WOULD YOU LIKE A BUSINESS, BRAND OR PERSONAL MAKEOVER?
James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine
So far in this Magazine 2.0 Experiment, you have helped us scope out the cover design, named who you want to interview, suggested topics, largely populated our Housekeeping and Opinion columns and nominated a company or two for Paul Ryan’s New Media section.
This week we ask…
Would you like a business, brand or personal makeover?
During this ‘experiment’ a number of branding experts (from company marketing experts to personal branding gurus) have stepped forward to offer their expertise.
We thought, why not ask those eager to help out to ‘makeover’ some of our readers.
Would you like some direction with your personal or business PR?
How about some advice on your branding?
Would you like to be given a grooming makeover?
How about an attitude upgrade?
According to one expert: “Personal Branding is aimed at the individual (up and coming executive, entrepreneur, small business owner) where their personal brand reflects their business brand and can have a significant impact and may either make or break their success in business. We would look at how we can give them an edge and have them standing out from their peers, competitors – taking them from good to great!”
If this sounds interesting, all you need to do is put your hand up and nominate your business (post your interest below).
We’ll send in the appropriate branding guru and get both your ’stories’ in Anthill Magazine. This is your chance to improve your business and also get some extra exposure in Anthill Magazine (I can see the colourful pictures now!).
Simply post a comment below, describing your business and its goals. Also, please let us know where your business in based and whether or not you know what area of your business you might like some assistance with.
So… Would you like a business, brand or personal makeover?
October 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Hi,
We are an online marketing company based in Melbourne and our Goals are to be recognised as an innovative company which makes a BIG difference to the clients it works with. We also want to forward integrate and launch online ventures.
Over the past two years, we have been successful in delivering quality traffic to our client websites but now we want to go beyond that to provide more comprehensive services.
Regards
Anup
October 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am
We are a team of Gen Y’s that have launched an up and coming Recruitment company seven months ago. We are passionate, values driven and hardworking. We are looking for assistance in promoting our points of difference in a saturated market. Our consultants don’t have sales targets but are targeted on the quality of their placements. We work in the Call Centre, Office Support and Customer Service space in SA and VIC. We have fast growth plans and would love some assistance with overall branding and PR. In particular how to highlight to our customers what is unique to our company and service offering.
Any help would be much appreciated
October 7th, 2008 at 11:19 am
My business heavily relies on developing a strong brand, as my product is effectively me. I am a race car driver, with my goal to race in the professional ranks of circuit racing. I need to learn to become a complete and marketable package (hmm grooming also sounds familiar), as driving fast and great race results is only a small part of the motorsport business.
I need to stand out and use something that is bigger than just me, to achieve my goals. I developed a team, Go Nuts Racing, to assist my journey by using this brand. I now need assistance with how to understand my brand and what it really is, and also what others think it is. I want to learn how to create, establish and maintain a strong brand identity. Importantly for potential partners, it’s all about branding, as they will want to promote their brand, product or service through my racing team. www.gonutsracing.com.
Regards
Rob
October 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Hi
we are Australa’s first online styling service offering a truly personalised service. Our goal is to make styling affordable and accessible to all Australians no matter where they are located.
We are confident with our branding but seek assistance in marketing this new service to create awareness with the public of an online service.
Cheers
Sue
October 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am
We would realy like to keep the costomer there longer and experience our product in some sort of way (what we’re looking for is the next best thing to being aboard and actually sailing the boats). we have some projects to go some sort of way to achieving this but they are ‘under construction’ at the moment. love to hear other ideas…
October 9th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I have a telephone system installation business in Brisbane that needs some help in branding and with PR. I’ve found traditional forms of advertising useless with virtually all of my business coming from referrals.
My website is getting hits but has only generated one lead that didn’t convert into a sale. It’s currently very product oriented and badly needs a makeover.
