Establishing Branding Recognition
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Table
of Contents
Chapter 1 –
Defining Your Brand and Everything it Represents Attractively
Chapter 2 –
Build Your Own and Brand’s Identity
Chapter 3 –
Emphasize One Key Message by Using Relevant Content
Chapter 4 –
Take Advantage of the Voice of Existing Industry Leaders
Chapter 5 –
Plan an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
We Marketers have it
really hard these days. We are all targeting the same group of people, with the
same basic product offerings and sometimes even at the same time.
This is especially
true for the world of Online Marketing. Some may find our efforts informative
or even amusing. Others are downright annoyed and seek out every possible way
to silence the noisy atmosphere we have created as we compete with each other.
To make matters
worse, many of the promotions online are fictitious and have left our target
market overly skeptical about everything they see online.
Many of them have
actually suffered serious financial loss as a result of the tactics of
unscrupulous marketers. In fact, less than 25% of all consumers actually trust
advertisements they see online. Just think about how negatively this will
affect your sales!
But, do not despair,
building a recognizable brand is within your reach if you are willing to learn
how to play your cards right. Marketing a business or brand online has become
one of the most popular ways for Entrepreneurs to reach their target audience.
Gone are the days
when a good billboard and couple of well-designed posters would be enough to
get you on the map. If you do not take the time to establish your brand’sonline
presence, it can easily become forgotten or overshadowed by its competitors.
Keeping ahead of the game now means carefully integrating online
marketing into your overall marketing strategy and thus building a brand that
needs no introduction.
The truth is,
marketing your brand online is not an overly complicated task. But like any
other skill, you must take the time to learn as much as you can about the task
at hand and the best way to achieve the desired results.
Thankfully, you have purchased this book, which means you are well on your way to building a successful brand.
Chapter 1 – Defining Your Brand and
Everything it Represents Attractively
Your brand represents
a unique promise that you make to every single one of your customers and
potential customers. It is the consistency of this promise and the overall
quality of the delivery of this promise that will encourage your customers to
be loyal to your brand.
Getting your
customers to become loyal to your brand is the only real way to make your brand
successful. But in order for your promise to be effective, it must be distinct
and clearly distinguishable from the many other promises your potential clients
will encounter.
What kind of promise
is your brand making?
Who is your brand
making this promise to?
Why is your
brand’spromise different from everyone else’s?
Why should anyone
believe your promise?
At a glance, the task
of defining your brand may appear quite simple but please do not be fooled.
The golden arches of
McDonald’sandthe Nike swoosh did not become what they are in a day. These and
other successful brands are the product of careful research, distinctly defined
boundaries and a comprehensive Marketing strategy. The result
of all this hard work is that each customer and potential customer knows
exactly what these brands represent.
Have you ever walked
into McDonald’sto order to purchase a Pepperoni pizza? Will anyone in their
right minds drive to Nike to pick up a pair of ruby red stilettos?
Of course not! That
is as a result of these brands being so carefully defined that we know exactly
what to expect and what these brands can deliver.
Customers are far
more likely to be loyal to a brand that sends a clear message or has a distinct
voice.
The first step to
defining your brand is thinking carefully about and documenting what your
business is good at. You can make use of S.W.A.T analysis to outline the major
strengths and weakness of your business.
It goes without
saying that your brand should represent the strengths or core functions of your
business. This will require some amount of honest self-evaluation.
Some Entrepreneurs
fall into the trap of aiming to be good at everything or doing too many things
at the same time. Even worse is trying to make a ‘universal’product or service
that has no specific target audience.
The result of this
kind of strategy would be a brand that is not well defined and will not
encourage brand loyalty.
Trying to target
everybody and doing everything will force you to spread your resources too
thin. The easiest way to get nothing done is to try and do everything at the
same time.
Once you have a
clearly defined message in mind, the next step is to choose the right tools.
The Marketing tools that you choose to make use of should then emphasize
the core focus of your business. In doing so, your Marketing strategy should
also emphasize what your business is not and thus make your clients see that
your focus is not on ripping them off.
This is an easy way
to highlight the difference between you and the competition. A memorable brand
is not worth the effort if you are not earning any money and the easiest way to
make money is to take out the competition.
