Category: Branding

Sometimes the word “brand” brings to mind one of those catchy radio commercial jingles you hear over and over. The hard truth is, that a brand’s voice is a cornerstone for any company.

Statistics show that if you implement your brand voice consistently, throughout your company, you’ll see your revenues increase.  This increase can be as high as 20 percent. Building your brand is the key to your company’s future success.

Learn more here on what is a brand voice all about and how to build one that establishes your company’s identity. When you develop this identity now, you’ll guarantee faster growth in your company’s future.

Why Is Branding So Important?

The most familiar brands in the market today have the power to cement a lasting impression on their target customers’ psyche. Buyers will often recognize these products and company names and connect with them on emotional levels.

Building a brand will attract a loyal following. These believers will know what they can expect from your product and will learn how to trust you.

Building a brand can also help you attract your future workers to come work for you. You’ll see that potential employees want to work for your enterprise and become a part of its familiar name.

Potential business associates might want to collaborate because they know about your positive reputation. Investors will start knocking on your door because they want to collaborate with a recognized name in your specific industry.

The History of Branding

Early branding history standouts in this country included brand names such as Tide and Lipton. These companies designed what’s known today as brand management science.

These companies knew how to speak to customers and learn what their values were and what was most important to them. Once they found out what emotional value a customer had for their product, they would create a tone that promoted that product based on this value.

These companies identified their customer’s values before their competitors did. They also learned that they could charge a higher price for their products if a customer believed that they offered the best value as compared to their competitors.

What Is a Brand Voice?

A company’s brand voice means how they talk to its customers. A brand voice directed to a target audience should have its own style and come across as true to the company’s persona and values.   

Think of a brand voice as the tone in which you communicate with your friends, family, work colleagues, or spouse. Just like there is a specific way you communicate with these people, there’s also a way to communicate with your customers.

Buyers will buy more from those brands that create emotional connections, rather than with brands that deliver uninspired messaging. Think of your brand tone as to how your company says something, less than what they say.

Types of Brand Voice

Brand voice can range anywhere from intellectual to playful. Some of the most common brand voice examples you’ll see in the market today include:

• Aggressive and strong
• Sweet and elegant
• Weird or out-of-the-ordinary
• Inspiring and positive
• Funny
• Aggressive and strong
• Simple or considerate
• Highly emotional.

How to Find Your Brand Voice

The first step to building your brand voice is to identify the core elements of your company’s products and name. These elements should tell the world who you are and what customers can expect when they do business with your company. These core elements include the following:

Identify Your Company Values

Create a brand voice that mirrors what you believe is important so that you can align it with your company’s top priorities. One simple way to do this is to have your company’s on-hold messaging recording outline your company’s products and values.

You should also link your brand to your company’s mission. When you do, you’ll show your target audience why you are their best choice to meet their specific needs.

Know Your Customer

Understand your customer’s values and desires. When you do, then you’ll be able to create a compelling tone that keeps their loyalty and persuades them to visit your business over and over again.

What do your customers need right now? Are those needs going to shift in the future? When you know how to appeal to your buyers, you can shift your strategy and market to them in the future as well.

Know What the Competition Is Doing

Lipton and Tide knew this point all too well. They learned early that if they took the time to find out what the competition could (or couldn’t) do, their products could outpace what these other products could do.

Make a note of what didn’t work for your competitors. Then you can avoid making the mistakes they made.

Test, Review, and Adapt Your Voice

Review and experiment with your brand tone on your printed and electronic platforms. Write some sample blog posts for your website, using your new brand voice. Ask for feedback from your colleagues.

Review how your tone interacts with other components of your brand.  Is your voice consistent with your website, letterhead, or business cards?

Does your logo send off a different impression? Does your tone conflict with the logos or colors you’ve chosen to represent your business? Check to be sure that these other branding vehicles don’t conflict but work consistently together to avoid confusing messages.

Schedule Time to Review and Adjust Your Brand Voice

It’s easy to forget about developing your brand voice throughout your hectic work schedule. With all of the other day-to-day obligations fighting for your attention, it might be tempting to think that a brand voice can develop itself.

Just remember that building your brand tone is an investment in your company’s future. Make time to look at your messaging to make sure you aren’t sending conflicting signals.

What Are Your Next Steps?

It’s a time-consuming exercise to build your brand voice. Make it a habit to set aside time to observe what the competition is doing. Make strategic adjustments in response to a customer’s online feedback.

Don’t forget to check our website for more helpful information on what is a brand voice all about. Let us help take your enterprise to its next best level by contacting us today. 

The scenario’s not new: you call up a company to make a payment and are met with an annoying, robotic voice placing you on hold. Next, the repetitive elevator music comes, and you’re in for a long hour waiting on the phone. 

The problem is that roughly 60% of customers in this situation will hang up. That fact still holds true today. That’s why it’s so important to have custom on-hold messaging that speaks to your brand marketing efforts and keeps clients engaged. 

So, are you ready to learn all about the benefits of implementing a custom on-hold for business calls? Check it out in this guide to customized on-hold recordings!

1. Improve Brand Recognition

When clients call your business, they’re looking for individualized support. And when you have a standardized run-of-the-mill recording, there’s no way to create that personal connection with your callers. 

