Tips for Building Brand Personality in 2021

Posted on August 2, 2021January 20, 2022 by Leamon Crooms

Your company’s brand is its business card to the world. Few things are as important as building brand personality to create awareness of your company. Implementing new business branding ideas also drives consumer perception and increases demand while allowing your business to stand out from the competition.

Maybe you understand the benefits of big brand ideas but need help coming up with them. Strategic Growth Advisors provides the business branding ideas you need in this blog. After considering them, we invite you to work with us to turn these ideas into reality.

Define Your Company’s Archetype

Carl Jung, the well-known and respected psychologist, was the first to develop the concept of a business archetype. Apple and Microsoft are two examples of successful companies that used Jung’s theory to their advantage. He claimed that success in sales goes beyond just selling the product or service. Businesses must also sell a story since this is critical to building brand personality.

Microsoft has achieved worldwide success by selling the story of its products being like the girl or boy next door. The brand is always close to people wherever they go. Essentially, Microsoft sells the story that their products integrate with everyday life. Apple sells its products based on a visionary archetype. The image people associate with it is one of a trendsetter.

Your company’s archetype does not need to be anything like Microsoft’s or Apple’s to reach your target audience. However, it does need to be authentic. The first step in creating a compelling story is to develop it around a representative archetype.

Start Using Heat-mapping

Heat-mapping is a strategy that enables you to learn in-depth data about your website visitors. Here are three examples of rich data provided by heat-mapping software:

Each customer’s journey before arriving at your business website
Most common areas people click on your business website
How far down people scroll on each page

Be sure to act on information obtained from heat-mapping software right away to improve your brand image. For example, condense the information on your home page if you discover that most people do not scroll all the way to the bottom. Your website should match the typical workflow of your customer demographics as closely as possible.

Consider Redesigning Your Company Logo

The logo your company presents to the world is a huge part of its brand identity. You cannot afford to release an unprofessional logo created by an amateur if you hope to win customers. We recommend taking a moment to consider your company’s logo against a few of the most well-known logos. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are just two common examples. People see those logos and immediately think of soft drinks or fast food.

You also need to think about whether your business has outgrown its current logo. What worked for you in the beginning may be too simplistic now. Having a team of professionals review the existing logo and provide personal brand logo ideas is the best place to start.

Once you get back a list of suggestions, conduct market research to see which logo customers prefer the most and why. Knowing why people gravitate towards one logo design over another helps your marketing team improve before the final release.

Personalization is an Important Part of Building Brand Personality

Customers care about themselves and their problems, not your company. The most successful businesses understand this and build their brand around what they can do for customers. The message should never be the other way around.

At the same time, people expect the companies they do business with to personalize their products and services. How can you go beyond using a customer’s first time to offer a truly personalized experience? Consider these options:

Email: The best way to personalize email is to track the types of information your customers consume and tailor your message accordingly. Email from your company should align with customer interests and buying habits. They are likely to delete it without reading if they can tell your company made no effort to treat them as an individual.
Retargeting: Studying the pages a person visits on your website gives you insight into what is important to them. Turning that data into personalized display ads increases your chances of getting that person to come back to your website to make a purchase.
Helpful content: Developing and publishing useful content without any hint of a sales pitch is a great way to develop your brand. Be sure to customize the blog posts, videos, infographics, and other content based on previous interactions on your website.

Be Willing to Become More Authentic on Your Social Media Channels

Although we stated above that customers care more about their problems than your company, they still value authenticity. No one enjoys looking at posts and video content of a business trying to be something it is not.

Social media provides a unique opportunity to show authenticity because no barrier exists between your company and its audience. Your audience may enjoy the occasional poll or behind-the-scenes look at operations. You should not expect these things to have a heavy influence on their buying decisions.

Another advantage of creating accounts is that it allows your business to interact with customers in real-time. They can get immediate responses to their questions. People also appreciate a place to interact with brands where they do not feel someone is constantly marketing to them. These interactions help consumers develop trust when they do feel ready to make a purchase.

Need More Business Branding Ideas? Contact Strategic Growth Advisors Today

Branding is just one of several services we offer as part of our growth marketing services. We invite you to contact our office in Tucson, Arizona, to request your initial consultation. This meeting gives us a chance to gain insights about your company while answering all your questions.

