Developing a unique brand is not just about designing a distinctive logo or crafting a catchy tagline. It’s about creating a unique feeling that will live in your customers’ minds. It’s about building an association between your brand and something positive so that whenever your target audience sees let’s say: your logo, they know what to expect from your products and services.

This element of branding is called brand positioning. Keep reading to learn about its importance to the success of your business, along with four strategies to help you implement it.

### What Is Brand Positioning And How Does It Work?
Brand positioning is typically defined as the unique space that a brand occupies in the minds of its target audience when compared to its competitors.

The best way to learn how this strategy works is by using an example. Let’s take Smartwater. Smartwater is a sub-brand of bottled water owned by the Coca-Cola Company, designed to appeal to young adults.

Its brand positioning is [as follows](https://www.cokesolutions.com/products/brands/smartwater/smartwater.html): “This unique combination of vapor distillation and electrolytes result in a premium bottled water that delivers a taste that is distinctly fresh, crisp, and pure.”

The terms “vapor distillation” and “electrolytes” were chosen to play into the idea that this is water for smart, healthy people. They draw attention to the specific process used to obtain the water and how the “fresh, crisp and pure” flavor was achieved. They also support the claim that Smartwater is “premium bottled water,” implying that it’s somehow better or more high quality than other bottled water brands.

Compare this to the [brand positioning for Dasani](https://www.cokesolutions.com/products/brands/dasani/dasani), another sub-brand owned by the Coca Cola Company: “DASANI®  is better by design: Better Designed Water – state of the art purification process and ideal mineral blend for a pure, fresh taste. Better Designed Package – PlantBottle packaging and continual lightweighting initiatives. Better Designed Future – Give it Back™ recycling education and environmentally responsible marketing programs.”

The Coca Cola Company is trying to market Dasani to young adults who are concerned about important issues like recycling. The design of the bottle and the taste of the water lean less toward appearing “smart,” and more toward appearing eco-friendly.

Each of these brands uses its design and messaging to position itself in an extremely specific, unique way. That’s why when you see or hear the word “smartwater,” you think of water that is vapor distilled, has electrolytes, and tastes crisp. When you see or hear the word “Dasani,” you think of water that has minerals, is packaged in PlantBottle packaging, and contributes to recycling and environmental programs.

That’s the power that brand positioning has on consumers. It can literally help them decide which water they want to buy at the store.

### How Important Is Brand Positioning?
There’s no understating the importance of brand positioning.

If it’s strong and unique, then your brand will stand out from its competitors and appeal to your target demographic of consumers. But if it’s weak and ambiguous, then your brand will fade into obscurity, eclipsed by the superior brand positioning strategies of other companies in your niche.

To illustrate this point, let’s compare two movie rental giants: Netflix and Blockbuster.

Before Netflix came along, Blockbuster dominated the video rental market. Then Netflix showed up with unique brand positioning: they would mail DVDs to their subscribers upon request, and their subscribers would mail them back when they were finished with them.

Blockbuster refused to adapt to the times. Instead, they maintained their old standard brand positioning, which was that driving to their store was the easiest and most convenient way to rent high-quality movies.

Eventually, Blockbuster was beaten out by Netflix and had to close all its stores except one. That one store, located in Bend, Oregon, is now more of a tourist stop or a museum than a place to get movies from!

As the market and audiences’ tastes and desires change, so must your brand positioning. Otherwise, you’ll be nudged into irrelevance by brands that are up and coming.

### What Are The Elements Of Brand Positioning?
For successful brand positioning, there are three elements you should pay attention to the desires of your target customers, the capabilities of your brand, and the brand positioning of your competitors.

### Customer Desires

You need to have a deep understanding of what your ideal customers want. Ask questions like: what are they looking for in a brand like yours? What are their pain points? What aesthetic or messaging appeals to them the most?

To find the answers, you can always send out consumer surveys or take a poll. You can also pay attention to current trends in your corner of the market, as that’s usually a good indicator of what consumers are buying.

### Brand Capabilities

Now that you have an idea of what your customers desire, you must determine what your company and brand are capable of. How can you use your capabilities to support your brand positioning?

For example, if you are a cosmetic brand and you’re positioning yourself as a vegan alternative to MAC, you must be able to deliver on the claim that you’re vegan. You must get your products tested and certified “vegan” with a label on the product. Otherwise, your brand positioning will lose all credibility.

### Competitors’ Brand Positioning

Finally, you must consider the brand positioning of your competitors. What makes them successful? How can you make yours stand out while appealing just as much or more to your target consumer demographic? Find a way to position your brand as unique from everyone else’s.

These three elements are like the three legs on a stool. Without any one of them, your entire brand positioning will become weak and unstable. But if they are all present, it will be strong and competitive.

### What Are The Benefits Of Brand Positioning?
Here are 4 benefits of positioning your brand.

### 1.   Makes Your Brand Stand Out From Your Competitors
The main purpose of brand positioning is also one of its primary benefits: it helps you stand out from other companies in your niche. By standing out, you’ll find it easier to grab customers’ attention and get them to buy your product or service over someone else’s.

### 2.   Enables More Successful Marketing Campaigns
Brand positioning lends focus and direction to your branding in terms of imagery and messaging. Once you’ve determined exactly how you want to position your brand in the public eye, marketing can use that same imagery and messaging to appeal to your target audience more successfully.

### 3.   Helps Distinguish Sub-Brands From One Another
If you own a large or growing corporation and decide to develop sub-brands, you can position each one in different, unique ways to help your customers distinguish them from one another. Brand positioning will also help customers from becoming confused and mistaking one of your sub-brands for another.

### 4.   Helps You Control Customer Perception
Perhaps the most important benefit of positioning your brand is that it helps you control customer perception. If you want your target consumer demographic to view your furniture company as a cheaper alternative to West Elm, then you can use brand positioning to help them arrive at this specific conclusion.

### The Four Brand Positioning Strategies
Every company has a different goal when it comes to how they want to be perceived by their customers.

That’s why there are four different brand positioning strategies. Each one works to position your brand in a unique way.

### 1.   Competitive Positioning
Competitive positioning involves comparing your product or service with that of your competitors. The goal of this strategy is to show customers how your brand is different from and better than the other ones in your niche. In doing so, you increase your own value and make customers more likely to buy from you instead of your competition.

For example, if you’ve ever seen any commercials by the frozen pizza brand Digiorno’s, then you know that they always position themselves as a cheaper, more convenient, tastier alternative to ordering takeout pizza. They’re trying to convince you to buy their product instead of buying food from their competitors, like Pizza Hut and Dominoes.

### 2.   Product Positioning
Product positioning is (unsurprisingly, given the name) all about putting the product that your brand sells in front of your target audience. Rather than comparing your brand to your competitors, you’re showing consumers how unique the product you sell is by harping on its benefits and features.

Using this strategy, you can position your brand as a company that is known for producing and selling a particular product. Take Apple, for example. They’ve positioned themselves as the company that sells iPhones. They don’t have to compare their phones with other brands; they simply highlight all the features and aesthetics that their products have become known for over the years. The sales continue to roll in. And how!

### 3.   Situational Positioning
When you leverage situational positioning, you’re presenting your brand’s product or service as the solution to your customer’s problems. Intuit uses this strategy to market QuickBooks, which is a software tool that helps small to medium-sized businesses with their accounting.

### 4.   Perceptual Positioning
Brands that use perceptual positioning are trying to change their customers’ perceptions in some way. For example, Toyota runs commercials showing how many JD Power Awards they’ve won to help consumers perceive the vehicles they sell as safe and high quality. They’re not talking about the product they sell so much as the fact that they’ve won awards.

### Conclusion
Brand positioning is of the utmost strategic importance. When all three of its elements are strong, it helps you guide customer perception of your company, increase sales, and make you stand out from your competitors. Without it, you will fade into obscurity.

The Strategic Importance Of Brand Positioning

Marketing is one of the most common challenges that start-ups face. Once you’ve set up your company and you’re ready to enter the market, you have to figure out how to spread the word. After all, the best idea in the world is no good if nobody else knows about it. [Traditional methods of advertising ](http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/03/08/is-traditional-marketing-still-alive/#69e2b4612f38)through television, billboards and even listings in the newspaper are not only too expensive to be realistic options for most small businesses – they’re also becoming considered out-dated ways of attracting customers. To help you explore other options, I’ve put together some ideas for alternative ways to market your start-up company.

**Social Media**

Television adverts and street posters are fast being overtaken by the new mainstream means of marketing – social media. Between Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat – to name but a few – there’s a platform for every business. And it’s a particularly useful tool for technology or online businesses, because your target audience is already on the web.

When deciding how to manage your social media pages, think about the best channels to reach your target audience; if you’re aimed at teens, you’ll get further with Twitter than with LinkedIn. And don’t be afraid to try out new channels – Snapchat is just emerging as a major tool for businesses and getting your company’s account set up is a great way to stay ahead of the curve and get creative with your advertising.

**Grassroots Marketing**

It’s an oldie but a goodie: [word of mouth](http://www.seoreviewtools.com/website-authority-checker/). Get your friends and family talking and ask them to spread the word. Put your message out in your local community, and find ways to generate organic interest. You could host events in your nearby hangouts, put up posters and put out newspaper ads or hand out flyers somewhere you’re likely to find potential customers. This method allows you to add the personal touch to your advertising, as you can meet your customers and explain your brand directly. It also gives you the opportunity to gain real-time feedback from your new and potential clients.

Pick your places and your spokespeople based on your target audience. If you’re starting a child-orientated company, find out if you can leave some cards at your local preschool. If you’re creating a window cleaning business, you might find that your best option is simply to go door to door. Remember to be prepared and have professional-looking business cards or posters, as well as a rehearsed speech.

**Host a Launch Event**

Nothing gets people talking quite like a well-planned (and well-executed) party. Start your business off with a bang by hosting your very own [launch event](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pr+agency+launch+event&oq=pr+agency+launch+event&aqs=chrome..69i57.2767j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8). Make sure to invite members of your target audience – preferably people with a wide network who will be able to spread the word – as well as members of the press. Bloggers are a great group to target, as they often have a dedicated following with a shared interest and are keen to know about the next big thing on the block.

You can choose to organise and plan your event yourself, or you can enlist the help of a public relations agency or an experienced contractor. Whichever option you go for, you’ll need to make sure your event is one to remember. Think about all the details – from the invites to the food to the theme – and make sure the party is well suited to your target audience and your brand personality. Remember to take plenty of pictures that can be shared on social media (and encourage your guests to do the same).

**Immersive Advertising**

One big advantage of operating a small business is that you have a lot of creative freedom – and marketing is a great place to put that to good use. While immersive advertising was a term traditionally used to describe a well-rounded campaign, today’s approaches have become increasingly innovative. Ideas like 3D [billboards](http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/brilliant-creative-billboard-advertisements/) to virtual reality apps have emerged as ways to excite and engage new customers. As well as being a great way to inject personality into your advertising, it’s a sure-fire way to create a memorable campaign.

One great example of this recently has been the UK television show Humans, which is being advertised by Channel 4. The show centres around human-like robots known as Synths. Instead of opting for a traditional advert, the show has created a hyper-realistic product recall for said Synths, complete with a complementary website and social media channels. This unique marketing method encourages viewers to share in the world of the show and has certainly gotten people talking. 

**Build Partnerships**

They do say two heads are better than one – and the same is true of marketing departments. A great way to broaden your consumer horizons is to team up with complementary companies. By partnering up with other companies with a similar customer base, you can not only reach a new audience but also pool together ideas to come up with a compelling campaign.

There are many different ways to create partnerships. You can agree on a traditional paid-for service, or you can work out a mutually beneficial deal – such as swapping email databases or each featuring on one another’s blog. You might opt to work with a company in a similar market to you, or you could go to a popular news outlet, or you might want to find a business that offers a service or product that well complements yours. The world is your oyster!

**Press Releases**

While there are many new and exciting ways to spread word about your business, there is still plenty to be said for some of the more traditional methods. The basic principles of press releases have stood the test of time, but the platforms for sharing them have changed over the years; there are far more digital outlets available today in comparison to yesterday’s print publications.

Creating a press release is a great way to get your message out and draw your customers in. It allows you greater space to explain your ethos and your story than a poster or business card, although your USP should still come through clearly. Many companies choose to work directly with journalists who have links with news outlets, although there are also [online services that will help you with press release distribution.
](http://mashable.com/2007/10/19/press-releases/)
 
**Search Engine Optimisation**

Search engines are fast becoming the most popular way for consumers to discover new brands. By boosting your brand up the search rankings for relevant terms, you’re much more likely to be spotted by new customers. Many people never get past the first page of their Google results, so the higher up you can feature the better. Of course, it’s important to make sure your website comes up on the right searches, so you need to think about what your [focus keywords](https://yoast.com/focus-multiple-keywords/) are.

Search engine optimisation is a wide-reaching topic with many avenues to explore, but one of the most important distinctions is between paid and organic customers. While the former come from paid-for ads listed on websites like Google, the latter are attracted through the content on your website which naturally appears in the rankings. While organic customers are harder to attract, they’re typically more loyal and higher spending customers, so it’s well worth putting in the time to figure out how to draw them in.

**Positive Reviews**

Word-of-mouth might not be the most efficient way to mass market, but it is still one of the most reliable (and, of course, cost efficient) methods for building up your brand’s reputation. If your customers are pleased with the service they receive, they’re much more likely to pass your company name along to their friends – and there’s a good chance they have friends with similar needs and interests.

Personal recommendations and unbiased reviews help new customers trust your business and make them more likely to buy your product or service. As well as spoken endorsements, it’s worth asking customers to leave positive [reviews on popular websites](http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33741/12-Places-Businesses-Should-Be-Collecting-Online-Reviews.aspx) and your business’ social media pages – although it’s important that they know it’s not obligatory and that they’re free to be completely honest. If you work with businesses and clients, you can ask for testimonials that you can share with potential customers.

So what do you think? Are the tried-and-tested methods the best, or should new companies be looking for new ways to market themselves? Let me know what’s worked for you in the comments below – and tell me if there are any adverts that have really caught your eye recently.

Related: [Common Mistakes Start-up Companies Make](https://www.aniketwarty.com/common-mistakes-startup-companies-make/)

How to Spread the Word About Your Start-Up

For business owners who own or are looking to acquire multiple brands, a brand architecture strategy is an absolute must-have.

Without it, they will struggle to develop a strong brand identity that will keep their revenue flowing through their assets, both old and new. They will also face the risk of wasting thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on ineffective marketing campaigns that lack focus and direction.

Choosing the right brand architecture strategy can be a tough decision, as there are numerous types of strategies. But knowing the key elements to look for will help you decide which architecture aligns with your brand goals.

In this post, I’ll take a deep dive into the key elements in brand architecture strategy. This is critical information that will help you make a better decision about how to structure and implement your brand architecture going forward.

But first, let’s refresh your memory on the basics.

### What Is Brand Architecture?
Put simply, brand architecture is the way that companies, including well-known large corporations, structure the brands that they own.

To help you visualize this structure, it’s important to know about the types of brands that make up the architecture. Some are at the top, while others called “sub-brands” are at the bottom, but the key takeaway is that they all relate to each other in some way.

Starting with the brand types that make up the top of the architecture model, we have the master brand, the parent brand, and the umbrella brand.

### Master Brand
Out of all your brands, the master is the one that is most recognizable to your customers. In most cases, it’s the name of the company, and its logo is featured on all the products and services that are offered by the sub-brands beneath it. For example, Apple is a master brand, and Apple TV is one of its sub-brands.

### Parent Brand
In terms of which type of brand is at the top of the architecture, the parent brand is it. The parent has many sub-brands beneath it, but these often don’t all fall into the same product or service category. For example, Procter & Gamble (P&G) owns several different types of brands, including Tide, Gillette, and Pampers.

### Umbrella Brand
The umbrella brand is a well-known brand or company that owns several sub-brands. These sub-brands all have different names, but they sell the same type of product. The Coca-Cola Company uses the umbrella style of brand architecture because it oversees a wide range of beverage sub-brands, like Coca-Cola, Sprite, Dasani, and Barqs.

Now that you know the main types of brands that make up a brand architecture, it’s time to learn about the architecture itself.

### What Are The Types Of Brand Architecture Strategy?
There are four strategies that corporations use to construct an architecture for their various brands: branded house, endorsed brands, house of brands, and hybrid.

### Branded House
The branded house architecture puts the master brand at the top of the structure and sub-brands that share its name beneath it. All the brands in the architecture feature the same brand identity – hence the name, branded house. Apple is a great example of this style.

### Endorsed Brands
In an endorsed brand’s architecture, the parent or umbrella brand endorses sub-brands within their company to lend them legitimacy. These sub-brands are completely separate and independent from one another. You’ll often see this structure in hotel companies, like Marriott.

### House Of Brands
A house of brand architecture is composed of several different brands that are independent of one another in terms of the customers they serve, the products they sell, and their brand identity. Yet they are all owned by a parent company. P&G uses this structure.

### Hybrid
A hybrid architecture is one that leverages two or more of the above types within the same company. Amazon is a great example of a hybrid structure, as they use the branded house strategy as well as the endorsement style.

### What Are The Benefits Of Having A Brand Architecture Strategy?
Companies of all sizes, from small to midsize enterprises to large corporations, reap benefits from having a brand architecture strategy. Here are 5 of those benefits.

### 1.   Helps Companies Develop A Strong Brand Identity
Having a brand architecture strategy in place will help you develop a strong brand identity across your company. In some cases, you may need several identities. For example, in a house of brand architecture, you’ll own several different brands that are completely unrelated and unconnected. As such, you’ll need an identity for each brand that reflects its unique value, audience, services, etc.

### 2.   Establishes Corporate Structure And Hierarchy
With an overarching architecture strategy guiding your company, you’ll have a map for establishing your corporate structure and hierarchy. You’ll be able to visualize how your sub-brands should interact with each other (or if they shouldn’t), which brands are the most important, and how your overarching brand identity (if you have one) trickles down to all the rest. The result will be a more organized, unified company.

### 3.   Helps Shift Customer Perception The Way You Want
If you’re looking to shift customer perception in a certain direction – to promote a new product or service, or to highlight your company values – you can do so with a brand architecture strategy. For example, if you’ve developed a popular parent brand, you can use the endorsement architecture and put the name of the parent brand on a new product or service you’re trying to sell. This will increase interest in the new sub-brand among your existing customer base.

### 4.   Helps Companies Expand And Scale Successfully
I emphasized early on in this post that companies who want to expand and scale their brands should prioritize developing a solid brand architecture strategy. The strategy will guide how, where, and when they should scale, and how their expansions will integrate into the architecture. Companies that use it will ultimately be more successful at achieving their goal to grow in size, output, and variety of brands.

### 5.   Helps Eliminate Wasteful Spending On Scaling And Marketing
The last but by no means least benefit of brand architecture strategies that I want to discuss is how they help companies eliminate wasteful spending. Without an established strategy for organizing, marketing, and selling your brands, you can easily end up spending thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on pointless, unfocused marketing campaigns. You can also waste the time and energy of your employees and swallow up valuable resources.

The reason? You have no overarching brand architecture strategy, so you’re basically throwing everything you have against the wall to achieve your business goals with no real direction or focus. Put that strategy in place, though, and you’ll soon eliminate those pockets of waste.

### What Are The Key Elements Of A Brand Architecture Strategy?
When deciding which brand architecture strategy to implement in your company, it helps to know the key elements that are universal across the board.

### Hierarchy
The first key element of a brand architecture strategy is a hierarchy. Each strategy model we laid out earlier in the article has one.

For example, in a branded house, the master brand is at the top of the hierarchy, while its sub-brands – with the master name attached – are at the bottom. In a hybrid architecture, a parent brand may be at the top of the hierarchy, followed by two or three master brands which in turn oversee their own sub-brands.

The higher up in the hierarchy a brand is, the more important it is to the company. However, this importance can manifest itself in different ways.

For example, returning to the branded house model, you’ll want your master brand name to be associated with all your sub-brands. In this structure, the highest brand in the architecture – the master – has a direct relationship with all the entities in the structure beneath it, as well as all the customers who interface with them.

If, however, you’re using a house of brand architecture, then you’ll most likely have a parent brand at the top of your hierarchy that is not necessarily associated with any of its sub-brands by name. Instead, these sub-brands function as independent entities. The customers who interface with them may not even realize they are owned by the same parent brand.

This is why examining the hierarchy of each brand architecture strategy is crucial to finding the one that best fits your company. The hierarchy will help you structure each of your brands in terms of their importance to your brand identity, your customers, and your overall business model.

### Brand Identity (Or Identities)
Brand identity is not just important to your brand architecture strategy, but to your entire company, as well. Every aspect of marketing, from generating brand awareness to establishing loyalty among your customers, depends on it. Sales and customer support are also responsible for upholding the messaging, values, and graphics that make up your brand identity.

Your brand architecture strategy is extremely helpful for helping you achieve your desired brand identity. Take Apple, for instance. Apple is famous for its beautiful, innovative tech, but also for its clean, streamlined branding. They apply it to all their sub-brands, including Apple TV, Apple Music, Macintosh, iPhone, etc., so that even if a customer only sees one of their ads or products, they know exactly who’s behind it.

Even if you choose to implement a house of brands or hybrid brand structure, rather than a branded house like Apple, you can still use the architecture strategy as a guide to developing your brand identity. In such cases, where you own several different brands, referring to your strategy will ensure that you maintain your parent company values while designing a unique visual aesthetic for each sub-brand.

Always let your goals for your brand identity (or identities) be a deciding factor in your search for the best brand architecture strategy for your company.

### Growth Potential
Finally, the third most important key element of any brand architecture strategy is its growth potential. This, of course, is tied to the growth potential of your own company.

To determine the type of growth potential you need, you must define your long-term goals. Consider what you want your company to look like one year, five years, and ten years down the road.

Do you want to branch out into other types of products and services and reach completely new audiences with each sub-brand? Or do you want to establish sub-brands that all occupy the same market, and that is all tied back to a master brand? Or perhaps you’re looking for a combination of the above.

Once you’ve determined where and how you want to grow, you can find the brand architecture strategy that aligns with these long-term goals. That way, you already have a built-in plan for success, a roadmap to the future you desire.

### Conclusion
I’ve just identified 3 key elements of brand architecture strategies – hierarchy, brand identity, and growth potential – that will help you choose the most optimal structure for your company. With a proper brand architecture strategy in place, you’ll experience incredible benefits like stronger brand identity, greater success while scaling, and cost savings on branding expenditures.

I am often criticized for my policy of non-zero set-up/licensing fees. I am asked: why not? Our competition is charging zero set-up fees? Why not us?

I want to quote to them the bulls-eye story, and I begin to, too, then I hold back. The legacy of wanting and taking things for free – hocking up a competitor in your face, and the fear of losing your prospect to someone less capable – has come full circle for my sales and marketing peers.
What I am offering, and of what value it is or can be to the prospect, is often ignored.

What Sales usually forgets and don’t address deliberately is the “generation part” – and that is something that needs to be equally addressed: the nurturing part – and this is specifically for long and complex sales. I personally believe that a good client may take even a year to sign up, eventually; though this is all supposedly left to “marketing” as if sales in the online niche is like a car sale in a car distribution outlet.

With branding, as in marketing, the bulls-eye story is the way I would go, with the theme: I have clients in order to build than building in order to get clients.

Key Elements In Brand Architecture Strategy

Brand building and brand loyalty go hand in hand. While you’re doing one, you should also be doing the other. Both are essential for creating a brand while also sustaining it as you scale.

In this article, I’m going to dive into the key elements of brand building and brand loyalty. By the end, you’ll know how closely they intertwine and how to leverage them into a double-pronged digital marketing strategy.

But first, let’s get some basics out of the way.

### What Is Brand Building?
[Brand building](https://sendpulse.com/support/glossary/brand-building#:~:text=Brand%20building%20is%20the%20process,customer%20loyalty%2C%20and%20brand%20recognition.) is pretty straightforward. It’s the process of establishing your brand in the marketplace and making your target consumer demographic aware of your product or service.

This process can be accomplished in many different ways, including advertising campaigns, community outreach, and social media outreach. The point is to get your brand out there and build it up so that people recognize it and want to purchase from you.

That said, there’s a lot more to it than just driving up awareness. Awareness is critical, but what is it about your brand that makes customers decide to take the plunge and commit? When you’re building your brand, you have to also build the identity and the image that you want to present. You can’t just say, “Here we are!” You must say, “Here we are, and here’s why you should choose us over our competitors. Here’s what makes us worthy of your investment.”

In other words, you must build value into your branding. If you can build a brand that communicates a value that your target audience wants or needs, then you’re well on your way to generating your own base of customers.

### What Is Brand Loyalty?
Building a brand that generates awareness and communicates value is great, but there’s something missing from this process. Even if you create a successful model for generating new customers, how are you going to go about keeping those customers so you can get the maximum return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts?

The answer is brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty occurs when you have customers that come back to your brand over and over. There’s usually a reason for this; it’s not arbitrary that they choose to make repeat purchases from you rather than buy from your competitors. Maybe you provide exceptional customer service, higher quality products, 24/7 support, or free shipping.

How do you create brand loyalty? You provide value, and you do it repeatedly: with every customer and every customer experience.

That’s why it’s important to think about this during your brand-building process. You need to build your brand as one that provides certain benefits that customers will want to experience again, and then incorporate that image into your marketing.

What happens when you don’t have brand loyalty? You’re going to lose customers, and you may even go out of business. Here’s why.

Let’s say you just fired up your new brand a few months ago. In the time you’ve been up and running, you’ve managed to have two wildly successful first quarters. People are interested in your product and they’re willing to buy it up.

But let’s also say that after purchasing your products, your customers become dissatisfied with your shipping time; you promised them 3-5 business days, and it’s taking over two weeks for them to receive their orders. They decide to try one of your competitors, who happens to offer fast and reliable free shipping. Now, you can no longer count them among your consumer base.

This happens repeatedly until you have none of your original customers. Now, you have to spend a lot of money on advertising to market to fresh audiences. Eventually, the pool of new customers is going to run out, and you’re going to be left holding the bag.

If you had brand loyalty, however, you would have had a base of customers providing a steady stream of revenue. (In fact, you’re [14 times more likely ](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/01/29/the-value-of-investing-in-loyal-customers/?sh=26c098bd21f6)to sell to an existing customer than a brand-new one.) This would give you the wiggle room to build your brand even more and scale your business and gain more repeat customers. It’s a winning model. The other… not so much.

Building your brand and brand loyalty are two sides of the same coin. Together, they create a strong revenue stream. But building your brand without generating loyalty among your customers is a recipe for disaster.

### 5 Key Elements Of Brand Building And Brand Loyalty
Now that you know how important these two aspects of branding are for one another, I’m going to talk about the 5 key elements that they share.

### 1.   Identity
A strong [brand identity](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brand-identity.asp) is important to any business. It is how you will present your company to the public, and it includes everything from the color scheme of your logo to your social media posts and customer service values.

Your brand identity must appeal to your target customer demographic. For example, if you are marketing your product toward teens and twenty-somethings, then you should create an identity and an aesthetic that matches current trends among the youth. This way, just at a glance, your target demographic can tell that your brand holds some interest and value to them.

