The Identity Architect – Positioning & Personal Branding Blog

One of the best tools you can use to build, manage, and monitor your identity is Google Alerts.

If you don’t already use Google Alerts, you should. It’s a simple, but powerful tool. And even better, it’s FREE.

Google Alerts is simply a service that Google provides that will alert you by email daily, weekly, or as it happens – when certain key words or phrases you want to monitor appear anywhere on the web – on web pages, news groups, blogs, news, and even video.

All you do is set up an account and enter the keywords of phrases you want to monitor, when you want to be notified (daily, weekly, or as it happens) , and what you want to monitor (blogs, news, etc. or all).

Here is how I use it. (more…)

I’ve had a lot of questions about the video on my website about the envelope with the automatic pop-up mechanism. I used this kind of envelope in a direct mail marketing project about a year ago and made the video demonstration to show my newsletter subscribers how to make one themselves.

“the idea is really neat, but won’t this take a long time to make each one?”

It does take a while to do the first one. This is the prototype or the template. Once this is done, you just print all of the envelopes on both sides with an ink-jet or laser printer, then print all of the inserts cut them to size. With everything already printed and cut to size, the gluing is easy. On the video I show how to print a guide line on the back of the pop-up message note to show you where the glue goes so you won’t mess up.

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The sad truth is that just as people judge individuals at first glance, they judge a business, consultant, or professional the same way.

Most business professionals spend many years and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars acquiring the knowledge and experience they need to provide valuable services to their customers or clients. But very few spend the time to create effective marketing materials that describe their business or their uniqueness and value clearly.

Even marketing professionals have a tough time developing their own – effective marketing materials. The reason for this is not that they don’t know what to do – they do it all day long for their clients.

It is because they’re too close to their own stuff. They see it all day long. They’re used to it – and they fail to see their businesses through the eyes of their customers. They view it from a very narrow focus, their own eyesight.

This can be disastrous for a company’s image. (more…)