We look forward to working with you and helping your company develop new business branding ideas soon.

Small Business Goals: How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Small or Expanding Business

Posted on July 19, 2021January 20, 2022 by Leamon Crooms

If you have a small business, you can keep it from getting stagnant by setting small business goals. These goals can also help you stay focused on increasing your business, which means ongoing success. Most people set goals at the beginning of a year, but you should be setting goals at least quarterly for a small business with the exception of one: Business branding and marketing should be monthly goals.

Choosing Small Business Goals

When you have many goals, make a list of them, then list them in order of priority. You can set more than one or two goals per quarter if you believe you can achieve those goals during that time. Each goal should have short-term and long-term actions and a plan for meeting that goal. For example, if you want to increase business by 50 percent over the year, your short-term goal might be to increase business by 12 to 13 percent each quarter.

In addition to the long-term goal of increasing business by 50 percent for the year, this goal needs to include a plan for getting to your goal and a plan for keeping the new customers. Your small business goals might consist of one or more of the following, including business branding and marketing. Some of these goals are for small businesses just starting, and others are for small businesses that have been in business for several years.

Hiring Employees

Whether you are a sole proprietor or have several employees, you will need to add additional employees as your business grows. It is best to speak with your accountant before hiring people to make sure you know about the regulations, and if your business can support the employees you need to hire. Some companies get trapped because they need another person, but they can’t support a full-time person year-round.

If you can hire the right employee at the right salary, the employee’s contribution should be able to pay for himself and bring in extra money to achieve other goals and help with the increase in business completing other goals created.

Manage and Reduce Business Expenses

The cost of running your business cuts into your bottom line, so the best thing you can do is reduce and better manage your business expenses. This goal could save you down the line should the economy crash.

Keep track of your business expenses, how often you incur the cost, and look for ways to reduce a specific expense. You might refinance to a lower interest rate to save on the mortgage payment for your building, or you might find a supplier with equal or better quality products for a more reasonable price.

Additionally, managing and reducing business expenses helps to make other goals easier to reach. When you minimize certain business expenses, you have more money to increase your business. For example, when you reduce your monthly utility usage, you can use that money to increase your budget for business branding and marketing.

Create Lists and Sub-Lists

The easiest way to set a realistic goal is to use lists. The top of the list should have the main, long-term goal, such as ramping up productivity. You should then list the actions you need to ramp up productivity. These will be the short-term goals you need to meet to bring the major goal to fruition. This list might look like this:

Check employee break times to make sure they are not over-extending breaks.

Keep employees off social media and personal email.
Make it easier for employees to do their jobs.

The third sub-goal might have its own sub-goals, depending on the type of business you run and the amount of restructuring you need to make an employee’s job easier. For example, if you have a restaurant and the cook is prepping, you might consider hiring a prep cook. The cook can then concentrate on cooking, which might mean opening earlier for lunch or staying open later for dinner service.

Additionally, you might provide the cook with better equipment. If you have a stove where one or two burners do not work, it is time for repairs or a new stove. Does the cook have all of the tools required to be more productive? For example, is the cook mixing something by hand that could be done with a new mixer? All of these issues cost money, so you need to separate this sub-goal into more than one part so that the goal is more realistic.

Create Timelines

Even though you might plan to accomplish a goal in 6 months or a year, you should establish a timeline, especially if a goal has several short-term goals that make it up. For items that cost money, know how much you need to save or borrow and how long it will take to obtain the cash. For employee items, you might discuss your plans with your employees – they will most likely have to make some of these changes to allow you to realize your goals on time.

For example, do you want to increase your online visibility? You might need a new website, or you might need to update your current website. While this sounds like a tedious task that could take months, but if you break it down into short-term sub-goals, you’ll have your branding and marketing in place before you know it.

Breaking your business down into sections and creating web pages for each area within a particular time is one of the easiest timelines to make. You can also hire professional web designers to help with online marketing, including websites, social media, and other digital marketing practices.

Contact Strategic Growth Advisors

For those businesses that need professional help in small business marketing strategy, Strategic Growth Advisors can help create a plan to grow your business. Contact us to set up a consultation to start growing your business branding and marketing.

