You’ve ever wondered why coca-cola is selling more than Pepsi? Even though in test Pepsi have shown to be picked most by it’s taste?You guessed it, branding.If you’re running an online business it’s vital for you to brand yourself. If you are into affiliate marketing and want to make it big. Don’t just send people away through the affiliate link, capture their information in an autoresponder.If you are making a blog, don’t just call it something be sure to stamp it with your name and your business name as often as possible without ruining it of cause.How do you brand yourself effective you might think. Well there’s loads of ways, I’ll list a few of them for you:o Post on forumso Write articleso Be social on networking websiteso Make a product with your name ono Make a report and give it away freeAnd so on and so on.As you can see there’s loads of ways, the more money and time you’ve got, the more effectively can you brand you and your business.Let’s take a look into the information marketing world, who are the ones doing this most successfully?That’s right, it’s the so called gurus, they spend most their time doing seminars. A lot of their products are made by ghostwriters so they can spend more time branding themselves. They have people to optimize their websites, they have people to get traffic to their site, they do JVs, they do seminars, and they do what you probably aren’t doing half as much. Why? Because they got the time, and money to do it.People buy from them because they already “know” them. They aren’t gurus because they sell quality products, they are gurus because their name is a “brand”. They just put their name on a product and the product is far more valuable than exactly the same product but with another person name on it.You see the power of branding? Then you should also see why this is vital for your business. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you simply could put your name on some report or ebook and it would automatically sell?I know I’d sure would love to have that kind of power.

A worker shortage might be excellent news for the economy! Maybe, just maybe, firms will awake and see workers’ substantial contribution to their success. Some CEOs take unconscionable sums and destroy their firm’s value, unlike many frontline workers who create value. During the pandemic, CEOs took vast sums as they laid-off workers. Some firms sought bankruptcy protection, but hat didn’t stop their greedy CEOs from snatching hefty bonuses.

We have a worker shortage and firms are scrambling to hire whomever is willing. Some firms, like McDonalds have paid signing bonuses. Canada’s Loblaw and its competitors paid a bonus to frontline workers when the pandemic began. They stopped it after three months in unison with their competitors. When government confronted them about this collusion, they claimed it happened independently. Go figure! It’s like you caught your three-year-old with her hand in the cookie jar and she said, Mom, “Cookie Monster did it!”

Worker Shortage Inevitable With Shoddy Treatment

Loblaw’s behavior disturbs me. During the bonus period, profits soared. Per se, that’s no problem. I favor firms making profits. To be sure, I am against government taxing profits. But paying workers the bonus during the pandemic shouldn’t hinge on profits. It was just right. Meanwhile, my wife and I shopped at a Loblaw store and workers continued their excellent service despite Loblaw’s slight.

Leaders must realize frontline workers are the firm’s foundation and treat them well, not as cogs turning out CEOs bonuses! When employers treat workers like machines, they disengage. Gallup said, over several decades, they and other researchers found a strong link between employees’ workplace engagement and the company’s overall performance. Yet employers refuse to accept this. But there is good news: surveys show some firms break the mold and treat workers with respect: Cisco, Apple, Accenture, IBM, FedEx are a few.

Next Quarter’s Earnings Drives Businesses

Companies see next quarter as the prize, so they exploit workers and fudge next quarter’s numbers. I repeat: I am against government taxing business. However, I favor the Biden Build Back Better provision to tax share buybacks that the House passed, and it is before the Senate, even if it might have only a modest effect on share buybacks. Companies shouldn’t be spending billions buying back shares while exploiting workers.

Firms should present to shareholder meetings options to use buyback funds. Choices might include effects of paying bonuses to frontline workers with buyback funds. Shareholders should hear about potential strategic investments, too. Another option is stopping buy-backs for five years after layoffs. Executives, too, shouldn’t get bonuses within five years of layoffs. We must get rid of worker exploitation that enhances CEO bonuses.

