The old branding model is past its “sell by” date. It is a product-centered model that comes from packaged goods in the ’70s and ’80s; offer differentiated benefits that a particular consumer segment is thought to care about. “My peas are picked at the peak of sweetness”…that kind of thing. This model is breaking down as people try store brands and find they are “fit for purpose” at a better price. Now what?

Change the model.

People live life in four dimensions. We have functional needs, but we also are social creatures, have self-expressive needs, and crave content that we find to be entertaining and informative. Thinking this way reveals new ways of making your brand relevant:

1. Functional: go from “product feature” to “solution-based” thinking
2. Social: make your brand a celebrity that is fanned, friended, and followed. Or, create a thematic environment around a value shared by your brand and its customers (e.g. Dove and “the real meaning of beauty”)
3. Self-expressive: the brand must stand for something so clearly understood, it is cultural currency
4. Content: become the logical and top of mind source for content centered on what your brand is about

But here’s the catch; your competitive set will change as you offer new constructs…new ways to categorize. This takes us to the idea of a “mental marketplace” where your brand must vie for attention against other brands that are functionally unrelated. Product brands can even find they compete with celebrities and news publishers.

Noah Brier has created a freely available tool called brand tags. (You should also check out mattermeter.) Brandtags displays a logo and asks you to type the first thing that comes to mind when you see a particular brand’s logo. You can then see what that brand means to everyone else.

3M competes with Apple in the mental marketplace of innovation but they express their brands differently. Experience the Apple store in SOHO. Apple has leveraged innovation, cool, and edginess into self-expression, a sense of belonging and maybe a little bit of “theme park” thrown in. Oh by the way, Apple stores reached $1 billion in sales faster than any other chain in history (previous record-holder was the Gap).

Whole Foods vies in the mental marketplace of health/fresh with Dannon, Kashi, and Subway (and others, of course). Whole Foods “competes” via brand community across social media (e.g. 800,000+ Twitter followers), has a wonderful blog and iPhone app about a wellness lifestyle from organic/fresh foods. A Whole Foods shopping bag is almost a clubhouse handshake.

When a brand wins in its mental marketplace it leverages multi-layered connections with people into spontaneous credibility that converts into sales. The unfamiliar new product becomes instantly familiar.

If store brands are going to dominate the mental marketplace for “affordable” where do you plan to play and win?

How sweet it is. Even in a recession, candy has been a luxury that many people can still afford. “Chocolate is a comfort food,” says Dan Johnson, owner of Choco-Logo in Buffalo, New York, which has seen retail sales rise 30 percent since last year. The confectionery industry, as a whole, grew 3.7 percent during the 52-week period ending April 19, according to the National Confectioners Association, which is pretty good considering so many industries are flat or declining. Historically, experts say, candy is one of the most recession-resistant industries and many of today’s classic brands, including Snickers, Tootsie Pops, and 3 Musketeers, all launched during the darkest days of the Great Depression, between 1930 and 1932.

APPS

Apple launched its App Store last summer, creating a whole new burgeoning industry in the process. Sales of apps in the first month topped $30 million, leading Steve Jobs to predict that the marketplace would be worth $1 billion some day. To date, companies have produced more than 30,000 applications, ranging from games such as Tap Tap Revenge to apartment-hunting help to tools for finding out the name of a song; in all, Apple has processed more than a billion downloads. To capitalize on the trend, venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins have begun investing in app producers; the venerable Sand Hill Road firm has earmarked $100 million for the market.

Digital Medical Records

The challenge of streamlining patient care through digitized medical records, e-prescription programs, and online hospital communication, is just now gaining momentum, giving younger companies a chance to make inroads. The federal stimulus bill pledged $19 billion to the development of a health-information tracking system. Based on that level of funding, employment in the field is expected to grow by 18 percent between now and 2016, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One up-and-comer: Phreesia, a New York City business that makes electronic patient check-in tablets for doctors offices, recently closed $11.5 million in Series C funding, and has secured $25 million in funding to date.

Partying

Even as consumers cut back on their consumption of premium alcoholic beverages, sales of booze at lower price points have risen significantly over the last year. As a result, beer, wine, and liquor wholesaler profits have grown 18 percent and sales have grown 5 percent over the past year, according to Sageworks. And the Distilled Spirits Council estimates exports of U.S. distilled spirits grew by 8 percent last year, to $1.1 billion, led by robust demand for American whiskeys.

