Showing posts with label B2B branding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B2B branding. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

“Your Blog………Your Brand”

Many times we come across information about how someone has made it big by blogging. People have quit their high-profile jobs and gone into writing blogs. Amit Agarwal, an IIT graduate from India, started his blogging site Labnol.org in 2004. Amit left his career to become the first professional blogger from India, and his Labnol is where you can find technology simplified for you.


People log off from their systems at home or office, get into their cars or as a matter any mode of transport that they use and log in again via their phones. What is happening all the time online?



‘Viral’……..‘Trending.’

These are few terms that we come across every minute. What is a Viral Content? 

Blog & Brand - SLN Brand Studio
Viral content is something that can spread overnight as a matter of fact, within minutes. Here, creating such a compelling content is significant if you are working towards building a brand through your personal or professional blogs.


How does blogging help you?



  • You create a trusted online platform that is worth reading and at the same time making it a perfect and efficiently market you/your product/services.      
  • No direct selling here but you grow an audience base and establish the value you bring them 
  • Give you that exposure as an expert in your respective field and thus the readers take you more seriously


However, creating a blog that becomes a brand is not something easy to do. Do you want to check if your content is elevating your brand value?

Answer these few questions. You will ultimately find the answers that you are looking. 

1.      Is your blog short and relevant?    Yes/ No


If your answer is Yes, then you are in the right direction because a concise and appropriate blog is essential to gain the attention of the reader. The online readers usually have a very short attention span.

If No then the content has to be worked upon with much of the irrelevant material being cut down upon and content specific article be written. For example, if it is a blog for recipes, it is always better to stick to a few facts rather than writing unwanted things for pages. The visitors tend to scroll down to the actual content or leaving the page.

2.      Is your content genuine & supported by Facts? 


The content has to be 100% genuine and truthful, or else it would lose out on the loyalty of the audience and not gain sustainability. Achieving user loyalty is extremely tough whereas losing it very easy and happens in a jiffy.

For example, if writing about travel and adventure, it would always do to present facts about the place, how to get there, and the pros and cons truthfully rather than glorify it with false data. 
            

3.      Is it unique and exciting to read?


The Online reading material has to be well presented with a unique writing style that is distinctive to the blogger.

Why do you think Amitabh Bachchan write blogs?

The ‘Big B,’ Mr. Amitabh Bachchan does not need any introduction. Just because he is a well-known personality and a good actor, he cannot build and retain a readership to his blogs. Through unique content, he has created insight into a character of his that is not known to many.

Not only the topic, but the way one writes must also be unique enough to intrigue interest in the reader’s mind. Check out if the content is your blog interests the readers. 
     
                          

4.      Does your blog define you?


“Many people are doing what you are doing….do not know how to make it unique.”
Blogging Guide - SLN Brand Studio

Is this what is bothering you? Remember, the experiences are unique for different people. A habit or your ability which you think as 'common' or a 'normal' could be a great one for someone else. They may even struggle writing the way as you do with an ease.

You focus on creating a content that will provide value in your way. Write about your own experiences and lessons learned thus making the posts more powerful, personal, and relevant.




For example, you would have come across many ‘how to series?’. However, keenly notice the ones that are most visited or popular. Do you see a similarity? 

Yes, the series with more ‘tried and tested’ methods, real-time examples and simple to understand methodologies help to acquire more visitors. Without a compelling content, even with attractive images, retaining the readership and followers would be highly challenging. 

     

5.      Are you covering too much too fast?


This caution is, especially for the starters. Always create a content targeting a targetted audience. Writing too many things on a single blog to cover more extensive audience will not help in building brand equity. 

Remember, create only a relevant and genuine content. Do not just fill the page with unwanted keywords.


Unwanted Keyword Spamming will kill the Brand Image.


6.      Are you creative and consistent?


Content architecture is an art. Become an artist. 

With loads of gadgets, information scattered all around us, the readers, users, audience quickly get bored, with repeated content. Use your creativity, design attractive images, share podcasts, videos and other tools to make your content better read.