After assessing the
strength of your business, find three simple words that represent what your
business does well. Think of it this way, which three words would you want your
clients to use to describe your brand if your brand was a person?
This will require
that you and your executive team carefully define the mission and vision
statement of your business as well. Your next move should be figuring out how
to communicate these attributes to your target audience with the utmost
simplicity.
A complicated
commercial or website is a major turn off to potential clients and will not be
very effective at generating sales. Keep your message simple if your aim is to
make your brand memorable and profitable.
“There is no
greatness where there is not simplicity―Leo.” Tolstoy
“Simplicitythe
ultimateis sophistication―ClareBoothe.” Luce
“To be simple is to―RalphbegreatWaldoEmerson.”
Defining your brand
and the identity of your brand will require much more than a fancy logo.
It must instantly
bring to mind what your business does and what your brand represents. One core
principle that never fails is to focus on quality and convenience.
The identity of your
brand should be carefully tied to adding value. Make your clients think of your
product or service as being of the best quality, the easiest to use, the most
affordable or even the most durable. Selling hype will not get you very far.
Always remember that
your aim is to give your brand a pleasant voice and a distinct identity.
The ultimate aim is
to get the voice of your brand off the printed page or website into the mind of
your target audience. Your message should make such a deep impression on your
target audience that purchasing your product or service should seem like the
only sensible choice.
You should not have
to clutter your website or commercials to get potential clients to remember
what your brand represents. This will prove to be a waste of time since your
brand may become easily confused with another.
The next chapter will provide further details on building a unique identity for your brand.
Chapter 2 – Build Your Own and
Brand’s Identity
Some Entrepreneurs
try to build the identity of their brand by imitating other well-established
players in the industry. This strategy will prove futile.
As stated in Chapter
1, customer loyalty is a product of building a unique identity for your brand.
Chapter 4 of this
book will however provide some guidelines on how to leverage the strengths of
existing market players without becoming a copycat.
If you are already
the mastermind calling the shots for a brand that is struggling, my first
suggestion is to turn to your existing customers.
You would be
surprised how much you can benefit from some good old-fashioned research by
means of a brand audit. Carefully assess what customers currently think about
your brand and what they think it represents.
You may be quite
horrified to realize that your clients have completely misunderstood the voice
of your brand. In the same breath, take the time to find out how they think
your brand fares against the competition.
Your business and
your brand might be too close to your heart for you to critique it objectively.
This can be achieved by means of online surveys or even in-house questionnaires.
The key to getting
the right information is to ask the right questions. Ask clear, simple
questions that get straight to the point. “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge” -Thomas Berger
"There are no
right answers to wrong questions." - Ursula K. Le Guin
Now that you have
asked the right people, the right questions and have gotten into the minds of
your customers, it is time for action. But don’tpick a fight with every
naysayer you encounter.
Choose your battles
carefully and always remember that you will not be able to please everyone. Try
to identify any common themes in the responses of your clients.
Please bear in mind
that some of these responses may be aimed at improving the quality of your
product or service. Leaving a bad taste in the mouth of your clients will do
very little to help you build a successful brand.
Build on the
complaints or lack of enthusiasm for your brand. Use that information to guide
your brand identity strategy.
All of your creative
resources should be aimed at removing common road blocks from the minds of
existing customers and thus potential clients as well. Be sure to also
reinforce the positive aspects of your brand that your customers identified.
Now that you know
what to do, it is time to learn how to do it! Building the identity of your
brand might take some amount of time, but aimlessly spending money is never the
solution.
Now that you are
armed with all the right information, it is time to skillfully aim your blows
by means of a carefully thought out brand identity strategy. Designing a good
strategy means you have almost won the
battle.
Your strategy should
be centered on objectives, but only a few. Please remember how Chapter 1
stressed the need for simplicity. Also, ensure that you link each phase of your
strategy to a specific objective. Your strategic objectives should be as SMART
as they come.
By SMART, I mean
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Don’tbe too quick to
implement a new strategy. Consider all the ‘whatifs’before you jump and take
the time plan the kind of attack your competitors will never see coming.
Here are 3 Simple
Strategies to Establishing the Identity of your brand:
1. Develop a Logo and
Other Creative Elements that Compliment the Objectives of Your Brand
Developing a logo is the first aspect of developing
your brand’svisual vocabulary.