How Engaging on Social Media Can Help Your Business Grow

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Leamon Crooms

Your customers are on social media, are you? If you aren’t creating and growing your social media engagement, you’re missing the chance at a lucrative connection. The social media space offers a rare opportunity to have genuine discussions without needing to clear the “hurdle” of marketing resistance. Simply put, your customers aren’t in a suspicious, closed-off mindset: they’re on social media to chat, research, and engage, which makes it the perfect place for digital marketing.

They’ve Got Questions, You’ve Got Answers

Keeping an active social media profile provides information on your business or products, both directly and indirectly. For customers curious about service providers like you in the Tucson area, it offers a great place to show off positive reviews and answer questions. Everything from hours of operation to service menus can be placed on your social media, as well as interactive questions and answers for all to see. Sure, a website handles this information too, but customers are already on social media – that’s the key difference. When you use a website as your only point of lead generation, you face the challenge of enticing customers to type in your URL and spend time on your site for its own sake.

Showcase Your “Current Self”

Have you moved or expanded your business? Your website may not immediately reflect important changes with your business, but your social media profiles can. With customers “following” and “liking” your page, they’ll get notifications when you make changes, ensuring faster and more reliable connections and conversions. Social media engagement can also help clear up time-sensitive questions, such as “Are you open?” during natural disasters or local street closures.

Go Beyond the Ad

Social media profiles are a great place to show off the layers of your brand. Sure, you do plumbing or landscaping, but you may also offer gardening advice or volunteer on weekends. Social media engagement offers a rare chance to showcase the humanity that differentiates your market offering. You’ll be able to have organic conversations with customers in natural language and nurture those relationships without hard-sell marketing. While this approach does take time and attention, the return on investment goes beyond converting specific customers: it also builds great brand reputation. If you need to nudge your audience a little, it’s also easy to run social media-specific contests and giveaways for your dedicated followers.

As long as it’s not an integral part of your brand, simply avoid discussing politics and religion and your social media presence can only help your overall marketing approach. Today’s savvy consumers like businesses they can research and reach instantly, and that means making yourself as available as possible on social media platforms. Dedicate a specific time period each day or week, or look to a professional service to help you manage your social media engagement, profiles, and posting. The only thing you have to lose are those dozens (or hundreds) of followers that are all ready and willing to buy!

Why Your Brand Matters When it Comes to Marketing

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Leamon Crooms

A good business brand tells consumers who you are and what you stand for as well as what you sell. Companies like McDonald’s, Kleenex, and Nike are synonymous with their products. If you think of social media, Facebook and Instagram probably come to mind. These companies have built their brand to not only exemplify their products but also their corporate philosophy. Take Nike, for example, their brand includes much more than just well-made sports gear and apparel. Nike is now recognized worldwide for its “just do it” mantra and its encouragement for customers and athletes to be all they can be. So what does a brand mean for your company?

What is a Brand?

Your brand is your corporate personality. Done well, it crosses all marketing channels, from print advertising to product packaging to digital marketing. It includes your logo, your packaging colors, the font on your name, and your slogan. Branding has been around since the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, but it has never been more relevant than it is today.

Why Branding is Important?

Branding sets your company apart from other companies selling the same or similar products. It also lets consumers and potential customers know what your company stands for. For instance, do you appeal to a young and active clientele or is your corporate persona more elegant and formal? Branding can help you define your marketing niche and, when done well, it becomes a reflection of your products, like Nike and Kleenex.

Tips for Creating that Dynamic and Memorable Brand

So, how do you create this memorable brand? Below are a few things to consider:

1. Keep it simple.

The best brands are almost always those that are easy to read and comprehend. Whether your customers are scrolling through web pages or driving by billboards on the highway, you want them to understand you with a quick glance. Keeping your brand message short and sweet increases the odds that consumers will identify your company with that branding the next time they see it.

2. Avoid being trendy.

You want your brand to be memorable for decades, not just for today’s trendy moment. To do that, avoid getting caught up in the latest graphics or colors and, instead, make sure that your branding is truly representative of your corporate philosophy.

