digital branding©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

Why Digital Branding Matters

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In 2018, businesses of all sizes recognized how a brand offers empowerment when competing in consumer markets. Digital branding is key to reaching your target market through both online and offline methods.

With the record expansion in use of mobile phones, tablets, and other personal devices, this offers businesses the opportunity to connect and engage with users or customers in a variety of ways. Mobile apps, SMS messaging, email, social media platforms, and websites all provide a robust mainframe for your digital branding and marketing campaigns. All of these methods are credible ways to communicate your brand message with fans, friends, followers, and subscribers.

Starting Digital Branding from the Ground Up

Pinpointing your target market, as well as establishing cohesiveness in branding and marketing are cornerstones of a successful business plan. When working on your business plan, many factors must be considered to build your digital branding from the ground up.

The Size of Your Target Market – A “Target Market” is defined by a set of demographic information on your ideal customer. Understanding the size of this market, as well as the predicted growth rate of this market can help determine your overreaching marketing plan. Knowing your product and service line and who these goods and services are most likely to be used by is the first step in identifying your target market. For instance, if you sell customized baby products, expectant/new mothers and grandparents are likely to be a sound choice as a broad demographic category. Regardless of whether you decide to cater to a very niche market or you offer goods and services with a more general appeal, the more you know about the person you are selling to, the better.

What’s Your Story – Unless you are planning on launching a product or service in a brand new category, the chances are good that consumers can buy similar products and services from other vendors. Telling the story behind your brand helps differentiate you from others who are selling in the same demographic space. By sharing the inspiration or reason for your business, you are building an emotional connection with your intended audience. This leads to higher sales and conversions with this concentrated audience. It is also helpful to constitute an internal code that applies to incoming and outgoing communications with contacts.

Getting the Competitive Edge – When tackling any market segment, it is always advantageous to have and use as many tools as possible in your entrepreneurial toolbox. A long-term digital branding and marketing strategy is likely to include ongoing content creation (blog content, video, images, white papers, email copy, and other digital assets) to establish authority and build trust with potential clients. These digital assets are valuable materials for sharing your brand messaging creatively and openly.

Logos, Taglines and Copy – Your logo, taglines, and copy serve as a foundation for all marketing and branding efforts that follow. After all, these are the symbols that represent the creative force behind your business. Your logo may be used on social media platforms, print collateral, advertising, merchandise, and more.

Putting Everything Together

It’s worth noting that a successful digital branding and marketing campaign is more of a marathon than a sprint, so entrepreneurs and business owners should be comfortable in assuming the risk, responsibility, and committing to see the project through. Taking the time to develop and integrate all various marketing pieces from the beginning helps leverage your launch, as well as support your ongoing operations.

Newly launched businesses should allow time to build up their digital marketing assets including their SMS messaging contact list, mobile app user base, opt-in email list, as well as adding fans and followers on social media platforms. In many cases, establishing a timeline for your project, as well as assigning milestones for development, are helpful for tracking the progress and results of the project. It can always be adjusted, if needed, to account for unexpected changes.

If you are not meeting the digital branding goals within the stated deadline of this timeframe, you can assess what is causing these delays and make moves to rectify these issues and fix the problems. By using a multifaceted approach, you will connect with your audience using their preferred method of communication.

By taking steps to cater to the preferences of your audience, it is easier to stay in front of them and make offers that appeal to their wants, needs, and desires.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Depending on the nature of your business, you might find that one form of digital branding and marketing works better for you. Don’t be afraid to experiment with a few different options to see if you get a better return on your investment.

Don’t Overlook the Technical Details

As the saying goes, ‘the devil is in the details.’ Not surprisingly, getting all the technical details done right is also an essential part of your digital branding and marketing efforts. If you are following a general timeline for your project, this should prove helpful for keeping all aspects on track and schedule.

While every marketing asset works independently, they all work together to assist in selling your goods and services. Since your website is most likely to serve as a ‘hub’ for all your marketing materials, you’ll want to be sure that it is search engine friendly and features a responsive mobile first design, so it formats optimally on the screens of all website visitors.

Are you thinking about offering a mobile app as part of your digital branding and marketing efforts? If so, be sure to check that your app meets all of the requirements for acceptance in popular app stores to increase the likelihood of acceptance.

We hope this article is helpful in explaining why digital branding matters in today’s day and age. If you would like to learn more or you’d like help with launching your branding campaign, be sure to contact the professionals at Colleen Eakins Design today!

increase brand awareness

Increase Brand Awareness [ infographic ]

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Denese EakinsDenese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.

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©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

Do You Have A Buyer Persona? If Not, You Need One!

