Results for: business website

How To Look Better As A Man In 5 Simple Steps

Steven on August 9, 2020

Do you want to have a personality that attracts everyone? Do you want to have an aura that makes everyone’s jaws drop? If yes, then there are things you need to do and changes you have to make to improve yourself and your personality. One of the most important things that you need to work on is your personality. For those who don’t know what “personality” means here, it’s basically a set of different qualities. For example, the way you talk, the way you walk and the way you socialize etc, all these things make up your personality.

If you are here today, it seems like you do want to make changes in yourself and become a better man than wins everyone’s heart just with his looks, his way of interaction, and his vibe. If that’s the case, then you definitely are at the right place today because today we are going to tell you about some of the most effective and simplest ways to look better as a man.

1- Style your hair properly

One of the first things that matter is your hair. Yes, you read that, right! No matter how lazy you are, and no matter how difficult it is for you to use some gel and comb your hair in a way that suits you, you should still do it and never take it for granted. Your overall impression is important both for your personal and professional dealings, and this is where a great hairstyle comes in handy. There are different websites that you can take some help from, and one of them is GroomingCorp. Here you’ll find all the necessary information possible to look good and to maintain yourself.

2- Take care of your skin

No matter what your skin type is, there are always different products available for you in the market. Whether you have oily skin, a dry one, or rough skin with patches, you need to find a suitable product in the market or the online stores and then use it regularly. Believe it or not, when your skin looks fresh, you automatically appear more confident, and that’s what you need to make up a great personality.

3- Take care of your body

A little exercise is imperative, no matter how slim and sleek you are. It’s important not just to look physically good in fact, it’s important so that you can stay mentally fit too. What most people don’t know is that their physical health affects their mental health, and if you want to get productive at work and perform things efficiently, you need to have enough strength to keep your brain functioning without any hassle.

4- Wear a watch

Remember that to look good, you need to use some accessories, and one of the most important ones is a watch. We aren’t asking you to buy expensive Apple watches to make a statement about your style, it’s just that any watch that matches your outfit will work here. Whether it’s a business meeting or a hangout night with your friends, just wear one as per the occasion and see how it adds value to your overall look.

5- Your style

Last but not the least, your style is something you need to work on. It’s not necessary that every single man out there knows how to dress properly and impressively. You learn things with time, so that’s what you need to invest some efforts into. Look up to the internet, and you’ll definitely see several sites where they’ll teach you how to style in an impressive way.

Conclusion- 5 Simple Steps to Look Better As A Man

These are some of the most important things that you have to work on in order to look better as a man. With these tips, you sure will make a difference.

Digital Branding

Explainer Videos: How They’re Made

Steven on July 28, 2020

Great explainer videos are made to answer many questions about companies, products, and services. Explainer videos are typically designed to give viewers a fast-paced, engaging story to follow and leave them with an understanding of what your brand has to offer, followed by a strong call to action. These are often placed on a landing page, your website’s home page, or a prominent product page and they have the potential to drastically increase your company’s conversion rates.

Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

Creating Explainer Videos

At Akullian Creative, we love utilizing our full creative team to bring these explainer videos to life from “scratch.” Explainer Videos at Creative Agencies like Akullian typically go through this general creative process:

1. Goal Setting

What is the goal of the content? It is crucial to identify your call to action as well as determine how you want to portray your brand in order to attract your target audience. The ultimate goal should be to highlight your company’s product, service, or business idea in an engaging and efficient way. It is also a good idea to plan where the videos will be placed such as your website, social channels, and investor pitch presentations.

man-working-on-laptop-while-woman-takes-notes-

Photo by Canva Studio from Pexels

2. Writing the Script

Once the goal is defined, the next step in the process is writing the explainer video script. This step requires the most attention and focus, and is where we pound lead to paper typically followed by countless revisions & wordsmithing. The script should address the problem, the solution that your brand offers, and how it works or how to get started. We’ll then refigure our script to get as clever as we can and eliminate any words or syllables that don’t add to the story. With attention spans at an all-time low, it is incredibly important to cut the script down until you can’t take away anything else. These videos should be very brief (aim for under a couple of minutes) and be sure that your key message and value proposition are found within the first 30 seconds.

Once we get an approved script, we’ll record a demo voiceover and will then move into the storyboard process. The script should stay consistent with the overall brand voice and should align with the style of the planned final video production (live action, animated, whiteboard, etc.).

3. Creating the Storyboard

The storyboarding process is very essential and will determine where the video will end up visually and what will be required for production. This is the step where words will be brought to life to ensure the viewer can comprehend the full story. This should be a collaborative effort and if done correctly, this part of the process will save countless hours in production and editing.

Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

4. Production

Once the storyboard is finalized, it’s time to begin the production process. Depending on the style of video you end up making, there will be great differences in production. Live-action explainer videos can range from a single subject on a white backdrop all the way up to fast-moving cinematic shots with explosions. For illustrated videos, they may require endless keyframes to make pixels move where you need them to go. With today’s varying digital platforms, many companies are also working to build explainer videos in different sizes to accommodate portrait, widescreen, and square formats.
Each explainer video typically requires consideration of:● Voiceovers / Talent
● Music
● Sound Effects

About the Author: Rich Akullian of Akullian Creative (New York) leads a team of award-winning storytellers. Akullian Creative is a full-service agency that specializes in making content that drives ROI. Check out one of their Explainer Video case studies

Digital Branding

Why Home Maintenance Companies Need Digital Branding

Steven on July 27, 2020

Not long ago, HVAC technicians, roofers, plumbers, painters, electricians relied on word of mouth to acquire customers. However, about 60 percent of clients review home improvement sites when searching for services, thanks to the internet revolution. Another 30 percent will check out the website before contacting them. An Orange County water purification business or any home service firm that lacks a digital presence is like an automobile without tires.

Digital branding refers to how you create and design your business on the internet through social media, apps, visuals, websites, and more. It enables your home improvements firm to be known everywhere and shows credibility. This post explains why you need digital marketing/branding in your firm.

Digital Advertising/Branding Offers Channel Flexibility…

Digital Branding content is shared across countless platforms; this helps you reach various potential patrons looking for home services. You can capitalize on several platforms by distilling complicated topics into 1-minute or 5-seconds clips on social networks such as Facebook, Vine, Twitter, and Instagram. You can then augment the snippet with corresponding details like links to posts about cleaning products, roofing materials, and more. You can also repurpose parts of long-form content into a SlideShare or infographic presentation. Thus, customers can quickly get an overview of your company and contract your services.

It Also Attracts Mobile Engagement…

Based on a study conducted by IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), millennial and Gen Z customers are most likely to see your ads on mobile devices. More than half of mobile users have bought an item online after viewing relevant adverts on their smartphones.

Mobile and digital marketing work together to reach on-the-go audiences where and when they are online. Your firm can optimize Smartphone engagement by ensuring landing pages, emails, and posts transform smoothly from desktops to mobile devices. From there, you can use heatmaps and time trackers to find out where you gain and lose most visitors once they get to your mobile website.

And Enables You to Package Your Services…

Online advertising enables engagement with potential clients. You get to understand them and their needs. You can begin conversations on social media or conduct surveys to know what they are looking for and package your services. Their comments and survey responses will give you insight into their pressing issues. Digital marketing offers multiple tools for identifying who your customers are. You can begin building a relationship and become a more trusted entity. Customers are more likely to hire your home services when they know and trust you.

While Keeping a Hawk-Eye on the Competition…

To achieve more profit and become successful in providing home services, it’s critical to check out what your competitors are up to. Use them as a learning pillar rather than trying to outshine them. Examining your competition helps you discern new trends and what works. Examine what other home services companies are doing to attract clients; for example, what do they post? Do they use clips/graphics? Identify how they present their brand and what’s unique about them.

And Reducing Your Bounce Rate…

Bounce rate refers to the number of people who click on your site but leave instead of visiting other pages. It’s important to measure the quality of your website since you need guests to complete actions such as download, purchase, or contact. Lower bounce rates are better. Digital marketing uses various methods, such as infographics and clips, to reduce the bounce rate. It tailors your content to targeted audiences, thus instantly peeking their interests. One of the objectives of digital branding and marketing is to minimize bounce rates in traffic sources. This improves your sales revenue since more people will be hiring your improvements services.

Digital Branding is Also Cost-Effective!

Digital branding/advertising is more affordable than brick and mortar branding/marketing options. Traditional marketing makes it difficult for small and medium-size home service companies to compete with larger brands. Big home enhancement firms have sufficient funds for mainstream advertising such as TV and radio commercials.

Digital branding levels the playing field and offers cost-effective options to market your services to potential customers. For instance, PPC (pay-per-click) marketing enables you to select your budget. Note that your expenditure levels affect branding and marketing success.

Parting Thoughts

As stated above, among the most significant perks of web-based branding and advertising is its ability to promulgate into a surplus of online channels, including search engines, social media, online ads, online activations, and websites. It’s essential to apply consistency throughout all platforms to achieve immense success. An online marketing/branding agency will help reach a wide pool of online customers and advise you on budget-friendly and effective campaigns. It will also help you in improving the conversion rate while reducing the bounce rates.

Digital Branding

Ways To Increase Your Brand’s Trust Online

Steven on July 17, 2020

To thrive within the immense competition of the market, a business needs to find a way to be a recognizable brand. Today’s consumers can easily do research online and compare one brand over another before they make a purchase decision. Consumers tend to make a comparison on the prices offered by different brands and see online reviews before they choose to buy a product. As there are a lot of options available for consumers today, building trust becomes important for businesses. Trust is a strong foundation for a brand to maintain positive customer relationships and will help a brand to get repeat customers and boost the profitability. Customers’ trust has a big impact on your business and it is essential to make it one of the main objectives of your online marketing strategy. So the question is: how do we build and increase brand trust online and win a consumer’s heart?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Here are some ways to build brand trust online as recommended by Algo Sea Biz (a digital agency).

