Signs That It Is Time for A Rebrand

Have you ever heard the famous saying that you should never judge a book by its cover? Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to your branding, as numerous of your target audience will judge your business based on the logo, mission, vision, and other outward representation.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is get a total makeover, a rebrand that reinforces what your business stands for. To help you determine if it’s time to rebrand, here are five signs you should consider:

Your company’s vision has changed

If your business has changed direction over the past few years, that’s a tale sign that it’s time for a rebrand. However, not rebranding when your business has shifted focus could become confusing, causing you to lose many prospects since they can’t understand your brand.

Look into your new purpose, mission, and vision, and think of a way to bring the future of your company into focus. Think about why your business exists, aside from the making money aspect. It will guide you to rebranding your business into something that your target can resonate with.

Targeting a new demographic

When your business grows, there’s bound to be a new or different demographic showing interest in your products and services. That is a great sign and means you need to carter for the new targets.

In that case, your brand will need some tweaks to attract your target demographics. First, you will need to analyze the demographics in question and create a buyer persona that tells you more about who they are.

Your customers don’t know you anymore

There will come a time when your customers might not know who you are anymore, nor what your brand stands for. So if you ask them, “Who are we?” and there’s a common theme in their question, it is a sign your brand needs a rebrand.

The reason is apparent: you need to remind them what your brand is and its purpose. But, according to Barb Jones, rebranding will help you control that burgeoning chaos and define that narrative.

Your brand no longer represents your current status

After many years in business, your status in the marketplace is bound to change. Start by running a competitive analysis to see where your brand stands compared to your competitors. When you understand where you stand, you can rebrand your brand to reflect the current status.

If that sounds like a lot of work, you’re not alone. Many brands prefer to work with experts to rebrand their brands. If that is the case, go ahead and give us a call or fill out our contact form.

Questions You Ask To Develop Your Brand Identity

Building a formidable brand that can stand the test of time is more than coming up with a logo and color palette. It is more than that, and getting it right ensures you forever rent a space in the mind of your target audience.

Think about it, you feel connected to people you identify with. The same is true with brands. It is that feeling that the brand ‘gets’ you, and you’re likely to interact, buy, and even become an ambassador.

To create such a brand, some questions will gear you toward the right path, and they include:

Who is my target market?

Before launching your brand, you’re expected to have developed a buyer persona or customer biodata. This is vital information about your ideal customers that will shape almost every aspect of your brand identity.

Knowing your target market goes beyond knowing their age, location, or income, but their pain points, things that bring them joy, happiness, and pride.

What’s your brand personality?

Your brand has to be relatable to your target market if you must drive them to take action. A brand with a strong personality will always score some like points to its target audience. Take a look at some household names and think about the personality associated with them. This will help you craft out a personality befitting for your business and target.

Who are your competitors?

Unless you’re a monopolist, there are going to be some players offering the same products and services. By knowing who your competitors are, you will come up with a good marketing strategy that converts.

Having competition isn't a bad thing, as it will help you create an objectively better brand identity. That is because you can build on what they’ve already built, creating something better, new, and refreshing.

What’s your story?

Humans are naturally wired to love stories since it engages special areas of the brain. Stories help us to feel a greater sense of connection, letting the oxytocin flow, strengthening our connection.

Your brand story could be how or why you were founded, and how you play a role in the life of your customers. The aim, however, is to make your customers the heroes of your brand stories since it is all about them.

Why trust you?

There are hundreds if not thousands of similar brands out there. Why should your target audience trust you over others? Sometimes you might not know why your customers pick you, and interviews can be a great tool to learn why they trust you. Your brand’s unique trust factors could be transparency, flexibility, or expertise.

That is exactly why our clients choose us, due to our expertise in helping businesses develop a formidable brand identity. Feel free to get in touch with us by calling or fill our contact form to book an appointment.

How To Promote Content on Twitter

Organic reach is becoming a challenge every passing day as long as social media is concerned. It began with Facebook, with the giant platform dropping by over 50% in merely two years. Twitter, on the other hand, is threading the same route.

Whether it's promoting a Twitter account, a tweet, or perhaps a blog post, any marketer knows that getting exposure on Twitter is becoming harder every day. To gain traction often requires a combination of tried and true organic methods, even paid tactics.