Instead, your business blends into the countless others that use the same on-hold greeting or music. What could have been the chance to connect with clients becomes a lost opportunity. 

When you add on-hold recordings, however, you give yourself the chance to make your brand voice heard and to reinforce your messaging. You can promote what your company is about, strengthening your brand. 

Remember, every interaction you have with a customer is a valuable business opportunity. It’s important to make use of those interactions and maximize them.

2. Create a Professional Image 

Let’s play out a scenario here. Say you’re on the phone with two different companies. Both of them place you on hold.

One business gives you an engaging message in a professional tone, describing their new product line. The other throws you into a dark void of silence, forcing you to wait in boredom for a representative to get back to you. 

Using a custom on-hold message helps diminish some of the boredom associated with waiting on the line. And it gives you a chance to show off your business’s professionalism. 

The reason why this is the case is that customers’ first impressions, which are sometimes your on-hold messages, make a huge difference as to how they perceive your business. The better your hold messaging is, the more professional your business seems.

3. Boost Your Revenue

This might seem strange, but hear us out on this one. When customers hang up the phone, you lose potential business. And when you lose business, you lose business revenue. 

Companies might think that investing in custom on-hold messages is a wasted expense. However, if you consider the fact that the majority of clients will hang up the phone due to poor on-hold messaging, it’s actually a good investment.

By investing in custom on-hold messages, you can make the wait-time seem shorter, too. This keeps customers on the line because they don’t realize how much time they’re on the line. That connects you to them and enables you to pitch a sale much faster. 

Finally, you can actually include information about new products in your on-hold messages. This could entice customers to make additional purchases that they hadn’t originally planned on.

4. Keep Callers on the Line

A major part of keeping customers on the line is having strong on-hold messaging. That’s because many customers who are left to wait in silence end up hanging up the phone!

Keeping callers on the line is important. Even though sometimes it’s unavoidable to put clients on hold, it’s still important to make sure that you do everything you can to make the experience a positive one. 

When you use custom on-hold messages, you can make the experience more positive. Plus, you can actually make it more productive by offering information or product recommendations as part of your recording. 

Using your on-hold message as a place to offer client education reduces the likelihood that your clients will hang up because you make it a more pleasant and useful experience overall. 

5. Create a Better Customer Experience

What’s surprising to many businesses is that custom on-hold messaging actually keeps customers less stressed than using silence or simple music.

Reducing stress and frustration during the on-hold experience is critical because it ensures that your customers are in a positive frame of mind once they finally get through to you. Then, they’ll be more likely to buy.

In addition, providing a positive customer experience can lead to more loyalty. When individuals know that the on-hold experience with your team is pleasant, they’re more likely to call you in the future if the need arises. 

Lastly, when you provide customers with a positive experience, they’re more likely to recommend your business to others. That can lead to boosted sales and customer bases. 

6. Control Your Content

If your current on-hold sound is silence, you don’t have this issue. However, if you use music in your on-hold service, you need to be aware of licensing regulations. 

Businesses that don’t comply with licensing laws can actually wind up in big trouble for using copyrighted content on their on-hold calls!

By creating custom on-hold content, however, you’re in control of what gets played back to customers. You don’t have to worry about licensing issues or about run-ins with the laws since it’s your original work. 

Build Your Brand Marketing With Custom On-Hold Messages

Having custom on-hold messages is a fantastic way to improve your brand marketing strategy. It’s a better way to connect with clients and keep them engaged with your business. 

If you’re ready to get started improving your brand, give us a call. Together, we’ll position your business for success and increase customer engagement through expert marketing strategies. 

There are as many ways to advertise a business as there are products to sell. In today’s marketplace, many businesses focus on web advertising, boosting their presence on social media or popular websites.

As a result, modern companies may be missing out on a tried and true method of advertising: the ad jingle.

Though the idea of an ad jingle might seem quaint today—a relic of the days of radio—the reality is that businesses can reap substantial rewards when they create a jingle.

Jingles are part of a marketing strategy called sonic branding. Sonic branding is all about getting a business’s message into a person’s head through audio advertising.

Several of the biggest brands in America have already discovered the benefits of sonic branding. This article will explain how every business can benefit from a well-crafted jingle.

Jingles Work Across Media

One of the biggest advantages of using an ad jingle is that companies can slot them into any advertising that uses audio. Commercials, online videos, radio ads—all of these can be enhanced with the addition of a snappy jingle.

When a company uses a jingle, they become omnipresent. There are very few places a jingle can’t reach.

If a customer is in a car, they might hear the jingle on the radio, or on a music streaming service like Pandora. At home, they may hear the jingle while watching television or checking out YouTube videos.

A jingle may even reach customers who are on the phone. On-hold messaging is an important feature of many call centers; a company can insert their jingle into their messaging to reinforce it to their customers.

As technology advances and platforms change, new ways to use jingles emerge. For example, podcasts are a growing market for advertising and a natural fit for jingles.

As an entirely auditory medium, podcasts are often considered the modern-day equivalent of radio shows. Radio has always been a good medium for jingles, and podcasts are, too.

A quick jingle at the beginning or middle of a podcast can be a huge boon, especially if the podcast has a wide audience or an obvious tie to the product.

