Three out of Four businesses don’t have consistent branding. This hinders how they communicate their message to their customers.

It’s essential to have a consistent brand identity and brand voice. Do you know how to clarify and communicate them to your team and your customers? Part of the problem is that those are three different hurdles, and they must be overcome in this order:

1.       Clarify your brand
2.       Communicate your brand to your team
3.       Communicate your brand to your customers

An Outside Perspective for Clarity

Because your business is so connected to you, it can be challenging to see everything you need to accurately clarify your brand the way someone with an outside perspective can. When you have a branding specialist consult with your team, they will be able to pull out the most critical aspects of your business that make it unique and worth patronizing.

Consistency within Your Team

Once your brand consulting is done, it is essential to communicate all details with every person in your company. Everyone from Maintenance to the CEO must have a cohesive understanding of your company, its purpose, and how to communicate its message.

The best way to gather and convey these details is through a Brand Book. A Brand Book is the finished document containing everything from your company’s story to its design elements. It is unique to your company. A digital copy should always be available to every employee.

Consistency in Your Message

When marketing materials are being created, they should comply with the decided-upon branding. To ensure they do, your marketing team can always refer to the Brand Book. If there is ever a question about whether something is “on-brand,” it is simple to find the answer.

Brand Book as a Marketing Tool

Your brand book can also become a marketing tool by removing the design-element pages. This leaves the content that talks about your message and purpose. These inspirational pages are perfect for sharing within your company, throughout your industry, and with potential clients.

You Need a Brand Book

Three out of Four businesses don’t have consistent branding. This hinders how they communicate their message to their customers. If your company is one of them, contact the branding specialists at Iceberg Web Design today.

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You must have brand clarity and a defined purpose, ensuring your message is heard in the noise of social media. And understand the “rules” of the social platform you are using.

How do you ensure your message is heard in today’s rapidly changing noisy environment of social media? You are not only competing against other brands but also other content creators and each social platform’s algorithm. To be heard above the noise, you must have brand clarity and a defined purpose for being in that social sphere.

You also need to understand the “rules” of the social platforms you are using to best leverage the content you post to that platform.

Start by Asking Yourself a two Questions

1.      What do I want to accomplish on social media?
Do I want:

•       Social engagement
•       Employee engagement
•       Lead generation
•       Community engagement
•       Feedback from potential customers
•       Name recognition

Make your goal(s) the center of everything you do on social.

2.       Who is going to monitor and engage the community on my chosen social channel?

The reason people are on social media because they want to engage with family, friends, influencers, and brands. So if you think you will just put content out there and that will satisfy the masses, you’re wrong. It will come off as insincere.

While you may not think you need someone to babysit your social media full-time (especially if you are only using one preferred platform), you will want someone who will pay attention to it and respond in a way that your audience will appreciate. It isn’t a crockpot that you can set and forget. And, if your social media campaign does happen to go viral, it will be well worth the cost of hiring a full-time social media expert.

Content

You must go deep if you want to get the most out of the content you create. The benefit of this is that you can create one in-depth blog and use it from several angles across your social media channels.

Imagine you write a post about dog grooming during the pandemic.

•       You have amazing pictures for Instagram of coifed dogs.
•       Highlight the changes in the grooming industry for a LinkedIn post.
•       On Facebook, talk about the top 3 essential oils you can use to calm your dog down before they go to the groomer. Then, ask other people for their tips.
•       Make a great video montage in fast motion for TikTok.

Whatever you choose to do, link back to the original post and stay part of the conversation.

Community

When your audience and your content collide, and a conversation starts, the content you create is amplified. It becomes alive! And that’s the best publicity of all.

Recently I came across a Tic-Tok video of a 56 year-old-woman who struggled with bags under her eyes after weight loss surgery. She applied Thomas Peter Roth Instant Firmx Eye Temporary Eye Tightener to one eye in real-time and showed the difference it made. It was remarkable! Peter Thomas Roth sold out of this product everywhere—including on their e-comm site.

