tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23803178203111155282008-07-24T08:21:38.738-07:00Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-39123243961083624602008-07-24T05:08:00.000-07:002008-07-24T05:18:26.994-07:00

You may have noticed the new promotion to our right. This the my eBook, The Reluctant Salesperson: An introvert's guide to selling. It is the result of a discussion I've had through blogging with introverts from different parts of our planet who find it stressful and unenjoyable to sell. Many must sell as part of their job function. The tips and discussion in this book, hopefully will help others

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-90122492844439984442008-07-18T06:19:00.000-07:002008-07-18T06:41:14.992-07:00

Summer is in full swing. It's hard keeping clients focused when they've got golf to play and families to take to the cottage. Deadlines are pushed out and your sales are slow due to this desire for pleasure. Go figure! What's a person to do? Well it's a terrific time to turn your efforts inward. • Update the website. Are there any new links, users would appreciate knowing. • Develop new

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-2825790709646519702008-07-04T04:57:00.000-07:002008-07-04T05:05:41.662-07:00

All around us the sky is falling or at least it appears that way. Even the best among us have days where it is tiring to keep the wheels spinning. Where is our next opportunity, when can we take a break and enjoy the weather? Of course, the truth is that most of this is a mind set. Business strategies should be set up much like fitness strategies where you have to change up how you do things

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-17703518298316388702008-06-26T05:48:00.000-07:002008-06-26T06:01:16.666-07:00

Branding is all about market niches. To say your uniqueness is your great customer service or that your employees make the difference is simply not compelling enough. Take a good hard look at ALL aspects of the delivery of your product or service. Most companies try to be all things to all people, thinking this is the best route to getting all the business. It only puts you in a line with all the

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-32428335590273939122008-06-17T05:54:00.000-07:002008-06-17T05:57:22.749-07:00

If there is one thing that many small businesses love to mess with, it is their brand image. Perhaps it is their chance to get creative, in an otherwise numbers oriented existence. It is also the one area that gets the greatest abuse in regard to the "holy Grail" of brand - CONSISTENCY. One area I'd like to address is your web presence. Does your website reflect your brand accurately? Let's

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-62855460268256767952008-05-31T12:22:00.000-07:002008-05-31T12:40:37.274-07:00

Over the past few weeks I've been observing a common situation that continues to get the blood boiling among Graphic Designers world-wide: Logos done fast 'n cheap! A company I have an association with tried their hand at using those cheap logo factories on the web. You know the ones that promise a logo for a few dollars and a limitless number of versions until they get your approval. Well, the

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-7832792073599361162008-05-23T05:12:00.000-07:002008-05-23T05:21:54.073-07:00

In case you are unaware, I also write weekly for Small Business Branding, and they honoured me with the first in a series of interviews with their business writers. You can find it here. We will also being doing podcasts in the near future.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-38503550231972257192008-05-23T05:08:00.000-07:002008-05-23T05:09:48.813-07:00

To a lot of graphic designers and advertising agencies, brand and logo are interchangeable. To be clear they should be referring to your brand image or your brand logo - there is a difference. A logo is just a small part of your overall corporate brand. Simply put, your brand is essentially your reputation in the marketplace. It is affected by all of your stake holders (customers, employees and

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-72087067212851940052008-05-19T20:15:00.000-07:002008-05-19T20:18:13.904-07:00

I just spent the last week with my wife walking the theme parks of Disney World. We haven't been there in many years and a lot has changed. I have to admit that the Disney brand is alive and kicking in Florida. Where else do you see grown men and woman walking in public wearing various themed mouse ears and Goofy hats? At Disney World it seems perfectly suited to the atmosphere created there.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-61136162907645449302008-04-28T05:25:00.001-07:002008-05-02T12:00:02.634-07:00

I attended an interesting annual general meeting of the Canadian Mushroom Association in Toronto. The speaker's presentation was promotion oriented. I was very impressed with the marketing efforts of the CMGA. They had assembled an excellent media program involving the web and traditionl media. Much of the work was done in-house, but they were savy enough to use the branding rule of consistency.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-45958038705527398392008-04-20T20:27:00.000-07:002008-04-20T20:33:04.083-07:00

We in business have tendency to want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to generating income. Are you targeting your efforts to reach your best target audience? Are you aware of just who this audience is? A good exercise would be to identify this person. To perform this task you have to build a demographic profile. Remember - the profile is of the person that you make the most money from.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-84110774298314240722008-03-23T09:47:00.000-07:002008-03-23T09:57:07.993-07:00

I can't tell you how many times I've seen competent people stand up in front of an audience, speak intelligently, pick up their clicker and proceed to walk through a miserably amatuer digital presentation. I witnessed this exact situation in Detroit a few months back. The presenter was a local motivational speaker. Very engaging personality BUT the digital presentation was embarrassing. I even

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-47508731433461189932008-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:002008-03-14T10:57:42.920-07:00