How to start a blog is not the hard part but being stable and growing a considerable, devoted audience can be quite challenging. 




Tuesday, 7 March 2017

3 Important Things to do before Building a Website - 3 P Model: Plan, Price and Product

More than a billion (and counting) websites available today, everyone is talking about being Unique.
How can it be done?

Are businesses unique today? Nope, No business is unique today.

You talk about a business idea thinking that it is Unique. Do a market research. There are already players existed in the market and trending in different levels…..

You talk about a Unique website, end up having one that is very similar to the Billions available online…..

Sounds Familiar, hua?

What is UNIQUE then? Let us define the solution as well here……….

There are three most important things to do before you decide on your website.

Implement 3 P model in your web design architecture.

Best Web Content Writing, Bangalore


Content Architecture in your website

You would have seen this in our SLN Brand Studio website. We follow ‘three circle of information architecture’ model while building content architecture for our client’s website. 

How does it work? 

Create your content architecture based on the business you do and the value you add to your customer. Do not build content for the sake of having all the keywords related to your business.

Infact, we suggest you develop a content architecture as a first thing, even before talking to a web designer. This practice will give more clarity on how your website should look like.

Make sure the content creates a brand for you which will automatically bring in leads. Need help in website design layout creation, talk to us.

We can help you:

-          How to develop your web design layout?
-          How to build content that brings in leads and business without impacting the business context?

Understand various costs related to building your website

Hosting
Blogging
Domain Name

Such terms and associated cost could be scary especially if you are building a website for the first time. Been there, Done that….

Before investing on any of these services, wait. There are designers who will do all these within a single packaged price. Leave it to them and work on building your business. Webbazaar helped building our website.

Talk to a designer and understand how all these services work. To understand more and negotiate better, you can read about costs pertaining to owning a website.

That BIG & BEAUTIFUL Image that sits on your website


A cup with Green Tea, Antique looking Table, A person with a computer or iPAD, some greenery, Library like structure, a computer, office room, conference hall……

Randomly check few websites now….. One in 5 or 10 websites, you will see atleast one Image from the above list?

Now, check whether these images make any sense or connect anything with the business you want to talk about. Nope, right?

This is what happens when people have a ‘Following Herd’ mentality. Ask your designer to work on the images that speaks volume about YOUR business.

We can help you to make informed decision on branding and images as well…….

Building a website is not a big deal if you do it well from the beginning. Do the basics right!!!





Wednesday, 23 November 2016

How to Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Newsletters, Blogs, Articles, Press Reports, YouTube to create Brand Image?

“I have a confession to make”

One of the trainees said in a hurried voice, a young entrepreneur in early 20s who wanted to build a brand towards her product selling. It was during a coffee break in one of my brand building workshop. She was looking here and there as if she were to spill a bean which will explode into an atom bomb.

“I spend hours together on the internet without even knowing what’s happening around me. This includes all of possible social media like facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, articles etc.,” she continued saying, “I can sense many of you are like me!” and looked at my face for some re-assurance.

I smiled at her and told that I would cover how to effectively utilise social media in my workshop. Social Media is indeed A Gateway to Branding.

Few ‘Gyaan’ here from my workshop for my beloved readers on the key impact social media do to build a business brand!

Social Media and Branding

A recent research conducted by E-consultancy services proved that nearly 71% of brands prefer to invest in social media advertising to promote their brands. The main aim of this research was to find out ways to attract new followers to build brand reputation.

SLN Brand Studio - Various types of Social Media Portals



Social media helps majorly in achieving Brand Equity, Brand Value and Brand Image.

How to Use Social Media to achieve Brand Equity?

Sales Force, a company that provides Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions uses Facebook page which is connected with real-time clients. They also ask thought provoking questions and share various blogs to keep their customers engaged.

An Interior Designer keeps posting the pictures/images of her work on Instagram that keeps popping up every now and build brand equity in both B2B or B2C segments.

SLN Brand Studio Facebook page is extensively used for brand promotion majorly through knowledge sharing.