Establishing your identity will not only make it easier for you to build your brand and increase awareness, but it will also help you plant the seeds of loyalty among your future customers. If they see your brand conduct itself in a positive, professional, and authentic manner, then they will be more likely to purchase from you – now and again in the future.

### 2.   Value
We’ve already talked about value to a certain degree. But the value of, well, value can’t be overstated. The benefits that you bring to the table could mean the difference between a consumer choosing you or your competitor.

When thinking about the value you provide as a brand, it’s helpful to develop a value proposition. This is a short statement, no more than two or three sentences long, that succinctly describes your brand and what you’re offering to your target demographic.

To build your brand, you must express your value proposition. That is, after all, what it’s for: to showcase to investors, customers, and other potential stakeholders to put money into your business. If you can tell – or better yet, show – people the benefits they would receive by using your product or hiring your services, you will be much more successful at building your brand for success.

Expressing and fulfilling your values is key to developing brand loyalty, as well. That’s one of the reasons why your customers bought from you in the first place, and they will continue to do so if you continue to provide the value they’ve come to expect.

### 3.   Authenticity
When a consumer is looking for a new product or service to try, they are most often looking for a brand that is genuine and honest, provides the value they promised, and isn’t trying to screw them over for a quick buck.

In other words, the brand must be authentic.

Brand authenticity is closely tied to value, but it can be harder to establish. When you’re just building your brand, your new customers are taking a risk by purchasing from you. They don’t know for certain if you’re legitimate or if you’ll do what you said you’d do in your value proposition.

Fortunately, you have a few options open to you for building authenticity for your brand.

For example, you can offer free returns and/or refunds (companies that don’t offer either one or the other are usually suspicious; they may be offering an inferior product that they expect from the outset the customer will be dissatisfied with). You can also be transparent about where you source your products and the materials/ingredients they’re made from.

Having a review or feedback system in place (and not deleting any negative testimonials) is another great way to show consumers that you are genuine. You know you have a great product/service, and you have nothing to hide. It also shows you’re more willing to make it right if one of your customers has a bad experience.

Of course, the best thing you can do to establish your authenticity is to provide the product or service you promised you would at the beginning of the customer experience. If customers who purchase from you are satisfied that you fulfilled your promises, then they can reasonably expect you will do so again. Thus, they are more likely to be loyal and come back to you in the future.

### 4.   Expertise
Authenticity and value are important, but they don’t say anything about your brand’s level of expertise. Expertise is key for building both your brand and brand loyalty, as it shows consumers that you know what you’re doing.

Let’s say you start a brand that sells clothes. What do you know about making and selling high-quality clothes? You don’t necessarily have to know much, but you need to know the basics and the nitty-gritty, and you can let your target consumer base know that. They would expect to view you as the expert so that they feel confident in purchasing from you.

To establish expertise, you can use a number of strategies. If you have any experience in fashion design or sewing or anything related to that industry, you can include a statement about that in your marketing materials. If you personally don’t have any experience running a clothing brand, you can partner up with someone who does and emphasize their years of learning and expertise. You can also be transparent about where your products are made and what they’re made of, including the percentages of different fabrics.

By expressing and showing expertise, you’ll build a stronger, more legitimate brand that people will want to be loyal to because they know that you know what you’re doing. They know that they can expect the best. And who doesn’t want to buy the best?

### 5.   Trust
Trust is the fifth and arguably the most important key element of brand building and brand loyalty. Not only will it serve you well in your early days, when you’re bringing in new customers, but later on, as well. Here’s how.

The ugly truth is that your brand is going to make mistakes. No matter how great your product or your customer service is, or how dependable your shipping partners are, errors will occur. It’s inevitable.

So, how do you prevent customers from leaving when something goes wrong, and your brand doesn’t live up to their expectations? The answer is trust. Your customers must trust that no matter what, you’re going to make their experience the best it can be.

If they receive a defective product after many previous purchases, they know they can send it back and get a refund or a free replacement. If shipping takes longer than you initially promised, they know that you will give them a discount for a future purchase. Those are just examples, but they amount to the same thing.

When you’re building your brand, if you integrate strategies into it that minimize risk and maximize value for your customers, you’re going to build trust. Trust will get people to buy from you for the first time and for many more times in the future, come what may.

### Conclusion
Brand building goes hand in hand with brand loyalty. Without the former, you don’t have a brand, but without the latter, you only have a brand for a little while. Use the 5 key elements we discussed to develop an effective two-pronged marketing strategy that not only generates new customers for your growing business but also helps you keep them.

One of our latest ventures is a foray into the fintech/payment processing business. We have built slowly over the last several months three brands, each sort of competing with each other, vying for pole position. Throughout the rigmarole of daily interactions, rainmaking and operational activities is an underlying trust in-built into the brands and the folks involved: these guys have the balls to carry out what they say they will and to stand by it. They will NOT sleep until settlements/cash outs are done. If any adverse situation arises, these guys will fix it. Invariably. Amen.

Key Elements Of Brand Building And Brand Loyalty

Those who know how I work and have worked closely with me have seen me do several things at the same time, keeping it whole and trying to do justice to every single thing that I am doing/handling at that time. It wasn’t always this easy, and it took a couple decades to get here, with a lot of practice. I enjoy multitasking and at times see the ability to multi-task take care of ten days of work in one.
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, companies have been consolidating multiple positions to reduce employment costs and increase productivity. This may have an apparent benefit for the companies, but it may have been a detriment to employees. More and more observations are coming out and revealing that young adults are more burnt out than ever. With ever increasing demands placed on productive people comes an increased need to multitask.
While multitasking can be great in certain situations, it must be done effectively to produce the best results possible. The common perception of multitasking is that the brain is firing off and concentrating on multiple things at once. While this is how it feels, this may not be the reality of the situation. Multitasking is simply the brain concentrating on one thing at a time and refocusing itself as it switches back and forth. Of course, every time the brain switches between tasks it can lose some focus, memory, and momentum. Quite simply, at current evolutionary states, our brains aren’t built to multitask. Even though we aren’t built to multitask, there are several ways and methods by which one can learn to do it pretty effectively without losing out on the integrity of any particular task.

Related Tasks

As was mentioned before, the brain can only truly handle one task at a time. The switch between tasks can cost a lot of time and energy. Fortunately, this can be alleviated by working on similar tasks together. Working on multiple reports on disparate topics is one of the worst things you can do for your understanding of any of them individually, but picking a few similar projects to work on may increase your understanding of the others. This is especially true if it is multiple projects relating to the same subject.

Starting Slow

When you’re a beginning multitasker, it isn’t recommended to do multiple difficult tasks at the same time. Start small. Do two tasks you do frequently and know very well at the same time. This is akin to a guitar player who decides to combine singing for the first time. It’s necessary for them to pick a song they can play and sing separately in their sleep before they combine them. After a while of multitasking on easy projects, you’ll be able to effectively multitask during novel and one-off projects.

Avoid Multitasking

In the initial stages when a person multitasks, they inherently lose their ability to be detail oriented. Multitasking is better suited for projects that require a “big picture” approach rather than focus on the details. Engineers and builders who are working on parts for a space shuttle certainly aren’t interrupting their work to write out next month’s schedule for their employees or outline next Tuesday’s meeting. While the latter two projects are certainly multitaskable, detail-oriented projects are not good candidates.

Breaks

When a person works out or does another physical activity for a long period of time, their muscles begin to get sore, fatigued and eventually give out. The brain is no different than any other part of the body in that respect. A person’s brain simply needs a break after a highly productive work session or it begins to wear down and become less reliable. Anyone that wants to multitask should know when to throw in the towel for a few minutes or even a few hours. It allows time for gathering thoughts, getting a game plan together, and having some well-deserved rest.

Reviewing

Multitasking, even the most effective multitasking, results in more mistakes along the way than would have happened if each project could have been done with undivided attention. That’s why reviewing should be a priority for a multitasker. Looking over work and checking it for quality and accuracy prior to submitting it will keep quality at the forefront, where it should be.

To-Do Lists

Even when someone’s not multitasking, they should keep a to-do list to keep their day-to-day work in order. A good to-do list not only has a list of what needs to be done and when, but it also has indications of the priority of the project. A good to-do list for the effective multitasker should also indicate what projects would be beneficial to do together, which projects should be done alone, and should leave time for reviewing projects.

Cheat Sheets

There will be some repetition at nearly every job. Almost everyone has something they reference time and time again. A doctor may utilize certain codes when inputting medical records into the files while a call center representative may have specific documents they need time and time again to answer common customer questions. Many of the most productive workers will have those things easily accessible and available at a moment’s notice.

Limit Tasks to Manageable Chunks

One of the best things that a person can learn is when to say no. When a person is bogged down with too many projects, their results are bound to suffer. Limiting tasks to manageable chunks is the best way for a person to keep their quality at high levels while maintaining a good pace.

Planning Ahead

This may seem similar to keeping a to-do list, but it’s slightly different. Effective multitasking means breaking down the to-do list to a plan of action, which can be thought of as an outline. When someone is getting ready to make Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family, they’ll make a to-do list of the dishes to make. They’ll then plan ahead, figuring out what needs to be bought for each dish, how much time each dish will take, and laying out the recipe for each dish. The to-do list is what to do while the planning ahead is how to do it.

So, here’s the real deal: me and some other people too may make multitasking look easy, but it’s simply because we’ve found effective ways to multitask, rather than having some special ability that other people don’t have. Multitasking and maintaining quality isn’t about swinging wildly and hoping to hit a home run; it’s the result of a lot of practice, a great many mistakes, and the recognition of what went right when it all came together. Effective multitasking isn’t a talent some people have, and some people don’t; it’s a skill that needs to be honed and cultivated.

Nine Ways for Effective Multitasking

### A question and answer session on an old forum…

**Question: I want to ask you “What actually is selling?”**

![mutual-benefit-300x200.jpg](/uploads/mutual_benefit_300x200_c3663fd8ff.jpg)

**Answer:** A transaction process (one that creates value) between two parties/individuals that involves a product/service for mutual benefit/mutual profit.

**Question: Is it helping someone to get something they want or need?**

**Answer:** Yep. Refer to Tarang specifically customizing solutions for his buyers. We all have products and services that enrich our lives, that we need, want, and even love. The fact is, we love to buy and we love to own. And it often takes a sales person to educate us and help us connect our needs and desires with the benefits that those products and services provide our lives.

**Question: Is it something to do with adding value to another’s life?**

![adding-value-300x226.jpg](/uploads/adding_value_300x226_ced339a105.jpg)

**Answer:** Value-addition is the premise to purchase, in the first place. This not only benefits the seller and the buyer personally, it also provides the basis for a vibrant and growing free market economy.

**Question: Is it sharing the benifits of a product that we ourselves love?**

**Answer:** Selling is a concept that is particularly important to those who understand freedom. Any product, any improvement – the better light switch, the improved software package, the unheard of innovation, the new way of communicating with people and viewing oneself as a free and sovereign individual who deserves his own happiness…

**Question: Is it to influence/induce/persuade someone to buy something?**

**Answer:** People may need help in connecting how all the above-mentioned things (or ideas!) can improve their lives. And the person who can actually help them do this can be the biggest change-maker, the biggest benefactor of all.

**Question: Is it for the seller’s own thriving/survival that he sells things?**

**Answer:** Of course, it IS for his profit – that’s his highest motive. His productivity (which makes the product possible) is the pre-requisite for his survival. See answer to the last question.

**Question: Is it pushing things on other people?**

**Answer:** When one treats trade as an exchange between independent equals, it is always with mutual consent. No pushing. Nor pulling.

**Question: Now please don’t say All the above because the above questions are very much antithetical. What is the morality of selling?**

**Answer:** Personally, I think of selling as the most positive aspect of one’s business. Selling is giving – giving time, education, advice, counsel, value. And the more you give, the more you get. Value-addition, simple.

Knowing that, how could anyone not sell … and not be proud to do so?

SELLING!

The bikini concept is an interesting marketing tactic, particularly effective at selling or marketing a new concept, product or service.

### The Bikini Model for Marketing

![The-Bikini-Concept.jpg](/uploads/The_Bikini_Concept_d37debbb57.jpg)

Bikinis owe their popularity (and notoriety) to the fact that they reveal the suggestive while concealing the vital. The bikini concept is essentially based on this premise and works by revealing information that is interesting, attention grabbing and promising of more to come; but useless by itself. If there is no bikini to cover anything, then there’s no thrill of seeing anything anymore. It is like giving away so much that you are left with nothing more to see.

### The Bikini Concept: As a Strategy

This concept is actually one of the most effective business strategies that you can use in information sales. In relation to the actual bikini model, the same goes with it being a business strategy. Somehow, it works on a psychological level to leave the consumers wanting for more. The bikini concept works this way: say for example you are running a do-it-yourself (DIY) blog, for which you will give sufficient information on how to build, say, a table at home. Yet, by the end of your post, you will tell the readers that aside from all the things you have mentioned for them to keep in mind, there are plenty of other things that they can do with it.

### Using the Bikini Concept as a Way of Exchange

The bikini concept paves way to the value of information exchange. Once you’re done, your consumers will also feel the need to talk to you, because you left them hanging. There are a lot of things that they would want to know about the product that you are selling. In this way, the bikini concept will not only increase the popularity of the product that you are selling but they are interacting with you as well, telling you just what you need to improve in the field. In some way, the potential buyers will think that they have been provided with insufficient information and that they have to pursue whoever is selling a certain product to know more about it.

The bikini concept is a good way of selling a product while selling your services at the same time. Most of the time, the particular benefit of the product that a buyer will get on purchase, which is also what you’re not revealing at this point of time, is what they’d be glad to pay for eventually. Believe it or not, the more information you hold back will increase the demand for your product or your services. This works as sharing 90% of the concept of the product and 10% keeping the information unless otherwise demanded. One good thing about giving away only so much information to your potential clients and customers is that it creates the impression that that even though you have given them a lot of information, you are also constantly trying to come up with better ideas to innovate the product or service that you are selling.

~ Borrowed from Mr Aniket Warty’s post on www.elitegrup.com



The Bikini Concept

When you’re planning for the future, you have to think outside the box. After all, yours won’t be the only company to expand over the coming years; there are technology companies around the world coming up with new, exciting ways to bring the internet to life and for businesses to reach their customers.

Ecommerce may still represent a considerable area of the market, and it’s growing rapidly. According to a 2016 Census Bureau report, e-commerce’s share of retail sales has doubled in the past five years. Of course, there’s a classic chicken-egg debate to be had about whether that growth has prompted the innovation that’s arisen in the market, or whether innovation is the reason behind the growth. Either way, there have been a number of interesting new ideas in user experience, product and logistics that are well worth checking out. I’ve compiled a list of some of the developments I think all founders should be thinking about: The Future of Ecommerce!

**Virtual Reality**

The growing interest in [virtual reality](http://www.forbes.com/sites/michellegreenwald/2016/06/15/6-of-the-best-marketing-uses-of-virtual-reality/?refURL=https:%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F#31d8a13a38f4) suggests that we can expect to see much more experiential options appearing in e-commerce in the future. So far it’s something we’ve mostly seen in the marketing arena, but there’s definite potential for it to become a part of the products and services offered online.

In 2014, Ikea used virtual reality as part of their app to help customers envision Ikea products in their own homes. This enhanced user experience adds a whole new level of meaning to the idea of selling a lifestyle. Not only does it push customers to buy products, shopping becomes an experience in and of itself, and more consumers are likely to try out the app and perhaps find something they like along the way.

**Drones**

With the introduction of next-day, then same-day, and now even within-the-hour delivery, more and more consumers expect their products to arrive as quickly as they can click the “buy” button. Meeting the demand for instant gratification is one of the biggest challenges facing e-commerce retailers, and it’s one that’s being met with a wave of inventive ideas.

One of the most high-tech techniques being trialled is the use of delivery drones. It might sound like something out of a sci-fi film, but we could be seeing them flying the streets in the not-so-distant future. Amazon has been making headlines for its testing of delivery drones which the company plans to implement as part of a new delivery service called [Amazon Prime Air](https://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011).

As well as improving on current services, drones offer the opportunity to markets that were previously unreachable. A technology company, Zipline, are utilising drones to bring medical supplies to areas with poor infrastructure. You can read about Zipline in my earlier article about the year’s most exciting start-ups.

**3D Printing**

The introduction of 3D printing opens up exciting possibilities. While it’s yet to reach mainstream audiences, it’s a goal that’s being worked towards companies such as crowd-funded [Robo 3D](https://robo3d.com/). If and when we do start to see 3D printers in homes, it raises the question of whether or not products will need to be delivered at all.

3D printers manufacture items layer-by-layer, according to a digital design. At present, there is a market for 3D printed products, but more as a novelty than a convenience. Customers can ask for custom pieces or choose from items labelled as having been made by a printer. In the future, future e-commerce retailers could theoretically be selling digital designs to be downloaded rather than the objects themselves, so that consumers can print their items at home.

**Social Media**

It’s a term that keeps reappearing and one that doesn’t look likely to go away any time soon. Social media is only growing its influence in the business world, with more and more platforms opening up. As well as establishing an online identity, brands are finding ways to engage potential customers and to encourage word-of-mouth on a much larger scale than ever before.

Apps like Snapchat have proved popular with marketers looking to appeal to a younger demographic. Last year, [McDonald’s started the trend with a branded geo-filter](http://shortyawards.com/8th/mcdonalds-geofilters) and since then all kinds of companies and events have partnered with the app to create their own customer overlay. Often these filters are “earned” through purchasing particular products or signing up to a company newsletter, making them a cost-efficient incentive idea.

Other creative campaigns have included using interactive apps like Pokemon GO, which allows companies to add Pokéstops as well as traditional advertising banners. This new take on product placement is a great way to get people talking and makes consumers feel more immersed in a brand.

**Blogging**

A close cousin of social media, blogging has taken off as a way to bring in new customers and keep old ones engaged. Creating fresh, interesting content helps brands position themselves as experts in their field, and so gain consumer trust. Companies are also able to strengthen their identities and relate to their customers through their blogs by creating a persona of sorts.

Blogging is also a good way to draw in organic customers by creating SEO-friendly content and appearing in search results. By answering commonly asked questions or providing sought-after information, brands are able to capture the attention of customers before they’ve even begun selling.

**Subscription Services**

In the past, when you heard the word “subscription”, you would typically think of magazines and newspapers. Today it encompasses a much wider market; everything from food to fashion can now be signed up to for months or even years – a design which allows customers convenience and businesses reliability.

Some of the earliest examples included gift box [subscriptions](https://econsultancy.com/blog/66034-the-pros-and-cons-of-subscription-ecommerce-models/), in which the recipient receives a themed package every month. It’s the gift that keeps on giving in its truest sense. This has extended into the idea of gifting oneself, as consumers sign up for deliveries of products they love such as tea or chocolate that arrive at their doorstep without the guilt of ordering each month.

This is a service that adapts easily with the times. Along with the healthy eating trend, we’ve seen the emergence of companies that delivery perfectly proportioned ingredients and recipes to your door. As craft beers gained popularity, so too did the sites that offered a monthly selection of specially chosen brews.

**Company Ethos and Corporate Responsibility**

As well as providing easier access to products, the internet also makes it easier for consumers to find out exactly where they came from. Awareness of global issues are on the rise, and customers are increasingly making it a priority to shop with businesses that do their bit to pay back to the community. As well as looking for the tell-tale stamp of approval from respected organisations such as the [Fairtrade Foundation](http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/) and the [Forest Stewardship Council](http://www.fsc-uk.org/en-uk/about-fsc/what-is-fsc), customers are looking for companies with an interesting backstory or a strong ethos.

Big name brands like Virgin are investing serious time and money into establishing a well-recognised company ethos. The company is well known for its interest in sustainability, from Virgin Green Fund to founder Richard Branson raising awareness about environmental issues.

**Wearable Technology**

E-commerce retailers are well aware that they need to be able to cater to customers on a number of different platforms, and we’ve already seen a significant rise in attention paid to mobile devices. In the future, however, the amount of different user platforms will only keep increasing, and focus will continue to shift away from desktop.

[Wearable technology](http://www.wareable.com/wareable50/best-wearable-tech) is on the rise, with new devices being invented every day. From smart watches to Google glasses, there will soon be a whole new way to shop and that opens up the opportunity for a number of creative ideas such as virtual reality and interactive marketing.

It also means that users are likely to spend more and more time shopping on the move, and e-retailers will have to accommodate that. Processes should be quick, navigation should be easy and pages may well need to be simplified so they can fit cleanly on smaller screens.

**Freelancers and Contractors**

Traditional company employee structures are quickly giving way to more flexible options. Not only are companies looking for more efficient ways to utilise their workforce, employees have come to expect greater freedom and autonomy. The rise of the freelancer economy is indicative of this shift in paradigm; as of 2015, there were around [15.5 million self-employed workers living in the United States.](http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm)

One of the more innovative ways in which companies have used this new resource is demonstrated by the likes of Uber – a hugely successful technology company that relies on contractors in order to function. Uber drivers are self-employed and use their own cars to work – the app merely provides a connection between drivers and passengers. A similar model has been utilised by Deliveroo – and its closely related competitor Postmates – in which self-employed couriers act as go-betweens for restaurants and customers.

What do you think the future of e-commerce looks like? Tell me about which developments you’re most excited about and which ones you want to hear more about in the comments below.

Related: [A Technology E-commerce Marketplace – New Frontiers](https://www.aniketwarty.com/a-technology-ecommerce-marketplace-new-frontiers/)

The Future of Ecommerce

With inbound marketing fast taking favor over traditional outbound marketing, it’s important to understand the tools available to you to make your strategy as effective as possible. Before you start strategizing, you need to have a clear picture of who you’re selling to, what will make them buy and what they want from you. To do this, you should invest time in creating a detailed and well-researched buyer persona.

**What is a Buyer Persona?**

A buyer persona allows you to put a human face to your customer base. By building up a picture of your average consumer’s likes, dislikes, interests, spending habits and needs, you can more accurately tailor your marketing strategy to them. While a traditional profile might give you a useful jumping off point, it’s important to remember that the focus is on their behavior as a customer, rather than their personal details.

A good buyer persona should go beyond a typical profile and look at buyer behaviour on a more in-depth level. As well as monitoring activity on your site, you should speak to real customers and take on board their feedback. Including genuine quotes about your customers’ interests, concerns and opinions will give your whole team a better idea of who they’re selling to and what their key priorities should be.

You should consider the most important factors you need to figure into your persona to suit your company and your marketing strategy. To figure out what will bring customers to your site, you need to understand what they’re looking for and how they feel your product can best suit their needs. In order to tailor your navigation to suit them, you’ll need to understand their journey and what leads them to click versus ignore. If you’re experiencing a high rate of returns or abandoned shopping carts, you’ll need to find out what concerns your customers have and what boxes they want to see ticked. 

**Where to Start**

One of the best ways to gain insight into your customers’ thought processes is to set up a focus group. This is particularly effective for smaller businesses, as you can get a more comprehensive representation of your customer base. Invite loyal customers to join you for a question and answer session, or simply send out online surveys. The latter, while allowing less flexibility, allows your customers to participate as is convenient to them, and so may see a better response rate.

You may want to consider hiring an external agency to complete your focus group. While you may feel best placed to find out the information you need, customers may be reluctant to give negative feedback to members or indeed the CEO of a company – and it’s the negative feedback that will give you the most scope to grow. It also helps take some of the potential bias out of the equation, as an agency is less likely to ask leading questions or to interpret answers in a manner that best suits your existing products or ideas.

It’s also important to use the resources you have readily to hand. Make sure that you properly capture and analyse user data in order to understand typical buyer behavior. Look for common trends as a way of ascertaining what works and what doesn’t – but be sure to back-up any speculation with more thorough research. It can be easy to draw favorable rather than logical conclusions when data is left up to interpretation, so the more questions you can ask directly of your customer the better.

If you run a website with a membership database, this is an excellent opportunity to find out more about what your customer is looking for. For example, if you’re operating a B2B business, you might find it helpful to include questions about company size and industry in the sign up form. You can also ask customers how they found you, as a way of comparing the success of your different marketing strategies. For further feedback down the line, consider adding an optional feedback form to your website, or sending short surveys to your email database. Ensure these are not so frequent as to become annoying, and always include a clear and easy opt-out option.

**What to Do With Your Results**

Once you’ve gathered your data, it’s time to apply it to your marketing strategy. Inbound marketing is all about bringing customers to you, whether that’s via your social media channels, your blog or your SEO practices. Once you have a better idea of who you’re trying to attract, you can put in place a more effective inbound marketing strategy.

One of the most important things to consider is keyword planning. Unless you’re operating a large, well-known business or a common brandnomer, the chances are that your audience won’t be searching for your specific business or product name. Your buyer persona should include into search terms and keywords that your consumers are typing into Google, so that you can incorporate them into your copy and boost your search engine rankings. It also helps to understand things like common locations, as regional differences will likely affect search terms, and age groups, which may influence slang or informal terms.

As well as telling you what your customer is looking for, a detailed buyer persona should tell you where they’re likely to be and who they’re likely to trust. If, for example, you’re partnering with bloggers, you should find out what kind of blogs your consumer base reads and whether they’re likely to take advice or recommendations from their favorite pages. By finding out who the key voices of authority are in your industry, you can find more successful affiliate sites and partners to work with. You should also apply this strategy to social media. While many platforms enjoy a wide audience base nowadays, the location, age, gender and interests of your customer may influence the network which they lean on more heavily. While a younger audience might be best targeted on Instagram or Snapchat, you might find that older customers are more likely to find you through Facebook. If you’re targeting a business audience, consider writing regular posts on LinkedIn. If you’re in a fast-paced flash-sales environment, you might find that Twitter is best able to keep up with your business. Again, it’s important to look to buyer behavior rather than statistics for a more accurate result, but both should be taken into consideration in order to create a complete picture.

**Stay Up-to-Date**

Creating an initial buyer persona is a great way to get your business off the ground, but it’s important to remember that as your business grows and changes so too might your customer base. It’s important to regularly review your buyer persona, particularly when you’re making big changes in your company’s offerings or direction.

It’s worth reviewing your buyer persona shortly after making significant changes, but it can also be beneficial to use it before and during the process. By looking at your current customer base, you’ll be able to decide whether your new ideas are likely to be popular or whether you risk losing some of your current consumers. It can also provide inspiration when brainstorming, as you may identify gaps in the market or potential improvements through the concerns and unmet needs your customers tell you they have.

Not only will applying your buyer persona to your decision making help your product and sales teams make better informed decisions, they’ll also make the jobs of your marketing team much more straightforward. After all, a good marketer might be able to pitch any product, but they’ll also tell you that the stronger the product, the easier their job. By referencing a comprehensive buyer persona, you can tailor your new products to their intended audience, and you can also clearly highlight how and why these developments will benefit them.

Too often entrepreneurs are so eager to get to work on selling that they forget to take time to create valuable tools such as buyer personas. While it might seem slow-paced and theoretical in the beginning, these resources are a great way to set a solid foundation for your business and to give your whole team a clearer idea of what they’re working for.

