Brand and Capture

How to Use SEO to Protect Your Brand

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In the number of seconds it takes to watch a YouTube video, the reputation of your brand can plummet from respected to reviled. Remember last year's unsanitary food handling video posted by two (now former) Domino's Pizza employees? How long was it before you'd take a chance on ordering from Domino's?

Businesses must maintain constant vigilance to protect their brands from damage. Brand perception has always been a concern, but today's instant communication makes it that much more important -- and that much harder -- to protect your brand. Large corporations devote teams of lawyers to protecting their brands by ferreting out and addressing every misuse, negative comment or derogatory reference to their brand. Small businesses simply don't have the resources to create that level of protection. For smaller brands, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) offers reasonable brand protection at an affordable price.

In concert with your inbound marketing program, SEO can be carefully managed to protect your brand against negative and malicious online content. Using effective SEO techniques, an inbound marketing professional can increase the search engine page ranking of official brand sites, forcing negative and unauthorized material off the first page of search results.

Fewer than 5% of Internet users navigate beyond the first page of search results, making SEO manipulation a relatively cheap and effective way of protecting your brand from harm. According to Internet marketing experts, customers performing a brand search are generally satisfied and stop investigating after encountering 10 positive to neutral search results. Since the average Internet search page shows about 10 results, pushing negative material off the first page is all that is required to protect your brand from negative online content.

To protect your brand, try these SEO tips:

• Optimize images by adding your brand name to ALT and title attributes. In Flickr, update the title and description in photo descriptions.
• Optimize video by creating tutorials, pod casts, product demos, etc. and adding keywords to video titles and descriptions. Place videos on your website as well as on YouTube.
• Optimize PDF files, particularly document properties that serve as title tag and meta description.
• Create a Facebook page and Twitter account to optimize your social media profile.
• Create optimized press releases monthly to maintain search engine ranking.
• Start a blog and optimize blog posts with branded keywords.

Are you monitoring your brand in social media and search engines? What's your SEO strategy for protecting your brand reputation?

Photo credit: CarbonNYC

Why the Web is Dead and What Inbound Marketers Need to Consider

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photo: Robert Whyte

Inbound Marketing Tips for Reaching Your Target Market

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Most businesses are jumping on the inbound marketing bandwagon. Facebook, Twitter and other social media marketing tools are proving to be far more effective -- and faster -- at marketing businesses to consumers and promoting brand identity. Compared to traditional outbound marketing methods like cold calling and direct mail, inbound marketing is targeted, rapid, interactive and the only way to reach today's Internet-connected consumers.

In the rush to move online, businesses often neglect to fully define their inbound marketing goals and develop a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy. Without careful forethought and planning, Internet marketing efforts can be ineffective and appear to be disjointed, failing to produce the desired results. Without proper goal definition and a well-planned strategy to meet those goals, inbound marketing experts warn that social media campaigns can fall flat and produce disappointing results. When Internet marketing campaigns fail, the fault is not in the inbound marketing techniques used but in their execution.

In order to connect with consumers, you must first figure out what consumers want. There are 3 tried and true methods of determining consumer needs relevant to the product or services you sell:

1. Ask. Pay attention to consumer questions asked via twitter, comments made on blog posts and surveys conducted on your website. See which web pages on your site have the highest click rates. Review sales statistics to see what consumers are buying. All of these efforts can help you gain a better understanding of what consumers are looking for when they access your site.
2. Tune in. Stay current on happenings and developments in your industry. Subscribe to competitors' blogs, follow industry experts on Twitter and subscribe to industry-related news feeds.
3. Track. Sign up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a particularly productive tool for monitoring the effectiveness of your keywords and fine tuning them to more accurately target your desired customer pool. Google Alerts shows you how other people on the Internet are using your keywords, providing you a window to competitors using the same words. Knowing who is using your keywords and how they are using them allows you to tweak your keyword list quickly if it isn't resonating correctly with consumers.

Professional inbound marketing experts have the technical expertise, Internet savvy and social media experience to ensure that your inbound marketing campaign is effectively designed and executed to produce the results you desire.

Build Your Brand: Is it Time for a Refresh?

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Are you in sync with your target market, or are you trying to attract a different customer demographic? Does your brand portray the right image, or does your packaging cry out for an update? Is your firm considered fresh and vital, or do consumers write you off as outdated?

There are many smart reasons to rebrand your company or a key product. Rebranding can revitalize your firm, refresh its image, attract new customers and place you in a better position to compete successfully.

