Pharmacists are more and more often required to fill theprescriptions with a generic drug instead of a brand-name medicine, whenever one is available, as if there is no difference between them.

Do your employees behave toward your customers the way you would expect them to? Is the culture of your senior executive team consistent with the culture of your lowest level line workers in the field? Do you really know what your company's culture is? Why is employee culture important? If the basic behaviors and tendencies of your employee population are aligned with your mission, or brand promise, then they will produce consistent results and customer experiences.

You've heard the saying, "Image is everything." It's not only true, it's also a commanly-used slogan in advertising. Businesses like McDonalds ("I'm lovin' it") and AllState Insurance ("You're in good hands") use slogans, or tag lines, to help build brand identity. It's part of a bigger-picture marketing strategy and it's important that businesses, no matter what size, implement such a strategy to carve out their own niche in the marketplace.

While marketing and branding are alike in some ways, they are also sometimes mistaken as the same business action. This is not true, but definitely understandable on the two can be misconstrued as the same. There are several brand tools that can also fall into the marketing category. This is what makes the two concepts so closely related, but at the same time so much different.

A brief overview that will help guide you through the subtleties of product naming. You'll learn the importance of choosing a name that's unique and benefit oriented, without being confusing or offensive-with some amusing examples of historic naming gaffes. You'll also learn why fads, abbreviations and tongue twisters should be avoided. And why the name you ultimately choose must protect your company's image.

Backlinks or inbound links are the key to achieving high rankings in search engines. So to get your website to the top you not only need to optimize your webpages for your targeted keywords but also have to build as many backlinks as possible. There are several ways to get backlinks to your site. Here's how...

You've enlisted some of the traditional marketing methods to sell your services: you received some publicity in your local paper; your website is up and running; and you're listed in the Yellow Pages. So why isn't the phone ringing off the hook? Maybe you're marketing strategies need to get more creative!

Direct Mail . . . Newspaper . . . Radio . . . Online. There are countless places to spend each advertising dollar. The hard part is determining the most effective medium for your business. It is not a matter of "One Size Fits All." The response rate for each media type will vary depending on the product or service you offer, your target market, and the characteristics of the community that you are marketing in. Even in the same industry, what works in one place may not work in another.

Preparing a Marketing Plan for your product or service is a real eye-opening experience. While we all hope that our product or service will appeal to the masses, the truth is, that may not happen. Assembling a Marketing Plan first and foremost forces you to clearly define what you are selling.

This is a pretty tough global economy and it is critical for a company to leverage every bit of their marketing resources. So, if this is the case, why are so many companies shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by breaking some of the most fundamental rules of marketing?

Direct response advertising has several centuries of history and rich future perspective with the development of new technologies. Find out about some of its strong and weak sides in this article.

Joint venture advertising allows national manufacturers to advertise their products on the regional level at the regional rates. In addition, it helps improving their relationship with retailers.

We know a lot about Maybelline cosmetics, but very little about the company itself. Have you ever thought that the company name derives from the proper name Mabel and Vaseline? Did you know that without Mabel's boyfriend there could be no company at all?

The largest part of the retailers' profit comes from advertising and selling famous market brands'. There are more things to know about retail advertising, yet.

Demand stimulation is a powerful marketing tool, but to use it correctly and effectively, one has to gain a clear understanding of its functions, benefits and flaws.

The business magazine advertising is indispensable in B2B advertising. The cost of it is not high and the narrow segmentation of the target audience allows reaching your target customers.

To start your magazine advertising campaign, it is important to determine your budget size and ad space layout purchase.

The magazine advertisement is glamorous and prestigious. It makes your brand respectable.

Fifty million customers visit thirty thousand McDonald's restaurants in more than 120 countries every day - that is the result of company's 50 year efforts.