So, here’s a way to promote your content on Twitter organically and through paid means.

Watch the numbers

If you want to maximize growth, you need to track your engagement. The reason for this is simple, to learn how your audience is reacting to your content, and when they are most active. Through your Twitter dashboard, you can track such information which in turn helps your content strategy.

Use Influencers

If you need media exposure, you need to speak with an influencer. Many believe that influencers are the holy grail of marketing since people are more likely to take recommendations from them.

It is best to work with an influencer in your industry or niche for the best result. Some tools make that possible, such as Topsy, Fedly, Buzzsumo, etc.

Paid ads

Twitter allows business accounts to create ads without hassles. If you’ve got a few bucks to spare, you wouldn't regret running a Twitter paid ad for your business. There is no better way to grow than specifically targeting your ideal market through targeted ads.

It is best to conduct an A&B test when it comes to running ads, to know what works and what doesn’t. Track your performance and optimize for a better outcome.

Develop a content calendar

A content calendar can be super helpful since they help you to plan and preschedule tweets and updates. When creating a calendar, be sure to create a column for hashtags and the actual tweet. It is good to schedule, but also be flexible enough to react during real-time events.

Twitter is driven by trends, and sometimes flexibility entails forgoing what you have laid out and gone with something entirely different.

Hashtags

Hashtags are an incredible invention, a tool of discovery. With hashtags, you improve your exposure level. However, you’ve got to get it right to get the desired result. Before you use any hashtag, research before use since some hashtags have been banned. Also, avoid commemorative hashtags as they always backfire.

Promoting your content on Twitter doesn’t have to be World War III, and following the tips above will help you gain exposure. But if that sounds like a lot of work, then leave it for an expert. Feel free to give us a call, or fill our contact form.

How To Pick a Domain Name

When you’re ready to finally launch your idea to the world, picking a domain name might seem like a hard nut to crack. The reason is simple - a wrong domain name can make or mar your business.

In this article, you’re going to learn a few tips and a useful tool that will help you choose the best domain name and register it without hurdles. Picking a domain name is a stressful process, and we’re here to help you get it right.

As short as possible

The shorter your domain name, the better. Ever wonder why all the three to four-letter domain names are almost taken? Even getting a five-lettered domain name at this age is a treasure. Go for a domain name that is short and memorable. 15 characters at most, as anything longer than that, can become hard to remember.

Use .com

There are numerous domain name extensions today. Don’t be tempted to use them since your audience is probably ignorant of them. The best extension as far as the internet is concerned is the .com extension. Using other extensions like .blog .ninja, .photography does nothing but make your business appear less trustworthy to your prospects. Avoid the risks and stick with .com.

Unique and brandable

You need a domain name that resonant with your target audience, a name that stands out in their mind. You can take a few ideas from other businesses in your niche, and see how they did it. Not only should it be unique from your competitors, but it should also be brandable. For instance, eBay.com is more brandable compared to goodsonline.com.

Use Domain name generators

If you feel overwhelmed, there are tons of name generators up to the rescue. These free tools can be a lifesaver and can search for your defined keywords for you to choose from. One of the popular ones is Nameboy, and it doesn't hurt to give it a try.

Research your domain name

Before you head over to register your proposed domain name, one last thing you should do is to research the name to see if there’s already a similar name, or perhaps an exert trademark. A simple Google search will save you the headaches of legal battles in the future.

When the coast is clear, you can proceed by registering your domain name as soon as possible before someone else does. Domain names are like real estate, and thousands of people are always looking for brandable names to register for better rates in the future.

It can be a battle, but we can help. Get in touch with us by calling or perhaps fill our contact form.

Importance Of Having A Strong Brand

When you start working with a digital marketing agency for the first time, one of the first topics of discussion you will have will be about your brand. The marketing experts will do a survey of your brand to see how strong it is and then determine what needs to be done to enhance the power and influence of your brand. But why is your brand so important? Why does it matter so much if your brand is strong?

Enhances Your Marketing ROI

There is a direct relationship between your marketing return on investment (ROI) and the influence of your brand. The ability for your target audience to identify your company logo or recognize your corporate color scheme will add legitimacy to your marketing that you cannot get any other way. When you have a strong brand, there is anticipation for your marketing that will significantly increase your marketing effect and bring you much more powerful marketing results.

