Home » Archives for January 2016

4 points to keep you on track during your rebrand

Posted on 26th January 2016 by The Marketing People

Last time we looked at how to build your brand, but what if your brand isn’t right for your company in the first place? We look at how to keep you on track during your rebrand.

Businesses change as time goes on, which is needed to keep up with the fast pace of the world. However most of the time, businesses branding fails to keep up with the changes, and a business may have changed their services, products or direction several times before they commit to a re-brand.

Which is understandable, re-branding your company is a big commitment, and sometimes you might not be sure of the changes, so you need time to make sure this is what you want to do. But once you’ve committed to the changes, you should also commit to a re-brand to ensure you are doing the best for your business.

You need to change the public’s perception of who you are, what you do and why they should bother to get in touch or buy from you. This can seem incredibly daunting, so how do you tackle this without having a meltdown? We’ve put together a few key points you can follow to keep you focused on the end goal.

Pre-marketing

At The Marketing People, our first step with a re-brand is always pre-marketing, and we believe it is the place any company should start when they are looking at re-establishing their brand.

You need to confirm the reasons as to why you are re-branding, who your target audience are now and what you want to achieve. Within our own process, we would put this together as a brief, so we have clear goals of what we are working towards. Putting together a document like this yourself though and can be a great way of breaking down what can seem like a huge project into smaller manageable goals. It can also be a motivation tool if the process begins to become overwhelming, to remind yourself of what you are trying to achieve and why this is the best move for your business.

But be realistic when setting these goals. When re-branding you are in a great position that you already have data to work with. You know what marketing has worked well previously, what customers responded well to, and where you would like to take the company next.

Design and implementation.

Once you have your goals, you need to look at the design of your new brand, and beginning to implement it throughout your business. It is the usual process to approach a marketing agency when looking at a full re-brand, who will be able to take care of the design, production and web development for your brand, as this saves you time negotiating between various different companies.

However the most important thing is that you work well with whoever you choose. So regardless of if this is an agency, freelancer, or friend with creative flair, they need to completely understand, and be as excited as you are about your company, for the brand to work as well as it can. Having a good relationship with those that you are trusting with your brand makes the process a whole lot easier and exciting.

When looking at implementing your brand, it may be useful to put together a list of what you already have your current branding on, such as social media, online directories, business cards, exhibition stands and leaflets or flyers. This will make it much easier to check off when each item has been updated with the new brand, and won’t leave you stuck, say 6 months after your re-brand when you dig out your exhibition gear and it’s all your old marketing kit.

Inform your customers

If you have a loyal customer base, you need to inform them of the changes and ensure them all the promises you made to them originally are still fulfilled, or if they can’t be due to the change in services or products, what you are going to do instead.

Depending on who you are working with for your re-brand, this may already be taken care of. But you should consider how you mainly interact with your customers, and communicate with them through the same pathway.

So consider direct mail, emails, social media or a website announcement, and keep them in the process with you.

Keep pushing and promoting your brand.

Doing the re-brand itself is only the beginning, and the platform for building the next chapter of your business. Use some of the points from our previous article on building your brand if you need some ideas on how to keep pushing your brand to your customers, and stay excited! This is a brilliant time for your business, and everyone should know about it.

So from why you should focus energy on your brand, to re- branding, to promoting that brand, we hope you have been able to gain some knowledge from our branding series.

If you have some concerns regarding your brand or how you promote it, why not see if we can help? Call us on 01543 495752 for a friendly chat, and let’s see what we can do together. You can find more useful branding insight on our blogs.

The Marketing Dogs – January News

Posted on 21st January 2016 by The Marketing People

Bonjour humans!

Chops and Sammy have left me to take charge and paw the first dog blog of the year.

This month’s took a lot of getting used to! We had a very sleepy start, and did not appreciate the early morning wakeup call after a nice Christmas break with lots of lie-ins. We did make it into work ready for the start of the New Year, though I may have made mum walk as slow as possible to prolong our break. But we started 2016 as we meant to go on – with a quick play and then rewarding ourselves with a nap.

However January is not our favourite month. December and Christmas were brrrilliant, as we ate lots of pigs in blankets and had lots of sleep in snuggly blankets. Though mum did take us on lots of walkies so we didn’t begin to look like pigs in blankets ourselves. But January? January is just a little too cold and wet for our liking. (Though I’ve found chasing pigeons a good way to warm up when on walkies).

