Results for: content marketing

How to Get Media Coverage and Good PR for Your Startup

Steven on June 12, 2020

When you are first starting out, one of the biggest issues that you may have is getting media attention. It is difficult to build credibility, awareness, and exposure if you aren’t able to gain media coverage.

It is important to find the right methods of getting media exposure because some may not work when you are first starting out. So, you may need to be a bit creative when thinking about how to get press. This guide can provide you with the tools that you would need to win the media coverage that you need. We will look at:

What is media coverage?
Earned media vs. Owned Media vs. Paid media
Steps to get media coverage for your startup

What is media coverage?

Before you can start applying media coverage tips to your business, you need to know what it is. However many ways you look at it, media coverage basically means publicity and in the world of PR, it can also be called “earned media”.

Your goal is to win earned media, which is a way of building your company’s reputation by using press coverage through third-party media publications. You will also be applying owned media, which would be any content that you are publishing on your own channels.

Earned media vs. Owned Media vs. Paid Media

There are many media and marketing tactics that can grow your company and they may all seem confusing together, but let me break it down for you.

Earned media can include Social media shares, viral content, customer success stories, recommendations, guest articles, product review pages, and media mentions. This is media that you have basically “earned” it comes from the things that you are posting and feedback from your target audience.

What are the benefits of earned media?

Builds awareness: it allows you to reach more of your targeted audience. It opens you up to new customers across different media outlets. It gets more eyes on your product/service.
Heightens your credibility: Producing great articles for publication can demonstrate your industry knowledge and build credibility in your field. It shows that you are informed about the market that you are trying to break through.
Boosts your SEO, Increases your leads and sales, and ultimately increases trust.

Owned media can include Blogs, websites, mobile apps, whitepapers, case studies, social media accounts, and media kits. This type of media is what you create on your own, things that you have put up that are trying to reach an audience.

Paid media can include PPC ads, sponsored content, display/banner ads, and retargeting. It is basically advertising that is directly paid for. This would include using social media influencers to promote your product/service. It can be very effective in driving traffic to your business, but you would need to gain and receive sufficient trust within your target market, which is where the influencers come in.

STEPS TO GET MEDIA COVERAGE FOR YOUR STARTUP

STEP 1: Build your narrative using owned media

You need to make sure that your internal message, branding, and in-house content is in great condition so that when you pitch to media outlets, it seems like you know exactly what you’re doing. If the things that you are writing and posting are lacking in detail and looks like it has been done by an amateur, you are less likely to even care about giving you media coverage.

Make sure that you convey who you are, what you do, and what your values are.

STEP 2: Identify the most relevant journalists

The media coverage that you are trying to get should and need to be relevant to your business. Which is why it is important that you research where and how you want to win your earned media.

Make a list of all the publications that you read and that you are aware is related to your industry.
Use tools to find publications that your competition has put up and have gained media coverage in
Select a few keywords that are related to your business or industry

STEP 3: Setup media monitoring

This is relatively related to the last step, it is important once you have posted or been posted that you listen to what your target audience is saying about your brand, your competitors and anything that is related to your business.

STEP 4: PR Tactics for winning press coverage:

Guest articles
Press releases
Podcast appearances
Product Reviews Page
Newsjacking
Interviews

STEP 5: Goal setting

It is important that you set reasonable goals for yourself. Basically state things that you know you can achieve, because if you aim too high and you are not able to achieve them, it would seem that you are unreliable to your audience.

STEP 6: Start building relationships with the press

Make friends with the press, you need them on your team if you want to emerge into the market. You can start building relationships through social media, connecting with them locally, and using programs like HARO to find the relevant journalists and media outlets for you.

STEP 7: Pitching to media outlets

Once you have developed a relationship with them, you can start pitching to them. However, do not do it in a way that seems pushy. Find a way to connect with them on their level first and then go from there. At the end of the day, they are getting so many messages daily about people that want media coverage, so find a way to stand out and they are more likely to read through your pitch.

Provide a good hook for them to be attracted to by

Providing a fresh perspective
Offering new insight
Challenging the norm
Breaking new ground

Media coverage is a very important part of PR, so figure out a way to be personal and different from the competition. Make sure that what you are doing is relevant to them, don’t waste your time pitching to an outlet that doesn’t accept guest posts, don’t pitch to more than one person at the same publication at the same time, and when you are trying to follow-up, don’t seem too needy or pushy.

You want them to like you. You want them to be interested in what you are trying to get media coverage for. You want to be different.

To get professional help from our PR professional to create your customized email pitches, press releases, press kits, etc. Check out our website and our packages for more information.

Digital Branding

How To Promote Brand Using An Online Community

Steven on June 7, 2020

Building an online brand nowadays goes beyond creating marketing messages. A business requires to form genuine connections with its customers to excel online. Your business acquires more attention and develops as a brand when people can link to it and believe it is dependable.

That’s the reason a brand community can fortify and extend the reach of your brand online.

It’s probable that your business already possesses an active community on forums, social media, or your website. You can build community engagement to promote your brand’s growth. You can even leverage community-designed content to develop your brand.

#Present A Brand Value For Your Community

Customers will spend in your brand as your community signifies the values your brand is all about, permitting you to break your dependence on advertising and promotions.

# Explore Emotions To Grow Customer Retention

View brand communities for a few of the most luxurious brands in the world, such as Porsche cars, Rolex watches, or Montblanc pens. All of us know someone (perhaps yourself) who is an ardent fan and would never think about buying from a rival – whether you possess the money to buy one or not.