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As a small or medium-sized business owner the more data and information that you have regarding your operations, the better. Especially if you are working to establish a cohesive branding message to appeal to a specific type of consumer.

With the widespread use of technology, companies of all sizes have developed content strategies to build loyalty, trust, and authority within their selected niche

The most significant part of this marketing strategy is fine-tuning your content, whether it is blog content, social media shares, or email messaging to meet the needs and wants of the buyer persona – or ideal customer – you are seeking to attract or retain.

What is a Buyer Persona?

What exactly is a buyer persona, you ask? Typically, a buyer persona gets constructed using interviews with real buyers. People who are interviewed give real-world answers to what prospective customers might be thinking and doing when evaluating consumer options. This data provides valuable insights into the concerns, attitudes, and other criteria potential customers use to help them make a buying decision.

As you can imagine, knowing the motivations that fuel your ideal customer is beneficial for numerous reasons.

  1. Gives you a greater understanding of the language buyers use.
  2. Aligns your messaging to improve company communications with clients.
  3. Helps you streamline your marketing campaigns to appeal to your preferred audience.

Luckily, it isn’t as hard as you might think to establish a buyer persona to define your preferred market sector more effectively.

Who Is Your Customer?

The first step in setting up a buyer persona is envisioning the person in your mind and giving them a name. This imaginary person should broadly represent the demographics of your ideal customer. Be sure to outline the habits, hobbies, interests, values, and other indicators that help drive his or her consumer decisions.

If you already have an existing customer base, you may already have a substantial amount of information available from platforms including Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, internal tracking, Facebook Insights, and Facebook Analytics to learn more about the type of people who are already engaging with your content, products, or services. These comprehensive reporting platforms contain a treasure trove of data regarding your website visitor profiles and your social media audience and reach. Some of the core demographic data provided include location, gender, age, general interests, affinity groups, relationship status, buying habits, and more.

Business owners who have a presence as a ‘brick and mortar’ operation may also use tools like transaction history, customer questionnaires, or feedback forms to gather more invaluable information about their customer base to define the buyer personas of their business better.

For this example, let’s use Sienna the Salon Owner. Whenever someone comes in for services, she gathers information to serve her clients better. The type of information she collects includes the customer’s name, contact information, age, birthdate, how frequently the client visits, what services they have purchased, if other family or friends are customers, the amount of money they spend on average, if they add-on services while at the salon, and if or how often related products get purchased.

Digital Solutions for Real World Business

Using a CRM (customer relationship manager), she saves this information for future use, as well as integrates it with her email marketing software for appointment follow-ups, special offers, promotional offers, and birthday greetings. To streamline her operations, she synchronized appointment setting software that allows customers to book or cancel appointments from the convenience of their smartphone or computer.

When each client leaves, she asks them to fill out a questionnaire or feedback form on that day’s visit. Sienna makes a note of their feedback in her CRM for reference. If a pattern of complaints arises, she is in the first line of defense to handle them.

This information can help detect issues and provide a better customer service experience. If someone had a bad experience, this issue can be resolved quickly and in a professional manner. A prompt and courteous resolution is always better than letting the client leave without saying a word to you and writing bad reviews or comments on social media platforms instead.

Keep the Conversation Going!

Asking what clients think is essential to connecting with them on a deeper level. Many of Sienna’s customers share their thoughts and concerns about beauty, offering an opportunity for her and her staff members to provide their expertise. (Or product and service recommendations!)

Let Data Be Your Guide!

On an aggregate level, Sienna can get a broader overview of her entire customer base. She can figure out, on average, what each client spends at the salon, the frequency of visits, and other data that helps improve the bottom line of the company.

These buyer habits play a critical role in her buyer persona. Knowing this, she can then aim to attract other new clients like her existing ones.

In addition to operating her physical location, she makes sure to maintain the company presence on social media platforms to engage with clients, as well as promote her salon.

She takes the time to ask her clients to leave a review of the salon on her business page, as it helps build trust and authority in the area she serves, which is good for business! By evaluating her insights and stats programs, she can learn more about her audience, so she’s able to adjust her content and share to appeal to them. Since her business has everything to do with image, she learns that pictures and videos always outperform other types of shares. By sharing more photos and videos, she is appealing to her core audience to get more shares, likes, and comments.

Her website plays a significant role in providing more useful visitor data including conversion rates, time spent on the site, the total number of page views, and ecommerce sales.

If you haven’t already established your preferred buyer persona, be sure to contact the branding experts at Colleen Eakins Design for more information today!

fresh content marketing ideas

Fresh Content Marketing Ideas [ infographic ]

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Denese EakinsDenese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.

