Yes, you heard right. I said, ‘personify’.  A brand is a living, breathing thing.  It has (or should have) a personality.  Done right, it has the power to draw in customers who relate to you, trust your message and most importantly, trust you with their dollars.  So here are our tips on how to personify your brand so you can connect and cash in:

Successful brands are really good at attracting people. They have certain qualities that people can relate to and want to associate with. Think about the brands that you feel you have a certain bond, or attachment to.  Why do you feel this way toward the particular brand?

Chances are these brands are appealing to you on some emotional level, due to the image that they are portraying. You can relate to the qualities of this brand, and therefore want to associate with them.

How can you do the same for your business, so that others are drawn in to your brand in the same way? You need to personify your brand. Here’s how…

1. Decide on a personality that you feel your brand should have.

What works for most small business owners is to brand the business around their own personality. There are times when this may not be appropriate, but in most cases this will be a good strategy as it ensures the brand message will be consistent and solid. Also, doing this will attract the kind of customer that you can easily communicate with and relate to.

Other than this strategy, you should also consider the positioning that you want your brand to have in the marketplace. What qualities should the brand have in order to match this desired positioning?

2. Think about your customer’s needs and wants – shape your brand around these.

For example, your business might be a law firm specialising in family law and often dealing with divorce issues. The communication in your brand messages should be empathetic toward this topic and the emotions that your customers/clients may be experiencing. Doing this will help your customers trust and connect with you.

3. Use colours and images that support the personality and brand message.

Get your brand colours and logo right, and use them consistently throughout all of your communication. Your logo and colours should support the overall personality that you have chosen, and should be applied in the same manner whenever you communicate with your audience. Doing this builds recall and recognition of the brand and leaves an imprint in your customers’ mind.

4. Interact.

Find your audience and start communicating with them. The more they see you, the more powerful your brand becomes. The internet is the perfect place to start. Look in social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, blogs, Youtube etc. There are millions of people participating in discussions on topics related to your brand and you should relish the opportunity to interact with them.  If you have a website, why not consider adding your own blog? You can post regular thoughts or open up discussions and share news, giving your customers a chance to read what you have to say and leave comment for you and others to consider and respond to.

5. Don’t be afraid to specialise

Figure out what it is you do best and focus on it.  Trying to be all things to all people is simply not going to connect at a sufficient level with anyone.

As digital photo frame technology improves, and home printers get smaller and smaller, Sony has taken then next step for users by combining the two devices into one.  The launch of the stylish S-Frame digital photo frame and printer (model DPP-F700) is set to be the first of many similar devices from technology companies around the world, with Sony hoping the device will bring the joy back to home photography and encourage users to once again print their precious memories rather than hiding them away on their hard drive.

The sleek and stylish device displays photos like most other digital photo frames through its vibrant 7-inch (measured diagonally) (16:10) LCD display with WVGA (800×480) resolution. Where it differs, however, is in its ability to allow users to edit photos using the intelligent built-in software, and print 6-inch professional quality 300×300 dpi photos instantly in just 45 seconds

The device features about one-gigabyte of internal storage and a handy auto-resizing feature that can downsize the photos and increase capacity of the drive, to allow you to store up to 2000 photos.

Most memory cards are supported, as well as USB, which allows photos to be imported and exported easily.

An auto-orientation sensor (much like that in an iPhone) senses which way the display is positioned, and rotates images accordingly.

A remote control comes with the unit, and allows the user to employ a host of functions without being near the display.

Supported file formats include JPEG, TIFF and BMP image formats.

The DPP-F700 digital photo frame-printer will be available in the USA for about US$200 in January. A release date for Australia is yet to be confirmed.

How ENVI Can Help

Organisations are facing increasing pressure to be responsible, transparent and accountable for how they perform in regard to sustainable development. The Government and Stakeholders are starting to demand to know what organisations have done and what they plan to do.

Government sustainability demands come in the form of new statutory requirements like the National Greenhouse Energy Reporting (NGER) Act and emerging requirements like the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). This means that companies are slowly needing to comply with more strict regulations with regards to the environmental impact of their operations.

As you would expect, a company’s print output plays a massive role in determining the amount of impact that they have on the environment.  Naturally, our clients are choosing to print on recycled stock when they can, but this isn’t always practical.

In our day to day trading, we have begun to notice some hesitance when it comes to choosing a recycled stock for use in an organisation’s marketing collateral.  Reasons we are being given are that the recycled stock is typically much more expensive than non-recycled, and the appearance or quality is generally lower. It is possible get the same finish as a non-recycled stock, but you really do pay a premium for this.  In recent years, a recycled appearance has been “trendy” and used quite effectively as a means to convey a “green” or humanitarian aspect to an organisation – but this is becoming less and less so, as the recycled look is becoming overused and is not always practical.

Introducing ENVI, the 100% carbon neutral stock. Wholly Australian made, the ENVI range is accredited “whole-of-life” carbon neutral by the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change.  With such accreditation you would think that this stock would carry a price premium, but I am happy to inform you that it doesn’t. In fact, it is priced quite similarly to non-carbon-neutral commodity stock.

The stock also carries the following benefits:

Genuine Scope 3 reductions

Under ISO standards, paper is a Scope 3 (indirect) emission. Using ENVI carbon neutral paper allows your organisation to demonstrate what it’s doing to tackle climate change by including it in Scope 3 NGERS and CSR reporting.

Economic benefits

Reputation benefits

Many organisations now recognise the links between sustainability, reputation, and financial performance.

Your organisation can use the Greenhouse Friendly™ logo on any item printed on ENVI carbon neutral paper. This allows you to display your commitment to tackling climate change on items like annual reports, marketing collateral, business cards, company stationery and more. Imagine how this could influence the way stakeholders perceive your organisation.

What the experts have to say

“Concerns about social and environmental issues provide opportunities for brands to connect with their consumers at a deeper level and, in doing so, gain competitive advantage and sales advantage” (Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever).

“Companies whose brands rightly become synonymous with sustainability will be the ultimate winners. By committing to the sustainability agenda, customers will soon learn to trust your brand and realise that you’ll do the right thing by society and the environment on their behalf. That’s when you can offer customers something truly valuable and you’ll be rewarded through their loyalty” (Adrian Hosford, Director of Corporate Responsibility, BT).

Independent research

Ninety one percent of respondents believe action by organisations to minimise their environmental impact improves their reputation (Quantum Market Research, October 2008).

Social benefits

Stakeholders expect organisations to contribute to local economies.

Using ENVI carbon neutral paper supports Australian industry. Locally produced ENVI is made by Australian Paper which employs over 1,400 people nationwide.

Environmental benefits

By using ENVI carbon neutral paper, your organisation is making a genuine commitment to tackling climate change.

All direct and indirect carbon emissions associated with manufacturing ENVI are offset in accordance with the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program. So, by using ENVI carbon neutral paper, your organisation is contributing to a reduction in global warming.

On application, AstroPrint can provide you with a calculation of the CO2e tonnes neutralised by using ENVI carbon neutral paper. This will help your organisation quantify it’s committment to the environment.

So if you’re interested in an affordable alternative to recycled paper when you next print with AstroPrint, make sure you ask us to prepare a quote for you on the new ENVI stock. You can view the full range of grades on the ENVI website http://www.envi.com.au/ENVI-Grades.aspx