By Laura DeVries Company Branding • • 0 Comments

Brand Consistency: Why You Need It

Building a brand is tricky. You want people to think of your business uniquely. Ideally, you want to create a “vibe” that not only connects you with your market but associates a specific meaning within the mind of the consumer. In order to establish such a position, this requires a synchronicity between your brand strategy, brand message, and brand appearance. In other words, you need consistency.

 

Once you have established an idea for your brand, you begin to actualize this by putting out a message. Who are you? What do you offer? How are you different from the competition? These are the questions your message will answer. And once you have your message — stick with it. The longer you continue to put out your unique message, the more familiar it will become to people. And the more familiar it becomes, the more you build credibility. When it comes down to it, the consumer will seek out people and services that they recognize. So it’s important to be persistent with the same message — branding doesn’t happen overnight!

 

Your brand appearance should be consistent with the brand message. Think about it this way — the brand message is the meaning that you desire people to associate with your brand, whereas the brand appearance is how your message is actually perceived. You want to always be working toward closing the gap between your desired perception of your brand and the consumer’s perception of your brand.

 

Be aware that even the subtleties of your brand have an effect on the perception of your brand! If you’re a spa business and you want to brand your business with the colors black and red, your message may not be consistent with your appearance. Black is a very mysterious color often associated with fear and insecurity and red is often associated with high energy and sometimes aggression or anger. The associations that people have with black and red are not ones that would communicate a sense of relaxation and rejuvenation — the feelings you seek from a spa. So this would be an example of a lack of consistency between brand message and brand appearance.

 

Matching your brand message to your brand appearance is achieved through a brand strategy. Not all methods work the same for every message. If you are going to claim to be a “local” expert, then you need to do something truly local with your look and feel. If you’re a St. Louis local for example, one strategy to accomplish this might be to associate yourself with St. Louis sports teams like the Cardinals, the Blues, or the Rams. But this particular strategy may not work if you’re claiming local expertise as a bar owner, because most bars in St. Louis already associate themselves with the St. Louis teams. So another strategy to establish your brand message of “local expertise” may be in order.

 

When building a brand, cohesion is also key. However it should be noted that cohesion and consistency are not the same thing. By definition, consistency is doing the same thing predictably, whereas cohesion is doing things in a way that create unity. You can be successful in positioning your brand, having cohesion between your message and your appearance, but if you aren’t consistent your brand won’t last. Cohesion establishes your brand, but consistency builds it up. If you keep changing your message, people won’t be able to keep up with who you are and they will lose interest or forget about you.

 

Therefore it is important to find a look and feel and stick with it. Because the more you repeat a message, the more space it takes up in a person’s mind. Consistency is key!

 

By Laura DeVries Marketing • • 0 Comments

On Budget? Three Ways to Spend Those Marketing Dollars Wisely in Tough Times

When you’re on budget and you have a bit more time to focus on marketing, there are several things you can do to grow your business’s reach.

  1. Outsource if you don’t have the time:
    It’s easy to get caught up in work for our clients, so wouldn’t it be easier to have someone else do our own marketing work? Hiring in someone to do those odd jobs that we don’t quite have the time to do is a great way to get things done. College students and recent graduates are great candidates for this type of work because they are eager to gain experience and eager to make money. Basic marketing does not require a lot of experience therefore you don’t need to hire someone who will cost you an arm and a leg. And, younger people are already adept at using technology and social media.
  2. Focus on Social Media:
    In this day and age, it is absolutely imperative to have a web presence. Nearly everything is done online now, so if you can’t be found on the web, it’s as if you don’t exist. Three of the most important social media outlets to be on are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

