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Generation X Matters: How to Tell Your Brand Story to Them

November 4, 2022/in Articles, Brand Development, Brand Story Telling, Directors, Storybranding /by Dan Gartlan

Generation X, often referred to as the middle child, is the generation sandwiched between the baby boomers and the millennials. And just like the middle child, they often feel forgotten, especially when it comes to marketing. However, this generation has impressive buying power and are essential to consider when determining how to tell your brand story.

Generation X are now in their late 30’s to early 50’s, and are the generation that remembers a time before the technological, and specifically the digital, revolution. On the whole, however, Xers were young enough when it happened to have embraced the change and made technology work for them. They have a foot in both camps and are just as at home with print media, as they are with blogs, Facebook and YouTube.

Why is Generation X Important?

While, relatively speaking, Generation X is a small customer segment in comparison to baby boomers and millennials, they have immense buying power, which should not be overlooked. However, marketers are confused about how to reach a generation that has one foot in the past, and the other firmly in touch with digital technology and change. Research has shown that 62% of this generation still read print media, while at the same time 60% use a Smartphone on a daily basis.

Despite the difficulties of appealing to this generation, they are ignored at your own risk; after all, they account for over 30% of consumer spending, and not only are they buying for themselves, but many still have financial responsibility for their children as well. They are also extremely brand loyal, once they find a brand that is worthy of that loyalty.

Creating Consistency is Key

Given all of this, consistency is vital in your brand storytelling, not only within your story but also across the platforms through which you tell that story. However, generation Xer’s are also busy, often juggling children, careers, and responsibility for older family members. So, your story and your brand need to be instantly recognizable, and easily digestible. Short snippets of information combined with audiovisual formats make your story memorable and accessible. Generation X is not shy of technology, so utilizing channels such as YouTube, along with approaches such as email marketing, is vital if you are to get your brand’s story across in a meaningful way.

While busy juggling their many commitments, creating the lifestyle they want remains of paramount importance to this generation. They work hard and expect their money to work hard on their behalf, especially as there are few guarantees when they hit retirement. They respond well to offers, especially coupons that offer what they want at a price that is well within their budget. However, they are wary of trying new, untested companies, so when choosing how to tell your brand story, you need to develop trust from the very start.

Got tips? Sure we do! Check out these six tips on email marketing.

Hearing the Voice of Generation X

Generation X has strong opinions, is generally worldly-wise, and drawn to companies that are ethical, and which promote ethical goods and services. These need to form part of your brand story if you are to begin to build the trust of this generation. However, you also need to show that you value your customer, as well as the planet.

Excellent customer service is essential to Generation X. They need to feel valued and respected by your company and your brand. If they do not, you will know very quickly. This generation, more than any other, is not afraid to take the time to say what they think, and they expect you to listen. So, your story needs to focus on the customer and show that not only do you accept and listen to feedback but also that you act on it. That means that while the fundamentals of your story – your ethos, mission, and goals – may not change, how you achieve these needs to be tweaked to adapt to the changing needs of this generation.

Powerful Call-to-Action Phrases to Increase Clicks

October 21, 2022/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Nicole Wagner

Are you looking to increase your conversion rate? Call to action phrases are an essential part of the conversion process, but what kinds of call-to-actions should you put on your website? CTAs should be simple yet effective, and catch the attention of your visitors.

The formula for a successful CTA page title consists of combining such sales buzzwords as “free,” “discount,” “offer,” “gift,” “guarantee,” with action-oriented words like “click,” “download,” “request,” and “send.” Putting together a strand of words to entice clicks sometimes doesn’t get the job done, though. As a marketer, think of what strikes you as a buyer: emotion.

Humans are oddly emotional creatures and are the only ones that tie those emotions to money hence making many of their purchases subject to the emotions invoked by marketing which is exactly why call to action phrases are so important. This isn’t a secret to marketers either, but leveraging that knowledge and coupling it with your brand’s content can be a little tricky.

Call to Action Phrase Building Tips

CTAs can be as simple as “click here” and “download now,” but can have an infinitely more powerful meaning by adding a few simple words and giving the reader the benefit of what they are getting from the offer.