SLN Brand Studio - Connection between Social Media and Branding

How to Use Social Media to Build Brand Image?

Brand image for any market segment can be improved by effectively using social media.

Hubspot, a company that provides marketing software solutions amazes its audience by having a balanced tweeting schedule in twitter. The customers are engaged and kept alive by posting numerous discussions on various products. Such practice increases the value of knowledge the company shares and in-turn boosts its brand image.

Starbucks was an early adopter of social media. The coffee chain giant made their presence Omni present by including special features such as offers, store locators, menu, job posting on the Facebook page.

LinkedIn company profile creates huge impact on building Brand Image. Learn how to design your LinkedIn company profile here.

How to Use Social Media to Improve Brand Value?

Do you have a website but struggling to build traffic? Social media can be your best friend to boost up the traffic. Millions of users from the networking sites can become your followers building up the brand value.

Blogs about your brand that provides reviews and positive statements can add up to the value. This might speed up chances of press reports about a particular product.

Cisco Systems, the IT networking giant share videos on YouTube to engage, educate and inform customers on networking solutions without directly selling their product. This increases the value users hold for the product by multiple times.

Have you heard of Paw Patrol? Ask a 5 year old, they will give you a complete record of what they are. That is the reach the gaming company has created using social media portals. The series of this game pops up during YouTube video or in all kids’ blogs which makes it inquisitive for the children to explore more about them.

So, do you feel your product should sway the hearts or be at the top of ‘the most talked about product’? Then why wait to become a tech savvy?  Bang on with social media. Facebook posts, tweets, Instagram pictures, blogs, articles, pins are the fastest vehicles to take your brand on tour thereby increasing its presence in the hearts and minds of the users.


Tuesday, 22 November 2016

How to Build Brand using Various Marketing Materials? Part 2 - Understanding USP of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Newsletters, Blogs, Articles, Press Reports, YouTube

Can SLN Brand Studio help manage our Social Media Marketing?

This is one of the frequently asked questions we encounter as we stress on using social media in brand building. Before committing ourselves, we ask our clients to understand various social media portals commonly used in building business.

Here's some briefing for you, our beloved online readers.

Newsletter – A bulletin or written report usually a 1 page document often circulated amongst a particular group of people with specific interest that covers information on a particular subject. A newsletter may follow various writing styles such as chat or serious discussion or light hearted note depending on the targeted audience. It may also contain graphs, charts, photographs that are generally considered to be more informative than being attractive.

SLN Brand Studio Newsletter Sample
Some clients prefer more image and less content in their newsletter communication. 

SLN Brand Studio - Sample Newsletter

Press Reports – A written or recorded communication officially declared by authorities of an organisation in the news media or the purpose of announcing something worthy.

Facebook – Popular social networking sites that allow users to create a profile and expand their network for free. It is used both for professional and personal purposes. SLN Brand Studio uses its Facebook page extensively for knowledge sharing.

Twitter – Like Facebook,twitter is a social networking site where the registered users can post short messages with maximum 140 characters. The latest topics are discussed here amongst the twitter users and are accessible from any web interface.

Instagram – Instagram slightly varies from the above two social networking sites. It is mainly a photo or video sharing platform. Photos of branding documents are shared here to promote products to a vast crowd.

Blogs - Online personal journals that share information on various topics and updated regularly. The casual and conversational tone is used to attract followers. Images make a great difference as well here.

Read our blog posts written in various styles, you can choose your preferred style, we will write for you.

Articles – A piece of writing composed on a particular topic usually published in newspapers, magazines or online media. The articles considered for marketing purposes usually follow tabloid style of writing with bold & attractive headings. 

LinkedIn – A social networking site where a group of registered business professionals’ team up to build a network and also benefit from the subject knowledge shared in the forums and discussions. Businesses can have a company LinkedIn profile page to attract more followers.

Follow SLN Brand Studio to understand how it works. 

Pinterest – This networking platform works like a pin board where we pin up all the important pages or notes. The Web Pages, articles, photos, images, infographics are pinned to boards created by users. This allows easy reference in future. The images are picked while searching and lead to respective web sites.