“If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.”-D.L. MoodyAs a small business branding consultant, one aspect of the art and science of branding that has often threatened to derail many of my clients before we even got started was, believe it or not, the term itself: branding.It’s a term that turns off many businesses and intimidates them-especially smaller organizations and nonprofits-because it seems to suggest the marketing mumbo jumbo of corporate giants or deep-pocketed institutions with strong marketplace equity.But regardless of the size of your business, in your daily work-whether you’re aware of it or not-you are either growing the reputation of your business or chipping away at it. That’s because everything you do-everything you say, the way in which you say it, the messages and images that are expressed in your marketing and communications, the way you answer the phone, the words on your business card, the manner in which you resolve a problem for a customer (or don’t)-either define your organization’s character or perpetuate its fuzziness.That’s branding.So I took it as a challenge then, to develop a new metaphor for branding-one that I could use to describe the principles of branding without using the word branding itself-a concept and construct that I could use in my work with small business clients. I call it Shadowcasting.The Shadowcasting AnalogyShadowcasting in the business world uses the same components that make shadows in the physical world. Let’s look at each element and how they collectively build the metaphor that will help you grow your reputation-and grow your business.The Sun (the light source) is your core market. Imagine that your customers and supporters are your primary light source. The intensity of their radiance will depend on the depth of your relationship with them and the relevance your offerings present to them. These are your customers, subscribers, clients, supporters, shareholders, donors, or members. Through their engagement with your business-their satisfaction, participation, affiliation, and word-of-mouth-your core market collectively illuminates your character.The tree (the object) is the character of your organization-its reality. Picture a tree with roots, a trunk, branches, and leaves. Just as a strong, healthy tree is upright and stable, so are strong, healthy businesses. They have character, vision, personality, and longevity. The tree represents the tangible attributes of your business-your employees, your offerings, products or services, assets, board members, your headquarters building, programs, your marketing materials, advertising, and all its other real and touchable traits.Your goal is to have a “solid” business rather than a “transparent” one. When people speak of someone’s character as being transparent, they usually mean that you can “see right through them.” A transparent character is not desirable in the world of Shadowcasting, because a transparent object does not cast a shadow. A solid character, however, creates and reinforces the prospect’s impression of your business and its core values-what it stands for. With a deep-rooted, respectable, and credible character, Shadowcasting will play an influential role in your company’s ability to attract, engage, and retain lifelong customers and to drive loyalty, foster trust, and cultivate relationships in the pursuit of revenue…and profits.Your light source illuminates your company’s character and casts a shadow onto the ground (the marketplace) for prospects to see and to experience. This is the perception the public holds of your organization. It may look like a slightly softer, somewhat vague image of your business, but your shadow-your reputation-is not your business. It’s just a projection or proxy of how your customers see you and how their influence will permit others to see you. While you might not have direct control over how your customers affect your reputation, you do have the power to make changes and adjustments to your character and develop positive relationships with your core market to ultimately manage how the marketplace perceives your reputation.Your character-and the resulting shadow it casts of your reputation into the marketplace-identifies and differentiates your business in the minds of your potential customers. It also helps you stand out from competitors who may look similar on the surface of the marketplace.”If the tree is straight it need not fear casting a crooked shadow.”-Chinese ProverbShadowcasting Law #1: Even a sapling casts a shadowYou do not have to be a redwood or a towering oak to cast a shadow. Even a sapling-heck, even a blade of grass-casts a shadow. Whether your business is big or small, Shadowcasting is a practice you must engage in for survival and growth.Don’t buy into the deceit that Shadowcasting is only for big multinational companies. It’s for every business. That’s because whether you have one customer or one million, your business is still subject to the laws of shadow science. Your core market-of one or one million-will illuminate your character and cast a shadow of your character into the marketplace for others to see. So the question isn’t, Will your company cast a shadow? it’s, Will your company cast an accurate representation of your true character?Shadowcasting Law #2: Without a light source, we would not have shadowsA business without customers isn’t a business. It’s a hobby. As you know, a light source is one of the three components that must exist in order to create a shadow. Without your core market-your loyal customers and supporters-supplying the sunlight, your reputation cannot be known in the marketplace (except through “artificial light”-marketing and advertising). You are dependent on your core market to illuminate your character and “show” others-prospects and potential supporters-your virtue and your value. That’s why you want to always portray a solid character-one that casts a strong, accurate, and focused shadow.Think of it this way: If your customers are behind you, your shadow will be seen in front of you. When that happens, your reputation will precede you.Shadowcasting Law #3: Obscuring your light source will make an ambiguous shadow-or even eliminate itMuddled messages, confusing images, schizophrenic voice and tone. These and other common marketing mistakes can block or obscure the illumination of your core markets and thwart Shadowcasting. Focused light casts a more clearly defined shadow. And so do focused businesses.If low, dark clouds are obscuring the sunlight of your core market from shining on your character and casting your reputation into the marketplace, you could have a focus problem. Focus starts with discovering what your business does well-really well-and different from the competition. Then, determine how you will make this competency a unique, compelling, and relevant point of differentiation.Shadowcasting Law #4: A solid object casts a more clear and defined shadowThe heart and soul of character is integrity-the opposite of hypocrisy-and it means your business is solid through and through. Integrity comes from the Latin word for soundness. A transparent object or character cannot cast a meaningful shadow.The marketing chief of a client once related a story to me about meeting an old friend in a restaurant. When the friend asked the marketing chief where he was working, he told him the name of the business. Then came the million-dollar question: “What do they do there?” asked the friend. The marketing chief stuttered and stammered in an attempt to get some momentum behind his explanation, and then he took a good fifteen minutes to explain everything the business did and stood for.Because it was about “everything” and appeared to serve “everybody,” it was a hypocritical business. It lacked a clearly definable character. It was, in a sense, transparent. Shine as they might, this company’s core market could not cast an accurate shadow of the business’s reputation into the marketplace. The result? Lost market share, poor business results, a declining loyalty, and ultimately confused and bewildered customers.If your organizational character is well positioned, believable, relevant, and radically differentiated, your core market will cast a reliable and accurate proxy of your character-your reputation-far into the marketplace for others to see and experience.Shadowcasting Law #5: In a forest, many of the shadows look the sameLike shadows in a forest, many businesses look the same; their offerings, their taglines, their characters. If you were to look at their shadows only-their reputations-and not the actual character of a business, how would you judge them? If businesses can suffer from sameness, imagine relying only on their reputations alone to help you evaluate which business to patronize.That’s where differentiation comes in. In a forest full of elm trees it really helps to be a broad, sweeping pine. But even being a little different will not push your business into the Shadowcasting zone. That’s where radical differentiation can really help distinguish one shadow from the next.Understand what your business does well-really well-and different from your competition. This is often referred to as your core competency. Now, how do you make this competency a unique, compelling, and relevant point of differentiation?That’s the only way you’ll stand out in a forest of sameness.Ultimately, Shadowcasting is about building your company’s credibility in the marketplace. It’s your reputation that will do that…or won’t.