Key Questions to Ask About Your BRAND

Your entire organization is built around your brand. Having a clear definition of your brand is essential for communicating what you have to offer to your target market. Start by answering these 12 questions.

1. Who are we? Define what your organization is in one to two sentences (approximately 140 characters or less.) A brief description without any meaningless jargon is essential to define because it is the best way to start your elevator speech.
2. What are the three greatest strengths/weaknesses of our brand? Strengths are internal characteristics that are performed well whereas weaknesses are aspects that the organization lacks. After identifying your internal strengths and weaknesses of your brand, you are able to assess what actions need to take place, if any, to strengthen your overall brand through an importance/performance analysis. If you identify a weakness that does not make a difference to your brand or customers, then why spend resources attempting to improve that weakness?
3. What are our greatest opportunities for growth?  These are opportunities not already implemented.  Look at competitors and the external environment to assess what might be a strong opportunity. Then perform an attractiveness/success probability analysis to determine which opportunities have the greatest potential for growth.
4. What keywords would people search to find our organization/products/services?  Knowing these keywords, you are able to create content that is keyword rich. Since search engines are one of the primary ways people find your web-page, your company is more likely to be found having keyword rich content.
5. Who are our buyer personas?  Identifying your buyer personas enables you to get closer to thinking like your customer. This is essential in fulfilling the needs of your customer. You will be able to unlock how to effectively communicate with them and are more likely to have them listen.
6. What makes us different?  We live in a society that bombards us with offers and information.  Knowing what makes you unique you will be one step closer to creating a brand that is remarkable.
7. How do we express that differentiation in words, images and actions? Show how remarkable your organization is in all aspects and have this visible through all content, images and actions. Your brand should be consistent in the messages it creates through these three aspects.  The website, for example, should have content including your tagline, blogs and descriptions that all fit with the look and feel of the images (including the logo).  Once you are done going through building and identifying your brand, your company should have feel like a person with only one personality.
8. What value can we bring to the community? Providing valuable guidance, resources or tools to your target market makes you an expert in their minds.  By integrating yourself within the community and positioning yourself as a thought leader in your field, you will develop a strong following.  Maybe your organization is a non-profit and you provide social services to locals or you are philanthropic and donate services?  This counts as well in bringing value to the community.
9. What are we doing to innovate and move our industry forward? It is easier for you to lead customers to you if you know what makes you valuable.  In what ways do you lead the industry providing value to customers?
10. What is our sustainable competitive advantage? Determine your top strengths through a performance/importance analysis.  Knowing your top strengths, you will be able to see which provide a lasting advantage over competitors.
11. What makes customers buy from us the first time (acquisition)?  Now that you have attracted the attention from potential customers, you need to close the deal.  Knowing what makes your target customer convert into a paying customer is essential.  Will this potential customer convert into a buyer based on a promotion or package?
12. What keeps them coming back (retention)?  Once you have spent the resources and finally gotten to the point where you have found a paying customer, you want to keep them. Does your exceptional customer service, quality product or competitive prices keep them coming back? You want to retain active customers by continuing to offer the same qualities that keep them supporting your company.

Next, integrate this knowledge into your Web, search marketing, advertising, marketing collateral, social media, content marketing and public relations strategies to provide a clear and consistent brand image.

Learn more about Brand Strategy and Brand Consulting.

Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay, a certified nonprofit continuing care retirement community with an ideal location bayside on Coon Key, was honored with a Bronze Award for print advertising/housing division from the National Mature Media Awards.  The campaign was developed by Vision PR & Marketing in collaboration with Anne Grigsby of Grigsby Design in Boca Raton, and photographer Herb Booth of Booth Studios.  “Plymouth Harbor, the Place to Pursue Life’s Passions” focuses on capturing residents doing the things they love with the freedom that living t Plymouth Harbor offers. Engaging photography and smart copywriting, as well as the continuity of the message and brand authenticity, were the winning elements for the campaign.

The National Mature Media Awards is the nation’s largest awards program that annually recognizes the best marketing, communications, educational materials and programs for adults age 50 and older. The competition is among hundreds of local/state organizations, including Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers, retirement housing organizations, writers and publishers, as well national organizations such as AARP, Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans, Mayo Clinic, the National Institute on Aging and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Mature market experts judged the entries based on format, content, creativity, relevance and overall quality.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens announces positive financial performance. Financial results for the organization’s fiscal year, ending June 30, 2011, resulted in a positive bottom line for the year.