Why did this work? Because it was genuine! Many people who saw the video shared it, and Peter Thomas Roth benefited from the community. Engage!

Consistency

Reverse engineer social media. Stop selling to people and begin engaging with them. When you educate people in inspiring and entertaining ways, they will comment on and share your content. Respond to their comments! This is your brand’s opportunity to be a part of the conversation. Don’t let those opportunities pass you by.

This engagement brings organic traffic to your site and will increase your authority in Google’s eyes.

Tic-Tok and Instagram are currently the best platforms to create snack-able content that your audience will engage with and share. But the platform(s) you choose will depend on where your ideal audience is.

Engaging a Professional

Do you need help defining your Brand Clarity for social media engagement? Does your content need a facelift? Iceberg Web Design has content writers and branding specialists who can help. Best of all, we are easy to reach. We are web developers who answer the phone. Call us at 763-350-8762 or contact us today to take your business to the next level.

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If you can’t get prospects to convert, you have a brand-pitch issue, not a sales pitch issue. Your core messaging is either unclear or off-brand. The way to solve this problem is to quickly get to the bottom line by encapsulating your brand, what it is, and what it isn’t. Upgrade your elevator pitch to provoke and engage your audience by telling them three things:

•       This is what I do
•       This is how I solve your problem
•       This is how I’m different from the rest of the pack

Rather than shouting at your audience or telling them things without allowing them to respond, provoke a conversation. Your tagline should cause your audience to ask (either verbally or mentally), “Tell me more,” or “What’s in it for me?”

Your Tagline

•       Answers the question, “What do you do?”
•       Short, provocative.
•       Hopefully, this will cause your audience to say, “Interesting. Tell me more.”

Your Value Proposition Statement

•       Articulates how you will solve someone’s problem.
•       Phrase your VPS as “You do [this], so you get [that].”
•       A you-focused call-to-action statement—should start with “You,” not “We.”
•       The human brain will naturally want to make a comparison to make sense of what you have just told your audience. That’s good! It sets you up for the 3rd step.

Your Differentiator Statements

•       Outlines what you are and what you aren’t in a set of 4-5 sentences.
•       What makes you different from your competition
•       Provokes your audience to want to know more about you

Example of an Upgraded Elevator Pitch

Tagline

Instead of saying, “I’m an accountant,” your provocative tagline could say, “I am a tax liability reduction specialist.”

Value Proposition Statement

“Bring me your taxes, and I guarantee your tax liability will be less than if you were to bring them anywhere else for preparation.”

Differentiator Statements

•       I can find itemized deductions other tax preparers will miss.
•       I’m an expert at shifting income to the most beneficial accounts-legally.
•       I know how to utilize tax exemptions that are often overlooked.
•       I will document everything clearly and defend my accounting work in the case of an audit for free.

Now They’re Ready to Hear About Your Products or Services

The point at which conversion happens is when they ask the how/what question: “How does that work?” “What do you do?” Speak to their pain points.

When they click on the button, you have them!

Your Brand, Clarified

Once you have clarified your brand, you can implement it across your:

•       Website
•       Social Media Platforms
•       Pitch Decks
•       Proposals
•       Printed Materials (One-Pagers)
•       Digital Marketing
•       Advertising
•       “Elevator Pitch”
•       Bios

Do You Have a Family of Companies?

When you have a parent brand and supporting brands, it’s essential to review the parent company’s mission statement, vision, and values. Are they on point? Fine-tune—or rewrite them if necessary.

Next, write the mission statement, vision, and values for the company offshoot. Ensure these are in line with those of the parent company.

You can now work on the tagline, value proposition statement, and differentiator statements for the sister or child company. Their tagline may be the same, but their value proposition statement and differentiator statements should be unique while still harmonizing with the parent company’s branding.

70/30

Your brand can’t serve everyone. Your brand needs to serve the customers who supply 70% of your revenue. Get good at it! Those customers are your base and should be your marketing audience. The other 30% will come to you in their own way. At that time, you can serve them, too.