Read more
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

Have Fun with this Social Media Marketing Challenge

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So, you are excited about the benefits that social media marketing offers your business. Now you’re looking to launch a winning campaign that will help people find your brand. Great. The only thing left to do is to create compelling content that will attract shares and likes. Luckily for you, fantastic content doesn’t take long to construct.

Let’s take a look at a stress-free plan to create two weeks’ worth of lovable sharing ideas to help attract your ideal clientele. This strategy combines using common sense and a small bit of digital effort to help convey your brand message to an online audience.

#1 | Show People Who You Are and How You Work

People love images, especially ones that show people engaged in work that stokes their passions. That means coming up with the perfect share could be as simple as snapping a pic at work. Plainly you see pictures like this all the time, and there’s a logical explanation for that. Consumers need to trust your organization, and one way to help them do that is by showing them who you are and what you do on a daily basis.

#2 | Put a Customer or Vendor in the Spotlight

Interview a vendor or one of your customers to gain their insight and to share online. Adding a fresh, secondary perspective makes your content even more accessible. Communication with key personalities in your brand’s value chain will open doors. A loyal customer will probably love appearing on your profiles and will know that you value their opinion. Vendors bring industry-specific expertise to bear that enhance your corporate image.

#3 | Answer a Pressing Question

Fielding questions and relating comprehensive answers is another beneficial way to spread the word about your business. Potential clients want to know they’re dealing with an expert or experienced professional. Rather than tell them how amazing you are, why not show them instead? You can write a blog post or make a video on Facebook or Instagram that covers a common question for your industry. People who are searching for new vendors will often have these sorts of queries in mind, so you get a chance to introduce yourself to them quickly.

#4 | Introduce New Workers

Do you have any new employees? If so, now would be an ideal time to share the news. A smiling face could help start a conversation on the social networks that assist you in beginning a business relationship. Never forget that it’s always about people, so projecting a warm, friendly persona goes a long way towards brand acceptance.

#5 | Add Your Take to a Trending Topic

Now and then a trending, non-controversial topic will closely relate to your industry or you personally. When it does, share the issue with your audience and add relevant commentary.  Since the subject is fresh in people’s minds, your post will get more attention, which also draws eyes towards your brand.

#6 | Tickle Their Funny Bones

Believe it or not, funny cat images are still incredibly powerful! Occasionally sharing pictures or videos that you find amusing is a quick way to gain popularity.

#7 | Fill-In-The-Blanks Are Fun and Engaging

Making a Fill-In-The-Blank is a fun way to engage your digital audience. Any topic can work, but you may as well relate it to your industry and organization for maximum impact.

#8 | Tell the World Your Story

Tell your brand’s story whenever possible, in the most natural way possible. Explain how your company operates and detail your mission. Help others to become passionate about dealing with your company because they share your values.

#9 | Inspire Your Audience

Who doesn’t benefit from reading or hearing something inspirational? Depending on the nature of your business or organization, this could include progress reports on current projects, charitable work you’re involved in, or looking back on how far you’ve come.

#10 | Broadcast Live Video

Are you hosting an event or just having an awesome day at work? Consider doing a Live Video broadcast on Facebook or other Platforms to connect with your audience with the power of video. Ideas could include product demonstrations, client interviews, or broadcasting your event.

#11 | Recognize Another Business

As they say, ‘sharing is caring!’ If you stop by a local company or business, consider sharing a picture is a great way to recognize other companies and share the love!

#12 | Share an Interesting Fact

Almost everyone will agree that it’s refreshing to learn little-known facts. Infographics are particularly compelling for sharing statistics and other structured data.

#13 | Repurpose Like A Boss

Don’t overlook the body of work you already have at your fingertips. Instead of creating something entirely new from scratch, use a photo or other digital asset differently. (Think image filters, text, etc.)

#14 | Celebrate The Season

Join the crowd and help your followers celebrate the season – whatever the season may be! Commonly celebrated Spring holidays include Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. Summer holidays include Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. Autumn holidays include Halloween and Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas when winter arrives.

#15 | Share Your Newsletter Content in Your Social Circles

The chances are good that not everyone you interact with online gets your email newsletter. These days, most commercial email providers make it easy for you to share your email newsletter to your social media platforms. This feature empowers you to offer your friends and fans access to your newsletters from their favorite platform.

#16 | Do a Poll to Increase Engagement

One of the most fun ways to engage with your fans, and followers is by making a poll. People love to give their opinions and feedback, so this is an ideal way to energize and promote interactions with your audience.

#17 | Join New Platforms and Establish Your Online Presence

These days, there is always a new online platform to explore and establish your online presence. Embrace the opportunity to join and use these platforms to connect with people you may not know!

We hope that you find this post helpful for spicing things up on your social media marketing channels for the next two weeks!