How to Build a Brand That Attracts Die-Hard Followers

Brand your customers. One of the most powerful things you can do is to create a branded term to refer to all your employees and customers. Link it back to the core idea of your brand and promote the idea as they are a part of eome exclusive “tribe.” Create a special celebration process to praise them for joining your tribe and get them excited for being a part of something bigger than themselves.

At our marketing agency, Savvy Panda, we call all our employees and customers “pandas” and when we bring on a new client we send them a welcome pack with panda apparel, stickers and even a stuffed toy panda.

Related: Your Customers Aren't Looking for a Fling (Infographic)

Random acts of kindness. It’s fairly common for a business to have some sort of rewards program to help encourage repeat business. However, a more powerful way to make an impact on your customers is to establish a “random acts of kindness” program. Getting something unexpected helps spark emotions deep within an individual.

Create some criteria to identify your most active and enthusiastic customers and send them care packages to appreciate them for being such great customers. You can take it one step further and identify various influencers in your customer base and fly them out to your business to meet the people behind the brand.  

Many organizations have a dedicated community manager whose sole responsibility is to help implement these tactics discussed. Their goal should be to create and strengthen the relationship between your brand and your audience.

Disconnect from digital. It’s easy to keep communications solely in digital formats like email or social media. However, digital communications lack one of the critical brand building elements: Oxytocin. Oxytocin is a chemical released in the brain when we personally interact with each other. This is what helps spark emotions and memories -- the exact thing we're trying to create.

Related: This Is How a Brand Loses Its Luster

Personal, non-digital interactions of genuine goodwill are a great way to spark oxytocin release. This could be as simple as picking up the phone and calling your customers to tell them you appreciate them or more complex strategies like hosting an event where you can meet and get to know all your customers in person.

Digital communications are nice for working at scale, however, it’s important to keep in mind that they are not the best advocate-building methods. Where possible, put in the extra effort to connect offline or in person (even if it takes more time or costs a bit more).

Personalize. As Dale Carnegie famously said, “The sweetest sound in any language is one’s name.” As powerful as someone’s name is, it’s equally important to have context around that name. Tailoring your brand experience around an individual consumer is what will start building those deep branding connections

9 Lessons You Won't Learn In Business School

The celebrated entrepreneurs who didn't finish college let alone a graduate program (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg).

While a business school will give you a pedigree, the real world is about results. As soon as the job interview process ends, no one cares which degree you received from Harvard, Stanford, or Florida Atlantic (my alma mater). All they care about is that you get the job done.

1. The way to keep a job is to understand what success looks like.

Commit to aggressive and achievable goals. Then deliver more than others.

2. Get voted onto the team every day.

In football and the real world, when you try to solve today's problems no one gives you credit for past accomplishments. People care about how well you get today's hard stuff done.

3. Operate with a mind-set that reflects a meritocracy.

That's opposed to displaying a sense of entitlement — no matter how proud you are of your education. Having a pedigree doesn't mean you can look down on others. People sense that — and won't like it. And while Harvard or Stanford may open the door to opportunities, capitalizing on those opportunities is all about how well you do the job.

4. Be ready to demonstrate how you handle adversity.

When I hire, I often look at educational achievements as a basis for assessing someone's raw intellectual prowess. But I spend way more time looking at the challenges they've tackled, what they've achieved and how sought after they are.

5. Be open to seeing excellence wherever it is.

You'll find it often comes in the most unlikely of places.

6. Leverage your network.

That's one of the most valuable assets of any degree. Work it.

7. Understand that it's not all about you.

MBA programs spur a lot of competition; there's an intense race to be the top of the class. But that individualistic focus isn't always welcome at the workplace, where a "company first" and not a "me first" attitude is desired.

8. Learn a new culture.

Don't adhere to what you learned in school. Do extra-credit projects that provide exposure to executive management and hopefully the board. Watch how people handle themselves at these meetings and modify your behavior accordingly.

9. Give back and continue to enhance and help others on their path.

If you have an MBA, use it for good.

Journal Vouchers

Journal Vouchers

What is a Journal Voucher (JV)?
JVs are forms used to process accounting entries. They are primarily used for fund transfers and corrections. Many central offices process JVs. 

What types of transactions generate Journal Vouchers (JVs)?

Transfers from one account to another are done via JV, including revenue, deficit and expenditure transfers. Write-offs from closing budgets are also done via JV.

Who processed this Journal Voucher (JV) on my budget?

To see who initiated a transfer that generated a JV, please follow these steps: 

1) Call up the budget in My Financial Desktop (MyFD) using the Budget Summary report.

2) Expand the object code in which the JV posted by clicking on the plus sign. 

3) Locate the JV by JV number, transfer amount or date.

4) The field to the right of the JV number shows the NetID of the individual who initiated the transfer.

An internally generated transaction to record financial activity not processed through other systems such as payroll, accounts payable, cash receipts, purchasing card, travel and expense, etc. It can be used to correct errors (ie. an item charged to the wrong department or account), assess overhead or provide support to another fund.

A JV must include a debit and a credit, so that it is balanced, and a description with enough detail to satisfy the approving unit within Financial Services. If appropriate, supporting documentation can be attached to the JV when submitted for approval.

What is a journal voucher?

The entries such as "Rectification Entries", "Adjustment Entries", "Closing or Opening Entries" and Making or Providing for estimates are passed through an internal document called Journal Voucher.


Book Entries are classified as:
1) Purchase Order Based Entries - Booking expenses and liability via GRN against a P.O
2) Sales Order Based Entries - Booking Sales & Scrap Sales
3) Treasury Entries - Entries involving Bank or Cash
4) Debit Notes
5) Credit Notes
6) Journal Entries


Journal Voucher is the document through which the Journal Entries are made into the books.