Month: October 2020

Digital Branding

7 Tips to Help You Build a Strong & Reputable Brand

on October 7, 2020

When you create your brand, you have to think of coming up with a creative logo, an impressive color scheme, and a catchy slogan. All this is imperative, but there is much more to creating a strong brand in a competitive market. Remember, everything you do in your business influences your brand perception in the market. Well, building a robust and reputable brand requires effort and a lot of creativity. We have compiled a few tips and a guide to help you get started.

Determine how people see you

Your business brand is not what you say but rather how everyone else sees it. As an initial process of building a strong brand, you have to know what people think about it. For example, do a Google search on business to check out for any reviews online or ask your close allies how they view your business. You can have business experts conduct an analysis from the general public on your behalf.

Perfect Your Personality

It would be best if you started thinking of your brand as a person with specific traits. With this in mind, ensure that whatever your business does and creates does not contradict your business’s personality. A brand’s personality is the commitment to fulfilling promises and business values, mission, and vision. Yes, your brand personality also needs to be reflected in your brand design, image, and colors. How you treat your customers should also reflect the personality of your brand. If you feel that something you are doing does not support your brand, you need to change it to keep your business personality alive.
Invest in your online platforms

There are several online platforms these days, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, website, and many more that give you a place to engage your audience directly. You only need to take time and identify which one works well with you and which one can help you reach your target audience. Through these platforms, you can market your goods and services hence building on your brand. You can also empower your customers as well as express the purpose and mission of your business. Remember to be as authentic as possible in your online content and interactions.

Have consistency yet remain flexible

Most of the strongest brands are consistent in everything they do and have gained their customers’ loyalty due to consistency. However, even with consistency, you need to be flexible enough to take in new ideas to grow your business. Be flexible enough to change the business tactics that no longer work for you. Ensure that you review if the actions that you are taking to scale up your brand are working. Conduct brand audits from the perspective of your suppliers, customers, and employees to ensure that your brand’s impression is how you view it. Ensure that your brand thrives and showcase your strengths as you work on your weaknesses.

Get ready to build your brand awareness.

Even as you work within the business to build your brand, you need to think outside the box on how to build your brand’s awareness. Creating brand awareness among your potential customers can make it strong. For example, you can use a technique known as entertainment marketing where you use pop culture to grow your brand. You can use movies, music, celebrity endorsements, characters, product placements, and other approaches. The bottom line is that you have to go the extra mile and think outside the typical marketing techniques to grow your brand among your target consumers.

Maintain value

For your brand to be strong, you have to do something that puts you ahead of your competitors. Have a unique product proposition regarding the value of your product or how you handle your customers. Also, ensure that your products and services are on par with what you are marketing to your potential customers. Do not create a false impression of your product. Do not overcharge your customers! Let the product price go hand in hand with the quality of your product or service.

Associate your brand with strong brands

According to Sham Hyder, the Founder, and CEO of Marketing Zen, connecting to another brand could either weaken or strengthen your brand. Thus, to enhance your brand, you have to associate with strong brands, and vice versa is true. For example, you can associate with strong brands through authority blogging. You can create nice business blogs and post on high authority sites. The sites have high traffic, and therefore posting blogs there will create brand awareness for your potential customers.

Wrap up

Building a strong brand takes a lot of effort and commitment. Ensure that your product and service are a clear reflection of the personality of your brand. Moreover, be consistent, market your brand, maintain the value of your product, and associate with strong brands to enhance your brand’s growth.

Legal Branding

7 Tips to Get Money Fast for Your Business

on October 7, 2020

Over 7,000 businesses file for bankruptcy each year in Canada. Bad luck, a slump in business, slow times of the year, or some other factor might be causing you a lack of cash flow. This can put you in a hard spot when you can’t meet financial obligations to your employees or your partners. 

These 7 tips to get money fast will have you back on your feet in no time. Read on to get back on track and out of the dumps. 

1. Make Cuts

One of the easiest ways to get some more cash in your business’s wallet is to cut back on costs. It might be time to take a look at where your money is going and if it’s truly needed. 

In theory, this is an easy one. However, when it comes to cutting jobs and resources your employees might take it hard. Be careful not to destroy relationships but you have to look out for what is best for business. 

2. Cash Loans

For smaller loans to get a quick boost, you could look into cash loans. This is a very quick way to get a little cash flow to get you through whatever financial crisis you may be facing.  There are plenty of brokerages near you that offer same day loans. 

