Tag: Brand

How to Use Social Media to Build Your Brand

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Most businesses today need a strategy for building their brand via social media. Social media has changed the game in that it has created an abundance of markets separate from traditional media. The following guest post is entitled, How to Use Social Media to Build Your Brand.

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Social media is about sharing thoughts, establishing an online presence, and building a network. Given these factors, marketing professionals realized how they can use it as leverage. In fact, it helped brands build their digital presence in a social space, and the bulk of online purchases were attributed to social influence. Most consumers will agree that user-generated content can influence buyer behavior.

Many companies adopt this strategy since social media is key to a successful brand campaign. In cities such as Brisbane, SEO services and social media marketing doubled in demand. However, the social media climate is harsh, and business owners should be aware of this. Creating engaging online campaigns can be a disaster without proper research and planning. Here are some pointers on how to utilize social media for brand-building:

Be bold with ideas

Burger King launched a unique and controversial online campaign for its customers: delete ten of your friends to receive a free Whopper. To their surprise: 240,000 people were unfriended by people who wanted something free in return. Each customer who took up the challenge received a receipt after participating in Burger King stores. Their unconventional strategy, “Whopper Sacrifice,” was the Grand Winner at the 2009 Clio Awards. When you’re willing to take risks and push the envelope, you’ll reap the rewards. Be bold with your ideas and don’t hesitate to push the envelope; it will pay off.

Use social media interests and hashtags

MTV, the music video pioneer, utilized social media to boost the 2012 Video Music Awards. Six-second videos were aired on different social media platforms to announce the nominees for Best Female Video, Best Male Video, and Video of the Year. Fans were treated to an exclusive glimpse of the Moon Man’s trip from LA to New York by using the #RoadtotheVMAs on Twitter. The Road to the VMAs 2012 became the second most talked about social buzz to date. Using social media interests and hashtags helps get the word across the online space.

Take over a social space to pick people’s interests

Uniqlo, a Japan-based clothing company, created a simultaneous pinning event on Pinterest. As users scrolled across the brand’s page, big blocks of pinned images (shirts, jeans, jackets) formed Uniqlo’s brand mosaic. Their products were animated in real time, which gave people a glimpse of what their brand had to offer. Taking over a social space and allowing people to participate in a synchronized online event helps a company introduce its brand to an untapped market. Brands should work with different social media platforms to engage people and wake them up from their digital slumber.

In the end, these are just some examples of how social media can help your brand increase its revenue and build its name. Social media is an effective tool in building a brand while increasing its online revenues. Digital platforms are perfect marketing mediums: no restrictions and barriers. Armed with good strategies and creativity, social media is an effective tool to build your brand’s name online.

How to Boost Your Brand for Business Success

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the most critical aspects of one’s business is it’s brand. Customers need to connect with your brand visually in addition to the products and or services you provide. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Boost Your Brand for Business Success.

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Image Pexels CC0 License

Branding is an often overlooked area among business owners, as its value is underestimated by many companies. Smaller businesses may argue that they aren’t big enough to create a brand of any importance. However, when branding is done correctly, it can offer significant benefits to companies of all sizes.

Why Branding Matters

Every business wants to be noticed, to stand out from its competitors, and attract the most customers. Branding offers a solution that enables companies to achieve this. Businesses that operate in a highly competitive marketplace, offering similar products to their competitors, need something extra to help them stand out. Branding is a tool that can be used by companies to differentiate their offering and add additional value to their products and services.

Branding is about so much more than having an attractive logo; branding is about communicating with your target market and making them want to be associated with your brand. The power of branding is the reason that some people will only be seen in certain makes of sneakers, or will only buy a car from a particular manufacturer. Branding extends beyond the product itself. The decision to buy a brand is influenced by the customer’s perception of the brand. This emotional connection toward certain brands is the reason that consumers will happily pay more for branded items, as they are buying more than the product itself, they are also purchasing a connection to the brand and the values that it represents.