At Iceberg Web Design, we are branding experts. Call 763-350-8762 or contact us today to meet with a marketing specialist who can help you define and refine your brand by creating a Brand Book for you.

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Most brands don’t have a famous narrator to keep audiences waiting in anticipation for their next ad campaign. But they should all have a voice—even if it is an imagined one.

Are you branding your company for the first time, rebranding, or just defining a brand that has never been clearly communicated before? One of the first things you need to do is to find your brand voice.

What is a Brand Voice?

If you want a literal example, there is none better than Ving Rhames. He has had an impressive career as both an actor and a voice actor. Since 2014, Ving has been the voice of the Arby’s commercials which tout “We have the meats!” Enjoy this “Try Not to Laugh” compilation of his ads.

Most brands don’t have a famous narrator to keep audiences waiting in anticipation for their next ad campaign. But they should all have a voice—even if it is an imagined one.

How Do You Find a Silent Voice?

A lot of imagination is a great place to start. But first, you have to know your audience. Who is your ideal customer? How do you speak to them in a way that is relatable and genuine? What kinds of language would you use or avoid using?

If Your Brand was a Person

What would your brand say? How would your brand move, dress, act? This is where imagination comes in. It can also be helpful to see how others within your company see your brand.

We recently did a simple exercise where everyone was asked to privately message me five words they would use to describe Iceberg Web Design and our services. It was interesting to see how many people had in common. And nearly everyone included the word “Responsive” as one of their answers. Other common themes were: reliable, friendly, and authoritative.

What are Your Brand Differentiators?

You don’t want to be just like all the other guys in your industry. But you also don’t want to be different just to say you are. So, what makes you different, and why does it matter? What are the things that you are—and are NOT?

Have One Person Write

As you are defining your brand voice, have one person do the writing until it becomes solidified. After that, anyone marketing or joining the writing team should get very familiar with that voice. Otherwise, you will be putting out marketing material and blog posts that don’t sound “on-brand.” Don’t worry. It won’t take long for the entire team to be able to emulate your brand voice.

Do You Need Help Finding Your Brand Voice?

From websites to branding, Iceberg Web Design knows how to market your business online. We have solutions to your business problems and can help you grow! We are just a phone call away, 763-350-8762.

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The Halo Effect

A well-established, positive brand identity will give your company a competitive advantage over companies that are inconsistent with their image and reputation. This is referred to in marketing as the “halo effect.” In addition, the halo effect increases your mindshare. “Mindshare” is another marketing term used to describe the brand awareness and popularity of a product, service, or company. It is when people know that something will be high quality because a particular brand makes it.

The Horn Effect

The horn effect is the opposite of the halo effect. When a company does a poor job of managing customer expectations, social media, or public image, people will have a negative impression of the brand rather than a positive one. For example, what do you think of when you hear Monsanto, the NFL, Sprint, or the Trump Organization? These companies once had glowing reputations eventually tarnished by scandal, poor public relations, or lousy customer service.

Can You Overcome a Negative Brand Identity?

Yes! But whether you are trying to establish a brand identity for the first time or overcome a negative one due to a public image disaster, you must be intentional. Remember, your brand image isn’t what you say it is. Instead, it’s what others perceive it to be. Shaping it or reshaping it takes time and diligence.

Amazon recently began a campaign to improve its image as an employer. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen. However, the fact that they are concerned about this despite thriving economically shows they know how fickle the public can be and that even they could be toppled if they don’t repair their image quickly.

But brand identity is just as important for smaller companies as it is for gigantic ones. So how do you go about establishing a positive brand identity?

Make the Core of Your Business Brand Known

First, you must establish what the core of your business brand is. What’s your:

•       Purpose: Why do you get up and do what you do every day as a company? What is the Goal you are all working toward if you had to boil it down to one main thing?
•       Values: What are the guidelines that you work within? Do you value family? That means valuing your customers’ families and your employees’ families, as well. Values are a big responsibility because people know whether you are living up to them or just talking.
•       Vision: What is your vision for the future? What steps are you taking to make that vision a reality? You can’t say you want to lower pollution without actively changing how your company uses energy and deals with waste. Walk out your vision with precision!
•       Mission: Write a mission statement that encompasses your purpose and your values to show how you will make your vision for the future a reality.