Bark Back in the office, Sammy is getting settled. She has decided to create a new role of just supervising Ash, which means she has to sit on his lap and snooze supervise everything he’s doing. She’s very thorough and even inspects his lunch to make sure it’s a good choice. She’s doing a really good job, and rarely leaves his side, except for when she has to cover barking at the postman duties with us, or greeting clients.

Myself and Chops are keeping the rest of the team on track, supervising from our new perch in the office.

Chops thought we were doing such a good job she’d treat the three of us to a pamper and made me get my hair and paws done. Mum and Dad were very impressed with the results and I have to admit I thought I looked great. Sammy was almost asleep she was so relaxed!

Now I spy a rogue plastic bottle in the office which definitely needs my attention, must dash!

Love and licks

George x

Five top tips on building your brand

Posted on 19th January 2016 by The Marketing People

We have spoke previously on why branding is important, and why it should be prioritised. This week we’re looking at top tips for building your brand. As just having a brand is not enough, it’s how you implement it that will be remembered.

You need to ensure you are consistent with your branding.

That means optimising your website, your social media, your content and any press release marketing all carry your consistent message.

Remember you need to keep your message consistent. So though you may want to take slightly different approaches to each of your social networks for example, you still need to make sure your voice shines through and is easily recognised.

As we spoke about previously, your brand is creating an expectation of who you are. So keeping consistent ensures your customers know exactly who you are, and that you can be relied upon.

Your brand is creating an expectation of who you are.

Click To Tweet

Look at your website.

You need to ensure your site says everything about you, without being one giant sales pitch. That means fast loading times, clear and concise information, clear images, and great functionality.

In our blogs, we often compare to how your business would function if your website was your shop front. Though having a lovely looking site might attract people in, or having something temporary in place to get you going is all well and good. There are some fundamentals we have come to expect as customers.

Your customers (and potential customers) expect to find what they want. A helping hand if they need it. And to be able to buy the product of their choice. By taking the time on your website, you can underline your brand and your message. Fast delivery? Follow through. Huge selection of products? Have them displayed correctly and readily available. Products ethically sourced? Tell the tale in the product description.

There are over a billion websites live on the web. If yours does not stand out, and represent you well as a business, it becomes even harder to compete.

You need to ensure your site says everything about you, without being one giant sales pitch.

Click To Tweet

Consider a blog.

Businesses get scared when you mention blogging. What on earth would they write about? When would they have time? And what benefit would it bring them anyway?

It’s true that a good blog is a lot of effort to maintain, but it is incredibly worth it. Not even going into the SEO benefits it would bring your business. It is great for establishing your brand and your credibility within the industry.

Offer advice, opinions and solutions to problems your customers or clients may face. You’ll find more people returning to your website, and looking to you for answers when they stumble across problems. This sets you as a dependable brand, and one that looks out for their customers.

Blogging can set you as a dependable brand, and one that looks out for their customers.

Click To Tweet

Work Social Media.

Then no doubt if you have made the leap to a functional website, you probably have a social media account for your business too. This may even be your only online presence.

Though social media is a lot more ‘casual’, it’s essential to continue to keep your brand in check. That is not only ensuring your cover photo, images and name are consistent, but your voice as a brand still shines through.

This is across any networks you are on, so choose carefully. Everything you post, share, like and interact with should still be a direct representation of your brand.

This is a little easier when you are a smaller business and no doubt live and breath your brand, so you can easily choose which are the best things to interact with. However if you are a bigger company who employ a few more people, it can sometimes be harder to maintain a consistent voice. This is where company briefing and perhaps even social media guidelines would be useful to put into place to ensure though you may have several people running one account, you have a consistent thread of posts and interactions.

Though social media is a lot more ‘casual’, it’s essential to continue to keep your brand in check.

Click To Tweet

Get your brand out there!

So that’s just a launch campaign, that’s using the tools you have above. Interact with similar users on social media, increasing your presence, your brand awareness and keeping your toe in all of the latest goings on. Blogging? Share your industry knowledge, or if you’ve found a great article, share that for others too.

Your brand is everything for your business, so making it excel at certain marketing pressure points like social media and through your website means you can make the most of all the hard work you put in to the branding process.

The stronger your brand becomes, the more you will not only attract the right type of customers, but people will aspire to be one of your customers. So it is worth the effort of maintaining your brand.