Niche Software

Although software spending is expected to increase just 5 percent through 2013, the software-as-a-service niche is forecast to expand by nearly 20 percent annually over the same period, as companies continue to see the benefits of on-demand, flexible applications, according to Gartner, a market-research firm. The industry is expected to produce $8 billion in sales by the end of this year and $16 billion by the end of 2013. The office suites categories will lead the pack this year, increasing 376 percent to $512 million.

Health Care

Perhaps the sector likely to benefit the most from the aging baby boomer generation is the home health-care industry. An increasingly popular alternative to nursing homes, home health-care services tend to offer patients lower costs while affording them the dignity of being able to remain in their homes. Industry employment is expected to increase 4.5 percent annually through 2016, the third-highest rate of growth recorded by any industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry has spawned dozens of promising niches, including companies that specialize in cognitive-fitness computer programs, which help exercise the mind. Total revenue for companies in the cognitive-fitness market topped $265 million in revenue in 2008, up from $100 million in 2005, according to the market research firm SharpBrains. Total sales are expected to hit $2 billion by 2015, the firm estimates.

Yoga Pilates

Amid a recession, are we getting more in tune with our inner spirit? Perhaps. Americans spent $5.7 billion on yoga products, equipment, and clothing in 2008–87 percent more than they did in 2004, according to a study from Yoga Journal. Nearly 14 million Americans say a doctor or therapist has recommended yoga to them. And as the industry continues to expand, there is ample room for new products. One promising opportunity: creating appealing men’s yoga apparel.

Trade Schools

With unemployment numbers up to 8.9 percent, it’s no surprise that technical and trade schools are experiencing a surge in business. Revenue at these for-profit schools rose an average of nearly 8 percent over the 12-month period ending in May, according to Sageworks, a financial analysis company. While thousands of Americans are trying to set themselves apart from other job applicants, others are switching careers as the realization hits that their former industries may have permanently contracted.

Food Trucks

This year might be the worst ever for the food-service industry as a whole, but the emerging fast-casual segment — which falls between fast food and full-serve restaurants — continues to shine. Sales for the top 100 fast-casual restaurant chains grew by nearly 11 percent in 2008, to $16.7 billion, according to Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant industry research and consulting firm. Panera Bread led the segment with $2.6 billion in sales in 2008, representing 16 percent growth, while Chipotle Mexican Grill totaled $1.3 billion in revenue, good for a nearly 21 percent growth. For those without the capital to start a restaurant, food industry watchers are seeing a growing trend in food trucks, with those that offer one type of food — tacos, waffles, and even Korean barbecue — all the rage on the streets of major cities.

Green Renovation

The construction industry may be in a slump, but companies that specialize in green building are bucking the trend. The overall green building market is expected to more than double from $49 billion today to approximately $140 billion by 2013, according to a report from McGraw-Hill. A growing consumer awareness of the advantages of sustainable homes and buildings, along with the increased government focus on environmental initiatives, will only bring more opportunities in this arena. Businesses that position themselves as both eco-friendly and affordable stand to benefit even more.

Niche Business Consulting

In terms of overall job growth, the nation’s fastest-growing industry is niche business consulting; it’s workforce is expected to increase by 5.9 percent through 2016. Corporate layoffs have spawned a wave of professionals who are trying to repurpose their skills in the consulting realm. While the competition is fierce in this space, the barriers to entry are low, and the industry as a whole is seeing a shift as clients drop big corporate consultancies in favor of smaller, more specialized firms. Particularly in demand right now: consultants who can help companies to save money, minimize financial losses, and do public relations damage control.

Game Designing

The education-technology industry has been gaining momentum for years and the $650 million allocated to it in the recently-passed federal stimulus bill should only accelerate the transformation inside U.S. schools and school districts. Companies such as Promethean USA, eInstruction, and Luidia have already capitalized on growing demand, carving out market share in the emergent interactive-whiteboard industry. Then there’s Schoolwires, a company in State College, Pennsylvania, that designs content management systems for school districts. The business plans to increase its workforce 60 percent this year. Don Knezek, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, says when it comes to technology in classrooms, the U.S. is still an “emerging market.”

