A question for serious marketers only:

What happens when a potential client sees your business card? Or lands on your web site?

In person, what makes them smile and ask more questions about what you do? On the web, how do they decide they want to read on, or click away?

Timing helps. They need to be in the market for what you offer. And it helps to have a compelling offer. A great story. Not to mention a bullet-proof justification for your pricing.

But there’s a secret test you have to pass first.

Only the truly savvy ever find out about it. It takes less than four seconds. And prospects don’t even know they’re putting you through it. In fact, if you told them about it, they’d deny it.

Everyone does it. They take one look at your card, or your home page. And in less than four seconds, they turn judge, jury and executioner on your business.

• How smart are you? Can you deliver the right solutions?
• Can you be trusted? Will you be there a year from now, or are you just out for a quick buck?
• How strong are you financially? Can you refund their money if you have to?
• Who are you, really?

In other words: Does your branding make you look big enough, corporate enough, savvy enough to deserve their business?

People can’t help giving companies the four-second test. We’ve all been brought up to recognize that certain visual elements mean quality. And others just don’t. They make a company look underfunded. Unsophisticated. Or just plain uninterested – in doing a decent job, or in doing right by their customers.

In today's shaky economy, potential clients are desperate to figure out who they can trust. Credibility has never been more important to your future - and prospects are looking for every clue they can find. Now more than ever, you must pass the four-second test.

And now you can. Every time.

In fact, you can look like a billion-dollar corporation long before you become one. It doesn’t take a billion-dollar budget – or billion-dollar production values.

What it does take is the knowledge and skill to choose – and apply – the visual elements that mean quality. (A warning here: don’t be shocked when you see how often that means leaving things out.)

And a branding consultant who can pull together the elements your business needs now - affordably and efficiently - and match your message to your market.

In fact, that should be your branding pro's top priority: lining up your brand with what your audience expects to see - and is ready to buy. Not what looks cool to the folks in the office. Or what the design trends of the moment are calling for.

So. Do you pass the four-second test now?

Find out with a comprehensive branding audit. Normally that's a $527 value. But I have a little time in my calendar, so I can offer this audit to 35 entrepreneurs for just $247 - if you act by November 1, 2008. Click here for full details.

All the best,

Mary Baum
Owner/ Chief Branding Consultant

P.S. Don’t wait — start your branding audit now, for just $247. I must get your email by November 1, 2008. I only have 35 slots, and I may never be able to offer the audit this way again.