such an approach goes to show that we can teach our kids right from wrong without resorting to physical harm which is detrimental to the child’s

growth.

If we are able to exercise such measures, our children will be taught how to discipline their children when they too become parents. It may be 20 or 30 years

before this happens but at least they are already taught at a young age that there are ways to influence the youth without raising a hand.

The classical decision-making process includes the following 7 steps:

1. Define or clarify the problem.

2. Stating a goal or objective. (Sometimes this is presented as finding the causes of the problem.)

3. Generate options or alternatives.

4. Evaluate alternatives and tradeoffs.

5. Estimate Risk associated with each alternative.

6. Deciding on the best alternative.

7. Implement the decision.

As I continue to study the decision-making process, I am amazed at how we have all been trained to look at decisions as problems to be solved. How many of you have ever been in the situation where your boss came to you and said, “We have a problem.” How did you feel? Were you excited, inspired, creative? I don’t think so.

With that experience in mind, you can understand when I suggest there is something wrong with our approach to decision-making when we have all been taught to approach decision-making as a problem solving effort. Problems are something none of us go looking for. I can’t think of a single person who looks forward to problems to start their day. Rather, the goal in decision-making is to not have the problem.

So the first step in the Classical Approach to Decision-making is to define the problem. How is that for a downer. I just can’t find anything positive about problems. Solutions, yes. Problems, no.

The second step is to state a goal or objective. If you start with defining the problem, in all likelihood, your goal will be to not have the problem. Right?

To my way of thinking, it is extremely difficult to be excited, inspired or creative when I am dealing with problems. Then defining my objective to solve the problem just compounds THE PROBLEM. To a large degree, I blame this on adverbs. Who can tell me what an adverb is? It has been so long since I studied this stuff that I had to go look it up. An adverb is a word that modifies a verb. I am convinced that the subconscious mind doesn’t recognize adverbs any more than most of us did with our conscious minds. Let me give you an example. Occasionally, I play golf and I try to envision each shot before I hit it. The problem arises when someone says to me, “Do no’t hit it into the lake.” What do I end up doing? Yep, right into the lake. Why? Because “not” is an adverb and my subconscious mind doesn’t know what an adverb is. Consequently the message I receive is not “Do not hit it into the lake”, but rather “Do hit it into the lake.”

By the same token, if you have ever been a parent, I am sure you recognize this phenomenon in your children. How many times did you ever tell them not to do something and they turned right around and did that very thing. Kids don’t know what adverbs are either.

Research tells us that half of all decisions fail. If we approach all our decisions as problems and then use adverbs to define our objective, it is a wonder that we make any good decisions at all.

When you stop to think that even God had this problem when he told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to “Not eat from the Tree of Knowledge,” maybe we should outlaw adverbs and find a more positive or constructive approach to decision-making.

 Copyright Bob Cannon/The Cannon Advantage, 2006. All rights reserved.

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