3. Be consistent.

Another key aspect of good branding is consistency. A good brand is consistent across all your marketing channels, including print, email marketing, social network, communications, and point of purchase.

Creating a dynamic and memorable brand doesn’t have to be an impossible task, especially when you work with StratGrow! For the best–and most memorable–results, we can help you make sure that your branding accurately represents your company philosophy. To learn more about branding or our other digital marketing services, give us a call at 800-721-4953.

The Importance of Using Landing Pages in your Digital Marketing Strategy

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Leamon Crooms

Landing pages can significantly increase your conversion rate, making them one of the most important parts of any digital marketing campaign. Understanding the role landing pages play in your sales funnel and how they work is essential if you want to make the most of this high-converting tool.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a single web page that has a sole purpose—to get visitors to take an action and click a link. You may have one or more of these converting sales tools out there at a time, picking up leads for you. Most brands find that one page for each form of traffic provides the best results. Each of your traffic sources, including PPC, email campaigns, social pages and organic content should lead to a dedicated landing page tailored to match the offer the prospect responded to. Landing pages help give visitors a reason to buy and result in higher conversion rates than traffic sources alone.

How Can Landing Pages Help My Brand?

Creating a landing page that meets the expectations of the visitor who just clicked through helps to build both authority and trust for your brand (provided the page delivers as promised). An optimized landing page will be easy for the viewer to navigate and have a single option to choose from. With an optimized page that delivers as promised, you’ll find a significant improvement in conversions over your core, standard website.

Landing Pages Boost Email Marketing Conversions

If you are already maintaining a healthy subscriber list and seeing prospective customers open your emails, creating a dedicated landing page for each offer or promotion ensures that those “opens” turn into purchases. Leading a prospective customer who responded to a specific offer to your regular website can be confusing for the potential customer, not to mention overwhelming. Offering too many choices may actually decrease your conversions. People may become distracted by other details or items and could easily forget why they clicked your link in the first place—or worse, they may navigate away from your site entirely. Landing pages for specific campaigns keep prospects focused and ensure they see the offer they responded to when they arrive on a website.

Social Networks and Landing Pages

Creating landing pages for the products or services you’re advertising or showcasing on your social networks makes it easy for visitors to become buyers. They’ll find an optimized, detailed page for the offer they responded to when you use a sound landing page strategy for your digital marketing.

Landing Pages Increase Conversions

Providing your prospects with more detailed information about the item or offer they responded to creates an easy way to move forward and will increase your conversion rate, which will increase your revenue. The easiest way to measure the effectiveness of a landing page for your brand is to test one out for yourself. Create a landing page specifically for traffic coming from search engines—then use the same ad to lead that traffic to your home page and compare the results. If your business is like most, you will see a significant difference in the conversion data between the two methods.

Get Help with Landing Pages and Other Digital Marketing Campaigns

Landing pages are an essential part of your digital marketing strategy, but they only perform well if they are easy to read, well-optimized and designed with conversions in mind. Let our team help you set up a high-converting page that gets results! Our expert team will help you quickly see what this powerful tool can do for your brand.

Marketing Online: Reaching Both Millennials and Baby Boomers

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Leamon Crooms

They’re the two biggest generations in our lifetime — in fact, millennials just passed baby boomers as the largest living generation, according to The Washington Post. These groups are too big to ignore when it comes to your digital marketing strategy. Generational marketing is one way to reach specific prospects and buyers — but can you market to both at the same time? While the same ads and social media platforms won’t work for both groups, you can take steps to consolidate your efforts and make parts of your strategy work twice as hard to reach both millennials and baby boomers.

Optimize your Website for Everyone

Your online marketing strategy has one primary goal, which is getting prospects to your site and into your sales funnel. A great website will convert your visitors into buyers, no matter where they came from. Create a site for lead generation that features your branding, is fully optimized for mobile and has a high level of readability — and both generations will be happy to engage and interact with your brand.

Use Separate Landing Pages

You can have multiple landing pages designed to appeal to different customers, so try creating one that reaches baby boomers and another that resonates with millennials. This is simply a matter of making some adjustments to copy and images that will appeal to each targeted group. Direct your prospects to the right landing page based on the social media ad or other digital marketing channel they have come from.