3. Crowdfunding

With the internet booming, online crowdfunding has become a popular way to raise money for businesses. This is a way to get money quickly from individual investors that you don’t have to pay back. 

New projects, financial crisis, startups, and other situations are perfect for this way of raising money. If you know that you have committed customers, it will likely come very easily. 

4. Line of Credits

Similar to a credit card, you can obtain a business line of credit. Unlike a loan, this is not a  lump sum of money. You will only be responsible for what you spend. 

Similar to a credit card, you can pay off what you have spent and used that money again. This option can help you build better credit and make sure your cash flow is a bit more even. 

5. Vendor Credits

When it comes to how to get money fast, you should look again at your costs. Paying vendors and suppliers upfront might be costing you more than you can handle. As long as you have a  good and well-established relationship, ask for vendor credit. As you earn your money, you can pay them back for expenses. 

6. Factor Invoices

You might experience large invoices that are being paid back way too slowly. Factoring invoices isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, you’ll get your full invoice amount, minus the factoring fee, quickly. 

7. Sales and Discounts

Customers can provide quick bursts of cash flow as well. It’s one of the most basic ways to  get money fast. Marketing is there as a tool for you to entice people to spend their money  with your business. 

If you are suffering a rough patch, offer incentives to get the business going again. This option isn’t only there for retail either.  

Survive the Rut and Get Money Fast

When you find yourself asking “how can I get money fast?”, don’t be worried. There are  many businesses that go through slow patches. With these 7 tips, you’re on the way to not  only surviving but coming out on top and building bigger. 

If you found this article helpful, check out our other content that will help you reach your  brand goals!

Local BrandingPersonal Branding

4 Visitor Management Tips That Keep Everyone Safe

on October 7, 2020

Back-to-work season is on the horizon if you haven’t already zoomed past it. Either way, visitor management plays a crucial role in your reopening. It helps you tightly control the safe flow of guests in your space, making sure only authorized visitors may access your facilities. 

It protects your business and employees, but it also signifies to visiting delivery people, contractors, and clients that you take their health and safety seriously. 

Learn how you can streamline your visitor management system to help you welcome guests back into your spaces safely. 

1. Communicate Your New Check-in Process

Your check-in process may need a total overhaul to uphold safe social distancing. Make sure these changes are clearly communicated to your guests in the form of signs throughout the building. 

Don’t hesitate to use floor decals, ropes, and other tools to clarify where they need to stand. This signage clearly explains why they may be experiencing a delay or unusual check-in process, while also indicating what they have to do to move through your facilities safely.  

2. Minimize Shared Surfaces

Gone are the days when your visitor check-in process can be a sign-in booklet. This old-fashioned technique increases how many surfaces your staff and guests touch, increasing the risk of spreading the virus, as well as other illnesses. 

Visitor management technology can eliminate the need for physical proximity when your guests arrive. Some cloud-based services let your visitors use their smartphones to sign-in to your facility, requiring absolutely zero contact.

There are also card printer systems that produce proximity cards or smart cards. These ID badges rely on RFID technology to allow for contactless entry to authorized facilities in a quick and convenient way. You can check out the latest visitor pass solutions that include a smart card printer or prox card technologies to see what you need to upgrade. 

3. Introduce Screening Questions

Screen your guests by asking the right questions before you allow them any further into your building. Here are some examples of great questions you can ask:

  • Have you traveled out of the country in the last 14 days?
  • Do you have a fever or other flu-like symptoms?
  • Have you come into contact with someone who has a fever or flu-like symptoms?

You have the right to deny entry to visitors who answer “yes” to any of the above questions. This is an efficient way to keep high-risk individuals out of your building. 

4. Disinfect Check-In Tools 

A regular cleaning schedule will help mitigate the risk that shared surfaces will spread the virus. You can instruct your staff to wipe down desk spaces, pens, and other items between each guest.

What becomes more challenging is when your check-in process revolves around technology. iPads, tablets, and other mobile devices need to be cleaned carefully to prevent damage.

In light of the outbreak, Apple has released this guide to safely cleaning its products. They recommend using a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution or Clorox wipes to disinfect keyboards, displays, and other non-porous surfaces.

Bottom Line

The coronavirus pandemic has made it necessary to reduce human-to-human contact as a way to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. 