Has having a buyer persona benefitted your business? Or have you had difficult experiences in a company that didn’t have a clear persona in place? Share your experiences, and your top tips for creating a useful buyer persona, in the comments below.

The Role of Buyer Personas in Inbound Marketing Methodology

As a B2B marketer entering the market, you might wonder about the best way to segment your audience. Segmentation is an integral part of your marketing efforts. It allows you to send out a personalized message to your audience and enjoy a better return on the investment.

It is also an effective approach from the customers’ point of view since they will only get a few irrelevant ads and marketing campaigns. They would get targeted ads that would interest and engage them. Though there is no clear approach to segmenting audiences, I’ll help you with some basics.

To succeed in B2B marketing, you should focus on segmenting your target audience into proper categories. You’ll have a clear buyer persona allowing you to create marketing campaigns according to the customers’ needs and demands.

### What is B2B Market Segmentation?
Before we move on to the different ways for B2B market segmentation, you need to understand what it is. The term refers to categorizing your total addressable market (TAM) into different segments with similar characteristics.

Most people use the firmographics way for market segmentation to divide the TAM according to the company size, industry, and location. But there are other ways, such as demographics segmentation, behavioral segmentation, etc., that you can use to segment your B2B audience.

### Why is B2B Market Segmentation So Important?
The B2B market segmentation helps you divide your potential target audience into different categories. You can create relevant ads and marketing campaigns instead of bombarding them with irrelevant content.

It will increase their engagement level and help you get optimal investment results. Moreover, you can also enjoy some great benefits from B2B marketing segmentation, such as:

- You can reach out to groups that are more interested in your products. It will increase your conversion rate and ultimately enhance your overall business revenue.
- B2B market segmentation simplifies the overall product development process. You can get a better idea about the needs and requirements of your target audience. You can make relevant changes to the product’s design and features to cater to the audience.
- Delivering customers products and services that resolve their problems will enhance the overall user experience. Therefore, they will likely stick with your brand in the long run.
- Segmentation also allows you to find untapped markets or groups that you wouldn’t have been able to figure out. You can expand your product’s reach in those areas.
And there are many more benefits that you can get from B2B segmentation. Let’s move on to dividing your TAM into different segments.

### Different Ways to Segment Audiences for B2B Marketers
While there are different ways to segment your target audience, you must choose the best one that suits your business needs.

### Behavioral Segmentation
Behavioral segmentation is about understanding the customers’ behavior toward your products or services. You can segment customers according to their approach and interaction with your products. This way, you can identify the customers who have become more engaged or disengaged with your business. 

By dividing the customers according to their behavior, marketers can find out opportunities for upselling and enhancing the business revenue. They will pay special attention to clients more engaged with the brand to get a higher value out of them.

Moreover, you can try out different strategies or give preferential treatment to disengaged clients. It will ensure that they stay on board with you and that your churn rate isn’t too high.

### Firmographics Segmentation
Another popular technique that many marketers use is firmographic segmentation. It divides the audience according to their various descriptive qualities, such as the revenue per annum, workforce, geographic location, etc. It is quite similar to the approach that B2C companies use demographics to segment their target audience.

The best thing about this method is that you can easily access data without incurring high costs. Therefore, many marketers rely on firmographic segmentation to identify potential opportunities in any industry. Moreover, the firmographics data doesn’t change quite often.

However, there is one drawback of the firmographics segmentation; you won’t have the complete details. For example, you can find out the demand for bookkeeping software in the finance industry but won’t know the average amount each company is willing to invest in the system.

### Demographics Segmentation
The demographic segmentation is pretty much the same that most B2C marketers use. It categorizes your potential customer base according to their personal data, such as age, income, gender, family size, ethnicity, education, and other characteristics. However, many B2B marketers don’t prefer using this framework.

Since you mainly target businesses, dividing them according to personal data is difficult. Nevertheless, you can collect relevant personal information and data that you can leverage to understand your target audience’s preferences.

### Needs-Based Segmentation
Needs-Based Segmentation is the best and most robust way to segment your B2B audience. It helps you to divide your target audience based on what they need from a particular product or service. They could be looking for a particular feature or a critical element of the product before buying it.

The best thing about needs-based segmentation is that it allows you to scale quickly and provides accurate information. You can find the aspects your clients are looking for and then target them with relevant ads and marketing strategies. 

However, it can be a challenging task to collect relevant data. But one thing is sure: the results are extremely beneficial for your business. Before you go for needs-based segmentation, you need to ensure that you have the relevant resources to go through and complete this process.

It won’t give you effective results if you fail to fulfill the entire activity’s intended purpose. If you don’t have the resources to conduct a needs-based segmentation, then it is best to choose any other framework.

### Client Tiers
Lastly, you can also segment customers depending on their priority. You can take into various factors to determine the importance of a particular individual for your business, such as their overall probability, CLV (customer lifetime value), etc. You can also rank customers according to their ability to bring potential leads to your business.

Many clients would recommend particular goods and services to others if they offer them significant value. Marketers today can take advantage of AI and machine learning tools that help them calculate how valuable a particular client is.

The downside of this segmentation process is that each client’s needs might differ. For instance, your highest-paying client wouldn’t require too much attention from you, but the lowest ones would.

Moreover, customers in the same tier would have different preferences and requirements. You would require additional segmentation criteria with the client tiers.

### Wrapping Up
B2B market segmentation ensures that you spend money on avenues that will yield fruitful results. Even the biggest companies don’t have infinite resources and need to channel money in the right direction. Therefore, it is vital to use money to deliver the message to the target audience.

And that is where B2B market segmentation can come in handy. You can divide customers into different segments to refine all your activities, from product development to selling and even after-sales services.

Choose the right B2B market segmentation method that aligns with your objectives and is suitable for the industry you are operating in. Doing so will allow you to reap long-term and short-term positive results.

How To Segment Audiences: A B2B Marketer’s Guide

Throughout my tryst with e-commerce, I’ve been frequently asked regarding what would be the best retail pricing strategy or strategies to adopt. Now, I know that the Flipkarts and the Snapdeals are worth billions of dollars, but do they pull any profits in yet? Not at the last count, despite being there for several years now. I feel one of the flaws they have is an improper comprehensive retail pricing strategy.

There are a lot of factors that can influence the profitability and a retailer’s bottom line. Setting right pricing is a crucial step towards achieving that wanted profit. One of the main objectives of retailers is to make a profit, but figuring out what and how to price products is actually not as easy as it seems.

Before you can determine which retail pricing strategy to use in setting the right price for your retail products, you must first know the costs associated with the products. Two key elements in factoring product cost is the cost of goods and the amount of operating expense.

The cost of goods includes the amount paid for the product, plus any shipping or handling expenses. The cost of operating the business, or operating expense, includes overhead, payroll, marketing and office supplies.

Regardless of the pricing strategy used, the retail price of the products should more than cover the cost of obtaining the goods plus the expenses related to operating the business. A retailer simply cannot succeed in business if they continue to sell their products below cost. At Ebay, we used to have sellers’ meetings to stress vehemently what we called “the ideal sourcing of products”.

Now that you understand what your products actually cost, you should look at how your competition is pricing their products. Retailers will also need to examine their channels of distribution and research what the market is willing to pay.

Many pricing strategies exist and each is used based on particular sets of circumstances. Here are a few of the more popular pricing strategies to consider:

Mark-up Pricing

Markup on cost can be calculated by adding a pre-set (often industry standard) profit margin, or percentage, to the cost of the merchandise. Markup on retail is determined by dividing the dollar markup by retail. Be sure to keep the initial mark-up high enough to cover price reductions, discounts, shrinkage and other anticipated expenses, and still achieve a satisfactory profit. Retailers with a varied product selection can use different mark-ups on each product line.

Vendor Pricing

Manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) is a common strategy used by the smaller live and online retail shops to avoid price wars and still maintain a decent profit. Some suppliers have minimum advertised prices but also suggest the retail pricing. By pricing products with the suggested retail prices supplied by the vendor, the retailer is out of the decision-making process. Another issue with using pre-set prices is that it doesn’t allow a retailer to have an advantage over the competition.

Competitive Pricing

Consumers have many choices and are generally willing to shop around to receive the best price. Retailers considering a competitive pricing strategy will need to provide outstanding customer service to stand above the competition.

Pricing below competition simply means pricing products lower than the competitor’s price. This strategy works well if the retailer negotiates the best prices, reduces costs and develops a marketing strategy to focus on price specials.

Prestige pricing, or pricing above competition, may be considered when location, exclusivity or unique customer service can justify higher prices. Retailers that stock high-quality merchandise that isn’t available at any other location may be quite successful in pricing their products above competitors.

Psychological Pricing

Psychological pricing is used when prices are set to a certain level where the consumer perceives the price to be fair. The most common method is odd-pricing using figures that end in 5, 7 or 9. It is believed that consumers tend to round down a price of $9.95 to $9, rather than $10. At Ebay, we initially encouraged for example, auctions beginning at $0.01; bulk items put up for sale for $9.99, instead of $10.

Other Pricing Strategies

Keystone pricing is not used as often as it once was. Doubling the cost paid for merchandise was once the rule of pricing products, but very few products these days allow a retailer to keystone the product price.

Multiple pricing is a method which involves selling more than one product for one price, such as three items for $1.00. Not only is this strategy great for markdowns or sales events, but retailers have noticed consumers tend to purchase in larger amounts where the multiple pricing strategy is used.

Discount pricing and price reductions are a natural part of retailing. Discounting can include coupons, rebates, seasonal prices and other promotional markdowns.

Merchandise priced below cost is referred to as loss leaders – a good example is the Xiaomi mobile phone mega sale on Flipkart last year. Although retailers make no profit on these discounted items, the hope is consumers will purchase other products at higher margins during their visit to the store or marketplace.

As you develop the best pricing model for your offline or online retail business, understand that the ideal pricing strategy will depend on more than costs. It also depends on good pricing practices.

It is difficult to say which component of pricing is more important than another. Just keep in mind, the right product price is the price the consumer is willing to pay, while providing a profit to the retailer.

What is The Best Retail Pricing Strategy?

For the better part of a decade, a debate has raged on over whether organic SEO (search engine optimization) or PPC (pay per click) is smarter and more fruitful when it comes to online marketing. The reason the debate isn’t more clear-cut is actually quite obvious: PPC (which involves paying a search engine money to bid on targeted keywords) has a lot to lose if big companies with big marketing budgets decide that organic SEO is a better way to market their businesses online.

It’s not that organic SEO doesn’t cost money or require a budget. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. Without an SEO expert by your side, optimizing your website and content can seem akin to learning a new language or traveling to the center of the Earth.

But with the right help, and above all, a lot of patience, organic SEO will help you improve almost every aspect of your website, from title tags to conversion rates, social media updates, articles and more.

To really understand the logistics surrounding the discussion over whether organic SEO or PPC is superior in online marketing, we must first learn how to use each tactic.

SEO vs. PPC – What’s the Difference?

To make an educated choice between SEO and PPC, you’ll want to understand how each one relates to your business specifically. Every business is different, and making a decision between SEO and PPC will often come down to industry, company size, budget constraints and the amount of online presence a business has.

Organic SEO involves optimizing a website and its content with keywords, terms and information to improve online visibility through increasing relevancy to specific search terms, which helps the website rank higher on SERPs (search engine results pages). It’s called “organic” because it is less process-oriented than PPC, meaning no money exchanges hands for the purpose of increasing search rank. You are simply putting the right information in the right places to make your website more visible to those it should be relevant to in the first place.

PPC (also sometimes called SEM or search engine marketing) requires you to bid on specific keywords in order to run an advertisement at the top of the results page that is paid for based on the number of clicks it receives.

At first glance, it may seem that both SEO and PPC are necessary parts of running an online business, or any business with a hefty online presence. That notion isn’t wrong per se, but the benefits of each tactic are as different as apples and oranges.

For example, most experts agree that SEO takes time to work well. You can’t optimize your website one day and expect your traffic to double the next. But PPC can increase web traffic the moment you start a campaign, if it’s executed properly.

Here’s the catch: search engines have reported that the overwhelming majority of clicks resulting from a search (over 80%) are on the organic links rather than sponsored PPC links, so SEO is likely to bring in more traffic than PPC in the long run.

Which Traffic Source is Really Better?

Often online marketers will tell you that it’s about striking the right balance when it comes to choosing between SEO and PPC. The right amount of both will undoubtedly help you increase traffic to your website and boost conversion rates. But there are other things to consider when it comes to running a business, and online business owners know that all too well.

Traffic that comes in from SEO is free, while traffic that is directed to your site via PPC costs money. Every click you get from a PPC ad means another person has seen your website, which is great, but that also means you have to pay up. For every click.

Targeted or PPC ads can be easily recognized because they are shown at the top of the search results page (with a little yellow box next to the URL that says “Ad”), while organic search results are shown in a list below them.

Truth is most people who have used Google more than a few times are trained to look below the fold when it comes to search results. After years of being the target of targeted advertising, people don’t want to be advertised to anymore. They want to find their own goods and services based on research, web presence and customer reviews. This is what SEO is all about: optimizing your website with key information people are searching for so they can easily find you.

However, people that click on targeted ads tend to be more highly qualified leads, meaning the people that click on your ad are more likely to want the goods and services you sell than just any person searching the web. This can increase conversion rates, but it is not a long term solution.

Therefore, online businesses and ecommerce shops looking for fast product sales or short term testing data should try out PPC, provided they have the budget to pay for it and the know-how to execute well.

Businesses interested in attracting a large amount of traffic over time, improving their website’s overall appeal and establishing trust and loyalty with visitors should definitely dive into SEO.

At the end of the day, SEO promotes more valuable long-term relationships and engagement with visitors, period. And that’s what keeps people coming back to your website.

It’s what great online marketing is all about.

Why Organic SEO is the Key to Online Marketing

A value proposition is a statement that clearly communicates a product’s or service’s benefits and unique selling points to potential customers. It is a critical element of any business or marketing strategy and can help to differentiate a company from its competitors. It should be compelling, informative, and engaging enough to attract potential customers and convince them to purchase the product or service. A strong value proposition should focus on the customer’s needs and wants and explain how the product or service can provide a solution.

Today, we will explore a value proposition, why it is important, and how to write one. We will also explore how to communicate the value of your product or service to your target audience. We will also discuss testing and refining your value proposition to ensure it is as effective as possible.

### Elements of a Value Proposition
A value proposition is made up of several key elements that work together to communicate the unique value of a product or service. These elements include the customer, the problem they are facing, the proposed solution, the benefits of the solution, a call to action, and proof that the solution works. When these elements are presented together, they form a compelling story that emphasizes how a product or service can solve a customer’s problem.

Here is a solid breakdown list of the elements behind a value proposition:

[Unique selling point (USP):](https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/unique-selling-point-USP) This is a unique benefit or advantage your product or service offers compared to competitors. It is the reason why a customer should choose your product over others.

Benefits: These are the tangible and intangible advantages a customer will experience using your product or service. It should be clearly communicated how your product or service will solve a problem or improve the customer’s life.

Features: These are the characteristics of your product or service that set it apart from others. It should be described in a way that highlights the benefits it offers to the customer.

By including all these elements, a value proposition should convey a clear and compelling message that explains why a customer should choose your product or service over others.

### Identifying Your Target Audience
In order to create a compelling value proposition, it is essential to have a clear understanding of your target customer. This includes demographic information such as age, gender, income, and location, as well as psychographic information such as values, interests, and lifestyle. By clearly defining your target customer, you can tailor your value proposition to their specific needs and pain points.

Once you have a clear understanding of your target customer, it is important to gain an understanding of their needs and pain points. This includes identifying the problems or challenges they are facing and understanding what they are looking for in a product or service. By addressing these needs and pain points in your value proposition, you can show how your product or service can provide a solution and improve their lives.

By clearly identifying and understanding your target audience, you can create a value proposition that resonates with them and effectively communicates the value of your product or service.

### Crafting Your Value Proposition
Let’s take a look at a few examples of effective value propositions:

“Fresh, fast, and affordable food for busy urbanites.”
“Revolutionary software that automates your accounting tasks.”
“Luxury skincare that uses natural ingredients to achieve radiant skin.”
By emphasizing the unique aspects of the product or service, such as its cost-effectiveness, convenience, or reliability, potential customers can more easily understand its value. Additionally, by addressing a specific target audience, companies can more efficiently target the people most likely to be interested in the product or service.

This helps to ensure that the message resonates with the target audience and that the company is not wasting resources on people who are unlikely to be interested. Companies can maximize their return on investment by creating a value proposition tailored to a specific audience.

### Try these tips when writing your value proposition:

Keep it simple and straightforward. Avoid jargon or technical language that might confuse your target audience.
Use specific and measurable language. Instead of using vague terms such as “good” or “better” use specific numbers or statistics to demonstrate the value of your product or service.
Address the customer’s pain points and needs. Show how your product or service can solve problems or improve their lives.
Be unique. Highlight what makes your product or service stand out from competitors.
Test and refine. Once you have a draft of your value proposition, test it with potential customers and adjust as needed.
Getting the consumer’s voice heard
When making your value proposition, you want to have your consumers voice heard By understanding their needs, wants, and desires; you can craft a value proposition that is tailored to their individual needs and resonates with them. This will help build trust and loyalty with your consumers, encouraging them to purchase your product and recommend it to others.

### So, what can you try?

Interviewing your target audience: This will help you gain insight into their needs, wants, and motivations. It will also help you identify pain points and understand how to best target your message to them.

Gather reviews: Gathering reviews from your target audience will give you an unbiased view of how your product or service is received and how it is being used. It will also help you identify areas of improvement and how to better meet your target audience’s needs.

Take social media polling: Social media polling are a great way to get real-time feedback from your target audience and gauge their feelings about your product or service. It can also help you identify features they would like to see in future versions and how they would like to use the product or service.

### Showing Your Target Audience, the Benefit
It is important to remember that a value proposition is not about creating hype or exaggerating the capabilities of your product or service. Instead, it should focus on clearly communicating the real benefits that customers will experience by using your product or service. By highlighting the tangible and intangible advantages that a customer will experience, such as time-saving, cost-saving, problem-solving, or life-improving, you can effectively demonstrate the value of your product or service to your target audience.

It is also important, to be honest, and transparent about the limitations of your product or service. By being upfront about potential drawbacks, you will build trust and credibility with your target audience, and they will be more likely to consider your product or service a viable solution to their needs.

Overall, a value proposition should be an honest and clear message that showcases the real benefits of your product or service and how it can improve the customer’s life. By focusing on the benefits, not the hype, you will be able to create a value proposition that effectively communicates the unique value of your product or service to your target audience.

### How to test your value proposition
Step #1: Conduct surveys and interviews with your target customers to gather their feedback on your value proposition. This will help you understand the customer’s needs and expectations and how well your value proposition meets those needs.

Step #2: Use A/B testing to compare different versions of your value proposition and see which one performs best. A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of your value proposition and measure the results. This allows you to ensure that the value proposition delivers the expected results and is optimized for the target audience. Market research can also be used to get feedback from potential customers and see if they perceive the value proposition as valuable.

Step #3: Use analytics to track the performance of your value proposition on your website and in your marketing materials. By doing market research and collecting data from analytics, you can measure how well the value proposition resonates with customers and if it is delivering on its objectives. This will help you determine if it needs to be modified or improved to serve your customers better.

### The Bottom Line
The purpose of a value proposition is to communicate to your target audience the value of your product or service. As well as testing and refining your value proposition, we discussed how to ensure it is as effective as possible.

Value propositions explain clearly to potential customers the benefits and unique selling points of a product or service. An effective business strategy makes it possible for a company to distinguish itself from its competitors.

A value proposition should convey a clear and compelling message about why your product or service is superior to others. This is done by including all the key elements, such as Unique selling point, Benefits, and Features, and addressing the customer’s needs and pain points.

In order to ensure the success of your value proposition, you should regularly review and refine it based on customer feedback and industry changes. Continually testing and refining your value proposition will ensure that it continues to effectively communicate the value of your product

Value Propositions: How to Craft Your Selling Points

Unlocking the Power of Value Propositions: A Guide to Crafting Your Unique Selling Points

After you’ve been in business for a few years, it’s natural to feel the need to change your brand up a bit.

Maybe you want to redesign your logo to make it more appealing to a new target demographic. Or maybe you want to start championing the latest issue that has everyone on the internet in an uproar with new social media banners and profile pictures, to show how current you are with the times.

The above strategies are great examples of evolutionary rebranding. But there’s a problem with approaching it this way. And that is that it’s not particularly effective at helping you meet certain goals.

For example, changing your logo to look more modern and trendier won’t necessarily make your brand more appealing to modern and trendy audiences. It may seem like the next logical step in your brand’s evolution, but to scale your consumer base and your revenue stream, you need to start thinking of rebranding as a revolution instead of an evolution.

If you’re wondering what that looks like, I explain it all in the following article, along with strategies to help you revolutionize your next rebranding campaign.

But first, let’s answer some fundamental questions.

### What Is Rebranding?
Rebranding can mean many things, but the bottom line is that it’s a strategy that companies use when they want to change their public image.

How deep inside your company these changes go can vary. For example, you can change the design of your logo and stop there. But you can also go as far as changing the name of your brand, your brand values, logo, color scheme, and even your brand architecture, resulting in a total shift from top to bottom.

There are three types of rebranding: brand refresh, partial rebranding, and full rebranding.

### - Brand Refresh
A brand refresh is when you update your branding to give it a fresh look, without making any major changes. For example, Apple has altered its logo several times over the past couple of decades, but it’s never altered its entire brand identity. It’s also never changed the focal point of its logo: the apple with a bite taken out of it.

### - Partial Rebranding
When you want to change only a couple of elements of your brand, but not the whole kit and kaboodle, that’s called a partial rebranding. This is a step up from a refresh. You’re not just updating or tweaking what you already have, you’re redesigning and redirecting to change your brand image or identity. It’s not a full rebrand, though, because you’re leaving some elements the same as they were before.

### - Full Rebranding
A full rebranding occurs when you take down your existing brand and start over from scratch. This may be an appropriate strategy to take after a merger or if you’re planning to pivot to selling a completely different product or service than previously.

### Why Do Companies Undergo Rebranding?
There are several reasons why a company might decide to perform a rebranding.

### 1.   To Modernize
Brands that are stuck in the past are the quickest to get left behind by the newest generation of consumers. If your brand image appears old and outdated, you may want to consider a refresh or a partial rebranding to keep up with the times.

### 2.   To Create A New Brand After A Merger
Full rebranding typically occurs after two brands have merged into a single entity. Rather than market each brand separately or together, it’s often easier and more efficient (in the long run) to craft a single brand identity that represents both entities.

### 3.   To Sell A New Product Or Service
If you decide to sell a new product or service, a partial rebranding is typically in order. Sometimes you may even want to go as far as a full rebrand. One of the main deciding factors is whether or not the product or service you want to sell is in the same market as your current stock. If not, you may have to make some big changes to ensure you can actually market and make a profit off this new thing.
### 4.   To Move Away From A Negative Image
No brand ever wants to be cast in a bad light. But the fact is that business owners sometimes make mistakes. We can make decisions, personally as well as professionally, that put a shadow over the image we’ve striven so hard to cultivate as positive and trustworthy. When this or a similar scenario happens, and consumers refuse to buy from your brand anymore, a full rebrand is a viable last resort strategy to prevent your business from going under.

### 5.   To Sell To A New Demographic
Shifting from selling to one demographic to another can be tricky. One way to make it easier is to do a partial rebrand. You’re not changing everything about your brand, you’re just updating certain elements – like your brand design and advertising tone – to appeal to a different group of people than before.

### 6.   To Stand Out From A New Competitor
Let’s say a new competitor enters the market, and they are offering a new product or service that makes yours look old and dull by comparison. A rebrand is one strategy that you can use to refresh or change your image, so you can appeal to the consumer demographic that your competitor has taken away from you.

### Why Successful Rebrands Are Revolutionary Instead Of Evolutionary
Now that you know the types of rebranding and some of the reasons why you may consider doing one for your own company, you must learn how to implement your rebrand successfully.

To accomplish this, you should stop looking at rebranding as an evolution. Instead, you should see it through the lens of a revolution.

Let me explain.

Evolution is a slow, gradual change that proceeds doggedly toward a predictable conclusion. A revolution, on the other hand, is an upheaval, a sudden upending of tired ideas and ways of thinking and doing things.

The latter will keep your brand vibrant and alive. But the former will cause it to stagnate and lose business to other, up-and-coming brands.

When you treat rebranding as a revolution, you’re not just concerned with updating your brand design to fit the times. You’re updating your entire infrastructure, from sales to marketing to customer support. You’re optimizing the way that your brand does business, embracing new ideas, and looking for ways to be more than what you are now while still retaining what made you great in the first place.

As an example, let’s use Apple iTunes. Before Spotify came onto the scene, iTunes had cornered the market in digital music listening. To get music, though, you had to purchase albums or individual tracks.

Enter Spotify, which offered a music streaming service where you could access an entire library of music online for a reasonable monthly fee. At this point, iTunes became outdated. Why buy individual tracks when you can listen to all the music you want for less than $15 a month?

In 2015, Apple launched Apple Music and pushed iTunes into the background. With the former service, they offered consumers the exact same streaming capabilities as Spotify, but optimized for Apple devices, which many people already owned.

Apple could have dug in their heels and not changed anything about iTunes. In other words, they could have mimicked Blockbuster when the movie rental brand refused to change to keep up with Netflix. Instead, Apple made a huge shift to adapt with the market.

Now, millions of people use Apple Music. By contrast, there’s only one Blockbuster left in the entire United States.

This is how you accomplish your rebranding goals: a systemic, revolutionary approach that moves your brand in a profitable direction.

### 4 Ways To Revolutionize Your Rebranding
Here are four strategies to use that can help you revolutionize your rebranding.

### 1.   Develop A Story And A Plan
When you’re considering a rebrand, you need to develop both a story and a plan.

The story is for explaining to your staff, your board, your shareholders, and your customers why this rebrand is necessary and what you hope to accomplish with it. The plan will map out all the changes you intend to make with the rebrand, who will be affected, and how and when it will all roll out.

Creating a story and a plan will allow you to see the extent of your revolution and coordinate the logistics of making it happen smoothly.

### 2.   Keep Your Staff In The Loop
You can’t have a revolution without people carrying it out. With that in mind, whether your rebrand is big or small, make sure you keep your staff in the loop.

This could mean sharing the new logo with them a few weeks before the prescribed launch date; putting them through training to transition to a new, merged brand; or guiding them through your new brand values and how that affects their interactions with customers.

Those are just suggestions, but the point is that you should never leave your employees in the dark when you’re undergoing a rebrand. Otherwise, you’re setting them up to make a lot of mistakes that will ultimately reflect badly on you.

### 3.   Get Your Customers Excited
Your customers should be aware that you’re performing a rebrand, especially if you’re making some major changes. Get them excited, too, so that they continue to remain loyal to your company. Emphasize the benefits they will receive after the brand relaunches, while simultaneously reassuring them that all the things they love will remain fundamentally the same.