Jingles Establish a Brand

A jingle is a concise, memorable way for a company to establish a brand identity. Both lyrics and melody can influence how customers view a company based on their jingle.

If a company is looking to establish a specific tone, music is a great way to do so. More importantly, the words can paint an idealized picture of the company.

If a jingle makes a company sound fun and exciting, then suddenly “fun and exciting” are phrases that people associate with that company. The idea that the brand is fun and exciting is reinforced every time people hear the jingle.

Great jingles are fun and catchy, giving customers positive brand associations.

There’s a danger here, too. Like a sitcom character with an annoying catchphrase, a bad jingle can become frustrating to customers.

Much like a logo, a jingle is one of the first things people will associate with a business. The last thing a brand wants is for a customer to roll their eyes every time their jingle comes on!

Jingles have the power to make or break a company’s public image, so it’s crucial to get them right. There are several tricks to maximize a jingle’s potential, as well as some pitfalls to avoid.

An Ad Jingle Offers Flexibility

One of the hallmarks of a great jingle is that it is extremely flexible. This isn’t referring to its ability to be deployed in many mediums—even a bad jingle offers that kind of flexibility.

Jingle flexibility instead refers to the capacity for the jingle to be remixed and reused.

Times change. Companies change. What works today may not work—or may not make sense—tomorrow. A jingle should be able to keep up.

The most obvious example of this is changing the music slightly. A company might alter the key of the jingle, or even transplant it into a different genre to change up the sound.

This can help bring advertising in line with a new direction the business is taking, or to adjust to a more popular style of music as cultural tastes shift.

On the other hand, it might just be a simple way to freshen up a long-running ad jingle. An occasional refresh grabs people’s attention, drawing focus onto the new sound (and the advertisement behind it).

The best jingle can also get a lyrical tweak from time to time. If a company is running a special promotion, for instance, they may wish to change a line in their jingle to reference the current deal.

Even a small change from the norm can grab a customer’s attention and help the ad stand out—as long as the original jingle is firmly established.

Cost-Effective Marketing

In terms of efficient ways to advertise, it’s hard to beat ad jingles. This is largely because they are so versatile, with one jingle featuring across countless other forms of advertising.

Every company wants to save money, and some may hesitate at the idea of hiring a jingle service. The thing is, the up-front cost is minimal when considered against the utility of the jingle itself.

Hiring a jingle company should be thought of as an investment, not an expense. By paying the price for a single jingle, a business gains an asset that can be used in virtually any kind of marketing campaign.

Yes, that includes print campaigns—once a customer hears a jingle enough times, even reading the words will put the jingle in their heads. They won’t need the music; they’ll supply it themselves.

Of course, some companies may be tempted to forego the cost of hiring a jingle company and simply work out a jingle themselves.

This is not an advisable move.

As pointed out earlier, a bad jingle does more harm than good. If a company doesn’t know what they’re doing and puts out a jingle that people find annoying, they’re only going to drive customers away.

People Will Remember a Jingle

One of the biggest benefits of a jingle is that it sticks around in people’s heads. Particularly catchy jingles are called ‘earworms’—tracks that burrow into a listener’s brain and refuse to leave.

Research has shown that music has strong ties to memory. The human brain likes to sort information into chunks of data, and songs (a combination of lyric and melody) are like pre-built chunks for brains to store.

As a result, a listener is much more likely to remember a musical jingle than a more straightforward description of a business.

It’s the same concept as a college student using a mnemonic device to study for a big test. Adding a tune or a rhyme to information helps lock it into one’s mind more securely.

This is even more advantageous for long-running jingles. If a company uses the same jingle for decades, then it can become nostalgic—and nostalgia is a powerful force in marketing.

Perhaps the best example of this is McDonald’s classic “I’m lovin’ it” jingle, which many adults have been hearing since their childhoods.

It’s no coincidence that such a massive and successful brand also has one of the most recognizable jingles in the world!

Music Connects to Mood

Memory is not the only part of the human experience that music links to. A person’s mood can also be affected by music—and that means that a jingle can influence mood, too.

Music is one of the most powerful mood enhancers in the world. There’s a reason action films have bombastic soundtracks while dramas often stick to quiet, classical music; the sound sets the tone for what’s happening.

The music of a jingle can summon emotions (positive and negative) in a listener, and it’s important for a product to provoke the right emotional response.

In much the same way that a jingle builds a brand’s identity, it should also direct a user’s feelings about a product.

For example, a high-energy techno sound might be catchy and memorable, but it’s the wrong choice for a jingle about a new medication. The music tells the customer to get excited, but the product is much more serious.

That dissonance will confuse and upset people.

The reverse is also true: a theme park jingle shouldn’t have a subdued and somber jingle. That will make listeners associate the park with sadness.

Ideally, a business should aim for music that promotes positive emotions. That way, the company’s ads will put a smile on the listener’s face–and the listener will ascribe that smile to the business.

Ad Jingles Boost Business

Using an ad jingle is a great way for any business to advertise. A jingle can reach thousands of people across many types of media, and a great jingle will stick in people’s heads. Hiring a jingle company is a smart investment!

Ad jingles are just one example of the powerful marketing tools available to businesses today. To take full advantage of the best marketing strategies, get a quote from the Killer Spots Agency.

