If you’re in pursuit of brand excellence there are critical components that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Focus:

In order to achieve any kind of success with your brand, there needs to be focus.  What is the aim of your brand, who is it targeted at and what do you want to achieve?  There are questions that need to be asked regularly and answered in order to establish the focus of your brand.  Write down a list of objectives and from here, you should start to establish a focus.

Differentiation:

Look at your competitors and assess what is similar between your brand and theirs?  It’s also important to look at what is different.  Establish what sets you apart and distinguish the identity of your brand.  Be sure to highlight what makes your product or service unique and more enticing to customers.  You want them to choose your brand over that of your competitors.

Relevance:

Once you’ve established what makes you different, you need to ask yourself if your customers actually care.  It pays to have a sound understanding of your target audience so you can tailor your brand to their wants and needs.  Do your research, ask the questions and then adapt your brand to be relevant.  Having a brand is one thing, but delivering it in a meaningful way is another.

Values:

What do you stand for?  What does your brand stand for?  In order to be strong, it needs to hold values and these need to be apparent in your brand.  Customers will identify and become familiar with your brand based on clearly defined values.

Consistency:

Now that you know what your target audience wants to see, it’s time to maintain it.  It can be hard in the current, super saturated media environment, trying to stay atop of every facet of your business, but if you promise a level of service, you need to uphold that promise.  Always check in with your focus, relevance and values to ensure you’re staying consistent with your promises to the market and to your brand.

We have some great tools on marketing and branding that could benefit your business.  If you are interested in learning more, give us a call today.

The post Basic Branding – Some Things To Remember appeared first on Accounting North.

Here are some tips on ergonomics that employees should be made aware of:

• Have the computer monitor just below eye level and adjust the screen to eliminate glare from windows and lights
• The centre line of the keyboard should be level with the height of your elbow and tilted back slightly to that wrists remain flat
• Use an adjustable chair and get comfortable with the adjustment settings – it’s also important to upgrade furniture regularly

Ensure staff are informed about effective ergonomics.  It’s best to prevent health and safety issues before they arise.  If you want more information about workplace health and safety, visit www.acc.co.nz.

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Smart devices have multimedia capabilities allowing you to access an enormous amount of information anytime, anywhere.  This can be beneficial when it comes to educating and training staff, be it motivational video clips, informal webinars or resources relevant to their roles.  It can be a huge benefit to your team to have this information on hand.

Smartphones eliminate ‘downtime’ and give your staff the ability to work and conduct research when they are away from the office, in between meetings or travelling abroad.  Smart devices also allow for voice recordings, access to calendars, audio books and podcasts, meaning you and your team can stay connected and really utilise your time and resources wisely.

Here are some things to take into consideration when assessing whether smart devices are suitable for your team:

The plan - You need to do some research here.  Who is the best provider?  There are a number of competitors in the market with a variety of business plans available.  Sit down with a sales representative from each of the leading telecommunication providers and tell them what your business does, how many staff you have and what your needs are.  They will assess which is the best plan for you and let you know some pricing, data and call options that will best suit your firm.  You’ll want a provider who is available 24 hours a day should you run into any technical difficulties.

The rules - Establish the usage rules early on with employees so they don’t take advantage or abuse their rights with smartphones.  The last thing you want is wasted time on personal social media sites when your team should be productively using that time for work.

The phone - There are a few elements to consider when choosing the best device for your business.

1. Battery life – Smartphones have a lot going on inside their tiny little shells, so in turn, their battery life takes a hammering.  If you’re travelling a lot for business, you need a reliable battery life.
2. Screen – How big is the screen?  It’s easier to read information on a bigger screen and the bigger the phone, the more it tends to do.  Remember to take into account the clarity of images and video playback.
3. Camera – Do you need a good camera?  Are your employees taking and sharing this sort of information with clients?  If so, ensure you check out the megapixel count.  The higher the megapixel, the better the quality.

Take the time to consider whether smartphones are right for your business.  They can aid the increase of productivity, minimise downtime and grow the knowledge base within your team.

Do the research and speak to the professionals to decide which plan and phone are right for you.

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