web analytics
You are here: Home / Archives for branding

The New Face of Email Marketing

11/01/2012 by

In a recent article on the Business 2 Community blog, a contributing writer posited that a consumer was like a gorilla and you, a business owner, have a banana you need to give to the consumer as quickly as possible. Whether or not you agree with that statement, something about it does ring true: the faster you get products and services to customers, the faster your company profits. But how do you get your products and services out there? The answer to that question is well-known: advertising. However, in today’s world the advertising sector is changing. It’s no longer solely about TV commercials, billboards or magazine prints. You need more than that if your brand and products are going to stick in a consumer’s mind. Often, that extra factor comes in the form of email marketing.

Effective marketing, no matter the form, has always centered on the consumer and how the product or service affects their life. In order to have effective marketing, a marketer must be able to show how the world is connected and how their products or services can truly make a difference. Those principles still apply to email marketing, but there are other considerations to keep in mind. Here are some effective ways to use email marketing in today’s world.

1. Stories and testimonies

Who doesn’t enjoy a great story and personal triumph or someone overpowering a great fear or accomplishing a goal? Stories connect us as people and there is power in that. Reach out to the people that use your products and services. Find someone with an amazing story and ask if he or she would like to share it with the rest of your customers. By doing this, you’re allowing others to see what you are doing to help the world.

2. Engage

Don’t just write an email and then hit send. Think about the consumer that will read the email and how they will respond to it. As with other online marketing campaigns, be sure to wrap up your email with a call to action. What do you want this email to accomplish? What do you want your customers to do after reading it? Make it easy for a consumer to find their way to your company’s product page or to a landing page, alleviating the need for them to navigate several screens before finding the one they want. Encourage your audience to interact with you, whether they are responding to a survey, visiting your website or talking to customer service. Email is a way to establish relationships.

3. Format for mobile

In today’s world, almost everyone is constantly on the go, which means that people often check email from a mobile device. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make when sending out an email is not to format it for mobile devices. Doing so means keeping the layout simple, using a single-column format and limiting the amount of actions it takes to resize. Keep these things in mind as you are designing, writing and sending out email.

4. Use videos

Videos are a proven method for communicating with consumers. Like stories and testimonies, videos are way to show consumers how your products and services connect people all over the world. However, you shouldn’t merely embed the video in the email. By doing this, you aren’t directing customers to your website. Instead, simply insert a photo or screenshot from the video that redirects to your landing page when the reader clicks on it. The less customers have to do in order to reach your website and view your products, the better.

Email marketing is all about effective communication. Don’t bombard your readers with a lot of email; readers will send that message to a trash folder without being opened or unsubscribe from your communiques. Instead, make focused and targeted videos that readers will enjoy. Relate to the consumer and show how your products and/or services are vital to them. Don’t just provide empty copy about a product. Show your audience how that product can improve their lives.

Filed Under: Blogging, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Future is Now, but For How Long?

03/08/2012 by

Years ago I sat in a library computer lab at my university and thought, “Wow, the MySpace era is over, upended and replaced by Facebook, but how long will the victor stay on top? If MySpace could fall, surely Facebook will as well. What will Facebook do in the future to lose users in the same way?” Of course, Facebook has done very well for itself since and successfully defeated social media challengers or integrated them into its sweeping empire. That does not change the fact that technology is cyclical and someday Facebook will give rise to a new brand that will occupy that space.

 

This is especially important to marketers who specialize in social media and technology trends. Facebook built its empire on the sale of information and created a sharing platform irresistible to the masses. That model has changed the DNA of our interaction with the Internet and will likely continue on into the future.

Twitter is growing into a mature platform for short-form discourse and advertising. Pinterest is currently being mined for its marketing potential. Sites with a heavy social leaning are cropping up all over the place and nearly all of them present an avenue for marketing products, but marketers have to ask how long social media will continue to be a trend.

You can register your business on as many social media websites as you see fit, and you may find a way to sell products and generate traffic through one of them that is revolutionary. However, in addition to experiments in cutting edge social media, web marketers must keep in mind the foundations of the business that will always exist with the web. As marketers explore the final frontier of marketing on the web, it’s important that they maintain a foundation of solid tactics that will more than likely continue on into the future.

No matter how easily you are able to join a social media site, they remain inherently complicated as far as meeting business goals. Since they were designed as social networks that eventually incorporated a business aspect, they don’t always lend themselves to infiltration by brands.

