October 5, 2016 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Page 5

Branding Time – for Your Small Business

By Andrea TestiFor the Enterprise

Branding in the modern sense was born from the frontier days of the old west. Cattle were branded with hot iron stamps to distinguish ownership. Just like the old days, many people still think that creating a brand for their business is merely creating a logo that everyone will recognize – just like the brand on a livestock. A memorable logo is just the beginning. Branding has expanded to include the values, skill level and principles that stand behind the logo; per-sonifying the brand. The residue of your brand is evident in customer’s trust and levels of long term relationships.

While people commonly view branding and market-ing as one in the same, across the spectrum of definitions, there is a distinct difference. Marketing is actively pro-moting a product or service to get sales results. Branding is the expression of the innate value of a business, organi-zation, product or service. Branding is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is or is not.

Branding should both precede and underlie any market-ing effort. It is important to define your brand identity – ‘personality’ before spending money on marketing yourproducts and services. Your brand is your ‘personality’ of your business – it is what your business stands for andis known for. First you create the brand, then you raiseawareness of it. The brand is what remains after the mar-keting effort has ended and what is associated with theproduct or service, whether or not, at that particular mo-ment, a sale was made. Understanding how these conceptsmesh is vital to every business’s bottom line in order toachieve return on investment.

Branding is all about the perception formed by your au-dience about your business, product, people, or ideas. It builds credibility instantly. This ‘perception’ includes the coming together of logos, visuals, identity, marketing ma-terials, programs, messaging, products, service and busi-ness actions. Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your of-fering from your competitors’. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Your brand is the heart and soul of your business. The objectives that a good brand will achieve include - delivers the message clearly, confirms your credibility, connects your target customers emotionally, motivates the buyer, and solidifies user loyalty. Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. Branding begins with answers to these questions:

What is your business mission – who are you?Who is your audience?What are the benefits and features of your products and

services?What qualities do your customers to associate with your

business?Branding is one of the most important aspects of any

business. Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process. Brand-ing is a strategy including:

Brand name – the name of the product or serviceBrand definition – the distinguishing name, symbol,

logo, and colors Brand positioning – what your business does wellBrand management – the application of marketing tech-

niquesBrand equity – the marketing outcomesValues – what customers perceive about you and how

you make them feelConsistency - brand attributes must be clear and under-

stood through all your communicationsMeasure - monitor your return on investmentGood branding can be the difference between a busi-

ness that blends in with the crowd or stands out from the competition. Your brand is a personification of what your business stands for. It’s an expression of your business’s personality. It tells consumers something about the quality of the product or the service you’re providing. It’s rarely as simple as creating a logo; good branding is a consis-tent system of textual and visual elements that work across many platforms and in many different contexts.

Andrea Testi is director of the Treasure Valley Com- munity College Small Business Development Center. For more information, contact her at SBDC@tvcc.cc, 650 Col- lege Blvd in Ontario, or 541-881-5772.

Business Beat

take on a new challenge.”Norris’ new challenge is as the lead

prosecutor in the Oregon Department of Justice’s newly created elder abuse unit.

“I am very excited about the new challenge. We will have two investi-gators and a lawyer, and we will be tasked with assisting local law en-forcement and district attorneys pros-ecuting elder abuse cases,” Norris said.Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum will swear Norris into his new position Thursday.

“Dan’s range of experience dealing with vulnerable victims is extensive. He recognizes the diverse needs of our state,” Rosenblum said in a press

release.Norris said the governor is work-

ing on finding his replacement. Mean-while, he said district attorney’s office will be led by the attorney general. Norris said he will work out of Salem.

He said officials have been work-

ing on the transition from his district attorney position to the Department of Justice post for a while, searching for the right time to make the switch.

“We’ve been working on this tran-sition for months. Most everyone (knew). Obviously I wasn’t going to give the details, but no one within the system is surprised. I was just keeping the specific dates close to the vest,” he said.

He said he leaves Malheur County on a good note.

“I have done everything that I wanted to do as a district attorney. I think we’ve done a really good job using the resources we had. I am very, very proud of the staff we put together,” Norris said, adding the staff “made me look good.”

Transition timeColin Benson, an assistant At-torney General for the Depart-

ment of Justice was sworn in Monday as the temporary Malheur County District At-torney. He will serve in that position until the governor chooses a replacement for

Dan Norris.

NorrisFrom Page 1

truck with a trailer has broken down, had a fire, and needs a tow.

11:07 a.m. Sept. 27, On-tario: A man, 34, is arrested for failure to perform duties of a driver after a crash in-volving a Chevy sedan.

4:51 p.m. Sept. 27, On-tario: Woman complains a neighbor’s two German shepherd dogs are chasing her horses.

8:10 a.m. Sept. 27, Vale: Man, 53, taken into custody on two Justice Court con-tempt warrants.

8:32 p.m. Sept. 27, Vale: Sergeant takes report of burglary at a shop, with battery chargers stolen.

8:51 p.m. Sept. 27, Vale: Caller reports domestic incident as vehicle chases woman on the road.

