Thrive Learning Institute - Make Money Offline with Internet Marketing

by David Godot

There is a lot of discussion about how to make money online using internet marketing techniques, and there is most certainly a lot of money to be made. But many people fail to recognize the tremendous potential of internet marketing for making money offline as well. If you're not interested in being a full-time online marketer, and want to own your own brick-and-mortar business, you actually have a better chance of accomplishing your goals than people whose businesses are entirely internet-based.

I'll use myself as an example. Like many people these days, I have a personal web site that I use to communicate certain professional information about myself. I don't like to make the information there entirely professional, because the domain name is my name and I feel like it should represent me as a person, not just as a professional. I don't want to paint myself into the corner of presenting a professional persona at all time.

Many people make the mistake of trying to brand themselves as their business, and I think that this is a tremendous mistake. First of all, the business cannot outlast you, you can never sell it, or outsource all of your work. You are the work. Once you retire, your life's work is over.

Another problem with this marketing model has to do with the problem of branding your own personal home page as a professional home page as well: you paint yourself into a corner. You have presented yourself as the product, and so you get locked into always promoting that product. For example, it is my business to be a psychotherapist in Chicago. If I were to brand my business under my own name, as many therapists do, I would have to hide as much of my life from the world at large as I am expected to hide from my patients. With the internet increasingly playing a central role in the social lives of individuals, this could have an increasingly crippling effect on the therapist as a person.

But the main reason to learn internet marketing principles for the purposes of marketing your own offline business is that, depending on your field, most of your competitors probably are not. When I search for Chicago therapists,' I realize how important my internet marketing skill-set is really going to be in the development of my career. With people increasingly finding every type of product and service exclusively through the internet, a business owner can hardly afford not to learn the principles of internet marketing, even if they have no desire to make money online.

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Thrive Learning Institute is a great provider of high level, personal internet marketing coaching.

The Power of a Logo

One thing that commonly comes up during the creation of a business is building a Logo. Many people feel that having a company logo is unimportant, or at least not something that should be a preliminary concern for their business. Others (often those trying to sell you the logo) argue that a logo is the single most important thing you can do to help your business. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two extremes.

So, what is a logo? What is the real power of a logo? What does it do for you? Why is it important? What's a good amount to pay for one? What should you keep in mind in designing your logo? These are just a few of the common questions regarding logo design, and I'll go into each of them briefly.

What is a logo?
A logo is an image or stylized text (or a combination of the two) which identifies your business. It is not a photograph, it is not a picture of your product, and it is not a description of your business.

This logo should definitely be located on your website. It should also be located on all printed marketing materials, banner ads, business cards, etc. People should come to associate your logo with your company, so using it repeatedly will help ingrain the image into the minds of your clients.

Here are a few famous logos to help give you the idea of what a logo is:




What is the real power of a logo?

There are two major points to mention with a logo. The first major power of a logo is professionalism. Having your own logo gives a clear sense that your company has invested into itself. This makes your company feel more legitimate to your buyers. This is the primary way a logo will pay for itself. People are far more likely to buy from an online business that looks and feels professional.

The second major power of a logo is memorability. It is easier to remember your company when you are using a logo. You may know McDonalds without its logo, but when you see the golden arches, you instantly recognize "This is McDonalds." And what does this mean for you and your business? First, it makes marketing more effective by making your website and company more memorable. Second, it makes your website itself more memorable. Customer loyalty is one of the major keys to success, and having a solid logo can strongly help with this.

These are, of course, the reasons why a logo is important as well. No, a logo will not double your sales! No, it will not make your business miraculously appear on the first page of the google search engines. But it will increase your conversion rate, and it will increase your return customers.

What's a good amount to pay for a logo?

This is a difficult question to answer, but mostly because there are a lot of details that go into a logo. How complex is the logo? Is it just stylized text, or does it include a custom image or graphic? How many versions of the logo will you receive? How many revisions are you allowed to make?

A good price may be anywhere from about $99 to $999 for a solid logo for a start-up company. What we recommend is that you find a company that will give you at least 1 set of revisions (in other words, doesn't hand you a logo and refuse to do extra work on it), and preferably will give you two sets of revisions or more. We also recommend that you either find a logo creation company that will give you multiple logo concepts up front, or will give additional logo concepts if you are not satisfied with the first version. We also recommend that you find a company that will provide more than simply stylized text.

A good cost to pay for this type of logo is between $300 and $400. As an example of a good company, Clover Logos is the primary logo design company we recommend at Thrive. They have assisted dozens of our clients in creating an excellent, professional logo to help their business succeed.

What should I keep in mind when designing my logo?

You should keep in mind about 80 different things while designing your logo. However, there are a couple of basic principles to follow.

First -- make sure it reflects the tone of your business. Don't have a black and gray corporate logo for your children's toys business, and don't have a pink, yellow, green and orange bubble text logo for your office supplies business.

Second -- keep it simple. You should be able to shrink or expand this logo to the size of a business card or the size of a billboard, and it should still be recognizable.


In short summary, a logo is important for every business that wants to come across as authentic and legitimate. It is important to increase return customers. Don't kill yourself over the cost, but put it pretty high on your priority list (probably just below setting up your legal entity, website, and getting your products or dropshipper).

For more information on how a coaching company can help you with the creation and branding of your business, simply visit www.thriveli.com.