Triple Your Business ROI with Effective Branding Strategy!

Triple Your Business ROI with Effective Branding Strategy!

To create effective brand strategies and triple your ROI there are many things to consider. Branding is a total expression of a company’s value that includes its products, services, advertisements, position, people, and culture. However, one question that frequently hits us through forums and emails is: Is branding reserved just for big labels like Levis and Nike? Is it an unfit strategy for small-scale businesses? The answer is a big “NO”. Branding is critical for the business of all shapes and sizes.

Branding:

It is all about what people think of you – that’s it. Nothing matters more than influencing people towards your brand. You can influence branding through well-designed logos, press releases, hilarious ad campaigns, and a lot more. Anyone who notices your brand will have their own perception and your brand will determine who will connect with you and who will not.

Are you still not finding enough reasons to develop a brand for your business? Well, below are 4 reasons that will justify the importance of branding.

Attracts targeted consumers:
People want to easily connect with their favorite brands. A strong brand represents a trustworthy company that is able to continuously deliver the best products and services. A brand acts as a channel that creates a strong connection between businesses and their customers to help strengthen their purchasing decisions with your company and indirectly fuel conversion rates to a great extent.

Creates customer loyalty:
Branding is the best way to promote customer loyalty. Whenever a consumer has a good experience with your product, he or she is going to remember your brand, not the product. Remember, people trust brands, not products and so the very next time they need any product or service, they would look for your business.

A perfect approach to deliver a message:
If designed right, branding can prove to be a great channel of communication with customers. Your brand can let people know your company’s value, message, and characteristics. Such things will help consumers know you better and easily identify your products vs. your competitors. So, it’s essential to know your customer requirements and design your brand accordingly.

Sets you apart from competitors:
Whenever your competitors want to offer similar products, your brand will act as a valuable asset which cannot be replicated.

Does your business need any help with branding strategies? We are just an email away. Our professionals can help you out. Contact us now.

So you’re doing social media, now what?

So you’re doing social media, now what?

Social media is THE most popular activity online right now. So it makes sense that businesses, (both national and local) want to take advantage of this. But simply opening up a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account isn’t enough anymore. By avoiding some basic mistakes, many businesses can have the ability to increase return on investment, and create more opportunities from social media accounts.

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Missteps to Avoid

#1. Not having a game plan

Social media users are bombarded with information and messages every minute of every day via social media. Businesses that don’t have a social media strategy often get lost in all the clutter and fail in reaching their target audience. Creating a game plan for social media includes having distinct goals, developing a clear voice online, and planning out content with a goal in mind. Without a clearly defined game plan you can have the best content on the web, but receive little engagement.

#2. Integrate everything

Social media should be used as a part to a whole. Not only should you link your social media accounts to each other, but they should be directly tied to your website, email, and paid search campaigns. Not taking advantage of connecting these accounts drastically reduces your potential audience reach.

#3. Use IMAGES!

Think about how you use social media. Doesn’t a post with a vibrant image capture your attention better and longer? While an image might not be appropriate for every post, include one whenever possible to help draw attention to your message.

hash tag#4. HASHTAGS

Hashtags are a great way to join conversations and trending topics. Using hashtags strategically can help you find your target audience and reach non-followers in large numbers. Just make sure that it makes sense for your business to use the hashtag and that it flows with the current conversation.

#5. Make sure to Interact

Social media is meant to be interactive. Not every comment needs a response but responding to your “fans” adds to “humanizing” your business and builds trust between the brand and your consumers.

#6. MONITOR

Don’t assume that just because you are posting content good things will come to you. You need to ensure that you are constantly monitoring and gauging what is and is not working on social media. This ensures you are on your toes and can make changes quickly when something isn’t working. Overall your business should work towards creating your own social media voice and community. Social media has the ability to be a cost effective way to reach out to your potential customers and help increase sales.

Social Media Holiday Tips

Social Media Holiday Tips

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Are Your Business’ Social Media Outlets Ready For the Holidays?

Christmas is a week away, and that means that businesses all over are trying to keep up with the holiday rush!  Regardless of the rush, as a business you need to ensure you are publicly presenting an image of festive cheer in addition to being there to help your customers who have gifts to buy, meals to plan and family to take care of in order to get everything done on time! According to Mashable, 65% of shoppers turn to social media to find the perfect gift, and, when they do, you need to make sure that you are there to help them out.
So if you haven’t turned your attention to your company’s holiday social media plan, here are 5 tips to help you get started!

1. Decorate your social media

Nothing says holiday cheer like the right decorations, so make sure you get your social media accounts decked out too! Change your cover photo to something that reflects the holiday season. You can go all out or simply give your logo a festive twist.

2. Create holiday engagement

The holidays are a great time to get people talking about your products and your business. Encourage comments and shares from your fans by posting holiday related content.

For example, post an image of your company’s Christmas tree. Then ask fans to share an image of their tree.

3. Think visual

Do you have seasonal products? Make sure you post them on your social media sites, and ensure you add call to action! Make sure you post them with seasonal sentiment, as this will help make them more engaging. A call to action will help bring your company’s name to the forefront of your customers’ minds during this busy time. 

