Writing Blogs and Opinion Pieces

9 Top tips to attract customers and promote your business

Content remains a high priority when it comes to promoting your products or services and to do this effectively you need good copy!  Blogs and opinion pieces are great for SEO and posted regularly will create more inbound links.

Here’s some top tips that will attract customers and promote your business

Who are you talking to?

Identifying exactly who you are talking to and what you are selling is the first step for any business; once you’ve worked out exactly who they are, writing content that appeals to their interests and gives them information that answers their questions, will convince them that your business is healthy and thriving and boost their confidence to convert their interest into action.

Grab their attention

80% of people read a headline, but unless it grabs their attention only 20% of those will bother to read the full article. Start with a working title and then adjust as the content develops. Optimise and improve the headline to reflect the final published content.

Provide value

You are a trusted expert in your industry – your content must be useful to the reader. Provide actionable value to convince your readers that you are a leader in your business sector.

Be better than your competitors

There will undoubtedly be lots of articles out there from your competitors creating similar content and themes to you. Review what they are doing, expand on that topic and contribute more to the conversation by providing better information.

Research, research, research

If you know who your audience is, seek them out and find out exactly what they’re searching for; what questions are they asking about your products and services? Try to incorporate these terms in your titles and content to attract readers which will add SEO value overall.

K I S S

‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’ – consider the structure of your content carefully. Make sure it is simply structured so that your audience can easily navigate. Long wordy paragraphs are not easy to digest, Keep It Simple

A List Structure

• Highlighting the key solution points
• To challenge your readers

A ‘How-to-formula’

• Detailing the steps
• To solve a problem

Stay focussed

One topic at a time! Stay focused – complex details and wordy content is a sure fire way to lose your readers. Provide links to reference other related content that your audience can refer to, but keep to one idea at a time and avoid complexity. Tell a ‘story’ with a positive ending; the answer to their question that will detail your products and services in an engaging way.

Be brand consistent

Build credibility by conveying your brand message in each piece you write. Brand consistency provides authority and establishes your content across all your platforms including social media, websites and general promotional materials.

Help your reader to find the best solution

Don’t push your product by starting with a sales pitch – focus on solving prospective buyer’s problems.

Above all, by creating well-written, appealing and engaging content will help to boost trust, establish you as an expert in your sector and help you stand out in the crowd!

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

By getting to know your business, I will take the pressure off by writing your blog or opinion piece for you, providing you with regular, quality posts every week. . . all at affordable competitive rates.  Tweet me or contact me for an initial chat over a coffee!

 

What name should I choose for my New Business?

Setting the tone.  Think carefully about exactly what’s important to you and your business – your business name sets the tone for all that follows.

What’s the first thing you want a customer to understand about your business?  Whether your name is playful, edgy or professional, just make sure it reflects what your business is and what you want it to be in the future.

KISS – Simple is strong.  A compelling name is easy to spell, pronounce and above all, remember.  If you need to explain your business name, you’ve failed to make an impact

Avoid initials!  A random collection of letters isn’t going to inspire an emotional connection. Also, you can run into branding design headaches if you have two different business names i.e. the initials and the name spelled out.

Elect for a descriptive name.  A descriptive name will capture your company more effectively than a generic word, which won’t reflect exactly what you do. Adding a description instantly tells potential customers what your business is all about.

Don’t hem yourself in.   Having said that, you don’t want the name to be too descriptive; if your company is successful, you may decide to expand your offer further down the road. Consider where your brand is today, as well as where you want to go in the future.

Watch your language.   A word in English may have a negative meaning in another language or culture. The best way to avoid creating an embarrassing or damaging brand situation is to test your name on your target audience; your targeted customers may see something you hadn’t considered.

Take your time.   Don’t rush in with the first name you come up with. It can take several months before the name feels natural and easy to live with. This is particularly true when a name is a little unusual or quirky – often the case for some the industry’s most memorable and impactful names such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Nike who have proved that a strong product can overcome a potentially ill-conceived name.