Longevity

Social media groups are inherently driven by popularity, yet the most successful products experience the fastest rate of growth when they are still new and undiscovered by the masses. While it’s understandable to want a presence on the new, cool site the unfortunate rules of middle school still apply: by the time everyone has it, it is no longer exclusive and desirable. Social media marketing isn’t going anywhere next year, or the year after that. But someday there will be something new, and when that day comes we will have to fall back on a foundation of strategy that is typified by plain old good content.

All this to say that it is very important to stay abreast of new technologies when developing new ways to create brand identity on the Internet. It is equally important to maintain best practices for the innovations that got us to this point and continue to propel us toward the marketing future. Maintaining a solid newsletter, engaging the customer, and some campaign management software will go a long way when the frills of social networks begin to fall away and its successor rises from the ashes.

So yes, get on the social networks that make sense for your brand, but also remember the basics that got us to this point, because sooner or later we may have to rely on them again.

 

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blogging is Doing

10/27/2011 by

Search engines are used by billions of people every day, helping them find products to buy, stores to buy them from, information on anything imaginable or the directions to their grandmother’s house. Because search engines are such a huge part of consumers’ lives, they have become a huge part of how companies do business. Users are often unaware of the existence of businesses because they don’t show up on the first page of search results, creating the need for business to employ search engine optimization (SEO) in order to gain a wider audience and generate profitable conversions.

Having an official blog is an effective method of gaining rank in various search engines, particularly since Google’s Panda update was rolled out, favoring pages with high quality content over weak, shallow pages. As part of both a social media marketing campaign and a service being provided to customers, a well-maintained, attractive blog featuring informative, useful content can provide tremendous support for a business.

By emphasizing valuable content and displaying the knowledge of the company’s employees in their field, a corporate blog can build relationships with customers while gaining the positive attention of Google and Bing. Integrating the blog into social networking initiatives and making it part of a cohesive brand will increase the likelihood of being ranked highly in search results and of increasing customer retention and brand awareness.

Content is King

Google’s Panda update made it clear that the search engine values quality content over anything else, particularly the overuse of keywords. While websites could formerly get away with having long pages of machine-generated, mostly incoherent text that included repetitive uses of the same keywords, the method for gaining ground in the post-Panda world revolves around well-written pieces that match the context of the site. By writing content with customers and potential customers in mind, businesses can satisfy both their intended audience and search engine bots.

Show What You Know

In addition to providing well-written, pertinent information on their blogs, companies should provide useful information for consumers. Blogs should not be used to advertise a company’s products (though a short post announcing a new product is okay) but should instead educate customers on frequently misunderstood aspects of their business or field. For example, a heating and air conditioning repair company could feature blog posts concerning tips for homeowners to keep their HVAC systems running efficiently or posts describing the various heating and cooling options available to homeowners, along with their strengths and weaknesses. By providing valuable information to consumers, businesses have an easier time maintaining brand awareness with potential customers and being seen as leaders in their field.

Get the Word Out

Every blog post should be accompanied by social buttons that will allow readers to share the post with their friends and colleagues on the most popular social networks, such as Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. Integrating the company blog with other social platforms can increase the visibility of each post–and the blog as a whole–to both consumers and search engines. By keeping the user experience integrated and as seamless as possible among the various social platforms and the company’s website, users will be able to recognize the company and its brand more readily and search engines will notice the uniformity and rank the site more highly.

Filed Under: Blogging, Guest Bloggers, SM3 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Branding the Sales Funnel

10/25/2011 by

What does your brand say about you? Or does anyone even know your brand?

Something that you hear a lot of in social media is the idea of branding.  We also hear about branding in exclusion to sales. But is branding just a marketers excuse for not delivering the sale? What part of the sales funnel incorporates branding?

Branding

When a marketer isn’t deliver the sale you will often hear them say:

“We are building your brand recognition”

“Creating a strong brand”

“Getting your brand out there”

What does that mean? What is the value of branding? It might sound like a bucket of horse apples, but there might be more to it than you think.

A brand is a name you know, like and trust. So branding is the art of becoming knowable, likeable and trustworth.  Not sure you are fully seeing the value?  Lets look at some of the ultimate branding successes:

Kleenex – Your nose is runny to you ask for a facial tissue or a kleenex?

Coke- Have you ever said you wanted a coke and then were asked what kind?