Find Common Ground for Both Targeted Groups

It’s no secret that millennials love video content, but baby boomers respond to video and images, too. Use this popular medium to capture the attention of both groups and your content will work harder for you. Use a single video for both groups or tweak the script and images slightly to appeal to each generation in separate content.

Segment your Email List

When it comes to email marketing, you can filter and segment your email list by location, past purchases, open rates and more. Try designating email lists by generation to help ensure you get the right offers in front of the right group of prospective customers or clients. This way, you’ll be able to target your best audience for your products or services.

Focus on Connections

Studies reveal that a whopping 84% of tech savvy millennials don’t trust advertisements. It’s just a matter of time before prospective customers and clients from the baby boomer older generation grow weary of ads, as well. Focus your efforts on forging relationships online, engaging on preferred social media platforms, and making a personal connection with folks. Don’t focus on running easily ignored ads and avoiding the comments and interactions.

Social Media isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

These distinctly different target groups have opposing preferences when it comes to social media. Millennials tend to use Snapchat, Instagram and other visual channels on mobile devices the most — while older generations and baby boomers prefer Facebook and LinkedIn. Make sure to stay up-to-date with which platforms are most popular with each generation as you design content for your digital media.

Generating Targeted Marketing Content

Generational marketing can have a significant impact on your success and your conversion rates, whether you are targeting millennials, baby boomers or both. Taking the time to design a plan that reaches both of these huge groups will allow you to scale your online marketing efforts in the right direction for success. Not sure how to reach one group or the other? We can help! Be sure to reach out to our StratGrow team to see true results with our help.

Digital Marketing in Arizona and Beyond: The StratGrow Way

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Leamon Crooms

Your brand needs a robust and active online presence if you want to succeed in the current market. These days, it’s no longer enough to just have a website. While a content-rich, engaging, and up-to-date presence will help power your brand to the top of your field, implementing all these components and strategically positioning your business takes time, energy, and know-how. When you partner with an expert digital marketing brand, you can meet your marketing goals, generate leads, and boost revenues without taking time away from running your actual business.

Expert Digital Marketing in Arizona

Our StratGrow team is made up of industry experts who are waiting to help you solve your marketing challenges, generate as many leads as you can handle, and meet your marketing goals. Whether you need help with a specific area like social media marketing or assistance forming a competitive and effective marketing strategy, we can help.

Website Design

The heart of your marketing plan is your website. If your site isn’t fully optimized, easy to use, and accessible on mobile devices, you are missing out on potential business. Since all of your marketing leads to your website, we can help you focus on creating an engaging and appealing site your visitors can’t resist.

Search Engine Mastery

Your business needs to shine online — and even the best website in the world won’t help you if no one can find your site. We use a unique, data-driven process to ensure that your site and brand are easy to find. By implementing the latest SEO tactics and strategies, we help our clients reach those coveted front page rankings in Google. Without a sound SEO strategy and regular updates, your brand is missing out on prospective business and customers.

Social Media Marketing

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, and other social media platforms are the newest way to get your business noticed and engage with customers. You know you need an engaging and involved presence, but do you have the time and interest to strategically grow your accounts? Our skilled social media experts offer the help you need to boost your brand’s visibility and make a real impression on potential customers. Whether you want to grow your existing presence or launch a new one, we can help.

Marketing Strategy

No in-house marketing team? No problem. Many of the brands that turn to us for help are large enough to need a marketing team but aren’t quite ready to hire one, in-house. When you work with our marketing consultants, you’ll get all the power of an experienced marketing team without the high price tag. If you aren’t sure where to begin, have tried several different methods without success, or simply lack the time to direct your marketing efforts, we can help.

Boost Revenues and Generate Leads for Your Arizona Business

It has never been easier to get your brand the attention it deserves. Partnering with the StratGrow team ensures that you’re perfectly positioned for success and that your efforts will be directed to the right place. By taking a data-driven, strategic approach, we ensure that you get the best possible ROI on your digital marketing investment. For help with your digital marketing in Arizona and beyond, get in touch with us today.

Tag: branding

Small Business Goals: How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Small or Expanding Business

Choosing Small Business Goals

Hiring Employees

Manage and Reduce Business Expenses

Create Lists and Sub-Lists