The Key Components of a Good Brand Strategy

Developing a strong brand isn’t as easy as others think.

It’s no secret that consumers purchase based on trust, but how can businesses develop that trust if no one knows who you are? That’s the power of a brand strategy. If you don’t have a strategy in place, it’s like driving on the road with no destination.

The ultimate goal should be getting customers to connect with you, not your logo, not the website, and not the name (even if it’s catchy). A good brand strategy works behind the scenes, providing value that continues after they buy.

Key Components of a Good Brand Strategy

Purpose

What is the promise to the customer? Why are we in business? Why is it important to us?

These are the driving factors that set businesses apart. Thinking of it in terms of monetary and also non-monetary makes the difference.

Emotion

While it may sound weird, it’s true.

Customers are emotional about the brands they support because those brands can fully engage with like-minded audiences who believe in their purpose.

When brands connect beyond trying to sell a product or service, they win.

Consistency

Staying consistent when promoting the brand is vital in getting the audience to remember you.

It doesn’t matter what platform the brand is on; consistency creates harmony, and harmony creates trust.

Adaptability

Brands must be flexible and adaptable to succeed.

There’s power in the pivot. When something isn’t working, being able to quickly adjust and adapt while maintaining consistency can help solidify a brand’s place in the market and create a new customer base.

Involvement From Employees

Brands that take the time to listen to their employees and work in one accord in how the brand is presented go a long way.

If the brand is upbeat, customer service and every employee in the office should follow suit. Again, consistency, consistency, consistency.

Loyalty

When customers are loyal to your brand, you should be just as loyal.

Take the time to create incentives for them to come back. Whether it’s a coupon off or something more elaborate, your appreciation helps those people appreciate you too! A little thanks goes a long way.

Awareness of the Competition

It should go without saying, but sometimes this mindset needs to be reinforced.

You should be learning from the competition. Your goal – offer a better experience in every way.

These are the best ways to create a brand strategy that has longevity and goals you can achieve from the beginning while refining along the way. This is a functional, working part of your marketing strategy that helps you communicate better while attracting and retaining customers.

Every business goes through growing pains, but not having a brand strategy can seriously hurt your chances of making your mark on the industry. With so many ways to connect with different types of customers, the best thing you can do is give yourself a competitive advantage. Your brand strategy can help with that.

So, do you have a brand strategy in place, and is it working?

How-To Tips for Pain-Free Print Ordering

When you're ready to bring your creative ideas to life in print, these tips will ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible. 

Always Include High-Resolution Images

If you have specific images you want to be included in your print marketing, you need to use high-quality photos. If the images are not clear enough, they will not turn out well when printing. A few tips to keep in mind include:

• Stay away from random images you find on the internet, as these usually do not show up clearly on the final print.


• Use JPEG or TIFF files for your prints because these are easy and familiar file formats for the professional service.


• Take advantage of preflight tools that can help you catch issues with your images before you submit them.

If you use high-resolution images, you place your order in the best position possible to be successful. 

Do Not Drag Logos Off of Your Website

If you are ordering branded content, you need to think carefully about where your logo comes from.

Ideally, you should use a high-resolution image or a preferable vector version of your logo. When you submit this image, try to avoid scanning your letterhead. Do not drag the logo off of your email signature or your website. Otherwise, this is not going to produce a high-quality image.

If you have questions about how to include the correct vector version of your logo, reach out to us ahead of time. 

Make Sure the Files Have Been Packaged in an Organized Way

When submitting a folder full of files to be printed, make sure they are organized clearly.

Go through the folder ahead of time, making sure you remove any old versions that should not be printed. If you include multiple versions of the same file, it will be more challenging to determine which one you want to use. 

If you have specialty fonts you want to be included, make sure you specify them. Ideally, the files you submit should already contain the fonts you want to use. This will ensure you are happy with the finished product. 

Ask Questions

When it comes to ordering professional print products, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

You need to know what you are ordering. If something is not clear to you, or if you do not understand specific jargon, make sure to ask. That way, you are not blindsided by the final product. If you think we need to know something before we start your order, make us aware. We want you to be delighted with the result.

Ready to get started? Give us a call today!

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Whether you’re starting a business, you’ve been around for 100+ years, or you’re somewhere in between, it’s important to conduct a competitive analysis.

