Wearable tech is here and it’s not going anywhere. From Apple’s recently announced iWatch, to wearable fitness bands like Garmin’s vívofit® and UP by Jawbone™ to “reality enhancing” eyewear like Google Glass—the world (and the way we see and experience it) are changing quite rapidly.

…and we’re about to experience a huge culture shift in how we engage with brands, inspired by this disruptive technology.

From Staged to Sincere

Just as royalty used to pose for hours so an artist could capture their essence in paint, the same frame of reference carried forward in our shift to photography. From paint to film to print to digital and everything in between, we’ve been capturing everything from personal to professional moments in a “say cheese” manner.

That is to say, we’re big on staging the scene.

SELFIES. Need we say more?

But our most beautiful, honest moments as humans aren’t staged at all. That’s why we gaze in awe at the candid brilliance of a professionally taken photograph. The average person isn’t able to capture that kind of intimacy.

While wearable tech will never replace the human artist, certain tools will soon cause us to shift our perspective from staged to sincere. Take the Narrative Clip, for example. This tiny, clip-on 5MP camera snaps a photo every 30 seconds while pinned to the front of your shirt, allowing you to create a “searchable and shareable photographic memory.”

Shift your Storytelling

With tech trending toward tools like the Narrative Clip and Google Glass, you’ll soon be capturing everything you experience in a comprehensive and natural way, rather than snapping a selfie showing Facebook how great you look in your new hat.

This shift from selfie-mode to personal perspective will likely have a great influence on our cultural narrative. Yes, our self-centered nature will prevail (of course). But where we once saw an opportunity to look good for others, we’re now bringing other people into our own personal story.

This can (and will) impact how advertising and marketing professionals exhibit both personal and professional brands. You want your prospects to engage with your brand because they feel an affinity for what you’re all about? Great—soon you’ll have a brand new opportunity to show them a raw, personal narrative that resonates with their own personal experiences.

We’ll bet the number of staged advertisements will decrease on the whole, as we’ll stop seeing a third-person view of smiling people getting satisfaction out of a product, but rather, as buyers, we’ll be invited to engage in a storytelling experience, where we see a person experiencing the benefits of a new product from their own unique perspective.

Your New Branding Perspective

Your future prospects are out there, and many of them are intrigued by wearable tech. Give it one more generation, and we’re going to be saturated in a sea of wearable tech tools and, along with their adoption, engaging in new experiences and enlightening point-of-view narratives.

So NOW is the time to start thinking about how your brand might use wearable tech to your advantage to capture the hearts and minds of your very-near-future, up-and-coming target audience. The forefront of brand engagement begins with wearable tech—are you ready to rock it?

(photo source: trendblog.net)

The post Wearable Tech & the Changing Narrative of your Brand appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Your brand should be unique enough to be memorable to your target audience. But to get even that first glint of brand recognition, you need to get your brand out in front of people. Creating great branded content, as part of your overall content marketing plan, is a fantastic way to expand your brand reach. Here are some ideas to get you started…

1. Brand your Infographics

We already know visual content marketing gets a lot of attention and people just love, love, love infographics these days. These beautified bits of information get read, shared, saved and referenced all over social media and the web. Be sure your logo is stamped in a clear, readable place and use your brand colors to really showcase your branding throughout.

2. Brand your Inspiration

Your brand identity manager or a skilled graphic designer (who is familiar with your branding, of course), can create cool, funny and/or inspirational quotes on a background of your brand colors, stamped with your logo. Choose quotes and themes that interest your target market. Post your placards on LinkedIn and Facebook to get more brand attention.

3. Brand your Business Cards

This may sound like an obvious one, but you might be surprised how many professionals hand out generic business cards. Now that’s an easy way to get tossed in the trash without a second thought! Try a unique shape or a standout shot of extra flair to get your prospects’ attention and hold it long enough to ensure they’ll reach out and get in touch later.

4. Brand your Services Packaging

We all know great packaging helps a product go from shelf to cart, but did you know you can brand your services like products, as a service-based business? On your website, feature each of your services as a clickable “package deal” complete with your branding front and center. In person, hand out postcards or branded three-dimensional objects as symbolic versions of your services. Prospects will love your clever “packaging.”

