It was a simple format.

Get the rulebook, build a fast car, find a good driver, put together a pit crew and go beat the other 42 teams. If you perform more consistently than anyone else – you win the championship.

Now, you have to get into the playoff (playoffs? you wanna talk about playoffs? playoffs – Jim Mora).  This still seems like a silly concept to me.  It also seems that you set unreasonble expectations in sponsors minds…”Mr. Corporation spending millions to sponsor our race team – you won’t be sorry when you see your car battle out for a championship in the “race for the chase”.  Reality is 32 teams lose before the end of the year.  I bet that helps them resign that big coporate sponsor.

Possibly the most surprising 180 degree turn was announcing that they want to see drivers show more “emotion” and for them to “mix it up” (for you non-race fans, that means, wait for it..wreck each other).

So now I am starting to compare NASCAR to the WWF.  It’s more about “the show” – it is no longer about racing.

If you would like to see actual racing, head out to your local circle track or better yet if you would like to be  a part of motorsports get involved with a local sports car club.  Many people have no idea what autocross is or know that there are open track days where you can take your street car in decent running order to a track like VIR and someone will teach you how to go fast.

I really love watching club races and other series like Koni Challenge or the 24 Hours of Daytona.  Now THAT is racing.

Some links to get involved.

www.nasaproracing.com
www.scca.org
www.grand-am.com

Okay, I’ll bail you out with one of the best definitions I’ve seen.  It comes from Marty Neumeier straight out of the pages of “ZAG.”

“A Brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product or service or a company.  It’s not what you say it is but what THEY say it is.”

<business owner hat> That is scary to think that it is what THEY think your are not what you tell them. </business owner hat>

Traditionally, you would simply advertise or tell THEM” who you are, what you do and how you do it.  Now, consumers are more savvy and less prone to react to traditional means of advertising.

How to affect that “gut feeling”

Here are some simple items you can use to your advantage to communicate your brand and leverage your brand equity to (here’s WHY you brand) delight customers so that MORE people buy MORE stuff for MORE years at a HIGHER price.

Checklist:

• Logo – visual representation of what you want THEM to think about you
• Slogan/tagline – a chance to describe what you do briefly and clearly
• Marketing materials – keep it consistent – what do you want THEM to think about you
• Employee training – are your employees clearly communicating your brand to THEM
• Website –vehicle for communicating your brand – again, keep it consistent
• Advertising – In many cases, telling THEM who you are still works
• Social Media – communicate with THEM, listen to THEM – let them know who you are
• Signage – vehicle for branding, keep it clear
• Network marketing/Social networking – vehicle for face-to-face branding
• Photography – visual, emotional elements you control.  A picture is worth…1000 words
• Design – Most SMB owners just let somebody else control this…LEVERAGE design – make it work for you!
• Copy writing – Words who do you say you are?  How well is it written?  Is it tailored to your readership

If you don’t take advantage of these items and use it to leverage your brand equity, then you will be wasting time, effort and money at each consumer touch point.

My advice:

Be uncommon. Tell THEM.

Spread the word about your company — not the SWINE FLU!  This nifty little bottle is available in scrubs, doctor/lab coat, business suit and activewear.  These can be had for as little as $1.65 per piece.  See the full specs at our vendor’s site.

Prospect walks into PRstore

Prospect: Can you create a brochure that matches my shiny new website?

PRstore: Sure.  Let’s look at your website…do you have a hi-res logo file?

Prospect: You mean, like a JPEG?  Sure!

PRstore: Well…a JPEG is a small file.  It works well for the web and is great for email signatures, but if you are going to try to PRINT a JPEG file, it is going to look really distorted.  What you need is a VECTOR file…

This is usually where we get that glazed over look.  And they respond with a “what’s that” or “no one ever told me I needed that”.

This post will be a quick, simple guide to file types you need as a business owner to protect and preserve your brand over ALL mediums you use.

LOGO FILES NEEDED:

1. JPEG – Also know as .jpg.  This is a smaller file to be used in email, homemade inkjet style materials and on the web.  The size of these files are usually 25kb – 300kb and are considered low res logo files.
2. EPS - Also know as .eps or Encapsulated Post Script.  This file is a true VECTOR image that can be scaled infinitely.  This is the file choice for W I D E format printers and is highly accepted as a hi-res logo.  The size of these files are usually in the 2MB+ size range.
3. AI – Also know as .ai or Adobe Illustrator.  This is a high resolution file used by designers.  These are great for print, web or wide format printing.  In most cases, these files are hi-res unless you have a low res proof.  The hi-res version should hover around the 2MB+ size range.
4. TIFF – Also know as .TIFF or Tagged Image File Format.  This file format is widely accepted as a  photograph file standard in the printing business.  These are not as widely used in “normal” business situations, but are typically larger files than JPEG’s and are popular among desktop publishers.
5. BMP – Also know as .bmp or Windows bitmap file.  This is an uncompressed file that is usually rather large.  BMP files are made with a program similar to PC-Paintbrush.
6. PDF – Portable Document Format or .PDF.  These files are created in one of Adobe’s creative programs.  The file size of these can range from a low res proofing file that is compressed to smaller 300kb file so they can easily be emailed to hi-res larger print ready files.  The rule of thumb for hi-res PDF’s are in the 2MB+ range.

So, if you are a business owner what do you need?  I would ask for someone to design my logo and deliver it to me in as many formats as possible.  However, I would say the .EPS, hi-res .PDF, hi-res .AI and .JPG are the most important.  Once you get a copy of your logo, make a back up copy and file it away for safe keeping.

Your logo and brand should be valued.  You paid money for it at some point and don’t want to have it “recreated” all the time becuase it is very likely there will be very small changes.  You will also want to know the PMS colors used in your logo so you don’t just use “blue”, instead you can tell them you want PMS Blue 2738!

Now that’s artfiles.simplified.

This blog will feature some different topics that we’ll cover such as:

• Relevant marketing topics like the Google-Twitter alliance and why you should think this is the biggest thing that has happened this year!
• Networking and how it can help your business. We will also be visiting networking events and giving our non-biased opinion on the pluses and minuses of each event we attend.
• Technology and how this can help entrepreneurs (or anyone) communicate with their target markets or just improve efficiencies.
• How To’s like videotaping a webinar and uploading it to Youtube.com or Vimeo.com
• Case Studies from our own clients and other projects we are involved with – learning from other is essential.
• LogoSTUFF Spotlight.  That’s right, we’ll probably shamelessly plug a cool new promotional item that will catch your attention and directly cause you to purchase like some kind of zombie!
• Solution highlights – we’ll also talk about how some of these solutions can help businesses, maybe you’ll be able to pick up a tip or trick that will help you.
• FINALLY! I’ll always try to leave you with a quote.  I love quotes and will try to pass along some of my favorites.

So, go to your Google Reader and drop my address in the block and follow me, we’re all in this together!

“Ideas can be life changing.  Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more idea.”

-Jim Rohn