Your brand is everything for your business, so making it excel.

Click To Tweet

Next time we’ll be looking at re-branding, and if you’re finding your brand isn’t consistent with who you are as a company now, what steps you should take to get your brand back on track.

Until then, if you would like a helping hand with making the most of your brand, why not give us a call? Not only do we offer a free initial consultation where we can talk through your branding concerns, we also offer blogging and social media training sessions so you have the right tools to make the most of your brand. Call us today on 01543 495752 for a friendly chat.

5 reasons your brand should be priority

Posted on 12th January 2016 by The Marketing People

It is nothing new for marketing companies to say you not only need a great brand but brand should be priority, as it will help your business. This is no lie.

But we know it can be hard to even consider dedicating time, money and energy to consistently working on your brand. When there is so much competition out there who have access to much bigger marketing budgets, and can dedicate entire teams to this sort of thing. Sometimes it can even be our own egos that get in the way. Thinking that ensuring your branding is up to date and well represented is a wasted exercise, as people already know who you are.

We’re going to look at some of 5 reasons why you consider your brand a priority when it comes to your business. And why it should be something you constantly review and promote.

“Your brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is”

This quote hits the nail on the head. You may have had the most fabulous brand designed when you set up. But if you’ve not maintained the promises set by your brand, your customers will have noticed, and will be talking about it.

Managing your brand, and keeping customer expectations fulfilled will mean you can leave a good impression with your customer. Which in turn leaves a good impression of your brand.

If you are consistently looking and assessing your brand. Fulfilling or exceeding customers expectations. Appearing in all the right places within the industry. And are putting out regular, informative info, then you are more likely to sculpt a better impression of yourselves.

“Your brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is”

Click To Tweet

It promotes recognition, and user loyalty

Having a solid brand means you become instantly recognisable. Which is why it’s so essential. Bigger businesses can optimise this well. With some of the biggest players being instantly recognisable from just a colour, shape or tagline. But that doesn’t mean medium and small businesses can’t create the same effect.

By keeping this consistent and getting your brand out there, people will come to recognise it. People trust brands they recognise. We’ve all picked a brand we’ve seen before over something completely unheard of when we’ve been unsure.

People trust brands they recognise.

Click To Tweet

It creates expectation

Having a certain standard for your brand not only gives promise to your customers. It provides motivation for your staff, and expectations of what is needed from them.

Which is why it is important your brand accurately reflects your company. Pitch yourselves a lot higher than what you can deliver, you may let customers down. Then point one will come to bite you, and people will not believe anything else you put out there.

Having a brand is a standard to adhere to for your staff, and a promise to fulfill with your customers. Prioritising your brand includes consistently keeping these promises to customers.

Having a brand is a standard to adhere to for your staff, and a promise to fulfill with your customers.

Click To Tweet

It confirms your credibility

In an era where every product or service is scrutinised, reviewed and researched before it is bought, having good credibility is more essential than ever before. One bad review can throw off a sale. That is, if you brand isn’t underlining who you actually are.

Now building your brand does not mean you will never get a bad review, as you will never please everyone. But what it does do is underline your companies ethos and values. So the more you establish and promote your brand, the more it becomes credible and not a one off.

When looking to build your credibility focus on blogging, or sharing relevant articles. Including valid case studies available to your potential customers and showcasing awards or certification you have in your field.

Building a brand underlines your companies ethos and values.

Click To Tweet

It gets the right customers to you, and customers to aspire to you

Though like we said you can’t please everyone. Focusing on your brand, and really establishing who you are and who your products are for should draw more of the right customers. Leading you to better quality leads and more returning custom.

Having a great brand also creates the aspirational quality. Maybe people might not be your right customers right now, but they want to be. If you are creating a high end product, though some will be happy with a lower quality version, others will aspire to own one of your high end products instead of the lower quality version. Other’s may be a life milestone, and your customers need to reach a certain life event, or age before your products or services apply. By keeping your brand consistent, in the public eye, and well presented, you can be inspiring those potential customers until the time comes that they can become a customer.

Next time we’ll be looking at how to make the most of your brand, especially looking at how to build that credibility within your industry.

Until then, if you are looking to build your company brand but are feeling a little overwhelmed with the challenges you are facing, why not come and talk to the experts? Call us on 01543 495752 for a friendly chat, or you can catch up on more our branding blogs here.