Your Company Name Impacts Your Branding Path

 

When a business is started – or rebranded – perhaps the most essential decision to make first is determining the name. Choosing the right name is vital in setting your company up for success.  The wrong name can pave the path of destruction.  Why is choosing the right name so important for branding and marketing your business?  Check out some of the reasons we tell our clients. 

1.  Brand Recognition

In a world where new businesses keep popping up every day or are adding new services to broaden their reach, it is crucial to have a name that sets your company apart from the rest. The right name can help with brand recognition and make it easier for customers to remember you and find you online.

Strong brand identity starts with a great name. Therefore, you should register a company name (yes, research what names are already taken) that is unique to the world and to what you do. A catchy or clever name can also help with brand recall, which is especially important for small businesses that may not have the budget for traditional advertising.  But just because you think it’s catchy or cool, doesn’t make it so.  Do some market testing – even if it’s just with your friends or close circle.

2.  Helps you Stand out from your Competition

As more entrepreneurs and start-ups enter the competitive landscape, companies must work harder than ever before to stand out from their competitors.  One way to do this is by having a solid branding strategy, which begins with selecting the right company name.

A good company name can also create an authentic connection with customers, leading to loyalty and long-term relationships. Additionally, a good company name can help you attract top talent and investors.

When choosing a company name, make sure it is available as a domain name and trademark. It’s best to have the name of your company (or your slogan) as the URL.  If the domain name isn’t available, don’t get creative with it…get real.  If you’re having trouble choosing a name, consider hiring a branding consultant to help you.

With so much at stake, it’s essential to take the time to choose the right company name for your business. By doing so, you’ll be well on your way to establishing a solid brand that will help you stand out from the competition.

3.  Builds Customer Loyalty Trust

In order for a business to be successful, you have to win and maintain customer trust.  A company’s name is one of the first things customers will judge.  You only get one chance to make a first impression, right?  If your company has a confusing or unprofessional name, customers may not trust you enough to do business with you.

Make sure to choose a name that accurately represents your company, is easy to remember, and sounds professional. By putting thought into this important decision, you can create a successful brand that wins the trust of your customers.

4.  Helps Attract Top Talents

Experts and top talent want to work at a place in which they are proud to share.  It would be great to be recruited as a top-level executive and make great money, but if it’s for a company whose name embarrasses you, is all that money worth it?  Be smart.  Be creative.  Be unique.

Many employees would rather work for a company with an exciting name than a forgettable one. A strong brand and unique name will also help attract investors and partners.  But, don’t overdo it.

If you are looking to rebrand your business, it is also crucial to choose a new name that still accurately represents your company. The last thing you want to go through is changing your company’s name too often or going through the process of rebranding multiple times. Choose wisely!

5.  Attracts New and Returning Clientele

One thing that almost every business owner wants is new (and loyal) customers. A company’s name can play a role in how successful they are at attracting new clientele. A well-chosen company name will help potential clients remember your business and what it does.

In addition, a strategic name can help your business show up on the results page, which can lead more people to your website. Therefore, if you’re looking to increase your customer base, it’s essential to put some thought into choosing the right company name.

A Good Name and a Successful Business Needs a Good Marketing Strategy

Marketing is an integral aspect of any business, yet it can be challenging to get started. There are myriad of marketing channels to navigate and your name can help penetrate each of them in a positive way – with the right strategy.  You need to know your target audience and craft a message that resonates with them. But it all needs to be consistent.  You can’t have a catchy, fun, creative name and have a serious, preachy tone as part of your brand.  It’s confusing to your prospects. Your business name sets the tone.  Your messaging and marketing reiterate it and your delivery confirms it.

A strong brand can help you stand out from the competition. When people think of your company, they should immediately associate it with a specific quality or attribute. By choosing the right name, you can make sure that your company is associated with your authentic qualities. When you pick the right name for your business, you’re not just choosing a moniker to represent your company; you’re also laying the groundwork for an effective marketing strategy.

