BlogHer 2009

I have decided to attend this years BlogHer conference in Chicago! I am really excited about this and can't wait to meet so many of the wonderful women I have worked with in person.

I sent out an email to my favorite boutiques as well as a few PR reps that I have the emails to and offered to take some business cards, swag or anything else that they want to offer up to about 50-100 bloggers that I am preparing gift bags for.

I don't have everyone's email address and I know that there are a lot of readers that come here that may be interested in this so, I wanted to extend this offer to all of you! If you have something that you want me to hand out, let me know! I'd be more than happy to spread some love for you. I would appreciate any donation to my trip that you could make but, it is not at all an obligation to do so. I am a small business owner myself, and this is a fabulously affordable way to have a presence at this massive blogger event!

Anyone that is interested can email me! info@theposhparent.com and I will provide my mailing address to you!

Thanks everyone! So, who is going to BlogHer??!!

New Client, New Collaboration!

So, I think that I have a new client in the works. I am coaching this gal on her debut designs for a clothing company she wants to launch this summer. I'm particularly excited about this collaboration because she is a high school friend of mine!

Here are a few "clues"




Now, without giving away too much info, {really--it is not "mine" to share at this point} I have some questions I need some answers to!

I will be working on a survey and will need all of you to help me out and gimme some feedback! What do you get for helping me? Well, I think that I just may have a lil swag to giveaway...so stay tuned!

Your local GLAMBASSADOR?

I hate to admit it but, I am a magazine junkie! It is true...I love to buy Glamour Magazine...I love to read the articles, check out the latest fashion and try out the beauty tricks. I am a girly girl...but a mama, too! The best of both worlds would be to be an official representative for Glamour and be a 2009 GLAMBASSADOR!

This is one of my pictures that I am including with my submission! Wish me luck!

 

Branding Decisions: Strategies

One of the most difficult things that I had to decide on when starting a business was if I wanted my brand to be an individual or a "family" brand. I had also thought of a few co-brand ideas. It really was a tough thing for me to decide because I knew that I had to make a definate decision here or suffer later.

My preference was to brand each of my lines within Très Couture seperately. This benefited me because with the clothing line, Petite Trendsetters, I can now take that "brand name" and move it out to it's own site {which are my intentions for this Fall/Winter 2009}. That being said, Très Couture is also a brand of it's own that is known for blankets.

For me, this strategy made sense. If you have a brand that is already well known, it may benefit you to go with family branding. For example, Sony is music, movies, tv, games, electronics. They know that if they put Sony on something, it will sell! Just think of how easily the brand name was put on a game system and it was the hottest thing.



If you can't decide either way on this one, there is always generic branding which is basically NO randing at all! haha Yeah, so not an option in the clothing industry or the blogsphere!


So, I guess we can call this step #3 in Branding Decisions that you need to consider when developing or reinventing your company or blog! I will post more about strategy topics such as licensing and co-branding in the next post.

{CLOSED} Product Review & Giveaway: Sweetsation Therapy

I love when I have the chance to review products made by mamas. When I "met" Natalja via The Posh Parent & Co. Network, I was very intrigued by her line of organic and natural pregnancy and baby skin care as well as innovative baby slings.

She's a DOLL, right?

Here is a little bit about her from her site: "My name is Natalja Millsap, and I am just a girl who likes everything top of the line. But not top of the line prices. And since I was not born in the Trump family, I had to find a way to combine high quality and low prices at the same time. Even being pregnant for 9 months, I never left the house without wearing my jewelry, high heels and still managed to make those ugly maternity clothes look decent. So how did I get the idea to start Mommy and Baby skin care and accessory company?
Honestly, I wasn't agonizing over it for too long, and I have to say that the idea was born soon after I lathered my usual night cream on my face before going to bed. At that point I believe I was 3 months along. It was one of those high end-smell good creams that promise to do all the miracles in the world to your face...... Next morning I received an email that notifies me every week what to look for and what to expect as your pregnancy progresses. It was in that email I found a discussion going on about the ingredients in face and body products that may harm the fetus inside you; to the point of deformities and brain damage. In a state of panic I zoomed to the bathroom and frantically started reading all the labels on all my "pregnancy"creams and lotions that I was religiously putting on myself daily. Needless to say but all of them contained a "no-no" ingredient(s) that I just read about. Including a major 'no-no' like Retinol and Fragrances, aka phthalate.