This does make it challenging to welcome guests back to your business, but not impossible. Use these tips above to help change how your reception operates, and make sure your visitors (and staff) know their health is your priority. 

Digital BrandingPersonal BrandingSaaS Branding

Do Press Releases Still Work for Startups and Online Businesses in 2021?

on October 1, 2020

Press releases are among the most commonly used public relations tools that companies can apply to their effective PR campaigns. Anyone who has created a press release or has had one written up for them knows that they are many benefits to press releases, like contributing to improving the recognition, reliability, image, reputation, prestige, revenues, and visibility of brands companies. 

They are just one of the first steps in an effective PR campaign; from there, they can provide backlinks and many other benefits to a company. 

In this article, we will look at: 

1) What are press releases? 

2) How do Press Releases Help SEO? 

3) Are Press Releases Still Worth it? 

4) Advantages of a press release 

5) How to make Press Releases effective

1) What are Press Releases? 

Nowadays, press releases can be created in written, audio, or video format. It is a way of getting the word out there, distributing, and announcing events to media outlets about any important event that is happening or about to happen. 

It can be hard to get the media’s attention, and it is even more challenging of media outlets. After all, they need to filter all the information they are getting sent because they want to publish only the best, more exciting news. That is why platforms like Pressfarm exist so that it makes it easier to find media outlets through their databases. 

2) How Do Press Releases Help SEO? 

Having any information posted about a company or event on heavy traffic news sites is beneficial for a company’s brand and SEO. 

The way that companies can achieve SEO is through backlinks. When media outlets start spreading the word about a company, they will not only get backlinks from those new sites, but they can also receive a high number of backlinks from people who will read the news. 

Backlinks are fundamental to SEO. On a basic level, the more sites that link a company’s information, the more authority Google awards the site. Backlinks are considered to be a proxy for authority since more popular and authoritative sites will have more sites linking into them. Building backlinks can be one of the most difficult tasks for SEO and building high-quality ones are even harder, but combining methods like obtaining them naturally, buying them, or possibly using tricks like PBNs can be considered the best link building method available because it helps companies build links rather quickly, they are all completely natural and won’t result in any penalties if done right. 

There are many press release tactics that can be quite effective, but companies and individuals quickly realized that it was easier to get links from the press releases themselves instead of from news publishers. A reason for that is press release spam because instead of creating high-quality news stories to improve their business, companies distribute as many press releases as possible to as many platforms as possible “spamming” media outlets, which decrease the importance of the press release on certain sites. 

So, in order to maintain high-quality backlinks and interest up, companies should not just post a press release for the sake of getting a backlink, but post it actually to attract the attention of media outlets. 

3) Are Press Releases still worth it? 

Publishers will always be in need of news topics, so no matter what, as long as companies have news, press releases will always be useful. Press Releases can be effective not only with backlinks, but also with social media likes, shares, and comments. 

The question that does get asked though, is why press releases seem to be less popular than before. As mentioned before, it is because of press release SPAM. As the Internet and SEO became more popular, media outlets received many pieces of information, so they need to start filtering news stories that can make press releases a less effective SEO strategy and how accessible it is. 

However, again as mentioned before, if companies focus on the right things, which can improve the business, services, or products and create an effective press release that is focused on getting the media’s attention instead of just trying to grab backlinks, press releases are more than worth it. 

4) Advantages of press releases

Press releases can give any business amazing results regardless of its size, profit margin, profile, and industry. Here are some of the main benefits of press releases. 

  • Instant Exposure 

When it comes to press releases, the two things that are the most important are content and distribution. Each type of content plays a significant role in an effective strategy; landing pages help companies introduce their brand and goods to the world and convert leads into customers. Blog posts allow companies to establish a personal connection with readers by answering essential questions, offering advice, and sharing insight with audiences. While landing pages and blog posts will help, press releases allow companies to build trust and authority on different fronts; it will enable media outlets to cover the store and prospects a new reason to visit the brand through websites or landing pages. 

  • Increased Sales Potential 

Press releases not only bring credibility and allow companies to stay in the public eye, but it also increases a company’s profit margins. Writing and distributing press releases for different occasions and highlighting key benefits and features of products can position the company’s merchandise on top of any others currently available on the market. 

  • Chance to boost the effectiveness of marketing plan 

Press releases represent an affordable marketing addition that companies can add to their campaign. There is no way that companies can go wrong with these tools because they are designed to be controlled by their creators in terms of targeted audience and message. 

