But for this they need creative marketing effort to bring more people.

In a fresh attack targeting Indians in Australia, a student suffered up to 30 per cent burns after a suspected petrol bomb was hurled at him in his home in Sydney. According to local newspaper for Indian community, South Asia Times, 25-year-old Rajesh Kumar was quickly covered by a blanket by his flatmate after the attack yesterday, an act which saved him from further injuries.

Kumar was sitting on his bed in the front room of his rented house when an unknown person threw what neighbours say was a small petrol bomb through his window. The explosion and subsequent fire left Kumar with burns to a third of his body.

The latest attack came as Shravan Kumar, a 25-year-old student from Andhra Pradesh, was fighting for life in a hospital here after being stabbed by a screwdriver by a group of teens in a weekend attack that also left three of his friends injured. Doctors have said they were not very optimistic about Kumar’s recovery.

Another student Baljinder Singh, stabbed by two attackers with a screwdriver early this week, has been released from hospital today.

Source:http://toostep.com/debate/whether-indian-govt-is-doing-enough-about-the-racist-attacks?

Trends are changing in the hospitality industry, corporate travel is way down, and hotels will start looking more closely at local business opportunities. Studies show that most people will be vacationing locally this coming summer. Most hotel web sites are geared toward corporate travel and conventions. Hotels should be highlighting such things as summer specials, guest room promotions, local attraction specials, special promotions, Internet promotions, catering specials, and bar and restaurant specials to bring these services to the forefront of their web sites.

“Web sites are great sales tools,” says Louis Godin of WebEventPlanner.com, “but web site information needs to change as the market changes. What may have been popular in organizing a web site a year or two ago will not be as effective in terms of sales this year.” Taking the steps now to realign existing web site marketing information will help hotels weather the current financial storm and provide them the tools needed to capture additional local and transient business.

It is the new strategy (Hotel Internet Marketing) made by hotel industry to capture more people.It is creative marketing effort by hotel industry.

However, a lot of small businesses make some very common branding mistakes their company. Here are six of the most common issues that you can fix today to strengthen your brand.

1. You have more than one logo icon. Do you use a star on your business cards and a constellation on your website? Not good. Choose one icon to represent your business and use it consistently on anything that has your business name.
2. You use different colors. Are your business cards white with red lettering and your flyers have blue lettering? While it may seem like a small thing, this can actually damage your branding efforts. The key is consistency. Make sure you are consistent across the board with your graphic design.
3. Your staff doesn´t have the vision. Motivating your staff will go a long way towards promoting your business and creating a friendly brand. You already know some of the big branders in this area, “Service with a smile” is a great slogan.
4. You don´t know what people think of your business. Doing surveys and asking for customer feedback will help you determine if your branding is having the effect that you want. It´s important to listen to the consumers.
5. Your business has no personality. You don´t have to go out and hire clowns or anything so extreme, but thinking about the personality of your business is a good way to focus your branding. People like businesses that portray a specific element, be that a family-oriented atmosphere or cheerful service.
6. Your written and spoken messages are different. If you use one slogan on your ads and another when you answer the phone . . . you are giving conflicting messages and the inconsistency isn´t going to help your branding at all.

Branding is something that even very small businesses need to start thinking about. It could mean the difference between you and your competition and a whole lot of customers.

However, if you take a look at the average business card, then you will see that many of them suffer from poor designs. Often, these come from businesses who attempt to design business cards themselves or who utilize the services of a company that offers to print their cards for free.

There are certain things that you want your business card to do. You want it to reflect your company in a positive matter. You want it to stand out from other cards so that people remember you. However, there are some things that you should absolutely avoid.

Going Cheap on the Paper Stock

You might think that choosing a lower-quality paper stock will help your budget, but the downside is that your business card will feel cheap and flimsy. And the impression that your business card gives is often the same impression that someone has of your company. Choose a substantial, mid-weight paper stock for your cards to achieve the best impression.

Templates that Don’t Match

You might think that using a pre-designed template will make designing your business card easier. While this can help, you must use caution to choose a template that works with your logo. Most will not work well together, as a custom logo needs a customized template to highlight its uniqueness. You should also avoid templates that include a photograph, as these will often detract from your logo and impact the branding process negatively.