Improve your website design

A website’s design is one of the important aspects that can influence customers in making a decision. A poorly organized website will cause consumers to have a bad impression on your business. A website with a slow loading speed is an inconvenience for consumers and it has a huge impact on a customer’s purchasing decision. As people can easily judge whether your business is trustworthy or not by your website, it is important to ensure that you have a professional and well-organized site. Make sure it has easy navigation so your online customers can easily discover and buy the products they need. Stay transparent and provide accurate, up to date information on your site. It is essential to check your website regularly and organize it well so your website has a good site speed, a good design, and also mobile-friendly. These endeavors will give consumers a great experience which builds trust.

Always give valuable content

When it comes to digital marketing, content is an important aspect in leading a business toward a successful campaign. Quality content has a huge impact for your business, and it is important to ensure that you provide quality and valuable content on the customer’s touching points whether it’s on your blog, website, or social media channels. Providing reliable and insightful content to your audience helps to nurture your brand trust.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Everyday consumers are bombarded by advertisements of various products online. Providing informative content such as articles, infographics, and informational videos on your website and social media can help them to break through the noises. While you provide informative content, you can still deliver your brand messages and do promotion about your products. When you post your content, ensure it to be original, up to date, and most importantly, relevant to your audience. It will show that you bring value to the table and you actually care for them. Valuable content boosts the credibility of your brand in front of customers and eventually builds trust.

The importance of a two-way communication

Today’s consumers love to engage with brands, and this is one of the important factors in building trust and strong relationships with them. The way your brand communicates has a huge impact on this matter. Social media is a place where you can create good communication and connect with consumers today.

Social media channels allow businesses to communicate personally with consumers and keep them engaged. Having a good conversation with your customers helps you to understand how they perceive your brand; you can then offer solutions to help them. As a result, customer s tend to be more satisfied, which can affect the progress of generating more leads. Two-way communication also helps businesses to identify customer expectations. You can find out their concerns while interacting with your brand so you can find a way to cater to those concerns and then improve their experience.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Conversation also helps your business to measure what the next step is to take place in your strategy helping retain the customer as you understand what they need. Two-way communication helps you to ‘listen’ and shows your customers that your business cares about their concerns on a human level. And then, when consumers are satisfied, it will create a positive reputation for your brand and ultimately establish a loyal community.

As we have found out, building brand trust online is very beneficial for your business, it is also good to make it a priority. On the top of it all, the key to earn a customer’s trust is showing that you keep them in mind and respect them. Once brand trust is built, it will maintain a long-lasting relationship between a brand and the customers.

Digital Branding

10 Tips To Help You Create An Awesome Email Signature (With Examples)

Steven on July 17, 2020

For email marketers, every element present in an email is bankable!

From the subject line to the body text through the email signature, one can optimize every single aspect of an email to trigger actions. While email subject lines are designed to grab attention, the CTA buttons are to set off desired actions, and similarly, a simple looking sig line can be used to accomplish small as well as large marketing goals.

If you’re signing off your marketing email with mere ‘best regards’, you’re missing out on some great marketing exposure. Today we’re going to talk about email signature tips that are thoughtful and actionable. Let’s get started…

1. Brand affiliation and contact information

Irrespective of how old or new your email contact is, putting in information about your organization, job title, or the brand you are associated with is imperative. Your name should definitely be the first signature element that goes there but closing it with the brand name or even a logo can portray a more sophisticated POV to the readers who see it.

Apart from that, secondary contact information is something you should have a practice of mentioning. If you don’t want to give out your personal contact number, a company website or an extension number can also do the trick.

Examples

2. Play with colors but maintain consistency

Playing with colors in your fonts, background, or imagery is a good practice to leave a lasting impression, but never go overboard with random palettes. Choose the ones which represent your brand persona and stick with it.

Example

(Source: WiseStamp)

3. The design ladder

Whether you go for a vertical email signature design or a horizontal one, the hierarchy of the elements present should not hinder the view of a reader. The design should go like the name – larger font, designation – medium font, brand – logo or website link, and so on. It differs from industry to industry or even sender to sender, but making sure the credible information is placed correctly is vital.

Example

4. Utilize signatures to trigger actions

CTAs in emails are essential, but if you want to utilize the signature space to notify something new or relevant to the reader, you can use links and CTAs in email signatures as well. Again, when you are using this space which is not a sales deck, don’t try to be pushy about the call to action. Remember, email signatures are not your primary source of conversions.

