The Building Blocks of Visual Vocabulary: Flexibility

The Building Blocks of Visual Vocabulary: Flexibility
Just like the sidekicks help out a superhero, your Visual
Vocabulary together with your logo helps put the kapow into
your brand identity.

These Visual Vocabulary "sidekicks" are the graphics, font
styles, colors, and layouts you use in your materials, and
even the type of paper you print your materials on.

One of the best features of a Visual Vocabulary is its
flexibility.

It's important for a small business to use the same logo
for the life of the business. Using the same logo will
improve the memorability and appearance of stability of
your business. By using a Visual Vocabulary in conjunction
with your logo, you'll be able to have a flexible set of
visual elements in your brand.

There are several reasons why you might want to change your
Visual Vocabulary elements. There may also be circumstances
where you want to use different Visual Vocabulary elements
to distinguish your offerings from one another. Some of the
main reasons we recommend switching out your Visual
Vocabulary include:

- To make better use of the limitations of the media that
you're using. You might limit your color palette to 1 or 2
colors when printing materials to lower the production cost
on those materials. When designing a web site, you might
use a different set of fonts to increase compatibility and
on-screen legibility. If you're printing an ad in the
newspaper, you might want to use a simpler photo than if
you're printing a high-quality brochure because of the poor
print and paper quality in the newspaper. A Visual
Vocabulary enables you to create the best design under each
production circumstance.

- To distinguish one marketing piece from another, or one
product line from the next. Imagine that you're at a trade
show, laying all of your marketing pieces out at your
booth. If you stick with the same design template on all of
your pieces, they'll blend together and a passer-by might
not think that you have much to offer. They may just pick
up one flyer, and if they don't get the right one for their
needs, they won't call you to buy.

Making your materials or different products or services
look visually different will make the true breadth of your
offerings immediately apparent. Even if you don't display
at a trade show, distinguishing each offering will make it
easier for clients and prospects to see what you can do for
them.

This can be as easy as using different color palettes,
fonts or photos on different materials. To create materials
that stand out even more, or have greater distinguishing
characteristics, consider creating whole new layouts for
different pieces. The consistent logo will hold the brand
together nicely.

- To update your graphics to keep up with design trends.
Just like fashion, popular design trends come and go. One
season will be marked by bright colors and clean lines. A
few years later everything will be designed in muted colors
with elegant patterns. To keep your materials fresh, follow
these design trends and apply them to your materials when
they're appropriate and a good match for your brand.

- To avoid Entrepreneurial Boredom. Business owners move at
a fast pace, and entrepreneurs - especially owners of
one-person businesses - tend to spend a lot of time working
with and reviewing their marketing materials. These two
factors together combine to create "Entrepreneurial
Boredom" - where the entrepreneur becomes bored with their
designed materials and gets anxious to create something new.

Entrepreneurial Boredom is actually one of the most common
reasons small businesses want to redesign their logo.
Changing a logo takes a lot of time, money and work - not
to mention redesigning all of your other marketing
materials along with it. This is probably unnecessary
particularly when you consider that no one else has looked
at your company's logo as often as you have. You're
probably the only person who's tired of it.

Instead of redesigning your logo, you can mix up your
marketing materials by changing out your Visual Vocabulary
elements. That way, you can create materials that look new
and different while still keeping the memorability and
consistency of your logo (which is the foundation of your
brand). Changing the Visual vocabulary enables you to
create new, fresh materials and to make your marketing look
different when you start to think they're bland or old
fashioned.

The flexibility that your brand gains by pairing a Visual
Vocabulary with your logo makes your brand timeless. Your
logo, the superhero of your brand, can stay the same,
saving the day by giving you the benefit of having a
consistent brand foundation. At the same time your Visual
Vocabulary "sidekicks" can change based on the media you're
using, the product or service offering you're promoting,
current trends, or just to keep you from getting bored with
your own materials. All of these capabilities will help
your brand to weather the years gracefully, and to help
your business to stand out from its' competition.

----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big
visibility for small businesses. As the owner of elf
design, Erin is passionate about helping her clients stand
out in front of their competition and attract more clients.
Her "Define Your Difference Branding Workbook" will help
you with your brand definition - the most important step in
the logo design process.
http://www.elf-design.com/products-define.html

Flexible Pouches Stand-Up To Maximize Shelf Appeal

Flexible Pouches Stand-Up To Maximize Shelf Appeal
Today's retail markets are finding endless benefits to
using stand up pouches as they have maximized how products
can be displayed at retail stores. With the different types
of material structures available you can package food
products, liquids, chemicals, etc.

Pouches use much less material than other traditional
packaging methods like corrugated cartons or laminated
boxes. Pouches can be customized to fit any of your needs
but you need to understand why stand up pouches can be so
beneficial to your business. Once you really understand how
they are made, as they can be cheaper and run more
efficiently than you may think.