Too Big of a Logo

Contrary to popular belief, bigger is not always better. In fact, the bigger the company, the smaller the logo usually appears on the business card. Avoid the temptation to oversize your logo in an attempt to draw attention to it. The use of white space around the logo can have the same effect without feeling overwhelming.

Being Too Colorful

Using too much color on your business card is the equivalent to screaming at the customer. Color can be a huge asset when it is used properly, since color is closely linked to memory recall. Use one or two specific colors that tie in to your business logo instead of trying to create a rainbow-colored masterpiece.

Overdoing the Customization

These days, there are numerous ways to make your business card stand out. You can go with a complex die-cut, you can make your business card different sizes, or you can even go with a unique card stock. However, you have to make sure that your business card is still functional. Save the dramatic presentations for a highly customized endeavor. For your average business card, remember that you want to choose a somewhat “standard” size and shape so that it can still slide into a wallet or a Rolodex easily. Slightly rounding the corners or using embossing can allow you to customize your card without going over the top and detracting from your professional image.

So plz try to avoid these branding mistakes. (Personal branding mistakes)

You can learn a lot from your mistakes, but it is better to learn from other people’s mistakes! Even big global brands make mistakes but some of them never seem to learn. Some may learn after they got burned but after a few years, corporate amnesia sets in and they go back to making the same mistakes again. However, big corporations can often get away with mistakes. You can’t. That is not to say that you should not take risks, but you should try to minimise your chances of stepping on a landmine by learning about the 7 deadliest branding mistakes outlined in this .

Mistake No. 1: Don’t Know What Branding Is

Perhaps there is so much that has been written about branding that people are confused as to what branding really is. A lot of the definitions that you find these days sound very impressive but they miss the point. What is branding all about? Differentiation.

Many people still mistake branding as logo design. While it did originate with a logo (remember how cattle owner’s singe their logo or initials into the rumps of cows?), that logo is there for a purpose—differentiation. Before you can build a brand, you need to first know what branding is. The form of branding might have changed over 4,000 years but its function has remained the same.
Mistake No. 2: Middle-Of-The-Road Approach

Many brands make the mistake of being stuck in the middle. I have come across so many brands that claimed they are ‘differentiated’ by being (and I quote), “80% as good as the leading brand but only 30% more expensive than the entry-level brands.” Life is hard enough without having to think in fractions! When you take the middle-of-the-road approach, you are neither here nor there. The middle is no place to be because the 2 segments that are growing rapidly in every category in any market are the high end and the low end. Thus, if you are stuck in the middle, you’re not going anywhere. To build a strong brand, you’ve got to take a stand. You are either this or you are that. You can’t be both. You know why you scream at your children when they play in the middle of the road? That’s where accidents happen. So, why do you want to put your brand there?
Mistake No. 3: Forgot What Made Them Famous

If you study brands carefully, you will notice that one of the first things that they do when they become successful is that they tend to forget what made them famous. Xerox at one point in time forgot that what made them famous was the photocopier. They started line-extending the brand into other products such as computers, scanners, fax machines, printers, etc. and that damaged the brand tremendously. Kodak forgot that what made them famous is film and not cameras but they stuck the Kodak brand onto cameras anyway. Where are the Xerox computers today? Dead. Would you buy a Kodak digital camera over an Olympus or Nikon or Canon if the one from Kodak were priced the same? Neither would I.

You must understand that what makes your brand famous will also tend to keep your brand stuck in that product or category. If that category dies, the brand dies. Polaroid is tied to ‘instant photography’, and when that category died, Polaroid went along with it. If what makes you famous is no longer relevant and you have to move into a new category, launch a new brand. Never lose sight of the thing that made you famous in the first place because that should always be the focus of all your innovation and marketing efforts.
Mistake No. 4: Driven By Opportunity, Not Vision

The difference between a brand and a business is that a business is driven by opportunities whereas a brand is driven by vision. A business will jump into whatever makes them money now. If selling iPod skins makes money today, that’s what a business will do—find a way to sell as many iPod skins as possible. If selling car stereos makes money tomorrow, it will jump into selling car stereos. A business wants to own 5% of 10 markets because it thinks that by doing so it is diversifying its risk and will remain small enough that the big boys won’t bother them. What it is forgetting is that by doing that, they are actually taking on 10 different sets of competitors. Every problem they face will be multiplied by 10, as they are in 10 different categories.

