Branding is an imperative element of every marketing strategy. Without a well-developed brand your web presence, customer service, and products are at risk of being overshadowed by other businesses in your market. If it isn’t time for your company to rebrand, stay competitive and further develop your brand with these four tips.
Identify your ideal customer
Ideal customers play a primitive role in branding. Knowing your target market can directly impact the success of your brand – after all, most marketing strategies are based on appealing to a company’s dedicated customers. Once you identify your ideal customers, you can easily develop a social media presence and voice based on your findings.
Find your brand’s voice
Businesses that take the road less traveled when building their brand’s voice are more successful. Brands, especially those of small businesses, need to stand out from competitors by creating a distinguished voice that is unique to their market. Instead of mimicking the voice of big brands, establish what is competitive about your service. Base your voice on the feedback you’ve received from customers, family, and other businesses. This will help you create a strong and unique voice that accurately depicts your brand.
The hashtag #LoveFL is an integral part of VisitFlorida’s brand. It’s utilized throughout their site and social media platforms and gives users a sense of familiarity.
Once you have a solid idea of your branding voice, enforce it across every outlet. This includes social media accounts, print media, web design, and customer service. This way, your brand’s voice stays consistent whether it’s reaching clients through the web, on Facebook or in your storefront. A consistent voice will give your brand familiarity; some companies go as far as creating a specific list of words, phrases, and mannerisms which the employee base is encouraged to use.
Align visual pieces with your brand’s voice
Logos, print media, packaging, web design, and storefront décor are the visual voice of your brand. Similarly to your brand’s voice, visual pieces should be attractive, accurate, and most importantly, consistent with your brand. For example, I would never expect a store with organic-based products and earth tone packaging to have a logo with primary colors; this is a fitting example of why do it yourself logos don’t work. Marketing collateral, web design, and logos are representative of your brand; they need to reflect your product and appeal to your customers.
Stay consistent on social media
To successfully establish your brand on social media, post routinely in your brand’s voice. If you post every day for months, then suddenly stop: your followers will think your company isn’t making new achievements; they might forget about your service or product; this can deter them to a business with a better social media upkeep. In the photo below, you’ll notice that Best Western Hotels & Resorts posts on each social platform consistently, and use the same color scheme throughout each platform as well as the same language.
Note: Social media is an important platform for your brand because everyone from Baby Boomers to Generation Z actively uses it. In fact, a Google study found that Baby Boomers spend more time online than watching tv. Additionally, they found that 82% of boomers use at least one social media account; the leading networks for boomers are Facebook and LinkedIn. Source
Call us for more tips on social media, or check out these blogs: Social Media Tools, Social Media Holiday Campaigns, Local Businesses Getting it Right on Social Media.
Concentrate on the social media profiles that are benefiting your business the greatest! In many cases, businesses think that they’ll get left behind unless they’re on every platform. This is a waste of time and simply isn’t true. Instead, you should create profiles for every outlet but only zero in on one or two. In the long run, focusing on your most successful platforms will provide insight into what that following wants from your business and help you deliver more relevant material. Plus, I bet your ideal customers aren’t on every platform!
Mission Statement
Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – manage their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at (904) 829-2772 or contact us today.