The first thing to remember stand up pouches is that they
are made up of co-extruded material from 3- layer, 5-layer,
7-layer, 9-layer or the material can be a single mono layer
and laminated with a number of other film structures from
p.e.t., nylon, metalized p.e.t., foil etc. They can be
printed any color up to 10 color line print to 10 color
process print with your logo or design, so the potential to
really make an impact on retail shelves is very high.

Pouches are made from a continuous web of material where
the first step in manufacturing process of a stand up pouch
happens when it goes through a set of plows that folds the
material into a w-shape guesset into the bottom so the
pouch will be able to stand up. Now if you want a
re-closable zipper as part of your pouch it is sealed on
the inside of the face of the web near the top edge of the
material. Re-closable zippers are the most common method,
but spouts, perforations, and other re-closable openings
are also available.

Once the gusset is formed vertical seals are then made
along the pouches side and the re-closable zipper is
pressed into the same area to seal the ends and flattens
out. The laminated pouch is then cut apart vertically
through the center of the of the side seals to create the
finished stand up pouch.

After the product is dispensed into the pouch it travels
thru the filling station where the re-closable zipper is
closed and the pouch is sealed above the zipper.

Stand up pouches are becoming more and more popular options
for liquids, dry chemicals, pet foods, personal care
products, granular products like cereal, sugar, salt.

The stand up pouch is very user friendly both for consumers
and to help reduce packaging cost.

----------------------------------------------------
http://www.prflexbag.com

Achieve Online Business Success Faster

Achieve Online Business Success Faster
There are 2 ways to really learn enough about online
businesses to start your own and be successful. You have
to either spend years, or sometimes even decades learning
everything yourself from experience (this can also be quite
expensive) or you can search for people who are already
successful and learn what they do and how they are do it.
Since you probably don't want to spend 6 years getting the
same knowledge you could get in 1 year or less, this
article will focus on the second option. In this article,
I will discuss tactics to start learning from others to get
the experience needed to be successful with online
businesses.

Now on the surface it sounds pretty easy, but unfortunately
it's really not. I recommend instead of just following one
successful person that you learn from several. Luckily the
internet has made learning from others easier than it has
ever been.

If you were learning from someone about a traditional
offline business, you would look for someone you could
spend hours with every day. You could volunteer to help
them with their business and in return learn almost
everything about it. With online businesses things are
slightly different.

Your best bet is to find several successful online business
owners that are doing things similar to what you want to do
(or are already doing). Visit their websites often and
subscribe to their email lists and see how they handle
their business. Pay attention to how they send emails and
how they sell products.

Although this doesn't really give an accurate picture of
what's going on behind the scenes with this persons
business, some aspects do seep through the emails and you
will be surprised at what you learn.

If you can afford it, I would recommend even buying some of
their products if possible or joining their network
marketing company if that's what you're interested in.
This will allow you to learn how they handle their new
members, customer service and their follow-up techniques.

Successful people have a lot in common. Learn to take
advantage of this. Don't just track one person, buy one
person's products, subscribe to one email list and learn
from one person. Subscribe to 5 to 10 lists and buy from
the ones you are really interested in learning more about.

Over time you will start to build a real picture of what it
takes to be successful. You'll begin to understand what
decisions they make, how they act, how they react, how they
present their products and more.

The more you know about multiple successful people, the
brighter and more obvious pattern of success you'll begin
to see and be able to follow, and you will also be more
able to avoid the false indicators along the way.

Start now by looking for 5 to 10 successful people in your
online business field of interest, subscribe to their lists
and just watch. Soon you will understand why certain ads
work, why they write in the style they do, what they do to
get people to take action, who they work with, and who they
avoid.

----------------------------------------------------
Casey Dunham is a successful online business owner and
marketer. Casey prides himself on helping others find the
best way to achieve the financial and time freedom that
owning an online business offers.
Would you like to use the power of the internet to earn a
full time or part time residual income from home? Visit
http://www.GreatOnlineBusinesses.com

Career Success - 5 Good Reasons to Train Co-Workers When Training is Not Part of Your Job

Career Success - 5 Good Reasons to Train Co-Workers When Training is Not Part of Your Job
Career success involves more than going to work expecting
to perform the regular duties listed in your job
description. Just doing your job is part of the
work-for-pay deal you made with your employer.

For some, the day will come when the boss asks for more.
For example, you'll be asked to train others in a
particular function, perhaps even your own job! It means
more work, that isn't part of your current role, for the
same pay. Should you be professional and accept the
training assignment or be assertive and refuse to take it
on unless they pay you extra?

Let's look at this situation a little more closely. There's
more to it than first meets the eye. Here are 5 really good
reasons you should always accept, especially when training
is not your job!

1) Your paid job exists to further your employer's
interests. Hopefully the employment relationship is one
where both of you get as much as you need and little you
don't.

There's nothing wrong with drawing lines in the sand if
you're happy playing in a smaller sandbox indefinitely.
However, if the employer is not asking you to do anything
illegal, unethical, or immoral you should give training
others your best shot without expecting extra pay because
it's not part of your regular job.