Mail advertisement – A marketing tactic that uses mail or email (in case of online marketing) to circulate their branding documents such as brochures, pamphlets, flyers etc. to create awareness about their product/service.

YouTube – YouTube is one best place to share you marketing videos, branding PPTs, profile information, sample services (like training programs,) among millions of viewers.


The best part with social media is one need not be techsavy to use these for their personal and business growth. The user friendly make it more attractive and but, make sure you are managing your time well.

Reach us to understand more on this. 

Want to understand how each of these social media portals help in building a brand. Check out.


Monday, 14 November 2016

How to Build Brand using Various Marketing Materials? Part 1 - Understanding USP and the difference between Brochure, Flyers, Catalogue, Leaflets, Pamphlets & Prospectus

I need a Break!!!!

Yes every weekend, it s a break from our regular cooking and I get to order food just at the comfort of our living room. What do we do by default? Immediately, we tend to pull up the draw; find the piece of paper containing the menu and number of favorite restaurants and order your favorite food. Isn't the scene in almost all the households?

Life has become that simple. Be the offers or launches or the upgrades, the information about the products/services is available to us right at the doorstep or in fact at every place we go.

The credit to such easy access goes to the power of advertisement. Advertisement or Brand promotion is done using various forms of media like television, radio, and websites and also printed on newspapers. Brand development also includes sharing these marketing materials such as Brochure, Pamphlet, Prospectus, Leaflets, Fliers, and Catelogue from door to door. 

Have u ever wondered why there are so many types of branding documents? Did you know each document/material come with unique features and its own style? Read on.


What is a Branding Document?


A 'branding document' is nothing but establishing a particular brand through the print media and other social media portals. It is to ensure that the marketing or promotion of that particular brand reaches every potential client so that it increases the awareness for the particular product. The print media specifically aids in reaching the users who do not access to online information.

However, in this “Gen Y” era , with internet in everybody’s pocket, these marketing materials are also shared in their “e” versions to gain easy access to information.

Types of Advertising/ Branding Documents


A few types of print media apart from newspaper and magazines would be:

                 
Difference between Brochure, Pamphlets, Leaflets, Catalogues, Fliers, Print Media, Posters - SLN Brand Studio

                          


1. Brochure - A set of pages pinned or bound or folded together to illustrate what the product is all about. It often includes images and graph along with crisp content.

2. Pamphlet - A small booklet describing the product and having a paper cover that is generally not bound

3. Prospectus – A document or booklet containing a formal summary of both technical and non technical features of a product, business or service

4. Leaflets – A single sheet of paper containing very brief information about the product, usually distributed for free.

5. Flyers – A small bill designed in an eye catching manner irrespective of the design structure to reach out to a large customer base.

6. Catalogue – A booklet or a record that usually lists all the items or features usually in alphabetical or symmetrical order.

7. Poster – A large printed piece of paper usually attached to any vertical surface that has both textual and graphical information.


How different are these Advertisement and Branding documents?


These advertising and marketing documents are usually misunderstood and used interchangeably. The table below charts the differences between Brochure, Flyers, Catalogue, Leaflets, Pamphlets & Prospectus; also helps to understand the USP of each document.


Difference between Brochure, Pamphlet, Prospectus, Leaflets, Flyers, Catalogue, Poster - SLN Brand Studio

Branding and Advertising Document


Media plays an important role in bringing the brand into our lives and increasing the brand value, brand image and brand equity of the product/service or business.





Achieve Brand Equity by using Brochure, Flyers, Catalogue, Leaflets, Pamphlets & Prospectus


Brand equity is nothing but the value of possessing a particular brand. It indicates that higher brand equity can attribute to additional revenue generation just by the name of the brand. 

·        Any branding document such as brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, catalogue etc add to the sensory experience of information being reached out.

When brands appeal to more than three senses, advertising effectiveness will increase with 70 per cent.” - Martin Lindstrom, writer of Brand Sense


The branding documents offer reliability and trust about the brand while the customer can involve themselves with the content printed on the paper as they take their time to read through them.