It is no secret that owning a website offers rewards. It can increase sales, leads, and brand awareness exponentially. But there is one catch- your website design will make or break it.

According to Standford’s credibility research, web design determines 75% of company credibility judgment. Will your website make the cut?

As there is so much riding on your business website design, do not cut corners. Hire a web design service. There are so many benefits to doing this but do not just pick the first company you come across. 

You need to find the right company to envision the web design experience you want visitors to have. And there are several factors you can consider to help. Trust us— there are over 83,150 web design businesses in the US and plenty more freelancers.

Keep reading to pick the right web design service for you. And so you can save your time for other important matters, such as growing your business!

1. The Service You Need

There is a difference between web developers and web designers. Designers focus on designing business websites, whereas developers build them. Some companies offer both services, but it is an important place to start.

Many companies offer more than a web design service. They will provide packages with, too, such as to optimize site speed. Remember, you can use a service even if you already have a website to improve your current design. 

2. Time and Cost

What is your budget? There is no use blowing all your money on a popular option out of your price range. You might need to save some budget for other areas, such as social media advertising. 

There will be a web design service that is affordable for you. If you are not sure what is an acceptable rate, start by comparing designer fees. 

Also, how much time do you have? And how long will it take the company to create your business website design?

Small companies may have lots of clients when you need your site, so always check how long it will take them. And if the quoted price includes all fees! For example, do they offer ongoing customer service if you run into a problem?

3. Online Customer Reviews

A company can make big promises and look great on paper, but how do you know they will deliver? Online customer reviews. 

Online customer reviews will tell you a lot about the company’s reputation. Do not just look on their site. Be sure to check out independent review platforms and customer testimonials. If there is not much information out there, reach out to one of their clients. 

You can also ask about their office space. There are plenty of competent freelancers out there, but a company usually has a location too. Be wary of scams if there’s no reviews or location listed. 

4. Mobile-Friendly Business Website Design

Around 50% of all web traffic is from mobile users. And with the human attention span now under ten seconds, you need to engage visitors quickly. Otherwise, watch your bounce rate soar.

If the service does not offer mobile-friendly options or experience, look elsewhere.

Often you will see a mobile-first web design experience. This is when the company focuses on a mobile design first. It is not a required web design skill but a good indicator of their web design experience. 

5.  Their Style

What type of business web design do you want? Your style can make or break user engagement. Your website can be a fantastic way to build brand awareness or drown in the Google ocean of competitors. 

Pick a company that can match the design you want as much as possible. If you are not sure what you want, ask them for ideas. They should be able to offer ideas and draw-ups.

After all, according to Adobe, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if it is unattractive. So you need a web design service that can get it right!

It is no good going with a site designing business websites in a minimalist way when you want the opposite look.

Consider if you have any specific requirements. For example, do you want video content, lead generation features, or animations? With so many web design companies out there, you do not have to settle for a ‘no.’ 

Always be upfront, and keep searching if it does not feel right. There is a company with the expertise out there to fulfill your vision (as far as web design can go, at least!)

6. Similar Web Design Experience

So, you have a company in mind that has the skills and web design experience. But do they have similar clients to you?

Checking out the company’s clients will give you an idea if they can fulfill the promises they are making. If they do not have similar clients to you, it does not mean you should not use them. But it certainly helps confirm whether your business website design can be done. 

Do not be afraid to ask for a portfolio. Usually, web design experience is on the web design service website. 

7. Rapport  

You want to feel comfortable with whoever is creating your business website design. What happens if you are not happy with something, but you are too afraid to tell them?

As they say, the customer is always right. The web design service should make you feel comfortable sharing your goals. 

If you ‘click’ with the web design service, they are more likely to understand what your wants and needs are. And make them happen! You might have to work with the company long-term, so if it does not feel right, it is best to move on now. 

The Best Web Design Service for You

It is worth the search for a web design service. The road may feel long, but like many areas of business, you cannot cut corners if you want results.

Do not choose a cheap service with limited credentials. And do not opt for a business website design style not authentic to you. You will end up more out of pocket long-term when you realize how damaging it is to your business.

So, consider these factors for a positive web design experience!  

Killerspots agency offers award-winning web production with no commitment. Are you interested in learning more? Contact us today! 

Did you know that it takes 5 to 7 impressions for a brand to be remembered and become recognizable? Building a brand is an ongoing, evolving process that requires adaptation and hard work. 

Brand awareness is a foundation to building a brand successfully, it lays the groundwork for brand recognition and brand recall. 

So how do small businesses or enterprises ensure that their strategies are promoting brand awareness into and throughout 2021? Keep reading to find out the 7 best ideas for better brand awareness. 

Brand Awareness And Conversions 

Focusing on brand awareness can bring a myriad of advantages and benefits to your brand and business. One of these advantages is the fact that by deciding to increase brand awareness, you’re likely to see an increase in conversions and sales. 

The two are strongly tied together. 

Why is that?

Having a strong brand awareness means that people will remember your brand, and will be able to recall your products and services easier. The key to brand awareness is that potential customers will begin to relate your specific product with your brand, and remember it in their time of need. 

Brand awareness creates trust with your audience, and by doing so, eventually converts them to customers. Which is how brand awareness will increase your conversions over time. 