Building a Brand

As mentioned above, creating a successful brand is more than just logo design. Branding encompasses both aesthetics and values. To be successful, brands need a personality. Personality is created through both its look and the values that it represents. Here are some of the main elements to consider when building your brand:

What do You Want Your Brand to Say About Your Business?

Before you get started on implementing a branding strategy, you will need to consider what you want from your brand. What would you like the brand to say about your business? Do you want the brand to communicate that you are an ethical business stocking natural products? Maybe you want to focus on breaking into the luxury goods market. Whatever you are aiming for, you need to ensure that your branding embodies it. Knowing what you want from your brand will inform the way that the brand looks and what it represents.

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Design

The visual element of your brand is one of its main features. The design that you select for your brand will be used on everything, including your signage, your packaging, and your promotional material, so getting it right is essential. Creating the visual elements of your brand yourself can be risky if you are not a trained designer. A professional standard of graphic design is needed to make your branding successful, so calling in some help from the professional is a good idea. A graphic design company will be skilled in knowing what works and what doesn’t and will be able to come up with fresh ideas you may not have considered before. The Timmermann Group offer a specialist graphic design service, check them out to see how they can help with your branding.

When considering the design of your branded materials, it is essential to select your corporate color scheme carefully. Thinking about the connotations of the colors that you use is vital, as your color choice can help to reinforce your brand. For example, eco-friendly businesses typically choose green within their color scheme as it strengthens their eco-credentials.

Brand Values

For a brand to be successful and to engage customers enough to make them want to buy its products over and over again, it needs to convey more than the benefits of the product itself. A successful brand has personality and engages customers on an emotional level. The desire to be associated with a brand and what it stands for motivates consumers to buy it.

Customer service and the quality of the product are, of course, vital components for the success of a brand. A product that does not perform well will not be able to retain customers. However, when all things are equal in a competitive market place, brand values become particularly important to gain a competitive edge.

A company should live and breathe its values; they should be at the core of every decision that a business makes. This kind of authenticity is something that consumers crave in a world packed with mass-produced goods. A brand that aligns with its core values can grow a strong base of like-minded consumers, eager to be seen with its products and the kudos that they bring.

Brand Recognition

Transforming a brand into a household name is something that most company’s dream about. When your brand name becomes synonymous with the products that you produce, you know that you are onto a winner. Companies with enviable levels of brand equity can be recognized merely by their typeface or their corporate color scheme without any mention of the brand name at all.

Creating a brand that everyone has heard about doesn’t happen overnight. Building up brand recognition takes time and plenty of focused effort to achieve.

To achieve brand recognition, your branding efforts need to be consistent. A consistent and cohesive brand identity is far more likely to grow into a brand with high levels of brand recognition. This is because keeping all of your branding efforts consistent speeds up the brand recognition process.

To ensure that your branding is consistent in all areas, you may want to draw up brand guidelines to protect the brand. Brand guidelines will breakdown everything from where logos should be positioned on business correspondence through to the tone of voice used in marketing materials, the website, and on the company’s social media pages.

Creating a strong brand and developing brand recognition take time and lots of effort to get right, but the results in the long term are more than worthwhile.

Why Personal Branding Is Essential

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what your business is, a key to is your branding. Your personal branding will set you apart from your competition. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Personal Branding Is Essential.

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This is a competitive world that we live in, and it’s not always (or ever) as easy to get ahead as we would like it to be. There’s always competition for jobs, or for the products and services that we are trying to sell. All we can do is our best, and hope that people take notice. There is, on occasion, ways that we hold ourselves back, however — for example, if you’re not investing in your personal brand, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to show off your credibility and professionalism.