When choosing a company name, it is essential to consider all aspects of your business. The name should be easy to remember and spell, and it should communicate the type of business you are in.

If you need help creating your company name, brand and strategy, SK Consulting can help!

Attention Small Business Owners! You CAN Compete with the Big Fish!

With tight budgets and limited time, small businesses often struggle to stand out against the competition. But with a little innovation and elbow grease, a small business can improve their visibility and remind consumers why they should be chosen over the larger fish in the pond.  The following business marketing ideas can help make your business one to remember.

Get Involved at a Local Level

One of the best budget-conscious marketing ideas is to look at ways to increase your involvement in the community. It can be through volunteering, hosting a networking event, or sponsoring a fundraiser. This kind of community involvement proves to be invaluable for a multitude of reasons.

In addition to the obvious benefit of increased brand awareness, these activities can also produce valuable connections that might never been created. More important? More community involvement and interaction increases the likelihood of local websites and social media sites mentioning your business.  This provides Google with valuable signals to help boost your business’ appearance in the coveted Google local search results, ultimately helping you gain more potential customers.

Repurpose Your Content

Recycle and repurpose content to increase ROI. Recycle content by updating a popular post. For example, take one of your most popular posts from last year, update that article with new, relevant information and republish it.

You can also repurpose by posting the same content in different formats. For instance, take an article and create a podcast using the same information. Recycling and repurposing content stretches ROI.

Make Sure your Website is Current

Does your website look like it hasn’t received an update in decades? Make sure your site is using the most current technology.   There are many platforms available to make your website stand out and that are easy to use on the back end.  If you need help designing and providing content for your website, contact the experts at SK Consulting.  Websites don’t have to be difficult to be effective.  If you don’t have an updated website (or a website at all), people will take notice – and not in a good way.  After all, you don’t want to spend so much effort driving people to your website if it sucks.

Be Strategic, Realistic, and Consistent With Your Organic Search Marketing 

Using a blog on your website for content marketing is a cost-effective business exercise. Also, you do not have to be a magician to rank highly for keywords on Google that will deliver sales. Perform a detailed keyword analysis of your competitors and write content for long tail keywords that have less competition to start with. Even when competing with players with larger marketing budgets, it is possible to build up organic visitors to your website over time. Know your message and understand what you want to be known for.

Tell People You Can’t Help Them

Remember, not everyone is your customer.  No matter what you’re working on or offering, you can’t help everyone. No product or service is perfect for every person and every situation.

Instead of hiding flaws or issues, be open and transparent about them, so when you talk about the benefits of your business, people will believe you. And the funny side effect is that you’re likely to turn those who are not a good fit with your business into your advocates.

Write a Mini-eBook

If you have a fresh, controversial, or unique solution to a problem in your industry…write a book! Advances in digital publishing have made it possible for just about anyone to write a book. As a product or service provider, you can use your book as a key piece of your publicity strategy. Launch your book, and your brand goes with it!

Encourage Customers to Review Your Business

Increase positive customer reviews! A 2016 BrightLocal study revealed that 84 percent of consumers trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations, and 74 percent say that positive reviews make them trust a business more.

Remember, negative reviews can severely damage a brand’s reputation. Consumers are more inclined to share bad experiences than good ones. That’s why it’s important for brands to be proactive about getting positive reviews. If you provide great service, the ask shouldn’t be a hard one to make.

In fact, according to data from that same study, 7 out of 10 consumers will leave a review if asked to do so. In addition to improving your brand’s online reputation, businesses with a higher number of positive reviews may also rank higher in search results.

Find Your Niche

Focus on a specific niche within your industry. For small businesses, it can be challenging to compete with larger companies that are established and have access to more resources. One marketing strategy for differentiating your business is to carve out a small niche of customers.

Rather than market your product or service to everyone, narrow your target down to a limited segment of customers. As your business and brand grows over time, then you can look for opportunities to expand your customer base.