12:01 a.m. Sept. 28, Vale: A traffic stop leads to impounding of a 2004 Chevy sedan.

1:04 a.m. Sept. 28, Iron-side: Caller reports a pick-up-horse crash.

6:36 a.m. Sept. 28, Vale: Caller reports a collision involving a 2015 Mazda sedan and a 1999 Ford pickup.

10:01 a.m. Sept. 28, Vale: A semi truck report-edly pushed a car off the road.

12:58 p.m. Sept. 28, Nyssa: Employer reports he sent an employee home who might be under the

influence and should not be driving a farm truck. Worker declined a ride, and employer was concerned for his safety.

1:04 a.m. Sept. 29, Vale: Caller complains corn-hauling trucks are driving too fast.

4:14 p.m. Sept. 29, Vale: Littering reported; some-one dumped trash at the brush pit.

2:40 p.m. Sept. 29, Vale: Caller says dogs that have been killing chickens are trapped in the coop.

4:50 p.m. Sept. 29, Nys-sa: A teenager is reported to be pointing a firearm to-ward the highway.

11:30 a.m. Sept. 30, Vale: Station employee re-ports someone drove off without paying for gas.

4:38 p.m. Sept. 30, Vale: Woman, 41, accused of criminal trespass after reports of threatening to punch residents and flip-ping off passing motorists.

6:22 p.m. Sept. 30, Vale: Man, 50, accused of menacing after deputies

respond to a domestic vio-lence report.

11:54 a.m. Oct. 1, On-tario: Caller reports two women trying to break into a shop.

12:41 p.m. Oct. 1, Vale: Medics called to check fe-male after a collision be-tween two pickup trucks.

4:46 p.m. Oct. 1, Ontar-io: Caller reports burglary; two mounted five-point deer trophies taken in past three days.

5:45 p.m. Oct. 2, Adrian: Criminal mischief reported.

PoliceFrom Page 1

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New effort targets teen pregnancyBy John L. BraeseThe Enterprise

Thanks to a federal grant of $87,000, the Malheur County Health Department is launching a new sexual health program for middle and high school students in the Nyssa and Ontario school districts.

The program, “Family Life and Sexual Health,” is intended to involve stu-dents and their families, and to promote personal responsibility.

The program comes about as Malheur County posts the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the state,

nearly doubling the state average, according to An-gela Gerrard, county Health Department director.

In addition, the county claims the highest rate of youth chlamydia, a sexu-ally transmitted disease, in three out of five years, from 2010-2014.

“The overall teen preg-nancy rate is Malheur County is 60 per 1,000 teens, ages 15-19,” Gerrard told the Malheur County Court. “The state rate is 33 per 1,000.”

The pregnancy rate rises for those in the Hispanic population.

“For Latinas, the rate in the county is 89.5 per 1,000 while the state rate for Lati-nas is 53.5 per 1,000,” Ger-rad said.

The district is partnering with the Malheur County Juvenile Department and the Boys and Girls Club along with schools in the Ontario and Nyssa districts.

Gerrard said the goals of the program are to decrease teen pregnancy, relation-ship violence, and sexually transmitted infection rates.

“We chose this curricu-lum as it is affordable and accessible online,” Ger-rard said. “It allows for

flexibility in delivery and tailoring to a local audi-ence and it is inclusive of factors such as healthy and safe relationships and fam-ily involvement. We had a local educator use the cur-riculum and found it to be valuable.”

Preparation and plan-ning will take place this fall with plans to implement the program in the winter or spring semester.

Still being worked out is how the curriculum would be presented, whether through classes or after-school programs.

on property owned by the district at the high school site.

However, Logan Hamil-ton, chairman of the bond committee, stressed that all of the schools in the district would benefit from the $8 million bond measure.

According to Hamilton, $1million to $2 million will be made available for updates and repairs on the schools throughout the dis-trict.

One audience member asked why the proposal is for a new middle school rather than a high school.

According to McCo-nnell, the cost of a new school is $235 per square foot.

A new middle school, according to McConnell, is approximately 39,000 square feet.

A new high school would be built at approximately 70,000 square feet, boost-ing the cost considerably.

School officials note that the existing middle school had structural and safety problems, identified last year by consultants hired to examine the building.

Those finding were un-derscored this fall when aging pipes failed, sending sewage into the structure

and interrupting classroom use.

Bond proponents say the tax impact of the $8 million bond issue would not kick in until after the district’s current bond expires next May.

Bond proponents esti-mate the average home-owner would see about a $5 a month increase in taxes from the new measure.

The annual tax rate would be about $1.33 per $1,000 assessed property valuation.

Another town hall meet-ing to discuss the bond measure will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, at Willowcreek School.

BondFrom Page 1

What do you think about the school bond proposal?Send us your thoughts - The Malheur Enterprise welcomes letter to the editor

on this and other topics. Send letters to: PO Box 310, Vale OR 97918 or email to: scotta@malheurenterprise.com