There are three key things that brand awareness can do your business: 

1. It can drive traffic to your website 
2. It can increase lead generation and conversions 
3. It can increase referrals and word-of-mouth marketing 

The one way to ensure that your brand awareness efforts are working for you is by using different strategies. 

1. Begin With a Plan 

Brand awareness should never be done on a whim with no strategic goals in place. This is why the first strategy you should have, is to have a strategy. 

Sounds a bit counterintuitive, doesn’t it? 

But marketing efforts should never be implemented without a solid plan as its foundation. This means you need to be able to measure brand awareness success. 

You need a plan for your brand awareness campaign. Ask yourself, what do you want to achieve with your marketing? What do you want to achieve with your brand awareness? 

Are you looking for more subscribers? Are you looking for more followers or a higher engagement rate? 

The absolute fundamental part to creating a successful brand awareness campaign is to know your audience. This is all forms part of the plan that you’ll create. So, start with your audience, what is their demographic? Where will you find them? Who are they? 

Once you’ve nailed that down, you’ll want to have measurable goals in place for the duration of your plan. How else are you going to know if you’re improving or if your strategies are working? 

2. Develop Your Brand Persona 

Some brands don’t see the importance of a cohesive brand persona across their platforms, and this is a mistake. 

You should develop a brand personality and voice that’s going to be the rule for how your brand is presented online, and offline. Part of this strategy is how you plan to make your brand relatable to your audience. 

If your brand evokes emotional reactions in people, it will be more memorable, and that’s how brand awareness and brand recall work. Work on your brand’s personality. 

How are you going to get people to relate to it on an emotional level? 

3. Content Is Key 

One strategy you should focus on is your content marketing. Through content, you can achieve many things. 

Focusing on your content marketing means that you need to have an understanding of the type of content you’ll be creating and publishing, and how this content is relevant and relatable to your audience. Content marketing is usually the heart of your brand’s digital marketing tactics. 

There’s no point in creating a brand awareness campaign if there isn’t relevant content to interest your audience. Having content that solves a problem or issue for your audience or your customers, is ultimately what will drive conversions. 

In-depth information within your content will be valuable to the performance of your brand awareness efforts. 

4. Consider Influencer Marketing 

Influencer marketing has grown exponentially over the past few years, and there’s good reasons why. 

Your strategy for influencer marketing is once again built upon the foundation of knowing your audience and knowing them well. Partnering with an influencer who is talking to your ideal target audience is how the system works. 

There are two things to consider though:

1. If you’re looking simply for increased brand awareness, then you’ll want to search for influencers who have a large following and that’s all 
2. If you’re looking to increase sales, then you’ll be looking for an influencer who is niched in your industry and can help convince their following to buy your product or service 

Did you know that 89% of marketers say that their ROI (Return on investment) is higher with influencer marketing than with other channels? 

5. Mobile Optimization 

You may read ‘Mobile Optimization’ and think wait, that’s just a tactic for digital marketing, how will it help with brand awareness?

Well, did you know that there are 3.5 billion mobile users globally? And these users spend about 2 hours per day on their mobile. 

This means one thing, if your online brand awareness is not optimized for mobile viewing, then you’ll be losing out on a large potential audience. You need to make sure that your website and all your content is suitable for viewing on any device. If your content is mobile-friendly, it makes for content consumption easily. And thus, puts your brand in front of more eyes, and increases your brand awareness. 

6. Promote Brand Loyalty 

One strategy that you absolutely have to implement is the promotion of brand loyalty. The idea behind brand loyalty is that you should be building long-term, sustainable relationships with your audience and your customers. 

One surefire way to promote brand loyalty is by creating membership scenarios for your audience and customers. This can be achieved by using the idea of exclusivity to sell the concept to your subscribers. 

What do we mean? 

Well, imagine subscribers get a monthly coupon for a small discount on your products or services, it makes them feel in a way that they belong to an ‘exclusive’ club and gives them a sense of belonging. 

Through brand loyalty, you can build communities that interact and engage with your brand continuously online, and in turn, these brand-loyal audience members will increase your brand awareness to people in their digital environment. 

7. SEO Is Still Important 

We’re all familiar with the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and what it can do for our websites, but what can it do for our brand awareness efforts?

Through SEO we look to achieve one thing, and that is increased traffic to our website. Through many different SEO tactics, our websites and our brands land in front of many, many more eyes. 

SEO tactics such as the use of social media marketing, keyword research, and local SEO efforts will all work together to give your brand more online presence and thereby create higher brand recognition. 

By focusing on your SEO, you’ll be killing two birds with one stone, you’ll be driving traffic to your website and promoting lead generation and you’ll be increasing brand awareness. Here are some of the SEO tactics you can include in your strategy:

• Perform an audience audit and ensure that you understand who you’re targeting and how you plan to do this 
• Through your audience audit, you’ll discover the foundation for your keyword research and this is a fundamental part to creating a successful SEO strategy 
• Focus on link-building, if your brand is present on other reputable websites of other well-known brands, you’ll drive both traffic and brand presence 
• Focus on local SEO efforts and make sure that you’re front of mind when it comes to local search engine results 

Through SEO you can place your brand in many more ‘places’ online and thereby increase your brand awareness. Ensure that your SEO efforts are measurable though, as you’re going to want to be able to measure how successful your SEO has been in contributing to your overall brand awareness efforts. 