    1. Facebook is such a multi-faceted network that allows people, businesses, organizations, events, news, and campaigns to be followed and interacted with. You want to be not only on Facebook but active. Even the smallest interactions on Facebook remind people that you are there, and that has far more impact than not being online at all.
    2. Twitter is as close to live-action social media as we can get right now. In 140 characters, we deliver a message to the world. It’s short, sweet, and constantly flowing. It allows businesses to interact directly with people in its market and vice versa. Your presence on Twitter means that you really exist in this moment and you’re ready to do business.
    3. LinkedIn is less common-people oriented, and more professional-oriented. This is the kind of social networking you want to do in order to maintain business relationships and find new business connections. People don’t necessarily always remember your business, but they will remember you.
  3. Create a professional quality brand identity:
    It is important to always be checking up on how your brand is being perceived. Is it being perceived positively? Is it being perceived the way you want it to be perceived? Is it even on anyone’s radar? To get your brand bumping around people’s heads, you need a logo. A visual to represent your business is important because it’s an immediate and easy association to your business. Ask yourself what you want people to remember about your business and how you can represent that in a logo. Another classic way to get your brand out there is by printing business cards. You will want a design that’s easy to read and includes your logo, name, business, phone number(s), website address, email address, and physical address (if applicable). Don’t leave off your email! The less information you provide, the harder it will be to contact you and the less people will be motivated to use your business.

Marketing is all about building a presence, relationships, and drumming up business. The only way your business will grow is if you make an effort to reach out!

By Laura DeVries Website • • • • • • 0 Comments

How Often Should You Update Your Website?

 

The short answer to this question is: As often as it’s worth updating.

Your next question is probably: what’s worth updating?

When you run a business, there are always changes being made, whether it be new products or services, news about your company, new tips, new staff, or industry news. Ideally, you would like to update your users as often as these changes happen. But that’s just not practical or possible.

So instead, we suggest you try to make updates once a month. This goal is far more manageable for most people. Now you may be wondering—why should I update that often?

Let Your Users Know That Your Website is Alive and Active

Imagine you pass a store every day and you never see any activity there, so you’re not sure if the store is open or not. Would you be compelled to buy something from there? Probably not.

It’s the same with websites, but even more so because websites are like virtual storefronts. You want to keep your website fresh so people know it’s active and being used, rather than just being there.

Good for SEO

Search engines favor new content. In fact, Google will look at your website more often as you update it and take this into account when ranking you. Google, like its users, doesn’t like stale content either.

More updates mean more pages to index. More pages to index mean a better chance at boosting your SEO.

Updating your content is also great for increasing your authority because with more content comes more activity and therefore links into and around your site. And as we know from our article What is SEO? quality link building means more authority and higher rankings on search engines.

Good for Social Media

Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with content to share on social media. It can also be easy to forget that the ultimate goal of using social media for your business is to drive traffic to your website.

So when you make updates to your website regularly, you add fuel to your social media promotions. Updated content on your website means new content for your social media and new reasons for people to visit your site.

Key to Successful Content Marketing

Content is king. It’s key to having good SEO, it’s key to establishing expertise in your industry, and it’s key to remaining relevant online.

You always want to be creating new or repurposed content for your users, because content means value. The more content you create, the more value you offer.

So with this in mind, it’s almost a no-brainer that you need to make regular updates to your website. It’s not just for keeping things fresh for your users and for Google, but for the sake of your marketing efforts.

If you keep offering value to users, they’re more likely to return to your website to get more value, share your content, subscribe or sign up, buy your products or services, and recommend your business.

Don’t underestimate the power of good content. And don’t let your website suffocate from stale content.

It’s Not an Easy Answer

So the long answer to how often you should update your website is that it really depends on your industry, your resources, your time management, and how often you have changes worth the update.

All in all, it’s more important to consider why we update content rather than how often. There isn’t some secret formula for the timing of updating content. There’s no doubt that updating your website should be made regular. But that regularity is up to you. However regularly you decide to update your website, try to commit to it.

For professional content writing assistance to update your website, contact CommCore Marketing.

By Laura DeVries Company Branding • Social Media • • • • 0 Comments

How Do I Start a Facebook Page for my Business?

We all know that Facebook is the king of social media. As of the end of 2016, Facebook had 2.41 billion monthly active users (Statista, 2019). That isn’t anything to scoff at.

When you have a pool of over two-sevenths of the human population to reach out to at your fingertips, it’s really a no-brainer that you need to be showing up on Facebook.

Facebook is free, the advertising on this platform is cheap, and it’s easier to implement customized features on Facebook like running a small e-commerce shop or running contests than it is to implement on your website.