“Despite these economically challenging times, I am especially pleased to report our strong financial performance this year,” states Thomas Buchter, CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

“I would like to thank staff, volunteers, donors, members, and our Board of Trustees. We attribute these results to our commitment to mission, customer service, repositioning of our brand, and our change in marketing strategy emphasizing Selby as a cultural destination,” Buchter continues.

This is the second year of strong cost management and revenue enhancements at Selby Gardens. To learn more about all the new activities, events, what’s blooming in the Gardens, and other exciting enhancements, please visit www.selby.org.

Ed Klopfer Schools is offering a 35 hour Home Health Aide training in addition to the 40 hr. CNA Prep Course.  This gives the graduates the opportunity to work in facilities accepting Medicare and Medicaid patients.  Some lessons in this training course involve the Rehabilitation Services, Communication, Principles of Nutrition and Anatomy and Physiology, along with skills required for patient care services in a home environment.  CNA’s who wish to take advantage of this additional program, must present their 40 hour CNA prep course certificate.  A 75 hour certificate will then be awarded after completion of the program.

The 4 day HHA courses will be available beginning October 11^th, 2011 at Ed Klopfer campuses in Sarasota , Port Charlotte and Fort Myers.  Those interested can call 1-800-370-1570 for more information, or visit www.EdKlopfer.com.

After celebrating a spectacular 20^th Anniversary Season, The Sarasota Ballet prepares to enter its third decade and fifth season under the leadership of Iain Webb not only with the announcement that Webb has signed for a six year contract, but also with performances at The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, October 12 – 16, 2011.”

“It is a great honor to be invited to collaborate with Suzanne Farrell and to represent Sarasota’s performing arts in such a prestigious venue”, says Webb. This collaboration features dancers from both companies with live orchestra in performances of George Balanchine’sDiamonds in Washington, D.C. and expands to include Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons for performances in Sarasota and Clearwater, Florida, November 18-19, 2011.

Season Opener. The subscription season in Sarasota opens on October 28, 2011 with a very different collaboration between the professional company and its affiliated Sarasota Ballet School in the American premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Ballet Fantasy, in which choreographer Matthew Hart (Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company) imagines the composer interrupting his best-loved ballets (Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Nutcracker), unwittingly causing comic chaos!

This light-hearted ballet is matched with Peter Darrell’s highly dramatic Othello and a world premiere set to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and choreographed by one of The Sarasota Ballet’s talented dancers, Ricardo Graziano.

“When I saw the workshop of Shostakovich Suite, I was immediately impressed by the clarity, musicality and energetic quality of Ricardo’s choreography,” shares Webb. “The richness of the classical technique, paired with the chic costume designs by Bill Fenner, makes this a grand opening for the season.”

Othello, choreographed to the haunting music of Franz Liszt’s A Faust Symphony, takes a fresh look at Shakespeare’s tragedy through the eyes of the villain Iago. In this fast moving and terse drama, the jealous Iago’s evil machinations bring the ballet to a tragic conclusion with the destruction of the once powerful hero, Othello.

This program, and all subsequent engagements in the FSU Center for Performing Arts, will consist of five performances scheduled Friday at 8 pm, Saturday 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sunday 2 pm and 7 pm.

The multi-million dollar Glenridge Performing Arts Center is distinguished among area performing halls with its picturesque setting and elegant yet modern interior. It plays a huge role in Glenridge’s community model, providing members with an opportunity for continued involvement in the arts. Residents can enjoy performances year-round or get involved in whatever way suits their talents, like singing, acting, building sets or managing the house.

Mary Anne Servian will oversee the budget and finances of The Sarasota Ballet, development and marketing strategies, and all other administrative aspects of a company that is growing in nearly all ways.