Consistency

Then you must consistently deliver on your promises to your customers. Go above and beyond. Your reputation is your most valuable asset, so hang on to it tightly.

At Iceberg Web Design, we’ve built a reputation for excellence and accessibility. We are web developers who answer the phone. We’d love to help you with your business and website needs! So give us a call at 763-350-8762. Contact us today!

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Follow the Advice of Content Marketers

Content marketers know their business. That’s why when 86% of them are doing this as part of their content strategy. It pays to consider that ‘it’ worth doing. What are they doing? Blogging! “Businesses with a consistent content or blog strategy receive twice as much email traffic as those without. Plus, more than 55 percent of marketers say they’ve gained new customers just by blogging.” [1]

How Much Work Goes into a Writing a Blog?

Content can be anywhere from 500 to 1200 words on average, depending on your audience and what kind of marketing you are doing. The average blog post takes nearly four hours to complete. What goes into that time?

•     Research
•     Writing
•     SEO Crafting
•     Editing
•     Image Sourcing
•     Final Draft

It can be time-consuming, but it is worth it. A professionally written blog can bring in business and increase name recognition across the web.

SEO Services 

If you include SEO services with your online content, you are doubling down on a marketing masterpiece. With SEO services, your blog can be posted to social media and Google My Business in front of the right audiences at the correct times to increase traffic to your site even more. 

Will it Hurt to Ditch my Blog? It’s Not That Great. 

YES! If you get rid of your existing blog, Google’s algorithms will see a sudden elimination of content from your site. Your site’s SEO will drop like a rock and won’t recover for a long time. 

If you are unhappy with your blog, the best thing you can do is hire an SEO professional to manage it. They can slowly change each post to a new, improved version, keeping the URL intact. That is important since Google likes changes to content (not URLs), but it wants these to be slow changes.

Getting Help 

Then, you can outsource your blog writing to a professional blogger so you can work on your business while they work on your blog. Companies who blog get 97% more links to their websites.[2] Why give that up? At Iceberg Web Design, we produce professionally written SEO content every day for our customers. Contact us today to find out how we can help you. Read our reviews! 

[1] Lin, Ying. “10 Blogging Statistics You Need to Know in 2021 [Infographic].” Oberlo, Oberlo, 26 Feb. 2021, www.oberlo.com/blog/blogging-statistics.

[2] Ouellette, Coral, et al. “Ultimate List of Blogging Statistics and Facts (Updated for 2021).” OptinMonster, 6 Jan. 2021, optinmonster.com/blogging-statistics/.

The post Why Keeping Your Blog is Important appeared first on Iceberg Web Design.

Avoid Google Images

It is easy to do a Google search and find pictures that would look great on your site. Unfortunately, most of the images you see will be under copyright. If you use one of them, it can lead to a lawsuit with a hefty fine. There are much better ways to find images for your site, including:

•         Taking your own pictures
•         Purchasing images from one of the many sites that sells them
•         Using open-source images

How to use open source images

There are several great ways to find open-source images on the web. One great source is Unsplash.  While these images are free and don’t require any attribution, giving the photographer and Unsplash credit is the right thing to do. To learn more about attribution, check out Grow’s article, “7 Best Sources for Finding Open Source Images For Your Blog.” This article includes ideas of where to look and some crucial things to keep in mind when using open source images.

Investing in an image warehouse

There are many websites where you can pay a small fee for the right to use their image on your site. You can choose to pay a monthly fee for multiple (and even unlimited) photos or pay per image.

Check out this article by Bluleadz.com for, “The 25 Very Best Stock Image Websites You Need in 2020 to Add Visual Flair.” By buying the right to use images, you can be assured that you are legally safe and ethically sound.