5. Brand your Videos

Videos are hugely popular and the demand for great branded content is growing. By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer traffic. And yea, you can stick to advertising. Clever web ads get shared like crazy. This DollarShaveClub.com commercial has 16.2 million YouTube views. And who could forget the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” commercial? 49.1 million views to date. Talk about brand reach!

6. Brand your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter backgrounds

You’ve got all kinds of social media opportunities for great branding. We like to change up our Spot-On Branding Facebook banner all the time to line up with the time of year, the holiday, current events and more! Think of your social media backgrounds as an instantly memorable place prospects can get a snapshot of your brand. Any time someone checks you or your business out on LinkedIn or other social media, BAM—there’s your brand!

As you can see, there are all kinds of places to showcase your awesome branding. Get creative! Want to wrap your car, hand out balloons, invest in a mascot costume? By all means, go for it! The more you get your brand out there, the more you build brand reach and recognition…so the next time your next customer is seeking out the products or services your company offers, you’ll be their top-of-mind, first-place, go-to choice!

The post 6 Great Ideas for Branded Content appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Whether you’re busy running your business, bumping up your brand reach or trying to come up with creative content marketing ideas, like many creative types, you occasionally hit the wall. Uh oh. It’s the dreaded Brain Drain! Sometimes we all need a creative boost to brighten our day. Here are some tips to get your brain back on track and moving forward to a more productive, creative workday.

1. Game On!

Playing games isn’t just a waste of time. The right kinds of games can shift your focus, allowing your higher creative functions to take a break while you cruise through some spatial or math based games. Try games that claim to boost your brain through science, like Luminosity or Fit Brains. After a 10-minute bout of brain games, I feel refreshed and ready to begin my next project. (Heck, try one of our branding quizzes—they’re fun!)

2. Step Outside

It’s the tail end of summer, so get outside and sweat a little! Physical activity is a great way to clear your head. Even a short walk can provide a lot of benefits. If your climate or schedule doesn’t allow for running out the door whenever you feel like it, be sure to schedule time at the gym several times a week to keep your brain and your body in tip-top shape. Try yoga at home to improve physical strength and flexibility, as well as mental stamina.

3. Stay Up Late

While it may sound counter-productive, night owls boast higher IQs—and that can’t hurt creativity. You can argue whether this is a causation-does-not-equal-correlation issue or even whether it’s a chicken-or-egg scenario, but regardless, there’s something to be said for staying up late!

4. …or be the Early Bird

Another study says that early risers are happier and more productive. So which one do you choose? I know there are a lot of people out there who will never be happy before 10am (and are downright murderous before their coffee!), but I also know that morning people love the air at dawn.

I think ALL studies agree getting enough sleep is what’s most important. So whether night owl or early bird—don’t skip on your zzz’s! If all else fails…

5. Take a Nap

If your nights are just too short, try to squeeze in a nap during the day. Many studies now reveal napping might be good for you. A quick “power nap” can “boost our brains, including improvements to creative problem solving, verbal memory, perceptual learning, object learning, and statistical learning.” Sounds like a great endorsement to me!

6. Be Social

I mean REALLY social. Too many of us waste time endlessly scrolling through our Facebook feed, without direction or purpose. I know it, you know it: It’s a huge time suck. Instead, call up a friend or colleague and bounce a few ideas off them. Even sending a quick email to a buddy (if you’d rather not interrupt with a call) can brighten up your day and clear your head. If you MUST go the social media route, set a specific time limit on your scrolling time and visit a particular site with a particular objective in mind. For example, if you need a break from work and you’re thinking about repainting your kitchen, hop over to Pinterest for some inspiration…but promise to stop scrolling after 10 minutes.

7. Get Your Groove On

Put on your favorite tunes and have a mini dance party. You can do this in your car or even at your desk. (Hey, invite your coworkers if everyone needs to get pumped up on a Monday afternoon!) If you think background tunes are the best way to free up all that creative energy, be sure your music is upbeat and not too loud. Music can have a noticeable effect on mood, plus loud music can be distracting.

