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Showing posts from January, 2013

The Basics of Branding

Learn what this critical business term means and what you can do to establish one for your company. Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does "branding" mean? How does it affect a small business like yours? Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors'. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can't be both, and you can't be all things to all people. Who you are should be based to some extent on who your target customers want and need yo

Five Signs You're Too Smart For Your Job

Human beings are creatures of habit. We can fall into ruts very easily. One of the easiest ruts to fall into is to stay in a job too long, way past the point where the job holds any new challenges or learning experiences. We can see why people stay in their jobs too long. It’s a pain in the neck to change jobs for one thing, and we also wonder “If I take a new job, is it going to be a move out of the frying pan and into the fire?” The problem with that thinking is that we forget one vital point. The process of looking for a new job and getting it is an important learning experience in itself. Staying put in a job that requires nothing of you intellectually or creatively is not a disservice to your employer (as long as you’re doing your work) but it is a disservice to you. You deserve a lot more from a job than just a paycheck and a place to go during the day. You deserve to have meaty problems to solve and smart people around you to collaborate with. You deserve somet