McDonald's successful rebranding as a nutrition-conscious eatery is an excellent example. Decried as a leading cause of American obesity, McDonald's introduced salads and wraps and started offering fruit and veggie choices in Happy Meals. Vegetarian burgers have been introduced in British Columbia stores with a rollout in California planned soon.

But rebranding also entails a certain amount of risk. We are naturally resistant to change, particularly when it comes to companies and products that have become an integral part of our lives. If proper strategy is not executed, rebranding can alienate and even anger customers. Despite McDonald's new, healthier menu choices and a switch to non-saturated fry oil, it didn't take away from the iconic hamburgers that made the chain a household name.

Rebranding is not an exercise to be taken lightly or rushed into. Successful rebranding efforts require strategy, careful planning, creative insight, testing, evaluation, preparation for the rollout, commitment and patience. Here are six steps toward successful rebranding:

1. Starting point. You have to know where you stand before you start making any changes to your brand. You need hard data that tells you who your customers actually are and why they buy your product. You also need data that indicates how your brand is perceived both on its own merits and ranked against competitors by current customers as well as by non-customers, staff, executives and other stakeholders.
2. Goal setting. You need a clear idea of what you want rebranding to accomplish. Do you want to build a new customer base? Do you want to rejuvenate your image? Do you want to change your product focus? Your goals for rebranding can be as minor as updating your packaging or differentiating yourself from local competitors with a new tag line or as major as a complete change in customer focus or expansion into global markets.
3. Action plan. Formulate a plan to meet your rebranding goals. What changes to your brand must be made to accomplish those goals -- name, logo, tag line, colors, graphics, design, website, social media, etc? A color or type face change may be all it takes to update a logo, but revising your product line or customer base may call for development of comprehensive inbound and outbound marketing strategies.
4. Evaluation. Just as you tested to determine your starting point, you'll need to test changes to your brand before full rollout. Beta testing with client, customer, staff and focus groups can provide data that will help you fine-tune rebranding changes to ensure a successful rollout.
5. Rollout. To be successful, rebranding requires a major inbound marketing effort on multiple social media fronts to make customers aware of rebranding changes and direct them to make the new association with your branding. Your rollout plan needs to address the emotional benefits of rebranding as well as any tangible benefits. Gaining emotional commitment is the key to a successful rebranding program.
6. Commitment and patience. When companies or products are rebranded, consumers need time to adjust and rediscover your brand. You have to give rebranding efforts a chance to catch on. Careful monitoring and management of social media directed by an experienced inbound marketing professional will produce the fastest results.

Are you overdue for a brand refresh? We can help.

7 Tips for Building Your Brand With a Powerful Logo

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"A picture is worth a thousand words," the old saying goes; and that is never more true that in logo creation. A logo is a stylistic "picture" of your brand. Your business logo should instantly identify your company or product to consumers. Like Nike's swoosh or Coke's stylized red can or Hallmark's gold crown, no words need be spoken; your logo should be synonymous with your brand name. But logos are far more than powerful brand identifiers. An effective logo should invoke your corporate image and reflect the essence of your brand message. When a consumer sees your logo, you want it to engender emotions that are simpatico with the brand image you are striving to build.

Sounds like a tall order and, of course, your logo design alone won't create the consumer relationship you desire or earn your brand the consumer following you seek. You have to tie your logo to an aggressive inbound marketing strategy that creates the desired consumer associations with your brand. But the starting point is creating of a dynamic logo for your brand.

There are 7 proven design tips for creating effective logos:

1. Start with a strong, clean, uncomplicated, well-balanced image.
2. Strive for a distinctive, bold, uncluttered, well-articulated design that is easily recognizable at a glance.
3. Use graphics that are appropriate to your business or product.
4. Choose a logo that enhances and compliments your company or product name.
5. Select a clean, easy-to-read font that is quickly decipherable from a distance.
6. Design a logo that communicates a key characteristic of your business.
7. Make certain your logo will look equally attractive and be easy to read in both black and white and color. 

Once you've created a dynamic logo, aggressive inbound and outbound marketing campaigns will be necessary to train consumers to associate your new logo image with your brand and what it stands for. In the past, branding campaigns often took years to come to fruition. Today, inbound marketing campaigns that focus heavily on social media can accomplish your branding goals in a matter of months, weeks if some aspect of your social media marketing campaign goes viral. Only inbound marketing is capable of taking a logo/branding campaign from 0 to 60 in what often seems like the blink of an eye!

Got a great logo? Get a great logo.