8. Just Take a Time Out Already!

When your brain needs a break, it’s great for your body and mind if you take time out and do something with your hands. Cook something, take up knitting, create something, or read a book for leisure. Take up a new hobby. Look on MeetUp.com for great new ideas on fun stuff to do and cool people to meet! Just stay away from too much TV or too much boozin’. I know, I know—I’m taking away all the fun stuff. But like they say, everything in moderation. (…and hey, I love me some beer!)

Whatever you do to boost your creativity, the best strategies usually involve shifting your focus from whatever you’re working on, at least for a little while. They say sitting is the new smoking, so look for activities that involve moment, or at the very least, a change of scenery. To keep your team creative and focused, try having your next meeting standing up or even outside. After all, a great company culture is a great way to build a fabulous brand!

The post Get Creative NOW! 8 Great Tips to Get Your Brain in Gear appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Your website is your window to the world because it’s your potential and current customers’ window to your business. That means your website is one of your strongest marketing tools—so everything you put out there on the web must be in line with your awesome, consistent and memorable brand. Everything from your graphics to your brand voice must be aligned and working together with all of your offline and online brand components to effectively draw in your potential and current customers.

All your website content should play nice with your brand, while working for your business to attract new customers and to impress loyal, repeat customers. But how do you know what to put on your website to showcase your brand in a meaningful way and to draw in new business? Though the answer may vary a bit depending on your industry, here are 3 great ways to convert more leads with super-killer website content and online presence.

Homepage Heroics

The trick to an engaging homepage? Stop trying to sell, sell, sell! Instead, concentrate on making a fabulous first impression. Again, be sure your brand is on display. Your brand should be working for your business to draw in potential customers—if it’s not, it might be time for a brand refresh. (And it’s the perfect time of year to start! You’ll have your new and improved brand up and running before the holiday rush or in time for the New Year.)

Your tone and your graphics should be engaging to your target audience: your brand is the hook to get them interested and poking around. Once they’re in, you’re going to want to entice them to explore your website. You can do this by creating irresistible call-to-action buttons. Offer a free (and well-branded) eBook or whitepaper that helps them solve a problem. In exchange for the free download, ask for their email address. Voila! If you’ve carefully crafted your eBook to appeal to your target audience, then you’ve got a genuine warm lead right in your lap!

It’s All in the Story

A great brand tells a story in itself, but if your brand has done its job and really hooked ‘em, those potential customers are going to want to know more about your business, your people and your “why”—that is, why you do what you do. Your About page is a perfect place to engage your audience and build a trusting relationship. Most small businesses have an origin story of struggle and passion: two essential characteristics of the entrepreneurial spirit. Show your audience you’re real people who work hard with a mission and for a reason. They’ll love you for it!

And hey, today’s consumers want to do business with companies who care, so if you’re charitable in any way, show it! “91% of global consumers are likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, given comparable price and quality.” That’s a heck of a statistic. If you’re not big enough or ready yet to give back to the community, talk about your team members’ interests outside of work, especially if they overlap with your larger business goals. Own a fitness accessories company? Hire and highlight employees who love being active!

Customer Service Before the Sale

Give your future customers a reason and a way to interact with your company and your brand before they’ve purchased a thing. One great way to get on your future customer’s good side (and to get your brand on their radar) is to be active, enthusiastic, engaging and informative on your blog—and especially on social media. Don’t just post “stuff.” Dig deep and post interesting and original branded articles from your own blog with a good mix of web content from outside sources—stuff you just know your target market will definitely dig.

Social media is also a great place to show your future customers just how much you care about your current customers. Social media is often the front line for customer service nowadays, which is truly a mixed blessing. When your business makes a mistake, respond immediately and professionally. Your future customers will be impressed with your customer service and with your attention to the well-being of your customer base. (Just be careful. Provide your staff with smart social media guidelines, lest you risk a huge social media fail and alienate your potential and future customers alike!)

Great branding is the first step to impressing your target market. Great branded website content draws in your future customers and provides you with numerous opportunities to expand your brand reach, especially when you show your potential and existing customers you care about solving their problems, helping the world, and providing great customer service!

