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A strong brand is important if you're selling products or services. It's even more important if you're selling a mission. Every non-profit has a brand. It's the emotional connection you have with your audience. It's your story and how you tell it.

Take a minute and think about all the different ways your brand interacts with your customers, prospects, suppliers and employees. Then, ask yourself, "Am I in control of these interactions?"

The best brands are simple. Simple to articulate. Simple to understand. Simple brand ideas result in powerful and memorable branding that people immediately connect with. Those ideas have to make it clear that the brand is different and relevant to their

We're feeling a little uninspired by the invariable New Year's resolutions that are popping up these days. Lose weight. Quit smoking. Drink less. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

In honor of Halloween, we've assembled some of the most spine-chilling, hair-raising, blood-curdling marketing tactics we've come across. Bottom line? This kind of marketing is scary. Scary, because of the damage this can do to a companies' brand.

What does your company's brand stand for? If that's a hard question for you to answer, then your company doesn't have a focused brand.

A solid brand can be the difference between business success and failure - especially in this economy. A strong brand helps you stand out from your competitors, adds value to your product or services, and helps you connect with your consumers.

What the recent swine flu outbreak and the resulting pangs of the pork industry teach us, is that there is no substitute for careful listening and quick action. You can NEVER be too prepared when it comes to upholding your brand's reputation in the market

The traditional marketing and branding model is changing. The standard model was a "one-to-many" proposition, where you try to get your message to as many people as possible.

As budgets tighten, some businesses are looking at ways to cut back on marketing. A better idea is to look at how to make your marketing work better. If you can find a more efficient approach, you may be able to trim your marketing budget.

When most people think about building their company's brand they think about investing in marketing and advertising strategies. Typically the focus is on brand awareness and brand perception. That's a good start.

Uncovering newsworthy story ideas is what sets your PR efforts on fire. But it's not always easy to recognize the newsworthy events going on in your world when you live and breathe them every day!