But what’s personal branding all about, anyway? It’s a term that you hear often, but it’s not always so clear as to what it involves. Essentially, it’s all about controlling your own message. It’s about ensuring that people that are searching for you see the values that they want you to see, and not anything that might harm your reputation and cost you business. With the rise of the internet, it is easier to look up people than ever before. This is why personal branding is such a priority for executives and professionals; they know that their business may be harmed if it’s not watertight.

Personal branding can also be used during the job search. All large companies do a background check on their candidates, and it’s usually the ones that have put the time into making their personal brand as watertight as possible that get ahead. To learn more about the importance of personal branding, take a look at the infographic below.


Infographic design by University of Maryland University of Maryland

3 Places Where Branding Really Matters

Two of the principles of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Properly branding your business is today’s world is critical to your success. As such it’s important to understand where to you place you branding so that it’s most effective. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Places Where Branding Really Matters.

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In business, you of course need to make sure at all times that you are fully focused on your branding if you are to be successful. It is only with good branding that you can expect the business to be successful and to retain its reputation in the industry you are working in, so it is hugely important to make sure that you are focused on this as best as you can be. As it happens, there are a few places in particular where it turns out that branding is especially important, either because it is so powerful to utilize those places or because it is essential to use them for your business for some reason or another. In this post, we will take a look at some of these places where branding really matters, so that you can much more readily make the most of it.

Pic Credit – CCO Licence

Your Offices

This is one that a lot of businesses fail to consider, and yet if you do it right it can be an especially powerful one that you might want to think about. Your offices offer you a wonderful chance to be able to utilize and promote your branding, and if you can make use of this you will find that it really does make a huge difference to your business’ chances of success overall. The best way to go about doing this is to obtain signage supplies from Eurotech and then get to work on building displays outside your offices with your business’ branding plastered all over them. This will ensure that you are able to much more easily brand your business, even if you feel that it might be challenging to get it right.

Social Media

It’s hard to think of marketing these days without focusing on social media to at least some degree. Your social media is likely to be important and central for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that it is where all the people are. So how your business appears there is very much how it appears in the minds of your customers and the public more generally. If you want to be able to make this work out okay, you need to ensure that you are branding well on social media. That will absolutely lead to a much more successful marketing venture in general, so it’s definitely worth the effort.

Pic Credit – CCO Licence

Product Packaging

The packaging of your products is hugely important for many reasons, and one of the main ones is that it is actually a powerful opportunity for you to be able to advertise your wares and promote your business generally, as well as advertising the specific product itself of course. With the right product packaging, you can expect it to do wonders for your branding, so this is absolutely something that you are going to want to think about as best as you can. If you can get this right, you will find that you are going to be able to expect huge improvements generally.

Getting Your Brand Out There: Tips For Small Start-ups

Two of the focuses of my are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Your brand is how the public gets to know your business. It’s like wise to get it out there circulating as often and as effectively as possible. The following contributed post is entitled, Getting Your Brand Out There: Tips For Small Start-ups.

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Image Credit Pixabay.com License CC0
When you are starting your business, nobody will know who you are, or what you do. Creating the kind of brand recognition that you will need to be a success will take a great deal of time and effort. However, this is an area of your start-up planning that you cannot afford to overlook.

Understanding what your brand is yourself is the first step in communicating this to other people. Figure this out as early as possible. Work out what exactly you want to offer the world, and how you will go about it. Identify the core goals that are of significance to your company and create a mission statement that owns those values.

There are several ways of building a brand, and if you have a great deal of start-up capital, you can invest in the services of a branding specialist. However, for many companies who are in their earliest stages, this may not be financially viable. Here are a few ways that you can increase the awareness of your brand from day one, without having breaking the bank.

Brand All Company Vehicles

If you have any vehicles that are used by the company, you could look at getting branded vinyl with your company logo on them. Using the services of Lucent Graphic Solutions, you could create some stand-out graphics that will really get your name out there on the street.

This obviously will only have a limited reach, unless you have a large fleet of vehicles. But it does, however, create a sense of professionalism about your company.