Example

5. Linking Social Profiles

While this is the fifth point in our post, you can find social media icons in almost every example that we have shared! Social media pages are important and having a credible social profile says a lot about you. 71% of consumers who have had good social media service experience from a brand, recommend it to others. Thus, having an active social media profile can work wonders for you. While you’re signing off in an email, you can put up quick links to your social profiles for the readers to easily click on them.

Example

6. The use of dividers

When designing an email signature, you want to add as many relevant elements as possible such as the secondary contact, website, social profiles, images, and more. Now when this is the scenario, the wise implementation of dividers helps you create a clutter-free design. All in all, the elements should not overlay any other information present while giving each of the significant attention.

Example

(Source: WiseStamp)

7. Make it engaging

When we say keep it engaging, it doesn’t stop with an appealing design, but also comes with a few cues that make it click-worthy! Simply putting in icons and links is expected from every marketer, what you can do differently is providing appointment booking links and calls-to-action. Share a personalized meeting link that automatically lets the user to book a slot.

Example

8. Follow the trends

You should revamp your email signatures from time to time with the latest information or a new format. Just like email template design trends, email signature trends also evolve. One such noteworthy trend is to add moving objects or GIFs in your email signature. There are numerous aspects you should keep in mind while adding something like this due to visibility criteria, screen size variations, email client support, and more, but there’s nothing wrong in employing them with precautions.

Example

(Source: WiseStamp)

9. Mobile optimization

Just like HTML emails, the signatures in them also require special compliance for different email clients. For instance, a signature that’s a GIF might have support for Gmail, but won’t render in Outlook. Similarly, with screen size and resolution support mechanisms, different email signatures work differently depending upon the device. The future is mobile, and if you are not designing responsive email templates (including signatures) you are toying with user experience. Emails with display disruptions get deleted within 3 seconds and if you do not wish to fall under the deleted emails category, it’s time you go mobile while designing an email.

Example

(Source: WiseStamp)

10. Test, and test some more

We are aware of the traceable email CTAs and other aspects that we generally analyze in an email. You can take help from the heatmaps to determine where people are focusing or clicking in your signature. Try sending test emails with distinct signatures and measure the performance. You can instill any or all of the above-mentioned tips while you test and choose once the results are out.

Extra Byte

Where your email recipients are situated, is a very crucial piece of information. If you’re catering to a global audience, you can set up an email signature that is general and can be helpful to anyone reading it. But, if you’re sending location-based emails, keep the business laws in mind. For instance, as per the Netherlands law, one has to include details like company name, registration number, registry location, registered office, and more. It is advisable to consult a legal representative to double-check your crafted email.

Conclusion

Email marketing is here to stay, and the innovations in email designs, HTML templates, and email marketplace as a whole are noteworthy. If you want your campaigns to perform, don’t leave any element of the email unattended. We hope the above-mentioned 10 email signature tips will help you create better sign-offs the next time you send an email.

Author bio:
Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest-growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and free HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

Crowdfunding PR Tips for Kickstarter & Indiegogo

Steven on July 15, 2020

One thing that you need to do before all else when trying to gain media coverage is to create a media list. It is one of the most important public relations jobs and it is always guaranteed that when done right, it is an effective way to establish media relations with target specific journalists and influencers.

This guide will go in detail about:

What is a media list?
Making the perfect media list
How to use media lists to get press
How to start a conversation with media outlets
Examples of media lists

What is a media list?

The whole point of a media list is to have a detailed document of media outlets including journalists, bloggers, writers, editors and influencers that are perfectly matched to your niche and topics that you are writing about. It normally includes the name of the individuals and their contact information.

The opinion of a media list is very hit or miss because it can be construed as a waste of time and a way to spam every media outlet to get responses from anyone. There are two halves of developing contacts, which include building an effective media list and being able to start conversations and build relationships with media contacts.

Making the Perfect Media List

Step 1: Find your audience

It is important to figure out every aspect of your audience; what they read, what they listen to, what they watch, the type of things they follow on social media, etc. With this information, you will get a better understanding of the type of media outlets to target. From there, you can ensure coverage by sending your press release email to the appropriate audience

This research information of your media list is very important because from there you are creating a list that is more thorough and you can think about:

Your customers – the people that are going to buy your product or service
The stakeholders in your company – The people that require evidence that your PR is working
Industry experts – the people in your sector that you want to notice your company
Regulators – the people that have a direct influence on your sector and are beneficial to impress.

From there and to keep everything concise and put together, create a spreadsheet of all ideas and titles that relate to your industry. Once you have compiled everything, you can search keywords of your ideas on search engines for the relevant newspapers, magazines, etc. that cover the same or similar topics that you have put in your spreadsheet.

Step 2: Creating the list

A good media list needs to be clear, concise, and organized. Here are some things that you should add to your list:

1) Name of the publication/blog/website

You should identify the exact name of media outlets and add it to your media list because there is a possibility that reporters will move around and change their jobs, so you want to focus on the publication and readership rather than just the contact.