Include a possessive determiner such as “your.” The possessive aspect of the CTA makes the reader feel as though that piece of content or your offer is already theirs to be had and in their back pocket.
Briefly outline the benefit of the content. Add what your website visitor gets from clicking your CTA. This almost acts as a miniature landing page. For example, instead of saying “click here” use a phrase like “click here for your free white paper.”
Use action words and urgency to encourage clicks. “Limited downloads,” “limited time,” and words such as “now” and “quickly” will enhance the sense of urgency for your users to click on your brand’s CTAs.

Actionable Call to Action Phrases

Actionable CTAs leverage words like “now,” “here,” “click,” etc. Actionable CTAs use an action word to draw the reader into the CTA which gives them that emotional sense of action and satisfies that human demand for immediate satisfaction. Getting content “now” versus “get it in a week” will certainly drive more clicks onto your CTAs.

Keeping in mind some of the tips above, let’s take a look at how using actionable words can make a simple CTA far more powerful. We’ve bolded some of those key terms, but have a little fun. Remove some of the bolded items and see what that does to the phrase. Keep in mind that you can insert any content type or offer in the brackets to fit your brand. Here are a few examples of actionable CTAs:

Download Your [Content] Now
Click Here for Your Free [Content]
Join Now and [Get 30 Days Free]
Download Your Free [Content] Here
Start Getting Your Free [Content] by Clicking Here Now
Click Here for Details About the Best [Service/Product] for Your Company

5 Types of Landing Pages To Increase Your Lead Conversion Rate

Urgent Call to Action Phrases

For most of us, the essence of time can very well be the thing that either helps us make a decision or turns our “eventually” into never. Your buyers are the same way, and giving them a little nudge into a sense of urgency can be just what they need to click your CTA, capitalize on your content, and ultimately buy what you’ve got up for offer. Adding some personal touches (in the right context) can further drive that sense of urgency for your buyer.

Limited time offers, limited time discounts, first time buyer discounts, and limited supply all tend to push buyers a little closer to the buy button in their shopping cart and can be great ways to improve your CTAs. In the case of content and CTAs where the downloads themselves are free, your prospective buyer has virtually nothing to lose. Here are a few urgent call to action phrases that are sure to light the proverbial fire under your buyer and increase clicks:

Download Your [Content] While Supplies Last
Act Quickly Limited Downloads Available
Hurry, This Free [Content] Offer Expires Soon
Secure Your Spot Today! Limited Spots Available
Only X Days Remaining to [Sign Up, Download, Attend]
Take Advantage of this Limited [Content] Today Only
I Urge You to Download this Limited Time Offer

Want to learn more about how to attract more leads? Click here to learn about Attraction Marketing!

Exclusive Call to Action Phrases

Adding urgency to a call to action phrase can sometimes seem a little pushy, especially to some C-level managers and business owners, but there is another equally crafty way to make your CTAs appealing to your target audience: exclusivity. Exclusive offers give readers the feeling that they are a part of or at least offered a deal that no one else is in on.

We see these sort of lead generation tactics across multiple retail platforms where deals are both confined to time and exclusive to members only. Whether or not your particular brand is a retailer or not we, as consumers, have been trained to jump on those exclusive offers available only to the elite. This can work with your CTAs as well. Here are some useful exclusive CTA phrases:

Join Our Mailing List and Get Exclusive Content
This Offer is Only For Our Subscribers
Sign Up for Exclusive Offers only Available to Subscribers
Request an Invitation to [Join, Sign Up, Get Content]
This [Content, Offer] is Only Available to [Subscribers, Members]
Download Now for Exclusive Access

Responsive Call to Action Phrases

Naturally, every call to action you create should have an overall goal of generating a response from your target buyer and while practically any of these CTA phrases we’ve outlined could be categorized as either “actionable” or “responsive” we think that it’s best to separate the two factions. Actionable CTAs lead users towards a specific action such as clicking, downloading, subscribing, etc. whereas responsive CTAs invoke a sense of two-way conversation.