Using Alt Tags, Descriptions, and Image Title Tags

Often people focus on SEO for the words on their website without taking advantage of the benefits that come from optimizing their images. You can bring traffic to your website using proper alt tags, descriptions, and titles on your photos.

Alt Tags

Alternate text is an accessibility tool that tells visually impaired users to know the image by enabling screen readers to read them the alt text for the picture. Have you ever had a broken image on your site? When this happens, you see a little box with a few words next to it. Those words are the alt text. In this situation, they even benefit non-visually impaired users by sharing what they should be seeing. You can find out more about Alternative Text and how to use it in WPBeginner’s “Beginner’s Guide to Image SEO – Optimize Images for Search Engines.”

Image Descriptions and Title Tags

An image description also assists the visually impaired, but it is more detailed than alternative text. When optimizing images, don’t choose one or the other, but include both. An unlikely source for how to do this well comes from the American Anthropological Association. Check out their fascinating guide. And WP Promote shares why optimizing the image title is vital. It would be best if you always changed the image file name. Find out why and how in their guide.

Need Help?

Hopefully, this will expand your understanding of how to use images effectively. If you would like us to make things even easier for you, contact Iceberg Web Design to see how we can optimize your images and more. If you prefer, give us a call at 763-350-8762. We are web developers who answer the phone!

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Your logo serves a similar purpose for your business.

It makes the first impression on your customers, and a lasting one, as well. If you are hungry and spot a giant golden M as you drive down the highway, you know that you can pull off and have some fantastic french fries. If I say Starbucks logo, you can picture it in your head (even though it is pretty bizarre). That’s because these logos are easily recognizable. They are on their company’s buildings and the packaging that holds their products. They can be seen in every ad the company puts out, and these logos are definitely on their websites.

Yours should be, too!

Logos Create Connection

In the mid-80s, Guess Jeans were sweeping the nation. All of the cool girls had them. Most of us in the 6th grade had no idea if they were any better than other brands, but we sure recognized that trademark triangle. It was a coveted logo for a middle-school girl. That logo sold a lot of jeans!

The emotional connection of that logo still takes me back in time. Logos have that power over most consumers. Consider that: [1]

• 80 percent of consumers think that colors boost brand recognition
• 93 percent of purchasing decisions are made based on visual perceptions

Your logo can make an impact on how your customers perceive your business and your products or services.

A Logo Shows Professionalism

Your logo says you are serious about your business. Anything less makes customers wonder, “If they didn’t take the time to create a logo, are they really in this business for the long-haul?” Unless you are a professional designer, you should consult with one about your logo. They can make sure it will transfer well to different mediums, physical and digital.

Do you want your business to stand out from the crowd?

Our professional website development can make that happen. And if you need a logo, we’ve got you covered there, too! Contact us to learn more.

[1] “10 Reasons Why a Small Business Logo Is Important.” FreeLogoServices Blog, 11 Apr. 2019, www.freelogoservices.com/blog/2018/07/23/10-reasons-why-a-small-business-logo-is-important/.

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Respond to Negative Reviews

One reason you should read and respond to reviews is to learn from mistakes. As you listen to the people buying your product or service, you may see things that need to be changed in your business or your product to prevent future unsatisfied customers.

You could also turn an unsatisfied customer into a loyal one, for life.  45% of people say they are more likely to visit a business that responds to negative reviews. They see that you care about their experience with your product or service. Answering and taking responsibility also tells them that if something goes wrong, you will make it right.

Improve your SEO

Responding to reviews, both good and bad, will help you serve your customers well and improve your SEO. Google even says so!  They also recommend encouraging customers to leave feedback by creating a link to where they can write a review. All review platforms can help your SEO, and responses only help you to build trust.

How should you respond to a negative review?

Use the 3 Ps. Be:

•         Prompt
•         Polite
•         Professional

Never argue with the customer. It won’t help you to regain their business and will put other customers off when they read about it online. Instead, thank the customer for taking the time to review your business. Acknowledge the issue and offer to work out a solution offline. Once you have solved the problem, you can write a brief comment online to share how you handled it.