Use Social Media To Full Effect

Harnessing the power of social media need not be expensive. You can go down the route of using sponsored posts, but there is no substitute for building up a reputation through engaging with followers and building up brand recognition with regular posts.

Social networking is now quite a broad church, and you may want to look at gaining exposure on a number of platforms. Create a professional profile on the sites that offer the best return for your demographic. If you want to capture the attention of a younger audience, you may want to look at Instagram and Snapchat. Whereas, if your appeal is wider, Facebook might be a good option.

Understanding your audience will allow you to create posts that are likely to appeal. And if you can elicit a reaction, then this will widen your audience through likes, comments, and shares. Be sure and build up a relationship with your following by replying to messages and comments, And remember, to always stay on brand with everything that you post online.

Sponsor Events

Offering up prizes in events is a good way of getting your name out there. If you can provide something worthwhile and desirable, then this will help you stand out even more. You need not spend too much, but the synergy of getting involved with causes that you put value in can do your brand a world of good.

3 Places You Must Proudly Display Your Branding

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to your business being highly successful is branding. It’s not just properly branding you’re your business, but it’s also the placement. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Places You Must Proudly Display Your Branding.

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Your branding is how your business primarily communicates with the world; it is the company’s public face, and as such it needs to be designed with integrity and maintained patiently. It also needs to be highly visual and to be so memorable for its uniquity that the average person on the street immediately recognises the logo, colouring, font choice and overall theme. If you can design your brand to be this way, it will mean great things for the future of your business. But as well as all that, you also need to display your branding – otherwise nobody will ever see it. Let’s look at three of the most important places where you must display your branding in order for it to have an effect.

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Your Building

Wherever it is that your business is located, that is a great opportunity for brand display, and one which you should absolutely make the most of if you are serious about making the most of your brand. You need to display your branding on the outside of your building as obviously and clearly as possible, so that passersby can see it easily. This is something which can make a huge difference over time, even if at first it seems a little too subtle. By branding your building with the help of a sign company you will be adding your brand to people’s general consciousness a little each day, and you will be amazed at how much this can help to get your brand out there and make it instantly recognisable for people in the local community.

Product Packaging

Any products you create will have some kind of packaging around them, and this is another opportunity for you to display your brand which you should absolutely make the most of if you want your business to succeed. People expect to see the branding of the company on the packaging, so it is something that you can take advantage of without having to worry about being too over the top. As well as helping your brand profile, this can also help the product to sell more highly, so there are two great reasons why you should be doing this. Be sure to focus on producing amazing packaging for your products every time.

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Social Media

You need to have a social media marketing team these days if you want your business to do well. One of the things that they must be briefed to do is to ensure that the social media channels you are on are themselves branded well in the business’ branding. The more that people see the brand on social media, the more likely it is that they are going to recognise it all the more when they see it elsewhere, so this is something you should not overlook. You will find that it makes a profound difference to brand your social media profile in this way.

As long as you display your branding in these places, you should find that it helps your business along greatly.

Why Your Personal Brand Is Essential To Success

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When starting your own business, your brand is critical as it distinguishes you and sets you apart from everyone else. Care should be taken when establishing your brand. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Your Personal Brand Is Essential To Success.

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Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

It used to be that branding was reserved for businesses. Now, it’s important for individuals to develop a strong personal brand if they aspire towards a successful career. As the workforce becomes more and more competitive and the way we network changes, a strong personal brand can help you to stand out from the crowd.

What is a personal brand? It’s the words your new client will use to describe you to their colleagues. It’s the way an acquaintance knows you’re the person to call when a certain job comes up. Your brand is why a manager will hire you, rather than the next candidate. So it’s crucial that you present yourself in a thoughtful way that helps, rather than hinders, your journey to professional success.

Define yourself, before someone else does

First impressions count and if we don’t define ourselves, it’s easy for others to do it for us. To make sure people remember the right things about you, you’ve first got to identify what you want those things to be.

