In the digital age, captivating visuals play a crucial role in engaging and capturing the attention of online audiences. Whether you're a blogger, website owner, or social media enthusiast, you've probably come across the wide range of options available when it comes to adding images to your content.
Read MoreNot long ago, it was believed that B2B branding had to be dull, boring, and solely focused on the company's products or services. However, if we look at the current B2B branding trends, it seems this couldn’t be further from the truth.
While professionalism and credibility are important in B2B branding, and the product is an essential component, B2B branding is also becoming increasingly about building relationships and creating trust.
Read MoreYou know the importance of maintaining appearances if you're a business owner. How you look is crucial because customers can be judgmental and may choose you solely based on your image. Not only is your outward appearance important to clients, but it also increases company morale. Here are the top ways to improve your company's exterior and earn new business.
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The world has greatly transformed to becoming digital. Nowadays, having an online presence as a business is not even an option; it has become necessary. It helps consumers find you, and interact with you, which increases leads.
However, establishing an online presence is not a very easy task, and it does not happen overnight. It requires a well-planned strategy and may take some time. If you are wondering which is the best approach to do this, read on to find out.
Creating an email list is one of the easiest and most effective ways of establishing an online presence. Once you have created a list of a good number of subscribers, you'll be able to engage with them regularly, say weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Creating a substantial email list takes some time, and you need to be patient. To grow your list, you need to create content that users need to sign-up to receive. You can also create a call to action on your social media pages and website, then request users to sign-up.
Nowadays, when a consumer needs a particular product or service, they turn to the internet and search for it. Consumers are more likely to click on a page that ranks higher in search results. Businesses that have focused on SEO are the ones that benefit greatly since they show up on the first pages of search engines.
You can achieve the same by mastering SEO skills and putting them into use. Also, you need to keep on updating your pages since SEO trends are ever-evolving.
Every business that takes online presence seriously should have a website. A good website has great capabilities to promote your brand's personality, build credibility, and connect easily with the target audience.
A good website should be properly optimized. It should also have an enticing and organized WordPress web design. Additionally, a website should be aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and provide value.
Using social media is one of the easiest ways of establishing your online presence. To be successful in social media, you need to create well-optimized profiles for your business, post valuable and engaging content, and interact with your followers. You can focus on the most popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can also use social media tools to schedule posts and improve your efficiency if you are very busy. That helps you stay active and engaging with your followers without spending all your time on social sites.
Whether youtube, social media channels, or your website, you need to provide valuable content and do it consistently. Valuable content helps you gain authority and credibility from your followers. Wondering how to create valuable content? You first need to understand the needs of your target market. What are they looking for? Which kind of information will be of value to them? Get answers to these questions and provide content that provides solutions. Also, make the easy to read and comprehend, and don't forget to be consistent.
People tend to trust recommendations given by individuals. If you can get to work with an influencer to recommend your products, you can earn their followers' trust. To make this work, look for influencers with a large following and contact them.
Establishing your online presence doesn't have to be a daunting task. You only have to come up with a working strategy and implement it one step at a time. With the tips discussed above, you will create a strong online presence, increase your lead conversions, and have a competitive edge. Don't forget to analyze your results regularly and see where you need to improve.
Whether it is a nifty keychain at a tradeshow or a freebie through the mail, promotional products can get people talking about a business. Although many companies offer branded products of some sort, they often feel like a blasé giveaway with little thought behind them. Rather than throwing money away on useless items, here are a few top tips to help you use branded products effectively.
Choose an item that matches your consumer’s needs and target your audience’s demographic profile to select products which are most suitable. A family-friendly audience may appreciate a branded stuffed toy, while customers who work in an office can make better use of a notepad or a calendar. It is also effective to pick promotional items which reflect the service, or products, that your business offers. For example, if you own a retail company which focuses on fitness, sweatbands and water bottles are great items to provide. BrandRageous! offers promotional products Tampa consumers love and they have a wide selection available online.
