Wednesday, February 17, 2010
by WebSolutions
Clearly, web sites are more than a collection of logos, colors, and pictures. Your web site is likely to be the public's first experience with your brand so it is important that you seize the opportunity to deliver on your brand promise--making sure that what they see, what they read, and what they feel is consistent with your overall brand.
When designing a web site, the following elements will ensure appreciation for both its form and its function.
Setting the Stage
Guide the User
Through effective use of position, color, contrast, size and design elements, you can actually lead the user around each page and get them to read exactly what you want them to.
Space
Filling every inch of your site with images or content only creates clutter and confusion. By making effective use of white space in design, you can create a sense of sophistication, while line spacing and padding (the space between text and images) make the content easier to read and follow.
Be Clear
Site visitors shouldn’t need a compass to navigate the site. Make sure the menu system is clear and simple. Organize the pages into easy to understand categories/menu items. Make sure the visitor knows where he or she is on the site at all times through design elements like visual feedback and breadcrumb trails.
Typography
You may not realize it, but your font choice greatly affects the visitor’s ability to read a site and what they deem to be important. For content within graphics, choose fonts that compliment the graphic subject. For site text, utilize web fonts that everyone can see so that the content is easy to read.
Alignment
When it comes to alignment, be consistent. Don’t center a title under left-justified text or you de-emphasize the title. Keep in mind that full-justified text creates gaps that can make it harder to read.
White Space
Though it is clearly empty space, white space is not wasted space. It is used to give focus to something else on the page. If every inch of the page has something on it, the reader doesn’t know where to look.
Work It
The last and most important thing to remember is that your site should work for you. Yes, it’s wonderful to have a beautiful site with cool graphics, but if you are not using the site as a tool to drive business, capture information, provide value to your customers, and generate revenue for your organization, all the pretty pictures in the world won’t make it worth your while.
Take Action
Stop wondering if your site is doing all it can. Give us a call and we will help you evaluate your site from every perspective, showing you ways to improve your appearance and your bottom line.
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Monday, January 18, 2010
by WebSolutions
A brand is a customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas. Brand recognition and loyalty are created by a customer’s accumulation of experiences with a specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.
Not that long ago, brand management was a monologue. A company’s brand was crafted in a conference room and doled out to the masses, “It’s new, it’s improved…it’s the best!” Even if the product failed to deliver on its brand promise, a company could do well in sales before it became widely known that it was putting out subpar products or services that its market did not embrace.
The advent of social media has spawned a new age of extreme customer participation that now poses a challenge for brand managers. The brand monologue has become a dialogue and formal research will do little if you’re not listening to customers and prospects online. Those who trust friends to help them make decisions now consult huge online networks on the fly.
With that in mind, it is not a stretch to say that your brand is owned in part (if not completely) by your customers, and you're the brand steward. What they've come to believe, what they expect and what they share openly about your brand is your brand.
Though some control is given to customers in this ever-more-social environment, it is traded for a much more engaged customer base, the opportunity to create a large number of advocates, and mine for data that can lead to new and improved product offerings.
In a trend called crowdsourcing, companies of all sizes, from Internet startups to household names like Campbell’s, MacDonalds and Coca-Cola are finding success in the world of the new consumer by socializing with them and engaging them in the marketing process. When consumers have input on a product and feel they have contributed to the advertising process, they feel a kinship with the brand, fueling brand loyalty.
Setting the Stage
Clarify
Because you do cede some control to your customers, it is more important than ever that the parts that you do control are firmly in your grasp. Define your mission, vision, desirable attributes, your competitive position, important targets, and what you'd like them to think and do.
Get to the Core
The longer and more complex your message, the greater the likelihood of it being misinterpreted by those you hope will espouse it. Make it simple for people to share what you want them to by refining your main message to its basic and memorable core.
Know Where to Reach Them
Different messages will resonate with different target groups. Once you’re clear on who those targets are, listening is a good way to find messages that will make them care about your products or services.
Get Personal
These days, everything is a lifestyle product and people want things they can connect with emotionally and things that reflect their beliefs. Give them something to believe in and you’ll get deep, long-lasting loyalty in return.
Stand Out and Together
Obviously differentiating yourself from the competition should be a key component of any marketing strategy but it is critical to deliver those points of differentiation, whether visual or verbal, consistently across all mediums of communications.
With those pieces in place, you're ready to socialize your brand.
Guide the Vision
Though you may never again control all aspects of your brand, you can certainly influence those that you cannot control. By listening and adjusting, you can reinforce your brand promise. Fail to engage and negative stories will take on a life of their own.
Tune In
For better or worse people will talk about your brand whether or not you’re paying attention. That is out of your control. What is within your control is how involved you are in the conversation and what you do with the information gathered during those conversations. Being an involved participant will go a long way to making your brand appear well supported and responsive to its customer base…two things every strong brand should be.
Let Them See You
Every business has information they'd like to keep close to the chest but that information often makes its way out. Instead of denying and hiding from it, own the information. Hearing it from you will help customers appreciate your candidness and result in more positive outcomes.
Fire Up the Experience.