Who do you want to be known as, professionally speaking? It goes without saying that you’ll want to position yourself as an expert within your given field. It’s worth niching down, rather than presenting yourself as a generalist.

But your personal brand comes down to more than your expertise. It’s not just the things you know and the skills you have. It’s also about who you are as a person and how people can count on you to behave. So who do you want to be known as? Is it someone who is articulate and a powerful communicator? Someone who is trustworthy and brimming with integrity? It’s probably a combination of characteristics and qualities. Write these down and commit to them so you can build your brand around these specifics. Just make sure you’re choosing characteristics that reflect the types of businesses or clients you want to work with.

Stay authentic

If you are not already sure of exactly what your personal values are, now is a good time to explore this. Your personal values define the standards to which you hold yourself and the qualities you want to aspire to.

Make sure that your personal values and your personal brand are carefully aligned. If you value yourself as a humble, calm and trustworthy person, this is the message you should put out into the world. It’s tempting to try to market yourself in ways that seem the most charismatic or dynamic. Of course, you want to present your values and qualities in the most attractive way, but don’t be tempted to sell yourself as someone you’re not. This will only cause you trouble in the long run.

The fact is that everyone is looking for something different in people that they choose to work with. You can almost guarantee that someone will be looking to hire or work with someone exactly like you, so stay authentic and true to your own brand. Once you’ve got this secure, you won’t be tempted to present wildly different versions of yourself to fit in like a chameleon.

Get creative

Once you’ve settled on your personal brand, you need to get it out into the world. One excellent way to put yourself out there is to create content that’s relevant to your brand. An ideal way to do this is through a blog. Producing quality content can establish you as a credible and valuable source of information in your field. If you’re then able to share that content via Linkedin or other social media platforms, then you’re getting your message out there for others to see. Photography or video, perhaps instructional Youtube videos, could also be a great platform, but only if it’s relevant to your industry and brand.

Image via Pexels

Be visual

As humans, we make assumptions based on visual information. It’s true that things like clothes and hairstyle all contribute to the way people see us, so make sure your style reflects the things you are trying to say. It can seem like a small thing but dressing to reflect your brand adds coherency and authenticity.

Your visual brand will also affect your website and social media presence. Whether it’s bright and whimsical or elegant and monochrome, having a consistent approach to visual content helps. This extends to things as simple as the style of photography you use.

In this digital age, pen and paper can add a distinctive edge. People still use business cards, as they’re still useful for real-world networking. Whatsmore, handwritten or just hand-posted correspondence can add an unexpected personal touch that helps you to stand out. If you’re a freelancer or small business owner with your own logo, think about getting customized stationary. You can use a service like Winmark Custom Stamps and Signs to create custom stamps, embossing seals and name badges with your own distinct logo.

Make time to network

Now you’ve got an idea of how you want to brand yourself, and the tools to do it, you need to get yourself out there. There are many ways of doing this in the modern day. Traditional networking is still just as important, so be sure to get some dates in your diary when you can attend relevant professional talks, events and networking meetings.

You should also be networking virtually, too. Be sure to optimize your Linkedin profile to reflect your personal brand and start building relevant connections there. Don’t neglect other social media networks either. If you can solidify your niche and your brand into one sentence, you can add this to your bio across all networks, including in your email signature. You want to create a consistent idea of who you are since you never know where your next business prospect might find you. You can use Twitter as a platform to engage with relevant people. Just be sure to do it in an appropriate way that doesn’t come across as spam.

Have fun with developing your personal brand and putting yourself out into the world. See what a difference it makes when you present a coherent and confident vision of who you are as a professional and what you offer. In this digital age, it couldn’t be more important.

11 Ways To Make Your Business More Memorable

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Regardless of the type of business you’re running, it’s important to understand how to make your business unique so that it stands out from the others. The following contributed post is entitled, 11 Ways To Make Your Business More Memorable.