Creates A Strong Customer Foundation

When your brand is recognizable in your industry, the most common default reaction to news about your company is positive. In other words, if there is negative news about your company, your organization is given the benefit of the doubt and that first impression is not necessarily bad. The strength of your brand can cause people to disregard bad reviews or even a minor controversy and allow your company to maintain is strong public image.

Anticipated Product Releases

A company with a strong brand is the kind of company that has consumers lining up at retail outlets to buy their products at midnight on the product release date. A strong brand backed up by a reputation for quality products can continue to push revenue growth to areas that you had never expected.

Vendor Relationships

Vendors want to do business with companies that have strong brands. Where other businesses might have to purchase in cash with a new vendor, your strong brand might allow you to set up a credit account, which is much better for your business. Vendors want to have their names associated with strong brands, which is why so many vendors offer strong brands marketing funds to be used for a variety of reasons.

Customer Base Response

That strong foundation of customer loyalty you build with a strong brand can be seen in action when you call on your customer base to help your business grow. When customers create their own communities around your products and want to work directly with you on product development, then you have achieved a level of brand strength that most companies would love to have. Referrals from your satisfied customers can build your business much faster than Internet banner ads, and that is why brand recognition is so valuable.

If you do a search on the Internet, you will find websites that put financial values on company brands. The ability to quantify a brand financially shows just how important a strong brand is to the success of a company. While you are working on innovative products and great business partnerships, you should continue to invest in building your brand to gain all of the benefits a strong brand has to offer.

How To Claim Your Niche

In the world of business, entrepreneurs are constantly looking for ways to avoid being involved in a saturated market. These days, generalists tend to find it difficult to get their companies off the ground and find any success. That is why the idea of creating a niche company has become so popular throughout the country.

A niche business serves a very specific audience, but it is not easy to get a niche business started. You have to take several very calculated steps before you can create a niche business that will build a client base and find success.

Identify Your Niche

A niche is simply a more focused part of a broader market. For example, a Mexican restaurant is considered a niche business because it is a focused part of the food service industry. Some niches, such as Mexican restaurants, are starting to get saturated. But there are still plenty of niches you can get involved with that offer an opportunity for success.

You start by understanding the broader industry you are in and knowing how to break that business down into parts. For example, in the sporting goods industry you may find that there is a need for stores that supply medical equipment and supplies specifically for sports-related injuries. Once you identify your niche, then you can start to develop your business.

Qualify Your Niche

After you have decided what niche you want to satisfy, you need to qualify that niche and determine if it offers you the kind of opportunity you are looking for. Is there a need for your niche business? Can you honestly offer the kind of detailed product offerings your customers will want? Does your niche really need experts? Is there enough potential customers out there to make your business successful?

This step is going to require a tremendous amount of market research, and much of the data you need may not be easy to find. You need to get creative in developing ways to capture data and make sure you get the accurate data you need to make the right decision.

Become An Expert In Your Niche

In order to gain customers in your niche, you have to show that you are an expert in what you do. You need to start a blog where you present information and answer questions that will help to educate your potential customer base. You need to get out in the community and start talking about your idea, and even offer yourself as a free speaker for organizations that like to host business experts. Part of owning your niche is being generally recognized as an expert.

Reach As Many People As Possible

Establishing a niche business is hard work, but it can be very profitable if you are successful. You need to get your company's name out in front of as many people as possible. You need to be active in promoting your company and in helping people to understand exactly what you do.

More and more small businesses are working in niches these days to avoid getting overwhelmed by broad industries. If you want to establish your business as a niche organization, then you need to find a niche that has a need and become an expert in supplying that niche with everything it could ever want.

How To Unify Your Business' Brand Across The Web

A business brand is more than just your company name or your logo. A brand is the way in which your customers and consumers in your target audience see and perceive your business. With enough hard work and the right digital agency on your side, your brand can be strong and positive. The thing about brand development is that it is an ongoing process that never ends. There are plenty of ways to create a unified and powerful brand by doing simple tasks through your Internet presence.