Recognize that your company and your products’ brands are experiences. The new consumer isn't likely to buy your product if the experience isn't favorable at every point from positive customer feedback in online searches to a web site that is engaging and intuitive to post-purchase customer service.
Take Action
Though this may seem like a lot of information, the most important thing to keep in mind is that despite the new tools, channels and rules of brand engagement, a lot of what you know is still applicable. Branding is still about developing relationships, creating interest, understanding, participation, and trust.
Don’t let your brand be the wall flower at the new consumer dance. Give us a call. From brand strategy development to perception research and winning social media strategies, Web Solutions’ full-service capabilities give you the tools to succeed in the new age of branding.
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Monday, December 14, 2009
by WebSolutions
A blog is an online journal, usually written by an individual that typically includes thoughts, opinions or commentary on a particular topic, often with a collection of links to related items on the web. They are increasingly used by business professionals as a way to publish their thoughts directly, without the intervention of an editor.
Corporate blogging has become an almost mainstream tool for communicating regularly with a community of subscribers, including customers, business partners, investors, analysts and the press. Before blogging, any insight into a business was limited to published financials and official press releases. Today, individuals can publish a journal on a daily or weekly basis, allowing interested parties to access information directly from the source while giving readers the opportunity to ask questions and engage in an on-going dialogue. Though viewed with caution at first, today many business and government leaders use blogs to provide candid insight into their organizational strategies and themselves.
Blogging can move your marketing into a new level of engagement. Though it may present some risk, in the fickle world of the new web-savvy consumer, if you play it safe, you might end up playing alone.
Post Regularly:
You don’t have to post every day. But if you can, do it. The more regularly you post (with good SEO optimized titles) the better your blog will look to the search engines.
Post In-Depth:
The longer you can capture a reader’s attention, the better the chances that you’ll deliver your message effectively. Additionally, longer posts allow for more keywords that can help your search engine listings. It will also contain more information that might lead others to different parts of your blog if you’re linking correctly.
Post for the Readers:
Keyword optimization is important if you want people to be able to find you through search engines. But your blog shouldn’t read like a keyword list; the reader will know it. Make sure you write for the people who will be reading your blog and not just for the search engines.
Connect with Your Readers:
Engaging the reader is the most important aspect of blogging. If no one is reading your blog, why are you writing it? When writing, keep in mind that the most mundane topics can be written in a very interesting manner but very interesting topics can also be made wholly uninteresting. If you’re nervous about writing a blog, write from your passion and it will translate to the subject matter.
Reign in Your Sales Message:
Blogs are a good way to tout a new product. You can point it out to people, talk about it and hype it up a little. But you can’t do that all the time. If every post is promoting the benefits of your new product, then there’s not much point in people coming back. Use blogs to position your company as a resource of information and not just as experts at your own products.
Maintain a Clear Voice:
Unlike much of the other content within your web presence, a blog is an opportunity to let your personal voice come through. Take advantage of humor, anecdotes, first person accounts and your own passion for the topic to give readers a real sense of personal engagement of the topic being discussed.
If you’re ready to share ideas and speak openly about your business and industry, a blog can provide your organization with recognition as a market leader and produce a unique and clear voice of insight in the most crowded of marketplaces.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
by WebSolutions
Social networks are a powerful medium to reach millions of potential customers but not every network is right for every business. Choosing the right network and developing a successful strategy are paramount to successfully delivering your message.
Give us a call and let us show you how proper strategy, goals and execution, can make you "friends" and raise your bottom line.
Look in the mirror.
These sites allow users to discuss and share personal experiences with your brand. They've become a litmus test for brand promises, forcing companies to be open and honest. The new web-savvy consumer will take the word of other consumers over yours and in this potentially volatile atmosphere, if your company is not delivering on its promises, your brand can easily become what the latest buzz says it is and not what your marketing dollar tries to tell them.
Evaluate your goals.
Not every business benefits from being in constant contact with their customers. You must have a plan with specific communications goals. Communicating unimportant or unnecessary information to your followers is no different than spamming and could be a huge turnoff.
Commit to providing updated information.
Social media is about feeding your customers' appetite for news and information. Fail to supply regularly updated content that is relevant to your customers and you'll lose "friends" or "fans" faster than you made them.
Don't just talk, listen.
You now have an opportunity to hear directly from your customers on a regular basis. Use it to better understand and serve their needs.
Stay on message.
These aren't real friends, they're customers. Remember that and use the feedback you've received to adjust and reinforce your brand message.
Below is a description of three of the most popular social networks.
Facebook has more than 300 million users worldwide. This network allows users to create a personal profile, connect with friends and send them messages. Friends are then notified of any changes to the user's profile and or personal information, keeping them on top of what is happening in their lives. Businesses can create profiles, which members can, in turn, become fans of. This gives business an opportunity to create a huge fan base and communicate with them.
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to communicate via short (140 characters max.) messages known as tweets. Members subscribe to other members' pages and become "followers." Whenever a members sends a message, "followers" are notified. Tweeting, allows companies to develop a base of "followers" to which they can communicate important and timely information regarding products and services.
LinkedIn allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called "connections" and users can use them to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact for the purpose of finding a job, other contacts or business opportunities. Businesses can list jobs and search for potential candidates and candidates can view the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.