Xerox- how often do you make photo-stats or do you make a xerox

Even Google has become one- “Let me google that” instead of “let me search for that”

These are words that have become a part of our vocabulary and encompass everyone in their category. Of course most people won’t achieve this level of brand recognition, but it doesn’t mean that branding doesn’t play a valuable roll in your business marketing.

Brand recognition is what separates you from the pack. Your name becomes synonymous with your reputation. If that reputation is good then your name carries its own capital value. If your reputation is good and your name is synonymous with your reputation, then you will breed trust with your brand. That trust then also becomes a part of the brand reputation.

Does branding get you the sale?

Not in the short run. But it will in the long run. When you are building your brand you need to focus on establishing your reputation. People don’t yet know you so they don’t yet trust you. If they don’t trust you why are they going to click your link and buy from you?  However, once you have brand recognition they will buy from you because they do trust you. Not only will they buy from you but you will have better loyalty and be able to command a higher price than your unbranded competition. People are willing to pay for reputation.

In some cases your reputation becomes a status symbol, like Bently or Rolex. There are plenty of other diamond encrusted watches that are good. But you know Rolex is good and that they stand behind their product. So you are willing to pay a premium for what you know to be a quality product with good customer service and a high retained equity value. That is another place where branding comes into play. The value of your brand also extends to its long term equity. If you are known for excellence in your products, that can generate a higher resale value, which intern makes buying your product an investment.

Social Branding

Branding is not the end all be all of marketing. You still need to go out and farm the lead and work the sale. Though it will great help you in the long run, you still have to get the sale in the short run.  This is why social media is so effective to accomplish both. With a good strategy you can generate leads while you simultaneously work your branding. As your branding improves, so will your sales.

Using the social networks to get in front of your audience and participate in topic relevant conversations are a great way to get your brand in front of your potential customers. By thoughtfully participating you can begin to boost your reputation by establishing yourself as educated and informed. This is the first step to being trustworthy.

Brand your Sales Funnel

You do not have to have a million dollar marketing budget to work on branding. You need to get the sales.  But your branding should not be separate from your sales, it should be integrated.  While you are finding your leads and closing your sales, keep in mind that your brand will be helping you along the way. So help it back. Hop onto your networks and jump into the conversations. Offer your knowledge and contribute.  You will be surprised at how many leads you can generate by simply participating.

 

Filed Under: SM3, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Will Fan Pages Get the Timeline Update?

10/12/2011 by

Facebook has been rolling out the “timeline” update on the newsfeed and on profiles. Will fan pages be the next update? It is the logical progression. Since the fan page update at the beginning of 2011, Facebook has been updating the layout of the fan page in conjunction with the profiles. The main goal being consistency in the user experience.

The latest update for the profiles was not only a dramatic visual change but also a UI (user interface) change. It is changing how users are using Facebook. In fact, the new timeline profile is deepening the emotional connection between Facebook and its user. If Facebook updates fan pages as well, it has the potential to have a similar emotional effect.

The cover image will be a great opportunity for branding, with the profile image being the “face” of your engagement. The more graphic display will really encourage fan pages to post more dynamically using significantly more photos. Beyond using more photos, it will encourage businesses to use a more cohesive and truely graphic based brand strategy. The page itself will be like an interactive page from a magazine. It has the potentially to be incredible.

No profiles have gone public yet. Below is a mock up by the New York Agency Skinny of a potential fan page. The branding opportunity is incredible! Of course this means that people will need to strategically implement their fan page design, which means that marketing firms need to embrace social media design. The game is changing…and getting more aesthetically pleasing!

Burbery TImeline Fan Page

A mockup of the Burberry Fan Page by New York Agency Skinny. Click the image to see more mockups.

Filed Under: Facebook, SM3 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Whatever you do don’t do this! …on Social Media

08/19/2011 by

Trust is an essential part of being a social media manager. In fact, it is cornerstone. When you are managing people’s social media, you are doing more than just tweeting or posting on Facebook. You are acting as their voice, their persona. You are representing them to the online world. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

As a social media manager you have access to private information, to passwords, possibly even real life friend connections. What you do online can boost a brand or career or harm it.  This is the same as all forms of marketing. A bad campaign can do brand damage just like bad PR or bad social media. But in the social-verse it is significantly easier to to damage very quickly. Conversely it is significantly easier to boost someones image and improve their reputation.

However, the dangers of a social media presence are active for anyone using social media. The benefit to using a social media manager is that they are extremely cautious about what they say and how they represent your brand. They err on the side of caution both for your brand management and in regard to the rules and regulations of the various social networks. The great thing about a social media manager is that they will be aware of the ever changing developments, trends, and social taboos.