A competitive analysis allows you to see gaps within the market that you can take advantage of. You can find ways to improve your business, create a better marketing strategy, and ultimately produce a stronger business.

Although time-consuming, breaking down the process into steps will make it more manageable. 

Tips to Help You Analyze the Competition

Find Businesses

Find businesses similar to your own.

These competitors will help you learn valuable information. When scoping out the competition, try using such tools as web searches, social media, and websites specifically geared to help answer your questions about other businesses. 

When looking for competitors, keep in mind that they can be divided into two categories: direct and indirect.

• Direct competitors sell the same products as you to a similar customer base.


• Indirect competitors sell similar products to a different customer sector.

Research the Business 

Now, it’s time to collect data on the businesses you've found.

Look at their online presence. Is their website consumer-friendly? Do they have social media accounts? How often do they interact with their customers? Research how happy their customers are.

Look up online reviews on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google, and Instagram. Try reaching out to the customers who left negative reviews to learn more about their experience and direct them to your own business. Throughout this process, try to brainstorm ways your business could do better. 

Follow the SWOT framework 

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

This is an invaluable framework to keep in mind as you research businesses. SWOT is fairly straightforward:

• Strengths are factors that set the business apart from others.


• Weaknesses are areas the business falters in.


• Opportunities are external factors that give the business a competitive advantage.


• Threats are external factors that could potentially harm businesses.

Conduct a SWOT analysis on the businesses you are researching and your own. Then compare. Can you make their strengths your strengths? Can you benefit from their weaknesses? What external opportunities are available to you? Is there anything threatening other businesses that perhaps doesn’t affect you? 

Print Can Help You Beat the Competition

Print can be the tool your businesses can use to succeed.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that other businesses may not be utilizing print advertising. They are losing out on the advantages that print provides: enhanced customer respect, greater visibility, better customer attention and retention, and much more. You can turn their weakness into your strength to draw in a larger customer base. 

Create a Competitive Analysis Report

Simplify and organize your data into a competitive analysis report.

Your report should include your business’s target market, how your product(s) compared to your competitors, current and projected market share, sales, and revenues, pricing models comparison, marketing strategy and social media strategy analysis, and an overview of customer ratings.

Improve your business

You’ve acquired all the data; now it’s time to use it.

Your competitive analysis will have unsurfaced countless ways your business can improve and beat out the competition. Take action and create a better business! 

Improve Your Business Through Atomic Habits

James Clear’s widely successful book Atomic Habits breaks down habits into four parts: the cue, craving, response, and reward.

This method shows readers how they can also form habits. Luckily, Clear’s formula can be applied to business.

4 Habits That Will Improve Your Business

The Cue

When developing a habit, Clear suggests making the cue as evident as possible.

A cue is an outside stimulus that reminds you of the habit you wish to form. Therefore, your goal is to make your business as obvious as possible.

With your advertising, you want your prospects and customers to see your ads and then associate them with the habit of buying from you.

To do this, make your ads big, bright, and hard to miss. Use large banners to capture attention with design that pops.

The Craving

After your customer has seen the cue, they then need to want your product or service.

Therefore make it as attractive as possible. Clear writes, “Every behavior is preceded by a prediction… every purchase is preceded by a prediction. The customer does not buy your product; they buy the prediction it creates in their mind.”

It’s your job to make that prediction as ideal as possible. Explain the benefits in a clear and compelling way. If possible, personalize the message to your client, sneak in some bandwagon advice (e.g., John Doe is doing/using it!), and use effective framing techniques.

The Response

“Great businesses remove every point of friction they can think of to make the desired behavior as easy as possible,” Clear says.

Break down the process into steps. Then try to eliminate or simplify the process. The easier it is to purchase from you, the more likely the customer is to do it.

The Reward

Make sure your customers feel instant happiness and success after their purchase. Your quality product and services should take care of the rest.

Interestingly, this reward is inversely related to the craving. If you make your product or service seem too good, then the customer’s expectations will not be met, and they will leave disappointed.

You may have secured one purchase, but another one is unlikely. If you make your product or service seem less attractive, then the customer’s expectations will be exceeded. That is if they even buy it. Finding the balance is key.

Your business will certainly improve if you use Clear’s formula. Simple, small changes can make big results!

