Blog
Marketing 101: How to Create Brand Awareness
December 16, 2014
How do you begin creating “brand awareness” for your products? Over time, one needs to establish positive brand awareness that promotes the possibility of the purchase of your product in the future. The initial impression of your brand is of utmost importance! Beyond this, however, are all of the future impressions that may be formed regarding your brand. BRAND AWARENESS Your brand awareness measures a consumer’s knowledge of your product. Challenges in creating brand awareness: 1. Do potential customers even know that you exist? 2. Is your product better? 3. Why pay more for your products rather than from a less expensive alternative? Maintaining Brand Awareness: Ensure your brand promise is clear. Be simple, be direct, and by all means, be consistent. Focus on creating a well-conceived brand name. Even the most clever branding strategy will fall flat if the name you seek to brand is poorly conceived. Understand the competition – No one operates in a vacuum. While originality is important, it’s critical to be aware of your competitors’ branding strategies. Set branding goals. You can’t very well determine your success if you don’t have a benchmark against which to measure it. Know where you want to go and when you want to get there. Remain committed to the brand while being flexible. Branding success doesn’t occur overnight; it takes commitment to maintain focus and build loyalty. But that doesn’t mean strategy changes might not be necessary along the way, so be open to tweaking your approach as necessary. BRAND EQUITY: Brand equity is strategically crucial but it’s also difficult to quantify. There have been a multitude of experts who have developed tools to analyze certain assets but there is no universally accepted manner in which to measure it. One must fight to maintain a reserved mental space in the consumers mind. There are four aspects of brand equity: 1. brand loyalty 2. awareness 3. association 4. quality perception Business Week ranks brand equity: Sony: -16% Sony spent $1.6 billion on advertising last year, according to Advertising Age magazine, but it wasn’t enough to stem Sony’s slide in global brand value. Its drop of 16% is all the more troubling as rival Samsung passed the Japanese giant in brand value while spending far less on ads. According to Interbrand’s Jan Lindemann, who directed the ranking, Sony’s brand value has dropped because it gave up leadership in MP3 players to Apple by not innovating and because it hasn’t been a player in cell phones. Another minus: Sony has devoted considerable resources to its film and music recording businesses, where its brand carries little weight with consumers. THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSISTENCY: Consistency is the same message with the same style. The message should be consistent. Tide detergent, for instance, has always placed an emphasis on how clean their detergent will make a product. Other companies focus on the smell or the softness that their product creates. Tide has always had slogans such as, “if its got to be clean than its got to be Tide!” Images you present should also be consistent in order to increase brand awareness. It is important that you are consistent in your use of images so that you maximize recognition and positive impressions. Wegmans logo,...
read moreDIY: Thought Process Behind the Design of a Kitchen (Video)
December 16, 2014
Enjoy this week’s Friday DIY (Do-It-Yourself) video. In this video, Andrew explains his thought process behind the design of a kitchen. ...
read more8 Phases of the Flip Series: Old 4th Ward House – Atlanta
December 16, 2014
We hope you’re enjoying our newest series, The 8 Phases of the Flip. This week, we’ve posted information for our second house located in the Old 4th Ward in Atlanta. Be sure to check back in weekly to watch the transformation happen! Basic Info: This historical home was built in 1920 and is currently divided into two town homes. Size: The home’s square footage is 2729sq ft, and it sits on a 6891sqft lot. The home also includes 4 bedrooms and 2 bathes. It is currently divided into two 2 bedroom/1 bath town homes. Location: Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood has garnered national attention as “a cradle of culinary and artistic innovation and as a symbol of gentrification.” The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historical site. In 2010, Atlanta-based newspaper, “Creative Loafing” awarded the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood as “The Best Bet for the Next Hot Neighborhood.” In 2011, the neighborhood celebrated the opening of the “Historic Fourth Ward Park” and saw the kickoff of the “Ponce City Market” project. Numbers: The purchase price was $230,000 and the rehab budget is $140,000. This homes after repaired value, or ARV, is $550,000. How I found the property: I located this home through a local whole seller. We bought it from him right after he had placed it under contract. We offered him a full price offer with no contingencies and immediately closed with $5,000 in earnest money. Budget: We are looking to spend $140,000 on the rehab. This amount may be slightly adjusted depending on our final decision on the master suite. (See blueprints) ...