You can use Google Analytics as a way to measure this and analyze your traffic. 

The Beauty Of Brand Awareness 

The thing about building brand awareness is that nothing is going to be an overnight success. You need to be willing to put in the groundwork and build a solid foundation for each of these brand awareness strategies. 

Measure your progress and performance periodically to ensure that you’re getting the results that you want, and to decide if your strategy needs to be adapted. 

Partnering with a reputable agency on your brand efforts can be advantageous in the long run, as they come with vast experience. Contact us if you’d like to start building brand awareness right now. 

A killer logo is critical to the success of your brand and organization. After all, you want your brand to be clear, recognizable, and persuasive so you can attract clients and build your business. Pulling together the right design elements into a logo can elevate your brand — and your sales.

Curious to learn more? Keep reading to understand why you need to prioritize logo design when building your brand!

Strong Logo Design Makes a Strong First Impression

First impressions are everything, right? And you want to make the best one possible when you’re establishing a brand. That’s where a dynamic logo can set you apart from the crowd.

With a logo, you need a design that plays into your consumers’ expectations for your brand. Think about what kind of tone you want to communicate. What colors, shapes, and icons can come together into a fresh and appealing logo?

By having a strong logo, you’ll make the right impression on potential customers. People have busy schedules and a lot of interests competing for their attention, so you need to hook them right away. They’ll be more likely to check out what you have to offer within your brand if they are wowed from the start.

How do you make that first impression? You hire experienced designers who can listen to your expectations and craft the perfect business logo design.

Hiring the right design team is a big piece of the branding puzzle since you need designers who can capture your brand with well-chosen design elements and a little originality. Work with your graphic designer to help them understand the mission of your organization so that you can make that strong first impression.

The Right Shapes Can Work Wonders

Recent studies suggest that the shape of a logo impacts the way a customer understands an organization. What does that mean? It means that when it comes to graphic design for logos, you’ll need to choose your shapes wisely.

Think about how you want your audience to perceive your brand. Do you want them to see you as friendly and service-oriented, or efficient and commanding? Do the research to know who your target audience is, and find ways to incorporate the visual qualities best suited to that audience.

It’s also important to determine what visual qualities work best. These will depend on your goals. An experienced graphic designer can choose the right tools for the job, and then walk you through the design theory behind their choices.

When it comes to shapes, curves and rounded lines tend to create a sense of warmth and approachability. So if your brand serves people in a very direct way, curves can be a wise choice within your brand identity.

Sharper lines and edges suggest professionalism as well as brand strength. A simple, more sever design might communicate that your brand is forward-thinking and cutting edge. Keep the corners sharp and the details minimal.

If you and your designer do opt for text, talk it over with them. Make sure you’re clear on the visual difference between serif and sans-serif fonts. They project very different images, so know which one serves your brand identity better!

You’ll Communicate Your Brand Clearly

Your brand logo needs to communicate your product or service clearly. If it doesn’t, you risk losing potential customers to your competitors.

If you’re real estate agent, for instance, it makes sense that your logo would communicate a sense of orderliness and structure — or maybe even an image of a house. With logo design, the goal is for someone who hasn’t seen your mission statement or anything else to be able to have some sense of what your brand represents.

A good rule of thumb is to show your logo design to other people for feedback. These can be friends, family, coworkers, or strangers. A good designer will be open to feedback and work with you to make sure that you’re satisfied.

Logos Make You Instantly Recognizable

You want a logo that people will recognize in any context. This is a challenging goal to achieve, but it is possible through excellent design work. And excellent design work means that even a simple shape or abstraction can speak volumes about who you are and what you do.

In today’s competitive world, consumers have grown distrustful of advertising that says too much. Advertisements that make false claims or seems too good to be true actually can damage a brand. This means that heavy-handed, text-heavy logos are falling out of favor.

Clean and comfortable logos are the better way to go. Brands like Nike have stayed relevant in part because of their memorable designs. Everyone knows the Swoosh, and there’s nothing aggressive about it.

Paying for a logo design might seem like a big upfront investment, but it’s one that pays off in the long run. And don’t think you can design something on your own if you don’t have a design background. It’s better to hire the right designer so that your logo looks professional and not amateurish!

When you’re developing your brand logo design, aim to create something that people will recognize whether it’s on a poster, website, or article of clothing. Brand recognition is huge, and you don’t want your brand to get lost in the shuffle.

Logos Help With Social Media Marketing

It’s important to leverage social media to showcase your brand, too. The days of relying on print materials are gone, so upping your digital game is crucial to your brand’s success. Set up social media accounts and use your brand as your profile picture whenever possible.

So much of social media is visual, so logos offer an easy way to engage new clients. With the average person spending over 5 hours on their phones each day, people are encountering so much visual content — and at a rapid speed. Make sure that your brand logo is active on a number of social media platforms as part of your marketing strategy.

Assign your savviest employee to handle the responsibilities, and make sure to document the metrics so you can see how your audience responds to your logo. If you notice that your logo is not translating into an audience or new sales, look into making some revisions.