When your community members are joined to your brand and the community surrounding it, it builds a switching barrier. Due to their loyalty and investment in the community, they won’t be so price sensitive and will be less probable to shop about.

You don’t require to be a luxury brand such as Rolex for this to function for your brand also. Moroccanoil is a premium body and hair care brand that has built a community, Beauty Circle, around the worth and advantages of utilizing their products.

By exploring the emotions connected to looking and feeling your best, they’ve created a big online brand community, without needing to think about reducing their prices to be the cheapest beauty oils on the market.

Make emotional attachments the bedrock of your community. Irrespective of what you sell, your one-time shoppers will become committed repeat purchasers as loyal members of your brand community.

# Build Valuable Brand Advocates

Your community can’t prosper if nobody is familiar with it. Fortunately, when you motivate your community members, you can alter them from being customers into brand advocates. Advocates like your brand and constitute a precious marketing channel, serving as a community megaphone to aid bring others into your brand experience. Besides, while they’re evangelizing for your business, they even spend double as much as an average shopper.

Energy gum makers Run Gum took complete advantage of community and brand advocates through their referral program. Numerous people don’t know what energy gum is, so their advocates were entrusted to educate outsiders and garner them into the Run Gum community. Run Gum’s investment worked, leading to a 200% growth in repeat purchase rate all due to their brand advocates.

The growth of your community only implies positive things for your business. By motivating brand advocates, they can distribute the value of your brand to help rope in new excited customers, and build a more engaging community experience.

# Understand What Prods Your Customers

The sole way to improve your customer experience is by knowing what your customers are experiencing.

Building an online brand community permits you to know what eggs on your customers, along with what they do and don’t appreciate the customer experience. Laced with all the product reviews, social engagements, and feedback forms, there are plenty of ways to discover everything you can do to make all interactions with your brand delightful.

When Altenew refurbished their website, they wished to discover how much they had improved the online experience. Believing their community would present honest evaluations, they emailed their members to receive some warm feedback. This aided the website project at hand, besides giving insight into what members value. Bolstered with that information, Altenew could better the entire customer experience for their shoppers.

Community members have invested effort, time, or money in your brand. That renders them perfect to offer feedback, aiding your understanding of what your customers truly value concerning your brand.

# Raise Brand Awareness

Word-of-mouth is still the most successful way to increase awareness and develop a business. In reality, people are 84% more probable to trust a recommendation or referral if it emanates from a friend, implying the value of community at an all-time high.

One of the leading ways to increase awareness is through brand ambassadors. The founders of theSkimm, a reputed daily newsletter, ascribe nearly 20% of general company growth to the ambassador program. “Skimm’bassadors” distribute the newsletter with friends and get swat and perks for striking specific referral milestones.

Bumble, the networking and dating app, designed the Queen Bee ambassador program. Queen Bees aid market the app within their networks and localities. They don Bumble-branded swag and hold in-person mingling events with thought leaders and influencers in their cities. These grassroots community efforts have aided 26 million users to form connections in only 3 years.

# Let Customers Discover

Communities not just promote growth, but they can be the most precious and truthful source of feedback for businesses. Conventional product marketing research, like focus groups and surveys, aren’t as trustworthy as once believed.

A series of experiments discovered that, when associating in conventional research, people get the Hawthorne Effect. People know that they’re being examined, so they alter their behavior as a consequence. This same effect doesn’t happen, however, when people exchange on social media and other online spaces.

Online communities, not just aid offer brands a profound understanding of customer requirements and desires, but user-produced content, like comments and reviews, are regarded as more genuine. Regarding 97% of online buyers read reviews prior to making a purchase, it is vital that communities are actively engaging and generating content around a company’s product.

Glossier, a skincare and beauty products brand, has mastered the art of making customers do this. They have built a huge, dedicated community that communicates through Slack, Instagram, and in-person events. Before Glossier inaugurates a new product, its editorial arm – Into the Gloss – will post an “open thread” soliciting advice on what its readers desire.

# Encourage Customer Success

The concept of the lone genius who achieves success single-handed is a fallacy. The most successful people form part of inventive and supportive communities.

Effective communities insert value when they back members, offer a sense of camaraderie, form strategic connections, and constitute a source of advice that members can implement upon their own lives. Community members frequently exchange a passion for individual improvement and continuous learning.

The most successful learning strategies involve communities and promote discussion, instead of having individuals read a book or view an educational video alone.

In reality, Flatiron School, the outcomes-targeted coding school, discovered that the most successful learning method for students is to join them with different learners and industry leaders through online communities and in-person events.

# Push Brand Loyalty To Acquire Followers

Maintaining current customers involved is just as vital (if not more) than acquiring new first-time users. Accenture discovered that two-thirds of customers will “invest more on brands to which they are loyal.” Glossier, for example, holds that 90% of its revenue is by way of returning customers.

The greater time or effort that a person invests in a service or product, the more they’ll finish valuing it. Researchers from Harvard Business School term this the IKEA Effect. IKEA’s business model makes the consumer spend time assembling the products, so they incline to overvalue the brand and products.

Whether it’s by way of in-person events or online forums, communities are core to awareness, brand loyalty, and general success. A powerful and engaged community will produce improved products, learning, and innovation, together with company growth. Nevertheless, to be effective, brands require to create communities that go beyond selling a product and offer value and support for members.

Enhance SEO To Boost Your Product Promotion

As SEO trends are continuously changing, online brand communities are a certain way to ensure genuine and quality User Generated Content (UGC).