If your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, it’s time to get one set up. Here’s how to do it…

Creating a Facebook Page

Making a Facebook page requires you to have a personal Facebook profile. As the creator of that page, you can interact as the business— so no need to worry about your personal information mixing with the business page. They are two separate identities.

So the first step (once you have a personal Facebook profile) is to go to the Pages header on the left side navigation menu. Next, you will click Create a Page in the upper right-hand corner.

Facebook then gives you six categories to choose from to identify the type of page you are creating:

After you select one of these options, you’ll get a list of fields— category, business name, address, phone number. Fill in all these fields then click Get Started.

Facebook will then walk you through all the sections to complete for your business page. You are always able to skip a section and finish it later. But do make sure that you fill out the About Me section, a profile picture for your page, and your website just to start.

We would also recommend you add categories that relate to your business (in the 1. About section). Facebook has its own page ranking system and adding categories will help your page come up more in relevant Facebook searches.

With this in mind, it is also to your advantage to the 4. Preferred Page Audience section because this will further refine who your page will display in front of the most. You can select relevant locations, age, genders, interests, and languages as they relate to your business.

After completing these sections, unless you are running the page alone, you will want to select admins. You can select admins by going to Settings in the upper right-hand corner of the page then clicking Page Roles on the left-hand side menu.

Under the heading Assign a New Page Role, you will notice when clicking on the drop-down menu that there are more page roles than just admins.

You can select from six different page roles and there are descriptions under the entry field bar for each. Remember to add someone to the page with a role, they must either be your friend on Facebook or you must add them by email. Only add people you trust!

Once you have completed these steps, your business page will be ready to go.

To further manage your page, go to Settings (top right-hand corner) and then the Edit Page button (left-hand side menu). From there you can change the template of your Facebook page, adjust the settings of your page’s tabs, or add a tab.

There are plenty of ways to customize your page, just using Facebook’s settings. So be sure to go through and familiarize yourself with all the different settings.

For more information and guidance for setting up a Facebook page, visit here, or CommCore Marketing can help you get your Facebook Business Page up and running!

Contact us for help!

By Laura DeVries Company Branding • Graphic Design • Marketing • Networking • Social Media • • • • 0 Comments

5 Key Strategies to Unifying Your Brand Identity

When it comes to branding, it’s critical to be consistent wherever you promote your brand. Both online and offline, your promotional efforts have to align with each other to be effective. Wherever your business has a presence, your brand identity needs to be clear.

When searching on the internet, people are not thinking of going offline to discover more about your brand, so neither should you. Your website is the ideal platform online to create a brand image with continuity so that any user who comes across it knows exactly who you are.

But how exactly does one create a lasting brand identity on a website that can also be leveraged offline? Here are five tips that will guide you in unifying your branding identity.

1. Branding Identity Basics: Your Logo, Typography, & Colors

If you haven’t already branded your business with a set of colors to use and a brand logo, this is the first thing you should do. You may not think it’s a priority, but these visual factors play a strong role in keeping your brand lodged in the minds of viewers.

First things first: your logo. If you haven’t already, get a logo designed ASAP. There is no shortage of graphic designers who are willing to help you design a logo. Then be sure your logo is on every material you put out as a business– your website pages, business cards, letterheads, etc. When you pick your brand colors, you need to consider that each color has psychological impacts. Red tends to convey feelings of excitement or intensity while gray gives off feelings of balance and calm. Do some research into the meanings of each color and decide from there which colors communicate the feelings you want to be associated with your brand.

Then– stick with the colors you pick. This will help reinforce your brand in a potential buyer’s mind. When you’re not consistent with color schemes, your brand becomes less memorable.

2. Use Language that Aligns with Your Brand

Your brand voice is incredibly important. Just like with your brand colors, you need to use language that speaks to your ideal buyer and client base. If you’re not sure what

language to use with the people you want to reach, start by considering how you want your brand to feel to your audience.

