by MYB Agency | May 26, 2021 | Digital Marketing
Steps to create a Pinterest Marketing Strategy
1. Create a Pinterest Page This should be pretty easy. When you go to Pinterest, select the “Search” button at the top of the site. Type in whatever keyword or phrase you’re looking for (and you should also include a holiday if you’re looking to attract shoppers during the holidays), then click on the “Search” button. Once your results load, you should see a lot of pins related to what you searched for. Click on a pin if you want to learn more about it, then copy the URL. Then open up your browser and save the website you want to include in your Pinterest board. 2. Choose a Blog Post Template This is where things can get a little complicated. You don’t want to get lost in the weeds, so you want to narrow your focus.
Introduction
We don’t want to make Pinterest look complicated, so we’re going to start with a fairly basic example: finding out what your audience wants to see. There’s a lot you can do with this information — not just pinning products for sale or giving a tour of your business — but we’re going to focus on the two most common uses: 1. To get the most engagement Create a Pinterest Board This is the first step. You can set up a board with whatever you want. If you work with a physical retail store, a group of friends would be a great way to share products you sell. But if you work in an industry where being an expert is key (or if you work in an industry where a visual is preferable), aboard for “Tips” would be a good one.
Consider Your Target Market
First, identify your target market. Does your target audience live within reach of your city? In a small town? Does it have a local store you can target? Does your business have local customers? Step 3How to Target Your Customers Once you know who your customers are, it’s time to think about how you’re going to reach them on Pinterest. As with any social media platform, you need to use Pinterest as part of your marketing strategy. To get started, try building a Pinterest audience. First, find out who your target audience is on Pinterest. That can be tricky. Using social media is no good if you’re not targeting your audience. So, don’t try to create a public group for the world. You want to create a narrow group of people who are like-minded.
Pin a Variety of Content
If you’ve used any kind of social media before, you’re likely familiar with the “buyer persona.” Pinterest allows you to build individual buyer personas based on what you have pinned, where you pin it from, and more. Pin the content you know and love from your other social channels into a space you control, such as Pinterest boards, then try to create some boards around topics you know the audience may be interested in. Step 4Share Your Tips Whether you’re using Pinterest as part of your organic search strategy, or you’re just simply sharing the best content on Pinterest, it’s important to share tips and tricks with your followers. People want to learn from others, but they also want to know that the information you’re sharing has been vetted by an expert.
Use Hashtags
As Pinterest is a visual platform, it’s vital to start by focusing on visuals. Think about what your customers are interested in and what types of content they’re interested in. This will inform you of the best keywords to use. For example, I always find success using the term “jewelry for women” when pinning a necklace or a watch. My audience is women, and this keyword will show up at the top of the search results for jewelry for women. You can also take advantage of thePinterest keyword planner. This tool will analyze your existing Pinterest boards to see what keywords you should be using to grow your business. To get started, simply copy and paste your keywords into the keyword planner. Pin images and videos from websites that fit with your keywords.
Be Consistent
Pinterest is the proverbial chicken and the egg situation: Consumers join Pinterest because there’s lots of content, but businesses don’t know what to post because they don’t have enough content. It’s hard to find something that’s both unique and engaging. While some have managed to crack the code, for most people, it’s too much of a pain to find the right people to reach. So be consistent. Pin a photo or a pin every day, so that you’re showing up in people’s feeds every time they search for your brand. Pin consistently. Step 6Use Pinterest to Promote Your Products When you start a business, you want your customer’s mind to be blown. In order to do that, you need to blow their mind with your product.
Engage with Your Audience
You need to engage with your audience on a personal level. This means asking them questions, showing them how Pinterest can help them, and keeping an ongoing dialogue with them. This engagement will build trust, and will also help you find valuable social proof when you pitch your services. Step 7Start Promoting Once you’ve established a personal connection with your audience, you need to get started promoting. You’ll want to push content out on a regular basis to your followers. You’ll also want to set up a feed for people to follow that allows them to stay up to date with all your content. Step 8Build Your Pro Sales Network If you’re looking to sell more, you’ll need to build a team that’s capable of providing you with the tools and knowledge you need.
Follow Influencers
It’s no secret that a majority of Pinterest users are female. So, be sure to start by following influencers in your industry, such as beauty bloggers, DIY experts, and fashionistas. This will help you gain the attention of your customers, which will in turn help you create more sales. Step 8Gather Valuable Data Another way to get started on Pinterest is to gather some useful data. Are your customers looking for certain products? How long are they looking at your site for? As you build out your strategy, keep a close eye on these things, and you’ll eventually be able to gauge the need for content. Step 9SEO Can Help A final piece of advice: SEO can be a huge help in growing your Pinterest marketing strategy.
Use Repins
A repin is a nice way to compliment a fellow Pinterest user and build up the community. If a pin receives a lot of love, you can repin it yourself, increasing the visibility of the post and potentially driving more traffic to your website. If you do repin someone’s Pinterest photo, be sure to write a friendly message in the description. It will be clear that you liked the post and that you are pleased with how they’ve managed to showcase it on Pinterest. Step 9Collect Repins When you repin, be sure to write a kind comment like this one. Be sure to provide an easily accessible link to the original post, because repins help increase the visibility of each pin, so links should be visible right on the repin page.