It's time to start talking with customers. Technology has made many of us lazy communicators. One of the things that makes a brand great is communication with your customers. You can't have a relationship if you're not talking. It's not enough to just do a great job, you have to connect as well. Connecting is more than seeing your name in the in-box of their email program. If that is where it's

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-16271155928786831662008-02-24T17:02:00.000-08:002008-02-24T17:11:49.209-08:00

Before we even discuss any of the creative aspects of a logo let's see how your logo works with your existing brand. Assuming you know what your brand values and personalty is, you are going to want your brand logo to reflect these attributes. These two elements would help set the tone of the brand logo. Who is your logo speaking to? Male, female? Young or old or somewhere in the middle? At a

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-20223207513922166532008-02-19T10:53:00.000-08:002008-02-19T10:54:11.681-08:00

Graphic Designers. They are the talented people who bring your marketing materials to life. They are the people responsible for selling your products or services from a visual perspective. They are communications experts. Those are my words. How do you feel towards graphic designers? What if any are their value to you? I am asking this question to assist a young design professional over in

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-6721815749571700152008-02-13T08:47:00.000-08:002008-02-13T08:55:16.212-08:00

If you understand your brand and are passionate about it, then you have a better than average chance to weather the storm of a slow economy or recession. If you've been addressing brand issues and have built your company on values that are rock solid, then there is every reason that you will come out smiling at the other end of this down-turn. Take myself - I rely heavily on referrals to grow

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-74839656893786988732008-02-03T17:30:00.000-08:002008-03-22T08:25:18.947-07:00

My background is that of a graphic designer. Being in the industry for over 25 years, I have developed several hundred logos. As a matter of fact it is something I never tire of doing. After all of that time you come to recognize that many companies don't take full advantage of all the opportunities that come with designing a brand logo that accurately reflects their brand AND differentiates

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-89720303021037629092008-01-23T06:06:00.000-08:002008-01-23T06:37:28.261-08:00

For a lot of companies who ship cross-border, handle dangerous commodities, or have a manufacturing facility to name a few must adhere to certain compliance regulations. These compliance issues assures your customer that they are not exposed when they do business with you. As we all know, your brand is essentially your reputation, a considerable amount of damage can be incurred if your company is

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-49183662960502643262008-01-06T17:05:00.001-08:002008-01-06T17:14:41.046-08:00

At the risk of sounding like a Ludite, I believe that technology can be a hinderance to effective business practices. I believe being in your customer's face is more important than responsive email. The web while a massive benefit to customer relations is also a service spoiler. If a customer calls with a concern or a new piece of business, we immediately respond in email. Many sales people

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-82626723228921920272008-01-03T18:32:00.000-08:002008-01-03T18:40:52.420-08:00

I came across a great list of branding pain points that may assist you indetermining when to call in a branding professional. This excellent list was assembled by Derrick Daye from "Branding Strategy Insider". Derrick is a fine associate of mine who has terrific insights on branding, especially place branding. If any of Derricks points are something that keeps you awake at night, it could be

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-42743879110503855972007-12-19T19:15:00.000-08:002007-12-19T19:21:50.763-08:00

Follow this link to David Airey's Graphic Design blog. Enjoy again.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-27244154314051215212007-12-18T19:19:00.000-08:002007-12-18T19:20:28.402-08:00

David Airey, a fine Graphic Designer from Scotland recently had his domain stolen from under his nose. Now if you go to DavidAirey.com all you will find is a sponsored link page instead of the great blog he's been building for quite some time now. Watch this space for a new link to his blog, so that we can continue to read his observations - inspiring all. They may have stolen his domain but

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-58094322185420197102007-12-17T17:42:00.000-08:002007-12-17T17:46:03.303-08:00

What do you do when you are offered an opportunity, but you are unable to fulfill it? It would be a bad move to take it on then take the risk of fouling it up and damaging your brand. Sometimes our skill sets are not complimentary with an opportunity offered. BUT we have friends or colleagues who have the desired experience. It is important that you build relationships with your industry for

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-27366778193927966312007-12-04T17:08:00.000-08:002007-12-04T17:19:02.802-08:00

Let's start with the assumption that you've done your homework and you've established a competitive strategy based on differentiation. Now here's where we go next. 1. Develop a logo that inspires your audience adopting a palette that sets you apart. 2. Use the corporate palette through out your entire operation. 3. Use the same logo on your business cards, stationary, signs, vehicles etc. 4.

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2380317820311115528.post-49317955634181113932007-11-16T06:22:00.000-08:002007-11-16T06:24:15.788-08:00

I know of many companies who have had the best intentions to start distributing a newsletter but failed after the first one simply because they take so much time to assemble content. This doesn't have to be the case anymore. My newsletter "Useful Information" just celebrated it's 40th issue this month. I send it out monthly - free to it's subscribers. I'm on a MAc, so I develop it in Quark

Ed Roachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01172063686678167833noreply@blogger.com