The post 3 Secrets to Landing More Leads with Great Branded Site Content appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Just when we thought we finally got Robin Thicke’s tune out of our heads, the melody is back with a vengeance in Weird Al Yankovic’s new tune “Word Crimes”—and we couldn’t be happier! Not only does this catchy parody reiterate one of our favorite topics (the importance of good grammar, yes, even in the age of the Internet), but it literally illustrates each grammatical issue with brilliance, beauty and a special kind of satirical attention to detail that is impossible to resist.

Al Nails Modern Marketing

This impeccably exact parody of the original song Blurred Lines was released as part of the effective and appropriately named #8videos8days hashtag series. Those following #8videos8days were treated to a new Weird Al video release every day for—you guessed it—8 days in a row. While Weird Al himself was a little worried the marketing ploy wouldn’t go over as well he he’d hoped, he was pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming show of support.

And boy did it pay off: Weird Al’s new album Mandatory Fun debuted on July 15^th at # 1 on the Billboard charts—his 14^th studio album was the first comedy chart topper in 50 years.

We just can’t get enough of the graphics, the vocab, the messaging, the schooling, and the smashingly punny insults. Too freakin’ funny and overwhelmingly clever. We congratulate Weird Al on this much deserved honor.

Big Brand Parodies & Sneaky Subtext

Besides the seamless videography and the typography masterwork, our favorite part of Word Crimes was, of course, all the big brand parodies and the awesome hidden tidbits. See if YOU can find them all!

1. Merriam Webster: Clearly the most obvious brand parody in the entire video. The song’s title page is an obvious tribute to the dictionary, and the red and white color scheme is used throughout.
2. The Simpsons: This one’s easy to miss, but did you notice the teacher’s name on the paper of the student who couldn’t conjugate? It’s Mrs. Krabappel, Bart’s 4^th grade teacher!
3. Reddit: 6 months ago, Reddit user George-Newman complained, “I’m tired of people mocking me online.” George Newman is the name of Weird Al’s character in his signature cult flick, UHF. Well played, Weird Al. Well played.
4. Mission Impossible: If the “Literacy’s Your Mission” graphic looked familiar, that’s because it’s a play on the Mission Impossible original TV series’ logo.
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Turtles tribute is easy to miss. Check out the “Never Raised in a Sewer” graphic. In the upper right corner, you’ll notice two green chalk-drawn turtles. Heroes in a half shell. Turtle power!
6. Walmart: This might be a stretch, but we’re betting the “Less vs. Fewer” graphic is Wal-Mart inspired. That iconic blue and yellow with the blurred store in the background? We’ve definitely seen that before.
7. Mead: Remember those Mead Composition notebooks from grade school? We sure do! See if you can find the 7^th grade NOTES artistry in the “OKAY” notebook in the video. (…and maybe this isn’t a parody, but the nod to Trogdor and Pac-Man—plus the Tron Recognizer doodles? LOVE IT.)
8. Microsoft Office Assistant: Who can forget Clippy, the annoying little grammarian paperclip who we couldn’t close out fast enough?
9. Lost: Yes, you saw that right. The “Lost Cause” frame was definitely the logo from ABC network’s popular plane crash/time vortex survivor show Lost.
10. Prince: We loved the idea that Prince is the exception to the using-numbers-in-words rule. Prince’s hits include 2gether, 4ever, Nothing Compares 2 U, and I Would Die 4 U…among many, many others.

Bonus Brand Bash: that lovely LiveJournal logo! Fun fact: The logo for this once extremely popular blogging site was also designed by Jarrett Heather—creator of the Word Crimes music video.

Keep in mind, this is only our TOP ten brand parodies list—there are many other beautiful brand parodies hidden throughout Weird Al’s fabulous Word Crimes video. What’s your favorite? Leave a comment below!

The post Top 10 Sneaky Brand Parodies in Weird Al’s “Word Crimes” Video appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Considering the importance placed on email as a communication tool, it never ceases to amaze me that I still receive poorly worded, unprofessional, unbranded emails. All business owners should know: every email sent out by your company is a representation of your brand. Bad email practices by business owners and team members alike are detrimental to brand integrity and therefore, business success. Email’s a big deal!

I received the following email from someone looking to help me with my online marketing. What do you think? If you received this exact email, would YOU go out of your way to contact John Smith*? (*Name and information changed to protect the guilty.)