Use Search to Find Targeted Audience
Searches on Pinterest happen every second. That’s a lot of potential opportunity, if you know where to look. Building a Pinterest marketing strategy is all about who you want to reach, so instead of looking for a big and little brand that all look the same, focus on the tools that will help you find the perfect target audience. Head to Pinterest Search, where you can search for “Pinterest board” or “women’s fashion” to help you find the right audience. Step 10Build your brand through visuals. The first thing you need to do is grab your audience’s attention with visuals. That means regularly sharing your own “pins” and showcasing your products and services visually.
by MYB Agency | May 21, 2021 | Digital Marketing
Instagram Marketing
Instagram is meant for fully “Focused” content. The audience here is proactive and it’s essential to keep them engaged with the relevant and meaningful content. In order to post regularly, you require to invest all the resources available.
Your Instagram Profile has to be perfect as it is your first impression. One very important point to be remembered – You can view a content on website of Instagram but cannot upload any content and for that Instagram App is required to be installed.
Opening Instagram Account
You will be given two options, Login with Facebook or Sign up with phone or Email. Be careful to sign up with a business email to avoid linking you Instagram Profile to your personal Facebook Account.
Your profile picture is very important and it should be in sync with your branding. You can consider a Logo. The corners are to be left blank as your image is cropped into circle by default.
Next is your Instagram Bio
As there is limit of 150 characters, you should introduce your business in a summarised manner, give a hint of your personality and a reason why people should follow you. Please do not bother about using keywords and hashtags here as Instagram Bios are not searchable.
Your Bio is the place where you can encourage users to take a specific action like visiting your website or using certain hashtag. one of the important peculiarities of Instagram is that your Bio is the only place where you can provide a clickable URL link and direct the traffic to an external website. It is therefore a common practice among marketers to update their featured URL in their most recent post.
In case you decide to provide a link, don’t forget to use a link shortener or a tool to avoid clutter in your profile. When the URLs are tracked, it helps you to understand better the volume of traffic you get on your website from Instagram.
In case you want to change your URL, bio, username, name or photo in your profile, there is Edit Profile Button for the purpose.
Instagram Settings are Very Important
Apart from just changing the passwords, you can view the post you have liked, manage notifications and many more important tasks.
Story Settings –
You can customise the categories of viewers who can interact with you for your stories. It is advisable to allow all your followers to see and respond to your stories as it increases brand engagement.
Integration with Facebook Account is Important
In order to avail the full benefits of Instagram’s Business Tools, you have to switch to a Professional Account by which your profile is identified as a business profile. These benefits allow users to contact you, you can get in-depth insights and allows you promote your contents. If you want to switch to an Instagram Business Profile, your business must have a Facebook Business Page. Go to Settings – click Account – Switch to Professional Account to access these features.
To switch to a business profile, choose these settings —Login to Facebook, allow Instagram to manage your pages. Select a Facebook page to connect to your Instagram Profile for which it is necessary for you to be the Admin of Facebook Page. In this way two platforms can be connected and you can avail of the benefits.
Next Instagram on its own will import the relevant information to your Facebook Page which you can edit. Now you have an Instagram Business Profile. Do check your profile insights and account settings.
Comments
This enables you to hide comments with certain keywords or phrases. In order to do this, you have to enter the specific words and phrases into your Instagram settings and turn on the feature. Please remember that the comments can be encouraging and also certain comments may go against the brand values or annoy your audience. You can manage this feature from settings, click Privacy > Comments.
You can add up to five additional accounts and switch between them without logging in and out.
Instagram Posts – Categories
Images
It’s the most common type of posts. There should be a variety of photos as it shows the diversity of your products/services. The quality of images should be excellent and outstanding to stand apart among numerous other images. There should be genuineness, not only advertisements. The culture of your company with live shots. Avoid excessive posting. Please look for the trends, study the likings of your audience and be creative in your posts.
Realistic images are liked more rather than photos of staged scenes.
Reposts from employees, fans , supporters give human touch. Not to forget to give credit to the original poster.
Posts showing How-tos or educational contents –
Study to create videos or images on important and relevant topics which are useful to your audience and make their life easy. People are smart enough to isolate such meaningful stuff and always admire.
Posts involving the Influencer
When a post involves a well-known, repeated figure or a celebrity using you product or services, it crates great impact to the audience. A feeling of trust and authenticity is generated which plays important role to enhance your business.
Please remember that Instagram is the most effective and popular platform for posts involving the influencer as the well known figures have greater engagement rate due to their fan-following.
Among the huge crowd of N number of posts on Instagram, the Influencer Posts stand apart.
There are celebrities who have remarkable fan-following on Instagram and their involvement in your posts makes a positive difference. There is a classification of Influencers depending on number of fan-following, like Nano, Micro and Mega Influencers and naturally their charges are also according to their standard. Selection of Influencer of right category does matter. E.g. for day to day products, micro influencer connects better with the audience than a celebrity. According to a study, almost thirty three percent of all Instagram channels are micro influencers with less than 100k followers.
If you are aiming at lot of engagement it’s advisable to engage with Micro Influencer whereas
If increasing awareness of your brand is your goal then the influencer’s reach and traffic should be looked for.
Posts to encourage motivation
A combination of simple visual with and inspiring text make a post with motivation. This type of posts encourage the audience and enhance the value of your brand. There are apps available which help in adding text to your photos in a consistent way.
Contents Generated by Users
Posts from your fans and followers with tags to your posts or reposts and vice versa is another way to enhance the impression of your brand. It shows your true connection between your brand and the customers. Do not forget to give credit to the original post with a tag or in a caption.
There are apps for reposting like Repost For Instagram.