Don’t copy/paste your response. A canned response to everyone can be tempting to do to save time, but it is crucial to personalize your message. Your clientele will respect the personal touch and deserve it. Also, if your message is canned, your audience will smell it from a mile away. No one likes insincerity.

What About Fake Negative Reviews?

These are sometimes posted by “trolls.” The poster could be a stranger, a competitor, or even someone you know who is trying to cause trouble for you. If someone has written a misleading, false review, you can request the website to remove it. The process for this will be different from one site to the next, so you will have to ask the site administrator for some guidance if you can’t find it in the help section.

Why not ask for all the negative reviews to be removed?

Legitimate reviews should be left up and responded to constructively. It is how you build relationships with customers. Also, a few negative reviews amidst many four, and 5-star reviews add authenticity to your brand. Have you ever seen a product with no bad reviews? It seems unreal and can cause people to question whether the positive reviews are even legitimate.

Instead, always offer to make it right.

Making things right might mean replacing the item, giving their money back, or working out another resolution appropriate to the situation.

Your response isn’t just for the reviewer. It’s for everyone who reads the review. If you resolve the issue well, and the customer is happy, you can even ask them to write a testimonial to share online.

How to know if you receive a negative review

Iceberg Web Design’s Reputation Management Services can notify you in real-time of the reviews you receive across 150+ review sites. You can use this to respond to both positive and negative reviews. Find out more about how our reputation management services can lift your business to the next level. Contact us to learn how we can help you. We are web developers that answer the phone.

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“The 10,000 foot-view of these trends makes it clear that ‘web’ design looks more like traditional ‘graphic’ or ‘print’ design than ever.
The amount of flexibility that designers in being expressive and creatively nimble is astonishing compared to just five or ten years ago.”
–Khoi Vinh, Senior Director of Product Design at Adobe XD.[1]

A dominating grid of cards

Websites are commonly laid out on a grid. Grid web layouts are a direct descendent of the grids used in print layouts. They are consistent, regardless of the screen size on which it is reproduced, allowing them to work well with responsive designs. Read more about the history of the grid as an element of design. Grids can vary in size, spacing, and the number of columns.

Cards are the perfect companion for the grid layout. Cards are essentially containers for clickable information. The style of cards can vary based on screen size. Information heavy content can be arranged in bite-sized previews, which users can dive into by clicking or tapping the card. This is particularly useful on sites that display a lot of items with equal hierarchy (Think Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube).

Muted landscapes

These make beautiful heroes (the large banner area at the top of the website which takes up most of the screen). Popular with photographer’s websites, they are also well-utilized in travel and destination websites such as this site for Trail Breaker Kennel.

Geometric shapes and lines

Geometric shapes, lines (including fine lines), and patterns are making a comeback. Our all-star example of this is the creative innovation company 4000 More Creative. The logo alone includes all of it: Geometric shapes, Lines (including fine lines) and patterns. This site is also an excellent example of…

Trendy color schemes

Trendy color schemes like bright bold colors and retro color schemes are both big this year. Bold colors are used throughout the 4000 More Creative site, but their pineapple takes the upside-down cake.
Just for bonus points, 4000 More Creative uses a video hero, which we looked at last week.

Compatible Visual Design

The goal of visual design isn’t just to be trendy. It’s being compatible with the message of the website. That’s why the 4000 More Creative site can utilize extra creative elements. Trail Breaker Kennel and other destination type sites want to visually transport you. That takes something epic and mystical like a muted landscape. A dominating grid of cards is perfect for a paint store like Hirschfield’s. It evokes the feeling of looking at paint chips in a brick and mortar paint store.

Iceberg Web Design creates websites that are innovative in visual design and compatible with the message that their client wants to send. Contact us today to see how we can help you tell your story.

[1] Turner, Leigh. “10 Web Design Trends That Will Dominate Your Screen in 2020.” Fundamentals | The Next Web, 20 Dec. 2019, thenextweb.com/adobe-fundamentals/2019/12/20/10-web-design-trends-that-will-dominate-your-screen-in-2020/.

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