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Making your business memorable is key if you want to stay in the forefront of the minds of your audience, and make them think of you every time they have a need that fits what you offer. There are probably many businesses out there offering something of a similar nature to you, so you need to make sure you differentiate your business by being memorable.

Below you’ll find 11 ways to make your business more memorable:

1. Know Exactly Who Your Audience Are And Market To Them
The first thing you need to do is clearly define your audience. You must know who they are and market to them if you’re not only going to be memorable, but successful. You won’t be a memorable business to every demographic, usually – unless you end up becoming the next Coca Cola or the next Ford. Chances of that are pretty slim (not that we’re trying to limit you or anything) so start by knowing your audience and finding ways to make them remember you. What will they respond to? What are they interested in? It’s time to learn as much about them as you possibly can.

2. Come Up With Cool Social Media Campaigns
Social media is a must for any and all businesses, so make sure you’re making the most of it with cool social media campaigns. You don’t even need to do anything super fancy. You could share user generated content from fans and followers, hold a contest, post behind the scenes videos, and more. Thinking outside the box a little and keeping people interested in your brand via your social media channels will really help you to succeed.

3. Aim For High Quality Branding Across All Channels
Your brand should be carefully designed by experts with your values, brand personality, and audience in mind. When you’re sure you’ve got your branding right, you need to make sure that it is the same across all channels. Whether you’re emailing, sending an invoice, or somebody is browsing your website, it should all be in sync.

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4. Attend Events and Plan Them Carefully
Going to events can be a great way to meet more people and get your brand name out there. Don’t just attend these events, though; plan them in a way that forces people to remember you. Offer something different. You could give out goodie bags, have a game or competition, or have cupcakes. Whatever you do, give people a reason to associate positive thoughts and feelings with your brand. You should also pay attention to how your booth/stand looks, so visit chicagobannerprinting.com to see what can be created for you. Maybe you could create a branded backdrop to have pictures taken against, and even use it to encourage your audience to create user generated content.

5. Create Great Copy
You could offer a great product, but if your copy isn’t high quality, it’ll bring you down. People will get an impression of your business from the copy you produce. It shouldn’t have spelling errors or grammatical errors, and it should be interesting. Why should people read it? Create blog content to help people learn more about your business, industry, and what you offer. You could answer frequently asked questions in this way. You should also pay attention to the copy you use to introduce people to your business and even to describe your products. If this isn’t something you have time for, it could be a better idea to hire a copywriter with experience in your industry to do it for you.

6. Come Up With Brave Ideas For Advertising
Come up with a brave idea for your advertising campaign – like that time Vodafone planned a flash mob. Don’t stick to the norm, and do something a little crazy to get people talking. Just make sure it isn’t controversial or offensive if you want to keep your audience on side.

7. Always Deliver On The Promises You Make
You’re likely making promises to your customers, such as delivery times, the quality of your product, and so on. Whatever promises you find yourself making, make sure you go above and beyond to stick to them. People will quickly lose faith in you if you constantly fail to make good on your promises.

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8. Be Completely Transparent And Authentic
Being a transparent and authentic brand isn’t something all businesses deem to be important. This doesn’t mean you have to tell your audience about the affair your IT guy had two years ago, or what you all had for lunch today, but you should make sure you’re not misleading your audience. Many brands do this and it only ends up alienating their audience. Get them on side by being honest with them about what you can and can’t do, and what value your service provides.

9. Make Sure Your Customer Service Is On Point
Your customer service should be second to none. If somebody has an issue, go above and beyond to fix it. Reply to queries as quickly as you can. Really give people an amazing experience so that they have a reason to want to work with you again and recommend your product or services to friends.