While the company of dancers has gradually grown over the past four seasons to a total of 47 principals, soloists, coryphée, corps, trainees and apprentices, the administrative staff was kept to a bare minimum due to restricted finances.  Thanks to the strong community support and the yearly increase in subscribers and single ticket sales, the administrative staff has been expanded as well.  Last spring Ginny Winkler was hired as Controller and Human Resource Director and more recently Noreen Delaney came in as Director of Development.  Servian also recently hired Susan Reeves as Box Office Assistant and Company Manager.  New to The Sarasota Ballet this season are Steve Ellis , Technical Director, and Dex Honea who will serve as Assistant Education Director.

“We are so pleased to add such talented and enthusiastic individuals to our team,” says Servian, whose experience includes significant management positions in the banking industry as well as 2 terms as a City of Sarasota commissioner and mayor.

Iain Webb, who has understandably been proud of the dancers nurtured and developed under his care, expressed similar admiration for the administrative team that has been set in place. “We are entering our most exciting season yet with a combined team of talented dancers and a top-notch professional staff that shares an energetic esprit de corps” adds Webb.

PTSD is a serious, but treatable cognitive disorder that can emerge after a single traumatic event—a car accident, sexual assault, a terrorist attack—or after the cumulative effects of deployment and combat. One in 5 veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are thought to be bringing the war home with them in the form of PTSD.  Today significant gaps remain in our mental health care system as less than 50% of those warriors who need care for PTSD seek care. The stigma of unseen or “psychiatric wounds” within the warrior culture and negative attitudes toward treatment are the biggest barriers to care for our returning vets.  Anyone who has faced significant trauma is susceptible to PTSD – abuse victims, first responders, victims of violent crime, and, even foster children.  The general public, as well, is unfamiliar with the cause, triggers and signs of PTSD, and equally hesitant to seek treatment.  The resulting toll on the lives of individuals, families, the workplace and our society as a whole is heartbreaking, yet largely avoidable with awareness, attention and treatment.

FREE COMMUNITY EDUCATION – Journey to Wellness Symposium  Coping with Trauma and PTSD Saturday, January 14, 2012, (Doors open at 8 am) 9 am– 1 pm , Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Coping with Trauma and PTSD promises to be a powerful event for those who attend the free symposium on Saturday morning, January 14, 2012.  Moderated by Dr. Andrew Cutler of Florida Clinical Research Center, the program will focus on the plight of our returning veterans while also clarifying the effects of PTSD on civilian trauma victims.

“Treatment of War-Related PTSD: Meeting Veterans Where They Are”

Charles Hoge, is a retired Army Colonel who received board certification in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and psychiatry.  He directed the U.S. military’s premier psychiatry and neuroscience research program at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) from 2000-2009.  He deployed to Iraq in 2004 and traveled throughout the country to improve combat stress care.  A national expert on war-related mental health issues and traumatic brain injury, Dr. Hoge has testified to Congress on four occasions, and is interviewed frequently by national/international news organizations.  Dr. Hoge has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including publications in New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association. His articles on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury are the most cited of all medical articles from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He is the author of a self-help book for combat veterans and families titled, Once a Warrior-Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home, which will be on sale at the event.  He continues to work as an attending psychiatrist treating service members, veterans, and family members in the Washington, D.C. area.

DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING

“Soldiers go to war. Some come back. Some Don’t. Others only make it halfway home.”
Halfway Home, a Film by Paul Freedman

The director Paul Freedman will be present to introduce his high-impact documentary Halfway Home.  Narrated by Martin Sheen and intimately told by a handful of American Veterans, their families and those charged with their care, “Halfway Home” acknowledges that the toll of war extends far beyond the battlefield. The stigma on “mental health issues” within the military culture, and the negative attitudes toward treatment, cause more than half of those veterans who need care to avoid it.  But “Halfway Home” becomes an empowering story of courage and hope on the grim face of war as these veterans confront their demons and come face to face with the greatest obstacle to treatment: themselves.

Sgt. Tommy Reiman, a veteran featured in the documentary, will speak about his own journey with PTSD.  Tommy Rieman is a 31 year old Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient.  He’s served in the United States Army for over 12 years and is currently assigned to D co 1/116th Infantry, Virginia Army National Guard, Pulaski, VA.  Tommy has recently returned from his third deployment.  He has been deployed twice in Iraq and once to the Balkans.