But for those of you who do not use a manager, you need to be cautious and thoughtful about what you post and tweet.

Whatever you do, don’t do this!

  1. Don’t post your email address. This is just asking for spam and viruses. Plus you don’t know who is going to see that number.
  2. Don’t post your home address. With Foursquare being as popular as it is, this is a really easy thing to accidentally do. But if you post your home address you are telling everyone where you live…exactly. Better to play it safe.
  3. Don’t share you password with anyone other than you social media manager.
  4. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want your mom to hear. People get into more trouble because they forget that their posts are visible to the entire world.
  5. Don’t post pictures you wouldn’t want your mom to see.  (Wiener, are you paying attention?).
Filed Under: SM3 Tagged With: , , , , , ,

SEO…yourself? Optimizing your Personal Brand

07/05/2011 by

Article first published as SEO…yourself? Optimizing your Personal Brand on Technorati.

When was the last time you googled yourself? For many of us, it was not that long ago. But when was the last time you checked your SEO value?

Your what? Personal SEO value? Yes!

SEO, aka. search engine optimization, has more value than just boosting your website search ranking. It can also boost your personal brand.

In my writing I speak a lot about social media and related topics. However, I also frequently reference Smith College. I am an alumnae and a very proud Smithie. Recently when writing I referenced my alma mater. In looking for an image to use with the post I did a quick search for “social media smith college“. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the first two lines of the search results turned up three photos of me and one graphic I created.

Lauren MacEwen Google Image Search

The success of personal SEO branding can be seen when you are associated with other strong search terms

Through my writing, linking and social media efforts I have associated myself with Smith College and social media. This is an honor I will gladly accept. Not to mention in image searches the results are usually flooded with generic clip art and stock photos, it is great to see your own personal branding infiltrating the sea of brand X images.

Social Business

The social business model is becoming the leading trend in business development. Companies are realizing that social media is more than just chatting on Twitter or playing Scrabble on Facebook. It is a way to directly communicate with your consumer base. It is a way to improve your reputation, build your authority, create a new avenue for customer service, and of course sell. Often what happens, especially for smaller businesses, is that one person becomes the voice (and face) of the brand. This is why managing your own online reputation is an important component to managing your online business reputation.

When you become the face of a brand then you are the person that is looked to as the authority. You are the person that is building the trust. You are the one people look to for answers to their questions. The more of an authority you become the more of a resource you become. This will extend beyond your brand. You can actually establish yourself as an authority in your area through personal branding. Do you think people only talk to Mari Smith or Chris Brogan about their services? Of course not. They are authorities on business social media and people look to them for advice and opinions on all avenues of social media, not just ones related to their business.

By building your personal brand you establish yourself as an authority in your topics. Part of the way you do that is by doing SEO on yourself!

SEO Yourself!

  • Get the Byline!

Writing a blog is a great way to get yourself out there. But don’t forget to give yourself the byline. Even if it is your blog make sure that it says “By …” at the top of the post. When the search engines crawl your site, they will also be crawling your name. The more time it comes up, the more you will be associated with keywords in your post

Guest blogging will also help get your name out there. The more bylines you have in more places, the better your personal ranking in Google.

  • Photos!

Every time you use a picture of yourself put your name in the image title, in the alt tag and in the description. You know the picture is you. Your audience might know the picture is you. But search engines do not know the picture is you, so make sure you tell them.

  • Social Media!

Social media is a great way to communicate with industry relevant people. The more you talk to people in your industry the more you will be associated with that industry. The search engines rank Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Sometimes having a conversation with a “influencer” in your industry can give your personal brand a huge boost in SEO. Through the conversations with influencers, they lend you their authority. Not only do other people see that you are talking to them, and they to you, but the search engines see it to. It would be like if CNN linked to your website. Your authority increases because of their authority.

Filed Under: Lauren's Recent Guest Posts, SM3 Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Excuse me Officer, mind if Tweet this arrest?

06/30/2011 by
Noah Elliot Tweet from a police car

The now infamous pic that Noah Elliot tweeted from the back of a police car

Social media sharing has just reached a new level as the CEO of Twitpic, Noah Everett,  a photo sharing app for Twitter, shared a pic of the back of a police car as he was being arrested. This bring us to the question of how much sharing is too much sharing? Or a better question, is there such a thing as bad sharing in business?

