Month: September 2006

Build a Money-Making Brand

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Stand out from the competition with these 5 steps to creating a
winning brand platform.

By John Williams – Entrepreneur.com

There’s a lot of buzz these days about having a “brand platform.” Perhaps you’ve heard the term, but aren’t sure what it means. Rest assured — you’re not the only one! Even within the advertising industry you’ll find disagreement over its definition. What one guru calls a “brand platform” another calls a “corporate image.” Don’t be confused. Regardless of what you call it, you need it. A brand platform serves as the springboard for all branding decisions.Simply put, your brand platform is what your brand stands for. It’s a strategic statement or set of statements that encompasses who your company is, what it does, how it plans to succeed, and why it’s unique or different. Although brand platforms vary from business to business, most consist of the following basic elements:

  1. Mission
  2. Identity Attributes
  3. Value Proposition
  4. Tagline and/or Byline
  5. Brand Story

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Spamalot – Is Your Resume Getting Caught in Spam Filters?

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By Kris Maher

From The Wall Street Journal Online

On a recent Monday morning, Olga Ocon, an employment recruiter in Los Altos, Calif., decided to sift through a folder containing e-mails identified as spam. Tucked away among 756 ads for Viagra, cellphones and loan-refinancing offers, which were all set to be deleted after a few days, were eight resumes.Every week, Ms. Ocon receives more spam, increasing the chances that she could miss a good job candidate. “If it’s in there, it’s going to be harder to dig out,” she says. She suspects that one resume containing the phrases “four-time winner of sales awards” and “oversaw in excess of $40,000,000 in sales” was caught by a program on her computer that is designed to filter out e-mail containing money-making offers.

Jeffery Warner, who sent that resume, also is troubled by the effects of spam. “It’s hindering employers that are looking for the right people, and of course it’s hurting the people that are out there seeking jobs,” he says. The 51-year-old former marketing manager in the Dallas-Fort Worth area says his resume has been identified as spam several other times.

Read the rest of the article…

Free Job Search Help

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I’m excited to announce the launch of Career Hub’s Insiders’ Guide to Job Search!The book, which features in-depth job search advice from 17 career marketing experts – including me, Wendy Terwelp — is available for download now.

Career Hub founders Louise and Phil Fletcher put this book together because they know many job seekers feel lost when they start out on their search. Since job seekers put all their time and energy into making their employers successful, they’ve had neither the time nor the need to keep up with the latest in career search strategies.

Insiders’ Guide contributors are career coaches, recruiters, consultants, business executives, and resume writers with valuable knowledge to share. Louise asked each of us to contribute to this free eBook in order to share what we know with those of you working your way through the job search process now (or who plan to do so in the future).

Please feel free to share the book. And tell Career Hub what you think, either by email or in the comments. Career Hub plans to issue more free eBooks and your feedback will help make them as useful as possible.

Employer branding by Customer Service

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Courtesy of Kevin Wheeler, ERE Daily

Idea #5: Develop impeccable customer service. This final tip is my old favorite, as you should never make a candidate have to call you. Get back to candidates the same day as the interview. Give them honest assessments and feedback. Provide information immediately. If you are having them travel for an interview, fly them first class or put them up in a fancy hotel. Give them VIP treatment – limo, nice restaurant, whatever. The cost is minimal compared to losing them to a competitor. People remember good service, even if you don’t end up hiring them. They will spread the word and make sure that your company gets good publicity. We often treat minor customers better than candidates. Which, in the long run, is worth more? (Read the entire article here.)

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 Courtesy of Wendy Terwelp, Opportunity Knocks(TM)

This is a great tip. I was hosting a Rock Your Network (R) event at a local college. The event served both students and alumni. While networking, one attendee came up to me and said her dream job was to work at a vitamin and health product manufacturer in her area. When asked why she wanted to work there, she said how wonderful the Human Resources Manager was. How, even though she had not been selected for the position, he had the courtesy to call her and let her know and provided other positive feedback. Well, she was so amazed by this, she tells this positive experience to everyone she meets — even though she now has another job! I happen to know the VP of Human Resources at this company. He had no idea of the positive impact he had. He said, “I just felt it was the right thing to do.”

Spread the positive word.

Strong Brands Have More Brand Credits: A Starbucks Lesson

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John Moore – Marketing Profs Today
 

The Starbucks Coffee marketing research department is kept busy providing oodles and oodles of insights into the Starbucks brand through yearly brand audits. And take it from this former long-time Starbucks marketer, the company learns a lot from these studies.

However, when it comes to measuring and managing the Starbucks brand on a daily basis, the Starbucks marketing department generally relies on a much simpler method—a brand checkbook.

Get the full story.