2) Publication website address

This could be a handy shortcut on your media list so that you can easily refer to the media outlet’s online presence whenever you need to.

3) Reporter/Blogger/Journalist/Broadcaster full name

Do not send press releases or stories to email addresses that seem generalized, it would honestly be a waste of time because so many emails go through these email addresses, they aren’t going to think twice about skipping over them.

You need to see if you can find the email addresses of the specific bloggers and people that you want to write about your product/service and keep it precise and personal.

4) Job title

You should also keep note of the position that the contact holds in the company that they work for because it might become relevant for your media pitch. This is helpful when you have breaking news about your industry and when you contact them because it is relevant and it helps both of you.

5) Email

This is one of the most important things because you are going to need an email address of your contacts when you decide to distribute your press release.

6) Phone number

You might also want their phone number so that you can call them to talk about a story or follow-up on a pitch that you had previously sent to see if it is relevant.

7) Social media details

If they are on social media, you should add them so you can also start building a personal relationship with them. It is common that journalists are found on Twitter, so find their handle and start talking to them.

8) Frequency

Make a note of how regularly the publication you want to send your pitch to goes out. This can have an impact on the stories that you send because they could only post monthly, weekly, etc. You need to know when to send your pitch out and whether it is relevant at the time.

9) Story ideas

This is a perfect moment to align the stories you intend to send out with the right people. If you have a collection of different angles and stories that you want to send out, you can add them to this column so that you can link them to the appropriate reporters and broadcasters. When you do this properly, you won’t end up sending your press releases to the wrong people.

10) Notes

Keep track of important information that could be useful in the future. When it comes to the media outlets, you can add the stories that they have written recently, specific area they do features on, notes about conversations on social media you have had with them.

Step 3: Research relevant journalists

The next step is to click on the articles that are on the first few pages of your search because those will be the most relevant to your topic. When you are going through the articles, make sure to double check if there is an actual person that you can contact because sometimes, blogs do not give out author’s names for articles written.

Don’t get discouraged if you can’t find the author’s name right away, just keep doing some research on the platform and you might be able to find another contributor that you can contact. It is important that you not only try to get coverage by top-tier publication but try and establish credibility with smaller media outlets to build up your portfolio.

Step 4: Make your list of target journalists

While you are reading each article from your search results, you should go through some questions before you add them to your media list. You should try and keep your PR lists more simplified because the thing to remember is that it is more effective to have a handful of relevant journalists that you have a good relationship with than a long list of journalists that are a part of your field, but you rarely speak to.

The questions that you should ask yourself before adding them to your list are:

Are they a generalist or specialist in the field?
What is their editorial style?
Are they easily contacted or mind being contacted by different mediums?
What kinds of publications do they or have they written for?

From there, you can tailor your messages in a way that you know will catch their attention. They are constantly bombarded by messages and information that may not concern them, so keep your messages as relevant to the topic at hand as possible. You can also think of media relations as a number of games, the more you pitch to, the higher chances of landing something. Just make sure you understand the relevance.

Quality over Quantity.

If they answer all these questions, add them to your media list and go from there.

Step 5: Keep your list updated

Creating a media list can take time and effort because it is important to keep the list current and updated. New media opportunities can present themselves whenever possible and journalists can move around, so you need to stay alert and update any information that can possibly change. It will make sure that you still have the relevant media outlets and also makes sure that your hard work is wasted.

Step 6: Watch your market and competitors

It is more than likely that whatever industry you are in, some media outlet somewhere has written something about it. That means that they definitely have the experience to write about your company and your industry. However, when you pitch to those media outlets, make sure that you stand out from your competitors because if they have talked about a similar product/service, they most likely would not have to talk and write about the same thing again.

How to use media list to get press?

Enterprise Resource Planning collected of scrabble game elements

You may have a large list of relevant names and contact details, but you still need to make sure that when you pitch, you still keep it personal. You need to remember that just because you are using your efforts to connect with them and chat with them, it does not mean that they know you.

You need to connect on a personal level and have communicated prior before sending them a press release or story pitch. Make sure that they are aware of you and your business, already interested in your story and relatively excited about posting and sharing your story with their readers.

It order to build a relationship with any type of media outlet, it is simple enough to start a conversation. It is important to start a conversation with the relevant people that already exist on your media list weeks before your actual launch date of your product or service. Continue having the conversation until you have built a solid relationship so that when you need media coverage, you can approach them with a preexisting relationship and not as a complete stranger and there is no need to send a cold email pitch. It can take so time to build a good relationship, but once it is done, the payoff is definitely better than last-minute attempts.

How do you start a conversation?

Sometimes it might hard to figure out how to start a professional conversation. So, in order to get some pointers, closely read the articles that are a part of your research. It may seem a bit harsh, but try and find mistakes, weak points or anything missing from an article or blog posts that could be used to start a conversation.

