marketing strategy

Do You Really Own a Brand? 10 Questions that Will Make You Reflect

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brand

Your brand is the image that people observe, develop, and relate to. It connects you to your customers and prospects. The branding process, including the planning and decision process are important. These decisions have an impact on your future success. By working through this checklist, you’ll have established a solid brand and a plan to move forward and integrate it into all of your marketing and sales efforts.

#1 Have you identified your business vision and mission? Your branding decisions must remain true to your core business vision and mission in order to provide a consistent and comprehensive image to prospects and customers.

#2 Have you identified colors that best represent the brand that you want to portray? The colors you choose will embody the vision and mission of your business along with the message you wish to convey.

#3 Have you chosen a brand name / business name that is easy to remember, easy to spell and can be registered as a domain name?

#4 Do you have a solid understanding of who your target audience is? Do you understand what their needs, interests and goals are? Remember that your branding efforts will influence your unique target customer.

#5 Do you know what differentiates you/your company from your competitors? Do you realize the value that you bring to your prospects? Answer these questions to make sure you are on the right track:

  • How do you benefit your clients?
  • Why do they like you?
  • Why do they buy from you? 

#6 Do you have a logo? Does it convey your brand in a way that is simple and easy to understand? Do you think that the colors support your vision and mission?

#7 Have you developed a brand purpose? It should be a statement that highlights what makes your business distinct.

#8 Have you created a brand personality?  It should be a statement or list of characteristics that best describe your brand. Your brand personality embraces elements of your personal personality so that you can create a stronger connection with the audience. A stronger connection results in a stronger brand.

#9 Have you created a brand promise? Most business owners don’t even know that they should create an emotional statement.  This promise should evoke a positive emotion.

#10 Have you created a marketing strategy? You should always include the social media marketing, email marketing and link building efforts into one marketing strategy. The most important elements of a marketing strategy are:

  • Social media profiles
  • Website
  • Blog name
  • Email signature
  • Phone message
  • Networking associations

Your brand is who you are, what you represent, and what makes you and your business unique and different from your competition. Spend time creating your business brand and working through this checklist to ensure a comprehensive and clear brand – a brand your prospects won’t be able to resist.

Strategic Internet Marketing

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marketing-strategyEven during times of recession when it seems like many major companies are focused on downsizing, you can grow your business in such a way that it will thrive once the good times begin rolling again. The internet marketing strategies that you engage in over the next several months will lead you right down the path you want.

Consider this: more than two thirds of all consumers visit the Web for when seeking information on their desired type of product or service. It is due to this reason that the majority of companies have switched their marketing gears over recent years. However, that does not mean that one should focus solely on internet marketing techniques to build their business. Press releases in your local paper and of course stellar customer service are still good ways to grow your clientele.

Email marketing is a strong strategy, especially when the target audience is prior customers or those you may have met at market fairs of some sort. People who have willingly given you their email will be more likely to peruse a usable newsletter full of tips and information that will help make their lives easier. Remember, when you have something of value to offer, your word will be read.

At a time when people are seeing less revenue generated, it may seem like the time to abandon costly pay per click campaigns. I wouldn’t necessarily say stop this practice altogether, because you want to maintain high visibility. However, slower times can be the best times to review and analyze the pay per click campaigns and Adword campaigns you are running. Minimizing to very focused terms may help you gain more relevant and qualified traffic.chart

In fact, investing some time in really taking a good look at all of your internet marketing strategies can give you a good picture of what is really working for you and what is not. Change is inevitable and making changes will definitely be a necessity for you at some point in time. Looking at results from your current efforts should show you the direction you want to focus on in the coming months, and will also show you mistakes you have been making. Mistakes are wonderful learning experiences if you grow from them.

For instance, if you have been submitting articles to directories for the past year and you’re not seeing much traffic come from them, consider changing the location of these articles. Perhaps the same articles would receive more attention if placed in a blog relevant to your niche product or service. Perhaps you need to look at outsourcing blog writing to someone who has the time and expertise to read and respond to blog posts on your behalf. Perhaps creating articles for Squidoo and Hub pages is the way to get more exposure in a social networking manner. The real point is that if you try looking in different directions for your internet marketing, you just may be surprised by some astounding results.