Creating a community of people who like your brand permits you to conveniently activate consumers to generate fresh and specific UGC, yielding an ongoing portal of content – this is useful for both getting new eyes on your products.

48% of consumers tell UGC is an excellent way to locate new products, and 25% of search results for the world’s 20 biggest brands are links to user-created content. This is awesome news for marketers.

# Creating Online Community Through BuddyPress

BuddyPress is the social networking plugin for WordPress that allows you to compose your own Facebook. Whether you want to build a social space for your family and friends, build a collaborative environment for your co-workers and partners, or somewhere in-between, the free and versatile BuddyPress plugin is for you.

By selecting a BuddyPress theme with a nice assortment of BuddyPress page templates, your visitors will be offered a consistent user experience as they navigate through your website. This includes the login and registration pages, member profiles, activity feeds, private messaging tools, besides more.

BuddyPress and its add-ons present a plethora of social networking features that when combined with WordPress and the proper theme, present unlimited possibilities.

Conclusion

Creating an online brand community is an investment worth performing. Current top brands know that it is hard, if not, impossible to compete on selection, price, or advertising muscle like it was previously. They know that another brand will always exist ready to lose more on the sale or spend more on that impression. That’s why they highlight on developing an online brand community that cannot be imitated by the competition.

Developing a brand community will not occur overnight, but those who are ready to make the investment will reap the rewards above.

Author Bio

Rohini Oberoi is a passionate blogger at brndle.com . She is an experienced blogger and has written many articles and blog posts on topics related to WordPress, web design, web development, and online marketing.

Digital Branding Personal Branding

7 Reasons Why Users Interface Design Plays An Important Role In Web Development

Steven on June 3, 2020

In today’s digital age, having a website is not an option anymore. Every business must have a website and maintain a healthy digital presence in order to attract prospects. When it comes to a business website, user experience is everything. If a user lands on your website and leaves with a bad taste in their mouths due to poor user experience, they will never return to your website again.

Similarly, if a user visits your website and gets a great user experience, they will surely return to your website. User interface of your website can make or break your website because it is what influences the user experience your website visitors will get. If you have not diverted all your energies and resources towards improving the user interface design during web development, your users will always get a below par user experience. As a website developer in New York, your main goal should be to make the user interface a joy to use for your users.

In this article, you will learn about seven reasons why user interface design plays a critical role in web development.

Clarify Brand Vision

Just like your brand vision, your target audience should be the focal point of your user interface design. When you design user interfaces with users in mind, you tend to create user interfaces that your users will love to use. It will also help you to refine your design and make changes based on user behavior and preferences. UI/UX design agencies here actively use this in their work.

In addition to this, design agency also clarifies your brand vision and gives you a better understanding of what your brand is all about and what you are offering to your customers. This will give a clear direction to your branding efforts and will increase your chances of your marketing campaigns to become successful. If you are lucky, you can also gain a competitive advantage over your competitors as well.

Improves Website Usability

To create stunning user interfaces, you need to develop a better understanding of your user preferences and behavior. Once you have done that, it will be easier for you as a web developer to provide them what they are looking for on your website. Moreover, this can also help you decide which features and functionality you should include and which ones to leave out from your website.

When users only get what they need, it will improve their user experience and make your website a pleasure to use. Take user input and feedback and tweak your website user interface from time to time. This will not only give a new look to your website but also sends a clear message to users that you value their input.

Enhance Customer Satisfaction

When you pay extra attention to website usability and improve the user experience of your website, it will directly impact customer satisfaction in a good way. When your website visitors are able to perform the action they want every time, they would surely keep coming back to your website for more because their customer satisfaction level is sky high. All you have to do is to maintain that customer satisfaction level by delivering a great website experience on a consistent basis. You will see a massive improvement in conversions and revenue while your website’s bounce rate will decrease drastically.

Make Website Navigation Easier

What are the main characteristics of great user interface? It is easy to use and has all the elements at familiar places so that the users don’t have to go looking for it. When users get what they are looking for instantly, they will stay on your website longer and explore other pages of your website. Make it easier for them to jump from one page of your website to another by placing a navigation button at a prominent spot where users can easily see and click on it. Avoid hidden and cascading navigation menus as it can hamper the user experience. Hamburger menus might work great for smaller screens such as smartphones but it might not be such a great choice for the desktop version of your website.

Deliver Seamless Experience

Nobody likes to wait, especially your website visitors. If your website takes ages to load and makes your website visitors wait before they can interact with your website, it will destroy the user experience of your website. Even when your website is loaded, make sure that it responds to user inputs instantly. There should be no lag or stutters. That is where website optimization comes into play.

Get rid of extras from your website to make it nimble so it can load up quickly and respond to user inputs without any delays. Use a content delivery network and minify code to improve the website speed. You can also compress multimedia files such as images and videos so they can load quickly even on slow internet connections.

Boost Conversions and Rankings

When users can easily get the information they are looking for and complete the desired action, you are more likely to convert them into paying customers. If you consistently deliver great user experiences, users will start trusting you and will start to show interest in doing business with you. With search engines like Google paying attention to user experience factors and ranking websites based on that, a website that delivers a better user experience will rank higher than a website that doesn’t.

Anticipate Customer Expectations

When users are the center of attention of all your user interfaces and a lot of research has gone into designing those user experiences, you can easily identify user behavior and preferences patterns. This enables you to anticipate their next move and fulfill customer expectations in a much better way than before. This way, you can make it easier for them to take the next step and convert prospects into paying customers.