Re-think Mobile

Mobile is becoming more and more popular not only for searching the web, but also for making purchases. With mobile payments increasing, consider other mobile purchasing trends, like buy buttons. These tools are increasing as customers are feeling more comfortable purchasing on mobile devices. This means that purchases might be made more directly through websites and social platforms like Facebook. Utilize mobile marketing to ensure that you are giving your customers every opportunity to purchase. Adapt to their needs.

Blog with a Purpose

Show your customers that you are relevant!  Don’t just write a blog to write a blog or to sell, sell, sell.  The biggest mistake small businesses make is when they create content to try and sell instead of help. Write content that actually adds value to your readers. Don’t worry about giving away any secrets you may think you have, just focus on helping your audience. Every time you write something before publishing it just read it and ask yourself: “is this helpful?” Keep blogging.  Be consistent.  Inbound marketing is a long-term commitment with a huge payoff.

Ideas?

These are some pretty great small business marketing ideas, if we do say so ourselves. And there are plenty more.  How do you effectively and efficiently market your small business?  If you don’t, contact us today!  We’d be happy to help you take over the pond and enter the ocean! 

Creating and Sharing Your STORY is Essential to Marketing

When you’re explaining or promoting your business, you’re telling a story. It’s up to you whether it’s a thriller, a horror or a feel-good, curl-up-on-the-couch-and-take-it-all-in story.

Everything you do to market your business is another paragraph, page, or chapter in the story people hear from you. And the story people hear is the one they act (or don’t act) on, and repeat (or don’t repeat) to others.

Purposeful marketing stories are a sure sign of a great content marketer.

How can you make sure your story is great and worth sharing? Here’s how.

1. Know your audience

The battle is won or lost right here. The better you know the audience, the better able you will be to connect, engage and convert them – giving you a leg up on your competition. 

What do you need to know? You need to know who your audience admires, and what they aspire to, despise, fear, and cherish.

Instead of sitting around dreaming up content you guess people might react favorably to, you tell an educated story based on one or more individuals who represent the whole.

Understanding your audience at such an intimate level makes creating buyer personas important. It also helps you be a part of the market you’re speaking to, which results in a more authentic story.

Research doesn’t sound sexy, but it’s the foundation of any smart marketing plan. The more time you spend understanding the people you’re talking to, the better story you’ll tell them.

2. Select your frame

When you understand the worldview your prospects share — the things they believe — you can frame your story in a way that resonates so strongly with them that you enjoy an “unfair” advantage over your competition.

You can cater to audience beliefs and worldviews without resorting to name-calling. For example, the simple word “green” can provoke visceral reactions at the far sides of the environmental worldview spectrum, while also prompting less-intense emotions in the vast middle.

Framing your story against a polar opposite, by definition, will make some love you and others ignore or even despise you. That’s not only okay, it’s necessary.

You’ll likely never convert those at the other end of the spectrum, but your core base will share your content and help you penetrate the vast group in the middle — and that’s where growth comes from.

3. Choose your premise

The premise is the way you choose to tell the story so that you get the conclusion you desire. It’s the delivery of the framed message with dramatic tension and one or more relatable heroes so that your goals are achieved.

• It’s the hook, the angle, the purple cow.
• It’s the difference between a good story and an ignored story.
• It’s the clear path between attention and action.

It’s important to understand the difference between the beliefs or worldview of your audience (the frame) and the expression of that belief or worldview back to them.

Think about your favorite novel or film … the same information could have been transmitted another way, but just not as well. In fact, stories have been retold over and over throughout the ages — some are just better told than others.

The premise is essentially the difference between success and failure (or good and great) when it comes to copywriting and storytelling.

Content marketing as storytelling

“Marketing succeeds when enough people with similar worldviews come together in a way that allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively.” – Seth Godin

That’s exactly what content marketing allows you to do. In fact, it’s the most cost-effective (and just plain ol’ effective) online marketing method ever devised when done properly.

Even better, people aren’t just coming together. They’re coming together around you.

What’s YOUR story?  Whatever it is, remember to make it remarkable! If you need help finding, developing and sharing your story, contact SK Consulting today!