Any assistance or direction would be much appreciated.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Web site is www.perrycatamarans.com.au. The business is building large luxury catamarans. Big enough to spend a couple of years on a weather the current global financial storm…
October 9th, 2008 at 8:06 am
We have recently launched a Fashion site www.fashioncollaborative.com. Our goal is to unite the Fashion Industry getting them to share ideas and experience to innovate and collaborate to remain competitive in the global market place. Our industry is notorious for being technology luddites and we aim to educate and inspire all to stay in touch with the brilliant technology that is available to help our members develop their personal skills and grow their businesses. We also have a strong desire to coach and mentor young talent by exposing them to existing stars in all areas of the industry - creating career opportunities and exposure.
We would value the opportunity to work with Business/Marketing and PR experts to assist us to improve our web and public brand profile . We are passionate about what we do and want to provide the most professional innovative and dynamic Web 2.0 Fashion site available - the concept of being coached in Personal Branding is very exciting and we are all putting our hands up to be considered.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
We provide legal services to IT companies who are sick of dealing with lawyers who can barely turn on their PCs without help, let alone understand what their IT clients actually DO for a living. Ok I admit to being a lawyer - but we run our business more like an IT consultancy. Most people engage lawyers by referral (for business law) and certainly that’s where our new work comes from. But we’d like help in PR and branding to get the word out that there are lawyers who actually get IT!
October 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I love the idea of having a brand makeover for my web design business and a personal branding makeover for myself.
Having recently launched a new online venture in the form of a blog about the iPhone and Lifestyle Design (www.mymobilelife.net.au) I can see the need to raise the profile of my personal brand identity.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I guarantee you will be hard pressed to find a company that will have a better return on this service than ours.
We have recently merged two organizations, a business systems software house, and a labor hire firm.
Both businesses are in startup mode, combined revenues are around $500,000, Gross margin around 60%, both principles own equal share and are passionate about the business.
The skill mix is right, one partner is a successful sales manager, the other a business system expert.
We have employed a sales person, and the resource base in place that allows us to start marketing and selling effectively, and we are starting to pick up the phone and call prospective clients.
We are also in the process of setting up a JV with an overseas interest to market our products into APAC.
We really need to get our marketing message, our look, and our feel right.
Should we get that right, I have no doubt we will be one of the fastest growing companies in the Anthill space.
Furthermore that growth will uncover more opportunities we wish to develop, and we don’t forget those that have helped us get to where we are.
Bruce Lock
MD Automate Solutions.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Our site http://www.ClickBook.net is easily the world’s free-est and coolest (!) online booking system for small business. We’re one of these cocky startups who think they can just give it away for free! We think we can pull this off and make it real popular cos it’s actually a great product and the laws of attraction will ‘make it so’. Are we completely stupid? We’re all ears!
October 9th, 2008 at 8:19 am
http://www.theentrepreneurialmother.com.au
Every entrepreneurial mother needs a little help from time to time, and I’m no different! With the blog and accompanying website, I share my story of how I design and make Life! work for me. The next phase, which is where I am looking for guidance and assistance, is how I work with you/others to design and plan how you/they want to make Life! work for you.
By way of background, I am a businesswoman who has built a successful business, and just as importantly, the life around it. I am a director of aCE talentNET www.acetalentnet.com.au; which focuses on performance improvement in a corporate context. As the company is run almost entirely by entrepreneurial mothers, I have collected a host of tried and tested strategies designed to help “working” women maximise their productivity in all aspects of their lives, while at the same time designing and creating a quality life.
“the entrepreneurial mother” is also a registered trademark in Australia.
The scope of what can be done with this brand, if nothing else, has the potential to open up all sorts of opportunities. Again, guidance and assistance with this will also be greatly appreciated.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Cherry Enterprises has evolved over the past 7 years and its time to evolve into the present and future.
The business is Relationship Business connecting, I find extraordinary people the right business connection and amazing businesses amazing people. Through my connections.