3 Tips for Building Your Brand on Facebook

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No matter what demographic you want to target, Facebook is the place to build your brand. Already adopted as a basic lifestyle necessity by consumers in the lucrative under 30 demographic, Facebook is growing in popularity among fans 34 to 45 years old, the fastest growing Facebook population group. The increasing popularity of Facebook, which appears to be gradually replacing phone and written contact as the mainstay of U.S. personal communication, provides incredible opportunities and a few challenges to successfully building a business brand.

Follow these tips to tweak your Facebook content and optimize the Facebook presence of your business brand:

• Optimize thumbnail pictures. When Facebook creates thumbnails from your profile photo, it crops information during the process, creating a 12 pixel border of unused space around the image. Any information or graphic contained within this automatic border is lost during thumbnail creation. Instead of the 200 pixel width Facebook specs indicate are available for your profile picture, only 176 pixels are actually usable. Factor this into the creation of your profile picture so you don't lose critical information when thumbnails are created. Also remember that Facebook thumbnails have rounded corners and are square. Even though profile photos don't limit the length of pictures, when Facebook creates thumbnails, that extra length will be cropped away to fit the square template. Allowing for Facebook's automatic cropping will ensure that tumbnails created for your site contain your brand's essential information and graphics.
• Take advantage of FBML boxes. Facebook's new Public Profiles allow businesses to create separate default landing pages for fans and non-fans (not yet "liking" your page). Different content can be created to target different users. Creating separate content for fans and non-fans allows you to offer exclusive content or promotions to fans while encouraging non-fans to sign up so they too can receive exclusive material. Become a Fan incentives can be displayed in FBML boxes on non-fan pages to encourage fan registration. Here is an example from our Kuno Creative Facebook Page.
• Make use of vanity URLs. Brands with Facebook pages that boast a minimum 100 fans are eligible for vanity URLs. Vanity URLs allow you to put your brand name in your Facebook URL, making your site easy for fans to remember and find. To set up a Facebook vanity url, go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the instructions.

Are you building your brand on Facebook and Twitter? We can help!

The Truth About Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing

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It's popular these days to be a thought extremist. You're either on one side or the other. Everything is either black or white. There is no gray. In marketing, you're either into inbound marketing via the Web or you're a traditional PR and advertising fan. Truth is, nobody is right when we're talking about extremes. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

What's the argument about?

• Inbound Marketers say that consumers have changed and are no longer willing to accept e-mail blasts and TV ads and any other sort of "push" marketing. The only way to market is by publishing interesting content and building communities online.

• Traditional Marketers agree that things have changed, but there is still plenty of room for advertising and reaching out to prospective markets via e-mail, TV and radio. They're not against Internet marketing, just the idea that you can never cold call or blast an offer out to millions.

Who's right?

They're both right and here are some key reasons:

1. While it's trendy to focus on blogging and social media, webinars and videos, marketing companies are still channeling a large proportion of their clients' budgets into traditional media marketing.
2. There are true synergies to blending inbound and outbound marketing. An example would be a company rolling out a new product and desiring to make a big splash in a short period of time. In this case it makes perfect sense to build a groundswell of brand awareness by establishing social media communities and attracting members via conventional advertising as well as PPC, e-mail marketing, radio, TV, etc. Whatever the budget allows and based on historical click-through rates.
3. While it's true that inbound marketing can be a highly successful strategy for improving lead conversion, unless you already have a well-known brand, it can take many months to build up a loyal following. Again, blending targeted outbound marketing into social media marketing campaigns can accelerate awareness and growth.
4. Finally, to think that one size fits all marketing strategies is foolish. Every organization has different marketing needs, and successful companies are quick to adapt to new market conditions. The best overall strategy is one that is flexible enough to consider all kinds of marketing and apply the most appropriate mix for the goals of a campaign.

Are you a marketing extremist, or a chef creating tasty campaigns from a variety of ingredients?

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A Great Logo Design Goes a Long Way in Building Your Brand

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A corporate logo design need not be flashy, intricate or extremely modern to be effective. Effective logos do, however, have to elicit some sort of response. At the very least, all logos should inspire a basic level of confidence and, ideally, interest in your brand.

Style and Font

There are far more fonts available for corporate logo design than there are on Microsoft Word or Mac Pages, for example. New fonts are constantly being created and can even be custom designed for your brand. So, it’s worth exploring different options through a bit of online research and consultation with your branding company.

See what similar brands in your area are using as fonts. What inspires confidence in one industry may be confusing, meaningless or even detrimental in another. There are certain fonts that say “digital” or “cutting-edge” while others might say “traditional,” “reliable” or “powerful”. Figure out what you’re trying to say first and then seek out your ideal font.

