Franchisee has a lot to do about image. Many marketers would agree that image is the single most important part of branding. In the world of franchising and brand-name extension franchisors and franchising companies must pay attention to details to ensure that their brand-name stands tall in the eyes of the consumer and customer.

There is probably no easier way to destroy a brand-name or image of a franchising company in a particular marketing region than to have a drunk driving accident with the company’s name on it show up on the front page of the newspaper. It is for this reason and because I am appalled by drunk drivers that I decided to do what no other franchise or has ever done in the history of franchising; I specifically addressed the drunk driving issue in our company’s franchise agreements. Below you’ll find the clause that I inserted into each and every franchise agreement;

3.24.2 Drunk Driving

Franchisee agrees not to drink and drive a mobile car wash truck or drive a vehicle while towing a mobile car wash unit of the Franchised Business on a public highway when Franchisee may be over the legal limit of toxicity. Franchisee also agrees not to drive their personal vehicle in the manner described above. Such violation of the law resulting in the conviction of a felony or misdemeanor is subject to termination of the Franchise Agreement.

- - - - - - -

Perhaps this might be something you wish to address in your franchising company and you would be well advised to consult with a franchising attorney to see if this makes sense for your company as well. Perhaps they have a better idea of the legality of this issue. My thoughts, were not as much the legal issue as a statement of how I feel as the founder of my company about drunk driving and image. There are certainly other ways to address this issue such as a clause about moral turpitudes and your franchise attorney can better advise you on this issue, please consult with them, as all I am not an attorney. Do consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

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The power of Personal Branding is all around us. Recently, while
getting in touch with my inner child, I took a spin to my local theater to
catch the last part of the X-Men trilogy, “The Last Stand.”

Although the movie itself is targeted towards teens (what was I doing
there you wonder?), the message of embracing your unique gifts
applies directly to the principles of personal branding.

What makes Personal Branding different from Business branding is that
we’re connecting who you are with what you do in an
unforgettable way. This requires that we move towards positioning your
unique skills, talents, and super human traits that are unique just to you.

So how do you tap into those “special gifts” and set yourself apart in an
unforgettable way from all the rest?

Let’s take a cue from the characters of X-Men:

1. Understand, really understand, that your unique and special
talents, no matter how quirky, make you special not
unusual. In a world filled with massive competition, the thing
that helps you stand out are the talents and unique skills that no one
else can deliver quite like you. Each X-Men possesses their own
unique gift (a super power) from lightening speed reproduction, the
ability to walk through walls, to telepathy.

What’s your super power? Go back in time, get in touch with your inner
child and remember the things you were most passionate about. Did
you enjoy organizing tea parties? Were you the performer of the
bunch? Was your home the neighborhood favorite because you always
kept everyone comfortable? Are you communicating those special
talents in your business or hiding them?

2. Know that setting yourself apart takes courage. It sounds a
little new agey but the truth is when we free ourselves from our own
limitations, we make others uncomfortable. In the world of branding,
those that are uncomfortable with your unique traits are simply not
intended to work with you.

A clear and concise personal brand not only allows you to communicate
your unique edge but you do so to your ideal clients. Your ideal clients
are those that you “get” and that “get” you. Isn’t that what we’re all
looking for?

Even in the world of Marvel comics, you find the struggle between
conforming and innovating. In life, as in comics, being unforgettably
distinctive and innovative wins! The question is, are you willing to take
the last stand?

3. As competitive as the marketplace is today, there is more than
enough room for everyone. The key is to identify your brand
essence, communicate that clearly to your ideal target and watch the
Law of Attraction work its magic. We’ve long experienced a shift in the
economy in which traditional ways of selling are no longer effective.
Although an overused adage, it’s true that we do business with people
that we know like and trust and we’re making those judgments quickly,
within mere seconds. Therefore, we are searching for those people that
immediately relate to our needs and are in it to be of service versus sell
us.

Our super human powers come disguised in many forms. Like the
character Storm, you may share the incredible ability to enter any
environment and make it magical - changing mood and thought.
Perhaps like Wolverine, you possess that unshakable warrior-like
ability to dust yourself off and regenerate no matter what the obstacle.
Or, maybe you have the uncanny gift of laser-focused intuition and can
read people exceptionally well like Professor X.

Whatever your gift, embrace it with courage, shout it from the roof tops
and remember that like all X-Men, your super powers are what make
you more than merely normal, they make you uniquely special!

2006 Copyright, Liz Pabon. All rights reserved.

About the author: Liz Pabon, “The Branding Maven,” is
inspiring, motivating and empowering - but most importantly, she’s
effective.

A speaker and author on the topic of personal branding, Liz
delivers insights and principles that are proven to achieve WILD
SUCCESS.

Liz publishes the weekly Keys2Success ezine. If you’re ready to
ATTRACT amazing clients, set yourself apart from the pack, make a lot
more MONEY, and have a lot more FUN in your small business, get
Liz’s FREE WEEKLY TIPS by going NOW to http://www.thebrandingmaven.com!

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“What have you Googled lately?” Ask anyone that question 10 years ago, and you would have gotten a strange look. But now, Googling is a part of life. When we need something, increasingly, we search for it on the Internet.

From a branding perspective, Google has much in common with the Kleenex’s, Xerox’s and Rollerblades of the world. It’s a brand name that has become the name for a categorya far cry from the time, not that long ago, when only the urban hipsters with Tony the Tiger shirts knew what Google was.