  • Opportunity to brand yourself as an industry expert 

As mentioned before, press releases are a great way to build trust and credibility in any industry. If a company has a great PR campaign, it will offer them a chance to brand themselves as a high-authority business owner and show off their products’ unique attributes. 

  • Increased traffic to website 

People are now flocking to the Internet, looking for unique insights and exclusive stories. Companies need to try and use any PR tactic to push their feature to the top of a potential client’s newsfeeds and boost exposure. Using press releases and including a few links to organic content can guide potential readers to other platforms to promote and sell their goods. 

Companies can boost their website traffic through press releases by optimizing key elements, including keywords, headlines, videos, photos, hashtags, and descriptions. 

  • Important SEO benefits 

Press releases that are published on different media outlets can offer companies valuable backlinks to their website. By optimizing content, companies can also increase visibility online and make their content searchable on the Internet, which allows them to unlock instant SEO benefits. 

Ultimately, the company needs that one media outlet on a renowned site, and things will fall into place. If they target individual reporters, there is a higher chance of getting featured. They do not need to use press release platforms to make a press release useful, they might need to email media outlets personally or message them on their social media profiles. 

If companies and individuals opt to use platforms to create an effective press release, they can use press release agencies like Pressfarm to help them with any public relations needs. Some services they provide include templates for companies to create their press releases and press kits, a media outlet database for companies to find the appropriate media outlets for their business, and packages for companies that need assistance in creating an effective public relations strategy. 

The packages that Pressfarm provides include; the Starter package, the Launch package, the Campaign package, and the Enterprise package. The Starter package is a great start for small teams looking for the fundamentals to take their communications to the next level, the Launch package is ideal for growing companies to increase press coverage, improve effectiveness and personal communication with the media, the Campaign package is for businesses to gain full control of their company and stay consistent across the globe, and finally, the Enterprise package also allows companies to gain full control of their brand and stay consistent and is ideal for companies preparing for a big product launch or multiple stories to pitch, but need a PR expert to help them reach leading press contacts. 

Within the packages, some of the services provided include a professionally designed press/media kit, press release proofreading and review by PR Experts, a personalized PR action plan on strategies and PR industry trade secrets to maximize press coverage, a tailor-made PR media list of 500+ contacts by Account Executive for initial PR outreach, access to startup directories and review websites to improve SEO and gain exposure suitable for all companies, access to PR contact per month of media outlets and influencers for a full year, and finally priority email support. When it comes to press releases and SEO, Pressfarm also helps increase release visibility in relevant search results across major search engines. 

A press release, especially when managed by a PR company, is way more than just writing a piece about company news and publishing it on a newswire service. It is just one element of an effective PR and media strategy. A professional PR agency should align its client’s PR strategy with its commercial, operational, and business strategies. It enables the agency to plan when and what they are going to release to the media. A good PR strategy will develop an interesting angle on the information given to them and turn it into something exciting and original. 

They will then publish it onto any newswire service with no SEO benefit, but they will use their knowledge of media strategies to get the press release, and other information picked up by media outlets as a news story because this is where the real value is. A good PR company can turn a press release into an actual piece of news written up by journalists through practical outreach work. The press release is no longer what it started being; it has now become an article in a publication and media outlets will often include a backlink in the articles.

Something to remember is that backlinks are usually “follow” (they pass on link equity to the site) because there is no reason to make them “no-follow.” The reason behind it is because the article had to go through an editorial process to get published, it means that it is not low-quality link spam. When it has been published, the client’s site gets a direct SEO benefit, which is really great for SEO and is a great example of how PR and SEO work well together. 

Some things that companies need to understand is that not every press release that gets picked up by media outlets and written into an article will include a backlink, and even if there is one, sometimes it will be “no follow” but PR professionals know that companies will get more backlinks in this instance because it reduces the most risks of penalty. Which means that when managed effectively through a PR service, press releases can still provide a lot of SEO benefit. 

Conclusion

As long as press release distribution is not abused, it will always be useful for SEO. Just one press release to a high traffic site could bring in tremendous results. Companies need to create innovative, original, and exciting content, something that will set them apart from the rest of the competition. Employing PR agencies can take the stress out of it and also yield great results. PR agencies also know the right people and the format of presenting content to various media outlets within the company’s niche to focus on the right outlets and target audience.

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