A brand wants to own 50% of one market. A brand is driven by a strong vision. It is willing to give up 9 out of 10 categories in order to be dominant in one. Of course, you cannot ignore market opportunities, but you need to have a vision first and look for opportunities that fulfil that vision.
Mistake No. 5: Right Execution, Wrong Strategy

Many companies that I have come across don’t spend enough time developing their strategy. They rush into doing things. They might execute things very well, however, a flawed strategy, no matter how well executed, will still not lead you to success. In the book, Trout On Strategy, renowned positioning guru, Jack Trout, wrote that the difference between successful companies and the also-rans is simply the right strategy. And yet, many companies don’t spend enough time thinking about strategy. The guru of execution, Ram Charan, often quotes Toyota as a company that executes very well. You won’t find any arguments from me here. However, Toyota is successful because it is executing the right strategy well and that is what its Kanban just-in-time manufacturing system is all about—the right strategy.
Mistake No. 6: Branding Is The Job Of Marketing

Most companies that I have met in the past seemed to think that branding is the job of the marketing department. Several companies (including one public listed company) that I have met even told me they are putting their group accountant in charge of branding. Well, I love accountants. After all, I am married to a CPA. But what I can’t quite fathom is why put the accountant in charge of branding. One company told me it’s because branding involves a lot of money, so therefore the accountant should be in charge. I know your head hurts thinking about it—been there, done that! Branding is not the job of the accountant. Branding is not even the job of marketing. These are just supporting actors.

Branding is the job of the CEO. The CEO has to play the part of the Brand Champion. If you look at successful brands that went from being tiny start-ups to big global brands (i.e. Microsoft, Sony, Google, Apple, Disney, Ferrari, Starbucks, Virgin, The Body Shop, etc.) you will find that they usually have a strong Brand Champion as the leader. The CEO must be the one driving the brand because only he/ she is given that mandate. The head of the marketing department doesn’t have that kind of authority. The head of marketing is not the head of the company. This is a job that needs to be done by the CEO, and it’s one that he/ she cannot delegate.
Mistake No. 7: No Brand Ambassadors

The Brand Champion cannot do it alone. He/ she will need to build up an army of Brand Ambassadors to promote the brand. The CEO needs to inspire the rest of the company to become advocates of the brand—to talk the talk and to walk the walk. I have very often found that in local companies, the senior management doesn’t communicate enough to the rest of the company. Everything about strategy and direction is confined to the top few people. Granted that the development of a strategy cannot involve too many people or it will become diluted; but once that strategy is developed, it needs to be communicated by the CEO to the rest of the company to generate support and buy-in.

Branding is one of those “fluffy” ideas that is at the bottom of a long to-do list (if it ever makes it to the list) after the small business owner takes care of running their business, going after non-paying customers, balancing their books, and marketing their business.

And herein lies the mistake of many small business owners. Branding does not mean spending millions in advertising to communicate what the business is all about. Branding is what the business stands for, what makes it stand out, and what makes it different from all the rest.

Still A question: What will yo chose?Small Business: Direct Response vs. Branding

Yes for cars we can not say anything about brand loyalty as we do not change car very quickly. So when we buy we take decision based on our friend’s opinion, previous user’s opinion etc. So here question of brand loyalty never comes.

What is your view??

Take example of McD here in India what is it doing.(Loving word does not exisits, still it write “I am loving it” why??) But it is keeping its brand identity alive among consumers.

So making brand in India is very difficult. As India have diversified culture.But human Emotions are equal in every part of India. So in the ads (in India) ,they target emotions of people more. You can see advertisements here always have small children or family and youth with lot of passion (Thump’s up, Dew etc.)

What branding mistakes people do regarding this one? I want suggestions (comments) for this. So that I can get idea to write something more.

Take an example of IPL team. Where they are making logo,If that logo is not relevant with the name of team and cricket, what would have happened??

Should a brand have different logos or identities for different cultures or product?

It is another big question?? See the coke or pepsi and any fmcg product. they have this. But in some industry it won’t work. What is ur view regarding this??