Some things to look for:

Grammar errors
Outdated facts
Information that can be added
Possible articles that need follow up stories

It is also important to understand that when it comes to influencers, you should try many different types. Don’t limit yourself to journalists or bloggers. You can even try to get coverage from investors, social media influencers, and even founders of other companies. To find the appropriate ones, you need to define the goal of your product or service and then define your target audience. Once you figure out all those things, you are all set.

Creating a media list is easy; it is the follow-through that can be complicated. You need to make a solid first impression so that you can get continuous coverage. The more effort you put into creating a media list and sparking a solid conversation will have a great payoff.

Conclusion

Media lists are a way to keep everything organized and up-to-date so that you know what you are sending, who you are sending it to, and when. It is a way of documenting the key media contact that might be interested in stories about your business or area of expertise. Do not limit yourself to the traditional media outlets, keep an open mind and don’t give up too quickly if you don’t catch the big fish. Keep at it and it will all be worth it in the long-run.

Digital Branding

Is There Similarity Between Digital Marketing and Essay Writing?

Steven on July 10, 2020

Digital marketing can be described as the use of social media, the internet, search engines such as Google, and mobile devices as tools to reach potential customers. It usually targets a specific class of customers that a business may be interested in attracting through interaction to determine the specific needs of the target customers. Essay writing, on the other hand, involves coming up with pieces of writing that are meant to portray the ideas and arguments of a writer. An essay simply puts to perspective the information and opinion an author has into writing. The article will discuss digital marketing and essay writing to determine whether the two are similar. Can you really compare digital marketing vs. essay writing?

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a combination of all marketing strategies that use the internet as the primary platform to engage potential customers. Generally, businesses advertise their products and services on different platforms such as social media, emails, and search engines where potential customers may engage the goods and service providers to obtain any information they may need. It is a tool to prospect for potential clients.

Since digital marketing occurs digitally and online, most businesses possess possibilities that are said to be endless. For example, a business may advertise its products and services using videos, advertisements on different websites, social media adverts, and marketing opportunities that are based on websites. Businesses employ varied tactics in the digital space to make connections with customers. Most businesses spend most of their time online creating awareness of their products and services to clients while still keeping in touch with existing clients to ensure that they receive excellent services.

Digital marketing has been on the rise all over the world. This is because there has been increased use of digital and social platforms by many people. It has meant that individuals spend most of their time on the internet either browsing or communicating with their friends and family. The increased use of the internet has created an opportunity for many businesses to find some customers with relative ease while still offering services to existing ones on the same platform.

Essay Writing

Essay writing involves putting down the opinions, ideas, and information that an author has into writing. Essay writing entails different steps so that an individual may come up with a complete composition of interest. First, one has to come up with a topic of interest. An author generates ideas of what he wants to write about to create a chronology of events that will make the essay flow. Coming up with ideas acts as help for the writer so that he can plan work to avoid being stuck while writing the essay.

Secondly, a writer is supposed to research the chosen topic. One usually looks into scholarly sources and books to ensure that the quality of information generated for the essay. The author has to come up with a format that he will use to present the essay. For example, a writer may use the APA outline to present his work. While writing the essay, a thesis statement should be generated that forms the basis of the whole paper. For example, when writing a theory of knowledge essay one should ensure that the information in the thesis statement enables the reader of the paper to understand the different aspects that will be discussed.

The writer should write the essay while integrating the various research shreds of evidence deduced from different research journals. Finally, after completing the essay, the writer should ensure that he reviews the whole paper to edit any mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation to ensure the paper is neat.

Is Digital Marketing vs. Essay Writing: Are They SImilar?

In conclusion, digital marketing cannot be considered to be similar to essay writing. While digital marketing promotes a product or service often for sale, essay writing promotes an idea. Both aim to convince an audience of something without commercial intent; the goal is not the same.

Digital marketing involves a business engaging with potential clients using the internet on different platforms such as social media, e-mails, and websites. Essay writing on the other hand entails putting into writing the ideas, opinions, and information that a writer may have using a particular format that will interest the writer. Digital marketing involves the use of the internet with little writing involved while essay writing involves putting down the ideas of a writer in a paper.

Legal Branding Personal Branding

How to Build a Brand Your Mom Will Be Proud Of

Steven on July 9, 2020

Small business owners create their brands in a variety of ways. Pride is a thread that connects most of those efforts, however. Most people don’t want to feel ashamed of their businesses. They want them to get attention for all the right reasons. Here are some practical, effective ways to create a brand that you’ll love to mention when someone asks, “So, what do you do?”

Offer High-Quality Products

Providing high-quality products to your customers might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many brands prefer to merely get their products into customers’ hands. Representatives from those enterprises only think about the initial purchase — not repeat buyers. They don’t care if the items fall apart or stop working outside the time frame for returns.

In a 2019 survey, 85% of respondents agreed that quality was a deal-breaker or deciding factor in their purchases. Make the quality of your products so evident that people can immediately see, feel or perceive it in other ways.

