Branding is the art of creating a unified marketing strategy for yourself or your organization.  What is a unified marketing strategy? When should your strategy be made and/or revised? Here are a few helpful hits to ensure that your marketing strategy supports your branding goals.

What all goes into developing a unified marketing strategy?

What is a unified marketing strategy?

A unified marketing strategy is a conscious plan of how an organization desires to represent itself. It begins with a corporate mission, and permeates all of the interactions between the business and the external world. Each of the members of the organization must understand the values and goals of the organization in order to appropriately represent them when acting upon the organization’s behalf. (Example: If you walked into a high class restaurant and the host had stains on his shirt, he would be undermining the desired reputation for the business.) Once the corporate attitude/spirit is achieved, the logo, advertising, digital and print media (online and print documentation), and product/service should all be developed to support the corporate mission. The same logo should appear throughout the documentation. The same colors should be integrated throughout the documentation. The tone of all writing should be unified. If it’s a fight for survival within a depressed market, your marketing strategy is your team’s effort to present a unified pursuit of success. (Example: If the LA Lakers presented their documentation with red and green as opposed to purple and yellow lettering, their fan base would be confused). The masters of unified marketing strategy management are able to represent themselves in a consistent manner throughout the human resource management, advertising, environment, customer service, and product/service quality regardless of location.  These organizations empower their audience to know what to expect, and consistently satisfy those expectations. (Example: Apple produces easy to use, intuitive, creative, and inventive products. The people who work in their stores are creative, personable, and presentable individuals interested in making the experience of purchasing/learning about Apple products as easy as possible. Apple Stores are uncluttered, clean, organized, and efficient locations that are actually planned down to the location of each table to be the same at each location.  They are identical to one another. In fact, the map for setting up each store is based upon the floor tiles. None of this is by accident. It is the result of a detailed and well monitored unified marketing strategy.)

When should your strategy be made and/or revised? 

Your marketing strategy should be reevaluated on a quarterly basis. Changing one’s strategy too often can create customer confusion which results in loss of interest.  Marketing collateral (both print and digital media) should be rechecked to ensure that they support the desired reputation and current opportunities available. Adjustments should be made as the corporate vision evolves, but the changes should be made on a relatively infrequent basis.

In contrast, it is important to constantly evaluate the corporate ability to adhere to the desired attitude/spirit and presentation of the marketing strategy. Small corrections can be made to individual behaviors, employee management, and digital media on a regular basis to retain interest from the target market.

Is your organization using a clearly unified marketing strategy?
Do you need help to clarify your mission to your audience?

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It's all about who you know.

Social Media Profiles are arguably amongst the most viewed websites on the internet. These sites offer an opportunity to network with peers, clients, and prospective clients all in real time. There are many profile sites available, so to make the most of your time it is important to research your target market and select the correct platform to join. Here are three of the most popular options available (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn):
Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos, and information about themselves. Friends can browse the profiles of other friends and write messages on their pages.

Each Facebook profile has a “wall,” where friends can post comments. Since the wall is viewable by all the user’s friends, wall postings are basically a public conversation. Therefore, it is usually best not to write personal messages on your friends’ walls. Instead, you can send a person a private message, which will show up in his or her private Inbox, similar to an e-mail message.

Facebook allows each user to set privacy settings, which by default are pretty strict. For example, if you have not added a certain person as a friend, that person will not be able to view your profile. However, you can adjust the privacy settings to allow users within your network (such as your college or the area you live) to view part or all of your profile. You can also create a “limited profile,” which allows you to hide certain parts of your profile from a list of users that you select. If you don’t want certain friends to be able to view your full profile, you can add them to your “limited profile” list.

Another feature of Facebook, which makes it different from MySpace, is the ability to add applications to your profile. Facebook applications are small programs developed specifically for Facebook profiles. Some examples include SuperPoke (which extends Facebook’s “poke” function) and FunWall (which builds on the basic “wall” feature). Other applications are informational, such as news feeds and weather forecasts. There are also hundreds of video game applications that allow users to play small video games, such as Jetman or Tetris within their profiles. Since most game applications save high scores, friends can compete against each other or against millions of other Facebook users.

Facebook provides an easy way for friends to keep in touch and for individuals to have a presence on the Web without needing to build a website. Since Facebook makes it easy to upload pictures and videos, nearly anyone can publish a multimedia profile. Of course, if you are a Facebook member or decide to sign up one day, remember to use discretion in what you publish or what you post on other user’s pages. After all, your information is only as public as you choose to make it!

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YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing service that allows users to watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of their own. The service was started as an independent website in 2005 and was acquired byGoogle in 2006. Videos that have been uploaded to YouTube may appear on the YouTube website and can also be posted on other websites, though the files are hosted on the YouTube server.

The slogan of the YouTube website is “Broadcast Yourself.” This implies the YouTube service is designed primarily for ordinary people who want to publish videos they have created. While several companies and organizations also use YouTube to promote their business, the vast majority of YouTube videos are created and uploaded by amateurs.