Many people would argue that people share too much about themselves, their lives, their..ahem..intimate details. But that is in your personal life. What about your professional life? Is personalizing your brand now becoming a tell-all? Is twitter the new corporate Taxicab confessions? Already we have had Red Cross getting drunk, Chrysler tweeting road rage and Weiner showing his, well…

The red cross rogue tweet ended up in extra fundraising, Chrysler buried their story as fast as possible and likely fired the guy who made the tweet, and Weiner stepped down from his office but was offered a job at Huslter.

But Twitpic is not hurting their brand. Though you could argue that every CEO is the face of their brand. Lets be realistic. If Steve Jobs got arrested for public nudity people would care. The CEO of Twitpic….who? What it did show was that power of social media for creating brand awareness.  Because he is the face of Twitpic, even if it is a face that you are unfamiliar with, and he did tweet this sensational event, the drama and humor of it was too much to contain.  Yes his picture went viral. Of course it helps that he has 2.8 million follower on Twitter.

Because of who he is, the sensational element of his tweet made it go viral. Because no on is invested in the public (or private) activities of Noah Everett, announcing to the world that he was getting arrested does not really affect his personal brand. What it did do was bring his actual brand more into the public eye.  This was his real world demonstration how you can share anything on Twitpic….literally anything.

Though not an intentional marketing strategy. Noah Everet did successfully put his brand in the headlines and might have created a public brand for himself in the process.

Filed Under: SM3 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

5 Ways to Prepare for 2011

12/28/2010 by
A chalk board with a business plan diagram drawn on it

Do you have a plan for 2011?

The New Year is right around the corner. Are you successfully wrapping up this year and starting to think seriously about the coming one?

5 Ways to Prepare for 2011

  • Review Your Business Development Plan: Take a look at where you are,  and then envision where you want to be a year from now, and set new goals. Create a plan that outlines the growth you want to see. Is it expanding your network? Adding to your client list? Creating a marketing strategy? How can you get from point A to point B?  Is it time to hire a consultant or strategist? It’s time to start writing down your game plan.
  • Your Progress: One of the best ways to create a business plan is to take a look at how far you have come. Did you meet your goals this year? Do you need to change your focus? Where were you a year ago and where are you now? Take a moment to appreciate what you have accomplished.
  • Define your Brand Focus: It doesn’t matter if you are an individual or a business, if you are IN business then you have a brand. Take a look at how that has been coming along in the past year. Are you the brand or is it your business? Check to see if you are properly promoting it and establishing a true brand image. Is it time to rebrand?
  • Finish up: When we are getting ready to move forward it is really easy to leave things undone. Take this opportunity to prepare for 2011 by making sure you wrap up 2010 neatly. Make sure that you finish up the projects you have started. Get your end-of-year taken care of, whether you need to focus on paperwork, taxes or projects.
  • Give yourself a break: You have worked hard this year, and quite possibly even harder during the holidays. Make sure you give yourself permission to take a break. If you want to kick ass in 2011, you’ll do it a lot better if you’re not burnt out from 2010!
Filed Under: SM3, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Personal Branding: Value of a Curmudgeon

11/09/2010 by

A curmudgeon is someone who is bad-tempered and difficult to deal with.  Though someone who is a curmudgeon in real life might be a pain in the tuchus, that same person might have an edge online.  What it comes down to is: if you are branding yourself, you need to consciously choose and develop your personality.

When you start a business or career path that is centered around your skills, you need to decide whether you are going to brand the business or brand yourself. Branding yourself is about creating an image and a voice.  The voice of a business, even if it is playful and snarky, will still need to sound professional.  Establishing good client relations, a strong reputation and an air of expertise are foremost.

If it is you that you are branding, then establishing a personality becomes foremost.  Many people will establish their persona before they establish their expertise.  Your personality becomes your bait for luring people to you, whether they be clients or fans.

So you must be clear about the personality you want to create.  Who do you want to be? Because once you brand your personality, for the most part you are stuck with it…good or bad.  It becomes the role you play.

If you are branding yourself , give serious consideration to who is the you that you are branding.  Establish that and make it a cornerstone of your marketing and PR efforts.

Examples of branded personalities:

  • Rachel Ray – peppy to the point of obnoxious
  • Chris Brogan -The king of social media,  simultaneously laid back and motivated, constant source of information
  • Mari Smith – The queen of personal branding, she is energetic, excited, happy and motivated!
  • Carrot Top – obnoxious, in your face, self deprecating comedian.
Filed Under: Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts