.:BRANDEVELOP:. FIVE DISCIPLINES TO CREATE A MARKET LEADER

20 Fresh and Inspiring Annual Report Design Ideas for 2010

brandevelop — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:18:28 +0000

An Annual report is a comprehensive report on a company’s activities throughout the preceding year and are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the activities and financial performance of a company or organization. Since the core of an annual report are mostly numbers, designing an annual report thus require extreme attention to detail and a large amount of creativity in presenting numbers in an interesting way. Read Best Design News

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What Kind of Product Design UK Organisations Invest in Today

brandevelop — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:12:27 +0000

By Gino Hitshopi

Ever since World War Two, the role that product design has played in modern society has increased greatly. Of course, in decades before that there was also a need for product design. UK, European and American – in fact every nation on earth went about creating products to be consumed in the post war posterity. Everyone had more cash and more leisure time, and so there was a significant increase in demand for things to play with and things to do to fill it.

The process of product design is not an easy one. It is such an open ended process, and coming up with an idea that really works is often difficult – an idea that people will see the value in and wish to purchase. There are a huge range of aspects to consider when coming up with a new product. The core idea is really what everything else is based on; if this is flawed, then it doesn’t matter how pretty the product is – it will simply not sell.

So a great idea is crucial to product design. UK based companies in this sector have long been industry leaders in inventing products for the public that have proven to be hugely popular. Although Britain has produced many of the key inventions of the 20th Century, they do not always capitalise on them. There are many cases of inventions being taken on by non UK companies and then those companies have gone on to capitalise on the invention.

One example of this is when the old British Rail were developing tilting trains in the 1980s. They had come a long way and had even built a working prototype. This was developed in the same way that Concorde or the Intercity 125 was developed – namely by state funding. But Margaret Thatcher chose to cancel the project branding it too expensive. The technology was sold to an Italian firm who now sell British train companies tilting trains.

While capitalism might have its merits, there is certainly an argument for saying that the ‘quick profit’ mentality does not lend itself to long term development goals. Only huge firms like BAe can afford the huge amounts needed to create new pieces of military product design.Today, we rely on private finance to develop product design projects in the UK and this seems to work for small or medium sized projects but works less well for large projects which need a huge cash injection with guarantees that only governments can make.

How to Make Money by Publishing eBooks for the iPhone

brandevelop — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:44:49 +0000

By: Christopher Stolee

The success of eBookshas been an on and off thing for the last decade. Different readers and formats come and go, with Amazon’s Kindle system looking like it might have some staying power with over 225 thousand titles listed as of May 2009.

Now you can add the iPhone and its buddy the iPod Touch as viable competitors to the Kindle for publishing eBooks. The iPhone has many eBooks available free and for purchase from the iTunes App Store but in addition there is the new Kindle app for the iPhone and iPod Touch which gives readers access to the whole Kindle library without needing to have the Kindle reader.

For aspiring writers and authors who are already published, getting your eBooks listed for sale with Amazon and Kindle is a great way to start. Your eBook can be uploaded and listed without much time and cost, and Amazon will pay you a royalty of 35% on each eBook sold for Kindle. The drawback? There are only about 500 thousand Kindle units on the market so far.

Let’s contrast that with publishing your eBook for the iPhone and iPod Touch using your own iPhone app. You will first have to find a qualified iPhone developer to create your eBook app. There will be an upfront cost to develop your application and the time to get your eBook listed in the iTunes App Store can be several weeks. On the plus side, Apple takes only 30% of the sale price, leaving you with 70% vs. the 35% you get with Amazon/Kindle. And, remember that the iPhone and iPod Touch have a combined 40 million users vs. just 500 thousand for the Kindle.

There are also strong rumors of an upcoming super-iPod Touch, tentatively called the iPod MediaPad, that will be just under the size of the Kindle yet will have a larger screen with HD Video capability and full touchscreen keyboard – perfect for reading eBooks in addition to everything else the iPod Touch already does.

There are definite advantages for publishing your eBook with Amazon for the Kindle and there are also advantages for publishing your eBook for the iPhone and iPod Touch using a custom iPhone app. Authors who are looking to monetize their publications should seriously consider making use of both the Kindle and iPhone publishing platforms.