How does user interface design impact web development in your opinion? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

About the author

Usman A. Khan – Digital marketer at Branex – a website design company. He is a curious soul and spends his time learning and researching new subjects every day including – technology and website design. He regularly pours out his learnings as a blog on various platforms and wants to leave his mark on the digital landscape.

Personal Branding

8 Steps on How to Market Yourself as a Logo Designer

Steven on May 28, 2020

Every 2 of 3 successful businesses have their heart craving for “Marketing.” Success or failure of any industry – be it of a logo designer, content creator, clothing brand, or what so ever – highly depends on its marketing strategy!

Marketing starts when a brand introduces its product and promotes it to its potential customers. Without proper marketing, you could be having the best products available in the market, but no one will buy it because they would have never heard of it.

Importance of Marketing

Many companies and brands have been forced to shut down because of enormous losses, which only happened due to poor marketing. Following are some of the reasons to explain why marketing is vital for designers.

It gets your name out to the world and makes you famous.
It helps in boosting up levels of your sales.
It increases the reputation of your company.
It gives you healthy competition, which will never let your customers get bored of your brand.
It builds credibility and the right customer to brand relationship.

8 Tips to Market Yourself as a Logo Designer

In this world of designers and creators, marketing is the best way to take your name out in the world. It is the main element for growing your client base. But the question is how to figure it out. There are no ready-made tricks for getting your name out there in a blink, but sure there are some effective techniques to do so. Scroll below to read on the 8 tips on how to market yourself as a designer.

1. Define your Identity

To build a successful brand, the first and most crucial point is to know your own self. Define who you are and what is your identity. Define the type of work you could portray best. Which kind of industry would you target? These are the list of questions which will help you define your identity as a logo designer:-

What is the vision behind your brand?
Why must the audience choose you and not others?
What is nature (type) of your brand?
What are your specializations?
Who will be your ideal customers?
As a designer, what are your most active skills?
How are you going to describe your work?
How will you convince your clients?

The answers to these questions will define you and your work. It will let you have a clear and wholesome idea about your brand, its personality, and your targeted goals. Once you are done with making your identity as a logo designer, you are ready for the second step.

2. Create your Point of Difference (POD)

Before answering this question to your customers, first of all, you need to tell this answer to yourself. What sets you apart compared to the other logo designers in the market, why would the audience choose you? Once you get a clear answer in your mind, now show this to your targeted audience. Your point of difference will work as a critical stimulant to attract your audience. It will differentiate you from the other logo designers. The only reason why will a client choose you will be based on your point of difference, make sure that it is convincing enough that the client couldn’t turn away after looking at your profile. Make this strategy as the central part of your branding.

3. Be authentic

You must have heard it; honesty is always the best policy. Do not ever market something that you cannot do. Pretending to be an expert at designing iconic logo designs and not being able to deliver the best quality will hit you back as a doom. By plastering your profile with pictures of award-winning logo designs and giving your clients the most affordable logo designing packages is an excellent strategy to bring in customers, but failing at delivering the best quality work will mark you as a noncredible designer in your client’s eyes. Moreover, having bad reviews about your activities will end up failing your band eventually.

4. Build your audience

It is hard to build an audience when you start online logo design services. But always remember that success lies in inconsistency. Do not give up if, in the beginning, you are not gaining as many clients as you had expected, revise your brand strategy, give your business some time to build credibility, and never deliver anything less than 100%. Finally, wait and look at your brand’s growth!

Moreover, take advantage of social media and promote yourself. Look for connections on LinkedIn, follow the people on Instagram, invite people to like your Facebook page, and give and take shout outs every now and then. These are some really effective strategy and works 100%.

5. Start your very Own Design Blog

Starting your own blog is the best way to market yourself. Update your blog with snippets of your design every single day, add some personal projects, write about the services you can provide, talk about designing professional logo designs. This strategy will help you in maximizing your online presence; plus, it will give you exposure within your own industry. Cherry on top of your, clients will see you as an experienced and old pro logo designer. Check out sites of already established logo designers.

6. Master the follow-up

Delivering or posting about the best quality work is not just enough in this advanced era. Making an engaged social media account is more essential than starting the business. Once you have worked with a client, do not let them forget about you. Send the clients personalized notes, greeting, and emails about your promotions and discount offers. Just remember not to irritate them by spamming their email. Showing warm gestures like sending greetings will always make the client remember you and your work; plus, they will also refer your brand to others as well.

It is rightly said, don’t wait around for clients to get back to you. Create a balance between locating new leads and also engaging with past ones. Past customers are always great to re-approach. Since they have already worked with you, there will be fewer barriers to re-entry. Try to get in touch with the customers with whom people you have not heard from in a long while and look if they have any upcoming projects. Do not feel reluctant to ask for referrals, as your clients must be knowing similar businesses and will be happy to recommend you if you have impressed them with your work.

7. Harvest client testimonials

Another of the best marketing technique to get a good number of clients is by showing testimonials to your targeted audience. Ask your clients to write about their great experience they have had while working with you, show their affidavits to the world. Just ask your clients to make a simple tweet or post a Facebook status, even as little as this would be enough.

8. Don’t forget to market yourself offline

Finally, the last one, marketing, is not just done online; for logo designers marketing your work offline is equally important. You can always arrange meetups, conferences, workshops and industry events. These are the great opportunities to meet other professionals and get your name out in the market.

