Lately I’ve been doing a lot of studying on what branding is, how to develop a market, selling to your target audience, etc. Earlier I was going through a powerpoint presentation created by a guy named Marty Neumeier who is apparently huge in the arena of brand creation.

I have to say - it was pretty amazing. However, because of it, I now have to buy his book. There were a couple of great points in it that I want to throw out there to see if I can get some feedback.

In the presentation there is a point that states, “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.” What does your production, service, or organization make someone’s gut feel? If it’s software, does it illicit an emotion? What do your services make someone feel? Has your organization created an emotional response for some reason?

Notice, he didn’t say that a brand is a person’s thought about a product, service, or organization - he said “A brand is a person’s gut feeling…”

I know at Freedom Church, it is a goal that you never leave without us making you feel something. There are definitely a few emotions we would prefer you feel, but I know that we would much rather you feel something than to not feel anything.

There are something like 3,684,000 churches in the world. What are you doing that would make people choose yours? Beyond that, What are you doing to keep people there?

I’d love to see some feedback so let’s hear it!

EB

Well the new website is up! Check it out at www.starvostech.com and see what a great job my friend Jason Foust did on the design.

As part of getting the website up, I’ve started an internet marketing campaign.  It’s kind of annoying when you type “Starvos Technologies” into Google and up pops two other websites before yours. I mean, seriously, I picked this name so that no one would have it - I didn’t think I would have to compete with my listings in online directories for the top spot on Google.

Anyways, after $20 with Google Adwords, I have had only 50 hits in 2 days. For those of you who aren’t really into the SEO & Online Marketing thing - that’s not a lot. Therefore I’ve just spent the last two hours combing through my keywords and meta tags to get to that number one spot with more hits. We shall see how this goes.

In other news, I’m looking for two sales people.  One for the Structured Wiring side of my business, and one for the video surveillance side - let me know if you know somebody that would be interested.

Alright, seeing as it is 2 AM (Almost) I am going to head to bed.  See you all in the morning!

- EB

After almost a full week of planning, designing, market research and writing I’m exhausted.  Here’s the catch: there’s still a day left in this week.

Here’s what I’ve done so far this week:

1. Designed Business Cards & sent them to the printer (They look pretty good in my opinion)
2. Written 7 of 9 sections out of my business plan including all the spreadsheets that go along with them.
3. Completed half of the market research needed. (Those numbers will make your head hurt)
4. Designed a Brochure & sent to the printer. (The design gets a B+/A-, but I need something to give people.)
5. Met with my corporate attorney to get his advice.
6. Had an AWESOME meeting with a local pastor of a church that’s in its seventh month.
7. Decided that i love Iced Cafe Mocha’s from Starbucks a little too much.

So here’s my check-list of things for the rest of the week.  Keep in mind there’s ONLY one day left in this week.

1. Finish the second half of my market research
2. Write the remainder of the business plan
3. Find at least 50 retail locations for me to visit next week
4. Make contact with at least 10 pastors so I can attempt to get some meetings
5. Find 5 investors to pitch to within the next two weeks

So as we can all see - too much for me to do and not enough time for me to do it while still trying to spend some time with my wife and son.  That’s it for today’s update…on to some more research.