### 4.   Coordinate Your Brand Relaunch Carefully
Your brand relaunch will be the most critical event of the entire rebranding process. This is the day you show the world all the changes you’ve been working on.

As such, the coordination between your departments – marketing, sales, customer support, social media, design, R&D – needs to be on point. Otherwise, you could incur some major slip ups. One social media account could post the new logo before the others are ready, or your website could launch before all the new products have been uploaded into the online catalog. Depending on the mistake, it could be a disaster for your new brand image.

If, however, you plan everything out and allow a little wiggle room, your rebranding revolution will go much smoother and land much better with your customers.

### Conclusion
Viewing rebranding as a revolution rather than as an evolution will help you get the most out of the shift. Not only will it give you the opportunity to revitalize your brand to appeal to new customers, but it will also help you scale your business while maintaining your presence in the marketplace.

Rebranding is fun. Mozilla in the 2000s rebranded a popular upcoming search engine. China, in the 90s rebranded a nation. In the 2010s, I successfully rebranded a b2c gaming brand to a b2b offering, pivoting around the product.

I am currently rebranding one of our Fintech payments sites this New Year, and it already is going great guns. I can easily now focus on scale over spread and prioritize high-impact businesses first. I am re-positioning and redefining my brand’s personality. When you haven’t got it all right the first time around, you go and create that rebranding revolution. 

Rebranding as Revolution, Not Evolution

How To Succeed At Rebranding (By Treating It Like A Revolution Instead Of Evolution)

All my life as an entrepreneur has been spent in breaking down old hat norms and methodologies and rebuilding new processes and systems. The idea of Business Process Management (BPM) has long been debated and misunderstood. While some practitioners believe it to be any action or set of actions that contributes to a company objective, most experts on the topic have come to realize that BPM is actually a discipline comprised of a much bigger picture. In short, only those employees who actually oversee the entire process flow of a major company project, from inception to follow up, are actually the ones doing BPM. Various departments play a distinctive role in carrying out BPM, but they are only part of the total end-to-end process which constitutes the activities of true BPM. The important distinction to bear in mind is that BPM is not about how machines can automate production, or how one manager’s performance meets the objectives of his department. It is a series of actions performed by the humans who are the planners and decision makers of the company. They have a direct interest in improving the processes with which their company is run. The machinery and department managers are only performing in a way that has been dictated by these planners and decision makers.

While every company from the sole proprietor to the international corporation seeks to earn and retain market share, the activities they plan and carry out are not necessarily Business Process Management. It boils down to whether the top management team who designs and oversees process improvement is being responsive to customer and employee feedback. This begs the question: if BPM is a whole end-to-end process, will revamping isolated parts of it such as employee training and inventory management count as improving on BPM? Many BPM consultants would answer ‘yes.’ The good news is that these isolated parts of the whole process can be restructured in order to improve the workflow and maximize their efficiency without disrupting the integrity of the other parts. If done well, these actions can place a business on solid ground and facilitate growth. If not done well, they can destroy a small business who is struggling to survive and often hurt public opinion of a well-known industry giant.

![bpm.gif](/uploads/bpm_4e7fa400e0.gif)

**Where Does BPM Begin?**

Every company I have been a part of, the teams in those companies and me have been actively creating long-term processes to make sure each part of and the entire company itself does run smoother and better. There are many defining components to good BPM. Of perhaps the greatest importance is starting with great strategies that follow a timeline. They must include plans to measure progress against the timeline and the impact they have on other aspects of the business operations that contribute to the actual wholeness of the BPM model. A common way of testing these strategies before investing the expense of time and materials is “what-if” analyses. However, not every phase of the BPM needs to be established before work can begin. For example, expanding a business to open new facilities does not require having every phase of that time consuming plan in place before it begins. A lot of factors can impact this phase of a company’s growth due to changes in the industry or economy, such as customer demand or fluctuations in materials costs. An effective BPM practitioner does not write his plans firmly in stone. Flexibility is a critical component to improving the process because the mechanisms used to achieve desired outcomes in the BPM model should be constantly monitored and frequently reevaluated. Even the model itself may need revision on occasion depending on the volatility of the industry.

**What Are Some Methods of Monitoring The BPM Process?**

The methods a company chooses in which to oversee and monitor the daily activities that follow its BPM model depend largely on the size of the organization. The resources available usually involve some sort of personalized software or outsourced tracking service. However, whatever tracking methodology is chosen, its cost should be looked at as an investment. The reason behind this is that tracking progress in every phase of the overall business process keeps it on track to meeting goals and objectives and can send alerts when there is a stumbling block or unusual circumstance along the way. Every step of the process impacts an organization’s budget, and if it doesn’t invest in a good monitoring system, it may find itself faced with costly setbacks in a time sensitive process. Some of the best known methodologies for process management used today are Six Sigma, Hammer, Lean, etc. which were developed by some of the world’s most successful corporations such as Toyota. On a smaller scale are software programs designed to turn data into Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The KPI programs come with templates so that the BPM practitioners can select which model best meets their organization’s needs.

**Where Does BPM End?**

I’ve mentored scores, perhaps hundreds of employees, associates and well-wishers in the finesse of BPM.
Right up front, I mentioned that Business Process Management is an end-to-end process. On the front end, the BPM practitioners must perform a great deal of analysis in order to devise a strategic model of the work flow processes that their company will adopt for their overall operations. But where does the process end? The answer is certainly not at the point of implementation. It follows through to the end user of the company’s products or services, which are the customers. BPM is ongoing and ensures that its customers’ goals and objectives are met as a result of using their products.

Business Process Management: Facts That Matter

Little Known Facts About Business Process Management – And Why They Matter

In the [Global Entrepreneurship Monitor](http://www.gemconsortium.org/report/49812) survey, 42% of respondents considered business skills such as marketing one of their most important tools when it comes to entrepreneurship. In today’s competitive market, this means not only being familiar with traditional techniques but being able to think more abstractly and come up with new, exciting and innovative ways to market your company to an audience that is increasingly overwhelmed by choice. From digital events to customized communications, I’ve put together some innovative marketing ideas for small businesses to help you get started and inspire you to modernize your marketing for 2018.

### The Personal Touch

Once upon a time, cold calling and leaflets through the door were the accepted means of interacting with your audience, but these traditional methods just don’t cut it in the digital age. With so much competition on the market, it’s important to make sure your name is one that your customer remembers – by remembering theirs.

![Content-Personalization.png](/uploads/Content_Personalization_0f423050ac.png)

Personalisation is becoming ever-more important in the way that brands interact with their audience. Email marketing services such as [MailChimp](https://mailchimp.com/) give you the opportunity to customise individual emails so that you’re addressing your customers by name – which is a small but effective way to add a more personal touch to your communications. If you run a recommend-a-friend scheme, you could use this to create an air of familiarity by including not only your new customer’s name but the friend’s as well.

2018 is a great time to increase your innovation further and find new ways to make customers feel noticed and valued. Small businesses with more manageable customer bases have opportunities available to them that wouldn’t be feasible for larger organisations, and you can use this to your advantage. Customised printed cards that are delivered with your orders, added details that appear in forms of communication and more tailored suggestions that don’t just rely on keywords and automation are just a few examples of the ways that you can connect with consumers on a more personal level.

Certain services have even more scope for this style of marketing. Subscription services, for example, have the opportunity to amend their deliveries according to preferences, feedback and any information you may receive upon sign-up. Similarly, apps or digital products can use their capacity for quick changes and regular updates to keep in touch with customers’ evolving interests.

### Hosting Corporate Events

Sending your customers marketing material might be an essential when it comes to increasing your revenue, but it’s not always the most effective tool for improving engagement. When you’re deciding what to send your customers, think about the kinds of things you’d like to receive in the mail – such as a party invitation.

![Corporate-Events.jpg](/uploads/Corporate_Events_355ab7cc27.jpg)

Hosting events for your customers offers a great opportunity to connect with them at three different stages: before, during and afterwards. In the build-up to the event, you need to get your customers excited and incentivise them to come along. This could be through rewards and giveaways, or it could be through other means. Special guests are a great way to generate interest, as are non-monetary rewards such as access to as-yet-unseen products or a chance to influence future creations. If your invitation is done well, it should make your invitee feel special and so further invested in your organisation.

During the event, you need to ensure that your brand is properly represented from all angles. Use your company USP to plan an event that only you could host. From the theme of your event to the venue, the staff and the activities planned, this is the interactive face of your business and it’s vital to leave your customers with a positive impression.

Think outside the box and explore all your possibilities. For example, in the digital age there’s no reason that you couldn’t host an online event. As well as keeping your costs low and allowing you to expand your guest-list, an online event or conference is a great way to utilise today’s technology. In fact, even if you decide to host a physical event, make sure that you’re able to share it across the online world for those who aren’t able to attend through video and photography from both you and your guests. [Diesel’s recent PR campaign ](http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/diesel-fake-store-new-york-february-2018) in which a hidden camera captured shoppers in their pop-up “knock-off” shop is a great example of this.

However you choose to do your hosting, the follow-up is every bit as important as the event itself. Make sure your customers feel like their presence was valued, and encourage them to share their experiences with their friends – and your potential new customers.

If you’re not able to host your own event, consider sponsoring one instead. Find an event that will likely attract many members that are within your target audience range and make sure to use that opportunity to raise brand awareness as much as possible.

### Social Media Influencers

Marketers realized a long time ago that social media was an important tool for reaching audiences both local and international, but the ways it can be used is always evolving. While paid and organic advertising and regular posting remain essential techniques that can help to boost your visibility, there are also other avenues that are worth considering – particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

![Social-Media-Influencers-2018.jpg](/uploads/Social_Media_Influencers_2018_b3459f10e3.jpg)

In 2017, Gucci made waves with its innovative ad campaign that commissioned popular meme accounts on Instagram to create custom memes for their products. It marked one of the most significant uses of social media influencers in online advertising, and serves as a great example for any marketing teams that are looking for inspiration. Tapping into meme culture helped bring the brand to a new generation, and also represents the kind of indirect advertising that may help to bring about long-term brand loyalty rather than simply one-time purchasing.

There are many ways to engage influencers with your brand. As well as using their online presence through posting, you can invite them to attend your events. Not only does this give them something more personal to post about your brand, it can draw extra attendees and elevate the status of your event to something more high-profile and exclusive.

You could also work with them on various forms of collaboration. These range from the traditional product-for-review partnership that works well with bloggers and vloggers to more creative ideas such as having them collaborate with you on a limited-edition line, or asking them to curate your website or social media pages for a day. Similarly, you could organise a social media takeover or a q-and-a which will help drive their traffic towards your accounts so that you can reach a larger audience.

### Networking

Interest in small businesses and entrepreneurship continues to be on the rise, and this is your opportunity to turn your story into an asset that you can use for your marketing strategy. Make sure that you take every opportunity to network both within your industry and beyond, and then use your circle of contacts to boost your business – whether you’re running a B2B or a B2C operation.

![Business-Networking-2018.png](/uploads/Business_Networking_2018_fafd6ae5a3.png)

Find out about the events that are organised within your industry and decide which ones will be worth attending for your company. Looking up the biggest industry bodies and awards is a good place to start, as well as finding out where your competitors have been or will be in attendance. You can advertise your participation as a way to build authority and trust among customers, as well as a way of attracting the attention of those interested in your sector.

It’s good to know which events have the highest attendee rates but that doesn’t always mean they’ll be of the most value to you. Balance quality and quantity when it comes to contacts, and make sure you choose events where you’re likely to make valuable connections that can help you progress and grow your business through collaborations or perhaps even co-operative advertising.

Conferences are a great choice because you can learn and train while you network, and you’ll be able to get an idea of who will be attracted to the event by looking at the key speakers that have been booked. Trade fairs are also a good place to meet a mix of potential clients as well as collaborators, colleagues and even competitors.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to networking. For example, if you or your employees work in co-working spaces rather than a central office, you may find that it helps to spread the word about your small business as well as opening up opportunities to meet future customers or stakeholders.

How are you going to be adapting your marketing strategy in 2018? Do you own a small business, and do you think that that requires a more innovative approach to marketing / advertising for small businesses and Entrepreneurs? Share your thoughts, ideas and questions in the comments below.

Innovative Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Innovative Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs for 2018

If you plan to grow your business through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), you may be playing a dangerous game.

According to data from the Harvard Business Review, [between 70% and 90% of M&As fail](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/06/24/most-mergers-fail-because-people-arent-boxes/?sh=242aa20e5277). If yours falls into that wide margin, you could stand to lose millions of dollars – not just in the money you spend on the M&A, but in the loss of potential future profit.

So, what can you do? Should you eschew the idea of a merger or an acquisition entirely, and find a different way to scale your business?

Not necessarily. One element that many businesses overlook when negotiating and planning for an M&A is the impact of brand architecture. Strong brand architecture can increase your chances of successfully closing a merger or an acquisition and turning a profit. But with a weak one, you heighten the risk of the deal falling through or losing your shareholders’ investments in a financially unwise purchase.

In this article, I’ll explain exactly why mergers and acquisitions fail, how brand architecture can help improve M&A success, and how unique brand architectures handle M&A. In the end, I’ll share my tips for how to use this element of branding to make acquiring or merging with another brand go more smoothly.
### Why Do So Many Mergers And Acquisitions Fail?
There are many potential reasons why an M&A might fail. I’ve narrowed the list down to 5 important ones which I think you should be aware of.

### 1.   Destruction Of Brand Values
Brand values are the values that a company follows in how it treats its customers, sells its products, and just generally conducts its business. Their consumer base is used to these values; they are a big part of why those customers buy from them.

When a brand’s values are destroyed – as they often are when one brand is acquired by another, or when two separate brands are merged into a single, new entity – it can lose its profitability.

Many times a small company or brand has been taken over by a larger one, only to become cold, corporatized, and devoid of the brand values that made it special to customers. Losing brand values can spell doom to a fresh M&A.

### 2.   Misunderstanding Or Lack Of Synergies
A synergy is created when the combined value of two or more brands, as in a merger or acquisition, is higher than the value of each of the individual entities. There are three types of synergies: cost, revenue, and financial.

Unfortunately, not all companies can achieve a profitable synergy. This may be because they overpaid for the deal and only realized, too late, that the high value of the synergy would not cover their losses. Another potential scenario is that they underestimated how many employees it would take to run the merged companies, resulting in higher back-end costs – and thus a lower cost synergy – than they anticipated.

What’s the end result of a lack of synergies? Most often, shareholders in the company get nervous about their investment in the M&A and back out before the deal is even closed. In fact, the misunderstanding of synergies is also one of the top reasons that high-dollar M&A deals fall through, according to McKinsey. In both cases, it typically results from a failure on one side or the other to manage expectations.

### 3.   Inadequate Transitioning Of Employees
Employees make up one of the largest stakeholder groups in any company, and yet they are the most overlooked – especially during a merger or an acquisition. The truth is that many businesses that embark on an M&A fail to properly transition their employees or the employees of the other brand.

This error in judgment can impact all levels of the company, from the CFO all the way down to the receptionist or cashier that mans the front desk. It can cause clashes between newly joined leadership teams, as well as confusion on the part of the staff members regarding the many changes in rules, company culture, and the roles they are now supposed to fill. Some employees may even dislike the new changes and feel that they were left out of the conversation.

Confusion and disgruntlement among employees always result in a bad look for a merged or acquired brand. It also makes it difficult for the company to perform as a cohesive unit, which will negatively affect the functioning power of all departments, from marketing to sales. In this way, a failure to properly transition employees contributes directly to a failed M&A.

### 4.   Lack Of A Strong Brand Architecture
A strong brand architecture is absolutely critical for an M&A to be successful. It guides every aspect of future branding: marketing, sales, R&D, customer support, customer service – everything.

As such, if you lack one, or if your current brand architecture is ill-defined and weak, you’re like someone who’s gotten up in the middle of the night in a strange room and doesn’t know where anything is. How will you turn the lights on? You’ll have to fumble around, tripping over furniture and on the edges of the rug, reaching out everywhere for a lamp or a light switch. In the process, you might wreck the whole room – and still not find a light source.

Businesses that don’t have a solid brand architecture are already weak, to begin with. When you ram this weakness into a merger or an acquisition, that M&A is sure to crumble.
### The good news is the opposite is also true. I’ll explain how.

How Does Brand Architecture Help Improve M&A Success Rate?
Brand architecture helps businesses achieve successful mergers and acquisitions in the following ways.

### 1.   It Directs Brand Value To Generate Maximum Profit
With a well-established brand architecture, you already know the gaps in your company where a merger or an acquisition would most benefit it. You also know how to fit the new brand into your company, so that its unique brand values reach the most customers to generate the maximum amount of profit. This knowledge is not possible without a pre-existing, well-planned structure.
### 2.   It Keeps All Shareholders On The Same Page
Misunderstandings and misaligned expectations for a merger and acquisition often arise when the shareholders of both sides of the M&A are not on the same page.

This is another problem that a strong brand architecture can solve. It’s essentially a plan that shows how you value this M&A now, and what value you expect to create with it in the future. It may even allow you to take certain risks, like merging with a brand that you can’t achieve a synergy with right away or overpaying at purchase to reap greater profits down the line.

In the end, the greatest advantage of brand architecture in this context is that it instills confidence in your shareholders that you will create value with this M&A. Therefore, it’s worth their continued investment.
### 3.   It Establishes A Plan For Transitioning Employees
Just like the brand architecture will guide you on where to direct the brand value of the merged or acquired brand in your company to maximize profits, it will also help you establish a plan for transitioning employees from the old way to the new way. You’ll know where the gaps in leadership will be, what elements of branding you need to change or keep the same, and how to create a successful structure that is beneficial to everyone, from the top down.

### How Different Brand Architectures Handle M&A
I’ve talked about the different types of brand architectures before, but not within the context of mergers and acquisitions. Each one handles M&A in a unique way, so it’s important to discuss them individually.

### Branded House
In a branded house-style architecture, you have a master brand at the top with sub-brands beneath it that share its name. The master brand and the sub-brands all use the same identity to increase cohesion, enhance recognizability, and leverage the master brand’s reputation.

When a branded house acquires a new sub-brand or merges it with one they already own, they tend to subsume it completely under the umbrella of the master brand. This strategy has the potential to destroy the brand value unless the acquiring company proceeds carefully. They must make sure to retain some of the brand’s original values and/or elements of its identity so they can successfully carry over its pre-existing customer base.

One way to accomplish that carryover is by keeping the product or service that the new sub-brand is known for providing the same, as well as continuing to employ the original staff members. These strategies will show customers that even though the brand has been acquired, it still provides the same value as before.

### Endorsed Brands
Endorsed brands consist of a parent company that attaches their name to their sub-brands to give them legitimacy. At the same time, the sub-brands carry their own names and operate completely independently of one another.

Companies that use this type of brand architecture may find it easier to acquire a new brand than a branded house would. The biggest challenge they may face is ensuring that the sub-brand fits well into the parent company’s niche. For example, Marriott has endorsed several different sub-brands of hotels, but if they decided to endorse a cellphone brand, then that would be an unprofitable move unfitting for their particular niche, which is hospitality.
### House Of Brands
In a house of brands architecture, you’ll find a parent company at the top and many sub-brands beneath it. But in this case, the sub-brands are not only separate and independent of each other, but also of the parent company. They sell different products and services, serve different customers, and have unique brand identities.

A company that operates a house of brands will have the easiest time acquiring a new brand. The sub-brand will benefit from the parent company’s distribution power, shareholders, resources, and R&D.

### Hybrid
A hybrid brand architecture will combine one or more of the above structures into a configuration that the company feels serves it best. For example, they may use a combination of a branded house with endorsements, as Amazon does.

Companies with hybrid brand architectures may have the most flexibility when it comes to M&A. This is because they can pick and choose where and when each deal would be most appropriate and beneficial for them and their shareholders.

### Tips For How To Use Brand Architecture To Make Your M&A Deal Go More Smoothly
Now that you have a good idea of how different brand architectures operate their mergers and acquisitions, here are some of my tips for ensuring that your M&A deal goes more smoothly.

### 1.   Identify Where The Acquisition Or Merger Will Fit
When considering an M&A deal, one of your first questions should be, “Where will this acquired or merged brand fit in my brand architecture?” Your goal with the answer should be to identify how well it will fit, as well as whether or not it has the potential to add value to and/or increase profitability for the company as a whole. If it does, you can now proceed with the beginnings of a solid plan for integration under your belt. If not, then that may be a sign that this M&A is not a great move.

### 2.   Thoroughly Research The Profitability Of Potential Synergies
When it comes to potential synergies between merging brands, don’t leave anything to chance. Research them thoroughly, not just to verify the hard numbers but also to determine if they will lead to a profit in the long run.

Furthermore, find out how the presence or lack of synergies will affect your brand architecture. If they fail, or if they are outweighed by the price of the merger, how will that impact the brand you currently own that is on the table for merging? Will you lose everything due to mismatched expectations or a misunderstanding of synergy value?

The only way to answer all those questions is to research. It may seem tedious and time-consuming, but keeping the integrity of your brand architecture at the forefront of your mind could save you from making an expensive mistake with an M&A deal.

### 3.   Involve Your Stakeholders As Well As Your Shareholders
Your shareholders need to be kept on the same page throughout the merger or acquisition process, but so do your stakeholders. These include your employees and customers, including those from the brand that’s being merged or acquired.

Some tactics you can use to achieve this are 1) to keep your staff members up to date about the progress of the M&A, 2) ask them for their input and feedback, and 3) identify the unique value that each of them is bringing to the table (in the case of customers, identify the value they are looking to keep after the merger or acquisition is completed).

Helping your shareholders and stakeholders – those from your company as well as those from the new brand – feel valued and informed will help you transition them into your brand architecture with as little confusion and bitterness as possible.

### Conclusion
Brand architecture will always be one of your top strategies for maximizing success with mergers and acquisitions. Referring back to it will provide you with guidance every step of the way, as well as help you make the most profitable decisions, before, during, and after the closing of the M&A deal.

Brand Architecture in Mergers and Acquisitions

Why Brand Architecture In Mergers And Acquisitions Is So Important

The future of marketing is right there in your pocket. Mobile marketing has evolved into one of the most effective and efficient ways to connect with customers today; what started as simple SMS messages has become a long list of tried and tested mobile-based marketing strategies.

Smartphone use will only grow more prevalent in the future, with nearly [3.7 billion people](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/smartphones-72percent-of-people-will-use-only-mobile-for-internet-by-2025.html) expected to access the internet solely via mobile phones by 2025. In other words – utilizing mobile marketing in your [marketing plan](https://www.aniketwarty.com/innovative-marketing-ideas-small-businesses-entrepreneurs-2018/) is essential to the success of your business if you adopt it now.

With more people using smartphones and other mobile devices to access the internet, it’s essential for businesses to have mobile-friendly websites and to use mobile marketing strategies to reach their target audience.

Mobile marketing covers text messages, email, push notifications, and ads– about every aspect of mobile use is fair game for marketers. It’s a great way to connect with customers and update them on your latest products or promotions.

To make sure you get the most out of your marketing campaigns, let’s take a look at the top 10 must-know evolving trends in mobile marketing that you should know about. 

### 1. Video Content
As one of the first forms of content posted on the internet, video has become a crucial trend in mobile marketing. In the United States alone, [over 244 million internet users](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-digital-video-viewership-will-grow-faster-than-expected-2020-10?r=US&IR=T) watch videos online as a preferred form of content, including an increase among the youngest and oldest demographics. 

[Video content](https://www.aniketwarty.com/content-marketing-lead-generation-ideas-for-dummies/) can engage and entertain customers, promote products or services, and even create loyalty programs. Videos also tend to be more engaging than text or static images, so they’re more likely to get customers’ attention and keep them engaged.

As an added advantage, video content can be easily shared on social media, which can help to spread the word about your business to a wider audience.

### 2. M-Commerce
M-commerce, or mobile commerce, is simply the term for commercial transactions over mobile devices. It’s become a growing mobile marketing trend as a more convenient and personalized consumer shopping experience. 

Consumers can now buy what they want whenever they want, from anywhere, through m-commerce – the perfect shopping solution for busy people on the go. 

Due to the shift in shopping from bricks and mortar to online, businesses have a stronger obligation to rely on mobile marketing efforts more heavily. By 2024, the number of mobile buyers in the US will reach up to [187.5 million](https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/more-consumers-shopping-via-mobile-amid-pandemic) due to the convenience it offers compared to traditional shopping. 
![Untitled (1).jpg](/uploads/Untitled_1_c5956bd96b.jpg)

### 3. Influencer Marketing
Businesses can reach many people more quickly and efficiently with influencer marketing. This involves utilizing [social media apps](https://www.aniketwarty.com/bootstrap-your-business/) such as Instagram, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok with the power of influencers.

By working with an influencer with strategies such as [affiliate marketing](https://www.aniketwarty.com/important-terms-start-founders-know/), you significantly expand your online presence more than you would on your own, and to establish trust early on.

There are a variety of factors that you must take into consideration when evaluating a potential influencer, such as audience size, interaction rate, demographics, and niche; but in general, being able to determine if the influencer is a good fit for your brand will maximize the potential for your collaboration and will benefit you both in the long run.

### 4. Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging technology that is becoming increasingly popular in mobile marketing because of how it bridges the gap between the digital and physical worlds.

Marketers can create an interactive experience for customers that is more engaging and memorable than traditional marketing techniques. For instance, using shopping apps as an added m-commerce strategy allows users to test products with AR before making their purchase in the comfort of their own homes.

Because customers can interact directly with the product or service, this can result in a higher conversion rate.

### 5. Voice Search
Voice search is becoming a key mobile marketing trend as more people use voice assistants, such as Apple’s Siri alone having over [500 million users](https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apple-says-that-500-million-customers-use-siri/articleshow/62636814.cms). 

These assistants can help you with a wide range of tasks, and they’re constantly getting smarter, helping customers make orders for products they may need. Because of this, your business must take advantage of voice search to reach more customers.

This means marketers must ensure their mobile sites and content are optimized for voice search, develop a mobile app, or use [Google RankBrain](https://www.aniketwarty.com/creating-seo-strategy-around-google-rankbrain/) and AdWords. Using the right optimization strategies, you can boost your chances of reaching more customers through voice search.

### 6. Live Streaming Content
The desire for convenient online content is on the rise, transforming live streaming into a mobile marketing trend that businesses use to connect with their customers in real time.

Through live streaming, your brand is able to create more personal experiences that can contribute to building loyalty and trust with its customers. The live streaming process also provides authenticity with unedited content, which is a requirement for customers today, especially in the digital age, where people are becoming more remote.

Streaming live also offers a great opportunity to collaborate with potential partners and influencers and an avenue for customers to interact with your business, which can help improve your products and services.

### 7. Push Notifications
What started out as an [Apple feature](https://medium.com/the-pushcrew-journal/the-history-of-push-notifications-43343bdf2d85#:~:text=In%20June%202009%2C%20Apple%20introduced,the%20Apple%20Push%20Notification%20Service.) introduced in 2009 as a revolutionary new way for users to interact with their mobile devices has allowed businesses to incorporate it into their mobile marketing strategies to reach out to more customers.