Conclusion

“Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.” – Ann Handley

It is never enough to be only good at something; being ‘good’ won’t attract clients. Marketing is equally important or perhaps even more important than the work itself. Unless you won’t tell the world out there about your expertise how will they know it! Many designers are very confident about their skills, but when it comes to establishing and promoting them, they get jitters. Yes, there is no easy way of promoting yourself as a logo designer, but with consistency and hard work, you can achieve all you have dreamt about.

Good Luck!

SaaS Branding

A Comprehensive Guide to SaaS Branding

Steven on May 27, 2020

Too many SaaS business owners do not see branding as a crucial segment in the early stages. Especially when there is app development in progress and the business has yet to start growing.

There is one simple assumption that makes them oblivious to the importance of branding — they think that a good product will sell itself. They believe there is no need to invest in marketing campaigns or branding, and all other things that help build a strong company image and name.

However, that assumption is very wrong. And it can be fatal too. If there is no recognizable brand, even a trailblazing app will struggle.

Of course, you can always look for an already established SaaS business for sale, a recognizable brand that already makes a considerable profit. That will save you a lot of time and effort.

But if you’d like to start your business from scratch and build your own brand effectively, you can start so today by taking in as much as you can from this guide.

Before we start — what is branding really?

Branding can be described as an overview of what your target customers think about you and your offer (service/product).

This is the image your company has in the world, and it applies both to how your rivals and your customers see you.

However, when you delve deeper, it is fair to say that branding is a bit more complex. It also includes how the management and team players see and think about the company, its processes, motivation, and beliefs.

This is exactly why you should have your brand in mind before you start creating your business website and other marketing materials. It is this image that will separate your business from other rivals offering similar services or products.

Hence, it is reasonable to say that your brand is a mirror of what customers see and think about your company. And, logically, your goal should be to have a beautiful image in their eyes.

A strong name — a strong brand

The SaaS industry is growing at the speed of light and soon enough it will become difficult to find a unique company that is somehow different from the rest.

Well, the first step towards uniqueness is definitely your domain name. There are quite a few branding benefits of various domain names and extensions.

That is why it is important to learn what the cheapest domain names bring to the table contrary to the more expensive ones. For example, some people think that only an expensive domain name is a good one, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Also, know that there are hundreds and hundreds of extensions that you can use. These range from specific ones such as .TECH, .STORE, and .PRESS to the more general ones including .ONLINE, .WEBSITE, and, .SPACE.

The benefits of a good domain name for branding are quite significant.

Firstly, a domain name tells your customers whether you are forward-thinking or not.
What’s even more important is that it helps you interact with a niche market. You are most likely dealing with a specific audience and that is why you should create specific domain redirects that point customers to what they want.
Finally, since people’s first contact with your business is your domain name, this makes the name an important factor when it comes to your identity. In other words, the message your brand name communicates is what most customers will see first.

Position

It is important to create a strong sense of what your products offer to the world. Additionally, that needs to be communicated in a way that differentiates it from all other available products.

First, it is important to explain what problems your service/products are solving. This is the act of positioning.

For instance, you could be helping teams become more efficient and avoid bottlenecks when communicating with each other (Trello, Basecamp, and so on).

A good position statement is not there only to place your product in the minds of your users but also to let you define your target audience and differentiate yourself from your competitors. This will also ‘vouch’ that you are on a path where every action is ‘on brand.’

Any decision you make will place you closer or further from where your competitors are located. That is why it may be useful to envision your product’s position as a location on a map.

Utilize emotions

No, you are not taking advantage of anyone’s feelings.

When marketing your SaaS, you have to be able to capture people’s attention fast. This will make them interested in your brand and that means that they will want to know more.

Your branding has to resonate well with your customers’ needs, aspirations, and emotions. That will help your company create a connection with people and build loyalty over time.

See what works best for you. For instance, most companies are used to seeing positive, benefit-oriented imagery and copy that highlight the pleasure to be gained from a product. But, this wasn’t the path for one industry giant — Basecamp.

In 2016, Basecamp changed their visuals to a cartoon drawing of a customer with her hair on fire being chased after by notifications, calls, and emails. Oh, they also tripled their prices.

This wasn’t something people were expecting to see. But, it was captivating and in the end, it worked.

Smart, right?

Social proof needs to be a part of your marketing toolkit

Social proof and testimonials are everywhere nowadays. That, above everything else, is a clear sign of how powerful this marketing tool is.

The most effective testimonials describe real scenarios and situations. These talk about problems your products solve and you need to add them to your arsenal.

For a start, you could start gathering testimonials. These can be conversation transcriptions you have with your customers or direct quotes from them.

Then, you could also introduce quick surveys.

For instance, when sending a survey, ask questions such as:

How did our product change your operations?
Is our product helpful?
How does our product help you get on with your work?
How would you feel if you stopped using it right now?
Would you recommend it to anyone?

When doing this kind of marketing, be sincere, and post honest answers. If your social proof seems staged, well, you have failed.

Add an element or two of reality by guiding your customers to highlight the elements of concern they had before they bought your product. When you clear out all the doubt, you win.

Conversational marketing as a cornerstone

If you haven’t heard of it, conversational marketing is a fresh approach to doing business online. The buyers are moved through marketing and sales funnels by using the power of one at a time questions.

But, why should you care about that? How can conversational marketing help you promote your brand?

Well, first of all, you need conversational marketing to ensure that you are providing value. Since this method revolves around messages, you should think about how your messaging platform can deliver content in a personalized and engaging way.