Cherry enterprises also works closely with CEO’s post merger and acquisitions to ensure a smooth transition acting as both mentor and conducting implementation with Human resources, culture and corporate services
I am also the founder of Business3000 a not for profit that promotes business excellence in Melbourne www.business3000.org.au
I can give great Marketing, Branding and PR advice however I find it difficult to practice what I preach and would be delighted with some practical direction to combine all that I do for the greater benefit for my business. I find I am doing the greater good for all and sometimes this means that my business misses out
Looking forward to hearing from you
Kind Regards
Rebecca
October 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am
VisitVineyards.com is an online publisher in the niche area of wine and food travel, Australia-wide. We have recently launched a consumer benefits package in Victoria; the main challenge seems to be breaking through the clutter and reaching people when and where they are making their travel decisions.
The Wotif brand has clearly captured consumers’ headspace for ‘last minute cheap accommodation’ - we want to capture it in wine and food travel, but we don’t have their budget! So innovative ways of brand building are paramount. Live the brand is my motto, and to a large extent I do, but another challenge is to ensure the brand flows right through the team and across all aspects of our business.
A brand is so much more than a logo - see our website www.VisitVineyards.com - and we want to make ours sing and be remembered.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Our company is launching a brand new proudct to the Australian market, which is a UV monitor wristband and would like assistance in promoting it nationally. thank you
October 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am
In ladies gym wear, we have been stuck with the ‘boring’ for far too long. Our resolve is to make sure that active wear no longer needs to be so ‘plain Jane’. That is why I established Gym Funky - http://www.gymfunky.com.au - A ladies active wear company that provides, sexy, funky and stylish clothing that is also fashionable enough to wear every day.
Operational for the better part of a year, selling door to door (or Gym to Gym), we recently opened our first store at North Lakes, Brisbane. Although this store has had steady sales and the website has produced some results, we find we are having to educate the market about our fabrics as it nothing like the cotton/Lycra that Australian women have been used to.
Gym Funky has a great story to be told, and has the makings of a great brand, it just needs the help of a PR and Branding ‘Personal Trainer’ to point us in the right direction.
Stay Funky!
p.s. if you are after colourful pictures, then our products will fill that need. Our clothing is from Brazil, need I say more…
October 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Never mind ice to Eskimos…the mercury in Brisbane just topped 35 degrees and we’re selling saunas. We need a guru.
I’m a Marketing grad 3 years out of Uni and have been on a vertical learning curve since I got here. The Business is 5 years old and in the midst of making exciting growth decisions - expansion to call centre sales teams, managers managing rather than doing accounts and sales, strategic marketing instead of praying for a call from a .doc mag ad… all in the midst of a promised recession. Our product is immensely novel; a PR dream that never happened and after 5 years we have spine-tingling testimonials from some very happy clients. We have some sketchy competitors but our biggest woe is an ad-hoc positioning strategy. Enter the Gurus.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Brand makeover/marketing assistance;
We design and manufacture simple, inexpensive energy-saving devices for anyone who owns an appliance (everyone!) to eliminate their (wasted) standby loads easily.
Whilst we are happy with our Aust/NZ branding we could do with assistance marketing our products to EVERYONE, ANYWHERE who has a power point.
Additionally, our global opportunity is vast, and we need a brand that communicates our messages across national boundaries.
I’m sure you would agree that we have the right product at the right time! Join us for a very exciting ride.
Meanwhile, visit www.eco-switch.com.au (website overhaul coming soon)
October 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Dear Anthill
My friend’s problem is that he just does not know what to wear!
He is a CEO of a company Magic Memories employing 60+ people and has arrived in December 2006 owning one suit, two ties (as yet worn once to a black tie do) and three business shirts.
The potential clients are seeing the entire wardrobe within weeks but with a company mantra of Amplifying Visitor Experiences he is torn between Corporate, Casual Friday but not quite Bula Fijian (yet).Although he has turned up to a pitch wearing a personalized Tee Shirt of the clients company- the burning question is what first impression should he take?
He needs direction and grooming into the worlds of Australian Business Fashion to enable him to live the brand – don’t just read this as a midlife crisis wanting free stuff - he needs to become Brand Ambassador of www.magicmemoriesgroup.com.
OK, I admit the Friend with the problem is me
Stuart Norris
October 9th, 2008 at 9:09 am
G’day Anthill. Our web design firm recently had a company re-structure, change of location and refinement of services and have been wanting a fresh new look to go along with our fresh enthusiasm and new premises! Problem is we’ve been too busy working for our clients to spend much time on ourselves and we think we need some ‘business pampering’!