In addition to the logo, you will need to create a
specific look and feel for your brand that will be consistent throughout the
various platforms you will use to promote your brand.
All successful brands are associated with a
specific blend of colors, fonts and slogans. In order for your creative
elements to resonate with your target audience, you must be
consistent.
Every aspect of business, your website, your social
media pages and even your business cards, should feature the same creative
elements.
Do not just choose a color just because you think
it is pretty. Remember that specific colors tend to evoke very specific
emotions.
Yellow for example is often associated with
happiness, while red is often associated with anger or romance.
Always keep your target market in mind while
selecting your creative elements.
The occupation, age and even social status of the
group you aim to target will influence how they view your logo, colors et
cetera.
Be sure to also test your logo by means of a focus
group before you launch it. Some logos, as creative as they may be, can be
misinterpreted or even confused with the logo of a similar brand.
Whatever you decide, ensure that your creative
elements are so memorable that even if a client sees only half of the picture,
they can still imagine exactly what is coming next.
2. Amp Up Your Social
Media Presence
What good will it do if you build a distinct brand
that no one has ever head of? Social media allows you to reach the right
people, with the right message all the time.
Additionally, social media is one of the most
affordable options to reach your target audience. So why not make full use of
it? There are so many social media platforms just waiting to
help build your brand.
In fact, all the successful brands of our
generation have invested heavily in creating a robust social media presence and
so should you. All you need to do is post the kind of content that will lure in
potential customers.
Chapters 3 and 5 of this book will delve into
further details about producing relevant content and designing a suitable
social media strategy.
3. Optimize Your Company
Website
Chapter 6 of this book will explain in greater detail
how to accomplish this task. But, in short, your website should be loaded with
useful content, easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing.
There is no bigger turn off than a website that
takes decades to load or isn’tmobile friendly. A website is one of the few
points of contact that you have full control over and it is best you use this
to your advantage.
Chapter
3 – Emphasize One Key Message by Using Relevant Content
Posting relevant
content is one of the hardest aspects of building a successful brand.
Who really defines what is relevant or isn’t relevant?
How will you know
which aspect of your content will go viral or will be considered shareable?
Relevance is not something your content team is born with or can learn.
Posting relevant
content is as a result of keeping up with market trends and producing content
that your target audience will either find amusing or useful. But of course,
this is much easier to achieve in words than in reality. So, what can you do?
Develop a Buyer
Persona
Buyer personas are
overly generalized examples of who your ideal customer would be. This forces us
Entrepreneurs to remember that our products and services affect the lives of
real people. And in so doing, we begin to focus more on how we can make the
lives of these people better by means of our business.
But the million
dollar question is, how does one create a useful buyer persona? You start by
simply asking the right questions.
The insights I
encouraged you to gather from your clients in Chapter 1 of this book will prove
very useful. All you need to do is figure out the type of people who have
believed your brand’s promise in the past and are very
likely to continue doing so in the future.
Every sensible survey
begins with simple demographic questions such as age, gender and occupation.
Make good use of this information!
In fact, you do not
even have to re-create the wheel by creating your own survey, market research
on existing buyer personas are published daily.
Why not use this kind
of research to your advantage? If you have front line members of staff or a
designated sales team, their interactions with your customers can provide very
useful information about your customers.
Be sure to solicit
information from both good and bad customers. It is always advantageous to
learn more about your own strengths and weaknesses.
Don’t Be Too Forward
Once you know exactly
the kind of people you are trying to reach, it will make it much easier to
reach them with relevant content.
But as I have
mentioned before, you want your target audience to welcome you into their lives
and not feel like you are barging into their homes through the front door.
Being subtle is as
excellent way to be bold. Instead of posting content about business and product
offerings all the time, get your audience excited or intrigued.
You need to get them
talking about you without even realizing it. Here are my suggestions:
• Post a thought
provoking question about topics such as current events and world affairs
• Post useful how to
videos about hobbies that would suit someone represented in your buyer person
• Have exciting
giveaways that feature your clients sharing pictures of themselves, perhaps
even pictures of them using your products
• Post Memes your
target audience will likely find hilarious
• Post content from
other companies that your target audience will find useful
•
Participate in trending challenges
Understand User
Intent
If you intend to post
SEO content to attract new business, you need to also take some time to
understand the concept of user intent. Creating a list of keywords is
important, but this should not be the focus of your SEO strategy.