10. Choose Your Colour Palette Carefully
Selecting the colour palette is something you’ll do when branding your business, but don’t make the mistake of picking colours you like without researching what they really mean. For example, blues and greens can give a tranquil feel and could be great for an eco-friendly business. Many businesses that use red are often bargain businesses, as red is supposed to make people feel a sense of urgency when buying. Consider things like this when you select your colour palette.

11. Send Thank You Notes
A handwritten thank you note can go a long way to making your business memorable and getting recommendations. It only takes a minute or so to jot a quick thank you along with the customer’s name.

How will you make your business more memorable?

The Next Big Thing: Steps To Ensure Your Brand Is The Name On Everyone’s Lips

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Potentially the most critical piece of your business is the branding and marketing. In today’s age with all the technology at our disposal, it’s important to make sure your brand is out and well-known. The following contributed post is entitled, The Next Big Thing: Steps To Ensure Your Brand Is The Name On Everyone’s Lips.

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One of the most crucial aspects of succeeding in business lies in beating the competition. If you’re eager to entice new clients, increase sales, and ensure that your brand is the name on everyone’s lips, here are some steps to take.

Get social
Social media marketing is an increasingly potent weapon for modern businesses. If you don’t already have social media campaigns running, you may be missing a trick. There are several platforms to choose from, and you can select different sites based on your target market. Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world, but options like Snapchat and Instagram tend to be more effective when targeting a young demographic. Research social media trends, define your ideal buyer and start using the power and popularity of social platforms to get your brand name out there. Start by creating pages and profiles and offer incentives to encourage people to like and share your posts and sign up for updates. Focus on creating and sharing quality content, which is going to appeal to the target user, and interact with your followers. If you’re getting comments, for example, take the time to read them and respond. If you’re considering posting adverts on sites like Facebook, take advantage of the audience tools, which enable you to define specific groups you want to target.

Image from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/social-media-blocks-blogger-488886/

Revamp your website and SEO strategy
Even if you don’t have an online store, having an online profile is vital in this day and age. If your website isn’t up to scratch, or you’re not getting much traffic, it’s wise to revamp your site and review your SEO strategy. If you don’t have expertise in web design or digital marketing, consider outsourcing. Consumers like to research online, even if they plan to place an order or shop in-store, and ensuring you appear at the top of the search results page will stand you in good stead to outshine your rivals and increase lead generation.

Make the most of trade shows
Trade shows offer a brilliant opportunity to showcase your products and get people talking about your brand. If you are planning to attend an event, you want to make sure that your stand attracts attention. There are several ways you can do this. Aesthetics play a key role in drawing crowds. People are much more likely to gravitate towards a stand that looks enticing and interesting than one that looks drab and dull. Giveaways are also a great idea. If you can offer samples, for example, if you’re selling food or drink products, or you’re handing out branded keyrings, caps, pens or USB sticks, you may find that you get a lot more visitors. For more ideas for promotional products, click here. Interactive displays and demos are another way to pull people in. If you’re selling toys, pet products, kitchen or office gadgets, for example, demonstrate how they work, and let customers have a go. It’s also important to make sure your staff is well-versed in answering questions and dealing with queries about pricing and special offers.

Picture credit https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2235564

Connect with clients
Marketing plays a vital role in breaking the ice, generating leads and starting conversations, but to make your brand the next big thing, you have to follow up on expressions of interest and make sure your customers feel valued. Take the time to connect with your existing clients and make an effort to communicate with potential customers who have shown an interest in what you do. Send out periodic emails, respond to questions and queries online, and add features like live chat to your website. Customer engagement can help to enhance the user experience, tighten ties and ensure loyalty. Adding a personal touch can go a long way when you’re trying to enhance your brand reputation and raise brand awareness. Even simple things like addressing people by their names in emails can make a difference. Research suggests that click-through rates are significantly higher for personalized emails.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/chat-icon-social-network-1873543/

Do some good in the world
As a consumer, you may be aware of certain brands because of initiatives they support or causes they fund. As a business owner, you want people to recognize you because of the products and services you offer, but you also want your customers to have a positive impression of your brand ethos. If you want people to talk about you, consider using your status to do some good in the world. You could support a local charity, get involved with a green initiative or donate some of your profits to charities chosen by your customers.