With push notifications, customers receive targeted messages tailored for groups of similar individuals. These notifications can promote special offers, remind customers about appointments, or even just say hello. 

By using push notifications wisely, businesses can create a strong relationship with their customers and keep them returning for more.

Unlike other forms of communication, such as email or social media, push notifications can be delivered to a customer’s phone without requiring them to take action. This makes them a very effective way to reach out to customers who may not have otherwise seen your message and increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.
![Untitled.jpg](/uploads/Untitled_a5b4c6d91e.jpg)

### 8. Mobile Gaming
The gaming trend has evolved from just sitting on your couch to being able to play on your phone while you are on the go. In recent years, mobile gaming has shaken the industry to the point where[ 60% of the entire gaming market](https://sea.mashable.com/tech-1/20432/60-of-entire-gaming-market-is-now-dominated-by-mobile-gaming-study-finds) has now moved to mobile devices.

Playable and banner ads are some of the most common mobile marketing strategies. Playable ads offer a smooth transition from the game being played into the ad and prevent users from skipping because retention is high. Banner ads can also be effective in ensuring brand visibility without interfering with the game.

To make your ad successful, you must understand the genre trends among different age groups. With the right, relevant, and fun ads, this can be an effective method of promoting your brand.

### 9. 5G Possibilities
The fifth generation of mobile technology, 5G, is estimated to grab 53% of the world’s population by 2025. This will be a necessary consideration for mobile marketers as they seek to provide more engaging, consistent, and interactive customer experiences that require greater bandwidth.

The speed and reliability of 5G make it ideal for mobile marketing, as it can provide faster data speeds and more bandwidth to support the increased traffic associated with innovations, such as 4K video streaming, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

By leveraging the possibilities of 5G early on, your business will be able to keep up with the demand of your customers in the future as they demand more data and experiences, ensuring the future success of your business.

### 10. Personalized Ads
Although it’s common to hear that you should build your brand to reach as many people as possible, it may be better if you create customized ads that make your brand memorable to those in your target demographic. With mobile ads becoming more common, it may be better to create personalized ads.

With personalized ads, businesses can analyze key components of customer information, such as location, interests, demographics, preferences, habits, and more. Personalized content, such as location-targeted ads, can increase the success rate of your campaigns and can generate greater interest in your product or service.

For example, a potential customer can be notified via a push notification of your coffee shop’s discounts on their favorite coffee when they are within the vicinity. This allows the message to be personalized without interfering with the user’s mobile phone activity. 

### Final Thoughts
With the advent of powerful mobile devices, mobile marketing is evolving into a more sophisticated and effective means of reaching consumers. With the evolving trends in mobile marketing, businesses can now create more dynamic and interactive campaigns that better engage their target audience.

With these trends continuing to evolve, we will keep you informed as we look forward to the future of mobile marketing.

While you’re here, check out more compelling content [on my blog](https://www.aniketwarty.com/) to help you grow your business.

10 Must-Know Evolving Trends In Mobile Marketing

When entering a realm that is home to both mythical creatures and unfavorable odds, it certainly helps to have an adventurer's mindset. We are, of course, talking about the dynamic but daunting world of startups; a perfect setting for your own hero story. However, before setting out into the fray, you'll need a sidekick, and social media is almost certainly the perfect accomplice.

The number of unicorns—or startups worth over $1 billion—continues to rise year on year, with over 1,200 enterprises now able to claim the mighty title globally. Each has certainly found an opportunity to tip the scales in their favor, given that [around 90% of startups](https://blog.hubspot.com/the-hustle/how-many-startups-fail) ultimately fail in their earliest quests, returning to normality empty-handed.

Even when not aspiring to reach unicorn status, at the very least, one hopes to achieve the fantastical capacity to fly over the competition. After all, you're ready to disrupt your industry and captivate a fast-growing audience. But in a world that is saturated with noise and requires jostling for attention, how can you ensure that your startup gets its destined opportunity to be seen?

### Social Media As a Tool to Help Startups Unveil Their Superpowers

Many startups lack the financial resources to launch expensive marketing campaigns or take on established competitors head-to-head. Instead, savvy breakthrough startups  leverage social media's unique potential to build their reach quickly and intrepidly forge a loyal customer following.

In this environment, you can rely on the type of innovative thinking from which your core concept first sprung and shake things up without depending on a bottomless budget. Whether laying the foundation for future funding or broadly getting the word out on your one-of-a-kind offering, social media is a fantastic resource for drawing eyes to your startup. Simply put, there is no larger amphitheater for brand-building.

To put this into perspective, from 2021 to 2022, the number of people using social media worldwide grew by more than 10% to 4.62 billion users. Clearly, bidding for their attention is a marketing no-brainer. However, by 2024, social media ad spend alone is expected to [surpass the 300-billion-dollar mark](https://www.statista.com/topics/1538/social-media-marketing/), so competition is fierce, and being smart about your engagement-boosting game plan will be essential.

### A Social Media Strategy to Help Your Startup Soar Past the Competition

Ruled by algorithms and short attention spans, the social media sphere can also be challenging to traverse. The danger lies in getting lost in the endless sea of content and losing that critical audience connection. However, when a strong social media strategy is in place, those at the helm of bold ventures can work real magic in kick-starting brand loyalty and expanding their audiences into unchartered territory.

Yes, despite substantial competition, countless small businesses manage to identify the edge they need and navigate their way toward success with social media. So, what are the secret-sauce ingredients required to plot such a course? Read on as we delve into the ins and outs of social media strategizing for startups. 

### It's Time to Get Serious About Storytelling

While the cornerstone of any startup is inevitably the idea at its heart, its success can be just as dependent on storytelling as it is on product quality or caliber of customer experience. 

This may seem counterintuitive to some, but as Nick Morgan, the author of How to Tell Great Business Stories, explained to Inc. Magazine, "in a world where people have a lot of choices, the story may be the deciding factor." Or, perhaps more poignantly, as marketing guru Seth Godin puts it, “marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell.”

Ultimately, while the game-changing service offered by your startup might be functionally compelling, it is the narrative that you build around it that will ultimately trigger both investors and customers to connect emotionally. The most powerful brand stories resonate on a personal level, stirring enduring loyalty and compelling those who engage into action.

You may choose to tell a story about the journey of your startup, the product itself, or even your customers themselves. The tale—and brand persona that sprouts from it—may be designed to entertain, educate, inform, or inspire. However, no matter the storytelling trajectory you take, ensure that it remains woven with the values of your target audience so that they'll be able to see themselves reflected within it.

### Showcase a Consistent Brand Presence

Beyond relatable storytelling, a recognizable voice is a powerful asset when it comes to earning and retaining the trust of an audience on social media. As you begin to map out your social media content strategy—incorporating things like tutorial videos, blog posts, infographics, case studies, interviews, and more—consider how to unite each post type so that viewers will know instantly who it came from and why they'll definitely want to stop scrolling.

Establishing your own set of content guidelines can be especially valuable for boosting brand awareness on social media; particularly given the sheer volume and frequency of posts required to gain traction on some of the faster-paced platforms. Alongside post style and tone consistency, get ahead by considering how you'll respond to inquiries, complaints, and even the occasional rancorous troll.
 
### Know What Makes Your Customers Tick

The founders of most startups can picture the types of people whose lives they think their offering will change for the better. However, it is an absolute must to hone this Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP, using real-world data rather than leaving its accuracy to chance. 

Just as deep-dive customer research can aid the process of perfecting a product, it can also support a far stronger social media strategy. When you understand your audience, you can be confident of where to meet them virtually, what will grab their attention, and even when they're most likely to be online.

Of course, the broader the audience with which you connect, the more growth potential you'll unlock. This makes it important not only to develop a single Ideal Customer Profile, but to segment your audience in order to better identify the spectrum of content that will ultimately cover all of your bases.

### Choose the Right Social Media Channels

We've touched on the reality that social media marketing calls for a substantial time investment that is tactical enough to be effective. In this sense, the bottom line is that any startup either mistargeting its marketing or spreading itself too thin is unlikely to make much progress.

According to the latest data from Statista, Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform among marketers, followed by Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and finally TikTok. However, you may find that your niche audience's online habits make bucking these trends worthwhile.

With a good understanding of your customer base, you can triage these efforts by weighing up which social media platforms to prioritize. So consider where your demographic is most active, which platforms offer the tools and format that will best allow you to engage with potential customers, and where best to focus your efforts and resources for a greater return on investment.

### Start a Big Conversation With Your Audience

Social media marketing offers a singular advantage over just about every form of conventional advertising. The reason why it is something of a secret weapon is that when you launch your campaigns on all the right platforms, you aren't just sending your message out into the void. Instead, you're opening a door for two-way conversations that can evolve into powerful relationships between brand and audience.

So, how powerful can a single interaction be? Well, research from Sprout Social reveals that [78% of consumers](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/importance-of-social-media-marketing-in-business/) are willing to buy from a company after having a positive experience with them on social media. Better yet, while each friendly dialog instills a sense of customer satisfaction, it can also be harnessed to reinforce brand persona, gather audience feedback, and steer perception in real time as your startup finds its footing. 

### Take a Whistle-Stop Tour of Your Competition

While most startups strive to bring a product to market that changes the landscape of their field forever, it can still be a challenge to step out of the shadows of the industry giants who have historically held the status quo. Simultaneously, other burgeoning brands may be exploring similar avenues, setting a stage for clashes on the road ahead. Knowing who the other movers and shakers are within your arena is key to outperforming them, both on and off of social media.

Shining a spotlight on social media specifically, analyzing market trends—including the strategies of rivals and aligned allies alike—can reveal a great deal about the strengths and weaknesses of your brand's current messaging. 

By monitoring social media activity across the different platforms on an ongoing basis, you will be able to identify the kinds of content and communication that yield strong positive reactions from your intended audience as well as forewarnings of missteps and potential gaps that you'll be able to tactically fill.

### Build the Right Stack for Smoother Sailing

It can feel like a big ask to roll out substantial and unending social media campaigns while also juggling the many other facets of getting a startup off the ground. Happily, alongside triaging the social media platforms that you'll conquer and how best to direct your content-creating focus, you can also utilize an array of resources to help speed things along.

In marketing lingo, the collection of resources used to coordinate a brand's social media presence is known as its stack. This describes the platforms themselves—which may facilitate dual-posting like Facebook and Instagram—as well as automated third-party tools that can be used to prepare, schedule, and dispatch rolling social media content.

While a human presence is essential for maintaining that communication-rooted trust that we mentioned earlier, the right software can make it easy to shrink the workload required to keep your social media presence popping. Depending on the needs of your startup, the right social media marketing tools can be used to keep your team on the same page, set up smart alerts with a single interface, or pre-schedule content drops days or even weeks in advance.

### Delve Into the Data and Drive Results

Each social media platform provides its own set of insights, allowing you to track the performance of your various posts and overarching campaigns. In turn, you can also use analytics from your startup's website and landing pages to monitor how well your social media-generated traffic transforms into further engagement, leads, and sales.

The metrics that you identify as being useful are known as your Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs for short. Taking the time to define which data sets are valuable and aligned with your long-term marketing goals will make it easier to know when you're doing everything right, when you need to change tack, or when you've stumbled onto a level-up opportunity.

On social media itself, you may choose to use things like follower numbers, post views, profile views, shares, likes, and brand mentions as your top KPIs, all the while differentiating between organic reach versus paid reach. Casting the net wider, you can monitor how much traffic comes your way from social media, the bounce rates of those visitors, resulting email subscriptions, and most importantly, your conversion rates.

The way that visitors interact with your startup's web pages after arriving from social media will let you know whether you're drawing the right kind of people across, and therefore, how well your social media presence lines up with your brand offering. The software utilized in your stack may also consolidate KPIs in one place, making it easier to gain a birds-eye perspective of the health of your current social media strategy.

### Keep Your Eyes On the Prize
Cultivating a flourishing social media following is a major accomplishment for any startup, but it's important to remember that conversions remain key. In this regard, the principles of iteration—a process that sees startups draw from usage data and feedback to continuously improve and expand their offering—will serve you fantastically well.

Of course, not every aspect of your social media effort will be solely about driving sales. You'll also be working to raise brand awareness and establish yourself as an emerging authority, taking the lead as your industry changes for the better. As revenue grows, a strong online community will also add extra shine to the package you present to investors as you climb the ladder of startup investment stages.

Ultimately, you can view your first tiptoes into the various parallel social media universes as forming a parallel minimum viable product (MVP) that will be polished and perfected as your audience grows. By flexing your storytelling muscles, connecting with an audience that you know well, focusing your efforts effectively, and leveraging data to your advantage, you will be better equipped to turn popularity into profits. And who knows—perhaps you'll unleash your inner unicorn yet.

Related Read: [Slaying Giants with Great Branding: How to Outmaneuver the Goliaths in Your Industry](https://www.aniketwarty.com/blogs/slaying-giants-with-great-branding-how-to-outmaneuver-the-goliaths-in-your-industry)


How Breakthrough Startups Gain An Epic Edge On Social Media

When it comes to characterizing the art of luxury branding, there is oh-so-very much to dive into. From the opulent adornments of Ancient Egypt to the rising popularity of decadent digital marketplaces, luxury is intimately and pervasively intertwined with human history—providing us with endless opportunities to discover.

But first, it’s worth visiting the identity of the elusive quality that we call luxury itself. The word comes from the Latin word luxuria which simply means ‘extravagance or excess’. However, while most tend to associate luxury goods with top-end price tags, there is so much more to the DNA of luxury than expense alone.

During his tenure with LVMH Group, Jean-Claude Biver poignantly remarked that “luxury is whatever money cannot buy.” His enigmatic words dropped a vital clue to the recipe for luxury branding success, while also highlighting the vital differences between marketing for conventional consumerism and forging an aspirational brand that can ultimately be elevated to luxury status.

While positioning for the luxury market can be tricky, many have achieved the feat—and there has never been a better time for those still aspiring to do so. [Global revenue from luxury goods](https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/luxury-goods/worldwide) climbed to an unprecedented US$354.80bn in 2022 and further growth of 3.47% annually is predicted for the years ahead. With that in mind, today our goal is to delve into the fundamentals of luxury branding, exploring the tactics harnessed by those who do it best, so that they might be used as a map for following in the footsteps of those who have risen before us.

### The Power of Symbolic Value

In her role as a globally recognized authority on brand meaning, Dr. Martina Olbert described the very essence of a luxury item as being “based on the inflation of its symbolic value over the functional value.” She reminds us that anything that is luxurious is a non-necessity, and its primary role is not problem-solving, but rather to create an experience that transcends the object itself.

Where other brands might place greater emphasis on tangible, solution-oriented, and user-friendly features, luxury branding instead calls for aspects such as quality, craftsmanship, and exemplary customer care to be accompanied by the intangible—a sense of rarity, exclusivity, heritage, legacy, status, innovation, and ultimately, the leveraging of both fantasy and imagination to weave exceptional and enduring customer journeys.

Crucially, the style of symbolic value cultivated by luxury brands may vary, but they do often share a core group of recognizable components. However, before we move on to what these are, there is another key factor to calculate into our precisely cultivated luxury branding equation.

### The Importance of Differentiation

Turning to yet another striking difference between the way that big-name brands present to their audiences and the way that luxury brands do, we find the immeasurable contribution of differentiation. For most businesses, demonstrating superiority over the competition by actively encouraging comparison is a useful strategy. But, within the world of designer decadence, this tactic is seen as something to avoid. Instead, differentiation is prioritized and often taken to its extremes.

Moving far beyond differentiating the qualities of products themselves, veteran luxury brands strive to foster unique—and ideally incomparable—brand identities that become transcendent and sacred central tenets, capable of both steering and grounding their continuing evolution.

Iconic identifiers such as the red interiors of a Bentley, the red soles of Christian Louboutin’s shoes, and the repeated and interwoven “LV” monograms that have decorated Louis Vuitton handbags for more than a century, come to mind. These instantly recognizable signature facets of each brand’s makeup allow them to become part of our cultural fabric. This, in turn, inspires customer loyalty that is emotionally rooted and offers buyers the opportunity to shift their self-perception through ownership.

### Identifying the Core Components of Luxury Branding

Undoubtedly, the arrival of the digital era has brought numerous challenges for those with a hold in the luxury market.  These include an escalation in imitation and the complex shift from primarily meeting customers in curated luxury brand retail settings to presenting them with meaningful luxury shopping experiences in a virtual format. However, the[ powerful recovery of the luxury market ](https://www.statista.com/statistics/266503/value-of-the-personal-luxury-goods-market-worldwide/)since the Covid-19 crisis and its recently escalated expansion demonstrates that even the most historic luxury brands can readily evolve while remaining true to their defining identity.

If we think back to that all-important idea of symbolism, it is apparent that this and any other form of luxury brand progression requires an anchor of sorts. The central DNA of the brand must be faithfully safeguarded, allowing new avenues to be explored without losing the essence that enabled that precious label of luxury to be applied in the first place.

To drop that anchor effectively, we can consider the strategies used by many greats within the luxury sphere to achieve that all-important one-two combo of brand symbolism and differentiation. These common threads—while open to unique interpretation—are likely vital not only for initial success in luxury branding but also as the cornerstones upon which prosperity in forward evolution can be built.

#### Time and Legacy

Almost universally, the most prestigious luxury brands use the concept of time to shape their narratives and therefore how their audiences perceive them. For example, we can look to the widespread reputational legacy that lingers after more than a century of Rolex watches or the family heritage of Hermes—which spans back to 1837 and across six generations—to understand the role that time often plays in luxury branding.

It’s certainly true that impressions of lineage, heritage, and historic wisdom add to the allure of a luxury brand, fostering a sense of trustworthiness and a claim to tradition among customers. But the power of time can also be harnessed by brands taking their first steps into the luxury marketplace. Much of the symbolism of a brand is drawn from its storytelling, and value perception can be increased not only by looking to the past but also to the future.

To see this in action, we can look to the young but multi-award-winning Italian luxury furniture maker Baxter. While the brand was only launched in 2010, its story nods to Italian cultural heritage and the founders’ family roots while describing furnishing that is “speaking about the passing of time and tracing the lines of the future.”

Whether a brand draws on individual or shared cultural heritage or positions itself as a cutting-edge offering of tomorrow, an expression of time investment is impactful. Strategically identifying as innovative and future-thinking can enhance customer perception of both exclusivity and quality while also inspiring an impression of the longevity of their purchased experience.

#### Exclusivity and Rarity

Within the human experience, that which is readily available is rarely as desirable as that which feels almost beyond our reach. Within the realm of luxury goods, whenever a product is seen as rare and exclusive, the customer gains a sense of both achievement and of being special along with their purchase—and this, in turn, provides the brand’s differentiation with a simultaneous boost.

There are numerous ways to integrate this aspect of luxury branding, thoughtfully gearing toward the brand-aligned select few. Examples include difficult-to-attainable price points, using scarce and precious materials, accommodating only limited supply, restricting access, and even using exclusive locations as settings for campaign marketing. In this way, the distance between customers and products can be created literally through barriers to possession, and conceptually by providing a sense of special status to patrons.

This is a particularly important factor to consider when navigating the wireless waves of online luxury branding. Where other brands would grasp the opportunity of this format to shift products in greater volume, the relevance of ensuring scarcity remains as central as ever for luxury brand positioning.

A product’s flood of presence on social media can quickly dilute its aspirational value, while in contrast, its appearance on the feeds of a select few can quickly ramp up its appeal. This makes the electronic realm a space within which to establish new niche audiences for luxury goods, absolutely, but not to abandon the historic luxury retail modus operandi altogether.

#### Skill and Artisanal Craftsmanship

A component of luxury branding that the digital age has certainly advanced is the ability of manufacturers to portray the quality of their craftsmanship to audiences. Artisanal skill, innovation, attention to detail, personalization, and scale of endeavor have long been associated with luxury goods. But today, technology is helping with the communication of these qualities as never before.

Shared video allows fashion houses to showcase the hours of labor and intricate methodologies behind their couture offerings, while contemporary website design lets luxury carmakers provide visitors with interactive opportunities to explore vehicle design features intimately and from any angle.

These advancements are unquestionably handy for building an impression of quality in the mind and eyes of the consumer, allowing them the confidence required, both logically and emotionally, to pay more for luxury goods.

In deciding to do so, they not only experience assurance of the caliber of manufacturing that they’ll access but potentially also enjoyment in investing in something that aligns with their ideals—whether that’s the continuation of time-honored traditional craftsmanship or the forward leaps of bold technological or societal advancement.

#### Storytelling as a Tool For Connection

When the symbolism of a luxury brand is created through effective and niche-specific storytelling, it inevitably aids in deeper and more meaningful customer connection. Among long-established luxury brands, we often see how awareness of the personalities behind them can contribute to this effect.

This can absolutely be seen in larger-than-life personalities such as the late Dame Vivienne Westwood, or the 1909 origin story of an unavoidably-familiar French fashion house and its trailblazing founder Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel. Her name and legacy are just as bound to the brand identity as its continuing celebration of her signature tweed designs. On a darker note, the power of personality in luxury branding can also be observed in the enduring fascination with some of fashion’s more tragic icons such as Alexander McQueen and Gianni Versace.

Of course, there are other potential approaches to storytelling beyond uniting a brand and individual inextricably—and a luxury brand’s story can also evolve over time or be strategically added to.

Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega showcases an outstanding example of brand story evolution. Founded by Louis Brandt in 1848, the company already had an established legacy in high-end horology when it became the maker of the first watch ever worn on the moon. In leveraging this extension of its brand identity, Omega became not only a historically prized watch manufacturer but also a brand uniquely associated with excitement, fantasy, and the modern era—without a doubt, a luxury branding differentiation dream.

Whether earthbound or otherwise, through storytelling, luxury brands can capitalize effectively using the imagination-driven resources within their marketing toolkits. They can paint a picture of something beyond the every day, and in doing so, generate value that transcends form and function by mere association.

We can see the effective simplicity of mirrored language choices harnessed respectively by a long-standing luxury brand and an entirely novel one. Ralph Lauren famously once said, “I don’t design clothes, I design dreams”. More recently, ultra-contemporary luxury fashion retailer AZ Factory led their story-centric branding with the words, “We are building a Factory that manufactures dreams into real solutions.” While the two phrases are directionally opposed, both present the idea of clothing being more than just clothing, and in doing so, demonstrate the calling card of luxury.

Taking storytelling further, luxury brands can also create offshoot arenas in which to expand their audience connection without shifting their core branding strategy. A great example is Gucci’s Equilibrium initiative. This connected platform has been used as a vehicle to communicate their modern commitment to generating positive change for people and the planet, from reducing their carbon footprint to utilizing groundbreaking regenerated materials.

Ultimately, with every carefully targeted story that is incorporated into a luxury branding composition—whether an origin story, a new initiative or even a tale told visually within an advertising campaign—each customer’s sense of personal connection to the brand can be strengthened toward permanence.

### Audience Awareness Is a Superpower

Because exclusivity, by default, makes niche appeal such a necessary part of luxury brand-building, audience awareness is key. In order to utilize the above components of luxury branding well, the segment of affluent customers for whom the brand’s unique offering will resonate most must be considered—or the offering must be tailored to fill an identified hole in the luxury market and reach the associated demographic.

As any luxury brand finds its stride and starts to pick up the pace, the habit of continuously returning to the central tenets that allowed such success to unfold is the best strategy for continuing triumph. With an anchor in place, the brand will be able to grow and evolve, while forging a legacy that—with a little luck—will one day place it shoulder-to-shoulder with the most prestigious names within the luxurious lifestyle market.

Exploring the Fundamentals of Luxury Branding

In the competitive digital landscape today, several considerations are required in order to break through the noise of mass media. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness, increase traffic, translate leads into loyal ambassadors, and/or boost conversions, creativity is an all but necessary ingredient to success.

With that said, in what follows, we’ll be exploring the definition of creativity and creative advertising. Further, we’ll discuss the importance of creative advertising in the context of today’s competitive digital ecosystem. Finally, we’ll share the five components of creativity, ultimately reaching a conclusion about creativity’s effectiveness in the marketplace.

What you’ll learn is that while creativity is essential to any advertising campaign, the level of creativity required depends greatly on several factors not limited to product category, industry, and campaign goals & objectives.

Without further ado, let’s get right into it, shall we?!

### Defining Creative Advertising

Before diving into the world of advertising and defining creative advertising, it’s important to first explore the word creativity… At its most basic, creativity is the employment of the imagination; to use original ideas to solve a problem or produce a piece of work.

Often defined as divergent thinking, creativity is a unique ability that many lack, advertisers included. Contrastingly, creativity has proven to be an extremely effective and all-but-essential tool to employ, particularly in the advertising industry.

Now that a basic understanding of creativity has been defined, let’s now explore the world of creative advertising… Put simply, creative advertising is the act of producing campaigns that both tell a story and engage an audience in unique and captivating ways; to provoke emotion through the creation of a clear and memorable message.

Creativity in advertising, when implemented appropriately, is necessary for those who are seeking to break through the noise and capture the attention of sizeable target audiences in hopes of lasting conversions.

With that said, before diving into the five components of creativity and exploring when creativity is appropriate and when it might not be, let’s first discover its importance, generally speaking…

### The Importance of Creativity in Advertising

While the research to date doesn’t conclusively suggest the effectiveness of creativity in advertising in the context of influencing purchasing behaviors, there’s no denying its effectiveness in garnering targeted attention and increasing engagement.

In short, creativity matters. Here’s why…

### Engagement

No matter your campaign goal or objective, engagement tends to remain atop the list of any key metric. In order to optimize engagement, creativity must be prioritized…

By prioritizing creativity in your advertising campaign, more viewers will be captivated, thus increasing the likelihood of engagement and influence. The end result? Increased interest and thus conversion.

### Brand Development

By providing your audience with meaning and value through creativity, you inevitably improve your brand’s reputation, thus garnering more recognition than otherwise possible.

Because of the values of today’s consumers, creativity allows brands and businesses alike to resonate with their audience by providing meaningful value through relevant content and creative messaging & storytelling.

### Memorability

Much like the rest of the digital ecosystem, the advertising space is highly saturated across media platforms. The result is a bombardment of ads, good and bad, in front of the eyes of the consumer.

In order to break through this noise and stand out amongst the rest, you must produce creative ads that uniquely capture the attention of the said consumer. In other words, the most compelling of ads are those which are creative, creating a lasting memory for those who are lucky enough to see it.

### Personalization

Today’s consumers value personalization more than ever. Whether through developing a meaningful relationship or creating a personal experience exclusive to the individual consumer, businesses and brands alike can develop a loyal following that will ultimately allow them to garner more success.

How do you implement personalization in your ad campaigns, you ask? Through creativity, of course!

### The Five Components of Creativity

While we’ve already discussed and defined creativity, both in a broad sense and in the context of creative advertising, we’ve yet to explore the five components of creativity that which was brought about by a trailblazing communications researcher out of Indiana University.

These five components of creativity about to be discussed are extremely relevant in the context of advertising because it provides both campaign direction and creative measurement of a given ad.