Posts Involving Trending Holidays
Look out for local, National or World trend for such Holidays. Join in the fun and celebration. It’s also known as Newsjacking Posts. There is a scope to post contents with humour relating to an event. During the period like National Ice cream Day, National Sibling Day, Valentine Day there is rush to buy the related articles, gifts which should be explored to enhance the sales.
Optimising The Photos on Instagram
When the images and photos are the prominent way of posts, the same have to be of the best quality like high resolution, suitable format. There are specifications for Landscapes, profiles etc.
There are tools and technologies available specifically for Instagram Posts, use the suitable one or entrust this important task to a professional. There are many factors to be considered for the best photos which require expertise.
Videos
Instagram allows videos of maximum one minute duration and without sound. You should use a caption or text that explains the video content instantly. There are editing and improving tools for videos as well which should be used according to your requirement.
There is a special feature called “Boomrang” which has significance for special purpose like fun videos or a repetitive playing of backward and forward which enables to display the characteristics of a product better than the normal video playing.
Hyperlapse from Instagram
This feature enables you to condense a lengthy video in shorter duration suitable for posting.
It has ability to create time lapse yet smooth videos with built-in stabilisation. You can manage the speed of playing from 1x to 12x.
Instagram Stories
It enables you to post at a higher frequency and prevents over posting or stuffing your main feed. The common drawbacks of stories are that the images are not polished perfectly or more organic. Your Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours.
Authenticity is of prime importance in case of stories. While the photos have to be well finished, the stories can be little raw, if it shows reality and reflects your company culture.
There are three options to post Instagram stories –
- Camera in the upper left corner can be tapped
- Tap “Your Story” above your feed
- You can swipe right to access the camera.
- Other Important Settings of Camera —
- ‘Type’ – A text post can be created.
- ‘Music’ – You can pair a music clip to an image or a video.
- ‘Live’ – You can capture and publish live contents to Instagram.
- ‘Superzoom’ – An animated zoom can be added to a video.
- ‘Focus’ – You can focus on a subject and blur the background.
- ‘Hands Free’ – You can capture a video without holding the ‘Record’ button.
You can add personality to your content through stories. Make yourself familiar to all the options of setting to improve your posts.
Instagram Story Highlights
These are the stories which have been preserved after their 24 hour limit and posted to an Instagram Profile. Story Highlights are the best option to display your best stories and are preserved for longer duration. Another benefit of this feature is links to external sites can be added here to showcase the products, services, promotions and more.
It can serve as menu of different categories.
As the location of Story Highlights is at the top of an Instagram Profile, it can be considered as the extension of your bio. Many marketers make the best use of this feature by posting most important and relevant information which the audience are looking for – shop location, business hours, current sales, videos and more.
Please note that the images and videos cannot be added directly to a Story Highlight. You have to create a Highlight for the purpose or Story Highlight should be previously posted and currently live. You can stories from your Archive to Story Highlights. In short pay full attention to this section and utilise its full potential to benefit your business.
Instagram Live
This feature enables you to display the real time content. The users can comment on the live video using the built in chat feature.
IGTV
It’s the latest addition to Instagram where the users can view long-form vertical videos posted by Instagram Creators. E.g. videos on cooking, interviews of celebrities, tutorials and more. The duration range is from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
Writing Instagram Captions
The picture is more effective than texts in conveying a message. At the same time it is challenging to write an effective, engaging and outstanding caption. The best way is to draft different versions of a caption, show it to your friends, co-workers and seek their opinions, suggestions. Patience is required to create a great caption. Instagram gives great importance to engagement, likes, comments and changes their Algorithms from time to time. Each user can have an idea regarding his feed. The visibility also depends on the amount of response of a post.
Though the caption can be of maximum 2200 characters, the user can only see the first 3 to 4 lines of each caption. To view the entire post they have to click ‘More’. It’s obvious that the first few lines of the captions have to be most important and catchy.
The longer captions are not neglected subject to their content is interesting.
Engage is The Keyword
A Call To Action should be included invariably in your caption encouraging the audience for comments, likes and share your post. Provide links directed to your most recent post. It’s advisable to use shortened tracking links in your URL to enable you to view the traffic volume from your account or a post.
Adding a Geotag is always beneficial as engagement rate is higher in posts with Geotag.
Recognise Your Instagram Message
Every platform on Social Media has its own pros and cons and the methods, contents patterns differ. Instagram is famous for its authentic, light-hearted tone and it takes some time to create an impression among the users. When the visual is very strong and expressive, the caption can be brief.
Hashtags are Very Important on Instagram
As about 85 million photos are shared on Instagram every day, it’s much more challenging to get noticed, that’s why hashtags are so important on this platform. Hashtags consolidate posts into a single feed. Please note that only public accounts are shown in searches based on hashtags.
Users can easily find tagged contents based on word or phrase. The results of search are divided in four parts – Top, Accounts, Tags and Places.
Hashtags can be created using characters, numbers or emojis and a maximum of thirty are allowed in a caption. Don’t forget that your account has to be ‘public’ in order to appear on Hashtag Feeds.
Selection Hashtags
Find out the trends and popular hashtags within Instagram itself. ‘Explore’ tabs can be useful for the purpose. Work out for the most suitable blend of general, trending and specific hash tags, you can also create your own branded hashtag.
Avoid spamming, it has been observed that on average about 2.5 hashtags per post is common. The placement of a hashtag can be at starting or end of the caption, the result is the same.
Summarise
Make a clear strategy for marketing on Instagram
Be clear about your goals, determine the target audience on this platform, Carry out complete analysis , work out an a calendar for editing, aim to build a consistent brand on Instagram, endeavour to broaden your Instagram Follower base and last but not the least – all these efforts cannot be justified unless your Instagram followers are converted into your customers.