Print On Demand
Print-on-demand services are a cost-effective alternative to print marketing campaigns and they can help you save money on overhead costs. At a fraction of the price, print-on-demand companies can help you create customized products to promote your business as and when needed. These third-party sellers can produce a wide range of branded items and they can fill orders quickly. From e-commerce businesses to artists and performers, anyone can benefit from print-on-demand services.
Choose the Right Design
Whichever product you decide on, the most important part is choosing the right design. Your information needs to be professional, clear, and concise. Make sure your logo is displayed clearly and your contact information is legible. Many people choose to hire a graphic designer to ensure the right measurements and specs are selected for the job. A professional can help you pick the best font and will ensure you achieve the look you are going for.
Go for Quality Over Quantity
Do not worry about pleasing everyone when it comes to using effective promotional products, it is more important to target the right groups of people. Targeting potential consumers and existing customers can help save you money on wasted goods. Going back to the earlier section about matching products to particular demographic profiles, do your research on your target market and reap the rewards. Spend some time on market research, or employ a consultant to do the job for you, and you can minimize potential losses.
Offering quality promotional products to existing customers can lead to repeat business. Mailing out light marketing material and customized swag to repeat customers will put you in the forefront of their mind. In turn, this will encourage them to do business with you in the future.
Spend More to Get More
Following on from the previous point, do not go for the cheapest option just to save money. Purchasing thousands of low-quality pens may seem like a good idea at the time, but they could put your company in a bad light. At best, they are forgettable and will be disposed of quickly. Make sure consumers associate your brand with quality and choose a higher-end product that is useful, memorable and durable.
The RealReal has been dismissed by many luxury establishments, but it is becoming clear that it is a company to be reckoned with. It has found success by slowly becoming a trusted partner for luxury-fashion consigners and buyers over the years. This strategy has helped push them to the forefront of the resale market. In fact, the company has made $288 million in funding since it began in 2011.
In the beginning, the RealReal was solely an online company. In its first year of business, the company made $10 million dollars in sales, followed by six years of growth. In 2017, sales topped $500 million. Today, the company is expanding from its online market to actual brick and mortar storefronts. Thus far, they have opened two stores.
One is located in New York City, while the other is in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles store has a unique section that is devoted to men’s fashion, which is a fast-growing part of the company’s business. In addition to these two permanent locations, the company has got the word out about its brand through pop-up shops. These shops only opened for a short time, sometimes a day to a couple of weeks. All of these storefronts help the company in several ways. They produce larger orders and help the company secure the best quality consignments for them to sell.
One of the main reasons The RealReal has found success is because it appeals to a large market. For older, wealthy clients, the draw to find a good deal is what leads them to consignment shops. For Millennials, which is one of the company’s main targets, the hunt to find that perfect item at a great price is what draws them in. They want to have their own look that can’t be easily copied by others. This company is great at providing that.
Another benefit of the company is that it allows more people to have access to luxury brands. While not being “cheap,” they make luxury items much more affordable. This means it isn’t impossible for many Millennials to afford a high-end item, such as something from Louis Vuitton. Customers love finding a treasure that they never thought they could have had before or something that slipped through their hands at a boutique at a fraction of the price.
This online consignment boutique helps support first-time sales for luxury brands. Many first-time buyers like to look at consignment shops first to see the price of their potential buys. The reason is that they want to know they are getting a good value. Additionally, they want to know that, if they want to, they can sell the item after they are done with it and make a significant amount of their money back.
The company is also a great source of trends. Based on searches of their customers, they can tell what luxury retailer is hot at any point in time. For instance, they have noted that Gucci has pushed Chanel out of the number one spot for the most searched brands on the site, and Louis Vuitton continues to hold the number two spot, with Chanel being close behind. They also track trends between men and women, noting that men are moving more towards casual street styles.
As time goes by, the company has received a major increase in online traffic, as well as more engaged traffic. Most buyers look at around ten pages per visit. Most of these visitors are of the Millennial generation, making up nearly one-third of their customers. As the years go by, this company is becoming a major success and a real threat to all other companies in the retail business.