In other words, rather than an abstract definition of creativity, following the five components of creativity allow for a clearer depiction of how creative and effective your ad might be…

So, without further ado, below are the five components of creativity:

### Elaboration

Defined broadly as the process of developing an idea in more detail, elaboration in the context of creative advertising is the act of extending a message so as to make it more intricate or complex, thus more interesting and captivating to the viewer.

In a visual ad, for example, elaboration can be brought about by fantasy or over-exaggeration… Take a sports car advertisement, for example. Promoting its sheer speed, a commercial may illustrate a jaguar running side-by-side with the vehicle, only for the vehicle to drive off into the sunset, leaving the jaguar in the dust.

Not only does this visual capture the attention of the viewer but it elaborates on the flagship feature of the vehicle in that of its speed. And a purpose. Motion, and destination.

### Originality

Defined broadly as the quality of being unique, novel, and even unusual, originality in the context of creative advertising is launching an advertisement that’s both rare and surprising; one that captures the attention of an audience via the uniqueness of ideas, diverging from the norm and instead portraying a message that gets the consumer thinking.

Whether through text or visuals, ads that are original tend to be the most viral, thus the most successful in both building brand awareness, increasing traffic, and boosting conversions.

### Artistic Value

Whether aesthetically appealing, design-centric, sound-satisfying, or visually daunting, artistic value comprises elements that create the high production value of an ad. The result of an artistic, high-production ad? More engagement, more memorability, more value, and higher conversions.

Artistic value is likely the most relatable of all five components of creativity because, well, artistry is associated with creativity!

### Flexibility

When creating an ad campaign with the intent of capturing attention and increasing conversions, you must aim for that campaign to score high on flexibility. But what is flexibility?

In short, flexibility is the ability of a given ad creative to touch upon several areas, problems, or challenges that the product or service in promotion solves. Flexibility may also be defined as the sheer visual of the ad itself presenting various scenarios. Form, and function.

### Synthesis

Synthesizing a message promotes the idea in creative advertising of divergent thinking… At its most basic, synthesis involves combining two otherwise unrelated ideas and making them cohesively one.

One example of this would be a commercial where dogs can talk; two separate, unrealistic ideas, that when synthesized as one, make for a comprehendible and engaging advertising message.

Because of this synthesis of ideas, creative ads are far more likely to capture the attention of its viewers, thus increasing engagement, interest, and hopefully, conversion… The power of divergent creativity.

### It Depends on the Industry…

While creativity is effective across the board with regard to advertising and promotion, the effectiveness of creativity largely depends on the industry and product category with which you’re advertising.

For example, products that are highly purchased based on their functional purpose tend to experience weaker results when creativity is the sole focus of the ad. In such a case, an ad should instead focus on the realistic function and feature of said product…

Contrastingly, a consumer commodity that has the potential of improving an environment or experience such as a coffee or candy bar can benefit greatly from creativity, for without it, it’s a boring commodity with little to no selling feature.

In short, understanding the industry you’re in, the product category with which you’re promoting, and the buying behaviors that your business or brand tends to experience will help you tremendously when determining your creative approach to advertising.

Nevertheless, creativity is an effective implementation across the board, proving its worth for advertising professionals and consumers alike. The best part? When implemented appropriately and effectively, creativity can save a substantial amount on your marketing budget at large.



Creativity in Advertising: When it Works and When it Doesn’t

Since its arrival on the SEO scene in 2015, Google RankBrain has been the talk of the town. As well as looking to understand what it does and how it works, marketers have been keen to find out how they can make it work for them. While RankBrain is primarily a user experience tool, it’s definitely a development that SEO marketers need to take note of. I’ve put together a back-to-basics guide to help you understand RankBrain and tailor your SEO strategy to make the most of it.

#### Introduction to SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It refers to all the major search engines – Bing, Yahoo and Google and others – but is primarily used in reference to Google, since that is the best-known and most popular option internationally. When you optimise your content for a search engine, you find ways to make its topic more easily recognisable and to support that it is high quality rather than spam or duplicate content.

When you type a query into Google’s search bar, you’re presented with a list of results that match what you’re looking for. As a marketer, your job is to make sure your company’s content comes up in these listings, and comes up as high as possible. That means figuring out what your audience is searching for and how to match up your answer.

While SEO can be a complicated a process, it starts with a few basic focuses. First of all, you need to think about your keywords. Once you know the area you’ll be writing about, you can use tools such as the [Keyword Planner on Google Adwords](https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home?__c=9434402934&__u=9074701014&authuser=0&__o=cues) to give you inspiration. Search for related keywords and perhaps even more popular terms that will help strengthen your article. You then need to think about where you place them in your article. You should always ensure its included in your title, and where possible in high ranking subtitles. It’s not just the article itself you need to think about – image alt tags also play a key role in SEO results.

Another key factor to consider when working on your SEO strategy is link building. These come in two main varieties: inbound and outbound. An inbound link is placed on another website and leads to your page; the number and quality of your inbound links is one of Google’s most important determining factors when deciding where your page will appear in the search listings. An [outbound link](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/study-shows-outgoing-links-have-positive-effects-on-seo/157431/) is placed on your website and leads to other, related websites. You should make sure to link to sites with a high domain authority and relevant information.

Of course, much of SEO best practice has developed through trial-and-error and is constantly changing, because it is dependent on Google’s algorithms. These algorithms have undergone a number of transformations over the recent years.

#### Introduction to Algorithms 

Algorithms are essentially rules laid out by Google – and other major search engines – that determine the value of webpages. When you type a query into the engine’s search bar, the[ Google “spiders”](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/34439?hl=en), as they’re known, set out to scour the web for matching terms. They’ll check whether the pages they find match up to the conditions laid out in the algorithm, and how they compare to other sites. This process determines which pages appear in your results listings.

Google’s algorithm is complex, with an estimated 200 factors taken into consideration. It’s also constantly changing, with its many updates often making marketing news. One of the most talked-about updates was known as Google Panda. Activated in 2011, Panda was designed to weed out low-quality content on the web. It targeted duplicate content and what’s known as black-hat SEO in particular, penalising the sites that used these techniques in an attempt to boost their rankings. Panda is still in operation today, although it’s seen a number of updates since its launch.

Another update that sparked much discussion amongst marketers was Google Penguin. This specifically spoke to SEO techniques – penalising the use of [“black-hat SEO”](http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/Black_Hat_SEO.html) and rewarding [“white-hat SEO”](http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/White_Hat_SEO.html). This update targeted manipulated and paid-for links, as well as pages that showed obvious keyword stuffing.

In 2013, another new update was rolled out – Google Hummingbird. This update is said to be the most sophisticated yet, as it introduces the idea of context. While Google has historically relied on synonyms to find relevant search results, Hummingbird operates what’s known as a semantic search, where it considers not just the word, but its place within a sentence. Steve described it as thinking “about why people are looking for something rather than what they are looking for”. One of the key components of this update is known as RankBrain.

#### What is RankBrain? 

RankBrain is part of the Hummingbird update, and relies on the latter’s context-driven search. It’s a machine-learning artificial intelligence system. [Machine-learning](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/machine-learning) means that the computer can teach itself based on information it intakes, rather than needing a programmer to put in commands.

When most of us hear “artificial intelligence”, the film The Terminator springs to mind. Unfortunately, (or should that be fortunately?) RankBrain is not quite that sophisticated. It has been characterised as artificial narrow intelligence – or ANI – which occurs when a machine is able to develop intelligence that is equal to or beyond that of a human in one specific area. In other words, while RankBrain might be able to decode context, it won’t be leading an electronics uprising any time soon.

RankBrain provides a new way for Google to categorise the pages it scans beyond looking for keywords. By understanding what the consumer is looking for, Google is able to match pages that might not have the exact terms typed in, but have relevant or related content.We know that in the past Google has been able to do this through synonym searches. But those techniques typically required a human somewhere along the way, to enter synonym lists and update commands. RankBrain, on the other hand, is able to identify patterns between words and grow its own understanding to use for future reference. It’s become much less like inputting information into a calculator and more like taking a query to a librarian.

#### How Should That Affect Your SEO Strategy?

The Hummingbird update has largely focused on User Experience, so won’t have the same impact on SEO strategy as Panda and Penguin before it. However, because the algorithm is now looking at more than just keywords, the quality of your content has become increasingly more important.

The Google spiders are now looking for much more than matching terms. They’re looking at context, to see whether your information will be interesting and relevant to the search user. That means that as well as thinking about [related terms and phrases](http://keywordtool.io/), you need to ensure that your keywords are properly placed in a sentence and are used to their truest meaning. Often, SEO marketers fall into the temptation of cramming their buzzwords into sentences that don’t quite fit – or where another word would make more sense. Now that RankBrain has a more understanding eye, this could hurt your SEO score.

It’s also worth noting that RankBrain’s learning capacity also means that it comes with a more sophisticated idea of memory. As well as retaining information that it finds on webpages, it is now able to add a positive or negative association. This means that high authority webpages are likely to leave a good impression – and so are the sites that resemble them. It’s worth having a look at your top-ranking competitors to see what key elements Google might be favouring.

RankBrain has made a serious impact on Google’s algorithm; since its recent release, Google itself has already ranked it as the third most important factor. Since there are more than 200 to consider, that’s a serious achievement. It is worth remembering, however, that there are still two that rank above it. Those remain the obvious suspects: content and links. That means that while the new developments look to be great news for marketers who are producing high-quality content, it’s important not to forget about traditional techniques.

#### What Can We Expect in the Future? 

There’s a lot of buzz about RankBrain, perhaps because it signifies a new era in artificial intelligence. The capacity to teach itself feels, to many, like the first step towards creating computers that can replicate the human brain. For SEO marketers, that suggests that content marketing could soon become less of a numbers game and much more dependent on quality. When algorithms read in the same way humans do, there will be no shortcut to good content.

One of the most important objectives that RankBrain is designed to meet is delivering the best possible user experience. To do this, it takes into account a number of factors – including accessibility on different platforms (exemplified by the infamous [Mobilegeddon](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32393050)) and location. We can only expect further developments in this field as Google continues to search for what users want – which means that SEO and content marketers will need to do the same.

What do you think of Google’s RankBrain update? Has it affected the way you go about content marketing and SEO? Let me know in the comments below.

(As appeared earlier on Huffingtonpost: https://bit.ly/2OhT4Mn)

You might also like to read: [Why Organic SEO Is The Key To Online Marketing](https://www.aniketwarty.com/why-organic-seo-is-the-key-to-online-marketing/)



Creating Your SEO Strategy Around Google RankBrain

How do you manage Corporate reputation? With an emerging breed of consumers demanding dialogue from businesses and insisting on greater organizational transparency and accountability, image and reputation management for organizations has become harder than ever. It is like having millions of eyes watching over your business and a thousand mouths asserting involvement in the communication process. The challenge now is how organizations establish and sustain a positive and strong brand and corporate reputation in the Internet Age.

Five Meta-Trends in Managing Reputation Online

John Bell, managing director of 360o Digital Influence of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, talks about five meta-trends that affect how corporations manage reputation in the presence of the social media and brand communities.

1. Hyper transparency

“Having 150 million bloggers means having thousands of potential forensic accountants, social watchdogs and activists watching your company.”

It is high time that businesses not only open their windows and doors but make their walls transparent as well. Consumers are out to hear and see what’s going on with their brands especially now that various social media tools allow them to do so. Organizations must then operate with honesty and clarity. Secretive companies never win. Openness is the new rule of the game.

2. Viral Crises

“Crisis spreads through networks – formal and informal with lightning speed and full motion pictures. When bad things happen, they spread extremely fast, often with the accompaniment of YouTube videos.”

Primed crisis management plan is a must for today’s businesses. Be wary of bad things blogged, twitted, and posted about your company. Crisis spread is multi-directional and 10x faster. Meet and converse with the fire starters in the right platforms. Above all, your company has to respond fast.

3. Demand for Dialogue

“One way messaging is not acceptable to those who crave dialogue. Consumers crave conversation, not messaging, from the brands they love.”

Let humans converse with humans. Consumers don’t need dreary press releases or deceitful ads. They desire and demand dialogue, genuine dialogue at that. Nothing else gains their trust and loyalty than companies that sincerely listen to and talk with them.

4. Louder brand detractors and employees

“Smart, nimble detractors leverage social media everyday. The Social Web has built new brands from the small guy who knows how to leverage blogs, search, Web 2.0 innovations like tagging, social networks and more.”

Organizations need to be good at the same weapon their critics use. Today, it’s the Internet. Know where the brand detractors are and in what ways they talk. Your company would not want to be fighting in the woods when the enemies are out in the plains. Likewise, you would not use spears when they are already using guns.

5. Uncontrollable brand fans

“Brand fans have a louder voice than ever (and you cannot control them). Corporations either embrace them, ignore them or fall into the danger of trying to control them, or worse, shut them down.”

Powerful allies your company would not dare lose are brand fans talking online. Seek ways to reach and engage them. Know and speak their language. Most importantly, converse with them as human and natural as possible.

Rules for Online Reputation Management

Bell’s five meta-trends define the new game of reputation management. It introduces businesses to the emerging game field, players, allies and opponents and game tools establishing and maintaining their corporate and brand reputation. Nevertheless, no matter how much the game, its players, and tools have changed, the fundamentals remain the same. Here are the game rules which I believe rightly apply to corporate reputation management across all media.

1.Know your brand.

2.Share your story.

3.Listen and respond to your enemies.

4.Engage and reinforce your allies.

5.Always adhere to the core of PR: truth.

Always, the BUILDER is your productivity. And there will be zillions of naysayers. DEAL with them. With your reason and self-esteem.


Corporate Reputation Management

Every business, product, or service needs a reliable source of fresh leads in order to avoid getting stuck in the mud with inconsistent customer growth. Sound familiar? Well, say hello to my full-proof guide full of actionable content marketing lead generation ideas you can begin executing today.

If your funnel is trickling with leads rather than overflowing, the lead generation ideas you choose to pursue today will play an incredibly important role in your company’s future.

Sales and marketing teams spend a boatload of time and money on lead generation. From launching ad campaigns to creating high-quality blog content, hosting webinars, producing videos, and more, they’re always doing something to gain an edge. You should be too.

However, if you’re like most marketers, business owners, or product developers, you don’t have an endless supply of money and time to pursue one lead generation idea after another. You need results, and you need them now. Lucky for you, I’ve got you covered.

Lead generation is a noisy topic full of opinions and ideas, but we’re cutting straight through all of the white noise by digging deep into some of today’s most effective lead generation strategies – the same ones I use to amass thousands upon thousands of leads year after year.

Let’s dive right in and find out how you can do the same. But, before we do, let’s cover our bases first.

### What is Lead Generation?
Lead generation is just as it sounds – it’s the process of generating leads. The real question is: what are leads?

Leads are businesses or individuals who like your brand and show an interest in what it sells. In other words, people who may turn into paying customers. Lead generation refers to the process of finding these people.

In one way or another, lead generation helps you find those with an interest in your niche, or help them find you, get their attention, and take them through your sales funnel to eventually become future customers.

Lead generation can encompass several things and take many forms. Some people are PPC experts and strictly do that. It’s their thing. Others consider themselves email marketers and focus their attention there.

In my humble opinion, however, content marketing is king, and it should play a vital role in your overall lead generation strategy.

### Content Marketing Lead Generation Ideas That Work
The lead generation ideas below are some of my go-to favorites for generating an endless avalanche of evergreen leads eager to discover your brand and the content you’re creating. Whether it’s written or recorded, there are plenty of content marketing lead generation ideas to explore.

### Quality Blog Content
The content you’re reading right now is the bread and butter of my lead generation strategy, and it’s been consistently filling my conversion pipeline full of high-quality leads for years. Just browse my blog, and you’ll find everything from in-depth guides to infographics, case study breakdowns, and more.

Depending on the nature of your business, your content can also include whitepapers, eBooks, and so on. Just keep in mind, however, that regardless of how many hours you spend creating this level of content quantity, and quality, it doesn’t guarantee your success.

To be successful, your content marketing strategy should be built on building strong relationships with your target audience – those who are likely to flow through your pipeline and eventually become customers for your business and loyal ambassadors of your brand.

So, before you begin blogging away, take a minute, or two, or three to decide on the type of content you’re going to post. Think about your audience and your motivations by answering some important questions, such as:

• Who is my target audience and what problems can I help them solve?

• Where do my target customers spend their time online? Which medium do they prefer to consume content in?

• What are they searching for on Google? Which keywords should I target?

• Who are my competitors and how can I stand out from them?

• Would I rather have 10,000 less targeted readers or 1,000 highly targeted leads salivating to convert?

Ultimately, the quality of your content will deeply rely on your motivations and willingness to really delve into the minds of your target customers and help solve whatever pain points they may be experiencing. If your goal is to simply sell as many subscriptions as you can to anyone willing to hand over their credit card, your content is pretty much going to suck.

Rather than trying to sell, sell, sell, you need to teach, and most importantly, inspire. You also need to think long-term. These days, evergreen content is just about all I create. Not only is it designed to connect with my audience, but it’s also designed to rank well in Google’s organic search results for targeted keywords they’re searching for.

Whether you’re selling wholesale merchandise, software, or consulting services, content marketing targeting organic search can provide you with a powerful source of leads.

All that said, publishing great content and getting it ranked at the top of the search results is no easy feat. It’s an arduous journey requiring plenty of time, quality backlinks, social shares, and several other factors in order to pull off successfully. However, if you’ve got the hustle, the rewards can pay off huge.

### Books and eBooks
Books and eBooks can be hugely successful lead generation tools. In fact, the ones I’ve written have garnered tens of thousands of fresh leads in just the past few years alone.

I mean, if you think about it, it’s a win-win. Rather than paying $1.41 a click or something like that for a Facebook PPC ad, you can turn the tables and have people pay you instead. The best part is, you get their contact information too. Plus, you already know they’re interested in what you’re selling because they’ve already bought something from you.

Honestly, the people who buy your books or eBooks are some of the best leads you could get. No cold calling here. Not for me. No siree! Keeping existing readers loaded up on fresh new content has been one of my best lead generation strategies. My last launch alone brought in nearly 4,000 new leads. Pretty cool indeed.

You can launch and sell eBooks in any online community where your audience spends their time. After launching in a handful of online communities, which is important for new lead generation, you can then promote the book or eBook via your blog using banner ads and calls to action throughout highly-trafficked posts.

You can keep following my lead by harnessing the power of social media to do what it does best – share. That’s right; ask those who buy your eBook to make sure and share it with others. It’s free publicity at its finest.

### Podcasts and Audiobooks
According to recent studies, 104 million Americans tune into podcasts regularly. So, if you’re like me or millions of others, chances are you listen to podcasts too. If that’s the case, it’s not too far-fetched an idea to begin producing your own.

Even if you’re pretty happy with your current audience size, which clearly isn’t the case or you wouldn’t be here, allowing your readers to connect and engage with you through the speakers in their cars, earbuds, and even their TVs can further deepen your relationship.

While I’m no Joe Rogan, I’ve managed to amass a fair share of downloads from podcasts. Beyond that, however, they’ve helped me develop more dynamic relationships with my audience and expand the consciousness of my brand.

Not sure how to create a blog post or what to include? An easy solution I’ve found to work quite well is to simply record an audio version of your best-performing blog posts. I’ve even done the exact opposite by creating a written blog post based on a popular podcast.

The key is getting your name and brand out there, and podcasts have proven a relatively easy way to provide engaging content and do just that.

### Video Content
Much of the written blog content I create actually begins with a video I upload to YouTube. I’ve experienced some terrific results by uploading a new video to my YouTube channel twice a week. Over the years, I’ve uploaded hundreds of videos garnering over a million views. Talk about lead generation!

Some videos, however, gain more traction than others. I’ve had some with only a thousand views and some with tens of thousands. Therefore, when it comes to videos, consistency is the name of the game. You never know which one will catch fire and strike gold.

Nonetheless, to strike YouTube gold and tap into its lead pipeline, you need to bring something to the table. You need to entertain and/or educate. Ideally, both. Once you get this down and prove your worth, or at least your viewability, your exposure, leads, and conversions will jump through the roof.

### Grow Your Leads and Your Business Today
We’ve gone over a number of different lead generation methods and strategies in this post today. While there are even more great lead generation ideas out there proven to pull in results, these strategies serve as foundational pieces to the lead generation puzzle.

That said, you likely won’t follow all of my lead gen advice. After all, how boring would that be? The key is to experiment, track the right metrics, and see what works for you. Once you zero in on your lead generation plan, you’ll have a steady flow of people coming to you wanting to hear what you have to say – about anything.

~ First published Huffington Post Feb 2015



Content Marketing Lead Generation Ideas For Dummies…

The online digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new trends, platforms, and technologies emerging at an increasingly rapid pace across the globe.

One of the most significant paradigm shifts on the horizon is the advent of the [Metaverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse), a network of virtual worlds that promises to offer users a more immersive and autonomous web experience. As this futuristic concept becomes a reality, it’s natural for marketers to feel anxious about their employment prospects.

However, Digital Marketers should realize that with the disruption of familiar digital spaces comes unprecedented opportunity, and the rise of the Metaverse will expand current digital marketing roles and create new and exciting ones.

In this article, we will explore potential job opportunities in the Metaverse and why it’s crucial for marketers to pay close attention to this exciting new virtual land of promise and opportunity.

### Why is the Metaverse So Concerning?

For starters, as with any technological revolution, keeping up with changes is unsettling but crucial for staying relevant as a digital marketer.

EarthWeb.org reports that by 2024 the Metaverse market will be a staggering $800 billion industry, that JP Morgan estimates the market to have a $1 trillion future, and Goldman Sachs predicts a $1-12 trillion market. Neither firm give specific time frames for when those numbers will be achieved but contrast those optimistic forecasts with a Metaverse market cap of a “mere” $46 billion in 2020, and you get a sense of what the excitement is all about.

There is no mistake, immersive technology will become more pervasive in the future, and traditional social media platforms will decline; connecting consumers in newer and more highly personalized ways will be indispensable for driving consumer engagement and encouraging brand loyalty.

Utilizing gamification techniques combined with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies to appeal to digital power users, such as Gen Z and Generation Alpha consumers, creatively and more effectively will blaze new trails for innovation and market penetration.

Major consumer brands are already experimenting with the Metaverse. The collaboration between corporate marketers and platform developers allows players to purchase exclusive merchandise for their avatars inside the game, increasing brand-specific awareness and greater customer engagement.

Although the ultimate success of these marketing forays is still undecided, there is clear excitement among corporate sponsors for the potential rewards that can be garnered when repackaged campaigns are presented to eager participants in their new virtual worlds to spur commerce, relationship building, and other social interactions.

The macroeconomics of this new market make the Metaverse a vast and exciting new frontier for digital marketing. Brands that effectively leverage this uncharted space will have a significant competitive advantage that will be difficult to overcome.

### Metaverse Job Opportunities

As the world enters the dawn of the Metaverse, it is essential to consider the types of jobs that will emerge from the new paradigm so you can take advantage of the best career opportunities. Here are a few possible jobs for Digital Marketers to consider:

### Virtual Event Marketer
Virtual Event Marketers are responsible for planning and executing marketing campaigns for virtual events, such as virtual conferences, webinars, and trade shows. Their job duties include:

Developing and implementing marketing strategies.
Creating and managing social media campaigns.
- Tracking analytics.
- Analyzing data to optimize performance.
The average annual salary for a qualified Virtual Event Marketer is about $70,000.

### Virtual Product Marketer
These professionals are in charge of creating and executing marketing strategies for virtual products and services, such as virtual reality games, virtual tours, and virtual experiences. Their job responsibilities include:

- Researching target audiences.
- Creating marketing materials.
- Analyzing data to optimize campaign performance.
The average annual salary for skilled Virtual Product Marketers is around $80,000.

### Virtual Brand Marketer
Virtual Brand Marketers are responsible for creating and executing marketing strategies to promote a brand within the Metaverse. Their job includes:

- Creating and managing social media campaigns.
- Tracking analytics.
- Analyzing data to optimize performance.
They also work with virtual event and product marketers to ensure campaign consistency. The average annual salary for a Virtual Brand Marketer is approximately $85,000.

### Virtual Content Marketer
Virtual Content Marketers are responsible for creating and managing engaging content for virtual platforms, such as virtual tours, virtual reality games, and virtual experiences. Their job includes:

- Researching target audiences.
- Creating and curating content.
- Tracking analytics.
- Analyzing data to optimize performance.
The average annual salary for a Virtual Content Marketer is around $75,000.

### How to Find a Job in the Metaverse

As the Metaverse grows and evolves, more job opportunities are opening within the immersive digital landscape. However, since the Metaverse is an emerging field, finding a job can be slightly different from traditional job searching. Here are a few tips to help you land your dream job in this brave new frontier:

Get familiar with the Metaverse:  Spend time exploring the Metaverse and familiarize yourself with all the different platforms, technologies, and applications used within its boundaries. Becoming familiar with the platform will help you understand what jobs are available and how to best position yourself to land one of them.

Build a portfolio:  As with any job search, it is vital to have a robust portfolio of work samples that showcases your skills and experience. Demonstrating your skills is especially true for jobs in the Metaverse, as many of these roles require a deep understanding of digital technologies, platforms, and programming and software development techniques.

Network:  You will want to attend virtual events, join online communities, and connect with other professionals in the Metaverse to expand your Rolodex of contacts. Staying current on the latest trends and developments may lead to unexpected job opportunities. It would be beneficial if you find a mentor to guide you through your Metaverse learning experience by directing you to the appropriate technologies to learn and to prepare you for job interviews.

Stay up to date on skills:  As the Metaverse continues to evolve, it’s crucial to stay up-to-date on the latest technologies, platforms, and applications. Once you learn a technical skill, remember that technology is constantly evolving. Consider periodically taking online courses or attending virtual workshops to keep your skills current.

If you follow these tips, you will be well on your way to finding your dream job in the Metaverse. Since the Metaverse is a new and fast-evolving field, the job market is not stable, and your potential salary may change depending on the area of expertise needed, your experience, and other job seekers.

### How to Get a Metaverse Job with No Experience

Getting a job in the metaverse can be challenging, especially if you do not have direct experience in the field. However, there are still ways to break into the industry if you are persistent and put in the necessary effort.

One way is to get the skills you need to be considered an asset to a company that hires Metaverse professionals. You can gain these skills through online courses, tutorials, and resources.

Another way is by creating your own virtual projects or by contributing to open source metaverse projects and building a portfolio of your work.

Last but not the least, be bold and apply for entry-level positions or internships; these positions are great opportunities to gain valuable hands-on experience and learn from more seasoned professionals in the field.

### Remote and Freelance Jobs in the Metaverse

The Metaverse is such a hot market right now that a lot of companies are already searching for skilled personnel to staff critical jobs, and many offer remote and freelance positions if you are talented enough.

