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The Benefit of Branding: ncrease your sales and promote your
product by building
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By Matt Bacak
[Hits: 16554]
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Without a doubt you'll agree that the key to successful sellingis promotion. You need to get your name and your product outthere. You want the press, your colleagues and your prospectiveclients to know exactly what you can do for them. To do this,you must build your brand.
Your brand is more than just your product name, your catchy tagline or your well-designed web site. It's also your credibilityin the marketplace. Your brand is, simply, the way yourcustomers perceive you and your product.
Stefanie Hartman, a marketing strategist who helps high-profileclients build a solid brand identity for themselves, explainsbranding this way. "When it comes to branding you have twochoices: brand yourself or brand your value. It's true thatpeople don't buy products; people by people, and so it may seemlike branding yourself is the obvious choice. However, that canbackfire."
When you brand yourself, you become the main attraction. You arethe face of your business - the only face - and clients will notsettle for a stand in. This means that when your businessbecomes successful, you won't be able to take time off. You'llhave to be everything to everyone, all the time. However whenyou choose to brand your value - that is, the information or theproduct that you're offering - your schedule opens right up. Youstill get the recognition as an expert, but the product you'reselling becomes the main attraction. People will want theproduct first; you become secondary. A successful brandingstrategy is one that allows you to stay in the background. Ifyou've worked hard to build your brand and your product isselling well, don't make the mistake of thinking that you'refinished. A successful sales person is always looking for waysto increase sales. Never think that you're at the top.
"If your marketing person tells you that all you need to do isget your book to number one and you'll be all set, you shouldrun or stop paying them," says Hartman. "Here's why. A book is alead generator. It will make you money, earn you recognition andcredibility, get you new customers and get you press. But it'snot your main moneymaker."
To make more money you need to increase sales. Develop a CD-Romor DVD seminar series, give lectures or write ebooks or reportsthat compliment your primary product. By selling these otheritems, you not only increase sales, you solidify your brand.Branding is something that never ends; you're never finishedbuilding it. You always have more to gain, new clients to reach,new goals to reach. Your brand will get you there.
The secret to becoming financially successful in today'smarketing is to brand your value, position yourself as anexpert, and exploit that expertise. Believe in what you'reselling and offer your customers an outstanding value. "Theimportant thing to remember," says Hartman, " is that you don'thave to sell out to sell. You can build your brand and establishyourself in the marketplace and still be an ethical person."
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