The customer experience should be thought out well and the messages need to align with other marketing efforts.

However, do not forget that you should avoid automating too much. Since the point is to provide a private messaging service (with the aim of increasing the number of personalized interactions with customers), you shouldn’t overdo it with chatbots.

Having technology at your disposal does not mean that you absolutely have to use it. The messaging platform is reserved for the more fluid, back-and-forth, or Q&A interactions. Do not let the customers feel that you are trying to sell something to them.

When a customer realizes that the goal is to have a product sold to them, your brand will look like it is just trying to take advantage of an honest conversation.

So, make sure to use this method but use it carefully. As you do this with more and more customers, your brand shall grow.

Digital Branding

How Does SEO help to improve your Brand Awareness?

Steven on May 20, 2020

Just making a website is not enough. You need to show it in search engine results in order to have visitors and sales. A website without search engine optimization is like a shop in a far plunged area where nobody bothers to visit. They say if you want to hide something from the world, keep it on the second page of Google search results. The first organic search result receives a 32.5% traffic, the 2nd sees 17.6% and the 7^th only gets 3.5%. This shows if you are on the 2^nd page, you get less than 1% of the overall traffic and you are dead if you don’t appear even on the 2^nd page.

SEO helps improve everything, traffic, sales, and brand awareness. For example, if you are a tyre brand in Dubai or an SEO firm in Jeddah and appear on top for the keywords “Tyres in Dubai” or “SEO Jeddah” which have the most monthly search volume, you are going to have maximum organic traffic, higher chances of maximum conversions and high brand awareness. High visibility imprints a brand name into customer’s minds. It tempts customers to believe that you are the best in the field and hence can be trusted. This is the reason brand awareness has become synonymous with SEO.

Ways SEO can Help Boost Brand Awareness

A well-thought-out SEO campaign will go a long way in boosting brand awareness. The following techniques which are all part of SEO can make your brand known globally.

1. Link Building

Link building is an integral part of SEO and a proven way to further brand awareness. Quality backlinks contribute to search engine rankings which increases the brand visibility. They also market your brand to the audience of the back linking sites. For example, gaining a link from Reddit or Entrepreneurs through a guest post will not only high rocket your rankings but also advertise your brand to the thousands of daily users of these websites.

2. Adopt Referrals

Customer referral is a good way to acquire new leads. Customers share about the things that they buy or the newest places they visit. Use the few people who have tried your product to spread the awareness message. You can award them for bringing business to you in the form of discount coupons. This reduces your marketing cost too. Big companies like PayPal, Dropbox, and Uber use this strategy which highlights its importance.

3. Create Guest Content

There is no denying the fact that content plays a key role in SEO. Creating extremely useful content and sharing it on other relevant blogs with a mention of your brand will expose your brand to new audiences. This is great for targeting online readers. If the content educates, consumers will recognize your brand.

4. Use Infographics

Some online searchers prefer images and graphics over blogs. Infographics are colorful displays that you can use to grab the attention of customers. The advantage is that infographics are shareable online. If your infographic has interesting credible statistics and nice looking images, it will go viral in no time bringing in a whole lot of new links.

5. Invest in PPC

Pay per click is a great advertising model you can use to get leads online. Even if the customers don’t click on the ads they will see your brand name in the search results. Reminding your customers of your brand again and again on different platforms is the way to get it known. All big brands invest in PPC.

6. Run Social Media Contests

Being on social media along is not enough. You have to be active and one way to do this is to run contests. Ask your followers to share specific links about your brand and offer a prize to people with the most likes, comments or shares.

7. Seek Local Partners

To get to the top, start from where you are. Form partnerships with local entrepreneurs (this is particularly useful for local businesses) and sponsor seminars, festivals and charity events. This is the key to establishing local dominance.

8. Publish on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a platform that you can use to establish your brand online fast. You can’t ignore this platform if you are in the business-to-business space. Build a blog with active followers. Post useful content regularly with unique headlines and use profile banners.

9. Hire Influencer Marketers

Influencers are people who are well known and can help significantly in promoting your brand. Since they already have huge followings and their words are trusted, getting them to recommend your brand will do wonders overnight. You can even form partnerships with them if they complement your business. LinkedIn is an outstanding platform where you can easily search for influencers and evaluate their profiles so that you can decide if they are the right fit for your business. Once you have found the right individual or group of influencers, you can easily reach out to them via LinkedIn’s messaging system or send them a direct email. This is where an email finder tool comes in handy; with such a tool you can quickly search for any professional’s email address on the web (through social media profiles, websites, etc.) and easily import it directly into your CRM.

Bottom Line

SEO is crucial for brand awareness. There are so many ways directly or indirectly related to SEO that you can use to enhance your brand awareness. The above-mentioned ways are not only sneaky but easy to implement – exactly what you need to take your brand to the next level.

Digital Branding Personal Branding

6 Things To Consider When Making Your Own Brand

Steven on May 13, 2020

Creating your own brand when building a business is essential to its overall success. A recognized loved and eye-catching brand will help you stand out from the crowd and become relevant amongst your target audience. When generating your brand it is of the utmost importance to ensure that you both have your customers in mind as well as being able to illustrate your business’s brand clearly and effectively. If you are competing in the same field or niche as other more established brands, setting yourself apart from the rest is vital. It is the number one killer to the impact you make on the market if you appear as just the same run of the mill brand. Identifying what makes your brand unique and using that to your advantage will benefit you and your business exponentially. The creation of an incredible brand will allow you to attract potential customers effortlessly while establishing a reputation and relevancy amongst your demographic. Successful branding is also imperative to presenting your clientele with a high standard experience from the get-go and set yourself up for making a great impression from the very first interaction with your business.