With that said, the CTA phrases below will elicit a response from your potential lead: think feedback, a reply, or a point of contact. These types of CTA phrases should hopefully open up a dialogue between you and your potential buyer and give them an opportunity to start the conversation. Here are a few examples of responsive CTAs:

Talk to One of Our Experts About…
Get a Free Consultation and Talk About Your Business Goals
We’d Like to Hear from You: Talk to a Specialist Today
Let Us Know What You Think
Contact Us Today
Contact Me
Don’t Hesitate to Get in Touch With Us

For more attraction marketing resources, click here.

Craft Your Own CTA Phrases

As we’ve mentioned, the sky really is the limit to crafting attractive content-focused CTA phrases and experimenting with them is one of the great ways inbound marketing can help marketers learn more about their tactics. What’s important to keep in mind is that your buyer is the focus of any CTA or piece of content you craft, and without a doubt, targeting those CTAs is crucial for the success of your content initiatives.

How To Tell Your Brand Story Using Personas

October 17, 2022/in Articles, Brand Development, Brand Story Telling, Directors, Inbound Marketing, Storybranding /by Dan Gartlan

When considering how to tell your brand story, you must think of the role of the audience as well as that of the storyteller. Stories create wonder, excitement, and engagement in the world they create. Through storytelling, your business can engage with its audience on a much more emotional level. Connecting with your key audience is vital, and can be achieved through the creation of buyer personas.

What Is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a fictional character that represents the behaviors, goals, and needs of your current and potential customers. Once you know who they are, the problems they are facing, and what they want from life, you can begin to see how to tell your brand story in a way that reaches them and provides the answers they are looking for. The more thoroughly the buyer persona is fleshed out, the more focused your brand storytelling can be, and, consequently, the more effective.

Where to Start with Your Buyer Persona

As with any storytelling element, you start with what you know. Who are your current customers? What age group do they fall into? What gender are they? This information can be gleaned from login details, email lists, and customer feedback. If you make use of social media platforms, the data your customers share publicly provides a wealth of knowledge. You will find that specific characteristics are more common than others, providing you with the basis for your persona. It is essential, however, to create more than one persona, or you could have too narrow a view of your potential audience.

Using Your Brand Story To Reach Millennials In Business

Putting the Flesh on the Bones

Once you have these details, you can begin to ask further questions that allow you to fill in the gaps and create fleshed out individuals. Give your buyer persona a name, age, and gender. Determine their marital status and flesh out the details of their immediate family. Don’t forget to consider their level and type of education, as well as how long they have been out of school. All of this is important because how you approach a single millennial will differ significantly from how you tell your story to a married member of generation X with a mortgage and a family.

Give your personas a career, responsibilities, and challenges. How do you think they approach these elements in their life? How do these aspects affect their levels of trust, loyalty, and their approach to taking risks? These are again all crucial elements in how you tell your brand story and what image of your company you create.

Don’t forget to consider their social life as well. Your buyer personas need to be as human as possible. As well as helping you to create a connection between the audience and the story, this helps you understand where they spend their disposable income, and what you can do to redirect more of that spending towards your brand.

If you are ever unsure of the next step to take with how to tell your brand story through a buyer persona, just imagine a conversation between them and your brand persona. If it is a long pleasant conversation that finds solutions and answers questions, then you are on the right track. If it ends in an argument or, even worse, still silence, you probably have to revisit your brand storytelling strategy from the top.

7 Package Design Tips for Creating a Strong Brand

June 21, 2022/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors /by Mark Beebe

There are a lot of factors that go into creating a strong brand. One factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is the packaging design of your products. Not only should the design of your packaging properly reflect everything you want to say about your product, but it should also make it recognizable as being part of your brand. When someone looks at the packaging of a product, even if it’s just a quick glance, you’ll want them to recognize it as an offering from your business, after all. The following are a few packaging design tips that will help with creating a strong brand:

1. Consider Form And Function

The look of your product’s packaging is certainly important–consumers are going to judge a book by its cover when it comes to most products, and for a good reason, the quality of a product’s packaging will reflect the quality of the product in most people’s minds. If you can’t put effort into your product’s packaging, how do they know you put any effort into the product itself? Of course, the packaging needs to be functional as well. It should keep the product safe and intact. If the packaging is completely based on helping the product look good but isn’t functional, it will hurt your packaging design instead of helping it.