A successful business is a lot to do with how we are perceived. If we want to be a better leader, the advice is that we have to practice faking it until we make it; we put this image on of the person that we want to be. It is all about growing into that image. And when we are growing a business, a lot of what makes it transcends boundaries and building up our brand image is always going to be the most valuable commodity. But what can we do when we are looking to build up a proper image? A lot of it has to do with how we look, but it's also about hitting the books and coming up with a lot of marketing hooks! Let's delve deeper.
The Power Of Semiotics
The study of signs and symbols highlights the vitality of any business image. When we start to talk about marketing components like a website, we have to think about those small images that we present to the customer that either inspire them to click or go away completely. We have to remember that web design is all about the layout and the journey. But also, the images we present are going to raise subconscious red flags if we do it wrong. It's important to consult a marketing firm, or a design company like Connective Web Design to go through the imagery. We have to remember that semiotics can provide an entryway into a customer's emotions. Using symbols and signs effectively, through our logo, our website, as well as any promotional material, can ignite a spark in their minds.
Learning To Cultivate Your Leadership Image
Hitting the books is part of what we need to do as we nurture our business. In one respect, we start to learn about how we can lead and figure out our style of leadership through trial and error. But when we start to figure out what we don't have, this is when we have to hit the books. There are so many ways to improve our leadership, by looking at those that we admire but also understanding that it's not about emulating these people.
When we start to improve our processes within the business and understand how to speak to people differently, this doesn't mean the battle is finished. We have to remember that it's an ongoing process that we fine-tune. So many business leaders feel that they don't need to make drastic alterations to who they are because it's their business and they can do what they want! This is a very unhealthy approach to run a business.
The Importance Of Consistency Across Every Channel
From our brand to our leadership, and everything in between, the importance of consistency isn't just relating to our physical appearance, it's our actions and interactions. While there's a lot of talk about in terms of the message, especially from a social media platform to the website, we have to go further to bring this message into the real world. We can do this through training our staff members, ensuring that everything has a specific tone of voice, but also understanding that we aren't above it all! Consistency and the overall image comes from the leader. This means that we've got so much of an influence on the final product, that we had better hold onto it tightly. But this doesn't mean that we should control everything with a vice-like grip. If necessary, go back to your business plan and see if you have gone further away from what you envisioned. From branding to products to employees, consistency is what will make our business image transcend. Keeping everything on tone is vital.
Our image is always important, but how we bring this image to the masses is not about the marketing or the employees; it is about the whole entity. Developing a business is about those smaller components that get everything up and running, but in order to make it successful, it's about making that impression in a customer's mind. The image we present is not just a design, it's the entire package. When we need the looks, we need to hit the books, and we need to have a lot of hooks.
No matter which industry you try and dominate, there is always going to be competition. The key to success in business lies in outshining rivals and persuading customers that you are the best choice, but how can you make sure that you stand out from the crowd? If you’re looking to propel your company forward and reach the top, here’s a handy guide to help you excel.
Showcase your personality and build your brand
Think about all the big businesses you’re familiar with for a second. The multinational corporations and high-profile brands we all know are much more than a business name or a single product. Branding is crucial to give your business personality and show customers what you’re all about. Use branding techniques to provide people with information about your venture and enable them to get to know your back story and understand your objectives.
If your brand is weak, and you’re considering a rebrand, or you’re launching a new company, it’s wise to spend time thinking about how you’re going to celebrate and showcase your personality and use branding to engage with potential customers. Look online for logo inspo and conjure up a design that embodies your brand and enables customers to gain an insight into what you do or sell. Your logo and tagline, your packaging designs, and any content you share online or via the mail should be relevant to your target audience. For many people, your logo is the first glimpse of your business, and often, you don’t get a second chance to impress.
Engage with your audience
Once you’ve got the basics of branding pinned down, it’s time to enhance and strengthen the relationship between your business and your customers. Engage with your audience via social media, mail or email, and get to know your audience. Use content to promote your services and products, but also to create a strong profile for your brand and to facilitate communication.