You’ll Build Visual Consistency

From a branding standpoint, nothing is worse than an inconsistent public image. If the text and colors on print materials differ from those on Instagram, you’ll confuse your audience. And if the text is serif in one place and sans-serif in another, you won’t be building brand consistency.

With a logo, you create a clean symbol that you can include in any branding materials, whether digital or print. Think of it as a stamp or seal. Everything else you write or design should complement and enhance your logo.

And make sure that your logo works well in black and white. While most digital platforms will allow you to use color, be prepared for other formats — like print media — where you may be limited to grayscale. Design a logo that has enough contrast and clarity to translate to black and white formats effectively.

Ultimately, consistency is the key. Since part of your goal is to draw in new customers, keeping your logo uniform and clear is an essential step to creating a strong brand. Your brand will be more memorable and easier to recognize in a crowded field of competitors.

You’ll Build Brand Loyalty

You want your customers to come back, right? If customers have a good experience with your product or service, they’re more likely to do that. That’s why you want them to make a strong visual association with your brand — and a logo can help you do that!

Aim for a design that is timeless and not gimmicky. Designs that are based on trends will feel stale quickly. Things like drop-shadows, gradients, and handwritten text might seem like fun design choices at the moment, but you might be sick of these trends a year from now.

If your design has staying power, your clients may be more interested in sticking around, too. A logo that changes frequently could suggest that your brand is unreliable.

The Bottom Line

Good logo design has the capacity to elevate your organization’s visibility and sales. With some research and collaboration, you can build a brand that people will know and want to come back to. Make sure logo design is the next thing you pursue to strengthen your brand.

When you’re ready to craft the perfect logo, contact us and we can work with you to realize your vision!

80% of people crave good stories but wish brands were better at it. Creating a business brand is about telling your story. It’s about customers purchasing something and experiencing your story. Your brand should listen to your customers and communicate with them about their needs. This is why you need to measure brand awareness.

You need to see if you are listening to the needs of your customers. You need to figure out if your customers are feeling that your brand is about them and not you.

Here are 10 ways to measure brand awareness that can help you create or boost your brand to your customers.

1. Surveys

Surveys are an excellent way to measure your brand awareness. You are measuring how familiar people are with your business and what you do.

You are assessing how recognizable your business logos and products are with customers.

Surveys can be done by email, telephone, a website, or you can ask a customer in-person.

The goal is to see how well people recall your brand.

You can also see how videos promote your brand’s message in this blog post.

2. Check Your Website Traffic

You can use Google Search Console to check and optimize your website traffic.

Over a span of months, you can see on Google Search Console how much people are clicking or visiting your website. It gives you other data on what’s working on your website and what’s not.

Your website also gives you an indication if people are positively engaging with your business brand.

You can also check blog traffic and social shares in your website traffic to give you an idea of how people react to your brand.

3. Social Listening

Social listening is about why, where, and how people are talking about your brand.

You can see what people are saying on social media when it comes to your brand. You can also ask questions to generate responses.

Social listening means you are checking social engagement, social media traffic, and how often your leads are converting.

4. Leads

A consistent flow of leads is a good measure of how well your brand is performing.

It gives you an idea of people who are seeing your brand and recognize it. You should, however, assess how many leads are coming in on a week to week basis.

You should figure out how many leads are coming in and how many are converting.

5. Revenue

How many leads convert will reflect what your revenue is.

Seeing how your revenue fluctuates gives you an idea of how many customers you have and how well they recognize your brand.

You should specifically see if you have returning customers or life-long customers, which gives you a better idea of how many customers come back based on your brand and how they feel about it.

6. Video Metrics

If your business has a YouTube channel or has informational videos on your website, it can give you an indication of how well customers recognize your brand.

Video metrics include comments and clicks. You are checking to see if your customers respond to video.

Although video is becoming more popular, you shouldn’t use it as the only metric to evaluate how your customers feel about your brand.

7. Search Volume Data

Similar to website traffic, you can also see how people find your brand organically without paid advertisements.

You are looking at metrics that see how people found your brand based on the products they searched.

This method is also an effective way to see how your brand compares to your competitors. You are seeing if people after they find your site, are clicking and purchasing or going to competitors’ sites.

8. Earned Media

Earned media refers to all the mentions and referrals you get without paid forms.

You are seeing how many people or businesses are mentioning you without your involvement. It’s a testament to how many people recognize your brand and want to mention it to others.

There are some online tools that can measure earned media. These tools can give you an idea of the number of clicks and posts from social media sites.

9. Check Reviews

Another important metric to measure your brand awareness is to check online reviews.

You should check Yelp and Google and see what people are saying about your business. It’s a good measure of what people think of your business and what kind of review they leave.

It also gives you feedback on what you can improve in your business.

More importantly, you can see what people remember most from your business, which also gives you an idea of brand awareness.

10. Employee Brand Advocacy

Lastly, employee brand advocacy is measuring how many employees talk about your business.

An example is using actual employees in advertisments instead of paid actors. By doing this, you are showing how authentic your business is.

Employees understand everything about your business, which is why they are great advocators.

In addition, employees understand your brand, your mission statement, and the story you telling. It’s one of the most authentic ways to spread your brand.

You can measure employee brand advocacy by looking at post engagements, conversions, web traffic, and other metrics.