This article will provide you with a detailed list of incredible advice and insights to give you the confidence you need towards successfully creating your brand. Arming yourself with as much knowledge and understanding as possible is essential to effectively achieve your goals.
Here are 6 Things To Consider When Making Your Own Brand:

1. Create An Eye-Catching Logo

The first element to consider when establishing your brand and type of experience you want to get across quickly to your audience is creating eye-catching Logos Brisbane. Do not be afraid to think outside the box and let your personality shine through when generating your logo. This will be your identifier when customers interact with your brand. This will be the first, stand out feature of your business and it is essential to ensure you are creating one that is noticeable, recognizable, and aligns with your brand’s voice.

2. Establish Your Brand’s Vision

Establishing your brand’s vision is another vital element in creating your overall brand. How do you want your brand to be perceived by potential customers? Crafting a clear vision about what your brand is passionate about and what you can provide your customers with that others can not. If you believe in your business and what you are all about, the likelihood of your target market following suit and believing in your vision and brand, skyrockets.

3. Determine Your Brand’s Voice

Along with establishing your brand’s vision is it imperative that you determine your brand’s voice. Do you want to communicate in a professional manner, more casual, friendly and inviting, technical, conversational, etc? There are so many ways you are able to get your message across and present your brand and this is important to determine an action from the get-go to maintain your brand’s consistency.

4. Consistency

This brings us to our next important element to consider when building your own brand – consistency! Consistency is key when it comes to creating a solid brand that customers can rely on. Once you have made up your mind when it comes to how your brand sounds, is viewed, and captures its audience it is important to follow through and align your brand’s ‘feel’ consistently across the board. When your business comes across as though it is all over the place and your communication style does not align with your brand type, it can present as confusing and noncohesive. Consistency provides a level of comfort and professionalism to your demographic.

5. Research Competitors

Unless no one else in the entire world provides anything similar to the products or services you are offering it is essential to your success to ensure you research your direct and indirect competitors. Although standing out and being unique is vital it is also extremely beneficial to see how other successful brands are dominating the market to provide a level of guidance.

6. Identify Demographic

One of the most important initial steps of building a successful brand is to identify your target market, audience and demographics. This will help you greatly in achieving the above-stated objectives and align your brand’s attractiveness to your potential customers. This will also help you establish your brand’s logo, voice, and overall experience.

About the author

Kelly Wilson is an experienced and skilled Business Consultant and Financial advisor in the USA. She helps clients both personal and professional in long-term wealth building plans. During her spare time, she loves to write on Business, Finance, Marketing, Social Media. She loves to share her knowledge and Experts tips with her readers.

Digital Branding

How To Grow As an Ethical Brand During COVID-19

Steven on May 7, 2020

With COVID-19 spreading throughout the world, there’s absolutely no doubt that we all are experiencing a crisis situation. The whole world is terrified, and people are suffering from a huge loss in businesses due to lockdowns. However, with all the current insane situations, we need to keep one thing in mind that all of this will soon be over. There will come a time soon when we’ll find a vaccine for this virus, and then we’ll be able to continue with our happy and healthy lives.

Speaking of the pandemic, businesses are suffering, and as a result, the economy isn’t great either. Everything seems like falling apart, but the bright light shining at the end of the tunnel is that businesses can use the break to prepare for the future. It’s time for us to buckle up, get some motivation, and get back on our feet to bring our businesses back on the success track.

Today we are going to mention some of the most useful tips that you can use to ethically grow your brand during COVID-19. You’ve got plenty of time to do some research, and you’ve got plenty of time to work on your business.

Here are the tips that you should be using nowadays!

Work at home during COVID-19

Growing Your Business as an Ethical Brand

1. Lean on your assets

Are your files and social media accounts filled with contacts you thought were useless? It’s time for you to check them out – the emails, the social media profile links, the online groups. You need these people, and you need them to drive your sales now that everyone’s locked up in his house. Take the opportunity to ramp up your communication and build your network from scratch. Right now, you can lean on those assets of your business and use them to grow ethically and financially.

2. Work on your online presence

First of all, an ethical brand always has a strong online presence. If you don’t have one, it’s time to get it developed because, without it, your survival isn’t possible. Especially during this situation, all you can do is that you can rely on your website, your social media profiles, etc. This is how you can communicate with your customers and be there for them. In case you already have social media accounts and a website, then put some effort into improving them and fixing the issues that you’ve always wanted to but couldn’t find the time for it.

Launchn ew prouducts

3. Launch new products

Be there for your customers and be active. You’ve always worked behind your desktops in an office before, but now you have to do your work from your house. Even though you are in a different setting, you can still launch new products. People want things like hand sanitizers and masks, etc. at affordable prices. During this situation, meeting the demands of hour, such as introducing face masks at a reasonable price will be enough to grow your brand’s presence.

4. Interact with your people

You don’t want your customers to forget you, right? If yes, then this is the time to ramp your interaction skills too! Just talk to your people, engage with them, and let them know that you are there for them all the time. Even if you just discuss the current COVID-19 situation with your customers and how they can cope with it, it will be enough for them to remember you!

Help supply others during COVID-19

5. Help others you build your ethical brand

We are talking about growing a business ethically here, which means that you need to help other people who are fighting this virus and the current situation of the world. If you can’t donate something on your own, the least you can do is to do some marketing for those who are working for a good cause and supporting people financially.