·         The e-versions shared on the internet statistically increases the turnaround by 48%.

Create Brand Image using Brochure, Flyers, Catalogue, Leaflets, Pamphlets & Prospectus


Brand image is nothing but the summation of all the information and expectations of a customer from a particular brand. The branding documents list down all possible features of the brand and a well designed document makes it more attractive and thereby increases the brand image.

The ease of access to information and the static message offered by such docs multiplies the exposure of the product amongst the readers eventually amplifying the brand image.

Increase the Brand Value using Brochure, Flyers, Catalogue, Leaflets, Pamphlets & Prospectus


Brand value is defined as worth given to a particular brand. With increasing brand equity and image, the brand value automatically increases. The Print media also geographically increases the customer base and thereby the turnaround for the brand awareness. 

McDonalds building Brand Equity through Marketing Materials


For Ex: a pamphlet from McDonald definitely carries more value than any other burger joint because of its huge customer base. 

Apart from the above branding additions, these documents are very cost effective, help earn ROI in multiple times due to its reach to a huge clientele and new & emerging markets.

Do you want your brand to stand out from the crowd? Establish your business/service/product through the branding documents.




Tuesday, 2 August 2016

The Most Important Benefits of Effectively Using LinkedIn Business Page and Enhancing B2B Sales

“From an audience standpoint, LinkedIn is the 13th most-visited digital property in the United States (according to ComScore), making it larger than Time, Hearst, Conde Nast, BuzzFeed, ESPN, and The New York Times”, says Joe Pullizi, founder, content marketing Institute. 

Microsoft acquisition of LinkedIn, has put Microsoft ahead of FB & Google, in the comScore Top 50 Multi-Platform Properties. Imagine the impact it can create on B2B branding and Sales.

Based on survey conducted by LinkedIn, a single update helps reaching 20% of those follow the company page, 60% with one or more updates. A minimum 20 updates are suggested per month.

Microsoft Acquiring LinkedIn
Source: Comscore Media Metrix Multi-Platform


Marketing: use LinkedIn company page for promotions & discounts, new product launch, direct and real time interaction with the potential clients. LinkedIn is considered the best tool to analyse what your competitors are doing and how you can create brand that stands unique among your competitors. Market, Competitive analysis becomes easy with LinkedIn.

Competitive Advantage: A summary or description and the way it is written to make the business to stand unique helps in achieving competitive advantage. The best way to use your user stories, viral videos and images and reach out to maximum number of serious clients is possible only with LinkedIn profile page. Content marketing institute states that 94% of B2B marketing professionals utilize LinkedIn to distribute content and consider the better medium than their business websites and blogs.

Lead Generation: Unlike any other social media tools, LinkedIn is the only tool that provides a platform to connect with the right leads without wasting our precious time on non-serious clients. One can effectively manage lead cohort ideas, lead capturing and lead demand by using LinkedIn business page.

Benefits of LinkedIn Company Page - SLN BRAND STUDIO

Sales:The benefits described in Marketing, Lead Generation and Competitive Advantage automatically lead to improving your sales through LinkedIn company page. Developing a strong sales team is extremely important for a company to grow and generate revenue. Is there any other social media portal give companies the world best candidates? LinkedIn profile gives 360 degrees view about a candidate and choosing the best one through LinkedIn is the best solution available.

Jill and Ardath Albee co-authored a book named ‘Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code’. As per the research conducted in 2013, they concluded that 84% of Business Owners use LinkedIn as a powerful tool to acquire business opportunities, generate leads and close business. The power of using LinkedIn company page to improve business, enhance operational efficiency and generate revenue has gone multi-levels high in three years.


Contact us NOW to create your LinkedIn Company page.

Sunday, 3 July 2016

Capability Document in Digital Era: “You know Your Capabilities……But do your potential customers?”

“Ready for life”

“Confidence”

“Beauty at its best”

Do these terms sound familiar? 