You earn the right to get paid more for it by doing this
training so well it adds irreplaceable and/or immeasurable
value to your employer. Getting paid extra doesn't have to
be money, many other forms of compensation recognize
outstanding contribution "above and beyond" the call of
duty. Several of these are even more valuable than cash.

2) When an employer asks you to do something out of your
comfort zone, it usually means they see potential in you
that you may not have noticed yet and are willing to invest
in you more than others in the company. They gamble that
you will come through for them as needed. (After all, they
are taking a risk you'll deliver an acceptable result.)

3) When an employer asks you to take on training others
specifically, they are placing the future of their company
in the hands of your perceived abilities, experience and
expertise. If that's not a tremendous vote of confidence in
you, I don't know what is. Sometimes they've asked you
because they have big plans for your future; plans they
haven't shared yet.

4) Such an assignment exponentially increases your network
and visibility. Career success is not about who you know;
it's about who knows you! People you've helped train to be
successful make great allies and supporters for you in the
future. Nothing beats a word-of-mouth testimonial for your
professional contribution, support and expert knowledge.

5) Stepping outside of your defined job role is the fast
track to success. Quite often rapid career success happens
because someone in power was willing to take a risk on you
(sometimes a risk so large failure could cost them their
own reputations) even though the true extent of your
abilities is yet unknown and unproven.

Accept the challenge and you just might find many of the
career opportunities that bring you the greatest
satisfaction would never have been experienced if you
hadn't. There's a pretty good chance they were never on the
list of things you planned to do with your life.

We live in a world of unlimited possibility. Don't shut
yourself off with short-sighted thinking by not accepting a
great assignment just because no extra pay is offered up
front or it's something you've never done before and you're
afraid to give it a try.

Does fear play a role in holding ourselves back? It does,
but only if you let it. Successful people don't have more
courage than average people, they're just willing feel the
fear and take that next step into the unknown anyway. And
they are willing to do more than average people will not,
even when the payoff is not immediately apparent and no
extra cash is involved.

----------------------------------------------------
Download more free career tips and great advice at
http://www.smartstartcoach.com

Career advancement expert
and mentor Linda M. Lopeke is a leading authority on how to
succeed in the 21st century workplace and the creator of
SMARTSTART Mentoring Programs: Success-to-go for people
working @ the speed of life.

Create Business Success by Creating Controls

Create Business Success by Creating Controls
The successful operation of a business requires control by
top managers and owners. This is true whether we're
talking about a large Fortune 500 company or a small
privately owned mom and pop business.

Policies and procedures are put in place to give top
management confidence that the company's objectives are
being met. These policies and procedures are called
Internal Controls.

There are 2 main types of Internal Controls - Accounting
Controls and Administrative Controls:

• Accounting Controls are designed to safeguard the assets
of the company and to insure that accounting records and
financial statements reveal reliable information.

• Administrative Controls are designed to insure quality
job performance by employees with regard to company
operations and compliance with all applicable laws and
regulations.

The ultimate purpose of Controls is to prevent errors and
fraud and to promote efficiency. Controls should help to
eliminate or reduce surprises and keep the company moving
toward it's goals.

Controls include a range of responsibilities such as:
approvals, performance evaluations, separation of duties,
account reconciliations, verifications, authorizations,
passwords, etc. They also include policies regarding
employee conduct such as personal phone use, harassment, or
safety while traveling on the job for example.

But we have to acknowledge that no system is foolproof.
It's possible that conspiring employees can cover up small
or large embezzlement, no matter what policies are in
place. Controls can provide reasonable, but never
absolute, assurance to management

When establishing Controls, companies are always limited by
the reality of resource constraints. Controls must be
monitored and checked by supervisors and managers. So the
benefits of controls must be weighed against their costs to
the organization.

While Internal Controls are made up of specific policies
and procedures, they should be thought of as an ongoing
process. They need to be reevaluated and updated on a
consistent basis to accommodate for internal changes such
as departmental growth.

Control activities should be promoted throughout a company,
from the top levels of management down to entry level
positions. Each employee's job description should include
the responsibility to communicate operations problems,
violations of the code of conduct, or illegal activity to
their superiors immediately upon observation.

The best way to insure that errors and fraud don't occur is
to hire the right people. Bringing in employees who are
competent, honest and believe in conducting themselves with
integrity, is the best way for owners or managers to sleep
well at night.

"The individual is the central, rarest, most precious
capital resource of our society." -Peter Drucker
(1909-2005)

----------------------------------------------------
Laura Adams is the host of the popular MBA Working Girl
Podcast.
The content combines brainy business school theory with
real-world business practice from her career as a business
owner, manager, consultant and trainer. Subscribe for FREE
to this top-rated show and get the useful MBA Essential Tip
at
http://www.mbaworkinggirl.com