Speak to quality in your product descriptions, too. You might say, “Our team of engineers worked for five years to design a tent that’s durable, simple to pitch and pack and reliable in any weather. If you’re dissatisfied for any reason, we want to make things right.”

Treat Your Employees Well

Workers collectively make up the backbone of the most successful brands. When workers love their employers, they’re more likely to be eager brand ambassadors. However, if employees get mistreated — or perceive they do — the ramifications could affect your whole operation. Most consumers don’t like the idea of supporting companies that don’t value their employees.

Consider if a customer walks into a store and notices that most workers are grumpy or bored. The matter could worsen if the workforce becomes so disgruntled that outspoken members take their complaints to social media or the press. Some employees may even strike.

You can prevent unhappy employees from ruining your company’s reputation, however. Get to the heart of what’s wrong by showing a willingness to listen and take them seriously. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, but show you’re committed to implementing improvements. Think about having a formal process for gathering feedback. Consider letting people provide input anonymously if preferred.

Investigate Custom Packaging Options

A well-crafted brand immediately stands out from the competition. Customized packaging can help you achieve that goal. An eye-catching box makes people get excited whenever they see it. You can design boxes with bright colors, creative fonts, quotes or even graphics. All of those things help to strengthen your identity.

You can also put thoughtful details into the box, such as a strip a recipient can pull to open the package, letting them avoid struggling with scissors. The lid of the box might have tabs that slot into the bottom section, helping people easily open and close the packaging.

Another nice thing about custom packaging is that people are more likely to reuse it. An appealing, branded box that a person got after ordering from an e-commerce site could get repurposed as a container for anything ranging from office supplies to snack-size packs of trail mix.

Provide Consistency

Whether you operate a neighborhood deli, a furniture store or a web design company, customers want to feel they’ll get the same outstanding brand experience no matter how many times they visit. Begin by thinking about what aspects shape how people see your company. Perhaps your top-notch customer service or inviting in-store atmosphere. Maybe people appreciate your witty brand voice or your well-designed, mobile-friendly website.

Think about the things in your power that maintain those factors. You might need to invest in more staff training. An in-house style guide can also remove uncertainty about matters like color schemes, word choices and punctuation preferences.

Regardless of which individual approaches you take, ensure that everything looks similar across all platforms and ways people access your business. Consumers notice that attention to detail. It helps them know what to expect when dealing with you.

Respond to Customer Issues

The customer experience occasionally becomes tarnished, even at companies well-known for their amazing brands. It’s your responsibility to be available when people want to reach out after things go wrong.

Maybe someone feels upset due to an inefficient cashier. Perhaps they opened the box from an online order and discovered the product inside was something other than what they purchased.

Ignoring these problems will not make them go away and is likely to make them worse. Show customers that their concerns matter to you and that you want to fix the issues. Waiting too long to answer them gives the impression that customers are not your priority, and you don’t care about earning or keeping their loyalty.

Choose Causes to Support

Aligning your business with causes that matter to you and your workers could positively impact profits and how many new customers you gain. A 2018 survey found that charitable giving affects 73% of Americans’ purchase decisions. The same study revealed that 65% of those polled believe companies have a responsibility to give back.

Strive for authenticity when picking what matters most to you. Try to select causes that relate to your business. If the company sells water filtration products, you might support a charity that brings clean water to disadvantaged areas.

Talk to your employees about how they could get involved with causes, too. Some might participate in a fundraiser or a community clean-up day, for example. They’ll like knowing that their contributions span beyond your business.

Admit to Your Mistakes

No one’s perfect, and that reality will inevitably manifest in your business. Maybe you’ll make a blunder that causes some customers to leave. Perhaps you’ll cling too tightly to a plan despite overwhelming evidence of its failure.

Owning up to your mistakes isn’t fun, but it’s a crucial part of being an effective and admired leader. Learn from your errors, too. Dig into what caused them, and figure out proactive prevention measures.

Decide how to communicate with outside external parties. Should you publish a press release, or might it work better to post a YouTube video? The right format varies depending on the severity of the issue and what you want — or need — to convey.

Building Blocks for Your Brand

These actions are not the only ones that make up a fabulous brand that people praise. However, they’ll get you off to a good start in earning positive recognition and customer satisfaction.

Lexie is a branding enthusiast and web designer. She loves checking out local flea markets and taking her Goldendoodle on hikes. Follow her on Twitter @lexieludesigner and check out her design blog, Design Roast.

Personal Branding

5 Branding Tips for Architectural Firms

Steven on June 28, 2020

Branding is how you portray your business. Every organization should keep branding in mind, including architectural firms. Your brand should let people know the tone of your company, and it will help establish a clear identity. However, you may not know how to brand your architectural firm properly. Here are five branding tips for architectural firms.