Being in the cosmetic industry for 20 years, and working for a few major brands, I couldn't figure out WHY in the world it never crossed my mind before. At that point I thought, "Oh my God, I've harmed my baby......". I suppose, I don't have to mention that a state of panic was following me everywhere; till the end of my pregnancy. That very morning I decided to create my own skin care company that would manufacture everything a pregnant mom would need to take care of her skin, applied using a daily regimen, and therefore protecting her unborn baby."

She let me pick what I wanted to test out from her site and here where my picks:

Baby Sweet Kisses, Organic Calendula Baby Butter Cream

This fabulous 76% organic butter cream is ideal as a face or body cream, for dry or very dry skin. The aloe juice, rose distillate, calendula extract and glycerin all bring soothing hydration to dry skin. The rich properties of shea butter, cocoa butter, kokum butter, mango butter, avocado oil, and carrot oil make this butter cream the ultimate base for dry and distressed skin. This cream absorbs quickly into the skin despite its high oil and butter content. Hi content of Cocoa Butter gives this product a very yummy slight chocolate aroma.

My lil ones are so dry lately with the winter weather and they really do love putting on the cream because of the yummy scent! I can't lie--I carry it around with me in my handbag and use it myself. It has been the onlything that keeps the kids skin soft all day when we are out and about.



Baby Sweet Kisses, Organic Baby Lip Balm

This Baby Lip Balm is remarkable and luscious and made with 76% Organic content. Combination of Shea butter, Olive, Coconut, Palm, Jojoba, Rose hip, Carrot oils and Vitamin E makes it super awesome and it will keep your baby's lips soft and smooth all year around!

This is another item that I carry with me and myself and the kids use it each and every morning. My lil guy hates putting lip balm on usually but he puts this one on and says "It's gooood, mama!" My lil lady sniffs it for a minute before putting it on...hilarious to see her sniffing her lips afterward as well.

I was so impressed to see that they are truly a company that cares for the environment and is doing far more then they need to. They reward you with FREE stuff!"When you collect 5 empty containers, simply place them in a mail to us for recycling. And be rewarded by choosing one product from our collection, value of up to $20, which will be sent to you with compliments from Sweetsation Therapy." You can read more HERE about how they are being environmentally conscience as well and use minimal packaging.

Overall, I have to say that the brand is fabulous and sweet from the website design to the logo and the packaging...it is all very much made for the stylish mama. They have some great Valentine's Day packages right now. This is my favorite!

and with any order $100.00 or more, it ships FREE!

I bet you want to try out a few of these precious products for yourself, right? Well, you are a lucky gal because I happen to have these 2 products I reviewed for YOU! Here's how to enter:

Go to Sweetsation Therapy and tell me what YOUR favs are...have fun!

You can comment on this post and be sure to enter your email address

You can receive EXTRA entries by Twittering this post, Blogging this post and linking back here, Adding my banner to your sidebar and of course--if you make a purchase at Sweetsensation you get another entry!

Be sure to post each comment separately and let me know what you did!

CONTEST ENDS Friday, February 27th, 2009

Friday the 13th PARTY!

Join me and some of the most fab women on the net! Visit MOMDOT at 8:30 Central time on Friday the 13th to WIN BIG:

Macy’s
Blinc
Things Remembered
Casio Watch (courtesy of MommyGoggles)
Flip Ultra (courtesy of The Posh Parent)
PediPed
Kuster
Trembini
Fruit Rollups
And of course
Dyson Divas

Branding Decisions: The Meaning

Name recognition is not enough to create a successful brand. To make your brand stand out in the crowd of many, you need to think about the brand meaning.

One of the keys to building a strong brand is to build a strong bond with your customers. You can achieve this by creating an emotional connection with the customer and building your brand meaning. A brand is really the perception you are creating in the customers mind.

There is a long climb to the top. You have to start with a strong identity, then you need to define who you are as a brand. Creating these strong and favorable brand associations comes from recognizing the levels of attachment to a brand. Performance and Imagery create the feelings that come across to the customers and create the emotion.

For example, Rufflebutts is a line of fun and frilly diaper covers and now Amber has ventured into more options but, that was her start. She created a brand that when you say the name, you just smile and can imagine a cute lil baby bum with those frilly ruffles. The point is, Rufflebutts evokes the joys of dressing up your little lady not necessarily the utility of the diaper cover.