We design great websites, but lets face it, although creative online we could use a little help when it comes to being cool in other areas, our office is stark and bare with lots of white walls, and most of our clients have trouble finding where we are (even though we’ve told them). Help us please!
October 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am
We provide business coaching and courses for small to medium businesses in Australia. Our goal is to support the start up process and learning so that Australians can create and manage their businesses more successfully.
Our problem is in credibility. Our service is flexible in a market that needs flexible but is conditioned to ‘packaged’ .
We have many ‘google searches’ that end on our site but at the end of the day we don’t win many customers for training services. We can teach the rest but first we must get the chance.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I’m in the start up stage of my business, fashion design for muslim women, and would require help with branding to reflect the product I’m selling. I’d be providing fashion forward clothing to women that are not target by the mainstream fashion chains.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The Physio Co is a young, dynamic & growing group of physiotherapists. Together we are striving to be the leaders in healthcare for the booming numbers of senior and elderly people - or the ‘likeable oldies’ as we know them!
The Physio Co is growing at a rapid rate. From one person with a vision in 2004 to today’s team of professionals visting 1000’s of clients every week.
The vision for The Physio Co is to be the most recognised, trusted and innovative brand for all senior and elderly Australians - and have a lot of fun along the way!
We know we have the goods to continue our growth as the population rapidly ages and our target market grows. What we need is to establish oursleves as the ‘go to’ brand in our market. A PR and branding makeover will help position The Physio Co for much greater exposure and successes.
There are hundreds of thousands of baby boomer retirees and The Physio Co will help them live life as actively as possible. Who wouldn’t want a young, enthusiastic team of physios helping their Mum, Dad, Grandparents, Aunty or Uncle to stay mobile and get on with having an active life?
www.thephysioco.com.au
October 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
We’re not sexy, yet …
Direction on business PR? Advice on branding? Yes please! Our user demographic ranges in age from 21 – 65, with personal interests from skydiving to knitting. Our product will change their lives, and they won’t even have to pay for it! But we really need some help getting it out there.
Who are we? Like thousands of others, we’re ex-teachers who loved teaching but hated the hours of admin that came with the job. We left the job, put our lives on hold, (and our house on the line), and started Saron Education Ltd. 2 years later our team of programmers has developed Teachers’ Assistant, a truely revolutionary piece of software that seriously reduces teacher workloads.
For the sake of our kids, we need to get passionate, skilled, quality teachers back into the classroom. Help us get them there by giving them Teachers’ Assistant.
www.saroneducation.com.au
PS We have one funky Gen Y programmer but the rest of us look like teachers or computer geeks (because we are!). So a little help in the personal makeover dept certainly wouldn’t go astray! Thanks
October 9th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
We are a Digital Media Company, specializing in custom made Live Video Applications:
All the Live Flash Media Servers and Applications are ready, what we need now is PR and a makeover of the info, so everybody understand the services, without being to technical, as they are simple to use and have major key points over other services.
The services are:
Video Broadcast Live (Webcast) for 1 to 1000 Viewers.
Video Upresent Live (Webinar) for 1 to 1000 Viewers.
Video Conference for 2 to 5 Participants (unlimited seats)
Video Meeting for 2 to 15 Participants (unlimited seats)
GizmoVideo’s customers span a variety of industries, but share a common need: to communicate and collaborate more effectively across multiple locations. We address this need by offering: easy, simple and fast live video solutions along with an unmatched commitment to customer service.
GizmoVideo makes it easier for customers to view products and for potential clients and investors to view your company. With full access to the latest in web technologies, GizmoVideo is all your company will need for online video broadcasting. But we need to do some PR.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
We publish the leading Australian photography online magazine and could certainly benefit from help with how to convince advertisers used to print media to take a good look at online media.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
My website, www.celebrante.com.au, is approaching its third birthday and is a leader in its field which is providing a searchable database for those seeking a celebrant. With nearly 500 profiles, we’re one of the largest such sites in the world let alone just here in Australia.