It is better to
understand what your audience actually intends to do with the information they
are trying to find. Generally a user will search for content online with three
main intentions, to find a location, understand a topic or learn how to do
something.
With this is mind,
you will be better able to create a keyword list that will be more ideal for
one or a combination of these intentions.
Additionally, content
created with the intention of the target audience in mind will
be of the utmost relevance to these individuals and they will be more likely to
share this content with their contacts. It is a win / win situation.
Your audience will
benefit because they have learned something useful and you will benefit as
these individuals unintentionally draw attention to your brand.
Don’t Be Afraid to
Share
Despite your
intentions of becoming a distinguished brand, there is much to be gained by
sharing the content of other brands. I am not recommending plagiarism but it
would not hurt to share relevant content from other businesses.
Are there any
breaking news reports, inspirational quotes or instructional videos your
audience might find useful? Sharing this kind of content will give your
audience the impression that you genuinely want what is best for them.
If you intent to make
use of this bit of advice, please be cautious. Do not share content from
competing brands in your niche. Your good intentions may be misinterpreted as
an all out attack or attempts to surrender.
Now that you know how
to post useful content, let us now focus on ensuring this content emphasizes
one key message.
Posting the same
images, videos and information on a number of different platforms, may not be
the best way to send a consistent message.
Your brand will come
across as being either too lazy or too pushy. A better option would be to focus
on particular themes that are closely tied with the
objectives of your company.
For example, if your
product or service aims to make your customers healthier you can take the
direct approach and try to sell your product by any means necessary.
But, you can also
subtly encourage sales by encouraging your audience to focus on a more holistic
approach to their health. You could then post content from other sources
featuring easy work out videos and healthy meal preparation guides.
You can then use this
kind of content to draw attention to the benefits of your product. Remember the
aim is not to be pushy but to be effective.
When you employ the
subtle approach and make use of content from other relevant sources, you will
be emphasizing the strengths of your brand without becoming too repetitive.
There is only so much
and no more that you can say about your limited array of products or services.
The next chapter will focus more on how to use the strengths of existing
players in the market to strengthen your own brand.
Chapter 4 – Take Advantage of the
Voice of Existing Industry Leaders
Giving your brand a
distinct voice will do you very little good if no one takes the time to listen
to it.
The truth is that
more than 80% of all new brands will fail and of the 20% that do survive, only
a few can really be called successful. If your aim is to be among the
successes, you need to tap into the strengths of existing industry leaders who
are already quite vocal.
Because these players
have been in the industry for quite some time, they have become household names
and can easily influence the actions of your target audience.
That kind of
influence can easily be leveraged to increase your credibility, get your
message out to your target audience and most importantly, lead to sales.
The big question left
to be answered now is, who are these industry leaders? An industry leader is
anyone who is regarded as an authority figure within a specific industry.
Do not make the
mistake of thinking only of other well-established brands. An industry leader
can be a blogger, consultant, an up and coming Photo-Journalist or even a
traditional author.
Whatever the case may
be, carefully selecting your allies will certainly be to your advantage. These
individuals are already influencing the minds of the very people you are trying
to reach.
But how does one
identify an industry leader? This too will require some research but
thankfully, social media makes this task a little less tedious.
Take a look at the
number of followers or likes on the social media account of a potential ally.
But as we both know, it is quite easy to ‘purchase’followers or likes and not
really benefit as a result. Some of these individuals may not even exist or may
not be sure what the page is about.
Your aim is to
identify an individual or group who has a ‘profitable following’. You can
confirm the popularity or profitability of the page by simply examining the
activity on the page instead of relying on the numbers.
Examine how often the
posts on that page get liked and whether the comments posted by followers are
mostly positive or negative. Positive feedback on a social media page is very
likely to indicate that these individuals will respond to your call to action.
Once you have
identified a suitable candidate, you also need to examine what their brand
represents.
Once you form an
alliance with this brand, people will assume that you both stand for or
represent the same things. If your aim is to promote a wholesome, family
atmosphere, forming an alliance with a tattoo parlor or a gothic clothing store
would certainly not be to your advantage.