Don’t peak too soon.   Don’t get too attached to any one name during your brainstorming process. It’s always tempting to start envisioning your company logo, web design, signage, business cards, etc. when you fall in love with a name.

Do your research before employing expensive design agents; make sure that perfect name is legally available for you to use and just use simple template designed stationery to start with so you can get the name out there. Once the business is underway and bringing in sales, that’s the time to review and shell out for professional services. If the business fails, that’s a lot of money you could have invested into promoting your business, down the drain. . . . .

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help with branding or marketing  Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 to arrange an initial chat over a coffee!

 

The power of colour in marketing

Every year around this time, I relish the fact that the colours in nature are becoming more pronounced as the season progresses into Summer.  Seeing these signs of new growth emerging each day, brings to mind the importance of colour when thinking about marketing.

Whether we’re seeking to stimulate people’s appetites or create a sense of trust, colour sends a specific message, not only when designing our promotional materials, but also the brand itself.

Our minds are programmed to respond to colour, offering an instantaneous method for conveying meaning and message without words.

Research shows that 60% of the time, people decide if they are attracted or not to a message based on colour alone.   Many of the most recognizable brands rely on colour as a key factor in their instant recognition, increasing brand recognition by up to 80 percent.

What does your brand colour say about your business?

Image Credit: The Logo Company

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help and advice on your branding and marketing, Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 today.

Utilising colour to influence your customer’s purchases

I was heartened at the weekend, when it was clear that another new season is well on its way, with the emergence of new colours, enhanced by the warmth of the sun.

It’s no secret that colour plays an enormous part in how we are portrayed to our customers and, seeing the signs of new growth emerging all around Brighton brought to mind how we can utilise colours to influence what our customers will buy; consumers place visual appearance and colour above all other factors when making purchase decisions.

The colour of the year, as predicted by Pantone for 2014 is Radiant Orchid, which according to their blurb; blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination.

So, exactly how important is colour in your marketing?  Whether you’re seeking to stimulate people’s appetites, or creating a sense of trust, colour plays a big part in how we are portrayed by sending a specific message to the people who view them, not only when designing your marketing materials, but also the brand itself.

To learn more about colour psychology and how it influences purchases, check out this infographic created by Marketing Tech Blog on The Psychology and ROI of colour – fascinating stuff!

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help and advice on your branding and marketing, Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 today.

How hard does your logo work?

I was reading a really interesting article recently, which was entitled ‘Our logo looks like underpants’ which illustrated the difficulties facing global brands when different cultures interpret particular visual stimuli in very different ways.

It got me thinking about logos and how we need to think about how hard our logo works – like anything in your business, your logo has a job to do; it not only needs to be distinctive but it needs to be memorable too.

Try to look different from your competitors – don’t blend in, stand out!  And, you want people to recognise it.  In order to build customer loyalty, recognition is the first step to establishing you as the ‘go to’ company.

Have you ever wondered what messages some of the famous brands are sending with their logos.  Although they’re mostly American, this video demonstrates brand messaging through the eyes of a five year-old.  Shown by her designer-dad, these were her immediate responses.

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help on reviewing your brand or developing a new logo Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 to set up an initial chat over a coffee!

Simple steps to understanding your Target Audience

When it comes to growing business and increasing sales, the most successful brands don’t try too hard; they don’t constantly bleat on and on about it; they simply design their products and services around the needs of specific segments of their target audience.

Whatever you’re selling – be it food, legal services, travel, or luxury goods – one thing is for sure: no one likes to be told what to do!

Start by going back to basics and putting yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Understand your audience
What it is they like about your product?  Or, even more important, what it is that’s stopping them from buying it?

Research
Qualitative research (focus groups) and product trial (hall tests) is potentially valuable in understanding what makes your customers tick and together with quantitative research (questionnaires and surveys), you’ll be able to clearly define your target audience with more precision than ‘someone who might like what I sell’.