2. Be Clear and Concise

A brief glance at your product’s packaging should tell the consumer everything they need to know about the brand behind the product, what the product is, and what the product does. If they have to stop and inspect the package in order to figure out what it’s for, you’re in trouble. Make sure the content you display on your packaging is clear and concise. Don’t clutter your packaging with images and text, as this will only overwhelm the consumer and make it more difficult for them to figure out your product.

3. Be Honest And Authentic

Don’t lie about your product by making outlandish claims on the packaging or by displaying images of the product that don’t accurately represent what’s inside the package. This will only hurt your long-term success. It’s important to be authentic as well. Although authenticity is something that’s difficult to define, it’s about sticking to your strengths and not trying to position your product or brand as something it’s not in an attempt to draw attention.

Read More Related Articles: Seven Steps To Launching A Packaging Brand

4. Use Colors Consistently

Consumers will associate the colors you use on your packaging with your brand, which is why you won’t want to stray far from the colors you use in your official branding. Try to stick to just two to three main colors for your packaging to prevent it from looking messy as well.

5. Choose Fonts Carefully

The fonts you choose should be in line with your overall brand. This means that if you use more minimal fonts and designs for your logo, website, and more, then using lavish cursive fonts for your packaging may not be the best idea. Additionally, don’t use more than two (three max) types of fonts. Too many fonts will make your packaging look cluttered. Two fonts that compliment one another will make your package design look more cohesive.

6. Consider Your Competition

Take a look at what your competitors are doing with their packaging. This can give you a good idea of what’s working. It can also ensure that you don’t create packaging that’s too similar to your competition. You want your product to stand out from other products, after all.

7. Keep Product Extension In Mind

You may add more products to the same product line, so you’ll want to make sure that your packaging has a flexible design so that you can reuse it with some minor alterations (such as a different color but the same overall design) for any new products in the same line that you release.

One of the elements you’ll want to focus on when implementing a strategy for creating a strong brand is the packaging you design for your products. Be sure to keep these package design tips in mind, and you’ll likely see more success in creating a strong brand.

Telling Your Brand Story To Baby Boomers

October 18, 2021/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors, Marketing Strategy, Storybranding /by Dan Gartlan

The only thing in the world that is constant is change, and not many changes in recent history can compare to the way baby boomers have redefined how we approach everything in life, marketing and spending included. The baby boomer generation controls 70% of disposable income in the United States, and represent 44% of the US population. That is a considerable market share and one that you can tap into by telling your brand story in a way that appeals specifically to this generation.

The Importance of Experience

How your customers think is influenced by their unique life story, current circumstances, environment, and worldview. It is also influenced by their experience and the wisdom they have gained as they have progressed through life. Your brand story needs to take these elements into account and reflect the knowledge, experience, and interests of this age group. Your brand story needs to use language in a way that celebrates this wealth of life experience.

However, just as importantly, your brand storytelling must reflect on the role that this wealth of experience plays in the changing buying habits of the Baby Boomer generation. Worldviews change as you age and gain new information and perspectives. These changing views reflect in how this customer segment process information, and how they make decisions about products and services.

Life becomes more about relationships, developing positive relationships in particular, rather than categories. Family, friends, and nostalgia, play a significant role in the decision-making process. Choices are not black and white and are more likely to be emotionally led.

Check out this similar article about Brand Storytelling

Changes in Storytelling Style

When considering how to tell your brand story to Baby Boomers, you also need to recognize that the changes are not just emotional, but also physical. As the brain ages and its functions change, you must adapt your storytelling to communicate efficiently with this generation. While the younger brain wants unambiguous, precise details and facts, the brain of this generation is more intuitive and emotionally led. It is also more attuned to sensory images, meaning that your storytelling needs to use words in a multi-sensory manner to create these pictures.

Metaphors are an essential part of this creative process. They aid in the brain’s comprehension of a subject and help to make it more vivid. If you cannot paint pictures with words and metaphors, you risk losing the customer’s focus and interest in your story.