Subject line: Best Content Writing Services !!
To: nora@ndrichardson.com
From: SEOJohnSmith@gmail.com
Dear Web Owner,
I am John Smith.
We are an Online Marketing firm with over 4 years experience in the domain. Content in any Online Marketing Campaign is one of the most crucial factors to make the campaign a success. However, in most cases the content is not good either in terms of user perspective or in terms of search engines. Allow me to offer you our Web Copywriting Services. We work hard to deliver a hassle free and time bound copywriting service to our clients so that they don’t have to wait forever for a content piece. Do let me know if your views are in line with mine and you are facing such a situation with your current service provider. I look forward to your response….
Kind Regards,
John Smith

While most businesses aren’t quite this bad, this is, in fact, a real email from a company looking to attract more customers. (Much to my surprise.) I would normally just stop there and delete this correspondence because it appears suspicious.

But we can learn a lot from John Smith’s mistakes.

Let’s dissect John Smith’s email…

1. The Greeting

“Dear Web Owner”…? Really? How less personal can you get? It’s obvious this person doesn’t know me at all, nor did they take the time to research my business. This greeting isn’t accurate for a multitude of reasons, the least of which is that “Web Owner” doesn’t make any sense. I’m not the owner of the Web. So now I’m thinking John Smith doesn’t have a good grasp of the English language and/or doesn’t bother to proofread. (Um. If you want to write web copy for me, then both of these characteristics are a must.)

The Lesson: Always take the time to get the exact name and the correct title of the person you are addressing. Do your homework and get to know both the organization and your contact’s role within it before making contact.

2. The Body

There’s no personalization. This email does nothing to address my needs, my company’s needs, or my website’s needs. It is all about John Smith’s business—and the rest is fluff. There is not one reference to my company or what we do. I do not feel they are genuinely trying to help me. At this point, I feel like this is spam (and really, it is).

The Lesson: Never send out an email that doesn’t address your potential customer’s pain points. Get to know the business. Explain why you’re reaching out and how you can help. Reference one or two very specific reasons for making contact. (In this case, John Smith could’ve mentioned a particular blog post—talk about brownie points!)

3. The Close

This email wasn’t branded in any way and there was no link to a company web address. How am I supposed to know if they are indeed a reputable company that is in line with my values? Other than the generic Gmail address, there is no other way to contact this person. Even if John Smith is a freelancer, there’s really no excuse for a lack of evidence that you run a legitimate business.

The Lesson: Include your contact information and your web address. Brand your communications so your emails are memorable and recognizable. (Even if your business is very new and you’re just starting out, nowadays there’s really no excuse for not setting up a simple website.) You want to exude confidence in your business and your brand, not keep it a secret.

4. The Irony

John Smith has a major disconnect between his services and his brand. They claim to be an “Online Marketing company” of four years—yet, they’re not promoting their business anywhere within the email. How can you help me with my business marketing if you can’t be bothered with branding or effective marketing for your own company?

The Lesson: The personality and approach behind your email communications should always be consistent and should always reflect your ability to do your job.

Above all, be sure your branded look and feel is consistent across all your platforms and communications. When contacting another professional via email, you can use your language and your brand personality to give them good idea right off the bat as to whether or not your business might be the right fit. Email is yet another distinct area in which to showcase your brand and your business—and build your reputation for success!

Do you have an example of a poorly executed promotional email?  If so, comment below.

The post No Brand? Looks like a Scam! Crafting Better Emails for Your Business… appeared first on The Branding Spot.

If color is your brand’s superpower, then businesses that understand the importance of incorporating visually interesting content into their marketing are superheroes to their target audience. Seeing as 65% of consumers are visual learners and visual data processes 60,000,000 times faster than text—you can’t really afford to have so-so branded graphics or a text-only content marketing strategy.

Check out these great ways to get more visual with your content.

Always Include an Image

Blog post? Email newsletter? Always include an interesting image, whenever possible. Get creative! We’ve all seen the same stock photos over and over. Look at your content from a different angle and see what kinds of clever images you can find that fall in line with your written theme.