Do look out for an experienced and reliable team of experts for this entire exercise.
by MYB Agency | May 9, 2021 | Digital Marketing
Small Business Marketing Channels That Work
Content marketing is a key element in any effective small business marketing strategy. In fact, content is king. Marketers understand that the way they build their brand is by communicating with their target audiences, readers, and consumers. A content marketing campaign focuses on creating meaningful and helpful content for your readers.
Content marketing drives many other kinds of advertising. Content that is optimized with the keywords you are targeting, will rank higher in the search engines, which will drive more traffic to your website.
It, therefore, must, therefore, only be applied in conjunction with your entire digital marketing strategy and utilized in conjunction with all other digital media channels. For instance, to be most effective for SEO, you want high-quality content to weave in your main keywords.
Small Business Marketing Tips
Search engines are constantly crawling the internet, and they will find your content through various channels and share your content with their readers. The purpose of a search engine’s algorithm is to return results based on the keywords used to help them categorize the content on the engines. The more relevant keywords you have woven into your content, the better you will perform in search engines.
In addition to your content being found in the search engines, it can also be found in emails, in-depth reports, and other websites and apps. One of the best ways to get people to look at your content is to use the content as a mouthpiece, giving it as part of your email marketing campaign. With the power of email marketing, you can reach a huge audience through highly targeted distribution. Your content can also be used in offline advertising campaigns, as well as social media.
SMO includes everything from website development to SEO writing and PPC management, but it is most commonly thought of as a means of search engine optimization. As part of a larger strategy, it includes traditional marketing channels like email marketing, press releases, and blogging.
SMO is most effective when you’re willing to expand your marketing efforts beyond these traditional channels and consider all options available. The power of SEO, however, lies in the combination of search engine optimization and social media marketing.
The other tip for small business marketing is Search engine optimization that works to increase your ranking in the search engines. It works because you will get a higher ranking for a higher number of relevant keywords. SMO incorporates SEO into your online marketing mix. SMO usually doesn’t include pay-per-click advertising, which is geared more towards large, professional companies. Instead, it uses a diverse approach that includes SEO, social media marketing, and traditional offline advertising.
Social media is an exciting and growing trend for small business marketing that has caught the attention of many small businesses. SEO for social media requires some unique strategies. You don’t want to be playing catch up to the big boys, so don’t overdo it with the paid or free content and focus on real consumers looking for answers to questions they have.
For instance, instead of spending money on a Google AdWords campaign that will only bring you qualified traffic, use social media to build an active following. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are excellent platforms for attracting attention to your products and your brand. Search engines love them too, as they can provide a much richer experience than just relying on text-based search results.
In order to attract visitors in the fastest and most profitable manner possible, you need to combine all three of these powerful marketing channels. To do this successfully, you will need a small, detailed marketing plan that will address the unique needs of your company. You can follow the basic steps outlined above to establish a strong internet presence and to build a solid online reputation.
However, you must follow through by consistently optimizing your site, content, and social media channels for search engine optimization and then growing your customer base.
A social media marketing specialist can help you achieve this quickly and more efficiently than you could by yourself. Make sure you find one who has experience in search engine optimization and Internet marketing and is ready to help you get the best marketing channels working for your small business.
by MYB Agency | May 9, 2021 | Digital Marketing
Marketing Strategies For Startups – 3 Strategies That Work Best
Most of the marketing strategies in the industry today are built upon the idea that startups need to emulate what big companies have been doing for years. That doesn’t mean though that they should be copied word for word. It simply means that there are certain tactics that the bigger companies have been successful with. If you think about it, those tactics can be a good template for your own startup. Of course, you wouldn’t copy them without changing them a bit to make them uniquely your own. Here are some of the basic marketing strategies for startups that big companies use.
The first tactic is direct marketing. This means reaching out to customers in person and in print. This allows a company to get to know who you are, what you do, and what your business stands for. In essence, it lets a company “friend” your customer. In most cases, this is done through community-based advertising or PR campaigns.
Another of the big-company marketing strategies for startups is search engine optimization. SEO is also a form of direct marketing, but it involves using keywords to get your site and business recognized by search engines. The more often your keywords appear on a website, the more likely someone will click on them. This helps to increase traffic to your site, which can lead to an increase in sales.
When it comes to marketing strategies for startups, promotion is king. You want to be the first to get known. In other words, you want to be the first to launch a campaign, create a buzz, or even become famous. Once you’ve gotten your foot in the door, you then need to focus on customer service and retention. After all, customers love to tell others about great experiences that they had while dealing with a company.
There’s one thing about marketing strategies for startups that no one mentions. Promoting your business is key to any type of business, but when it comes to a startup, you must be more aggressive. Customers love to be kept in the loop, so if you have a marketing plan, you should use it to keep customers informed. Give them news blurbs about what’s going on at your business, upcoming events, new products and so forth.
You should also learn about internet marketing, because this is a great way to reach out to potential customers. If you don’t target local customers, then you won’t be able to target them properly. There are numerous ways to market online, and it’s essential to find a strategy that works well for your site. You may want to incorporate video marketing into your marketing strategy, or maybe even write some articles and submit them to article directories. This is a wonderful way to share your knowledge with others, while also reaching out to those in your local community.
Marketing strategies for startups involve many things, from social networking to press releases to local events. There are also plenty of marketing strategies for business owners, including SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click advertising, etc. ), blogs and more. Each of these can bring you more traffic, and as a result, help your business grow.