4. Holiday competitions

People love businesses that give back, and the holiday season is one of the best times of the year to show your giving side. Holiday competitions give you a great way to get your business noticed and show your customers you understand the spirit of giving.

For example, give away gift cards to help customers plan their holiday meals or buy their stocking stuffers. You can ask them to share their favorite recipe or a picture of a holiday tradition.

5. Check out what’s trending

The holiday season is the most high-stakes time of the year for businesses. Make sure you get the most exposure possible by checking what’s currently trending on social media, so you can tailor your message accordingly. Just make sure you jump on a trending topic that makes sense for your business. Your message should be relevant and fit in organically with the conversation going on.

Overall, the holiday season is a busy time for both customers and businesses, so make sure you have a strong social media strategy to increase the chances of reaching your customers. In addition, customers are turning to social media to ask questions and report problems, so make sure you are dealing with all the inquires in a timely matter. Don’t forget making customers happy at this time of the year is a top festive priority.

How To Verify Your Business’ Online Listings

When you’re searching for a local service, what steps do you take? Do you ask your friends? Drive around town looking for a place of service? Search the web? A recent study estimates that roughly 20% of desktop search and a whopping 40%-50% of mobile search have local intent. What should these numbers mean to small business owners? This means that if your business’ online listings are not up-to-date and accurate, the probability of a potential customer finding your business starts to decrease.

70% of the small businesses surveyed acknowledge that they don’t have the time to manage all their online listings on all of the sites that consumers use. In addition, only 23% have a good sense of how having accurate and up-to-date online listings help drive traffic to their business.  Not having a presence online is comparable to your business not having signage at your physical location. So, how do you think people will be able to find your business?

Online listings aren’t just crucial for their ability to help potential customers find your physical location, but they can prove to be a great source of business information for your potential customer. Many directories now give you the ability to list your business’ menu, products, services and payment method. This gives customers a glimpse into your business and what it has to offer.

As a small business it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the listing sites online. With hundreds of online directories, physically maintaining all entries can be a daunting task, but there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your listing accurately reflects the most vital information of your business- name, address, and phone number.

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First, assess how people are finding your business. If you have a website, make sure you have analytics, so you can track exactly where people are coming from. If your business does not have a website, ask customers when they come in store how they found your business.  Then, get a website!

Next, review the top 5 to 10 sources that are driving people to your business. How is your business listed? Are there reviews? What are people saying about your business? Take the time to review each source and make updates where necessary.

Lastly, decide who is going to continuously monitor and update your business’ listings. Make sure the person who is going to be in charge of this task is well equipped with the knowledge of your products and services.

Maintaining and managing your business’ online presence is a never-ending task. Amplify offers a variety of services to help manage and monitor your online presence. As a Certified Partner of Yext, we are able seamlessly mange your business’ online listings across 45+ directory sites.

Regardless of how you choose to manage your online listings (on your own or with an agency), by keeping your business’ listings accurate across directories you can help increase your business visibility and marketing exposure.

Call us for more information (888) 482-1313.

Branding for Local Businesses

Branding for Local Businesses

When starting your own business branding isn’t the first thing on your mind. Although it might seem like something trivial at the beginning, establishing your brand ‘voice’ is an essential part of creating a memorable image and building loyalty among your customers. Your brand is how the public will identify your company, so you have to ensure it is as recognizable and memorable as possible.

Branding is difficult because you can’t afford to make any mistakes. One slight misstep might negatively affect your business for years to come. That’s why it is important to establish your brand from the start and continuously work hard at maintaining it.

This being said, I want to talk about 5 of the most common branding errors that small business owners have to deal with.

1. Being a Follower

One of the worst mistakes you can make as a small business is trying to similar to other business around you, whether that be a larger company or a local competitor. Consumers value a company’s individuality, so your company’s public image should be as unique as possible to ensure it doesn’t look like you are trying to copy someone else.

2. Wrong Name

A company’s name is everything. You want to ensure that you customers can easy talk about your business with out the name interrupting the flow of a casual conversation or being difficult to pronounce.

Furthermore, make sure that the name you pick for your business is unique and not easy to confuse with another business or worse, a competitor.

3. Be Committed

Ensure everyone at the company is onboard with the branding strategy for the company. You don’t want your sales team projecting an entirely different brand image then what the company is trying to establish. This means committing to a single brand identity and carefully cultivating it both within the company and with your customers.

4. Hold Yourself Accountable

There is nothing worse to a consumer then a broken promise. Don’t promise something you can’t deliver, the reputation of your company is on the line. Set realistic expectations so that your customers are never disappointed in your business or your brand.

5. Know Who You Want As a Customer

Don’t try to please everyone! Consumers are diverse and change their tastes quickly, so don’t base your brand around a trend that might be gone next week. The image you create for you business should be durable and able to stand the test of time.

Overall, the most important aspect is that you protect your brand. Ensure that every decision is made with your brand image and positioning in mind. Just because you’re a small business doesn’t mean you can leave your brand up to chance.

We know that it might seem trivial to go through this process, but once you are an established business it is much harder to shape who you are and what you are all about. So get it done from the beginning so you have a strong foundation for your business to grow and prosper.

Has this motivated you to get your businesses branding done, but don’t know where to start? We’d love to help you figure it out. Give us a call at (888)482-1313.