You need to find
industry leaders who are working towards similar goals and ideals. It may not
be wise however to select an individual or brand that aims to sell the same
kinds of products you promote as well.
A more practical
option would be to choose a company or blog that promote products that will
compliment your own line of products. For example, a Photo-Journalist
would be an excellent ally if your products or services focus on weddings and
other special events. Your aim is to make your target audience trust you and
this will not happen if you are sending a conflicting message.
When seeking to form
this alliance, your aim should also be to find someone your audience will
trust. Focus on sending a clear message that will not appear overly forceful or
fake.
This means you will
need to avoid any individual or brand that is always doing some sort of
promotion. Your audience will think your call to action is just another gimmick
and you would have accomplished nothing by means of the alliance.
Focus on those brands
that are centered on providing useful information and improving the lives of
their audience by means of their product or service.
Now that you know
what to look for, we need to focus on how to leverage the voice of the industry
leaders you have identified.
Simple Meet and Greet
The good
old-fashioned way of doing business is always best so why not start with a
simple introduction. You can send the individual or group of interest an email.
This email should be
to the point but not too pushy. You aim is to present the alliance as win / win
situation for both brands. But bear in mind that this individual has probably
never head of you or your brand before.
And if they are as
popular as you think, they may have been propositioned about a similar alliance
before. Don’t be discouraged if you encounter some amount of
resistance or skepticism. You may even have to prove to them that you are worth
such an alliance.
Their primary focus
will be on what you bring to the table. Offering to share their content on your
websites or social media pages is always an excellent way to get allies.
Form a Syndicate
Another option to
leverage the voice of an industry leader is to form a syndicate.
This is often seen in
the world of online marketing. It involves a group of marketers agreeing to
promote each other’sproduct on the various platforms within their purview.
That means you
basically have full access to the network of every member of the group. An
introduction of sorts will be required and the group should agree on the rules
or guidelines regarding how they will carry out their promotions.
This will require
some amount of trust and very careful planning. Appearing ‘spammy’orpushy will
simply drive potential clients away.
Each member of the
syndicate will have to choose a launch date for their promotions that will not
conflict with the promotions of other members of the team.
Also, it would have
to be agreed that each member will not promote items that are too similar to
other members of the syndicate.
If each member
carefully adheres to the guidelines of the team, a syndicate can drastically
boost sales for each participant. But there is a benefit to forming a syndicate
that extends beyond simply promoting each
other’swork. Surrounding yourself with likeminded people will push you to be
better at your game.
Learning how they
overcame potential obstacles and keep themselves motivated will certainly prove
to your advantage.
This will help you
create the right atmosphere to achieve success.
Sponsored Ad Programs
Sponsored Ad Programs
are another option to leverage the voice of industry leaders. As the name
suggests, this option will require that you pay for this service. But you will
make far more than you invested if you play your cards right.
This option involves
making use of Sponsored Tweets and other similar promotions.
You basically are
paying someone with a strong, loyal following to promote your product. It
sounds simple enough, but it will only work to your advantage if you follow the
guidelines I provided earlier.
Always ensure that
you carefully vet the social media pages of the individuals who are interested
in promoting your brand before you make any payments. I cannot emphasize enough
how important this is, because one bad decision could scar your brand
permanently.
Leveraging the voice
of industry leaders will do you very little good if you are not guiding
potential clients to a social media page of your own. The next chapter will
focus on how to design a suitable social media strategy that
will help make your brand a success and of course, generate sales.
Chapter 5 – Plan an Effective Social
Media Marketing Strategy
Social Media is one
of the most useful and affordable tools to build any successful brand. Social
media is not specific to a group or product and making wise use of it will
prove advantageous to any brand. But your objective should not be to publish
photos of your brand representatives at a random array of local events or
donating to various charities.
This kind of display
will prove beneficial, but only if you keep everything tied to the objectives
of your brand. Aim to educate your customers. Highlight all the good attributes
they already see and emphasize the ones they do not see.
But don’tbe too
aggressive. There is no need to post long rants about your brand or your
competitors all over social media. Use simple Memes and creative videos to
emphasize and reemphasize all that your brand represents. This will however
require that you keep up to date with the latest trends.
Companies all around
the world have participated in various challenges to get potential clients
curious about their brand. But no one can predict which trend will be
cluttering up your news feed three months from now.