3 Profitable Strategies for Building Customer Engagement

Want to know your biggest asset?

Engaged customers. 

The depth of relationships between a business and its clients is one of the best predictors of lifetime value. Companies with improved customer engagement cross-sell by 22%, drive up-sell revenues from 13% to 51%, and increase order sizes by as much as 80%. 

Tailor Engagement Strategies for Your Customers

What might engagement look like for you? The strategies are as unique as your business! Here is one example:

Recognizing the power of holiday hospitality, the Penha Longa resort makes December travels extra special for its guests. While Christmas decorations might brighten the mood for lonely people, celebrations are even better for engaging guests. To get travelers involved in the festivities, Penha Longa gives guests bare, shrub-sized trees for their rooms, along with crafty kits full of everything needed for creative decorating.

This is just one magical, zero-tech model of connecting with customers. Instead of building relationships with social media or chat features, engagement is constructed through pipe cleaners, scissors, googley eyes, and a glue stick.

Any human-to-human connection will draw people closer to your brand because you offer people more than a message but an experience. While there is no bond-building formula, here are three principles for shaping your approach:

1. Personalize Products and Client Interactions

Due to the daily onslaught of digital noise, people ignore messages that aren’t specifically for them.

Adopting a conversational tone can make all the difference in cutting through this clamor. Whenever possible, address customizers by name. Use photographs of real individuals in your advertising, and use fonts or print materials that make your messages feel handcrafted and direct.  

You can also personalize products to build engagement, which is especially powerful in younger markets. This may be as simple as engraving someone’s name on a glasses case or upgrading products with matching accessories. French cosmetics brand Guerlain started offering customizable lipsticks by allowing clients to choose their own combination of case and lipstick color.

2. Incentivize Each Touchpoint

Customer engagement comes from every act of commitment people take toward your company, so make your communication reader-focused and action-oriented, like this:

Describe improvements you’ve made to your product: “Upgrade today for service that’s 20% faster.”

Pique interest by telling people about their account: “Spend XX more, and your reward points will qualify you for a 20% discount.”

Offer an incentive to come back: “Give us another try, and we’ll knock 25% off your bill for the next three months.”

3. Prioritize Loyalty Programs or Continual “Streams” of Encouragement

People don’t want to feel like they’re missing out on something.

When you add value to every engagement that a customer has with your brand, you’ll create a powerful switching barrier that makes it harder for people to shop from your competitors. 

Did you know that loyalty program members purchase more often and have an average order value of 12% higher than their non-member counterparts? Whether you use simple punch cards or elaborate tiered loyalty programs, remember that people like free stuff, and they love to save money.

71% of consumers decide to join a loyalty program because it gives them money off every purchase, and 63% join so they’ll receive a free product by signing on.

Put Relationships First

Dynamic relationships are probably the only guarantee for a strong return on your marketing investment.

With each enhanced touchpoint, engagement grows, and your influence expands. Invite customer participation and watch the magic unfold!

5 Print Marketing Pieces that will Woo Your Corporate Clients

Some of the most effective ways of communicating value don’t require looking up a website or downloading a mobile device teaser program.

In fact, non-digital marketing activities win over corporate clients regularly without ever needing to be plugged in. Here are five of them.

1. Business Cards

Yes, those traditional business cards are still winners.

Business cards provide critical contact information and enough detail on how to connect with an organization quickly. Whether by email, text, phone, or mail, the info on a business card is powerful.

People love business cards because they are easy to transfer, pack, save, and reference. In the corporate world, business cards still resonate.

2. Letterheads and Stationary

In a day and age when so much communication happens by email and texting, the traditional letter stands out, even in a mail pile full of folders and generic material.

Best used when conveying a personal connection, professional letterhead is loved by corporate leaders everywhere and often seen as a sign of respect to the reader.

3. Add to Your Digital Slidedeck

Digital presentations can be so commonplace that people are often bored to death by the lack of engaging multiple senses.

A quick fix? Add printed materials people can hold in their hands that support your digital presentation. A beautifully printed presentation contained in a clean and stylish folder is easy to carry and review hands-on later. Combine a print version of a presentation with a digital slidedeck, and you’re hitting a home run with both formats simultaneously.