Brand Best Practices: Whenever possible, include a unique, branded image in line with your overall brand image/brand personality. Sure, you might not have the time, the budget, or the know-how to create a new, branded graphic every day, but you can shoot for a unique branded image at least once a month. You can also have your brand identity manager or brand designer create a graphic you can use over and over again as a sort of branded signature!

Spice Up Your Landing Pages

Creating landing pages for downloadable free content is a great way to collect customer/lead information, measure the success of your marketing efforts, and gain important insights into what your target audience really wants. To nab more leads and nudge that potential customer toward your content, add interesting images—or better yet, add video—to back up your downloadable freebie.

Brand Best Practices: If you have the means to create a branded, promotional (but not salesy) video, this is definitely your best bet. By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic. If you start creating videos that back up your brand, your business and your additional, informational downloadable content, you’ll definitely get ahead of the game.

Create Clear Call-to-Action Buttons

A simple call-to-action (CTA) button will win over your website visitor WAY more often than only a simple link. CTAs are great because almost anyone can create a simple version in a flash. Remember: call-to-action buttons need not be overly flowery or surrounded by a lot of additional images. You want the customer to read the button and—BAM—click the link. Just like that. Text should be quick. Try something like: Download Now! or Post Your IDEA.

Brand Best Practices: Use brand colors as backdrops for your call-to-action buttons. If you want your CTA to stand out even more, feel free to go outside your brand color scheme, BUT be sure the rest of the page design is visually appealing and consistent with your brand’s look and feel.

Get In with Infographics

Infographics are the coolest, most popular way to create shareable, branded content. Infographics are, put simply, data represented in a visual format. Seeing as most people are visual learners, infographics allow people to research topics they’re interested in and chomp on little bits of information that are much more memorable than just a plain ol’ block of text.

Brand Best Practices: Because infographics are SO shareably delicious, creating a well-branded infographic is your ticket to more brand impressions. First off, you have the opportunity to position your business and your brand as the best in the biz; plus, you’re creating more opportunities for businesses and consumers to check out your company online. Finally, if anything, you’re creating a subconscious brand impression on your target audience, and that little hint of recognition could benefit you and your brand in the long run.

The Eyes Have It

Well, there YOU have it: creating visual content is a great way to get your potential and current customers hooked on your content. Creating awesome well-branded content impacts your target audience at multiple points in the buy cycle, ensuring your brand remains memorable when they’re looking for your expertise and/or ready to buy!

The post The Power of VISUAL Content Marketing appeared first on The Branding Spot.

There’s a new restaurant down the street. Great! It’s been open a few months and you have yet to try it, so you go online and look up the menu, then probably pop over to Yelp to get some first-hand customer reviews. Sound familiar? If you don’t have a close friend who’s raving about the restaurant to you in person, you know that you’d better do your homework or you might be in for a disappointing evening. Hey, you’re tired of learning the hard way.

…and you’re not alone.

Almost 80% of American consumers say online reviews influence their purchases. A whopping 93% say they look at online reviews before shopping or dining. NINETY-THREE PERCENT.

That’s no small potatoes, people! If you’re not paying attention to what your customers are saying about your business online, you might be in need of some major brand damage control. Yelp is about to launch a new tool to upload short video reviews, and we’re only going to see more cool tools like this one in the next few years!

Clearly, if you’re not managing your brand’s online presence—the time is NOW. So what’s your company doing to monitor and manage your brand’s online presence?

Creating a Positive Online Brand Presence

If your business or your brand is totally new, you’re in luck: You might be able to fight the customer crowds and establish yourself online before someone beats you to it. If you’re already knee deep in customer reviews, you can follow these steps to boost your brand’s reach and inspire positive customer relationships with your brand…