Social media is not
about forcing your message into the lives of your customers. If you make use of
this tool to your advantage, potential clients will be sharing your message all
around the world without ever asking you for a dime. Social media allows you to
waltz right into the homes of the very group of people you wish to target. But
in order for you to reach them, you have to make them welcome you into their
homes.
You will only be able
to achieve that if you present your brand in a way that excites or intrigues
the masses. In short, keep up to date, keep it fun and as you learned in
Chapter 3, keep it relevant.
Be warned however,
there is a hidden danger in this strategy. Social media makes it very easy for
your clients to ‘callyou out’ on whatever issues they may have with your
product or service.
Be sure to carefully
monitor the comments being posted and prepare yourself to have to do damage
control at just about any time.
Anything offensive
that is posted on your account can reach the very ends of the earth in just a
few seconds. And even if you eventually delete it, this harmful content will do
permanent damage before you are even aware of the harm that was done.
That is why I
strongly discourage delegating the task of posting on and monitoring your
social media accounts unless you have hired a proven, trusted professional to
do so.
If
you want to make use of social media effectively, you will need to devise a
plan that emphasizes the goals and message of your brand. Your social media
account should simply be an extension of your brand
strategy. But once again, this is far easier said than done.
It is
so easy to become swept up in the millions of Tweets, posts, Snapchats and
comments that can lose sight of their goals altogether. Remember that your
brand was designed to send one central message and to reach a very specific
group of people.
That means every
image or post you make should be tied to a specific objective. Your aim should
not be merely to entertain your audience.
While it is true that
comedic content will help attract new followers, you may very well end up
attracting the wrong kind of people. It is best to focus on educating your
followers, especially when your brand is relatively new.
If you are able to
combine being entertaining and informative, you have already won the battle.
Always remember that
managing your social media accounts will be almost like a full time job. So
while it is good to use various social media platforms to build your brand, try
not to stretch your resources too thin.
Your time is always
your most precious resource. It is better to carefully select a few platforms
that are known to be favorites of your buyer personas, than to waste time
managing too many accounts.
The beauty of a
social media account is that it is one touch point where you are encouraged to
make contact with your clients as often as possible. This will not be possible
if you have too many accounts and your brand will not build loyalty by posting
the same content on every one of its social media pages.
As mentioned before,
the frequency of your posts are of utmost importance. Frequency is the only
real way to get the attention of your audience.
The world of social
media can be quite forgetful. People today want to be engaged constantly and
are generally always glued to their mobile devices. If their focus is not on
your brand or your product, your competition may have captured their attention.
And do not be mislead to think that it is just posting informative content that
will get your brand recognized.
You need to engage
your followers as well. That means posting comments that will solicit their
feedback and responding to their comments. If your communication via social
media is one sided, it will not prove to be a very useful tool.
Followers become very
disgruntled when they feel their opinions are being ignored and you simply want
to push your message on them. Communication was always meant to go both ways.
As I have emphasized
time again, successful brands are those that earn the trust and respect of
their target audience. Social media can assist you in that regard because it
allows you to become an expert in your niche.
If you are always
posting informative content, your audience will constantly look to you to learn
something new. It is this kind of anticipation for what you have to say that will
gradually gain their trust and soon, lead to increased sales. Always remember
that social media is regarded as the most useful platform to reach an audience
because the world is your audience once you make that final click.
Even if your brand is
currently ‘local,’trytobreak out of the mindset of thinking only people within
a specific region will benefit from your content. Gradually move away from
location specific content and become more of a general expert in this specific
field.
Another important
aspect of your social media strategy is the quality of your content. Proof read
everything more than once! Bearing in mind how quickly your mistakes can spread
around the world will help you to remember this point.
Worded content on
social media should always be short and sweet. Save wordier messages for your
website or your blog. The quality of the images you post is also a matter of
serious concern. Social media is one of those platforms that encourage people
to forget the dangers of copyright infringement.
Always check who owns
the images you intent to use and the usage rights for these images. Please also
ensure you select crisp, clear images at all times. Try to avoid images with
watermarks or the logos of other companies.
Video content is
always a great option for promoting specific products or services. Use videos
to highlight how to use your product and always aim to make it look easy.
No one wants to
complicate their lives unnecessarily. You can also engage your clients by
encouraging them to showcase themselves making use of your product or
service.