Luckily for you as the storyteller, the Baby Boomer generation as a whole loves stories. So, the stronger the story, the more likely you are to attract Baby Boomers to your brand. However, your stories need to be emotionally charged. If it just contains line after line of facts and statistics, it will quickly lose its appeal. As with any customer segment, good writing, detailed characters, and engaging content also remain essential to reaching the Baby Boomer generation.

The Brand Development Process Demystified

October 11, 2021/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors /by Dan Gartlan

“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. You can’t control the process but you can influence it.” Marty Neumeier- Brand Gap

Grandeur, class, and opulence are what come to your mind at the mention of a Rolls-Royce. This is because Rolls-Royce has defined and positioned itself as such. A good brand should be a culture associated with something irreplaceable.

Brand development process is being able to influence your audience to believe that they are buying into an adventure, an identity. It needs careful formulation to represent your business properly. Based on recognizable brands, here is the development process solved:

Discovery

As you think of a way to create your brand, think of it as a person. Can you define your personality? Your analysis should be able to answer the WHY question- why a customer should buy from you and not somebody else.

SWOT analysis has been commonly used to give a clear picture of company characteristics. Identify favorable and unfavorable internal and external factors of your company. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Other analytic tools include PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces which measure influence and competitive intensity in the outside environment respectively.

Read more on Discovering Your True Brand Story and Bringing It To Life

Positioning

“Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.” Theodore Levitt-Professor, Harvard Business School

Once you have discovered where you stand, develop your product promise. You must position yourself as provider of such to your audience. What is your unique selling proposition (USP)? Make your brand appeal different and focus on developing a unique USP applicable to your product/ service. Let your target market know that whatever you offer them is a solution to their problems.

Learn How To Strengthen Your Brand Through These Competitive Advantage Examples.

Visual expression

First impressions are the most lasting. Many customers are guilty of buying the packaging rather than the product. Think of all the people through centuries that have given their lives for a flag to appreciate the power of visual expression. Your brand development process should harness this visual reaction in people. Make them believe that your product stands for something, is different, and comes as authentic. Verbal expressions, design, packaging, sales and marketing are aids of powerful product impression.

Constant evolution

You can either change or let the change change you. Just like in football or any game, you have to stay relevant or face the bench. Your brand should be perceived as you want it to be long after you have launched your product. Constant evolution saves you from being obsolete and is vital in brand development process because it never stops. In order to be considered a brand, you should make your presence felt at all times by sustaining it. A good company always has ongoing research or audits to find out how to appraise their image, products, and services.

Your Brand Reputation and Public Relations

June 28, 2021/in Articles, Brand Development, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

Public relations (PR) traditionally consisted of press releases and news conferences, and very little else. However, these days, PR has taken on greater importance, especially when it comes to your marketing strategy. After all, you’re now able to engage directly with consumers across many different online channels. As such, digital public relations are essential for improving and maintaining your brand reputation.

What’s The Difference Between Digital PR And Digitial Marketing?

At first glance, it might appear that there is some overlap in terms of what can be defined as PR and what can be defined as inbound marketing. After all, content creation is a vital component of inbound marketing strategies. Yet, press releases are a form of content. Additionally, the content you create as part of your inbound strategy does impact your brand authority – and, therefore, its reputation. The main difference between digital PR and inbound marketing is in the goal. The goal of inbound marketing is to generate leads and eventually to close sales. This is not the goal of digital PR. Instead, the goal of digital PR is to improve the perception of your business. Although different, in achieving the goal of PR, you contribute to the success of your inbound marketing efforts.

The Benefits Of Digital Public Relations

The following are some of the reasons why digital PR can be beneficial to your brand:

Improve credibility – A good digital PR strategy can help you secure more media coverage. For instance, sending out press releases to various online media outlets. As a result, when consumers are doing research into your brand, they’ll discover a wealth of coverage from reputable sources, which will lend your business credibility. Such credibility helps boost brand trust and makes it easier to generate leads.
Generate more brand awareness – The more coverage you obtain from online media outlets, the more brand awareness you generate. On top of that, PR-related content that you publish online, whether on your website or on social media, can be shared. When such content is shared, it can boost awareness even further.
Increase organic traffic – First of all, any press releases or PR-related content that you write, you can optimize for SEO. This will help boost traffic to your website. Secondly, any media coverage you get can boost traffic as well. Not only can readers who were unaware of your business do a search based on press coverage, but many online media outlets will link their coverage of your brand to your site.
Maintain a positive reputation – Digital PR also involves addressing negative comments on review sites and on social media. Trying to resolve issues that customers had with their experience online (in view of the public) can actually boost your reputation. Ignoring negative comments will only hurt your reputation.

