Category: General Interest

It’s not how smart you are, it’s—how are you smart? Memory is a superpower. —Jim Kwik

This is a powerful tip for learning from Jim Kwik of Kwik Learning.  Always study the basics. Mastery comes from focused, perfect practice. The FAST approach to learning provides a four-step approach to remembering. Then, you can hone your understanding. Mastery comes from focused, perfect practice. So learn fast and then take the time to master it.

FORGET

Empty your mind so you can refill it with learning. Forget what you know.  Forget your situation. One can focus well on seven things (plus or minus two). Be present to the new information with an open, childlike mind.

ACTIVE

What you put in is what you get out. Be involved. Take notes. A tip for notes:

Divide your paper in two. On the left side, capture impressions — note taking; on the right side, create implementation — note making.

STATE

Manage your state of being and your emotion. Be fascinated. Curiosity is best state of mind for learning. Some other ways of managing your state for optimal learning include exercise: As body moves brain grooves. Psychology is affected by physiology.

INVESTIGATE SUPERBRAIN YOGA—here are three moves to help Keep Your Brain Alive.
1- When you exercise, switch your right and left hand movements.
2- Grab opposing ear (right ear with left hand, left ear with right hand), and then do squats.
2- Turn palms at different times so they are moving at different rates or in different directions, or both.

Be a Thermostat, not a Thermometer. A thermometer is a victim – it just measures what is happening. A thermostat takes responsibility. It sets a temperature and the environment responds. It is the locus of control. Like with leadership, a thermostat controls focus. Set it. Make it happen.

TEACH

Share what you learn. This helps you learn faster. Learn as if you will teach it to someone else. Teach and you learn it twice.

Make your marketing message meaningful—in every way. To do this, every time, begin with the customer…

Know your audience. Your message for new customers might vary from that of a repeat customer. Reward loyal customers. Always make a returning customer feel they are being treated well. Word of mouth from a happy customer is your best marketing message.

…then follow these three C’s.

Keep your message clear, concise and compelling.

Make your benefit clear for your customer. Show them and tell them what your product or service can do for them. Answer your customers’ question: “What’s in it for me?” Tell it in a way that distinguishes your offer from all competitive options.

A concise message is to the point. In other words, don’t make your customers think. State your message in the most simple terms and in the most memorable way. Brevity will help memorability of your proposition.

Be compelling. Help the customer picture themselves receiving the goods or service. An image or a narrative can help them imagine selecting your offer and enjoying the benefits. Show the customer the “payoff” they will get by choosing your brand. Create contrast with other brands to amplify the point of difference your product or service provides. Contrast helps create value around your brand, giving customers a reason to choose you over a rival. And, it can help create a sense of urgency. Show it with a visual or paint a picture with words.

A great way to extend social media efforts is to re-purpose Twitter posts. You can do this on your website by embedding tweets which allows readers to interact with it as if viewing it on Twitter. To do this, find the tweet you want, expand it and click details. You will see the option “Embed this tweet” appear in a new screen. Copy the code and add it to your web page.

on #LinkedIn? follow Art&Industry for #Marketing & #SocialMedia tips & inspiration https://t.co/KI1O2Mu0pb pic.twitter.com/w7Pq5Wbn11

— Tamara Parisio (@tamaraparisio) April 27, 2015

Positioning is a facet of the marketing strategy that aims to give your product or brand a distinct perception—relative to competing brands—in the mind of the customer. An historic campaign for Avis reflects this: “Avis Is Only No. 2, We Try Harder.”

In developmental stages, determine the positioning you intend for your product or brand. Research and market feedback will help you discover if it is aligned with actual consumer attitudes. If not, then marketing messages can help close the gap or change perception.

Positioning is an art. Great positioning tells a compelling, attention grabbing story—a story that resonates with your audience.

—Rebel Brown

The positioning process begins with identifying a market problem or opportunity, then developing a solution—often based on market research, segmentation and supporting data. Once positioning is determined, it will help align and guide marketing efforts and business objectives. The perfume I use is the indulgent scent for pleasure seekers. Thus, the tone and manner of messages, images, events and PR are created to consistently express this in all communication.

Again, positioning is the perception of your product or brand in the mind of the customer. Perception is reality. Aim to establish the highest and best use for your brand among your audience. And, be open to emerging alternate audiences, too. Here are some examples of common positioning strategies and how they might translate in the marketplace.

It is important to use language correctly so not to diminish credibility of your content. Here is a tool to help guide the use of I (noun) versus ME (pronoun). Keep it handy till it becomes a habit.

Guide for the proper use of I vs ME.

“I” is the noun—refers to oneself as speaker or writer.  “ME” is the pronoun—refers to self as object of a verb or preposition.

RULE: If you can’t replace the “YOU and I” with “WE,” you’ve got it wrong. If you can’t replace “YOU and ME” with “US,” you’ve got it wrong. 

Thanks for meeting with HIM AND ME. (Thanks for meeting with ME. Thanks for meeting with HIM. Thanks for meeting with US.) vs HE AND I appreciate your time. (I appreciate your time. HE appreciates your time. WE appreciate your time.)

It is bigger than YOU AND ME combined. (It is bigger than ME. It is bigger than YOU.) vs YOU AND I are smaller than this idea. (I am smaller than this idea. YOU are smaller than this idea. WE are smaller than this idea.)

To YOU AND ME, this idea is big. (To ME, this idea is big. To YOU, this idea is big. To US this idea is big.) vs When YOU AND I succeed (When I succeed … When YOU succeed… When WE succeed…)

They will praise YOU AND ME for this. (They will praise ME for this. They will praise YOU for this. They will praise US for this.) vs The praise YOU AND I receive will be stellar (The praise I receive will be stellar. The praise YOU receive will be stellar. The praise WE receive will be stellar.)