Everyone wants to be
a star and you can easily leverage this innate desire to your advantage.
Despite the various benefits of social media, this alone cannot help make your
brand a success.
You need to make use
of an assortment of platforms to build your brand. The next chapter will
highlight another step to building a successful brand.
Chapter 6 – Optimize Your Success
Despite the
popularity of social media, this alone will not guarantee the success of your
brand. As previously highlighted, social media is not the avenue for posting
robust content and your brand cannot become successful by making use only of a
few short catchy sentences.
A carefully thought
and well designed website is crucial if your brand is to make any progress in
the marketing battlefield. Your website needs to however be optimized to make
your brand successful.
This means that you
need to arrange your website in such a way that it will produce the best
results. Here are my suggestions:
Brand Your Website
Your website should
boldly highlight the look and feel of your brand’simage. Remember, consistency
across all platforms is one of the primary keys of a successful brand.
This means that you
need to feature your logo and the other creative elements of your brand. By so
doing, your clients will already have a clear mental image of the kind of
content they will find on your website.
You need to however
be very careful about how you make use of these colors. Some colors and fonts
will make it hard for visitors to read your content. As you can imagine, this
will be very bad for business. It is
always best to err on the side of caution and not to be too fussy. A modern or
minimalistic look is sure to please any crowd.
Easy Navigation
Complicated websites
are a thing of the past. Gone are the days when people had the time to search
for what they really want to know. If the information they want is not readily
available, your clients are going to simply find this information elsewhere.
Ensure that you make
use of navigation titles that are accurate. Visitors should be able to get a
clear mental picture of what to expect on a specific page before they click on
it.
It would also be
quite helpful to include a search feature which makes it easy for clients to
locate the exact content they need. Sitemaps are also a very good idea.
Mobile Friendly
Always remember that
everyone is busy these days and always on the move. That means your target
audience is probably going to use their phones to visit your website a few
times.
This has far greater
consequences on your brand than you think. Over 50% of consumers, myself
included, refuse to revisit any website that is not mobile friendly.
Thankfully, there are
various conversion platforms that will do all the work for you. But if you are
up for the challenge of doing this yourself, please remember that simply making images and text smaller will not be very helpful to
your end-users. You will need to adjust the maximum width of all your images,
make preferred widths for individual web pages mobile friendly and even adjust
any sidebar or header with a fixed CSS property position.
You might not get it
right on the first try, so always ensure you test these options before
launching.
Regularly Update
Content
Your website will
reflect poorly on your brand if it features content that is no longer relevant.
This includes promotions past the expiration date and products or services that
you no longer offer. Irrelevant content is one of the biggest nuisances of online
marketing.
Your clients will get
the impression that you do not really care about how your actions will affect
them and this of course will be very bad for business. As was highlighted in
Chapter 3, the content you post should always be relevant and consistent.
Solicit Feedback
Communication should
always be two-way. You need to find creative ways to solicit the feedback of
your clients.
This is an invaluable
way to identify and isolate any key areas of concern that need to be addressed
right away. It is always best to make your clients feel that their opinions can
influence your product offerings and their overall customer experience. This
will also require that you make it easy for your clients to
contact you or request information. Always remember to thank your clients for
their opinions. A brand that cares will be a brand that sells.
Subscriptions
It is not enough to
assume that visitors will return to your page often. You need to encourage
visitors to subscribe so that you can reach out to them when you post new
promotions or new content.
Being able to send
your message directly to their inbox is an opportunity I would not encourage
you to miss. Please however be careful not to do so too often since your
visitors may consider this to be quite irritating.
As you should have
realized by now, building a successful brand is going to be hard work. It is a
combination of careful research, diligently identifying your objectives,
craftily devising effective strategies and skillfully executing your plans. You
may need to revisit the drawing board a few times but success is something that
needs to be maintained.
You may be at the top
of your game today, but one wrong move and the reputation of your brand can be
permanently damaged. No matter how much you think you have achieved, you always
have to keep on pushing yourself to do more. There is no real way to measure
success. What your brand has achieved today may only be a fraction of its true
potential.
I will conclude by
saying, always remember the words of the great footballer, Pele, “Success is no
accident. It is hard perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of
all, love of what you are doing or learning
to do.”