YouTube videos are posted by people from all over the world, from all types of backgrounds. Therefore, there is a wide range of videos available on YouTube. Some examples include amateur films, homemade music videos, sports bloopers, and other funny events caught on video. People also use YouTube to post instructional videos, such as step-by-step computer help, do-it-yourself guides, and other how-to videos. Since Google offers revenue sharing for advertisement clicks generated on video pages, some users have been able to turn YouTube into a profitable enterprise.

While YouTube can serve a business platform, most people simply visit YouTube for fun. Since so many people carry digital cameras or cell phones with video recording capability, more events are now captured on video than ever before. While this has created an abundant collection of entertaining videos, it also means that people should be aware that whatever they do in public might be caught on video. And if something is recorded on video, it just might end up on YouTube for the whole world to see.

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Twitter

Twitter is an online service that allows you to share updates with other users by answering one simple question: “What are you doing?”

In order to use Twitter, you must first sign up for a free account. Once you have created your account, you can post your own updates and view the updates others have posted. You can search for people to follow or you can let Twitter select random users. Once you have selected a number of users, their most recent posts, or “tweets,” will show up on your Twitter home page. Likewise, your own latest tweets will show up on the home pages of people who have decided to follow you.

Twitter limits each tweet to 140 characters, which means there is no room for rambling. Of course, in this era of limited attention spans, 140 characters may be as much as other users want to read anyway. The character limit is also within the 160 character limit of SMS text messages. This is useful, since tweets can be sent to Twitter using mobile phones. To Twitter via your cell phone, you simply need to add your phone number in the “Devices” area of the Twitter Settings page.

Since most people have frequent access to a computer or cell phone, Twitter makes it possible to provide others with frequent updates about your life. Many people also use Twitter to blog about the news, politics, TV shows, or any other hot topic. Some people even use it to share their thoughts on lectures or sermons. So Twitter posts are certainly not limited to answering the question, “What are you doing?”

Twitter has become the next hot trend in social networking. While it is not as functional asFacebook or MySpace, Twitter’s appeal lies within its simplicity. It allows friends, family, and complete strangers to stay connected through quick updates that only take a couple of seconds to write. Therefore, if you like to feel connected to others, but have limited time, Twitter might be just be for you.

While “Twitter” is a noun, in can also be used as a verb. For example, “He twitters at least five times a day.” To learn more about Twitter or to sign up for an account, visit Twitter.com.

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Linkedin

LinkedIn is a social networking website designed for business professionals. It allows you to share work-related information with other users and keep an online list of professional contacts.

Like Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn allows you to create a custom profile. However, profiles created within LinkedIn are business-oriented rather than personal. For example, a LinkedIn profile highlights education and past work experience, which makes it appear similar to a resume. Profiles also list the your connections to other LinkedIn users, as well as recommendations you make or receive from other users.

By using LinkedIn, you can keep in touch with past and current colleagues, which can be useful in today’s ever-changing work environment. You can also connect with new people when looking for potential business partners. While people outside your personal network cannot view your full profile, they can still view a snapshot of your education and work experience. They can also contact you using LinkedIn’s anonymous “InMail” messaging service, which could lead to new job opportunities.

LinkedIn has several benefits for business professionals, which is why it is used by millions of people across the world. Just remember, if you decide to create a LinkedIn profile, keep your information professional. It’s best to save your personal information for the other social networking websites.

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Other networking sites are more specialized for targeted markets (singles looking to date, photographers, educators, etc…). I suggest doing a Facebook/Twitter profile in addition to your industry-specific profile. Be sure to link your profiles to your homepage to gain the greatest communication potential! If you are unsure of how to proceed, contact us! We are more than willing to help you set up your profile and integrate it into your homepage. We want your potential to take flight!

Do you need a website?

Do You Need a Website?

Yes. You do. Personal, educational, business, community, and social sites offer a constant opportunity to communicate. In today’s world, if someone wants to learn about something, often they will “Google It”. If your opportunity does not appear in the search results, it may go overlooked! Don’t miss out on business. Get online. Now that you know you need a site, there are many different options:

Social Media Profiles and Community Sites

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Google+, Pinterest… There are lots of different social media profile and community sites. An upcoming post will go into greater detail, but for now what you need to know is that these sites offer you the opportunity to automatically connect with your existing and prospective clientele. Research which platform best connects with your target market, start your profile, and keep it updated. Integrate your profiles with your direct website to maximize your reach!

Free Sites

Google, Wikipedia, and Blogger to name three offer you the opportunity to store your free website on their servers. This is a great opportunity in that the price is right. A free site is much better than no site at all. The limitations of these sites include the following:
- Most of these sites require you to enable them to include advertisements on your site.
- While alternate themes are available, most of them aren’t customizable for your exact needs.
- Most limit your upload capacity and readership possibilities.
- Often your users must become members of the free site to read your content.

Paid and Hosted Sites

While more expensive, finding a hosting organization and paying to have your own website offers the greatest level of direct control. You get to choose how your site operates, what it looks like, what advertisements you include (if any), and what add-on capabilities you employ.

Sometimes it makes sense to start with a free site, but if you’re looking for a continued online presence, a paid/hosted site is ideal. If you are unsure of where to get started, or how to get your site off the ground, contact us! PageLauncher will help you select the right type of site for your needs, get you set up, and help you to learn how to run the site on your own!