1. Brand Consistently: We talk about this all the time on The Branding Spot blog. A consistent brand across all of your online content and your offline marketing collateral works wonders for your business. A consistent brand makes you memorable and easily recognizable, so you don’t risk confused consumers leaving bad reviews on YOUR products, when they were actually intended for someone else. Create a brand book and coach your brand representatives so that every customer interaction has consistent results. Speaking of interactions…
2. Customer Service is a FULL-TIME JOB: Online or off, your team HAS to be on the ball when it comes to customer problems. When a customer comes to you with an issue, address it immediately. While some people are just complainers, the majority of your customers will feel much better because you a.) cared about their problem, and b.) took the time to address the problem and fix it to the best of your ability. Social media comment replies? That’s customer service too. If you can nip the problem in the bud, you’ll often prevent bad reviews and negative comments.
3. Monitor Your Customers’ Activities: If your customers are online posting reviews and you don’t know it, it’s time to get on that train. Setting up a Google Alert can help you monitor when your customers are searching for your business, plus it pulls up new search items to bring each to your attention. Many social media monitoring tools, like HootSuite offer a variety of tools for managing your brand’s online social presence.
4. Listen and Change: This is a toughie. Business owners want to do things their way—hey, I get it. But when customers make suggestions or complain (yes, even if they’re rude about it), you DO need to take the time to consider how your business can better meet their needs—even if it’s hard to change. If customers complain about a missing feature, grab your accountant and run a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it’s within your means to improve your product at this time. If your customers are complaining about poor customer service (see #2—it’s important!), then it’s time for some hands-on training with your staff. If you’re hearing the same thing over and over, you best be listenin’ or you’ll be losin’ customers!
5. Always Be Professional: We’ve heard all the horror stories and social media fails that happen when a business owner decides to get unprofessional or just plain angry on social media, or when someone unclear on the business’ values or brand voice gets on the social horn and attracts the wrong kind of attention. Truth is, there are a whole lot of trolls out there looking to cause you stress and aggravation just because they can. An internet-savvy marketing team should be able to recognize legitimate customer concerns and complaints—and differentiate between those and the garbage. You might have heard the saying, “Don’t feed the trolls.” Take it to heart and just ignore them or offer a clipped, polite response and no more.

By following these rules, you can stay ahead of the curve and ahead of your customer reviews online, maximizing your brand’s positive reach. …and don’t take this advice lightly! Again, with 93% of consumers snooping around online to learn about your business, you need to ensure your team is dedicated to the above principles. You simply don’t have a choice anymore: You just must. Consumers live on the Internet, so get your team on board and keep your brand ahead of the game!

The post Are Your Customers Hatin’ On Your Brand Online? appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Here at The Branding Spot blog, we like to talk about consistent branding.

What is a consistent brand? A consistent brand presence means that your logo, your brand colors, and the look and feel of your business is consistent across ALL of your marketing collateral and present in every way your customer interacts with your business—from website to tradeshows to business cards and so much more. We like to call this Brand Alignment.

Why be consistent? Brand consistency is hugely beneficial for your business. The more consistent you are across all your brand elements, the more recognizable your brand becomes. When you see fire engine red and mustard yellow “McDonald’s” probably pops into your head, automatically—probably even subconsciously. Consistent branding is just one reason the McDonald’s brand is so easily recognizable and memorable.

The Business of Consistency

Across-the-board consistency is the key to the overall success of any franchise. One of my favorite business books, The EMyth talks at length about this phenomenon. While not all successful businesses need to be franchises, the principle behind the franchise is what makes these businesses work.

Think about it: Whether you go to a Taco Bell in South Carolina or in Wisconsin, you expect your experience to be relatively the same. You expect to receive the same food at about the same price, with the same level of customer service and speed. The EMyth explains, “Discipline, standardization, and order [are] the watchwords.” By standardizing business processes and creating a consistent brand, business owners were able to step outside their business and work on business growth, rather than constantly being distracted by everyday minutiae.

Success means the same customer experience, the same bell logo, and the same bean burrito wherever you go. As a business owner, franchise or not, these principles still apply. The more consistent your branding, the more your brand works FOR your business—so you can focus on GROWING your business!

You Can’t Be Consistently Memorable Without a Great Brand

When you look at this list of fast-growing business franchises, which names immediately catch your attention? We’re betting that you’re familiar with MANY of the fast-growing franchises on the list. (Frankly, I was surprised by how many of these business brands had snuck into MY subconscious. Kumon Math & Reading Centers, for example…but who could forget that strange little face in their logo?)