No matter how you decide on your marketing strategies for startups, remember that your success is dependent upon you. You have to know what you’re good at, and build a plan to ensure that your company is successful. Successful marketing is the key to your business’s success, and it’s not something to be taken lightly.
When it comes to marketing strategies for startups, there are plenty of avenues you can choose from. Some marketing strategies work better for some businesses than others. Marketing is an ongoing process, whether you’re using a website, social networking, or press releases. You need to constantly be promoting your business, no matter what. A marketing strategy that fails to bring you traffic will not make your business any money. Your business needs to continuously expose itself to the market, and marketing is the first step to doing this.
In order to be truly successful with marketing in this day and age, you need to have a powerful website. If you don’t have a powerful website, your business will fail. Most of the people who are new to internet marketing will build their websites using cheap software, which won’t give them the quality and page rank they need. They will not have the SEO optimized content they need to draw in serious traffic, and their websites will never make it past the first few months.
When you are designing your website, you will want to use SEO as much as possible. This will help you with your ranking and make it easier for you to get a lot of traffic, but you also want to have some marketing strategies in place to bring in customers. You can do this with press releases, a blog, or even a forum, which are all excellent marketing strategies for startups.
by MYB Agency | May 3, 2021 | Digital Marketing
Marketing strategies for branding follow a logical order. There must be a plan in place before any strategy is ever created, and this plan must be reviewed periodically. By following the proper marketing strategies for branding, a business can maximize its chances of success and can develop a brand identity that will be the envy of its competitors.
The term branding is used broadly to describe a set of marketing strategies used by businesses to help differentiate themselves from the competition. Branding is the process by which this differentiation is achieved. Branding strategies are typically implemented as part of a marketing strategy and include branding of products, packaging, advertising, and the companies logo. A strong branding strategy is essential in order to achieve long-term growth within the business.
In some cases, some marketing strategies for branding can be conducted separately from other elements within the company. For example, some companies choose to implement branding internally to ensure that the message that is being sent to the customer is consistent and coherent. This allows for a much higher degree of consistency in the branding that is used by the company.
Other branding strategies for developing a consistent marketing message include participating in branding competitions, conducting product testing, and carefully analyzing consumer behavior. All of these strategies have the potential to drastically improve the profitability of a business. This is because a successful branding strategy can significantly increase the number of sales and also drive up brand awareness.
Some companies choose to engage in branding as a separate activity. While this strategy may not result in a dramatic increase in revenue, it can lead to a substantial improvement in the perception of the company and the ability to attract funding. It also provides an environment in which branding specialists can collaborate and share information to build each company’s branding position.
Branding, according to one branding specialist, is a “nearly sacred concept”. “Tradition is the mother of custom, and in some cases, the custom is the mother of tradition.” What this means is that branding should always be consistent with what customers expect to see. Otherwise, it will simply be a marketing strategy, rather than an effective way to increase profits. The idea behind branding is to create a customer-centric approach and to ensure that it aligns with what the company claims to stand for.
Another major benefit of incorporating branding into marketing strategies is that it creates a bond between the company and its customers. This is especially true if customers are treated as partners rather than raw commodities. In fact, studies have shown that customers tend to buy from a company they feel a bond with. Branding thus plays an important part in creating this relationship. Additionally, branding makes the company appear more credible and respected.
Marketing strategies for branding must also take into consideration the effect on the company’s reputation in the marketplace. If consumers doubt a company, it can seriously hurt its sales and cause it to lose market share. A brand, therefore, is more than just a logo or a tagline. It has become the face of the company. In many ways, branding is a form of self-promotion, as well, as most people associate brands with positive outcomes and success.
Branding is crucial to the success of any business, but when used correctly it can boost sales, expand markets, reduce operating costs and achieve other goals. A strong branding strategy should be incorporated into marketing strategies for branding. Any good brand needs to be consistent, clear, and coherent. If it lacks any of these traits, then it is best to look for a replacement.
The marketing strategies for branding employed by businesses around the world are all designed to promote a company and its products or services. When branding, the consumer is always the focal point. For this reason, it is vital that strategies for branding be developed that do not focus on the consumer. Consumers are not Pavlovian animals who will respond to brand names. These strategies should instead focus on developing a relationship with potential customers.
When developing strategies for branding, it is important that the consumer and the company are separate. Although there is a great deal of overlap between the marketing techniques, they must be treated as separate entities and treated accordingly. The brand name of a company should never be a generic term that is used by all companies. Rather, the brand name of a company should be used to distinguish it from the rest of the competition, allowing the company to build a reputation and credibility. This is the only way that a company can truly prosper and grow.
10 Marketing Strategies for Branding Your Business
1. How to Use branding to market your image?
Branding is simply creating an image or idea or opinion about your name, brand, products, or services. To create profitability, creativity, and awareness.
Branding — Personal and Corporate – we will cover both – Personal is increasing due to usage of the Internet — helping people using your expertise or make them enjoy.
First, offer Free value or cheaper service or product. The more you inform people about your services or products, use your resources wisely and create a sort of “craving” for your brand. Your image and impression are more valuable than your inventory. Brand Managers keep an eye on the Brand Image online and offline. It takes a lifetime to build an image and it takes seconds to destroy it. Established brands don’t need large budgets to sell their products. Branding makes the sale process easier and you don’t need to ask the customers for the business. Reputed Brands enjoy Trust among their customers. Starbucks and Google barely need to advertise.