read moreThe 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership: Sin #6 – The Soft Bribe
December 16, 2014
“Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great” – Edward Coke I am a big fan of author Lee Childs. In one of his more recent novels Lee tells a story of a female military officer. She was a rising star in the Army and seemed to be on a fast track to having a command. She approached her commanding officer and requested a positive reference in support of her potential promotion. The colonel suggested that if she desired an endorsement for her promotion, she needed to meet him in his office. Outside of uniform. The inference contained a carnal and lewd implication. The female officer reported him to the chain of command and shortly thereafter, he was dishonorably discharged. In this fictional story, the environment was corrupted by a boss using improper favors as a means for subordinates to obtain a favored status. Any environment, be it the home, the office or the capitol, that operates on what I call a “soft bribe policy” is a corrupting environment. It erodes morale, corrupts loyalty and weakens the overall integrity of the institution. I confess that I am certainly not a fan of the present day “political correctness squad”. I am however a fan of fairness, earned bonuses, promotions and uniform justice in the context of policy enforcement! A soft bribe is not necessarily a financial payout. It can be many things including the stroking of an ego or socially befriending a boss for gain. Additionally, covering up of violations or looking the other way when policies or safety/ethical matters are deliberately ignored. A soft bribe is behavior that gains favor and advantages that are not available to another worker. They are not based on work ethic, production, attitude or faithfulness. A soft bribe are actions or words that a competent person of moral and social integrity would never do or say in order to gain a personal favor or advancement. Honest people want to earn their way and they want to compete on a level playing field. If an employee believes that his hard work and integrity matter, it will show in his attitude. That same attitude enhances the perceived climate of the work place. If his hard work and honesty are not recognized, and a peer with a lesser character is promoted, that man can feel betrayed. A foolish boss can dismiss those feelings as simply the collateral damage of getting the job done. Those feelings are a cancer in the work place, and that cancer can kill. Leaders are going to have favorites but qualified persons who happen to be better-liked should not be overlooked for fear of what others may say, as long as the same standards are applied evenly across the board! Scandals that are left unchecked or undisciplined injure the workplace. The same is true when employees are allowed advantages not lawfully available to honest peers. A scandal occurs and that scandal is a deadly sin for leaders. The answer is relatively simple. State your purpose, establish clear and simple policies, insist that everyone follow the policies and set the example. Then enforce fairly using generous doses of training, patience, example and reward. ...
read moreCome Join Us! Rehab and Marketing Academy – Atlanta: Aug 27 – Aug 30, 2014
December 16, 2014
The REI Academy was created to give real estate investors of any experience level the opportunity to learn from the best. Whether you’re a beginner investor who’s never done a flip, a mid-level investor who does 5-10 properties a year, or an experienced investor looking for that extra profit, the REI Academy is the place for you! We’re different than all of the other real estate educators. Andrew and Eddie not only educate, but they practice what they preach! Come join us at our REI Rehab Academy and REI Marketing Academy this month in Atlanta, GA and separate yourself from your competition. Become one of the many investors who can proudly claim that Andrew Cordle and his team helped me become a better investor! REI Rehab Academy will be held Wednesday and Thursday, August 27 and 28, 2014 at: Holiday Inn Atlanta-Perimeter/Dunwoody 4386 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd Atlanta, GA 30341 This year alone, our company will buy, fix, and sell roughly 60 properties. Efficient systems are paramount and we’ll teach you our systems and processes. This academy is unique in that half of the time will be in a classroom environment but the other half will be out on the physical job sites. We’ll take you to properties that are in all stages from demo to the finished product. At our REI Rehab Academy, you’ll also learn: 1. How to make $30,000+ per rehab 2. Every stage of the rehab with hands-on, on-site training 3. Understanding the true costs of a rehab 4. Locating and hiring the best contractors for your investment 5. Clearly defining your scope of work As well as much, much more! On Friday and Saturday, August 29 and 30, 2014, we will be holding our REI Marketing Academy for two full days at the same location. The REI Marketing Academy sets us apart from other real estate investing educators. We’ll show you how to market and brand yourself so that you shine brighter than your competitors. We’ll show you the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. Other things you’ll learn at our REI Marketing Academy: 1. Market your business in a cost-effective and efficient manner 2. Branding yourself, your products, and your business 3. We’ll teach you our strategies that will help you make $3,000 more per deal 4. Enhance your website and social media pages 5. You’ll learn the top ten ways to find properties 6. How to attract the right kind of customers As well as much, much more! Typically, this academy is reserved solely for our students who are already part of the mentoring program, but we are offering the last 5 seats to anyone interested in registering. The cost of the REI Rehab Academy is $1,000/per student. The REI Marketing Academy is also $1,000/per student. However, for those students who would like to attend both the Rehab and Marketing Academy, we’re offering a one-time special price. Sign-up today, and we will reserve your seat at both academies for $1,500/per student. That’s a savings of $500! ...
read more