Are you dreaming of creating a global brand? Do you want to see your business name up in lights? If you have grand plans, hopefully, these tips will point you in the right direction.

How a Poor Name Can Lower the Value of your Brand

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When starting a business, one of the most important components is building and maintaining your ‘brand’. A key component of your brand is your name. Choosing the right name can be the difference between life and death in the business context. The following guest post comes courtesy of Squadhelp.com and is entitled, How a Poor Name Can Lower the Value of your Brand.

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When you are brainstorming a name for your brand-new startup, you might notice that certain people you run into will tell you not to worry about the name you select for your business. They will say to you that a startup name lacks any tangible value because they believe that names are just frills. They will tell you it is not worth investing your time and resources into, but they would be wrong. In actuality, research shows that easy, memorable names outperform non-captivating and lackluster names on the stock market by 33% or more.

A Poor Name Won’t Set a Solid Brand Foundation

In today’s fast-paced market, first impressions matter more than ever before. Generally, your brand name will be the first thing that a possible client or customer will learn about your brand. You brand encompasses many aspects of your business including your logo, beliefs, values and name.

The name is basically the foundation and the identity of your new company. If the name is too weak, it will not be able to support the weight of your brand and will hold your business back from growth. You ideally want to choose a name that sets the stage for your success.

Fail to Capture Audiences

Your target audience is very likely overwhelmed by the vast number of options available in today’s modern market. It’s very likely that your business offers special services or products, but without a great name that captures the attention of your audience, you might lose customers. If your name does not get their attention right away, they will move on to the next business without checking out the options your startup offers.

A name should create a strong connection between your business and your target market. Ideally, it should give them something to hold on to and remember about your brand.

Drive Audiences Away

Although making your brand name attractive is very important, you need double check that it does not drive any potential customers or clients away. Difficult, boring, or offensive names risk alienating a large segment of your customer base. Make sure that you don’t select a company name that is cringey or awkward, as something like that will likely drive customers away and send people the wrong message.

A great example of this would be a salon with the name Curl Up & Dye. Although this name is clearly descriptive and witty, but it could accidentally send the wrong message to any potential customers about the quality of services that the salon offers. The name heavily relies on the audience’s sense of humor, but you risk losing potential clients that do not find the funny brand amusing.

Audience testing is a quick and simple way to make sure that your startup name will do well with your chosen target audience.

A Forgettable Name = A Forgettable Brand

Even if a customer really wants to remember your brand name, if it is boring or too perplexing to pronounce and spell, they will likely not remember it. When your target demographic cannot remember your name even when they want to, it is a bad sign for your business.

A memorable name will ensure that your brand is something that your customers will never forget. Double check that your brand name does not fall by the wayside by brainstorming a catchy, memorable name that will capture your target audience’s attention. Peruse some of these winning company name suggestions to give yourself a better idea of what type of names catch your attention the most.

Lose Referrals

In the end, your brand name needs to be appealing and memorable enough that it establishes your brand and sets you up for success in the future. If you cannot create a solid foundation for your company with a great name, you will not only lose out on any potential clients but also the potential referrals you would have gotten from those clients.

Conclusion

Each and every tiny aspect of your brand adds up in the end, and if your name can help you get some extra of press coverage or a couple more chains of referrals from customers, it makes all the difference. A brand name really has the power to impact your business success.

When you are coming up with a business name, make sure you remember that a brand name is way more than just a word. It establishes the foundation for your business, and it can be a very useful tool making your business successful.

Grant Polachek is the Director of Marketing at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the worlds #1 naming platform, with nearly 20,000 customers from the smallest startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation. Get inspired by exploring these creative business names.