While researching current jobs and roles currently in demand, you should also improve your professional profile and online reputation. Boosting your competitiveness will increase your chances of attracting the right employer or obtaining a coveted Metaverse job. Here are a few examples of remote and freelance roles currently being advertised:

- NFT and Gaming Marketing Specialist
- Strategic Virtual World Campaign Manager
- Virtual World Business Strategist
- Virtual World Marketing Manager
To improve your odds of finding a job in the Metaverse, you should invest in training courses to gain new digital marketing skills. Earning a professional diploma in Digital Marketing enhances your qualifications in the eyes of potential employers and prepares you for the Metaverse job market.
### 
Conclusion

The Metaverse presents a wealth of career opportunities for Digital Marketers. From virtual event marketing to virtual product marketing, virtual brand marketing and content marketing, and many other roles that require onsite, remote, and freelance Digital Marketing skills to thrive.

With the Metaverse being such a new and fast-evolving field, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest technologies, platforms, and applications by taking online courses or attending virtual workshops. It’s also crucial to build a strong portfolio showcasing your skills and experience, network with other professionals, and research the current job market and available roles to optimize your chances of finding suitable employment.

In short, the Metaverse is a new frontier for Digital Marketing professionals to explore, and a lot of possibilities exist for those willing to be competitive.

Career Opportunities for Digital Marketers in the Metaverse

It’s often been said, and will continue to be said, that technology is changing at a more rapid pace than ever. Things that couldn’t have been dreamt of just 30 years ago are here today. Consider your smartphone. Even Captain Kirk’s communicator from the ‘60s Star Trek looks like garbage next to the low-end smartphones on the market today. The upcoming IT trends are indicative of how the world, and the gaming world, is changing and will continue to change for the next several years.

#### 1 – Virtual and Augmented Reality

Google Glass caught on to virtual and augmented reality in the business sector, even though it was also marketed toward a wider audience. It provides a quick and easy on-the-go augmented reality solution for any user. Further developments of products like this, and for products like this, will be absolutely necessary to watch out for in 2015.

Even the consumer market is getting a piece of virtual and augmented reality with products like the Occulus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and the Microsoft HoloLens that was announced at E3 this year. While these systems are mostly for gaming, utility programs can also be developed for them and with potential Internet capabilities, there could be even further developments in the market.

#### 2 – Wearables

Many companies have had a wearable in some form or another. Even going back as far as the 90s with calculator watches, the consumer market has always had a desire for something to make their lives quicker and easier. With wearables like the aforementioned Google Glass, the Samsung Gear line of watches, the new LG Urbane, Apple Watch, and Moto 360, we’ll be seeing a lot of consumer and business sales of this new trend, and development directed at wearables is becoming almost as important as developing for standard mobile devices.

#### 3 – Analytics and Metadata

There’s a fine line between gathering useful data and a customer considering that a company has reached too much an invasion of privacy. Customers will understand if an automatically updating cloud app needs to access their contacts and pictures but will not understand why a news app would need to, even if there is some customization that may allow the developers to create a better experience for the consumers. Being able to gain as much information as possible about customers while keeping their perceptions of privacy in mind is going to be an absolute necessity in 2015.

#### 4 – Global Market

More and more countries are gaining access to high-speed Internet and, to keep up, companies need to develop practical applications that will enhance the life of users in newly online nations. This means a trans-cultural understanding, a creation of needs and wants, and finding niches that no one else is filling in that region.

Android, Apple, and Windows are somewhat ubiquitous, so continuing to develop for those platforms seems to not be a problem; it’s a question of what kinds of apps to create for a market that is up in the air. Beyond that, if there is an application that has a global appeal, such as a word processing application, it’s a matter of making it stand out to a certain region in a market that may be saturated with westernized versions of a similar product.

#### 5 – Subscription-Based Software and Microtransactions

Think of all of the subscription-based services that are available and popular right now. Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go/Now, Spotify, Pandora, Playstation Network, Xbox Live, and even Microsoft Office are all subscription based. This trend doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon and customers seem to be willing to pay for convenient access to quality products.

Another related trend is the quickly growing usage of microtransactions. Although this is used more frequently in mobile games like Clash of Clans or Candy Crush, it has been utilized in almost every sector to great effect. Of course, not everyone will pay for a freemium mobile app, but the ones that will end up helping the developer turn a profit. While many users notice and are generally fine with smaller microtransactions for extra features, there is a fine line between utility or fun and exploitation. A great example of microtransactions gone wrong is EA’s foray into the market with the game Dungeon Keeper. Being able to turn a profit without turning your customer base off will be absolutely imperative in the future.

#### 6 – Social Site Integration

Developing apps and websites that can be quickly shared on social media is another trend that seems to be in for the long haul. Everything from CNN to video game consoles are connected directly to social media sites for easy sharing and updates, and almost every entity that’s on the Internet has some kind of social media page.

It’s not enough to simply be able to link your applications and websites to Facebook. Now, since almost everything is social media, many developers will need to find a way to quickly and easily link to more professional sites, such as Linkedin, for networking and business purposes.

The Internet of Things is becoming more and more prevalent for businesses and consumers alike by integrating it with virtual/augmented reality, wearables, analytics, subscription services, and social sites, your business will stay relevant. Bringing your business and applications to a global market by reaching across cultural boundaries will ensure that what you’re developing will have staying power for the future.

Best IT Trends In 2015/2016 You Will Read This Year

**A Startup CEO Secrets Revealed:**

From the start of everyone’s career, one dreams of owning and running one’s own business someday. It takes a while to discover what industry and type of company you would invest your life’s work in. Usually you work the corporate ladder on somebody else’s payroll for years and hate it! In my case, for instance, I envisioned and planned for the right moment to take my skills and passion into the world with my own capital, and to strike out on my own as a startup CEO at a pretty young age.
I imagined then that after the initial work of rolling up my sleeves to get my company up and running, my CEO life would assure me plenty of time kicked back in an executive chair with my feet up and my years of brunt work behind me.
Most of us whose imaginations wander into the world of self-employment probably have only a faint notion of the work and commitment it requires to become a successful startup CEO. Some of us may not know how big we want to expand our businesses, while others know exactly what we want to achieve. Whether we want to keep our business small or shoot for the moon to grow a large corporation, we realize that the main ingredients to success are passion and hard work. When we feel the timing is right, we strike out on our own with fervor, persistence and patience. We know that if we want our venture to be a success, we must psych ourselves up with confidence and resilience to mentally prepare ourselves for the toughest and most progressive phase of our lives.

**A Startup CEO’s Checklist**

![what-does-a-startup-ceo-do-291x300.jpg](/uploads/what_does_a_startup_ceo_do_291x300_67ad8cdb92.jpg)

The first step in any venture is devising a plan, so I had a lot of research to do and many decisions to make. The to-do list of a startup CEO is indeed long, but it can be managed well if you have the confidence and determination that it will all get done in due time.
Here is a list of some major ingredients I would need to be an effective startup CEO:
1. Knowledge and skills about my products, services and the industry in which they fall;
2. A corporate attorney or business consultant to devise a flexible business plan for me and assist me in writing contracts;
3. Proposal of how much venture capital I need and the sources from where I would get the funds;
4. Strong verbal and written communication skills to convey my ideas clearly;
5. Bookkeeping skills or a trusted accountant; and
6. Help during the startup phase from people I know well and who share my excitement.

There were many more projects I completed and skills I had to possess as a startup CEO that I consider tools to that would transfer over to other careers, should my venture not work out. According to Wade Fulton of Forbes.com, contracts are highly regarded as a means to confirm business agreements and services. I learned this lesson the hard way when I bypassed the contract with a client who was a friend of a friend. The client insisted we bartered services, so I took him to court to sue for my fees. I had proof of the quotes I drew up for him and easily won my case. Protect yourself legally by documenting everything!

**Ride Out A Recession In The Startup Phase**

As a startup CEO, I had to learn not only how to grow my business but also how to save it from the trenches of a tough economy when initial expenses were draining my operating budget. I discovered that starting up a new business as its CEO requires the ability to work long hours for little or no pay. I learned that new startups often take three to five years to show their first profit, so I adjusted to living on a very conservative budget. I knew that if I made some temporary sacrifices, I had a better chance of being rewarded with long-term prosperity. Unless I was lucky enough to have access to a bottomless trust fund, I would have to keep my expenditures down to only necessities for a while.

**Keep Your Eyes On The Prize**

In the beginning, it was easy to become overwhelmed with all the industry data and project details coming at me. To keep my sanity in check, I kept friends and consultants nearby with whom I could discuss my ideas. That is just good sound advice for us all to follow when our careers get stressful and our company goals and objectives are on shaky ground. I kept a positive outlook and stayed focused on my goals, faithful that months and even years of hard work would turn my scarcity into prosperity.
No matter how tough entrepreneurship has been at times, it has shown me the rewards of having relentless belief in myself that I could follow my life’s purpose. It has given this startup CEO a sense of validity and purpose.

A Startup CEO Secrets Revealed

In my productive work, I enforce one tenet over all others: communication. Communication layers have to be established in a workplace and within an organization and zealously implemented. I do. Miscommunication, improper feedback/follow-up can throw a spanner in the works or have disastrous consequences. My brief in this context is clear, concise and dictatorial: you MUST communicate, respond, participate, listen, speak. And what about me, the guy who leads from the front? Do I have to do this myself as well, or am I exempt from this? Businesspeople come a dime a dozen, but what is the key ingredient that separates businesspeople from leaders? If you answered that they should be excellent communicators, then you hit the nail on the head!

Here is a list of several key communication secrets of leaders:

**1. They Are Active Listeners**
Those who are great communicators know that the first step in communicating is being an active listener. Leaders do not just talk “at” somebody. They allow their audience time to ask questions and contribute input to the discussion. On both ends of the conversation, they face the other parties and maintain eye contact. They do not interrupt another speaker, and they demonstrate attentive listening in their body language. They offer feedback when requested or welcomed.

**2. They Know Their Target Audience**
Great leaders know that the secret to connecting with their audience is to engage them. Just like teachers engage their students’ interest, so does a leader with great communication skills. They know their audience’s general concerns, values, and lifestyles. They connect their examples to these points to keep their communication relevant.

**3. They Share Their Expertise**
In order for leaders to communicate effectively and to be taken seriously by their audience, they need to have expertise on the subject matter they present. Audiences can easily detect whether the speaker is strong and confident in their knowledge of the content they discuss. Excellent communicators validate facts or opinions with solid support to back up their claims. This earns the respect of their audience who will perceive them as a credible and expert source.

**4. They Are Genuine**
The best leaders talk to their audience in the relaxed manner they would with a good friend. They do not sound as if they are negotiating a stiff business matter. They know that sounding more natural sets a warm and positive tone with their audience. They present themselves as down-to-earth in their speech and in their mannerisms.

**5. They Are Truthful**
Every great leader communicates with honesty and integrity, and they actually have it! They know that audiences can see right through a façade. They know that the way to earn trust with their audience is to speak truthfully. When a member of their audience asks an awkward question, they answer tactfully. They are direct in stating if the answer contains information; they are not at liberty to disclose.

**6. They Tell Stories That Connect**
When successful leaders have a point to communicate, they often use short stories that connect to the listeners’ lives, feelings, and needs. These are mostly based on their own experiences and reality. This will usually conjure up images in the minds of their audience that evoke emotion and really resonate with them.

**7. They Make It Personal**
One of the major communication secrets of leaders is to make it personal for each individual. When they direct whole groups as individuals, they can make a deeper connection with their audience. More personal and direct communication develops a stronger rapport with each person and, therefore, gives speakers greater credibility.

**8. They Entertain**
Great leaders know that one of the best traits of a great communicator is being able to inform and entertain at the same time. When the speaker makes his audience laugh, he knows it is more engaging for his audience. A more engaged audience is a more attentive audience.

**9. They Communicate Strategically**
Leaders strategically develop the content of their communication. They use outlines when delivering speeches and focus on making a valid point in their written correspondence. Regardless of the communication method, the one function it should always possess is delivering information with an objective. The objective should fill some kind of need in the audience, or inspire and motivate them to take action towards a goal.

#### How To Culminate All 9 Of The Communication Secrets Of Leaders
On an individual basis, the communication secrets of leaders outlined above are pretty straight forward and fairly easy to accomplish. However, culminating these communication skills is not so easy. If it was easy, there would be a great deal more leaders and a lot fewer arguments among people! So, how do some great leaders manage to accomplish that?
Keep the list above handy and keep returning to it to reread it. Think about the purpose and audience of your communication. Carefully review each secret to see how they can apply to the format of your communication. For example, how would they be applied to different settings?

Just as there are no cookie cutter solutions to every problem, so do different modes of communication command different approaches for different settings. A business meeting in a conference room would be enlightened with an entertaining quip, but it might not be appropriate in a letter or email. With this in mind, perhaps one more communication secret of leaders would be that they have discernment for knowing what to say and when to say it.

9 Outstanding Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Whether you’re a content creator marketing professional, or business owner, you know how important it is to get your content seen by as many people as possible. But with the vast amount of content available online, it can be tough to stand out and drive traffic to your website or social media channels.

That’s where content promotion comes in!

Content promotion is the process of actively sharing your content with your target audience in order to drive traffic, engagement, and conversions. It’s a crucial part of the content marketing process and can help you reach new customers, build brand awareness, and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

With that said, in what follows, I’ll be sharing eight (8) effective strategies for promoting your content and getting it in front of the right people. From leveraging social media to guest blogging and email marketing, we’ll cover a range of tactics that can help you boost your content’s reach and impact.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

### Top 8 Content Promotion Strategies

Whether you’re an agency, small business owner, content creator, or otherwise, one of the biggest challenges you face is getting your content seen by the right audience. With so much competition for attention online, it can be tough to stand out and drive traffic to your website or blog.

That’s where content promotion comes in…

By implementing a variety of strategies to be discussed, you can increase the visibility and reach of your content, ultimately driving more traffic and potentially even revenue.

The following strategies include paid advertising, organic social media marketing, email marketing, content syndication, bookmarking sites, guest posting, influencer marketing, and podcast interviews.

By combining several of these tactics, you can create a comprehensive content promotion plan that will help you reach your target audience and achieve your goals.

### 1. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to get your content in front of a large audience quickly. There are several types of paid promotion strategies to consider:

- Google AdWords: This platform allows you to create text, display, and video ads that will appear on Google search results and other websites within the Google Display Network. You can target your ads based on keywords, location, and other factors to reach the right audience.
- Social Media Advertising: Most social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, offer paid advertising options. You can create targeted ads that will appear in users’ feeds or as sponsored content.
- Native Advertising: This type of advertising involves placing ads in a format that blends in with the surrounding content. For example, you might see a sponsored article in a news feed that looks like a regular article, but it is actually an ad. Native advertising can be effective because it doesn’t feel like an advertisement, but it can also be controversial if it is not clearly labeled as sponsored content.
### 2. Organic Social Media Marketing

Organic social media marketing involves promoting your content on social media platforms without paying for ads. There are several sub-strategies for promoting organic content on social media:

- Develop a Hashtag Strategy: Hashtags are a great way to increase the reach and visibility of your social media content. They allow users to easily find and engage with your content by searching for specific keywords or phrases. To use hashtags effectively, you should use relevant hashtags that are popular and widely used in your industry, create a branded hashtag for your business or campaign, and use a mix of popular and niche hashtags to reach a wider audience
- Run Social Media Contests: Contests are a fun and engaging way to promote your business and build your social media following. They can be used to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, or generate leads. To run a successful contest, you should offer a prize that is relevant and appealing to your target audience, clearly outline the rules and guidelines for the contest, and promote the contest through your social media channels.
- Post High-Quality Images and Videos: Visual content is an important part of any social media marketing strategy, as it helps to capture the attention of your audience and convey your message more effectively. To effectively use visual content in your social media marketing, you should use visually appealing and high-quality images and videos that are relevant to your brand and message, and experiment with different types of visual content, such as live videos, stories, and carousels to see what works best for your audience.
### 3. Email Marketing via Newsletters

Newsletters are an effective implement for promoting your content to a specified targeted audience. The best part is that you can use email marketing software to create and send newsletters to your email subscribers.

Below are three benefits of using newsletters for content promotion:

- Targeted Distribution: Email newsletters allow you to send your content to a specific group of people who have expressed an interest in receiving updates from you. This targeted distribution can help increase the chances that your content will be read and shared by the right audience.
- Increased Visibility: By sending your content through email newsletters, you have the opportunity to reach a larger audience than you might otherwise be able to reach through your website or social media channels alone. This can help increase the visibility of your content and bring in new readers and potential customers.
- Measurable Results: Email newsletters provide an easy way to track the success of your content promotion efforts. By using tools like open and click-through rates, you can measure the effectiveness of your newsletters and adjust your strategy accordingly. This can help you optimize your content promotion efforts and get the most out of your marketing efforts.
### 4. Content Syndication & Repurposing

Content syndication involves repurposing your content and publishing it on other websites.

This can help you reach a new audience and drive traffic back to your own site. You can syndicate your content through guest posting, podcast interviews, and by submitting it to content aggregation sites.

### 5. Utilize Bookmarking Aggregate Websites

Quora and Reddit are popular bookmarking aggregate websites that allow users to share and discover new content. You can use these sites to promote your content by answering relevant questions or participating in discussions related to your industry. Just be sure to follow the site’s rules and guidelines and avoid spamming or self-promotion.

There are several purposes for utilizing bookmarking sites for content promotion:

- Increase Content Visibility: By bookmarking your content on bookmarking aggregate websites, you can make your content more visible to a wider audience. This is especially useful if you have a new blog or website that you are trying to promote.
- Drive Web Traffic: When you bookmark your content on these websites, you can include a link back to your website. This can help drive traffic to your website, as users who are interested in your content may click on the link to visit your site.
- Improve SEO Rankings: Many bookmarking aggregate websites have high domain authority, which can help improve the search engine rankings of your website.
### 6. Blog Guest Posting

Guest posting is a great way to promote your content and get exposure on other blogs in your industry.

You can write a guest post for another blog and include a link back to your own site. Alternatively, you can invite other bloggers to guest post on your own blog. This can help you build relationships with other bloggers and drive traffic to your site.

### 7. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing involves partnering with influential people in your industry or niche to promote your content.

These influencers might be bloggers, social media personalities, celebrities, or industry experts who have a large following and are respected within their community. By partnering with influencers, you can tap into their audience and get your content in front of a larger, targeted audience.

Below are three primary payment structures often used in influencer marketing strategies:

- Flat Fee: This is a one-time payment made to the influencer for their participation in a campaign. The fee may be based on the influencer’s reach, engagement, or other factors.
- Commission: In this structure, the influencer receives a percentage of the sales generated from their promotion of the product or service. This can be a good option for brands that are looking to drive sales through influencer marketing.
- Product or Service Exchange: Instead of paying the influencer with money, the brand may offer them a product or service in exchange for their promotion. This can be a good option for smaller brands that may not have the budget for a traditional payment structure.
It’s important to note that these are just a few of the payment structures that may be used in influencer marketing. The specific terms of an influencer marketing campaign will depend on the specific needs and goals of the brand and the influencer.

### 8. Podcast Interviews

Last but certainly not least is the often forgotten and not-yet fully valued podcast format of consuming content.

In short, podcasts are a popular way for people to consume content and being a guest on a podcast can be a great way to promote your content. You can look for podcasts in your industry or niche and reach out to the host to see if they would be interested in having you as a guest. In contrast, you can pay for a promotional read on several podcasts to further increase brand awareness and visibility.

### A Final Word

In conclusion, these are just a few of the many strategies you can use to promote your content and get it in front of a larger audience. It’s important to find the strategies that work best for your business and to be consistent in your efforts.

While this may take some time during the trial-and-error phase, by implementing a combination of paid and organic promotion strategies, you can effectively get your content in front of the right people, drive traffic to your site, and ultimately optimize promotional reach.

Good luck! Or as we say in poker: Good Skill!

8 Explosive Content Promotion Strategies

As we reach the end of the year 2022, it’s time to look ahead into 2023 to see how (or if) you should update your brand. Knowing these 8 brilliant branding trends will help you stay current and eye-catching, while also giving you an edge over your competitors.

### 1.  Typography

One trend I’m already seeing in 2022 that I expect to continue into next year is the use of typography to express a sparse yet strong brand identity.

Typography is defined as “the style and appearance of printed matter.” Basically, brands that place a strong emphasis on typography are placing text at the forefront of their marketing.

To show you how this branding trend works, I’ll use an existing brand as my example: Hello toothpaste (sold at Target). When you look at the squeeze tube of[ Hello toothpaste](https://www.hello-products.com/), the first thing you see is the name of their brand in a large, stylized font. The rest of the tube is pretty simple: monochromatic in color and has no imagery or mascot.

The Hello typography isn’t random. It’s been thoughtfully designed to convey minimalism, which reflects the product itself and how it’s free of toxic excess ingredients like sulfates, parabens, triclosan, etc.

You’ll also notice that the brand name is typed in lowercase. This typographical choice was intentional, as well, as it communicates a sense of simplicity and friendliness that makes the brand more approachable to potential buyers. The special design for the “e” also makes the logo look distinctive from other toothpaste brands, and a little quirky, too. This is a brand that appears fun and inviting, without being loud or in your face.

This toothpaste product brings out all these positive emotions, just by pushing typography in their product branding. I expect a lot of brands, not just Hello, to continue this trend in 2023.

### 2.  Bright Color
If you’ve noticed a lot more color on store shelves and on social media in the past few months, then you’ve caught onto another branding trend for 2023.


Color me This!
The use of bright colors – pink, red, orange, Kelly green, turquoise, yellow – is a significant departure from the muted tones of 2020-2021. Color reflects mood, and so one reason we’re seeing so much of it now could be that brands need to reignite enthusiasm for shopping among consumers.

The last few years have been tough, what with the COVID 19 pandemic. People want to celebrate life and feel vibrant and happy. What better way to do that than by purchasing products that add joyful colors to their lives?

To that end, you may want to hop on this trend and inject some bright colors into your branding this coming year. It will do wonders for making your brand appear snappy and trendy amid all the others in your niche.

### 3.  Nostalgia
Those of us who grew up in the 90s and the early 2000s (not me) never thought that the branding from that era would come back as a trending force.

Nevertheless, it’s making a comeback. Millennials are becoming nostalgic for the good old days when brands were fun, chaotic, and colorful, rather than minimalistic and streamlined.

If you want to hop on this trend for your own brand in 2023, you don’t have to be as overt as offering complimentary scrunchies or designing a retro-style logo. Instead, you can take a page from Spotify, the subscription music streaming platform, and tap into specific colors and imagery to draw out the feeling of nostalgia without stating it.

I’ll show you how that works.

Every year, Spotify releases Spotify Wrapped, a slide-style overview of each subscriber’s listening experience over the past 12 months. It shows individual subscribers which artists and songs they listened to the most, what their favorite album was based on the number of repeat plays, and so on. This information is displayed on colorful backgrounds and accompanied by dynamic animations, which are designed according to that year’s theme.

In 2022, the theme for [Spotify Wrapped](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-wrapped/) was “kaleidoscope,” with bold splashes of yellow, pink, green, orange, and purple. The overall effect leans heavily into nostalgic 90s and early 2000s vibes. This is how you can imbue your brand with nostalgia for bygone eras without stating it outright to the consumer.

### 4.  Brand Activism
[Brand activism](https://medium.muz.li/the-hottest-brand-identity-trends-2022-2023-d2fbe832edfc) is not a new concept, but the name is relatively new – and it’s been buzzing like a bee in a hive. The idea is that brands must not just say that they promote a particular value or social movement. They must show their support through their branding.


Brand Activism
This trend is most evident during June, which is officially considered “Pride Month”. During this month, you’ll see a lot of brands change their logos on their social media accounts and even on their website to rainbows to reflect their support for the LGBTQ+ community. Many brands go even further by releasing a special version of their product that features rainbow colors and releasing it in time for Pride Month.

They may also donate to nonprofit organizations that are associated with the LGBTQ+ movement. For example, [the Apple brand supports](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/reviewed/2021/05/27/pride-month-2021-brands-giving-back-lgbtq-community/7467685002/) the National Center for Transgender Equality, which advocates for social justice for transgender individuals.

All of this may sound like just like brands are just promoting whatever is popular, but it’s actually a form of brand activism. They see an issue or a movement that is important to their consumer base, and they incorporate that into their branding to show that they, too, advocate for those same values.

Consumers are tired of fake and dishonest brands. Instead, they want to know that the company they’re purchasing from genuinely cares about issues, rather than just saying that they do.

Brand activism is a trend that has been around for a long time, but I can safely say that it’s going to continue in 2023. In fact, it may become more important than ever.
### 
5.  Simplicity, Not Minimalism
When you hear that the word “simplicity” is one of the branding trends for 2023, you may think it’s simply a synonym for “minimalism.” But the two aren’t quite the same.

Minimalism in branding involves using as little design as possible and paring your brand identity down to its barest elements. But simplicity is more about making your brand accessible and easy to understand at a glance. It operates on a customer-based perspective rather than a brand-based perspective.

To embrace simplicity, you don’t have to remove all extraneous adornment, color, or life from your branding. You just need to take away all the complexity. Identify the most important parts of your brand identity and communicate them to consumers in a short, concise way.

A great example of a brand that utilizes simplicity in its branding is Liquid Death, which sells mountain spring water in cans.

When you go to the [Liquid Death website](https://liquiddeath.com/), you don’t see a lot of text, colors, or complicated graphics on the landing page. Instead, you see a small block of text on the lower left corner of the screen that says, “Don’t be scared. It’s just water.” In the center of the screen is a video showing different types of people drinking Liquid Death.

That’s it. Yet it effectively conveys Liquid Death as a cool product that cool people want to drink. They don’t need to say much to get the point across.

This type of branding is always trending because it always works. The faster and more simply you can communicate your brand identity and what your products are all about to your customers, the more sales you’ll make. It’s simply a tried-and-true formula.
### 6.  Adaptable Logo Designs
Brands have to be everywhere these days. I’m talking about websites, social media platforms, television – everywhere. Each of these media requires a different method of representing your brand logo. For example, on Netflix’s Twitter account, their profile picture is the “N” in their brand name. But on their website, they display the full Netflix logo in the upper lefthand corner.

When you’re revamping your brand logo in 2023, focus on developing an adaptable design, so you can retain your brand identity and recognizability while optimizing it for the specific platform where you’re building your presence. You’ll want to put a lot of thought into this to ensure that no matter how you present your logo, your customers still identify it as belonging to you and you alone.

To see how this works in practice, let’s take another look at Netflix. The television and movie streaming service has designed a unique logo that is instantly recognizable to millions of people. It’s so recognizable, in fact, that even if they just put up one letter from their logo – the letter “N” – in that distinctive typography, consumers will still know the brand when they see it.

That’s what you should strive to achieve with your logo in 2023, if you haven’t already. Make it adaptable so that it’s easy to optimize for different platforms.

### 7.  Humanization
The human touch has always been an important part of branding, but its significance is growing as we head into 2023. Perhaps this is another result of the COVID 19 lockdowns and social distancing, but I suspect that more people nowadays are longing for human connection. They want to feel that they’re purchasing products and services from real people, rather than cold, unfeeling robots or factories.

The same goes for branding. Companies that humanize their brands will be able to establish a deeper, more trusted connection with potential customers and increase the chances of a sale.