Corporate Logo Design and Color

As mentioned above, simple designs can achieve everything you’re looking for, but a word of caution: Don’t be so simple as to seem common or derivative. In other words, your logo should never be mistaken for Clip Art.

Choose colors that speak to your brand. Much like fonts, colors and color tones or brightness levels suggest different moods, characteristics and strengths of your brand. Colors in combination also have different effects. Sample different color combinations across all of your sample font and design schemes.

Also consider color in terms of light, texture and shadow. A strong designer can suggest modifications in color, texture, shading and tone to differentiate your logo.

Convergence

Sample a few different designs in a few different color schemes each. In the brainstorming and creative phase, all options should be on the table, including fun and wild ideas. In the end you can tie all the elements—style, font, design, color—together with your brand message.

Is Direct Mail Marketing Dead? Not If You Do It Right

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Though direct mail pieces are historically considered relatively low-conversion marketing initiatives, powerful direct mail design can make all the difference between an effective campaign and a dud.

Develop Your Message

Direct mail design allows for creativity.  In fact, it depends upon innovation to be effective.  However, your audience should still recognize that the direct mail is coming from you or, more importantly, that your brand or message is not being diluted or obscured for the sake of a one-time mailer.

This means that the basics of your brand, such as logo, tagline or other core messaging, should be present even if they’re not at the forefront.  A direct mail piece should be unique, but you’re making too much of an investment on any major direct mail initiative to be wholly experimental.  Determine your message and goals first, rather than winging it.  

Working Within a Budget

Direct mail design is largely dependent on your available campaign budget, but even a small budget need not constrain your messaging.  Postcards and fliers, for example, are both low-budget options, but they might not speak to the presence or prestige of your brand.

So, when using these or similar forms of inexpensive, direct mail pieces, it’s all the more important to have a talented designer on hand since you don’t want the mailings to look cheap or unprofessional.  That might cause more harm to your brand than good.

Track Your Interactions

A well-designed direct mail campaign should yield some immediate feedback from your audience.  Direct mail pieces should be designed with feedback in mind.  In other words, does the design facilitate comments, reactions, questions, discussions or otherwise call the reader to action?  Plus, no matter how basic or complex your design, are these actions easily trackable?

With a direct email campaign, many online interactions can be traced.  Offline direct mailers can refer potential clients to your website, thereby also yielding a trackable response.

What are your experiences with direct mail marketing? Do you think it's old-school and irrelevant?

Cleveland Ad Agencies Rock!

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Local Flavor Rules!

When in Rome... If you're a Cleveland business, why not hire your local ad agency? A sharp Cleveland ad agency will understand not only the local market but what types of pieces resonate best with the public. Demographics such as age, ethnicity, income and family structure all play an important role in how your message will be received. Understanding these variables from the beginning can help you avoid embarrassing missteps or the wasting of time and other valuable resources.

Understanding the Market

Whether your company is based in Cleveland or appealing to potential Cleveland clientele, there are ways to make your brochure or ad design reflect your understanding of Northeast Ohio.

First, consider where you are targeting your message. Cleveland has a few distinct downtown districts, but it also very populous and thriving suburban areas to the east and west of the city where many families reside. Southern suburbs also share many of Cleveland’s demographics but also merge with the Akron-Canton market as you move farther south. Your design as well as content should reflect these variations, however subtle.

Local Designs for Ads, Brochure Designs and Websites

In designs targeted at metropolitan-area Clevelanders, imagery often includes sites familiar to urban and suburban Clevelanders such as Lake Erie, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland sports arenas, the skyline and the waterfront. Appealing to local issues, flavors, teams and pastimes can go a long way towards attracting customers. Knowing the local events and history can make your marketing campaigns more timely and cost-effective.

These are common, recurring and often effective themes, but utilizing a local Cleveland ad agency can help your brand become more targeted and specific, as needed.

Speak to a Local Cleveland Ad Agency

The advantage of working with a Cleveland ad agency is that it is best suited to know the most recent and most specific hot topics and interests of the Northeastern Ohio market. A sharp ad agency is also familiar with the advertising landscape and knows what types of ads have traditionally or more recently populated the public space, and which of these are most effective. Most importantly, your Cleveland ad agency can distinguish you from these ads, carving out a unique space for your brand. They can serve as a valuable resource as you create identity pieces that your audience will keep and remember.

One Big Advantage - They're Local

You can meet with them for lunch or stop by for an in-house meeting. You can get to know them personally and get personal attention.

We're a Cleveland Ad Agency - Why Not Get to Know Us?