A Web Address

Are you relying on a social media page to act as your company website? Believe it or not, this is an acceptable approach so long as you have a company website address that points to your social media page. If a real website is not in the budget right now, then buying a company URL and pointing that URL at your social media page can help to accomplish the same goals. But it is important to remember that this is only a temporary fix and that a company website is critically important in establishing your brand.

Dress Up Your Emails

A digital agency can set you up with an email template that will make your emails look professional, and you can also add quick reminders about your company and website at the bottom of your emails to promote your brand. Dressing up your emails enhances your company image, and it also gives you a chance to keep your customers updated on what the company is up to.

Your Company Website

Your company website is the focal point of your online marketing programs, but it needs to be consistent with the rest of your online marketing efforts to be effective. Your website needs to contain the same company mottos and information that your emails and social media pages have, and it also needs to have the same logos and color schemes as well. A website that is consistent with your other online marketing efforts is going to reinforce your positive brand and give more power to your overall online presence.

Reputation Management

Whenever you get the chance to post something positive about your company online, you need to take it. Any ways that you can think of to get your customers to post positive things about your company online, you should use them.

Reputation management is the process of flooding the Internet with positive information about your company so that it drowns out any disgruntled people trying to start negative conversations. Reputation management is also a very big part of building a strong brand online that is going to bring you a steady stream of new customers and referrals.

Your business brand is the same as your company's reputation. Once you have laid the foundation for your brand, it can be very difficult to change it. That is why it is important to work hard to develop a strong positive reputation for your company, and sustain that reputation as much as possible.

The Internet is one of the first places that potential customers will go to get more information on your company. When you spend the necessary time to establish a positive brand online, then that will translate into new business and a steady stream of new customers.

The Importance of Brand Consistency for Your Business

What does brand consistency mean for your business? A consistent brand is easy for customers to recognize, and it is the result of having all of your marketing programs working together to develop a consistent image. That sounds impressive, but what does it really mean? It means that if you can develop a consistent brand, then you start to become recognized as an industry leader and your company will benefit from all of the perks that come from being considered the best at what you do.

Image Is Extremely Important

Your corporate brand is the reputation you have built throughout your target audience based on your marketing message and your company's actions. When you talk about quality and dedication and back that up with good products and service, then that becomes part of your brand.

A consistent brand is much more than a good logo and a corporate color scheme. It is the way that your customers identify your business, and it is the image your business projects. If you want to build a successful company, then broadcasting a consistent and positive image is extremely important.

Agencies Are The Key

If you want to create a consistent brand, then you need to develop consistent marketing messages across a variety of platforms. The materials you bring to trade shows need to deliver the same message in the same way as your magazine advertisements. The best way to keep all of that information organized and deliver consistency is through an agency.

Maintaining and building your company brand is a full-time job that you simply do not have time to perform. If you want to do it right, then you need to work with a professional agency that knows how to build your brand and deliver a consistent message across every marketing medium that you use.

Make Your Marketing More Powerful

A strong brand makes your marketing more effective and powerful. When your target audience is constantly exposed to your brand building efforts across a variety of platforms, then your marketing becomes recognizable. Your company logo becomes a symbol of quality to your customers that increases sales through your normal distribution networks. Your company name is the only reason customers need to buy your products when your brand is consistent and strong.

Enhance Your Marketing Investment

As you can imagine, a strong brand means that you can start to diversify your marketing programs and spend less money on basic brand building activities. An agency knows how to sustain your brand once it is established, and then continue to grow your brand to make it more valuable.

Expand Your Exposure

A consistent brand can withstand exposure to industries and markets that are outside of your normal target audience. For example, consider the insurance company that is seen advertising at professional hockey games. While the idea of an insurance company and professional ice hockey are not consistent, the strength of the brand means that the added exposure brings in more revenue. Your brand can benefit from the same type of cross-industry exposure when your marketing is strong.

Growing a business becomes a little easier when your target audience recognizes your company's name and associates that name with quality products and services. The only way to have a positive reputation precede your company is to have a consistent brand that creates excitement in your target audience.

5 Places You Need To Put Your Logo

A company logo becomes the thing that enhances your marketing and becomes a way for people to instantly recognize your organization. If you do enough good marketing, then your logo will become a graphic representation of your company that increases revenue and opens up more opportunities.