Branded products may be more expensive as compared to other products of the same category. Trusted brands earn higher profits than ordinary brands. ‘The Name’ created profitability. There is another benefit of Brand, you can use it as an extension to your existing business, e.g.for a new product or service you can connect your existing brand because people will trust them due to your existing reputation. Combined higher prices and customer loyalty means higher profit. Higher profit increases the affordability to hire expert employees. Once you establish your brand in the market you gain a sort of authority in your field, the media quotes your Brand as an example which is like ‘Free’ advertising.
In the following videos we will figure out your target market, leverage all tools and apps to the human sight of branding, how to use brands to get on the radar of reporters and influential people in you industry, how to use testimonials, press releases, teaching, and public seeking engagement to create an authority. First let’s figure out your name, possible USP, and Logo.
2. The Secret of Viral Names and Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)
The name has to be catchy, use ‘Alliteration’ i.e. use the same letter twice like ‘Coca Cola’, Weight-Watchers, etc.
Use Rhymes as it is easy to remember and creates some unique feeling. Rhymes can be used in your Tagline as well.
Numbers used in the title are easier to remember and distinguish, like “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” book is one of the best selling books. ‘Top 10’. Come up with at least 200 different versions of the title, names titles, subtitles then select the best one felt by you. There is no guarantee that the name will be perfect but you can avoid some bad stuff in the process. Microsoft listed thousand of the name before deciding ‘Bing’
Then select the Trade Mark. Check with the concerned govt. department about the availability. You may need a lawyer, a waiting time of 6 to 8 months, and registration charges plus lawyer’s fees.
Remember who is your audience, young, aged, men, women, conservative, liberal. look for the other products in your niche on the first page of Google for your main keywords. Think about how could you improve on your names. Try to play around with the words or a combination of words or use a phrase within your main category. The title should be easy to spread, something easy for people to talk about, it’s unique, it makes people curious. Use www.brandbucket.com, just type two words of your category, the site will suggest many interesting options. Then check whether the selected name is available for the domain. “.com” is most popular and sounds more legitimate. You can use a slogan or a nickname.
USP is like a promise you are making to your customers and here you differentiate yourself from others. USP has to be believable, catchy, and original. one website name is ‘www.fluentin3months.com‘
The next most important is to declare the benefits of your service or products for the customers.
Avoid using overused phrases like “100% Money-Back Guarantee”.
3. Icons and Logos —
It represents the image of your company. People tend to remember images more easily. There are different factors to be kept in mind, the color combination, your audience – their age group, women, men local tradition, a theme already used by your peers, the pattern of the fonts, and much more. You should list out about 200 different versions then shortlist as per need and decide about the final version. You can visit the websites which provide guidance and ideas for logos or take the help of professionals as well. In short, put the best efforts to create the best logo. You can try to put on your website and view it from the visitor’s point of view. What is its first impression of you?
It has to be distinct, memorable, and appealing.
4 How to become the Go-To resource for your niche
Your focus should be on your audience only and not the people in general. There are different methods, the most useful is ‘The Blog writing’. If you provide the most relevant and useful information to make things easier for your potential clients, they would certainly respond positively. The reader should feel it authentic, to the point, and simple to understand with clarity. You have to know their response instantly through social media, emails, etc. Proper interaction helps you to get the right direction.
Observe the activities and practice of your peers and list out the important points missed by them. you should use the same for your benefit. You have to create such an impression of your company that the customers feel that you are the only best choice for them. Give full scope to your clients to express their views, complaints if any, and reply immediately or at least acknowledge instantly. You should visit the forums and other common platforms to know and study the type of questions people ask more.
You can use online shopping platforms to learn about the reviews by the buyers for products in your line of business. E.g. visit Twitter and search with keywords and hashtags. Visit the site of ‘net vibes’ or programs called ‘buzz bundle’ https://www.buzzbundle.co.uk/ These sites help you to know about the conversation in the field of your choice. You have to simply type the keywords.
5. The Easiest way To bring People To Your Site
Buzz bundle is the most powerful tool to engage your audience to your website. Once you open the account on their website, a window opens with a caption to add keywords related to your niche. Buzz bundle finds all the blogs, forums, Q and A sites like Yahoo,
Social Media platforms like LinkedIn Facebook, and video sharing sites like youtube, any question or comment or forum wherein these keywords are mentioned, you will be notified and you will be able to respond right from the program itself, you need not visit different platforms for this task. It will also add your screen name and add your information on the sites as it is necessary to log in your details to be able to leave your comment.
You have to give your screen name and email and password. Buzz Bundle will sign up for you and confirm the link for you, a lot of time is saved due to this facility. There is an option to mention the website name also. There are 15 days free trial initially during which you get 70% of the results. There is a one-time fee of USD 200/-
6. No One’s using the Social Media Marketing Strategy
A Spreadsheet should be prepared listing different websites, blogs, forums, Social Media platforms. Vertical columns should be added namely websites, No. of members, No. of Posts, Knowledge, Interaction, Influential Members, and Notes. The purpose of maintaining such a spreadsheet is to keep track of the knowledge and interaction of members on each website/platform and to utilize these records for the benefit of your business. In columns of Knowledge and Interaction, a sort of marks should be given between 1 to 10 depending on the quality of members on each website or platform.
You can note down important suggestions or information for improvement in your business. If you find some members very knowledgeable but less active you can invite them to your website by linking them through your screen name. You can leave your post also there. Shortlist those questions found important by you but not answered properly and you can provide ‘How to’ videos wherever possible thereby attract more audience. Content writing is one of the best ways to attract more potential customers. Your content has to be simple yet full of useful information for your customers. Avoid providing excess links to other blogs, websites.