Since we started, competitors have popped up and the competition for keywords is getting fierce with average click costs almost trebling over the last 18 months.
I desperately need help with PR, Hosting, Web Redesign, Overseas Expansion and much, much more.
But most importantly, I need to find a way to free me from the tyranny of AdWords!
October 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Special Reservations is in essence an event company based on the Gold Coast. We have three distinct products: 1- Events that we are contracted to organise, 2- Events that are initiated and organised by the company, and, 3- packages that include a combination of activities.
Having worked in the industry for 10 years including places such as the Palazzo Versace hotel, moving into business for myself, i find the hardest thing is letting people know that it mostly works out cheaper and better if they let a professional do it.
My Company website www.specialreservations.com.au has attracted much attention, but with limited capitol I have had to learn how to program in HTML myself to build the website.
When I was thinking of the website and branding I thought that diamonds symbolise what people want, what people like and also quality. So, as a branding point I have used diamonds as my common link in cards, websites and letterheads. The problem is that I have different diamonds on my business cards.
So even if it is not a full makeover and just a couple of peices of advice, that would be nice too.
Thanks
Jason Purton
Special Reservations
October 10th, 2008 at 7:21 am
We are an internet marketing company specialising in search engine friendly websites and marketing savvy email newsletters.
We are celebrating our 10th birthday this year and my first book is currently being published and due for release early next year.
So I would really benefit from some business and personal PR advice.
Thanks for the offer and hoping you can help.
Our website is www.melissanorfolk.com.au
October 10th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Hi I would love some help as I am in a position where I rely on internet sales only due to living in rural isolation.
Being able to market my items to rural people in my area would be great as I have had good success with the Eastern States but my own backyard is harder to crack.
Being a niche and individual product, trying to find the right way to market my product that covers a large demographic is quite hard.
I hope with a makeover, revamp and a point in the right direction I can further my business. I also believe in “paying in forward” so I will be certainly trying to inspire other people in rural areas to give it a go if they have a great idea, because with the internet the world is your oyster
Taraeta
October 10th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hi,
We are a start up project/program management consulting company that does not “do” project delivery. We have significant expertise in setting up projects correctly and administering a portfolio of projects to give senior executives simple and clear visibility of how their projects are progressing and if the mix of projects will result in achieving company objectives.
One of the main problems with this business model is getting senior executives to realise that they do not have meaningful visibility, just a clutter of disjointed reports. Another 200page report does not equal more visibility!
The message we want to get out there is that with our approach and low cost on-demand tools, senior exec’s can quickly obtain clear simple and meaningful visibility at a low cost, accessible from anywhere.
However, it took us 4 months to get business cards and our website has got as far as existing with no content….
Could do with some help on establishing our brand, promoting our value and giving visiblity of our company to senior exec’s!
Thanks
October 10th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Hi Anthill! We’re a start up on a mission to free up Australia’s time. Our business, ‘Sauce it’ finds, compares and delivers goods and services from the ever expanding consumer market that all too often seems to have forgotten the words ‘customer service’ these days.
From rental property, furniture, personal trainers or even vacuum cleaners we hunt down the best options available based on your needs so you have more spare time to do the things you’d rather be doing, whether it’s running your business more effectively, going zorbing or perhaps even giving salsa dancing a try… mmm Sizzle.
Anyway, we’re doing ok, but we could really use some awesome PR ideas to help us expand quickly across Australia (oh and the world… we wouldn’t be true entrepreneurs if we didn’t have global domination on our minds now would we?).
October 10th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Our business allows individuals and organisations to buy, sell, swap and meet within trusted communities.
The bartering aspect of our system is especially useful in these harsh economic times (when everyone is looking for ways to save cold hard cash).
We have some great PR opportunities, because we have some great human stories of “swaps” that can not be done through any other system.
