While someone’s perception may not always be correct, many times, they’ve already made up their mind about you or your company before you’ve had a chance to prove your worth. Your appearance plays a pretty big role in this, and so do your marketing materials. Namely, your business cards . Are yours the flimsy digitally printed kind that you get from Staples ? or worse yet, the kind you print yourself on your own printer? That presents a bad impression of your company as most people will have serious doubts about doing business with a company that can’t afford to have their business cards professionally printed ? especially as inexpensive as they are these days.

You don’t have to BE a fortune 500 company to be taken seriously, but you do have to give the impression that you’re of that caliber.

Marketing can overcome quite a few obstacles, but there are probably more that it can’t overcome, one of which is a lack of conviction. Not even the most effective marketing campaign or the largest advertising budget will help you achieve much success selling a product or service that you don’t believe in. Recently, Donald Trump has been working on plans to launch his own branded premium vodka which is slated to be available by the summer of 2006. Donald Trump commented, “Trump Super Premium Vodka is a big idea. Drinks Americas ‘ management team understands our vision for the Trump trademark. The Premium Vodka category is where the very best of fashionable spirits brands compete. That is the place for the Trump brand. By the summer of ‘06, I fully expect the most called for cocktail in America to be the “T&T” or the “Trump and Tonic”. We are very excited that Drinks Americas will be leading this initiative and look for great success.”

It will fail.

There is one key reason this product will not stay around ? over the years Donald Trump has been vehemently against alcohol, does not drink at all, avoids people that do, and has even lost his brother to alcoholism. He has publicly spoken out against alcohol on many occasions. The initial launch will probably go well because of the novelty and the money that is going into it, but if the product lasts longer than six months I will be very surprised. I don’t think people will buy a product branded under these circumstances over the long term. I wish the best of luck to Donald and the Trump organization in this endeavor, but my professional opinion is that it will be a dismal failure.

If you are going to try to promote and sell a product it should be one that you believe in and can really get behind.