Design
Design your product or service specifically for your audience and ensure it is based on a clear need, making sure you design your communications to sell the product, not as a plea to appeal to your audience.  For example, if you’re appealing to an older audience and you’re selling car insurance, using the headline  ‘Car Insurance that rewards your driving experience’ is far more effective than saying ‘Car Insurance for the over 50’s’.  There’s nothing more off putting than being told you no longer fit the ‘norm’, even if it might be beneficial to you!

Communicate
Be open to engaging the audience through new and less used channels.  If you’re appealing to an older audience, research suggests that 37% of over 65’s will be using Facebook by 2017, and if your customer is more likely to appreciate a more tangible representation of your product or service (say you’re a photographer or graphic designer), consider producing printed literature which will showcase your specific skills.

We all tend to fall into the trap of looking at how we can sell more to our customers, rather than looking at what we can do for them – whilst subtle, a very important difference when it comes to successful targeting and generating more sales.

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help on planning your marketing activities Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 for an initial chat over a coffee!

5 Ways to gain Brand Recognition

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have, whether you are a big corporate brand or a one-man band – in order to be successful your brand needs to stand out from the crowd.  Your ultimate goal is to have your target market think only of you when they are ready to buy.

Gaining brand recognition isn’t just about a fancy logo – it’s all about making sure that whenever your target market associates with a product, service or organisation they remember something distinctive about you which will jog their memory.  This could be a logo, a colour, some kind of packaging or just memorable customer service; something that triggers associations in their minds and sets you apart from your competition.
Here are 5 ways you can easily gain brand recognition

1.  Exceptional Customer Service
Develop a reason customers will trust you enough to come back time and time again and recommend you to others.  Today’s customers are much more discernible; looking for guarantees, prompt turnaround time and first-class after sales service.  In fact, customer service can often be the major factor in the final buying decision.
2. Be Personable
Create a persona to engender trust; become the go-to person/company in your field of expertise.  Your target market needs to accept you as the person behind the brand before they will buy what you are are offering.
3. Generate Awareness
Create a strategy to remind your target market that you are actively doing business; make them aware of what you offer by keeping your brand top of mind, communicating with your target market both online and offline with a consistent, objective message. Fail to do this and your target market will forget about you and go somewhere else!
4. Add Value
Exceed people’s expectations – share your expertise through a series of touchpoints; become the well-respected ‘go-to’ person in your field through blogging, white papers & webinars.
5. Be Consistent in your Branding
Be instantly recognisable to your target market by using the same imaging and logo styling in all forms of communication.  Brand consistency is the key to brand recognition and one which is strictly adhered to by top successful brands.  It seems an obvious one, but it is very often overlooked.

What other ways could you help your target market recognise and remember you and your brand?  Why not take the time to develop a marketing checklist and develop a strategy you can easily implement to ensure your brand stands out from the crowd?

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help on managing your marketing, Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 today.

The importance of colour in marketing

The Pantone Matching System (PMS) was created by American company Pantone Inc. who each year predicts a ‘colour of the year’ from its range of vast colour guides.  These guides contain a series of related swatches, widely adopted by graphic designers and printing houses throughout the industry.

This year, their prediction is Emerald 17-5641, described as “Lively. Radiant. Lush. . .  a colour of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and beauty.”

Colour plays a big part in how we are portrayed by sending a specific message to the people who view them, never more so than when designing not only your marketing materials, but also the brand itself.

Whether you’re seeking to stimulate people’s appetites by using the colour red or creating a sense of trust with a shade of blue, there is no doubt that colour has a significant effect on us all subconsciously.

Check out this fascinating infographic, created by WebpageFX, which shows the overall importance of colour to consumers and presents some common colour associations.

Christine Davey
@DaveyMarketing

If you’d like some help and advice on your branding and marketing, Tweet me or call me on 01273 772033 today.