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Monday, June 01, 2009
by WebSolutions
The web in general is an extremely powerful tool for communication. Available 24-7 and as information-rich as you make it, a website can be the most important step you take in marketing to new audiences. But what about the clients that you already have? If someone has bought your product or service in the past, what can you do to get them back to your site and/or get them interested in you again? This is where a smart and strategically planned email marketing campaign comes in. Executed well, it can make sense for virtually any organization.
Why email marketing? The first, and most obvious, reason is cost. The deployment of an email marketing "blast" can be dramatically less expensive than more traditional forms of marketing to clients. Not only is the bottom line cost for distribution lower, but the ability to track direct return on investment is available and extremely accurate. You can measure the number of people who open your email, click through to your site and, ultimately, respond to your specific call to action. Another reason for email marketing is exposure. There's no easier way to put yourself and your brand in front of a past client. For those people who aren't interested, they can easily opt-out of subsequent emails, but the vast majority will engage your email, remember your business, gain something from the information provided and hopefully react positively to the message you are communicating.
If you have an email campaign in progress, or are considering one in the near future, here are some best practices that can help ensure that your efforts are effectively executed and well-received by your clients.
Avoid Spam Filters & Blacklists:
Many internet service providers use spam filters to block unsolicited email from entering their customers' inboxes. To prevent your emails from being flagged as spam, avoid using words traditionally considered as spam (i.e. Free, '$$$', Save, Discount) in both the subject line and the content of your email.
Provide an Unsubscribe Link:
By law, you must provide recipients with the ability to unsubscribe to subsequent emails. Make sure it is simple and clearly visible and that you have a mechanism for tracking unsubscribes.
Signup Confirmation:
If you invite people to sign-up for your email campaign online, always use a double opt-in confirmation process. This process includes the visitor entering his/her email address and then receiving an automated email to confirm their subscription.
Keep Your Subject Lines Short:
It takes only seconds for a recipient to visually acknowledge your email's subject line to determine if it will be opened, deleted or at least temporarily ignored. The subject line should be concise, but should also specify to the recipient both the sender and the value to be gained from the email.
Consistent Design and Branding:
To strengthen your brand and to reinforce the consistency of the campaign, create a template that allows the look and feel of each newsletter or email publication to be formatted consistently and visually convey the brand and message.
Grow Your List with a Promotion:
You can expand your email list by offering a discount or other promotional item to visitors who sign up for your emails. As explained in Tip #3, use an automated email process for confirmation of email address provided.
Personalize Your Emails:
Research has shown that the simple addition of the recipient's first name within the body of the email (i.e. "Dear Frank:") can increase both readership and click-thru rates substantially.
Maximize & Track Click-Through Rates:
To increase the number of click-throughs to your site from the email, use plain, bold, blue text links. It has been found that users respond better to standard bold, blue text links than to banners or buttons. It is imperative that your email has multiple links to your site and that you have a mechanism in place to track the number of click throughs per link.
Conclude Your Email with a Signature:
Just as there are plusses to personalizing the message to the recipient, you can also benefit from "personalizing" the sender with a signature. The designated signature area should include your title, company name, and an unsubscribe link.
Send Emails on Tuesday / Wednesday:
Think about yourself and when you feel the most overwhelmed by your inbox and AVOID those days. Studies (and common sense) show that people are more receptive to emails on Tuesday and Wednesday. Along with the day sent, consider the time the email is scheduled to be sent. Avoid the beginning and end of the work day along with the lunch hour.
Repeat Email Communication:
Ensure that your subscriber list is being communicated with on a regular basis, with emails that communicate information about your products and services and start to build a relationship.
Send Emails on Same Day and Time:
Clients are receptive to consistency. Whenever possible, send your emails on the same day and same time. If the information you are providing is well received, people will begin to positively anticipate the next mailing.
Experiment with the Layout of Your Emails:
Because you can't presume how your subscriber base will receive your email and information, try multiple variations of the email template where the components of the email are the same but the placement of those components varies. Test which layouts and link placements work the best by comparing open and click-through rates.
Email Browser Compatibility:
When your email is still in draft format, make sure that you test it for both layout and functionality in multiple email browsers. It's always a good idea to have an HTML-only version of your email available for those recipients who don't have an email platform that is graphics compatible.
The Preview Pane in Microsoft Outlook:
Many Outlook users have their browser configured to display a preview of the email selected from the inbox. Attempt to include attention-grabbing content and/or imagery at the very top of your email to encourage opening.
Ultimately, the key to success comes from a lot of thought, strategic planning and the stick-to-itiveness to keep the campaign fresh, engaging and active over the long term. Being consistent and informative can give you a new level of credibility with your clients. Maintaining a schedule of routine emails can also build the amount of insightful data that you have about your clients, their interests with your business, and the viability of the products and/or services that you are communicating to them via your campaign.
If all of this seems overwhelming, it can be. Your primary goal should be to set yourself up for success, not failure. Don't undertake a higher volume of communication than you can handle and always give yourself the time to assess both your successes and failures so that each subsequent effort is as targeted and effective as possible.
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