Learn More About Public Relations

Examples Of Digital Public Relations Strategies

There are many different things that you can do to improve your PR efforts online. The following are just a few examples of digital PR tactics that you could implement:

Press announcements on social issues – When you make changes within your company to improve corporate and social responsibility, you should announce them to the world. For instance, if you’re making a switch to a more sustainable manufacturing process to become more environmentally friendly. Even just announcing your support for a social movement or cause can help increase the reputation of your brand.
Video content of community involvement – Showcase how your business gets involved in your community by filming it. For instance, if you encourage employees to do community service, or if higher-level employees regularly participate in community-related events, then you should film it and post those videos online, whether on your website or on social media.
Social media engagement – Social media allows you to connect with your audience directly. As such, you can leverage social media to talk to your customers and show them that you’re present and that you care. Ask questions about their experience with your brand. You should also address negative comments in an attempt to turn negative customer experiences into positive ones. Not only can this help you from losing a customer, but it will also show the world that you care.
Company interviews – Set up interviews with experts within our company. For instance, let them speak to influencers within your industry for an interview published on a website, for a video, or for a podcast. Doing so helps to generate awareness of your brand and can boost your brand authority as well. Not to mention that putting a face on your brand will make your business more relatable to your audience.

Implement A Digital PR Strategy Today

Public relations is critical to maintaining and improving the perception of your brand. The stronger your brand reputation is, the better your chances are of being able to successfully market your business. As such, it’s vital that you implement a digital PR strategy.

Defining Your True Brand Story and Bringing it to Life Online

June 11, 2021/in Articles, Blog, Brand Development, Directors, Storybranding /by Dan Gartlan

Today’s most well-known brands share a powerful marketing secret—its about connecting with customers on an emotional level and in a way that addresses their challenges. But how can you do this without pushing your ideas on prospects?

Taking a true storytelling approach is the answer. Sharing your brand’s core values and competitive advantages in meaningful, memorable way will help reach your ideal buyer and build a following to your brand. Any brand, large or small, in any industry, for any product or service, can benefit from getting past just telling advantage and benefit claims, and truly developing a unique voice that customers believe in and becomes your brand.

The Power Of A Great Story

Stories have feeling. Emotion. Honesty. A good story naturally draws people in and creates lasting impressions. Beyond showing personality, it can convey a brand’s authentic motivational core—distinguishing you from the competition. A brand story rooted in truth and experience, and not about simply speaking about your product or service facts, will communicate your values and beliefs while empowering your customers and prospects. And once you have people on board, they will instinctually want to share it with others. So you not only attract buyers, you attract followers and advocates of your brand—without forcing it.

Uncovering The Plot

As you begin to think of your brand as a story and the best ways to convey it, consider these two essential layers: your Core Values—which is the WHY you do what you do (what you stand for and believe in) and your Competitive Advantages—the WHAT and HOW you do what you do best. By aligning these two elements, you define the true essence of your brand, and develop a unique value proposition that no other company or brand can match. While one point on its own may not be the differentiating factor, in combination, they become what makes you unique and extend the belief that you do it for the right reasons.

Learn more about telling your Brand Story here!

Diving Deeper

Companies must do some internal processing to find a brand’s difference and its’ point of view. The difference is the brand’s function. The POV is the brand’s cause. Features and benefits are copied or upgraded all the time. But when a customer feels a brand shares their beliefs, when they believe in the same Core Values, they are more likely to connect with them. As they consider at different purchasing options, you will have already built an emotional connection—and trust.

Expressing Your Story

Once you capture and define your one authentic story, you must bring it to life for the world to discover. Crafting the voice and tone to showcase your personality, what motivates and inspires you, and demonstrate your values. Creating consistent, relevant and informative website content that speaks to the right prospects you are trying to attract. Maintaining a positive experience for all visitors, but shaping experiences for your key audiences to keep them coming back for more.