1. Show Your Work

The best way to explain your brand is to show people what you do. Do you focus on one particular niche, or do you tackle all sorts of projects? Showcase plenty of cool pictures of both finished projects and projects under construction. You may even consider getting a professional photographer to make your work look as striking as possible. Put the pictures on your website, on social media, and on your different promotional communications. This will also show people exactly what your firm can do for clients.

2. Highlight the Talent

An architectural firm is all about the architects doing the work. You need to inform people about the architects. Let people know if they earned their architectural degree from a prestigious university. You should also talk about their experience and even aspects of their personal lives. People like to know something about the people who will be doing the work. Plus, these are the people who are the face of the company. Make sure all bios follow the tone of your brand.

3. Visit Appropriate Trade Shows

Trade shows are places for people to come together to talk business. It’s a place to make connections, and it’s a way to spread your brand. Use exceptional visuals with your logo, company colors, and examples of your work. You also want to wear merchandise with your logo on it as well. When you talk to someone who might need your services, give them our business card. You may even ask for their card.

4. Write a Blog

The different architects in the firm should take turns writing blogs on different topics related to architecture. The blogs should cover new topics or attack common topics with a new perspective. The articles should also be easy to skim. You can do this by using headers, bullet points, and short paragraphs. Be consistent and put the blog out once a week. These blogs will help establish your firm as experts in architecture. People who read your blogs will remember the firm when they need your services, especially if the blogs were well-written and informative.

5. Consider Your Audience

While branding your customer, you need to consider your audience. First, think about who your customer is. What demographics are you targeting? What would appeal to your customer? What will get their attention? What will make them want to buy? Base your branding strategy with these things in mind, and you will set yourself up for success.

Your company has a personality. You need to breathe life into this personality. Make sure it shows in every aspect of your marketing from your logo, your signage in your store, and your digital presence. When you establish your brand, people will know you and know what to expect from you.

Digital Branding

The 5 Things You Must Keep In Mind When Choosing The Tech Stack For Your Startup

Steven on June 25, 2020

When it comes to developing a top-notch software product, what do you think is the most important thing to consider? Those who don’t have a tech background, they face quite a lot of issues when they have to choose a tech stack for their product. If you’ve been facing such issues, know that you aren’t alone, and almost every single person with a startup and a non-technical background comes across this issue.

What exactly is a tech stack? Simply put, it is a combination of frameworks and tools that are used in software development of web and mobile applications. In simpler words, a technology stack is all those frameworks, tools, programming languages, software packages, and servers needed for the client-side and server-side of your business, or the “ front-end” and “back-end.” This infrastructure or data ecosystem will vary according to your needs. Some businesses are built on Ruby on Rails, Django, HTML, or Cascading Style Sheets. The Facebook app, for example, is built on JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP, and ReactJS.

If you are new to all this, there are two things that you need to do. First, you need to opt for the devsdata software consulting services, and the next thing is to know how to choose the right tech stack. If you end up choosing the wrong tech stack, you can end up with several unwanted issues like extra expenses, and sooner or later, that particular stack will become unsustainable for you.

Image by Olalekan Oladipupo from Pixabay

Choosing a Tech Stack for Your Business

To assist you in this process, today we are here with the five main things that you should keep in your mind when choosing a tech stack for your startup;

1- Consider the stage of your business

Your technology stack is going to play an important role in all stages of your business. If you are in the beginning phase, your main focus should be to launch an MVP as soon as you can. If you don’t have any heavy programming knowledge, then just like others, you should opt for WordPress. It goes without saying that WordPress is one of the easiest and the simplest platforms if you are building a landing page or a website.

Image by James Osborne from Pixabay

2- Project requirement

The second important thing to do is to understand the requirements of your project. Do you want to add some kind of real functionality to your application? Do you want to add the feature of live chat in it? For such a purpose, you should go for the tech stack that’s best with concurrency, and this is where you need to consider “Node”. If you are a blogger working on developing a functional site for increased conversions, then Drupal and WordPress will be the right options for you.

3- The available resources

One of the most influential factors that define the tech stack of your company is the availability of developers who will work on creating your product. You need to consider it if your developers are ready to work with the tech stack you have or not. If you don’t want to face issues in this, then always choose a dynamic developer community tech stack.

4- The cost of maintenance and development

The technology stack you choose directly impacts the cost of development and maintenance. Two things to consider in this case are the maintenance cost and the cost of the developer. Especially if it’s a startup, you’d want to keep the expenses as low as possible. This is why you should do some homework first and then choose the stack that brings you as less added expenses as possible.

Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

5- Time to market

The quicker you develop and launch your app, the better it will be for your business and the more exposure you’ll get. When choosing a suitable and reliable tech stack, focus on third party integration, testing, and the developing ability of the developer who is working for you.

Conclusion

With these five things in mind, it will be easier for you to choose a suitable tech stack for your business. To make things simpler, just opt for the consulting services of an experienced company, and you’ll see how things fall into place for you.