Conclusion

These are some important things you should be doing right now for your business. Believe it or not, it will help you grow ethically, and once all of this is over, these efforts will bring you great results.

Digital Branding

4 Reasons Why You Need LinkedIn for Your Business

Steven on May 7, 2020

It’s an undeniable fact that we all are living in the digital era which means you need a solid online presence if you want your business and your professional identity to survive. If you have the kind of time and money to get a website developed for your business or your profession, it’s great, but if you don’t want to take it to that level yet, then start with social media.

For starters, social media is free! This is probably the best news for you. All that matters on these platforms is your effort. The more you invest time and effort into building a good social media identity, the better it will be for your business and for your career.

Speaking of social media and business, today we are going to talk about one of the most powerful platforms that you can use to promote your business’s interest. We are talking about none other than “Linkedin”.

Using LinkedIn for Your Business

Here are some convincing reasons that will explain why you need Linkedin for your business;

1- Google Your Name

Let’s put it straight! Google is the platform people use to search for businesses online. Now there are two ways to get on Google. The first is to get a website developed, and the second is to create a Linkedin profile. When you have a Linkedin profile, Google will automatically show you if someone searches for your business. If you want people to get in touch with you, just fill up your “contact us” page on Linkedin and then leave it all to Google.

2- It Speaks For Your Business

There are millions of business accounts on Facebook and Instagram, but honestly, when it comes to Linkedin, only the professionals know how important it is. In other words, when you have a solid profile on Linkedin, people automatically assume that you are the person they’ve been looking for and that you are professional. Furthermore, you can customize whatever information you want to put on your Linkedin account. You can tell what your business is about, and you can put a great impression with just a little effort and research!

3- A Solid Linkedin Profile Can Do Wonders For You

It’s true that it will take you some time to build a solid Linkedin profile, but it’s not impossible, right? On top of everything else, there are platforms like InBusinessNinjas who can generate leads for you and increase your followers. These people are professionals who know how to get the type of account you are supposed to have for your business. You can get in touch with them directly at https://inbusinessninjas.co.uk/. We assure you that you won’t be disappointed with their services and they will do wonders for your business’s success.

4- Fastest Way To Reach Your Next Client

As said earlier, the entire world has gone digital so you can now get to your next client easily without any hassle. With just some research and marketing, you can get the top clients for your business. In a nutshell, this platform can be the next best thing that will happen to your business.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important reasons that explain why you should get on Linkedin as soon as possible. We assure you that you won’t regret your decision and sooner or later it will bring you the results that you are expecting. Just stay consistent with your efforts and then see how things work out.

Digital Branding Legal Branding

How to Start Earning Extra Money Online in 2020

Steven on May 5, 2020

2020 has been a challenging year for many, and some have found themselves without work. Whether you need to make extra money for some luxuries or to pay the bills, we have come up with the best way to do it.

Strengths and Skills

The first thing that you should do is take an inventory of your strengths and any skills that you have and write these down on paper. People who are looking to make extra money make the mistake of charging onto the web and looking at opportunities at random, hoping to find that magic wand of instant riches.

We need to be clear here. There’s no instant fix, and making money online requires effort and time. So if you jot down your skillset, it will be a lot easier to find the right way for you to make some money.

For example, if you have solid organizational and admin skills, then you might consider opportunities such as a virtual assistant or data capturer. If you’re an expert in coding, then perhaps you’ll want to look at app development. You can always start any course from scratch. There’s something for everyone, so don’t give up.

Preferences and Pet Hates

Next, make a shortlist of things that you would like to do and others that you really dislike the idea of. It’s a good idea to think about what you don’t enjoy as you’ll be putting time and effort into making money, and you don’t want to get stuck doing something you hate.

Like using the phone? Consider a remote call center position. Enjoy being creative? Then logo design might be your thing.

Opportunities for the Taking

Once you have made the two lists above, start searching for openings. With your list in hand, you can quickly see what would work for you and what wouldn’t, saving you time. Opportunities for making money online are vast but are usually divided into set categories.

You’ll find network marketing, direct sales, virtual assistant and typing work, call center work, writing, drop-shipping, and call center positions. Most writing positions, like blogging, can be 100% online. Other opportunities, such as network marketing, might consist of both online and offline work. Choose what fits you best.

Contact the company advertising the opportunity and make sure to get all the details you need to get started. Once you’ve found something that fits you, apply for the job and put in the daily effort to grow.

Don’t Forget the Branding

Whether you have decided to become a virtual assistant or write for a magazine, remember that you have a brand. You are your brand, and you need to make sure that you put yourself forward in the best possible light. Create a personal blog page with all your details and skills, set out in an organized manner.

Here you can include things such as your area of expertise, your values, and your passions. It’s not so much a resume as it is an opportunity to present yourself as a whole. This will create an image for you and, ultimately, a brand you can build on. When applying for new projects or even a job, you can use your personal blog for marketing yourself and your strengths to prospective clients.

Final Thoughts

Don’t get yourself down if you can’t find something to help you make money online straight away. Instead, take your time to find the right company and opportunity. There are many false promises and claims out there, so do it right. Remember, it takes time and effort to make money online or offline. By following these steps, you should find something suitable for you to work from home every day of the year.

MoneyMow is a blog about Carl and his family’s journey towards financial independence and retiring early at age 33. He writes about saving money, making money, and investing with the purpose of living a more free and happy life.