Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning to increase the affection that prospects and customers feel toward your business. Why?

You work hard getting the right cover message and words for your brochure. Now, you want to give it a look, an image. Why a look? Most consultants see themselves as hard working and pragmatic. They believe the look of their materials is unimportant. After-all, clients are hiring expertise not looks, right? Not so! People buy people first, ideas second and things third. Your brochure represents you. It is you when you're not around.

A rough guide to corporate identity The tabloids report the millions spent by large corporate companies on their logos as a scandal... Those small swathes of colour adorning British Airways' tail fin, ICI's letterhead or Sainsbury's checkout seem to come at a huge price. So do these companies have too much money and not enough common sense? Are they victims of designer indulgence, or are they getting a good deal?

Why pay a high priced PR agent when you can get free media placement to promote your product, service, or book? Follow these top ten tips for 2005 and it willbe your most profitable year yet! 1. Write an attention grabbing headline. Realize that your headline must immediately"hook" a busy producer or editor at first glance. If your headline doesn't hook them, they won't read further. 2. Be certain that your book is appropriate for the target audience.

So... how have you been building your brand lately? Now, I'm writing this in my best Barry White voice... "How'syour Brand Lo-o-o-o-o-ve, baby?" It may sound obvious, but increase Brand Love by branding better. Branding your business better will help you increase awareness,attractiveness, and affection of your prospects (so they becomecustomers), current customers (some people call them clients),and employees (yup, they need to be sold on you, too).

Branding is one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more unclear.

One of the prime motivating factors in the purchase decision making process is "trust". A consumer will at some point for however long or short of a time, ask the question, "Can I trust this company/person/product?"

"Can you hear me now?" You'd be hard pressed to find someone in the US who doesn't know the company behind that question. So why do big companies, like Verizon, hammer us with the same message over and over? Because it works. And it can work for your company too. But it takes time and repetition to get your message out and heard by your target market.

Marketing potential of any product is based on recognition and quality. Name based recognition happens with a variety of products. We have Paul Newman salad dressings, Robert Redford productions, George W. Bush policies, and Oprah Magazines; the list goes on. Each of these has a unique emblem of success, their name and face. No other product can compare; no other is similar.