Between HIM AND ME there is chemistry. (Between US there is chemistry. Between HIM & ME. Between ME & YOU. Between ME & HIM.) vs HE AND I share an office. (HE shares an office with me. I share an office with him. She shares and office with HIM AND ME. WE share an office.)

He took a photo of HIMself AND ME. (He took a photo of US. He took a photo of HIMSELF. He took a photo of ME. He took a photo of US.) vs HE AND I posed for a photo. (HE posed for a photo. I posed for a photo. WE posed for a photo.)

Essential to your marketing program success is alignment and integration of the “Four P’s” which are Product, Price, Positioning, Placement.

PRODUCT: It all begins with your product—that which you proffer. It could be a tangible item or it could be a service. Either way, it is important to define your product in terms of the problem it solves. For example, my Parfum lets me express myself in a scent and gives an aromatic influence to my day. It is designed, packaged, and presented to meet tangible and emotional needs.

PRICE: Next it is important to formulate your price. The value of your product to your customer is determined by weighing many variables. In addition to consumer factors, each of these need consideration:

1. product costs—you will need to cover costs in order to have a viable offer
2. profit target—what is the desired return you wish to achieve
3. positioning among competitive options—how your product compares to other choices your customer could make to solve the same problem
4. place of distribution—where your customer gets your offer is a frame of reference for pricing (i.e. convenience outlet, luxury venue, specialty store, etc.)

PROMOTION: This includes a range of activities to gain awareness for your product, to attract prospects and convert them to customers. This includes efforts at the trade and consumer levels: advertising, public relations, events, sampling, and collaborative offers among the possibilities.

PLACEMENT: Place of distribution can affect your overall marketing efforts. For instance my Parfum is available only via specialty stores so it is more expensive than an option I could find at the discount department store and the marketing message will need to deliver a promise of panache.

To best serve your marketing endeavors, the Four P’s need to be integrated and aligned. This will help focus marketing messages and determine other efforts to augment positioning (sometimes considered the 5th P, we touched on positioning briefly while considering facets of pricing). Positioning is how the customer sees your product among the options or solutions considered. The marketing mix must work to align customer perception with the desired reputation you wish to build for your product, brand or company.

I love a list. And here in brief is one from a podcast by Michael Hyatt with Michele Cushatt (find it here).

Here are the top ten mistakes bloggers make:

1. You don’t post enough.
2. You post too much.
3. Your posts are too long.
4. You don’t invite engagement.
5. You don’t participate in the conversation.
6. You don’t make your content accessible.
7. You don’t create catchy headlines.
8. Your first paragraph is weak.
9. Your topic is off brand.
10. Your post is all about you.

In a nutshell.

At times, it all comes together with an image—or five. The EDIT is a great tool for showcasing products, concepts, and how-go’s. Here are some EDIT’s created to showcase bling-around-the-collar BARKTORIALIST charms for pets and people.

Invite social shares for your next blog post or for a website page by creating a pre-populated tweet link. With this you can generate a hyperlink that automatically posts a twitter message when clicked. Try it!

1. To create a pre-populated tweet link URL, start with: http://twitter.com/home/?status=
2. Following the equal sign, add the text tweet message using the plus sign (+) for spaces
3. Add the URL, bit.ly link, and/or Twitter handle
4. If you include a hashtag, replace the pound sign (#) with %23.

Here is how the URL would look to add a tweet-it link to this post:

http://twitter.com/home/?status=Just+Tweet+It.+Check+out+this+great+twitter+trick!+http://bit.ly/1uLCiWP+via+@tamaraparisio

Tweet This!

Remember to test the URL in your browser before adding it as a hyperlink to make sure formatting is correct.

cu·ri·os·i·ty [kyoor-ee-os-i-tee] noun, plural cu·ri·os·i·ties.
1. the desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness.
2. a curious, rare, or novel thing.
3. a strange, curious, or interesting quality.
4. (archaic) carefulness; fastidiousness.

Curiosity drives us along a path of discovery along the way to discovery.

Tweet This: Curious people tend to embrace life more abundantly, have bigger dreams, and be more successful. #CreateAGreatDay

Ask the questions. What do customers want? What do they need? Success starts and ends with asking the right questions—and then asking more.

Explore relevancy, appeal, motivation, belief systems, trends, tendencies and more. What are people saying about your brand? And why? What is the perception of your industry? Where are the conversations happening? And when? Who is interested in what?

Answer the questions to yield unique messages that set apart your brand in the marketplace, extolling the key differentiating facet that will attract lifelong associations. Establish a meaningful connection. With research and insightful interpretation, determine effective ways to unite a person and your brand by responding to their desires.

Respond with insight, clarity, intention to show your expertise and attract attention. Forge a relationship. Build affinity. Ensure a positively personal brand experience.

Life is meaningful when you do something you love. Look into it.

Tweet This: “The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Albert Einstein #CreateAGreatDay

Indicative of how an image is planted and then blossoms in the world of your business, here is presented the further evolution of the Logo Design for Elissa Henkin M.A., Advocate and Educational Consultant. In this, the logo is incorporated in the design of business stationery.

Elissa Henkin M.A. | Stationery Suite

Three paper-based items are absolutely crucial to your presence in the marketplace: letterhead, envelopes, and business cards. Along with your logo, these items are the pillars of a well-defined identity.

Though seemingly ephemeral impressions, the subliminal communications value of elegant stationery must not be overestimated. The best stationery works hard to present your image and convey your values in a tangible way.

Traditionally, many of the world’s most successful companies have relied heavily on sharply-focused stationery. Whether you’re starting your business, building your business, or simply trying to stay in business, whatever your field, these three elements of corporate identity are vital for success.