The Yellow Pages may not be gone, but their star is fading quickly as more and more people turn to Google (or other search engines) when they need to find a product or service. Why? Better, more complete and up-to-date information. No contest. When someone looks up a company in the phonebook, they get their address, phone number and maybe some flashy ad graphics; depending on how much money they spent on the ad. On a Google search, they get a link to the company’s website, where you can find as much information on a company and its offerings as you need.

For things like books, tickets and music, Googling will often lead to an instant purchase if the price is right. But even for more “considered purchases,” where one competes on more than just price; Googling is often the first research step buyers take to arrive at a decision. They search keywords and combinations of keywords, comparing each set of results to the next, looking for the most relevant information.

In a perfect world, people would systematically study three to five competitors in a selection set, write down the pros and cons of each and come to a calculated decision. But a perfect world isn’t the real world. Here’s what happens: if a search result looks promising, the buyer will click through to the company’s website and investigate the possibilities of a match further. If it looks like a fit, case closed. Customer won. No
further research requiredeven if someone’s out there with a better deal waiting.

This is why being on this “short list” of high-ranking search results is imperative in this day and agethe higher the better. Top rankings give you the chance of having prospective customers knock on your virtual door, knowledgeable about your offerings and eager to buy before you ever say a single word to them.

Don’t be ashamed of self-Googling

Come on, you know you’ve done it: typed your name into an Internet search engine such as Yahoo or MSN. Don’t feel embarrassed. We all do it. It is, after all, interesting to see what others are saying about you.

In a business context, it’s not narcissistic at all. It’s smart, especially when you’re trying to build your brand online. But besides looking for your specific name, try looking for your category. For instance, if you’re a Denver widget maker, look up “Denver widget” or any other combination of keywords or phrases relevant to your business. Where do you rank? Top two? Top 10? Top 1000? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the top five results will get a lot more clicks than Numbers 75-80. Are you where you want to be?

How top-ranked websites get their positions

Especially for the most competitive keyword searches, companies must engage in a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, which encompasses strategic smarts, hard work and clean code.

How search engines rank your websites

Computer programs called “spiders” are responsible for visiting, indexing and ranking web sites. Each search engine has its own spiders with somewhat differing methods for ranking the websites it finds, and there are strategies you can use to make yours more appealingand also mistakes that can negatively affect your rankings.

4 SEO Urban Legends

Legend #1: You can muscle your way into top rankings. Maybe in 1999, but not anymore. Simply repeating a bunch of hidden keywords on your page or in your META tags no longer fools the search engine spiders into giving you high rankings. Algorithms that power the software behind these spiders have become much more advanced, and employing tactics like this will more likely hurt your rankings than help them.

Legend #2: It starts and ends with traffic. Many people will click themselves repeatedly in the hopes of boosting their search rankings. However, this is a futile effort because spiders don’t care one bit about traffic.

Legend #3: I can get rankings cheap from those nice folks sending me all those emails. If you fall for one of those spammer schemes, you deserve to be ripped off! Seriously though, you’d be paying good money for a clerical job you could easily do yourself. But even if you did do it yourself, you would run the risk of getting even worse rankings. It’s like membership at Augusta Nationalif you say you want it, you won’t get it. Search engines regard repetitive submissions as desperation, which they reject wholeheartedly.

Legend #4: A Search Engine Optimization service guaranteed a Top 10 position on Google. In short, nobody can legitimately do that. Such guarantees are a telltale sign of snake-oil salesmanship. Here’s how the scam works: technically, they live up to their end by getting you top billing on a search term of their choosing, which is so specific to you that only your mom would likely search on it.

Smarty-pants spiders

Search engine optimization is far more complex than it’s ever been. The obvious shortcuts to great search engine rankings have long since been identified and shut down by the search engine companies. These days, high rankings have much more to do with the structure of your HTML code, your acumen at avoiding “trip wires” that send spiders away, where certain keywords appear on a page, how you use JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets and where your formatting instructions appear in relation to your website copy. If you used a WYSIWYG code-writing programsuch as Front Page, GoLive or Dreamweaveryou almost certainly will get a much lower score from the
spiders.

It really does take a team of people, like the kind we have at Brand Identity Guru, dedicated to monitoring the everyday changes on the battlefield to maintain a high-ranking web presence. And it does change frequentlysearch engines are notorious for changing their search algorithms often.

What about pay-per-click?

Organic (”free” or “natural”) rankings are completely different from sponsored (”pay-per-click” or PPC) links. PPC can be an effective part of a brand’s overall online marketing strategy, and a lot professional SEO companies work with clients to design PPC campaigns that are both cost-effective and eye-catching. But PPC won’t substitute for SEO. High positioning on a relevant keyword search on Google, with its reputation for returning highly relevant results, bodes well for your brand in a way that sponsored links just can’t. However, neither is it wise to engage in an all-SEO, no-PPC strategy. Serious online brand marketers get the best results with a comprehensive strategy run by professionals with both the branding and technical know-how to determine the right mix of the two.

Yes, it’s complicated.

But you get back a lot in return for your investment of time and money. A more “Googleable” online branding strategy will quickly yield improved sales and a more visible brand on the web, which, in turn, will also positively affect your bottom line.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm located in Boston, Massachusetts.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

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