Overall, this list of 10 ways to measure your brand awareness can give you understanding of what your customers think of your brand. The overall goal is to achieve a postive message and these 10 ways can help you achieve that goal.

Why You Need to Measure Your Brand Awareness

The goal of why you measure brand awareness is to see how well people recall your business, your story. You want people to buy something and feel the story around something they bought.

Brand awareness is checking how people recall your business identity, your business story. You can boost your brand by when you understand how your customer perceives it, how aware of it they are.

For more information on marketing, you can contact us here.

While developing their marketing strategies for 2020, more companies have decided to add brand videos to the mix. In fact, marketers who use video in their branding grow revenue 49% faster than non-video branding. However, you need to make sure your videos properly portray your brand first.

Don’t rush it. Instead, make a plan and stick to it!

Here are eight tips to help you improve your brand videos this year. With these tips, videos can communicate your brand and help you connect with customers.

Ready to give your brand a boost? Get started with these eight essential tips for the best brand videos!

1. Determine Your Goals

The first step to creating the best brand videos is to determine what you’re hoping to achieve in the first place. 

For example, are you trying to increase brand awareness for your company or a new product? Maybe you want to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Either way, video marketing can help you get there!

Knowing your goals will help you determine what type of content to include.

If you want to expand your brand, create videos that are entertaining or inspiring. Make your videos so engaging that viewers can’t help but share them. 

If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader, consider sharing your expertise. For example, you can create an educational how-to video or provide product demonstrations. You can also create a complication of facts and stats that are relevant to your industry. 

Maybe you want to inspire people to visit your website. If that’s the case, create a teaser to pique your audience’s interest. Then, you’ll entice them to click over to your website for the full content.

Brand videos can help you drive sales as well. For example, you can use videos to demonstrate new products or provide customers with helpful tips. You can also create branding videos that include a limited-time offer to encourage purchases.

Determining a goal for your branding videos can keep your videos focus.

Then, you’re more likely to achieve your goals!

2. Know Your Audience

In order to create videos that resonate with your audience, you need to know your audience first.

What problems do your customers face each day? What solutions can your product or service provide them? What videos will pique their interest?

Consider creating buyer personas for your customers. Separate them by:

• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Location
• Income
• Shopping behavior
• Interests

Then, determine what your audience is already searching for. You can explore the videos your competitors have already created to see what works—and what doesn’t. What video elements do viewers respond to the most?

Maybe you’re addressing an audience that doesn’t know a lot about your industry. In that case, you’ll need to create branded videos that explain the basics. If you’re talking to experienced customers, on the other hand, you can focus on providing them with additional value. 

Your messaging will differ based on your target audience. By catering your content to a specific audience, you’re more likely to attract them to your brand.

3. Use Your Voice

Your company brand consists of different elements, including your voice, tone, personality, color scheme, and logo. Since your brand videos are an extension of your company brand, they need to include some of these elements. This includes your voice and tone. 

Take a look at your website copy. How do you speak to your customers? What words and phrases do you often use?

Keeping a consistent voice in your brand videos will show people your brand is consistent, too. 

As a result, customers are more likely to recognize your content on different channels. 

4. Visualize Your Brand

Remember, your brand is composed of visual elements as well. Try adding your brand colors to your videos. This tip can help people recognize your company’s content. 

You can incorporate your company colors in the background of your video. If your office walls are painted with your company colors, try filming there! You can add photos, text, or other visual elements to your videos as well.

Adding elements that match your overall brand will help you tie various brand materials together.

Don’t forget to add your logo as well! Some companies include their logo as a watermark in the corner of their video. This can help improve brand recognition even as people continue watching your video.

5. Choose a Style

There are many video styles you can choose from. These include:

• Culture
• Interviews
• Events
• Product reviews
• Tutorials
• Presentations
• Vlogs
• Webinars
• Testimonials/reviews
• Animations
• Behind-the-scenes
• Live streaming

Consider your target audience and goals. Then, choose the type of video style that will best help you achieve those goals.

6. Shoot & Edit

Once you have a plan in place, start shooting! Consider creating a script beforehand so you can make sure to keep on track.

Don’t forget to end your video on a strong call-to-action (CTA). A compelling CTA can help you increase conversions and sales. According to this report:

• Mobile video consumption grows by 100% each year
• 90% of customers report videos help them making purchasing decisions
• 87% of online marketers are using video content
• Adding a video to marketing emails can increase clickthrough rates by 200 to 300%
• Embedding videos on your landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%

After creating your video, edit it thoroughly. Take this time to create a transcript, which can improve your search engine optimization. That way, more people find you and your brand videos!

7. Get It Out There

Once it’s perfect, start sharing your new video. Consider where your customers spend their time. This can include social media platforms, YouTube, or your own blog.

Don’t forget to optimize your videos with target keywords to expand your reach.

8. Analyze & Optimize

After a while, review your data. Which videos are your viewers responding to? Study each video’s analytics, including views, shares, and other metrics.

Then, use this data to optimize your future videos! That way, you can expand your viewership each time you film. 

Enhance Your Company’s Image: 8 Tips for Making Brand Videos

Expand your brand! With these eight tips, you can make brand videos that resonate with your customers.

Ready to stand out from the competition? Contact us today to get started!