A few ways I associate some of my favorite brands to my life:

Self-Concept: I feel better when I wear something from Juicy Couture then I do when I wear a tee from Nike {although when I workout I like to wear Nike} The brands help me adjust to my identity in a way. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing Sag Harbour because it isn't ME.

Routine: Dunkin Donuts...I can not even start my day without a cup of coffee! Just seeing the sign gives me a feeling of relief on a busy day.

Love: Feelings of warmth and passion...besides my hubby--Joann's has my heart! haha When I see Joann's I think of making stuff for my loved ones...creating cards, blankets, etc. I know that when I go there I will find something to help me get some creativity going.

So what helps make a brand successful?

You need to create a memorable brand name, deliver benefits customers desire, stay relevant, properly position the brand, stay consistent and understand the brand meaning to customers.

This is just the beginning of what can create a fabulous and successful brand. Next, we will go over some strategies of branding.

Branding Decisions: The Name

According to one survey I read online, nearly 70% of new products failed last year. In past studies {which I don't have the links to anymore} it was an estimated 40% failure rate of new products. If we are talking about new brands, not just a company launching a new product--the stats are up to 80%-90% failure rate. Any successful business will keep close tabs on the life cycle of a product, especially a new brand. Not only do you need to keep tabs, you need to plan accordingly.

Most brands are identified by a name or a symbol. The very first thing to do when starting a new venture is coming up with a name. I will tell you in all honesty that the name Tres Couture was a bad decision. Here's why:

1) Tres is actually Très and I can't tell you how many time people say Tres like it is Three in Spanish. It's a french word...

2) Très is not a common word, it is easily forgotten. People usually tell me "Oh your the girl who makes the um, something Couture stuff, right?

3) Très Couture literally means Very high-fashion designing and dressmaking...it's a bit much for a kid's line

So, why did I choose it? Well, because I liked it and it was my first time making this type of decision and I just kind of wanted to try it. I know now that there is so much in a name. It has to make sense, it has to be something easily remembered. A brand name is easily the most used and most recognized form of branding.

As I mentioned about what people would tell me when they seen me...other people that I meet who ask me for a card, when I give it to them and they see "Très Couture" they look at me and have to ask...so what do you do? You don't know what I do from my business name.

Très Couture is changing to Très Couture Mama and will re-launch sometime this Fall 2009. It is going to be for women and will start off with my line of wallets with some new styles. I am also working on some cute maternity wear for the brand. {Just an FYI} I am going to keep making children's clothing and accessories and the new name for that will be Petite Trendsetters which is the name I have been using for the clothing. See how "Petite Trendsetters" makes more sense?

Now, Cupcakes & Couture: Deliciously Glam & Sweet being that I have "learned my lesson" I wanted to name this line something fun, sweet and memorable. I love the word COUTURE and although for now Cupcakes & Couture is tees, I knew that naming the line something funky--it gives me so much room for growth! I really do plan to have a couture mix in all the funky stuff. There is "brand potential" and the name suggests the characteristics of the brand--fun, sweet & glam.

When it comes to graphics for a brand it definitely needs to be something recognizable and memorable. Even if it is something totally small like General Mills, when you see a box of cereal you can easily recognize if it is a that brand....just by seeing the teeny little "GM". This is something that I am working on for Cupcakes & Couture. Take your time with this element.

How do you pick a perfect brand name then?

~I have been taught that it has to pass the "easy" test of easy to say, easy to spell, easy to read and easy to remember.

~As I already kind of said, make it something that distinguishes your brand...it doesn't need to necessarily describe it. If it is overly descriptive it could limit your growth and show a lack of creativity.

~Research!! You have to look into the name and parts of the name to be sure you are not stepping on someone else's territory. TRUST ME on this one, I have been there and it is not fun to fight over a name. You will save yourself so much grief if you simply Google search your name with parenthesis to see all the results that come up. You will also want to do a trademark search which we will talk more about later.

~Keep it brief...when it is so long that people have to abbreviate it, you risk loosing control of your brand and your brand image.

~Talk about it with family and close friends. Ask them what they think when they hear the name? This was a big eye opener for me.

If I would have known better when I first named my clothing line Tres Couture, I would have avoided the time it took to have a steady following. As I started to keep tabs on my various advertising and where the sales were coming from, I saw that there were changes that needed to be made and mainly, it was in the name. With that said, I hope this encourages you to reflect on your brand name and how it is working for or against you.