[Mint Mobile](https://www.mintmobile.com/) is a wonderful example of humanizing what would otherwise be just another heartless, impersonable cell phone carrier. While big brands like AT&T and Verizon use their branding to emphasize high-speed internet, 5G data, and “deals” on expensive phones, Mint Mobile takes an entirely different tack. This brand does everything possible to reduce the cost of having a phone and a phone plan for the customer, and they make sure to emphasize that in their branding.

Mint Mobile approaches branding from a human pain point: reducing the high cost of having a dependable cell phone carrier. If you follow their strategy, then you’ll set your brand apart from all the other companies in your niche in 2023.

### 8.  Trending Pop Culture

Pop Culture
You may have noticed a trend in the past couple of years in which brands publish content that’s related to whatever is trending in pop culture, even if it has nothing to do with their actual brand.

For example, Wendy’s, the American fast-food chain, often posts memes to their Twitter account that are related to the latest trending topics in pop culture that day. Recently, it’s been a trend on social media to make fun of the state of Ohio, and in response, Wendy’s published [this Tweet](https://twitter.com/Wendys/status/1599873034529042432?s=20&t=FVtalfYP_JdyNgFtI1d0XA) to their account on December 4th, 2022.

You’ll see similar behavior from other brands, too, both big and small. It’s actually a smart branding strategy. Here’s why.

These types of posts will generate a lot of engagement between you and your customer base. This is because they tap into what thousands or even millions of other people are talking about, and it makes your brand appear current and relatable when you talk about it.

Another reason it’s so successful (if you do it right) is that it can be very funny. Humor is always an excellent branding tactic – that is, if it’s part of your brand identity. Even if it’s not, though, you can usually find a way to connect your branding to current pop culture trends.

If you haven’t started doing that, you may want to get on it, as it will continue to be a trend in the coming year.

What do you think of these 8 brilliant branding trends of 2023? How will you be implementing them in your marketing strategies in the next few months? Let me know in the comments!

Pushing design boundaries, clean geometry, pop culture influence et al would be minor branding trends for 2023. Each year, whatever businesses we have been in, I have always tried to customize as much as we could and incorporated the shifting trends into our brand strategy regularly, whether they’ve been b2b or b2c businesses.

My 12-year-old son Neil regularly studies and does the same for his fledgling businesses where he and his team build games for kids and their other allied ventures. The branding force is too strong in our family.

8 Brilliant Branding Trends For 2023

With trust in banks falling and interest in social entrepreneurship rising, crowdfunding has fast become a popular way of gaining financial backing without turning to traditional institutions. But with its rising popularity, there’s an increasing amount of competition on the platform. Getting noticed (and getting funded) can be tough, though these five tips will help you to market your crowd funding campaign more successfully.

**Make Your Product or Idea Clear**

If you’re asking people to part with their money, it’s important that they understand why. While funny, clever or emotive descriptions can be a great way to catch people’s attention and stick in their memory, the most important element is the idea or product itself, so you need to make sure your description is clear about exactly what you’re building and how any investments or donations will be spent.

Think back to your school days and apply the four Ws to your description (for anyone who’s forgotten, that’s: what, who, why and when).

First and foremost, what is it? Lay out exactly what it is you’re trying to build. Try not to get bogged down too much in speculation and potential future developments; focus on this particular project and the ultimate end result.

As well as knowing what they’re investing in, the investors/funders would want to know who. Tell them who’s behind the business. Is it a solo venture? Do you have collaborators? Are you partnering with a bigger firm or company? Make sure they understand who will be in charge of handling their investments/donations so that they know that it’s a trustworthy recipient.

Next up, think about why you’re developing your idea. What gap in the market are you aiming to fill, or what need are you trying to meet? Put forward clear, concise reasons why your product is different to what is currently on the market, and more importantly, why your investors should care about it and want to see it come to life.

Finally, tell them when you can expect to see it launch. While your idea might be theoretical at the moment, your potential investors will need more solid promises in order to be convinced. Set yourself clear deadlines and make sure that you stick to them, so that your donors will know that their money is indeed being put to its intended use.

![Pebble-Epaper-Watch-300x169.png](/uploads/Pebble_Epaper_Watch_300x169_0612313903.png)

A great product example would be Kickstarter’s Pebble Epaper Watch – with the runaway success product, Pebble Technology sought a targeted funding of $100,000. Imagine, when it rolled over to collections of $10,266,845! Truly a breakthrough product, very well-defined, presented with crystal clear, targeted marketing. As Pebble Technology proudly displays: 68,929 backers pledged $10,266,845 to help bring this project to life. Love it!

**Engage Your Audience**

Of course, while the essentials must come first, there’s still plenty of room for creative license in your pitch. After all, if you want people to invest financially, you have to get them invested emotionally. Once you’ve made sure that all the key information is included in your description, think about ways to further engage your audience by bringing some personality to your product.

How you go about this will largely depend on the audience you’re trying to reach, the type of idea or product you’re trying to launch and your personal brand. If you’re looking to engage business investors, you want to make clear the benefits to them as well as inspiring them to get involved in what could potentially be the next big thing. Think about your motivations for starting your business and channel that sense of excitement into a compelling, comprehensive and engaging pitch. It’s important to show that you’ve put serious thought into your idea, so make sure you cover areas of concern as well as development timelines.

If you’re looking for support from smaller companies, individuals or family and friends, you may want to take a more emotive approach – particularly if your idea falls into the social entrepreneurship category. Again, consider your own motivations behind founding your business, but give more personal insight into your thought process and your hopes for your company. Tell the story of how you came up with the idea, or talk about the people that inspired you to create it. As well as helping bring people onto your wave length, it will give your investors a sense of being more personally included and may just match up with interests of their own.

Getting people invested also extends to getting them excited about your product. Give them an idea of how it could be used. Real life scenarios make it easier to imagine your business in action, and make your venture seem much more realistic than a simple idea put down on paper.

I really like how Ponomusic went about it. Video marketing-wise, they broke all the rules of short and sweet, did not even display the product properly, and got THE Neil Young – the Creator of Pono – as the celeb-owner protagonist doing sincere interviews with a bunch of high-profile musicians like Pearl Jam, Norah Jones and others. Social proof with influencers, sort-of was the idea behind it, and it worked. Pono went on to raise $10,266,845 (10,266 percent of their goal)

**Introduce a Sense of Urgency**

Once your audience is engaged and invested in your idea, the next step is to encourage them to actually donate. Crowdfunders often struggle to persuade their supporters to go beyond liking or sharing a post to add their own funding/donation, even with the most compelling pitch or innovative idea. This, most of the times, sucks.

One way to encourage donations is to introduce a sense of urgency with a clear deadline. Having an end date helps overcome that “I’ll remember to do it later” sensation that can be so frustrating with campaigns, and make visitors to your page more likely to sign up there and then. Set a reasonable end date and give reasons for starting and finishing your launch at particular times. Of course, for this to be effective, you need to make sure your investors feel compelled to be involved and give them a reason to not miss out on being a part of your company.

This also helps investors feel more assured that your idea will in fact come to fruition. An open-ended campaign has the potential to run indefinitely without ever producing concrete results. By setting fixed dates, you show that you’re serious about following through on your idea and product.

When setting your deadlines, be realistic about what you can achieve and when. Don’t give yourself too short a time to raise funds in the name of creating urgency, but don’t leave your deadline so far away that it seems like it can be easily put off. Similarly, think about your timeline for creating and launching your business. How much time do you realistically need? Have you left yourself enough leeway for potential problem? Is there an upcoming holiday or occasion that would best suit the launch of your business, such as Christmas or school holidays?

[The Nikola Tesla Science Centre](http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/wardenclyffe/) at Wardenclyffe was taken to Indiegogo for pledge funding to restore Tesla’s forgotten lab at Wardenclyffe and raised $1,000,000 in nine days. What earlier was meant to be a mere restoration is now about to be a science center and museum honoring Nikola Tesla!

**Offer Incentives and Rewards**

While a creative and compelling pitch may help get others invested in your business, you have to allow for the fact that they won’t be as invested as you are – so you need further incentives to encourage them to get involved. After all, an idea is much more exciting when you’re a part of it than when you’re watching it from a distance.

With this in mind, consider incentives that allow your investors/donors to become a part of your business. For example, crowdfunded film projects often offer to include generous donors’ names in the credits. New products might offer early prototypes to their investors. Not only does this make your investors/donors feel more involved in your business, you might be surprised at the additional benefits to you, such as feedback or suggestions that you can incorporate into your finished design.

Incentives usually include the product or business being pitched in some way – such as free or discounted memberships or samples. However, other small gifts can also be a great option, particularly for smaller, more personal businesses. Thank-you cards and chocolates are old classics that are often well received, particularly by friends and family. Other ideas include regular updates, so that your investors can see how your project is developing, or gifts from a partner company.

The above example of the Pebble Epaper Watch on Kickstarter is a good rewards-based crowdfunding campaign. A donation of $100 for that crowdfunding campaign earned you a promise that you’d receive the watch when they were done. Different donation amounts had different rewards attached. You could even donate – and some folks did – $10,000 for 100 watches! Had the $100,000 goal not been met, the donors would get their money back, of course, and the campaign would have fizzled out.

**Cast a Wide Net**

Once you’ve written your pitch and set your incentives, it’s time to get the word out there. While many marketing campaigns focus on quality rather than customers, with crowdfunding one of the most important aspects is to have your campaign seen by as many people as possible.

The easiest place to start is your personal network. Make the most of your social media as well as your offline contacts – and don’t be afraid to ask them to share it with their own network. Share your campaign, and remember to tailor your message for each platform. As well as reaching your personal friends and family, make the most of tools such as hashtags to reach a wider audience. Think about the kind of people that might be interested in their idea, and look at their typical social media activity. For example, if you’re targeting travellers, you might do well with inspirational pictures on Instagram. If you’re launching a parenting product, you might gain traction using the “mblogger” hashtag.

If your idea is particularly innovative or it’s a social or charitable venture, you might find it’s of interest to news outlets and interest sites. Featuring on a popular platform can be a great way to boost your campaign’s profile and get new investors interested. Often, city news outlets will be interested in local interest stories, so this could be a great place to start.

The Veronica Mars Movie Project crowdfunding was a classy social media blitz in quite a few ways. To quote Hootesuite: The campaign’s social media efforts were key in not only meeting, but substantially exceeding their goal of $200,000. Although working with a very limited marketing budget, the Veronica Mars Movie Project became the fastest on Kickstarter to raise $1,000,000 and $2,000,000, respectively. The latter goal of $2,000,000 was the highest goal ever set on Kickstarter and was surpassed in just one day, becoming a single day record for the site.

To make this happen, marketing company Big Fuel led social media efforts including:

A Twitter Q&A Party attended by writer Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell using the hashtag #VeronicaMarsMovie (which earned 2,400 mentions in just 20 minutes, and saw over 850 mentions per day for the remainder of the campaign)

A Facebook page was created to accompany the Kickstarter campaign, which achieved 24,000 fans in one week

An Instagram account was created which had over 11,000 followers in less than a month

No paid advertising or media

With this monumental success, the Veronica Mars Movie Kickstarter became one of the most discussed and publicized social media crowdfunded campaign in history (eventually, “91,585 backers pledged $5,702,153 to help bring this project to life”)

[See the vid here:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DTZ-fXU4iE)

The global crowdfunding market potential is estimated to be between $90 and $96 billion by 2025.  That’s no small number – especially considering that it was just $2.7 billion in 2012. Have you launched a successful crowdfunding campaign? What are your top tips for spreading the word and gaining investors? Share your ideas in the comments below.

5 Tips to Successfully Market Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Marketing a business is not for the faint of heart. It requires time, patience and tons of money, right? Wrong! The internet has made it easy to get your business noticed online with little to no money. If you do it right, you can potentially use just the power of the internet to advertise your business – and all you have to pay for is a website.

Small and large businesses alike turn to the internet for marketing through their websites, social media accounts, e-mail newsletters and more. The best part is, they spend very little money to do it. Aside from the expense of running a website – which, if you find a reasonable host, is not expensive – you can get your business noticed online for free.

Here are the best 4 affordable ways to market your business online with little time, effort and money.

**1. Build a Business Website and Social Media Empire**

One of the first things you will want to do to market your business online is [set up a website](https://www.fundivo.com/tips/small-business-tips/marketing/5-affordable-ways-to-get-your-business-noticed-online/). The website should have your company’s mission statement and some background information, contact information, products or services offered and a blog.

Why a blog? A blog is the source of content creation surrounding your business and area of expertise. If you have a drywall business, for example, you can create consistent content that centers on drywall practices and products. You can use the content to link back to your website and draw in visitors. Make your content useful and share it with those it interests, like those building a home or construction companies.

Depending on the website host and package you choose, your website can cost anywhere from $50 to a few thousand dollars per year, but the higher end is usually for larger businesses with a lot of traffic coming to their website. Most hosting packages offer discounts for the first year or more if you choose to purchase a year or more at a time rather than month-to-month. So, if your business can afford to buy a year of web hosting right off the bat, you should use this option.

Once you have your website built, create social media accounts for your business. Include Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. Try to make your username or handle the same for each social media network so it is easier for potential customers to find you online.

Share your blog content on your social media networks consistently and share the content of others in your niche daily. Sharing relatable, useful content to your followers will help you gain exposure from others in your niche and will also help grow your own brand and bring in new followers.

**2. Collect E-Mail Addresses and Send Out Newsletters**

Once your website and social media networks are set up, find a [free tool to capture e-mail addresses](https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2015/05/capture-email-address-website/) from your website visitors. There are several free tools that will do this for you up to a certain amount of e-mail addresses. Once you reach that limit, you may have to pay for a business account, which are usually very affordable, especially for what you receive in return: E-mail addresses from visitors to help you market your business through e-mail.

Why do you need your visitors’ e-mail addresses? A list of e-mail addresses from those who visit your website and are interested in your business can be turned into a growing list of people to send out business newsletters to. These newsletters can advertise your services, products, promotions and your website content to bring more traffic to your website and possibly create more sales for your business.

To make people want to join your newsletter list, make sure they know you will never spam them. Who wants to open five e-mails per day from just your business? Also, offer them something in return, like a discount to your online store or a free eBook of useful resources related to your niche. Simply begging, “Please join my e-mail list!” will not compel most customers to join.

Once you have a good number of subscribers, start working on your newsletter with a [newsletter building tool](http://writtent.com/blog/7-best-newsletter-builders-for-creating-great-newsletters/). These online tools offer templates and guide you through the process of creating an engaging newsletter step-by-step. You can even save your template to use again for easier creation of subsequent newsletters. See how easy (and affordable!) it can be to streamline your online marketing?

**3. Turn to Bloggers for Reviews**
Blogging might seem like a leisurely activity people do as a hobby to pass the time and have their small, online presence. But did you know that blogging is bigger than ever and has the potential to reach people all over the world? Do not think of bloggers as hobbyists, but instead, as online marketers who can do wonders for your business.

If you are in a business that sells a product, offer a blogger with an extensive online presence through her blog and social media a [free product in exchange for an honest review](http://www.cio.com/article/2475404/internet/9-inexpensive-ways-to-get-your-new-business-noticed-online.html) on her website. You will only be out the cost of the product and you are, in exchange, getting free exposure about your product and your company.

Similarly, if you offer services, such as graphic design, ask a popular blogger to review your service. Have them cover every aspect of the design process, such as the ease-of-use of your website, to planning the design with you to their thoughts about the final product. If they love your service and your work, most bloggers will be happy to spread their love throughout their social media channels and in a review.

You can also search other blogs that might have mentioned your product, service or business. If they have positive things to say, ask them if they would mind mentioning their thoughts on a quick social media post. If a blogger has a negative view of your business, do not be afraid to contact him and see if there is anything you can do to correct the situation and make him a happy customer. If you are successful, he may be inclined to mention your excellent customer satisfaction skills on his blog or social media.

**4. Offer Referral Discounts**

After you have a loyal online fan base started, you should begin rewarding those who actively share your content, products and services with their networks, as well as those who found your business through that shared content.

If you offered a blogger a free product or service in exchange for a review, you can also offer a [special discount code](http://www.cio.com/article/2475404/internet/9-inexpensive-ways-to-get-your-new-business-noticed-online.html) for that blogger and one for the blogger to share on her website. This gives the blogger something extra and enticing to share with his/her followers, ultimately leading to more exposure and purchases for your business.

Another strategy to get your business noticed online and grow your fan base is to set up a referral program where those who refer you can receive money or points per referral. They can then trade in what they have earned for cash or credit toward a purchase from your company. This encourages people to get their friends and family to sign up, giving you more potential customers, while rewarding your current customers for sharing your company. It is a win-win for both of you.

To get your business noticed online actually takes little effort and money, yet can grow your potential customer base exponentially in a short amount of time. Begin with your website and social media accounts. Make sure these are strong and have plenty of shareable content. Then, begin working on growing your e-mail list. Finally, spread the word of your business through blogger reviews and a referral program. What other ways have you grown your business online? I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions!

4 Affordable Ways to Get Your Business Noticed Online

Facebook ranks content. Some people and businesses love this fact, and others hate it, but both groups must understand it to find success with their marketing efforts on this platform.

Organic traffic on Facebook receives less than 0.1% engagement. That’s up to 200 times less than what is possible on other platforms or through marketing channels like search engine optimization.

If you want to defeat the algorithm that ranks content value, your posts must be authentic and valuable to your followers and others.

### How Can I Get My Content Featured on Facebook

The Facebook algorithm can control who sees your posts. That makes it challenging to grow your reactions, comments, and shares while working to build an audience.

When you can get your content featured because it is seen as necessary, you can extend your organic reach. Each engagement exposes your post to the extended network of each audience member, allowing your influence to grow.

Although the algorithm could be more accurate, these tips can help you defeat its efforts to block you from reaching the people who want to see what you share.

#### 1. Get to Know Your Audience

Facebook repeatedly says that it prioritizes posts the algorithm indicates are informative and meaningful. That means a reasonable person interacting with your content for the first time would find it to be interesting, new, and valuable.

The platform wants people to share content, so it emphasizes posts, stories, and reels that get people reading or viewing. It combines past individual behavior with current trends to encourage spending more time on social media.

There is only one way to post content that meets these algorithmic demands. You’ll need to [know your audience](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/05/16/communicating-respect-know-your-audience/) and the problems they’d like you to solve. 

#### 2. Creating Something Authentic

The internet is a place where creativity and authenticity are treasured. People can pretend to be something they’re not, but that effort doesn’t produce shareable content. Facebook emphasizes posts it determines are genuine through its algorithmic evaluations.

This platform also reduces the ranking for posts that the algorithm believes are misleading, spammy, or overly sensational.

When creating content for Facebook, the priority should [always be to tell the truth](https://www.mindtools.com/ay30irc/authenticity). Even a minor exaggeration could be enough to have the information downgraded. 

Headlines should clearly describe what someone can expect when reading or clicking on your post. Avoid using clickbait whenever possible, especially since the Facebook community often counters that technique by posting your information in the comments.

If you want to defeat the Facebook algorithm in this category, here are the things to avoid with your presence on the platform.

- Borderline content that isn’t technically in violation of Facebook’s policies, but probably could or should be.
- Fake news or misinformation, especially if the goal is to create an emotional reaction.
- Deepfake videos or manipulated content that third-party individuals have flagged as false.

Avoid sending links to sites with stolen or scraped content that adds little value to the user experience. Facebook wants people to see them as a resource, so create posts that reinforce that perspective.

#### 3. Engage with Others

The Facebook algorithm prioritizes information from pages and similar content that users interacted with in the past. That means you’ll want to have conversations with followers whenever notifications come your way.

When people take the time to comment on posts, you have an opportunity to establish a relationship. If you can help each person feel seen and heard, the result is an increased chance for future interactions, engagements, and clicks.

Some conversations [are easier to manage](https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/top-ten-tips-for-handling-the-difficult-conversation/) than others. Customer service principles help to navigate challenging circumstances to show the community your expertise and professionalism while resolving potential problems. 

Try to make each engagement as positive as possible. The algorithm will favor your interactions more often when you show a pattern of value-added comments with your posts.

#### 4. Create an Interactive Audience

The easiest way to show the Facebook algorithm that people are sharing your content with their friends is to have your audience interact with one another. When the platform sees a post generating numerous comments within a specific set of friends or networks, it uses re-targeted to keep showing that information to interested parties.

These tips can help you find more success when building interactive opportunities for your audience through Facebook content.

- Keep the content short. Most people use Facebook on a mobile device, so your best posts are about two sentences long with a complimentary photo to quickly capture a person’s attention.
- Quality is more important than quantity to the algorithm. If you’re not getting any attention on social media, try upgrading the text, videos, or graphics you use to engage your audience.
- Give people a look at the entire picture of what happens. Go behind the scenes, spotlight your volunteers, or share something that acknowledges relatable experiences.

You don’t need expensive equipment to upgrade your content to create an interactive audience. The camera on your smartphone or tablet is good enough to begin this segment of the journey to defeat the Facebook algorithm.

#### 5. Don’t Try to Manipulate the System

There’s a difference between “defeating” the Facebook algorithm and attempting to manipulate it.

Your goal should be to use the algorithm’s processes to your advantage. When you create content consistently that meets Facebook’s expectations, you’re more likely to meet your definitions of success.

Trying to manipulate this system to gain distribution benefits beyond the information’s merits can make it harder to get noticed. If you violate Facebook’s terms of service to achieve an outcome, you might lose access to this incredible resource.

You’ll want to consider the following points when attempting to grow your organic reach.

- Don’t pay people to start engaging with your post. When a block of accounts focuses on specific information within a particular time, that activity sends a red flag to Facebook to review your profile.
- Paid comments create a similar result. Facebook considers these unsolicited actions to be spam, which works against what you want to achieve.
- Original content gets promoted more than royalty-free downloads. You can’t even boost reels that use songs, so don’t expect the platform to promote work that isn’t yours to offer.

An integrity-first approach with each post builds the foundation needed to defeat the Facebook algorithm. Although original content takes more time to create, it’s essential to remember that you’re also investing in your future with this option.

#### 6. Focus on Safe and Respectful Behavior

Since 2021, Facebook has offered a feature that lets people control their news feeds. Your goal should be to get added to this favorites list. Once there, people will see content from you before other pages or friends.

The best way to achieve this outcome is to post engaging and interesting content that solves problems while staying safe and respectful.

What does Facebook consider to be safe and respectful content? There’s an [entire page](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/201148151829614) dedicated to what can get your posts de-ranked, but here are some of the highlights to consider. 

- Never post something that could be considered hate speech, bullying, or harassment.
- Anything related to criminality or violence goes against what the algorithm wants to see.
- Materials that do or likely violate Facebook’s community standards should not be posted, including posts for buying, trading, or promoting restricted services or goods.

The goal should be to build others up with your posts instead of tearing them down. If it seems questionable, consider retooling the content before posting it to focus on this strategy.

#### 7. Stick to the Basics

A [status update ](https://neilpatel.com/blog/write-facebook-status-updates/) is just as important as a high-quality video when you want to push engagement levels higher. It’s often better to have a mix of different posts when building a foundation for sharable information. 

Although a simple status update seems humble today, people still interact at high levels without photos, videos, or links. It has one of the highest engagement levels because it is such an authentic expression.

#### 8. Produce More Reels

In early 2022, Facebook expanded Reels from its initial launch because about half the time spent on the platform comes from watching videos. It’s the fastest-growing format because it aims to help people discover new things.

The news feed is more for relevant content from current connections. Reels look to build new relationships by offering observations or insights in different ways. 

Reels can be[ shared to your Stories](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-provides-tips-on-how-to-create-effective-instagram-reels-content/595045/) or seen within the Watch tab on Facebook. The platform also adds suggested content for people to watch even though someone might not follow that account already. [[6]]

If you have high-quality content posted in Reels on a regular schedule, you’ll find these short clips can do an excellent job of building more awareness for what you do.

#### 9. Post at the Right Time

When you want to [optimize your content](https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/we-asked-chatgpt-and-sophia-the-robot-to-predict-the-impact-of-ai-on-the-business-world-heres-what-they-said.html) for your Facebook audience, it helps to know when these people will be logged into their profiles and using the platform. 


Teens typically access content during their lunch break and in the late afternoon. When your goal is to reach young professionals, try posting in the morning to have your information seen before people settle in at their desks or workstations.

Most users are logged in during the weekend, while fewer are available mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Every audience is different, so you’ll want to consider what each group needs when developing a posting schedule.

Once you find a rhythm that works for your needs, stick to it. People are more likely to interact with pages and brands when they feel like they’re a part of their daily routine.

#### 10. Use Stories to Your Advantage

Stories might include Reels, but they also offer a more interactive option that stays separate from the algorithm’s news feed priorities. This option appears in the tabs at the top of the feed, above the rest of the content.

When you use Stories correctly, you can potentially bypass concerns with Facebook’s algorithm.

This feature lets you share content that disappears after 24 hours, although you can still access it through your profile later. To get your point across, you can add text, stickers, and effects to the still images or videos to share.

You can even add custom links and buttons to encourage more interactions with the Stories you share on Facebook.

#### 11. Follow the Specifications

The news feed is constantly updating each user’s photos, videos, and status updates. Each post type comes with formatting recommendations that can help your information receive a potential algorithmic boost because following the rules is perceived to deliver some value.

The [design recommendations](https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/facebook-feed/outcome-engagement) for images include using JPG or PNG file types. The best ratios range from 1.91:1 to 1:1, while the resolution should be at least 1080p x 1080p. 

For Facebook posts with text, the primary content should have a maximum of 125 characters. The best headlines and descriptions have 27 characters or less. You can have more content in the latter areas, but the platform will often truncate it for the viewer.

Some additional technical requirements are also worth reviewing when your goal is to defeat the Facebook algorithm.

- The maximum file size should be kept to 30 MB or less.
- Images should have a minimum height and width of 600 pixels.
- The aspect ratio tolerance maximum is 3%.

Although these standards are set for Facebook Ads, the guidelines were developed to maximize audience engagement through high-quality content outreach efforts. It only makes sense to do the same when creating posts for your audience to review.

### Proactive Actions Are Necessary to Defeat the Algorithm

To expand your Facebook reach, you could use a trial-and-error method with your content. It is possible to find what an audience prefers by testing different post types.

The problem with that approach is that there are no guarantees. You could post hundreds of times without generating much response for those efforts.

That’s why it helps to implement strategies like the ones found here to boost attention for your content. In return, you’ll find that the Facebook algorithm can be helpful.

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/05/16/communicating-respect-know-your-audience/

- https://www.mindtools.com/ay30irc/authenticity

- https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/top-ten-tips-for-handling-the-difficult-conversation/

- https://www.facebook.com/business/help/201148151829614

- https://neilpatel.com/blog/write-facebook-status-updates/

- https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-provides-tips-on-how-to-create-effective-instagram-reels-content/595045/

- https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/we-asked-chatgpt-and-sophia-the-robot-to-predict-the-impact-of-ai-on-the-business-world-heres-what-they-said.html

- https://www.facebook.com/business/ads-guide/update/image/facebook-feed/outcome-engagement

11 Proven Methods That Let You Defeat the Facebook Algorithm

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