Yep, the slogans or, to say in business terms, ‘capability statements’ associated with Surf Excel, Close Up and Lakme, all popular products many of us use in our day to day life.

Over 90% of the Indian population use at least one product from Unilever. Unilever believes in building confidence and connecting with customers in real time through their business capabilities. They make a difference with their logo as well, signifies 25 products in just one single ‘U’.

Unilever uses capability statements to reach out to their consumers and capability documents to potential retailers and investors. Anyone can see their financial position, management style, mission and focus, skills and technology, branded products through the documents published in the company website. 

Especially in this digital era, the businesses must follow such practices to provide authenticated information to the prospective customers. 

What is a Capability Document?

A Capability document is a business document comprising of a company’s core competencies, specific products/services, achievements, skills, experience and corporate data. 

The purpose of a capability document is to effectively communicate the expertise, brand value and complete product/service information to the potential business partners, customers and even internal employees.

What are the objectives of a Capability Document?

Objectives of a Capability Document - SLN BRAND STUDIO

  1. Opening the door for Marketing actives, related to sales and brand promotion
  2. Showcasing the skills and expertise to the prospective customers, shareholders and purchasers
  3. Using gap analysis to identify gaps in the market which involves in determining, documenting and comparing the difference between current capability and market requirement
  4. Mitigating the gaps through facts which helps their clients to identify potential impact and provide them to insure their needs
  5. Developing a Mission and objectives to achieve Vision
  6. Listing down and highlighting major brand categories, services and products
  7. Aiding as an internal reference tool for the employers and managers at various levels to answer customers with critical data and information
  8. Few companies include past and current financial performance and cash flow status to help investors to make informed decisions
Key Functional Areas the Capabilities Documents Highly Benefit the Businesses:

     Marketing: Nike is an example that remains in the market attracting the new YO generation with superstars as brand ambassadors and innovative advertising methodologies. The company has invested more on digital and technology arena for marketing their products. They have created Capability document through digital transformation for enabling their marketing through designers, and technology to reach the customers. Capability documents help a great deal in marketing specific products, services or the overall business of start-ups, SMEs and global corporate.


   Sales: The capability Document aids to KNOW your customer, understanding their specific requirements which in turn helps in selling the products. The customer data analysis in capability document in form of gap analysis plays a major role in organizational sales to evaluate newest sales and marketing tools making the process easier for sales executives.

Ref: http://news.nike.com/news/nike-inc-introduces-2015-global-growth-strategy

Benefits of Capability Document


Brand Building: When a particular brand has reached the positive sentiments in the market place it is considered acquiring brand recognition. When someone uses the names, Modern Bread, Kissan Jam, Pepsodent, etc., the brand is recognized by associating with the products. A product which is widely known in the market place acquires Brand Recognition. Capability documents will pave a path to create such close connection with the products & consumers and in turn build a brand identity.

Market Research: In a capability document, the companies provide business market research data that indicates customer satisfaction index. Business market research helps marketing and sales executives to analyse the competitor behavior, the current market trends and spending traits of the customers. Capability documents play a major role in conducting in depth market researches.

Industry trend analysis: Industry trend analysis, when documented helps to analyze and determine the performance of specific products, services from competitors. Such competitive analysis helps to understand the industry trend, based on which capability document projects the special features of the brand.  Capability documents aids in conducting industry trend analysis, in turn product customization and business growth.

Competitive advantage: A company’s capability statement, when documented with critical competitive data, helps the company to stand out from the rest. The competitive advantage is also determined through following elements: 

  •       Competitive Uniqueness 
  •       Competitive advantage
  •       Parity and Disadvantages
By articulating the above elements, capability documents create a strong first impression on customer's mind that stays as the best impression forever.

An effective capability document puts forwards the business capability, services and skills, products along with graphic presentation with well drafted content.

So a Capability statement should make you stand ‘Unique’ among competition while the content acts as your brand ambassador!

SLN Brand studio offers the effective Capability document comprising of systematic processes to ensure your business is sold and make you stand unique among ‘herd’.