Head Hunters

At a time when many companies are reducing their headcount, now might seem like a funny time to start a staffing firm. But some agencies, particularly those that specialize in filling part-time positions, are doing well. This sector — the largest within employment services — “should continue to generate the most new jobs in this industry,” according to a government estimate. Those agencies that position themselves to take advantage of changes in the workforce by specializing in locating positions that offer flexible schedules, for example, are well-positioned to succeed.

Government Jobs

In the past year, government services has been gaining steam as a top category among the fastest-growing private companies on the Inc. 500 | 5000 list. From 2007 to 2008, the total revenue for companies in this category nearly doubled, from $678 million to $1.2 billion, and the median four-year growth rate for companies on the 2008 list came in at nearly 1,300 percent. President Obama’s $787 billion Economic Recovery Act certainly won’t hinder that growth. According to the administration’s Recovery.gov website, by 2012, two-thirds of the approximately $23 billion allocated to individual states will reflect investments in local infrastructure, creating opportunities for start-ups to bid on projects that involve transportation, broadband technologies, and clean water, among others.

Accountants

It may not be considered a “sexy” industry, but small and independent firms that help companies manage cash flow by keeping on top of accounts receivables are increasingly in demand — especially during a time when customers will do anything they can to avoid paying bills. Accounting work is a function that companies routinely outsource, especially when they are seeking to cut costs during a recession, which opens up opportunities for start-ups. Profit margins can be especially high for solo entrepreneurs or those who run their businesses from home. According to recent data from Sageworks, private accounting firms have seen a 20.9 percent growth in profit over the last 12 months.

Repair Jobs

As money gets tight more and more people will be fixing their existing stuff rather then buying new. Currently business is up 2.4 percent at auto repair shops and 4.6 for electricians and plumbers in the past year, according to statistics compiled by Sageworks. Other lucrative sectors include shoe repair shops, many of which have seen business more than double since the start of the recession, as well as personal electronics repair shops. The repair business is also hospitable for fledgling ventures: businesses can often be run from home and sustained on the founder’s knowhow and sweat equity.

Self-improvement

If ever there were a time in which people are searching for self-improvement, it’s now. Americans spend more than $11 billion each year on self-improvement products and services, including motivational-speaker seminars, networking and wealth-building instructional DVDs, and spiritual guidance books, according to Marketdata Enterprises, a Tampa-based research firm. Over the next three years, while many industries contract, self-help is expected to grow 6.2 percent annually.

Brought to you by DWHS Web Hosting

All Web hosts ultimately provide the same service. An individual or a business places a page on the host’s server and people all over the world can access that page from their Web browser. But that, unfortunately, isn’t all there is to it.
A Web site’s performance depends on the bandwidth, server resources and infrastructure of the hosting provider. Hosting comes in many forms–shared hosting, dedicated hosting and co-location, plus hundreds of variations of each.

RELIABILITY

When choosing a Web host, you should look for size, speed, and diversity of dedicated Internet connections, as well as what hardware and software the host uses. Reliability is very important. Is there more uptime than downtime? Also important are a host’s response times. The quality and standard of back-up power is also important, as is security. But one of the most important issues you’ll face when choosing a host is the quality and level of customer service.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Twenty-four-hour customer service means next to nothing unless the persons fielding calls are qualified computer professionals. What about the skill level of the technical representative at 4 a.m.? How accessible is an engineer during “non-business” hours? Can the engineer on call be notified via pager that there’s a problem? This isn’t a problem if your site is simple but can be if it’s more complex.

RESPONSE TIME

Response time is important. When sending a message out into the great unknown, it’s nice to get a response back within an hour or two. This is something you can test before signing on with a service. After sending the host’s support department a question, how long does it take for them to respond? Also, how helpful is the response? If a host has extensive online FAQs, then its customer support team should respond faster to queries and respond in more detail than if they were bogged down all day telling 500 people how to upload a page.

ENSURE MAXIMUM UPTIME

Size and speed indicate the Web host’s total bandwidth to the Internet and, therefore, directly relate to the speed of a site’s delivery and the traffic it can support. One of the most overlooked issues is diversity of a host’s Internet connections. To ensure maximum uptime, it should have connections to several national backbones. This ensures that it will have at least one active connection even if one of the national backbones goes down.

Many hosts claim they have “unlimited bandwidth.” This simply can’t be true, as no one has unlimited bandwidth, and someone eventually has to pay for it. If you set up a site which chokes a host’s Internet connection, the host will either make you pay more or simply shut off your site.

HOW IS THE HOST SETUP POWERED?