4. Company Information Brochures

A tri-fold company brochure is a convenient marketing tool that easily fits in a jacket pocket or folder. And, like business cards and presentation folders, brochures engage multiple senses of sight, touch, and even smell. 

Unlike digital PDFs, professionally printed brochures can be visualized and held easily. They don’t get lost in files like emails and tweets. A well-done brochure with high-impact visuals gets shared with those who matter as well. They are often shown as an example of what’s possible with the right skills hired.

5. Everyone Loves Catalogs

Today, digital menus and scrolling lists have tried to replace catalogs online.

However, the traditional catalog publication stands firm because of its tremendous impact.

Sometimes, folks like to leaf through a well-designed paper catalog to relax and pass the time, which often triggers more sales.

Additionally, companies that provide catalogs are becoming more unique and a stand-out factor from the crowd. Folks do not always remember a general product, but they definitely remember who has a catalog.

Grow Your Business Through Instagram Marketing

If you're looking for a way to boost the results of your print marketing, integrate your next campaign expand your reach with Instagram!

Instagram is a cost-effective marketing tool that houses many resources to help your business grow.

As the second most accessed network behind Facebook, with 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram boasts highly engaged users, browsing an average of 53 minutes per day.

Instagram can be a handy tool if you’re trying to reach ages 18-44, as 45% of Instagram users are within this age group. 

4 Tips to Get Your Business Started on Instagram

Before initiating an Instagram business profile, it’s important to develop a marketing strategy.

1. Know Your Why.

Why do you want your business on Instagram?

For example, are you there to sell products, share portfolio content, build brand awareness, share user-generated content, and/or use Instagram’s analytic tools? When you discover your why, you’ll have a beneficial framework for moving forward.

2. Determine Your Target Market.

Think about age, location, gender, income, interests, motivations, & pain points.

If this is challenging, try looking up competitors on Instagram to see who their audience is.

3. Conduct a Competitive Analysis.

A competitive analysis is when you research your competitors to see how they are doing.

Then, using this data, you develop a plan to improve your own business. When doing this through Instagram, see what and how often your competitors are posting, what posts are getting the highest engagement, what they are using for captions, how quickly they are growing, etc.

Acquire data that can then be used as a benchmark for your business. You can also brainstorm ways you can stand out from your competitors.

4. Create an Editorial Calendar.

An editorial calendar is a visual representation of your workflow.

You can develop a plan for when, what, and how often to post on both your main Instagram feed and Instagram stories.

5 Tips for Gaining Instagram Followers

Now that your marketing strategy is in place, you can get on Instagram to grow your follower base and engagement. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Create a Business Account.

Perhaps obvious, but make sure your business is under a business account.

Go to your profile page, click the three horizontal lines at the top, click settings, account, then scroll down.

If it says, “Switch back to Personal Account,” then you have a business account. If it says, “Switch to Professional Account,” your business is under a personal account.

No worries! Just click “Switch to Professional Account,” follow the prompts, and now you have a business account. This is important because it will give you access to useful features, including analytic tools, promoted posts, and a contact button.

Instagram’s analytic tools allow you to see who (age and gender), when, and where you generate the most engagement. You can also see data for follower growth. 

2. Make Sure Your Instagram Bio is Strong.

Your bio is your potential client’s first impression.

Add all the necessary information and use keywords that will draw in your target audience. 

Your bio is also the area where you'll put your call-to-action URLs. Because Instagram is image-based, URLs don't work well on each post. Instead, update your bio URL to correspond with anything unique you're posting.

3. Create a High-Quality Instagram Feed.

Ensure that your Instagram feed flows nicely by choosing consistent editing styles and adding filler photos.

Filler photos are posts that serve to improve your Instagram feed’s aesthetic. They are important because Instagram is such a visual app. Space out busy photos with minimalistic ones. You can even try posting six to nine photos in a row to create one large picture on your feed.

4. Don’t Forget to Use Your Stories.

Because Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, they’re a great way to post various content and drive engagement.

Plus, thanks to Instagram’s stickers, you can create quick polls to drive follower engagement while simultaneously receiving follower feedback.

5. Add Instagram to Your Networking Cards.

Networking cards are business cards that highlight your social media presence. They are a great way to increase your follower base and sales.

Instagram is a wonderful tool to grow your business. Apply the above advice, so you can stand out and increase sales.