Congratulations to this weeks geek Rinko. This weeks questions are…
1. What does RGB stand for?
2. How many colours are displayed on a VGA monitor?
3. What does CMYK stand for?
4. How many colours are displayed on a monochrome monitor?
5. Who invented Pantone colours?
When you are building a brand for your company you should decided if you want to represent your company with a logo or a mascot or both. Sports teams do a great job of having a logo and mascot combination that they use to brand in the public. The Canucks for example have the Orca logo and the mascot Fin who does public appearances.
If you currently have a generic logo and looking to re-brand an easy way to do that is to introduce a mascot for your company. The major benefit of a mascot over a logo is that people can identify with a mascot. A mascot can shake your hand, give you a wink or bring a smile to your face. Your logo will generate a response from a potential customer which will be different for everyone. A mascot can be adaptive to various people and generate a response you want based on their actions.
Choosing a mascot can be a hard thing. Choose the wrong mascot and you could end up loosing money. Taco Bell for example lost business when they introduced the Taco Bell dog. They sold a lot of bobble-heads but the sale of their products took a dive. On the flip side M&M’s sale increased when the 2 mascots were introduced.
To begin sit down and write down what description or action words you want your business to be known for. If you currently have customers then ask them what description and action words that come to mind when they think of your company. Take those words and brainstorm what type of mascot would best fit those keywords. I suggest choosing at least 3 possible mascots and poll people in your target market or current customers as to what they think. Try and get as much qualitative feedback as possible. Doing this should help you narrow down your choice to one.
Once you have an idea of what mascot you want seek out a designer to help you bring that mascot to life. I suggest having it sketched out so you have a drawing of it and then you can use various mediums to bring your mascot to life. I would suggest as your business grows your mascot should grow with it. Here is how you should build your mascot with a budget…
So if you are just starting out and have a limited budget I would suggest moving up as your budget increases.
What is your favorite mascot?
Time for another tour of the blogosphere. Enjoy!
Jonathan Morrow of Copyblogger tells us why valedictorians make lousy bloggers and why the blogosphere is better suited for class clowns. I personally still remember the valedictorian from my high school graduating class, but I have no idea who was the valedictorian from my university grad class. I do remember class clowns from both though.
Robert Janelle of Freelance Switch knows that the freelance life can be a lonely one, so it might be worthwhile to look into something like co-working. This is basically some office space that you can share with other freelancers, providing the same co-worker dynamic that you would have in a regular company office.
Stan Tonoski of Thinkreferrals Blog Network reminds us of the importance of keeping consistent with your business. This is not only important in terms of brand recognition, but also from a customer service standpoint. Don’t you hate it when you order the exact same thing from two Tim Horton’s locations, only to have two very different experiences?
Over at Killer Startups, they’ve come across a fun new website that pits your typing skills against other users on the Internet. Called TypeRacer, the speed of your typing dictates the speed of your vehicle, which is racing against other typists in real-time.
Last but not least, we have Stefan of Perfect Blogging. He’s providing an excellent guide that teaches you how to increase your income in eight steps. I think we can all stand to make a little more money and diversification of income sources is of paramount importance.
Attention bloggers if you have manually installed WordPress then you should immediately upgrade to 2.5.1. There are lots of bug fixes to 2.5.1.
Do not think about it or put it off. Your site is at risk so upgrade now.
For those who installed WordPress with Fantastico, Netenberg usually has the upgrade released a week or two later. We do post Fantastico updates on the blog so keep an eye open for that.
A cartoon created by artist Rob Cottingham.
If you have an idea for a future comic or would like to submit your own BlueFur cartoon let us know in a comment.
They say that there is no such thing as a free lunch. They also say that if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Such appears to be the nature of many CPA (cost per action) affiliate offers. When you look through some of the offers put forth through CPA companies like Neverblue Ads and PepperJam Network, you’ll discover that there are several that seem to offer a free trial of something or perhaps a great item at a highly discounted price.
The trouble with many of these CPA campaigns is that they can be on the deceptive side of things, and according to Mark Wielgus of 45n5.com, this is also why most CPA companies suck. He says that outlining some of the restrictions and conditions of the offers in the fine print, these CPA offers are effectively committing fraud. You can check out Mark’s video to hear more about these views.
When looking through different ways to market your company, its products, and its services, you should be careful not to come off as deceptive and fraudulent. You’ve probably heard about the recent backlash coming Joel Comm’s e-book offer and how you may have purchased his AdSense e-book for less than $10, but in doing so, you automatically subscribed to his pricey newsletter service. Joel has gone on to apologize for his mistake, but it would have been better if he didn’t do it in the first place.
The newsletter subscription was based on an opt-out basis, rather than an opt-in basis. If you are going to take the CPA route to advertising your company, be sure to be open and honest with your potential customers. If the free offer is accompanied by a subscription to a paid service, state so openly and honestly (and not through the fine print).