For example, we had a kid who wanted to guitar lessons, but could not afford them … so a guitar teacher said “I have a car that I need washed … every time you wash my car, I will give you a free guitar lesson” … we create interesting matches like this all the time - our website www.SwapAce.com
We also allow people to request/provide products and service for free to people/organisations in need … and we get lots of people contributing.
We also think that with the right branding, and PR we can really help a lot of Australians (as our system is totally free to use) … we can help to provide to the poor … as one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Help us to help Australian’s … we are sure this will make a good story for Australian Anthill.
http://www.SwapAce.com
October 10th, 2008 at 9:44 am
We have created an on-line gift registry and wishing well - see www.OurWishingWell.com
In summary, guests can quickly an easily provide money towards meaningful gifts for wedding couples … and the wedding couples get the money to spend anywhere on anything.
This is a very practical and popular solution for many wedding couples, as a majority of wedding couples have already been living our of home and already have the traditional items that they might receive as dding gifts … what they really need it money to help pay for the wedding, honeymoon or even a house deposit (especially in these harsh economic times)
This is really disruptive technology as it is challenging the traditional gift registries that do not provide great value to modern bides and grooms.
We have also expanded into other industries like babies, birthdays and fundraisers
see www.BabyWishingWell.com and www.BirthdayWishingWell.com and www.BestFundraiserWebsite.com
Each of these areas could use a branding revamp and we think that with the right PR we can really help a lot of people to save money during these harsh economic times (e.g. opposed to money being wasted on gifts that will never be used).
http://www.OurWishingWell.com
October 10th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Scribblersinc write and edit words so that your audience will take some sort of action. We’re already revamping our website, so I would like to upgrade myself to match our brilliant brand.
I was a research scientist. Let’s face it. That doesn’t exactly scream haute couture. I’ve spent many years standing in a lab in jeans or shorts (not short shorts, I have some standards!) and if they were ripped, well, who cared. Once I walked into a medical conference cocktai session and my friend and I were asked if we were in the right place. I guess it was the yak-wool jumper I was wearing.
I think I’ve improved a little bit since the good ol’ days…but I think some professional grooming advice wouldn’t go astray.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The Daily Scoop is known in the Albury-Wodonga region as “the best ice cream in the world”. Our small shop in Stanley street Wodonga is now very well known to many regular customers from far and wide! And we have only just started our second season… During the winter time when we did not make ice cream we subleased the shop to a chef who cooked delicious soups and branded the venture The Daily Soup - it worked amazingly well, especially with customers that work in the area and visit the shop during their lunch time.
So we are successful at what we do best and that is cooking the best ice cream… But we need help with some marketing directions. Our initial idea was to brand ourselves as not just a food outlet but also a “daily” news outlet - this would involve a simple leaflet to handout with “a scoop” of local news. We engaged a cosultant and graphic designer in our first year, but he has since moved interstate and does not work with us anymore… So we had to change our branding and the direction was somewhat lost. Any ideas how to get it back on track would be great!
October 14th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hi there from Taste newtown.
We have a fresh healthy Gourmet salad and Chicken shop in King street Newtown.
We acter for a wide varierty of customers and pride ourselves in our fresh healthy salads that are made here daily, our chemical free no hormone chicken and our personal vibey service.
We have ben here for nearly 5 years and are looking for a new edge…..Something new and different to excite our many regulars and keep them interested.
Visit us for a meal and lets chat…….I am ready for that tough challenge- “CHANGE”
October 16th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
When people are looking for Real Estate, they visit realestate.com.au
When people are looking to buy a car, they go to carsales.com.au
when people are looking to build a house, they go to.. ????
Exactly. With your help, we can be that first choice in brands to look for when building a new house.
www.buildersearch.com.au
Based in Brisbane, but ready to go national!
Thanks for the opportunity.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Thanks everyone for putting your names forward.
What an interesting and diverse readership Anthill has!
We have chosen three companies (or more accurately, our branding gurus have chosen three companies) to take part in this element of the Magazine 2.0 experiment.
They will be featured in the Dec/Jan edition.
If you have not heard from us, sadly your organisation was not selected.
Thanks again for taking part. We’ll try to get all your names in Anthill in some capacity.
Best regards
James