So why are these businesses so familiar? Well, if you haven’t directly purchased anything from these companies, it’s because you’ve seen their brand so many times that you now know it by heart. If that brand were different every time, whether in look, feel, or in the experience you had when interacting with that business—that brand simply wouldn’t be very effective, would it?

THAT is the power is brand consistency.

A consistent, recognizable and memorable brand is just one business component that sets these franchises above the rest. When you duplicate that power across a variety of locations, you bolster the long-term staying power of the business and the brand. These franchises are growing quickly because they’ve created a brand people can TRUST: both in branding and in business practices, it all comes down to consistency.

How’s YOUR Brand Alignment? If you’re struggling with consistency, it’s time to take a step back and revisit how to get your brand components in line to create a lasting and memorable (and super successful) brand!

The post Fast-Growing Franchises: Why Consistency is SO Influential appeared first on The Branding Spot.

Data is all around us, and it’s easier to collect than ever, so it’s no wonder you’re likely hearing terms like “big data” and “measurable marketing” as they’re thrown around from the C-level down to the IT department. Leading marketing companies are using a proactive approach, collecting data to predict brand success on the front end and to measure marketing efforts on the backend. While a lot of businesses hire external agencies for this sort of exploration (not to mention accountability), that’s not always an option for smaller businesses.

Does data collection, measurement and analysis seem like a huge undertaking? Well, I’m not going to lie: It definitely IS. But there are a lot of great ways even small businesses can use data to their advantage. Here’s how…

1. Collect & Care

First things first, if you’re not collecting basic customer data at every interaction, it’s time to get on that. Your best bet is to start with a simple, well-built customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Nowadays, most of the best CRMs are web-based and relatively simple to learn and use. Try Less Annoying CRM or Insightly—both are very affordable. (And hey, take your time finding a CRM that works for your team and your business. This is important. Most CRMs offer a free trial, so go for it!)

Once you find a CRM that you and your team are comfortable with, it’s time to start using that data to your advantage…or rather, to your customers’ advantage. Record every interaction with each customer and be sure your customer service team is on the lookout for important customer details. For example, if you notice a significant portion of your customer base belongs to a particular community organization—there’s your opportunity to dive into a group, cause or association that your customer base believes in. (Don’t go in fake. Choose a cause that you can stand behind and you’ll minimize the risk of depleting any brand authenticity.)

Sponsor a related event or organizational tradeshow and you’ll impress your existing customers while attracting new ones—all while showcasing your memorable brand. Bonus!

2. Follow Behavior Flow

By now nearly everyone is familiar with Google Analytics. While you can use any website traffic analytics platform you like, just be sure you have the tracking code plugged into your website so you’re actively collecting that precious data. We’re really loving Google Analytics in particular, due to all the cool new features.

If you’re a visual person rather than a number person (like me!), you’ll love the Behavior Flow section. Here, you can get a really cool at-a-glance view of how your potential and current customers are experiencing your brand and your website. Which content makes your visitors keep clicking around for more? Which content did your customers read before making a purchase?

By recognizing customer behavior patterns, you can tweak your website content and your branding to obtain wider appeal. When you know what works (and what doesn’t!), you can really take your value proposition and your branding to the next level.

3. Shore Up Your Surveys

Content marketing is all about creating helpful content your customers want and NEED, nudging them every little bit closer to the sale. Create a short, fillable form on your website that your website visitors can fill out to receive in-depth downloadable content (like an eBook or a whitepaper). Think carefully about what kinds of information you’d like to collect to target your branding efforts: Industry? Number of employees? Job Title?

What downloadable content should you offer? Depends upon your industry. The key is to get a thorough picture of your target market, then ask yourself what information that group of potential customers is seeking out online. What are their pain points? How can you make their lives easier? Use these answers to build out your content.

Have you issued a customer satisfaction survey in the past? If so, you already have a list of helpful customers: those who answered your survey. You might consider polling this group and asking which kinds of content they find helpful. (Don’t ask your customers if they want to see more eBooks or more blog posts. Rather, ask if they’d rather receive more information on particular products, services, expertise, and/or industry information. Be specific.)

You can use this information to build your next content marketing piece—and buff up your brand reach in the process!

What ways does YOUR business use data to increase brand reach? Leave a comment below!

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