The best billboard world wide!

brandevelop — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:30:40 +0000

70 Awesome Billboards From Around the World (SUPER GALLERY)

(TREND HUNTER) Outdoor advertising can be a phenomenal way to draw attention to a brand, but if you want your billboard to attract potential customers, you’re going to have to do more than plunk down a standard high… [More]

How I Use Social Media to Promote My Blogs

brandevelop — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:14:12 +0000

Does An Idea Have Value?

brandevelop — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:11:19 +0000

A similar question was recently posed in a online discussion. Some people answered this question quickly by saying that ideas are worth absolutely nothing until someone puts money down on the table for them. I wholeheartedly disagree. Value is not just about dollars and cents. Value can be about potential – for change, innovation, meaning, emotion, function, or design. Even in the context of business, these elements, especially in today’s economy are the keys to business success. It’s the businesses that understand that, the ones that have the intuition and sense to see and believe in that potential, that will be the ones that move on to create the future in business world.
Read More: http://bit.ly/7c2nZN

A Blog’s Role in Building Your Brand

brandevelop — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:30:59 +0000

As we have all seen over the past few years, blogs are popping up everywhere! Everyone from the famous Hilton Hotel chain to the cat lover around the corner from you are launching their own piece of the blogosphere.

Why are they doing it? Well for many reasons….but the ones you are probably interested in is the fact that they are top credibility and customer relationship builders for businesses and create many new opportunities to grow your business.

So, let’s get down to basics…and I do mean basics (anyone familiar with the blogging platform – avert your eyes now).

A blog is basically an online diary where you can share your opinions, expertise, favorite videos, relevant pictures…basically anything that you want to communicate to your target market of readers. What makes it different from your commerce website, is that the language is more conversational and should inspire comment and conversation with your readers.

As a business person, think about a blog as a conversation starter with your customer. Every time you write to your customer (by posting a note or article on your blog) you are blogging. As you are the author of your blog postings, you are considered a blogger. I share this with you because sometimes the above “blogging lingo” can overcomplicate such a simple concept, so it is best to understand these terms before you dive in.

Blogs allow your customers and prospective customers to learn more about you and your business as well interact in real time, through commenting on your posts. The by-product is that when you share your expertise with the masses, you build your credibility in your industry. And best of all…it can work as a direct funnel of pre-qualified leads directly to your website.

These are the steps to get started:

Using their ready-made design templates, choose a suitable layout for your blog (make sure to use one that fits your message and topic….so no puppies spilling out of baskets if you are a chain of funeral homes)

And then start posting!

Ok, simple enough. But what the heck do you write about? The simple answer: anything that is related to your business or area of expertise. If you are an economist, write about some of the recent advances in economic policy. If you own a computer software company, share ten tips to a faster desktop computer.

A great way to easily generate activity on your blog is to look at every piece of information that you have written in the past (articles, ebooks, marketing materials, brochures, company bios, etc) and see if you can recycle it! Post it on your blog and you have instant content!

Now that you have a site, design and content…it is time to let people know it exists. Let everyone know about your little piece of heaven on:

Your email signature

Your company website

Social Media Networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Xing)

Use Digg and Technorati to share your stories

Send out an email blast to your database

Anytime you write an article for anything online, make sure to add the link to your blog…even in discussion rooms and message boards

Now that you have people coming, make sure that you write new blog postings packed with useful information at LEAST twice a week. The trick to effective blogging is not to do 100 posts a week, but to pick a number and hit it consistently. Once a week all you can spare, that’s fine if you make sure to do it every week.

Blogging does not create instant results, but as your audience of followers grow, so will the number of business opportunities. In my opinion, blogging is one of the crucial marketing mediums that every company and individual should not ignore. (Plus…it can be a lot of fun)!

What are your thoughts? How have you found blogging?

http://www.chrisgomedia.com

Born Stronger Brand on National TV

brandevelop — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:32:08 +0000

The newest released Brand of BRANDEVELOP, Born Stronger, a MMA Sportswear Brand is developing here is a Video from a HDnet which shows two MMA fighter for UFC, Todd Duffy and for the WEC, Jamie Varner. Both are where in the Born Stronger Fight Team at this time, which Christian Mikolasch as brand development manager for Born Stronger successfully contracted.

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