7. How To Get 50% Email Response Rates
(AWeber , Qualaroo ) Once you build up your target market, you can reach out to the potential customers through emails asking some relevant questions like enquiring about their Demographics, whether they are interested in your niche, what are their preferences, choices, what do they expect from you. Answers to these questions help you to narrow down your focus.
You can send emails to everyone who has consented to receive your emails. You can use the services of AWeber who are in this field for quite a long time. You should decide carefully the format of initial emails, it should be simple and encouraging. You can advise the time schedule with the list of email IDs to AWeber. It has been observed that through such emails 50% response is received in general.
There is another service provider called www.qualaroo.com, they provide survey questions as per your needs. It is important to have exact information about the expectations of your audience, their choice. A personalized touch in response to a prospective client helps in creating goodwill and trust among the audience who often reciprocate by buying your products or services.
8. Promotion
Prepare a schedule for the next 6 months with a frequency of biweekly promotion across various platforms, your website, etc. Search online for new and innovative ideas for promotion. You can visit the webby awards website or Twitter to get new ideas relevant to your business. By watching the award winners’ contents you can get the best among the better stuff. There are certain basic methods which you should follow and additionally there should be some new, fresh method occasionally.
On Twitter go to the ‘Advanced Search’ option and type ‘hashtag contests, ‘hashtag winners’, ‘hashtag offer’, and so on. In the spreadsheet of Schedule, you can include Email Campaign, Social Media posts, Video posts, Blogposts, etc.
Constant grab attention is the fundamental behind the promotion. Photos, videos, blogs, tips, forums, contests, free offers. there is N number of options for promotion. There should be a combination of Paid and Unpaid Ads and marketing. Ironically, unpaid ads earn more trust. Everyone likes free stuff and winning a contest. You should offer both wisely with the goal of promoting your business. Avoid vagueness in your promotion. Be specific about the subject, your niche, product.
On Twitter you can offer two or three entries if they re-Tweet your promotion, this is one of the effective methods to become viral across the platform. (Video stopped suddenly)
9. Promotion and Advice
Avoid spamming habit. Maintain a balance between over-exposure and negligible exposure. Your messages or posts have to be simple, clear, and easy to understand. Create consistency in your promotion, e.g. a new weekly blog on a fixed day of the week, the sale during a fixed period of the year half year. Your content should help your audience to make their life easier. Choose words carefully, do not commit more than you can afford. Customers are unforgiving when they experience any breach of trust. Add some emotional value to your message or post. Your message should be easy to share. Use ‘Flare Plugin’ for word press.
The ‘Share’ button should be easily visible to enable the customer to share your content with a friend. To have a strong community is important to build a brand. Track your target market to find which social media platform they are using. In certain cases, Quora is more popular than Facebook. Note from which platforms you get the most of the traffic and save time by avoiding other platforms. Select the optimum timing and days to post depending on your audience.
You should never miss ‘The Call For Action’ on your posts. Make it prominent and easy to understand. Make your links stand out from your other posts. Pricing should be decided with the utmost care, a higher price may do the damage due to very competitive pricing offered by large business houses. At the same time ‘below average’ prices create suspicion about the quality of your product or service. Make an ideal combination of slightly higher than average pricing and the best customer service. keep in view the long time benefits rather than short-term gains.
10. The Human Side
brandyourself.com website is worth visiting.
Be careful while handling any unhappy customer, their negative or annoying comment to you directly or on a Social Media platform. Never deny straightaway the ‘Your complaint is false!’ Even if the complaint is false never be blunt, it creates very bad impressions on other visitors. Try to explain in a pacified manner giving a valid reason. If the complaint is genuine don’t hesitate to say ‘sorry!’ To get emotional on any Social media platform on any unpleasant response or complaint is the worst thing to do.
At the same time if you notice that a customer has a chronic habit to complain always irrespective of how good your product or service, it may sound weird but convey a polite message to such customer stating “Sorry we are afraid to state that we are not in a position to carry out our business with you further!” You may refer him to your competitor! The reason for such drastic action is such chronic trouble creators cause mental chaos and steal your valuable time which you can very well invest in giving better service to other valuable clients.
Never miss acknowledging any positive review or feedback or comment with ‘Thanks’ or any more appropriate gesture on case to case basis.
Your brand image should not get lost behind the logo or captions or huge claims. There must be a sort of pleasant, helpful, and smart personality behind your brand. In general, people get connected to such brands more easily. Any point of contact with the customer, right from interaction on Social Media or an email or a phone call or point of service, make it a point to be helpful, eager to give the best service ‘with a smile as such positive efforts are of great help in long run.
You create an image of your brand and become popular. It is also a fact that nobody can make happy all at all times. Due to various reasons or factors beyond your control complaints are received and for that follow the suggestions mentioned above. Never argue with a bad review. If there are questions, respond to them, if there are complaints cater to them, if they are reasonable reciprocate them. Share your brand success story in an interesting way briefly. An ad or promotion with a funny touch is always more popular than serious, boring, or heavy stuff.
