Facing an economy that is more competitive than ever before, companies are turning to creative methods to promote themselves. Everyone loves to get something for nothing, leading many companies to run contests with prizes like electronics, cash, and vacations. Though a purchase may not be required to participate, entrants learn more about the company products or services and may soon become loyal customers.

Along the lines of “free stuff” are giveaways like bottle openers, t-shirts, and pens. The green movement is in full swing and products like organic clothing, seed packets, and reusable water bottles and lunch bags are proving to be popular promotional items. Some companies even emboss their logos on eco-friendly jewelry like watches. These make elegant gifts from one business professional to another. One of the newest environmentally conscious branded products is the reusable ceramic coffee cup, which can be used in the office, at home, or in the car.

People enjoy receiving things they can use so bypass the magnets and key chains and think practically. A USB drive is something any computer owner will find valuable. Flashlights and golf products like balls, bags, and tees present creative branding opportunities. Anyone who enjoys a cold beverage every so often will love a beverage holder or bottle of wine with the corporate logo imprinted on the label.

Food is always a big hit so consider iced cookies that feature the company logo in all its intricate detail. Through the wonders of technology, bakeries are able to scan the logo and get it onto the icing in an edible form. Businesses can also purchase products like handmade soap, lotion, and candles and apply their own labels to the items, advertising their company.

When the ideas seem to run dry, consider the activities and habits of the target audience. Beach towels, beach chairs, and step stools make memorable corporate gifts. Cold weather apparel like system jackets, gloves, hats, and scarves are the perfect way to market the company at sporting events and outdoor activities. Nearly any product can become a branded one if a business finds the appropriate vendor.

The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) portion of a website’s foundation must be considered first to develop essential keywords. These keywords are then used throughout the site copy, the attending blog, and the marketing articles which will proliferate incoming links, something the ever-hungry search engines love.

If a gorgeous movie star becomes severely ill, her beauty becomes unimportant. This same concept holds true for website development. By building the functionality first for a website, and then adding beauty – an appealing graphical look – secondarily, the purpose for having the website is well served.

Many people who read web pages and view their images are motivated by what they “like” versus what they “need,” so the key role of graphics assumes an importance right after functionality, SEO, and content. The content plus the graphics appeal are what leads to conversion on a site.

Your website is a marketing tool. It is the key way you gain presence and creditability on the internet. It’s the way you turn eye appeal into buy appeal. The appearance of your website is the representation of all of the ideas you want to put forth under the umbrella of your business and they deserve thoughtful consideration prior to the creation of a graphical appearance.

1. Have you defined your target market and do you know what will appeal to them visually?

2. What is the actual purpose behind your site? To sell, to entertain, to enlighten?

3. What is the product you are offering? How should it be positioned in the market and how should it look?

4. Is your graphics theme consistent? Is your branding carried throughout the site as well as in your product line?

5. Have you gathered fill in photos or created consistent graphics such as bullets that match in color and typeface?

The design of pages in a website must first be functional, and then have eye appeal graphically. A great web designer will use the appropriate software to permit all jpeg and gif files to either load quickly or to hyperlink the images to load in a new page. A great web designer will use alt tags to describe the images in the coding behind these images so that the search engine spiders and read them and rank the page accordingly.

Some key graphical elements that can be used in website design are:

1. Branding. Think of branding as predefining what a company is all about in the minds of its clients. It encompasses all the factors that makeup both the recognition and interaction parts of doing business with that company. Branding helps to establish a sense of perceived value for your company, your product and your delivery of a service. Simply by seeing your graphics pieces, people will begin to identify with what values you are striving to achieve.

2. Logo. Your logo should represent what your company stands for and what function it performs. The best logos are sophisticated and simple, and they are challenging to design. Your logo should have a strong, balanced image with no extras to clutter its look. Bold logos are easier to see than those with thin delicate lines.

3. Tag Lines. You would be well served to research the tag lines of other companies before you design your own. These few words can become part of the branding that tells people graphically who you are, what you do, and how you do it. My tag line is “Where Your Ideas Become Distinctive Designs.”

Try to keep the size of your web pages in the vicinity of 50K. When you hire a website designer, this size web page will still give a relatively fast download time on a standard modem, although dial up access to the internet has waned with the insurgence of broadband and FIOS. If your site or any of its pages loads slowly, you will have to ask your designer to size down the graphic images, replace them with a smaller images, or replace them with the HTML default bullets, horizontal rules, or colored heading text.

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A recent survey suggests that the UK public love the Virgin brand more than any other. A sample of 2000 adults responded by saying that they admire the Virgin brand ahead of brands like Sony and Tesco. HPI Research.

Though Branson is 60 and Virgin is in its fourth decade of business, both portray an image of energy and initiative. Branson is cool and irreverent. If he is not posing for his Virgin airlines ads on the tarmac of an airport with a bevy of beauties in his arms he is busy circumnavigating the world in a hot air balloon.

People associate the word ‘fun’ with the Virgin group. And a lot of painstaking effort has been put in by the chairman of the group to achieve this. So brand savvy and fun loving is Richard Branson that he doesn’t even hesitate to appear in the latest Bond movie just for a few seconds. In “Casino Royale” Branson makes a cameo appearance as a passenger passing through airport security. Do not be mistaken, this was not an act of buffoonery. Branson knew the reach of a Bond movie and his strategic appearance at airport security definitely reminded people about his own airlines – very shrewd strategy indeed to promote a brand.

Learning swimming within 15 days, on his own at the age of five to win a ten shillings bet that his aunt Joyce had set; starting the “Student Magazine” at the age of 16; selling music albums from the trunk of his car; and setting up more than 200 businesses till now – Richard Branson personifies unmatched character and enterprise. The success that his businesses enjoy today is the result of the assiduous building of his brand.

Richard Branson himself declared that he wants to make Virgin the best brand in the world. Probably that’s the reason he designed his brand name a little bit like Coca-Cola with a red color background.

Doug Dvorak is the CEO of DMG Inc., a worldwide organization that assists clients with productivity training, corporate humor and workshops, as well as other aspects of sales and marketing management. Mr. Dvorak’s clients are characterized as Fortune 1000 companies, small to medium businesses, civic organizations and service businesses. Mr. Dvorak has earned an international reputation for his powerful educational methods and motivational techniques, as well as his experience in all levels of business, corporate education and success training. http://www.dougdvorak.com

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