At the end of the day, your website’s greatest objective is to deliver prospects the information they need, when they need it, and provide clarity around how to act. When you shape it around a story that already engages, you will effectively build the following—and the sales—that lead to lasting success.

How to Improve Brand Recognition in 2021

May 31, 2021/in Articles, Brand Development, Brand Positioning, Directors /by Mark Beebe

Developing your brand is essential to your ability to attract new leads and convert new customers. The more recognizable your brand becomes, the easier it will become to generate brand trust and to build your audience. For instance, if a consumer is searching for a specific solution and they find two or three options, one of which is from a brand they recognize, they will typically gravitate towards that brand. As such, recognizability is crucial. With that in mind, the following are five ways that you can improve brand recognition this year:

1. Identify Your Target Audience

If you can’t recognize who your audience is, you can’t expect them to recognize your brand. All of your branding strategies and decisions depend on who you’re trying to reach. A company’s worth is highly reliant on whether or not they provide solutions that meet the needs or solve the problems of its customers. If you’re targeting people who have no need for your solutions, then those who do are going to be confused about your brand. The more you understand who your audience is, the more likely you’ll be able to build a brand that they will be able to recognize.

2. Develop A Clear Brand Message

You need to be clear about what your objectives are as a brand. This includes your mission, your vision, and your purpose. Think about how Apple’s message is about innovation and creating technology that’s not only user-friendly but essential to a creative and independent lifestyle. This message is clear because Apple has developed and promoted its message since the 1980s. If your message isn’t clear, consumers become confused. An unclear message can send the wrong message, thereby hurting your brand’s recognizability.

3. Build Your Brand Identity

Your brand identity involves a lot of different elements. The most obvious is the logo. If your brand becomes strong enough, a unique logo can be recognized even if your company name isn’t part of it. Take for example Nike’s swoosh. Everybody knows that the swoosh is Nike even if their name doesn’t accompany the logo. Although the visual connection of the logo is important, it’s not the only component of your brand identity. The tone of voice you use in your content, the reputation you have, and the brand storytelling you use to deliver your message are all vital to building a strong brand identity.

Here are 5 additional reasons why brand marketing works.

4. Maintain Branding Consistency

Consistency is key to making your brand recognizable. If your message varies from one platform to another, people are going to get confused about who you are. For example, if you run a clothing company and you position yourself as a luxury clothing brand on Instagram but then promote affordable shoe wear on Facebook, people won’t know what you are or who you’re targeting, making it more difficult to recognize your brand.

Additionally, the aesthetic of your brand and the tone of voice should be consistent over all channels. Use the same colors and logos on every platform. Do not change the tone of your brand to try and fit the channel you’re using. If you use an excited, informal tone on one channel, don’t use a formal, level-headed tone on the other. If you switch tones, people won’t recognize that you’re the same brand using both channels. Consistency across all of your marketing efforts is essential to building a strong brand that’s recognizable across all channels.

5. Develop And Implement A Long-Term Marketing Strategy

Even if you’ve spent a lot of time crafting your brand, you still need to build awareness to boost recognizability. This is where your marketing efforts come into play. You need to figure out where and when you can reach your target audience, as well as what marketing efforts will help to effectively deliver your message and spread brand awareness. Such efforts will not succeed overnight — you need to develop a comprehensive long-term branding strategy to successfully boost your brand recognition.

Building your brand is crucial to your company’s success. Even if your brand has been established for some time, brand development should never stop. You should always look for ways to increase brand awareness, and improving brand recognition is necessary to do just that. As such, you should consider implementing these effective strategies to improve brand recognition in 2021.

How to Share Your Message With A New Brand Strategy?

April 30, 2021/in Articles, Brand Development, Brand Positioning, Directors /by Mark Beebe

Brands fight to gain attention. Brands need communication without words. Brands are psychology and science brought together as a promise mark as opposed to a trademark.

Products have life cycles, but brands outlive products. Brands convey a uniform quality, credibility and experience. Brands are valuable.

Without branding, there is no differentiation. Without differentiation, there is no long-term profitability. People don’t have relationships with products, they develop relationships with brands.