Pay special attention to organize seminars, fun parties, sponsoring contests, events by which you can come in personal contact with your clients and learn about their likes, needs, expectations, and so on. While planning for such events, the demography of your audience is to be kept in mind. Another very important point majority of people don’t notice that during any interaction if somebody asks about your business or profession the typical orthodox reply is like ‘Consultant’ ‘Accountant’, ‘Engineer’ sound so boring and the other person will try to end the conversation abruptly, instead, convey your reply in form of some activity or task which make the life of people easy is much more effective and intriguing for the listener. E.g. “I am specialized in Digital Marketing of all kinds”, “We deal in total atomization of specific projects” and so on. While introducing yourself use the sentences that inspire the guy to enquire more about your products or services.
by MYB Agency | May 3, 2021 | Digital Marketing
A Podcast is a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically known as a series of new installments of which subscribers can receive subsequently.
Podcasts are offered in two basic models – the stand-alone podcast and the syndicated podcast. The stand-alone podcast is simply a file made up of one or more interviews with guests who have agreed to be interviewed. They’re offered in two different ways. First, those offering the podcast download the podcast in their podcast directory. Second, they offer a link on their site which visitors can click on to go to the podcast download page. There’s no need to download the actual podcast in your web browser, but if you want to, you can.
Podcast directories, on the other hand, provide a place where podcasters can submit their podcasts for free. Those who have chosen to submit their podcast for free typically set up a website containing information about their podcast and announcing new episodes. Some podcasters who choose to submit their podcast for a fee usually do so via a podcast directory. Podcast directories are very convenient because there are literally thousands of podcast types to choose from.
The second major distinction between podcast directories and podcast hosts is that podcast hosts typically upload their podcasts to their own servers and host them using their own software. Podcast hosts typically download their podcasts from online resources like podcast directories. Podcast hosts have the advantage of knowing their listenership and what topics people are interested in. If a podcast host has an interest in a subject but not enough fans to make it worth his time, he can often just stick it in a podcast directory and make a tiny commission.
Both podcast directories and podcast hosts provide plenty of options for podcast downloads. In addition to genres that fall into general categories, most podcast hosts and directories offer podcasts about specific topics. For example, if a podcast host wanted to offer an iTunes podcast on dog training, he could search for a podcast dedicated to that topic. While this does take some of the burdens off of the hosts, it can also limit podcasting options to only certain formats, such as WMA or FLV.
Another significant difference between podcast directories and podcast hosts is that podcast directories often provide links to free download websites where podcast listeners can download individual podcasts at no cost. These podcasts may be part of paid membership programs. When downloaded directly from the podcast directory, podcast files usually have no commercial breaks or advertising involved. The only expense may be the cost of hosting. Typically, there are no commercials allowed on podcast directories, so listeners have to decide whether or not the adverts on the podcast are worth the price of the podcast itself.
While podcast directories offer some benefits to both podcast hosts and podcast listeners, podcast directories are often considered the podcasting “high school” for newbie radio producers. There is a lot of learning curve. Unless the podcast host has experience in podcast production, producing and uploading podcasts can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. If you want to podcast, it is best to learn the ropes from someone who has been there before.
The main benefits of podcasts are given below
1) Make information personal
The content is directly communicated to you; hence it is more personal than emails.
2) Are convenient and easy to consume.
Once subscribed, other podcasts in the same field are automatically downloaded to your PC, and you can listen to them at your convenience.
3) Are economical
Podcasts are delivered digitally; hence, they are more cost-saving than other means of communication; many associated costs can be avoided.
4) Facilitate multitasking
You can listen to podcasts while attending other tasks or while commuting. At times meetings can be substituted with podcasts.
5) Are portable
Once stored on a PC, mobile, or any other compatible device, you can carry it anywhere.
6) Are on-demand technology
Listeners decide the type of content or specific information, explanation, and so on. It is an effective way to express your ideas, make good publicity of your merchandise and so on.
7) Are ideal tools for social networking
The subscribers to your podcasts are the base of your community and ideal for cross-selling and loyalty encouragement.
Most Popular Podcast Formats
The Interview Format
A host or two invite a guest to discuss any pre-decided topic, or there can be a brief session of Q and A to get more clarity on the subject. As this format is one of the most popular designs, your presentation, discussion, and overall content has to be par excellence.
Solo or Monologue Format
It is a prevalent format. It is mainly used by people having specific expertise on a subject. It is the most straightforward format since only a good quality microphone and editing software are required. The duration should be below thirty minutes; else, the listeners lose focus.
The conversational or co-hosted format
Two people are involved in this format, and their chemistry has to be fully in sync. Their roles are generally decided to avoid any confusion. The listeners expect that both persons complement each other. The involvement of two people is more lively and cheerful for the listeners.
Panel Format
A single host discusses a topic with two or three guests. This format is a tough one right from the beginning as you have to coordinate with the guests for a fixed schedule. You should have the knack to keep each guest involved and, at the same time, prevent tactfully and politely the overlapping of a guest by another. The discussion should not be diverted to another direction than the core subject.
Non-fictional storytelling format
It is based on actual events, expeditions, some incident,s and so on. People like this format as they get new concepts, ideas or any exciting happenings. The effect of the podcast can be enhanced with the relevant audio clips or sound. Consistency is challenging in this format.
Theatre Format
This format is popular for fictional storytelling. There is the scope of adding sound effects, use multiple voices and make more dramatic. Creative people love this format.
Repurposed Content format
Existing content is selected and transformed to enhance its effect. It can be done by splitting, or any addition may be made. Religious organisations use this format to reproduce content from scriptures and make it more transparent and exciting.
Non-traditional Format
You can use your creativity and design your format. Just like writing, this is a creative type of podcast. You can experiment with making your presentation more effective and appealing.
The standard media formats for the podcast are MP3 and M4A audio andMP4 for video formats.