The half-day symposium culminates with a moderated discussion between Dr, Hoge,  film director Paul Freedman,  Sgt, Tommy Reiman and this year’s Luminary Award recipient, former  Congressman from Rhode Island, Patrick Kennedy.

One Continuing education credit (CEU) can be earned by healthcare professionals with advanced registration and a fee of $10. Eligible professionals include physicians, nurses, licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), licensed mental health counselors (LMHC) and licensed marriage & family therapists (LMFT).   For information and required advance registration please call 941-917-7777 or sign up online at www.SunshinefromDarkness.org.

More than a dozen community mental health organizations and groups serving veteran and their families will also be present to showcase local resources and answer questions.  Organizations represented will include Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System, Manatee Glens, Coastal Behavioral Healthcare, and Manatee Memorial.

Sunshine from Darkness Gala Evening – 2012 Luminary Award Honoree Patrick Kennedy Saturday, January 8, 2011, 6:00 pm –  11 pm, The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota 

Sunshine from Darkness has raised over $ 5 million for mental illness research since its inception in 1998. All funds raised are directed to brain research under the auspices of the International Mental Health Research Organization (IMHRO).  The centerpiece of their fundraising activities is the annual gala evening, held this year on Saturday. January 14, 2012 at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota.

This gala evening begins with cocktails at 6:00 pm followed by dinner and an evening focused on former Congressman and national mental health advocate, Patrick Kennedy,  our 2012 Luminary Award recipient.   Our other guests, Dr. Charles Hoge, Paul Freedman and Sgt Tommy Reiman will also be in attendance at the gala.

Dinner reservations begin at $250 per person and can be reserved by contacting Marlene Hauck at (941) 308-MIND or by email at Marlene@SunshinefromDarkness.org.

About Patrick Kennedy, 2012 Luminary Award Recipient

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Rhode Island’s First District. Patrick Kennedy was the author and lead sponsor of the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008, legislation which provides tens of millions of Americans who were previously denied care with access to mental health treatment.

Congressman Kennedy has authored and co-sponsored dozens of bills to increase understanding and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including the National Neurotechnology Initiative Act, the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act, the COMBAT PTSD Act, and the Alzheimer’s Treatment and Caregiver Support Act.

Founder of the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus and the 21^st Century Healthcare Caucus, Congressman Kennedy is winner of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Distinguished Service Award, the Society for Neuroscience Public Service Award, the Autism Society of America Congressional Leadership Award, the Depression and Bipolar Support Paul Wellstone Mental Health Award, and the Epilepsy Foundation Public Service Award.  Congressman Kennedy is Co-Chair of One Mind for Research, dedicated to dramatic enhancements in funding and collaboration in research across all brain disorders in the next decade.

At the Sarasota Ballet, Delaney will be primarily responsible for individual gifts, donor relations and all related development initiatives. Her predecessor, Michael Scott, has been reassigned as Business Manager responsible for events, corporate sponsorships and special projects.

“      ,” says Delaney.

The Sarasota Ballet leadership is equally excited about bringing Delaney back into the team, particularly as they launch a season filled with highlights such as the performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and subsequent performances at The Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL.

The Studio Dance Company has a large enrollment of young dancers seeking training in a variety of dance styles.  While their instruction is exceptional in hip-hop, urban styles, jazz, lyrical and modern with faculty posessing significant professional experience and credentials, they recognized that they wanted to include a ballet component at an equally high standard.

Their choice was to partner with The Sarasota Ballet School to serve as their professional instructors teaching classes and guiding the program.  In addition to weekly classes, they will be providing  periodic Master Classes sending teachers Pavel Fomin, Octavio Martin, Yaima Franco, Kate Honea, and Dex Honea, among others.

The Studio Dance Company will help The Sarasota Ballet School augment their urban styles training with famous hip-hop teachers and dancers providing periodic master classes and workshops in Sarasota.  Together the two schools will collaborate on outreach programs to build greater interest in dance and dance training among youth in the greater Tampa Bay, Sarasota and Manatee community.

A complete schedule of classes offered at The Studio Dance Company is available at www.StudioDancers.com or call (727) 724-5999.   For more about The Sarasota Ballet School, visit www.SarasotaBallet.org or call (941) 359-0099, ext 120.