Write down a list of words and pick just three that you want to use for the base of your brand in the form of text. Here are just a few ideas:

  • Authoritative
  • Fun
  • Cheerful
  • Formal
  • Laid-back
  • Provocative
  • Dedicated
  • Trendy
  • Considerate
  • Informative

What words jump out as ones that would work with your brand? If you’re a lawyer, you probably wouldn’t want to choose “fun, trendy, and laid-back.” These words might fit with a bowling alley brand, but a law office might be better off using words like “formal, informative, and dedicated.”

Brainstorm your list using words that could apply to your brand. You can find a list of more brand voice descriptors here. Then consider the tone and description of your voice. Will you use slang or formal language? Will you use long-winded sentences or short, pithy sentences?

These are all things to consider before writing content for your brand. Language is important in conveying your identity.

3. Use Relevant Imagery

Images you use on your website or any other materials your business puts out there must be high-resolution and quality, however, these are not the only factors you need to consider when selecting images for your website.

A picture really is worth a thousand words (or more). With that consideration, put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Someone viewing your website, social media profiles, or brick-and-mortar business wants a real glimpse into the brand that they’re researching.

Many brands choose imagery as if it’s just a checkbox on a list of how to create a good brand. These images are often stock images that are vaguely related to the brand. But

why would you use imagery that’s open for public use to describe your brand– a brand that you want to position as unique?

You need to use original imagery that truly describes your brand and gives viewers an idea of what you’re like. Include images of your staff, your products, and services, your office. All of these original and unique images communicate a sense of trustworthiness to viewers because it’s more transparent and authentic.

4. The Essential Branding Info

About Us

Many businesses neglect to make use of this opportunity to distinguish themselves from others in their industry. No matter what your brand does, you should always have a page on your website describing who you are and what your brand values are. This is the chance to get explicit about your brand mission and vision and drive home what makes your brand unique as compared to your competitors.

Once you have that information on your site, you can use the same verbiage on social media, at networking events, and on marketing materials to uniquely position your brand.

Contact

This may not seem like it belongs in a discussion about branding, but it’s imperative to connect the dots between branding and business. If a person who wants to reach out to your business cannot find contact information, your brand is in serious trouble. You’re a business; you want people contacting you! Make sure anyone who goes out of their way to find how to contact you can do so easily. Include as many contact methods as possible: phone, email, physical address, hours of operation, etc.

5. Get Social

Many brands think of social media as a to-do item on a list to be a successful business. But social media is not just a nice addition to your brand– it’s an extension of your brand.

Think of it this way: there are more eyes on social media sites than there are on your website or inside your store. Instead of leveraging people off of social media, engage them directly where their attention is. Your social accounts should be just as active as you are in your business.

Be sure to link all of your social accounts to your site and make it easy for people to find your various social channels when they’re on your website. Social media should be a big part of your branding strategy.

Conclusion

The key to brand unity is to be sure to be consistent with your logo, brand colors, language, and imagery you use. Make it as easy as possible for people to learn about who you are, and make it easy for them to engage you where they’re already giving their attention. Want more guidance on unifying your brand’s identity? Reach out to CommCore Marketing today!

 

By Laura DeVries Company Branding • • 0 Comments

Do You Have a Value Statement?

What is a value statement? A value statement is a declaration of a business’s top priorities and beliefs. These are used not only to remind employees of what a business’s goals are, but to connect with targeted consumers.

 

Your value statement, like your brand, will set you apart from other businesses. When it comes down to it, what do you really want to accomplish with your business? What do you really want to engage in your potential customers to make them identify with you? Remember, your business isn’t just about what you want, it’s also about what your customers want.

 

With so much media clutter out there, it’s important to be unique. If you look and sound like everyone else, then you are just going to blend into the clutter — and that’s not what great brands do. How can you set yourself apart? Think about it from a consumer’s point of view. If you were a consumer looking for the services your kind of business offers, what would you want that business to look and feel like in order for you to trust it? What kind of priorities would you want that business to have to earn your business?

 

Answering these questions will not only help you determine what your values are, but they will help you determine your target market as well. People don’t want just a service or product — a service or product is the bare minimum. People want a service or product that they can relate to and makes them feel something. A value statement brings in those feelings that help people connect a service or product to their business needs. So decide what it is you value, and what you think it is that your customers value, and create a statement that cultivates those feelings.