In order for your logo to be effective, you have to use it whenever you can to expand its marketing power. Some companies prefer to leave their logo out of some aspects of their business, but there are five places your company logo must appear if you want to get the maximum exposure for your organization.

All Correspondence Templates

You are missing out on a huge opportunity if your company logo is not part of your letterhead, invoice templates, purchase order templates, email signatures and any other form of company correspondence you use to stay in touch with your clients. When you include your company logo on all of your company correspondence, then its marketing power almost becomes subconscious as your customers cannot help but notice your logo in your marketing efforts.

All Internet Pages

Without exception, your company logo needs to be included on all of your organization's Internet pages from the company website to every social media page your company utilizes. The manner in which constantly seeing your logo online enhances all of your other marketing efforts makes this an easy and inexpensive way to get more value from your marketing programs.

Company Business Cards

Some companies prefer to leave their logo off of employee business cards to make more room for contact information and a quick marketing blurb. Customers expect to see your official company logo on your business cards, and there can be a disconnect between you and your customers if you do not put your logo on your cards. You may even have customers ask why you have no logo on your business cards, and that should be an indication that putting your logo on company business cards is extremely important.

Marketing Giveaways

Including your company logo on marketing giveaways is so important that we would recommend not using giveaways that do not give you the option of including the company logo. When you giveaway t-shirts and hats, the point is to put out mobile billboards that advertise your company to new people every day. If you neglect to include your company logo, then you are severely handicapping any of your other marketing efforts.

Product Packaging

The packaging for any of your products is not complete until it contains your company logo. If you sell to retail customers, then having your logo appear on retail store shelves can be an extremely powerful way to reinforce your marketing efforts.

It can seem like Marketing 101 to some people, but it is interesting to note how many companies refuse to make the most of their logos. After spending so much time and money developing and promoting your logo, it only makes sense to use that logo to enhance your other marketing efforts. You can start by showing support for your logo by distributing it to the public as much as possible.

It is truly impossible to measure the real marketing impact of any program, but creating a strong visual identity with your logo is going to enhance any marketing value you create. Spend some time making the most of your company logo and watch as your revenues start to rise.

Why And How To Change Your Company Logo

Changing your company logo is never something you do on a whim. The decision to change your company logo should only be done when it is absolutely necessary, and it should be a well-planned event. Your logo is something you invest a lot of time and money into as part of your branding efforts. When you are going to change that logo, you are going to change everything your customers already know about your company. That is why it has to be done right, or else your company will suffer.

Why Change Your Logo?

The best reason for changing your logo is if your company changes its name. Whether you merged with another company or changed your name for legal reasons, changing your logo to coincide with a name change can actually be a very effective marketing tactic.

Another reason people use to update their logo is to modernize it to fit contemporary styles. If you feel that you need to change your logo to keep up with a certain style or look, then you did not do a very good job of establishing your brand. There are companies with logos that are hundreds of years old that have never changed because there was no need to change. Instead of changing your logo to meet contemporary styles, you may want to have a professional marketing company look over your branding process and fix it for you.

How To Change Your Logo - Step 1: Design A New Logo

Unless you are a graphic design or marketing company, you should not be designing your logo yourself. A professional design company will create a memorable logo that will make your new name announcement more effective. Work closely with a professional marketing company to design a logo that best exemplifies your new company.

How To Change Your Logo - Step 2: Gradual Shift

The biggest mistake companies make when they change their logos is they choose a random date and then just change everything over. Suddenly, customers are getting invoices with new logos on them and the website has been completely changed. This is not going to give your customers time to adjust, which is why you need to use a gradual shift.

A gradual shift consists of transitional stationary that has both logos at the top and says that the old one is becoming the new one. You should develop the front page of your new website and then let customers preview the new page before you actually launch it. Let your customers ease into the new logo and it will be easier to say goodbye to the old one.

How To Change Your Logo - Step 3: Make The Change

In all of your marketing materials that talk about your transition to a new logo, give customers a date when the change will take place. It is easier to make it a significant date like the first day or last day of a month. When that date arrives, make the change by launching the new website and switching over to the new correspondence and invoicing materials.

By creating a gradual transition to a new logo, your customers will be at ease with the change and it will not disrupt your business. If you must change your logo, then hiring a professional marketing company to help you make the change properly is critically important.