We look at top nine tell-tale signs that indicate whether your company is in need of an innovative and effective way to promote itself.

1. No strong corporate "look and feel"

You're in a highly competitive industry. Yet, what makes you really stand apart from your competitors is your people and look and feel of your company.

So how do you show your state-of-the-art factory in action, or your professional staff working in your appealing office?

And what about your idyllic location? What's best way to show picturesque vision of rolling hills, clean and green countryside or waterside views?

The solution is to create a marketing video that paints an appealing picture of those indefinable qualities that make your company unique.

2. Distinctive Presentations

You need to do a sales presentation and your company is up against some tough competitors.

How do you present your company in a way that is different to your opponents?

A proven method is to play your corporate video within your PowerPoint presentation.

Playing your marketing video at start of a sales presentation is a great way to relax your audience. Interesting vision and upbeat music can make your audience feel more positive, even before you've spoken a word.

It's an ideal way to show look and feel of your company in a convincing and enjoyable manner.

3. Trade Shows/Exhibitions

Your organisation is always exhibiting at trade shows and needs a way to stand out from crowd.

Setting up a television screen and a DVD/VHS player in your stand with your continually repeating corporate video is an easy way to get people to stop and stare. Moving vision and music easily stops people in their tracks.

Parents quickly learn that it is easy to distract a child by leaving them in front of a television. Adults are usually no different. It is easy to grab attention of participants who may feel uncomfortable (or bored) walking around a trade show.

Continually playing your corporate video is an easy way for passers-by to learn about you without having to go to effort of reading through brochures.

4. Increasing Export Sales

Travelling overseas to market your products or services to international buyers is risky business. Not just for your company, but also for your prospects.

Can they really trust you when you tell them how large and reputable you business is and that you have right quality procedures in place? How can they get a real feel for your company that is located thousands of miles away?

Presenting your location, factory or office, production process and your dedicated staff at work is highly regarded by international buyers. It provides an extra a look and feel about your company that is often lacking from brochures and photos.

Of all different types of writing I've done in my life (and believe me, I've tried practically all of them) writing radio has made one of bigger impacts on my writing style.

Below are three ways writing radio can help strengthen your writing style. (Oh, and these tips will also help you write better radio copy too.)

1. Follow rules. Sometimes rules are good. Especially rules that force you to write a certain way. (Think poetry -- mastering those rules can have an amazing effect on your writing style.) Rules require you to slow down and think, to analyze your word, sentence, grammar, punctuation, etc., choices. And that can be very beneficial to your development as a writer.

Radio is short. You have to write something that fits into a 30- or 60-second slot. Not a lot of time or a lot of words. In that 30 or 60 seconds, you need to capture listener's attention, explain why they should be interested in buying what you're selling, then let them know what you'd like their next step to be. Oh, and did I mention you need to have business name in there at least twice and probably a tag line as well? And don't forget about music. Or sound effects.

Now beauty of this is once you've mastered radio rules, you can apply it to all sorts of things. A 30-second pitch for your business you can tell people at networking events. A 15-second introduction before a speech. A quick product spiel for your voice mail. A 15-second pitch for your novel to spit out at agents and editors at writers' conferences. The possibilities are endless.

2. Forces you to write tight. Remember, radio is short. Yet, there's still a lot you have to shove into it. So what's solution? Absolutely no extra words allowed.

Be brutal. Cut out anything you don't need. In fact, radio is where I first learned to start cutting "that" out. Most "thats" you don’t need, and nothing shows you this like radio.

Here's how I write radio. I start with a first draft. I read it over. I think it's pretty good -- I have all salient points in there. I read it out loud.