What hardware is being used, what operating systems and Web servers are being run, and what is its internal networking structure like? After obtaining this information from several different hosts, you’ll be able to sift out those with weaker setups.

What about the physical platforms that are used to host sites and connect to the Internet? What about router platforms? Are they redundant and diverse? At what capacity do they implement upgrades? Are the platforms made up of industry standard vendors such as Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, etc., or does the host use lesser-known vendors or possibly other proprietary methods? Also, is the host Y2K compliant? All of these capabilities ensure interoperability, especially between client and vendor in private business applications where employees have access to databases through the company Web site.

Every time a visitor goes to a Web site, he or she downloads the images off of its host’s server and onto a PC. This transfer causes data to be sent over the host’s internet connection, which is only of a finite size. Too much data can cause the connection to become clogged. But figuring out your site’s requirements is easy. If your homepage has two 5K images on it and receives 100 visitors, that means that each visitor would download 10K of information over the host’s Internet connection or 10K x 100 or 1000K, which equals 1MB. One to two gigabytes of traffic is ample for 99 percent of the sites on the Internet.

HOST RELIABILITY

Reliability can be a tough issue. Servers crashthat’s simply a fact of life. Everyone has seen the dreaded “Server not responding…” message. For a host to admit to downtime is an admission of failure. However, a responsible host should understand that crashes are a part of running a server and be open about any major interruptions of service. Your site should be reachable 98 percent of the time.

WHAT ABOUT DANGER FROM FLOOD?

You probably won’t ask what floor the hosting facility is located on until there’s a flood. Business people and Web developers often don’t look at the Internet as something physical. But the virtual world exists on physical facilities, and competitive pricing is only one of the critical elements to consider.

HOW SECURE IS YOUR HOST?

Even more important is the security of the network. What is the host’s security policy and configuration? Do they have a firewall? Is there a security expert on staff? Hosts with weak network security are vulnerable to hackers.

After checking off the above items, you should contact some of the host’s current customers to see how satisfied they are with its service.

It takes a lot to be a successful entrepreneur. Do you have what it takes? Check out this list of qualities common in successful entrepreneurs and see how you measure up.

1. Great People Skills

Entrepreneurs have great people skills and understand that it’s the relationships between people that get things done. They enjoy being around people and know how to work a crowd without the crowd even realizing it!

2. Confidence—in Yourself and the Product

Another essential quality for any successful entrepreneur is confidence. We’re not talking about regular old self-confidence however. Entrepreneurs take it to another level. It’s that extreme confidence and belief in self and product that gives an entrepreneur the wherewithal to shamelessly promote a product or service.

3. Passion

Ever wanted something so bad you could taste it? Then you must be an entrepreneur! That burning desire to succeed is what enables entrepreneurial types to accomplish just about anything, from the apparently insurmountable to the thankless minutia required to keep your business running.

4. Perseverance

Every entrepreneur stumbles into roadblocks once in awhile, but what sets the successful ones apart is the ability to step back, re-evaluate, and take another route. You know that familiar saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?” Consider it the mantra of the successful entrepreneur.

5. Stamina and Energy

High energy levels and stamina go hand in hand with perseverance. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that he or she has had a pattern of burning the midnight oil, skipping lunch, working 80 to 100 hours a week, and missing out on social events in pursuit of success.

6. Sharp Focus on Goals

Entrepreneurs are focused and goal oriented. They set up goals and develop plans of action to achieve those goals, whether they’re generating sales, improving efficiency, or reworking a product design in a time crunch.

7. An Understanding of How to Make Money

An entrepreneur’s primary goal is to make money. They are not content to work solely for the pleasure of doing something they love; they prefer cold, hard, cash and understand how to get it.

8. A Gift for Sales and Marketing

Entrepreneurs don’t have to be born closers, but they need to know how to sell and market their products. It usually comes naturally to business owners; even people who don’t enjoy sales usually find it easier to sell and market a product or service they completely believe in.

9. An Eye for Opportunity

Last but not least, an entrepreneur cannot be successful without a product or service that people want. Even if your product is fantastic, you won’t make a dime if there’s no market for it. Getting the right product in front of the right audience at the right time is crucial. The ability to spot a trend or need in the marketplace and run with it is the hallmark of every successful entrepreneur from the guys behind Ginsu knives (still going strong after more than 30 years by the way), to Vince Offer, creator of the ShamWow.