Customer service is vital, and there are many ways you can ensure you receive 5-star ratings. As well as simple steps like responding to questions or queries quickly and delivering on promises, it’s wise to elevate the experience and treat your customers like VIPs. Add a personal touch to emails and social media messages, offer treats for loyal clients and make sure you’re easily contactable.
Do your bit for good causes
Corporate social responsibility is a hot topic. More and more companies are participating in schemes or supporting individual causes as a means of giving back to the community or promoting national or international charities. If you don’t already do your bit for good causes, look into projects in your local area, or research charities or initiatives that are linked to causes that are important to you.
You could sponsor a local team, an event or a program, you could donate a portion of your profits to a charity, or you could set up a scheme that raises funds for an initiative through sales. Choose a cause that is close to your heart and that complements your brand. If you produce sustainable products, for example, it makes sense to support eco-friendly projects. If you run a dog grooming salon or a veterinary practice, raising funds for animal shelters or conservation schemes is a great idea. Corporate social responsibility has multiple benefits for businesses. Employees take satisfaction from giving, and customers like to buy into companies that have a reputation for supporting charitable causes.
Be original
Imagine yourself as a buyer for a moment. You’re standing in a store aisle, surrounded by products that are essentially very similar. What makes you choose one item over another? Take another example. You’re browsing online looking for a local service provider in your area. What compels you to select one company instead of the others?
Originality can fuel entrepreneurialism, but even in a scenario where you’re not reinventing the wheel and coming up with a ground-breaking new product, it’s possible to make your brand stand out. The way you brand and market products and services can make all the difference. Use innovative, creative approaches to spread your message and entice customers and offer something slightly different. This could be as simple as adding a personalized message to parcels you send or featuring your customers in social media posts, rather than models.
If you do not have an in-house marketing department, you can outsource your branding and marketing activities. You can invest in digital marketing because it is easier to precisely identify and pinpoint your target audience, as well as analyze the right tools and approaches that work best. Additionally, it can be more cost-effective. There are many digital marketing companies like AdInfusion that help businesses upscale their marketing tactics and easily reach more consumers by using strategic SEO, Facebook, and Google Ads. If you haven’t considered this marketing approach, perhaps it’s time to do so.
Aim for rave reviews
Did you know that over 90% of consumers now check product reviews before buying a product?
With reviews and ratings becoming increasingly influential, it has never been more important to aim for optimum customer service standards. An excellent review can distinguish you from your competitors and encourage buyers to choose you. Urge customers to leave feedback and share their experiences of your business, and utilize comments and ratings to make continual improvements.
You can learn from both positive and negative opinions. Share brilliant reviews and testimonials and offer incentives for those who spread the good news to friends and family. If you find yourself in a situation where a customer complains, and there’s a risk of attracting negative attention, try and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Explain why things have gone wrong, provide a solution, and offer compensation. Every business makes mistakes, but not all of them respond in the right way.
Your business name is going to be exactly what reflects your brand, your values, who you are, etc. Plus, this is something that should really be timeless, too. So, with all of that said, do you have a business name that could reflect your business for years to come?
Better yet, is your business name something that could be easily remembered but, at the same time, not generic or similar sounding to anything else? Whether you’re choosing a name like Golden Ventures, Oak & Ash, a catchphrase, or even your full name, will these be memorable? Will these reflect your brand? Is this something that you’d be able to settle with for good? Seriously, this matters so much!
Final thoughts:
Competition is an enduring feature of business, and to get ahead, you need to beat rivals and ensure your company stands out. When trying to attract and keep hold of customers, it’s crucial to have a strong brand and to celebrate your unique identity. Enable customers to get to know you and what your brand stands for, and use social media and email to get to know your clients and followers. Encourage engagement and communication, focus on providing first-class customer service, and try and offer something different. This relates to innovative products and services, but also the way you present your business and interact with customers. Utilize feedback and take ideas on board to impress new and existing clients and maintain the highest standards of service.
FemFounder is a one-stop shop for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who need PR, Instagram, Pinterest, and email list building help.
