Part 2: A Guide to Boosting your Brand

Last Updated on March 4, 2021

In Part 1 (A Guide to Boosting your Brand), we talked about the five essentials of a healthy brand. You need to have a healthy brand before tackling the tactics below.  So, read Part 1. Then come back here.   

What’s a Brand Boost? A brand boost means evolving and elevating a brand to become more modern and up-to-date. It helps companies compete for consumer’s attention and increase sales or market share. 

Here are eight things you can do to boost your brand:

1. Start a blog
2. Invest in re-marketing
3. Invest in email marketing
4. Use professional photography — featuring your actual people
5. Make your team member profiles more interesting
6. Make all team members use the same email signature template
7. Create video content
8. Take advantage of Google My Business

1. Start a blog 

Blogs help increase organic search results and the chance that prospects will find you. To give your brand a boost, you need as many people as possible to see you. Most people don’t read, that’s true. But since blogs increase Google rankings, they also increase the likelihood that people land on your website and enter your sales funnel–making the investment in words worth it.

Don’t be intimidated by the thought of “starting a blog.” The goal is not to become a blog personality or to be constantly writing. Blog technology is a great method for writing (posting) a continuous flow of articles, news releases, copies of email blasts, product and event announcements, job postings, and more. In addition to SEO benefits, reviewing your blog gives website visitors a clear picture of the great things happening at your company. Here’s an example.  

2. Invest in re-marketing 

Let’s say you’re looking at new running shoes online. The phone buzzes, you start texting, abandon your search, and go on with your day. Later that evening you’re on Facebook and the shoes you viewed appear in the sidebar–a handy reminder of that purchase you were about to make. This is remarketing. 

People are busy and forget quickly. Remarketing reminds people that you offer something they want or need. It’s a great way to boost your brand.  

You shopped for shoes and now you’re seeing ads for Adidas, Cole Haan, and more on Facebook, as you see here. Classic remarketing.

3. Invest in email marketing 

Remember that unified message you already created? Communicate it to your customers and give them the resources to solve their problems. Chances are you already have emails for prospects or customers. And you should be talking to them. CinchMail, MailChimp, and Constant Contact are email marketing platforms that specialize in reaching your customers and helping you elevate your brand and key messages. In addition, if you use a CRM system (e.g., Pardot/Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo) it will have an email marketing component that can be leveraged in the same way. If you get in the habit of building your email list and effectively communicating with it, this will boost your brand in the eyes of many more people.

Boogie Wipes uses CinchMail to serve relevant content to its email subscribers, including tips on potty training in the summer, as shown here.

4. Use professional photography–featuring your actual people 

Consumers want to see who and what they are investing in, not stock photography that makes you look just like everyone else. Real photos of your actual employees and your products or services create a unique brand. Whether you live in Cincinnati or Charlotte, you can find someone to capture great shots at reasonable rates. Repeat this to yourself: No stock photography.

Here’s a perfect example. Denham-Blythe, a Lexington, KY-based construction company, uses their own people and project photography and video for the entire website. They are in the habit of capturing their work with nothing more than smartphone cameras. When prospects visit their website they can see exactly who they are potentially dealing with. This makes all the difference.

Denham Blythe uses their own people in every image on the site. Here, two employees are participating in a service project with children.

5. Make your team member profiles more interesting 

Your team members have personality, so showcase it. Let’s squash the myth that adding personality diminishes professionalism. When done well, personality makes you more likable, human and authentic—qualities customers like. Customers want to know who they’ll be working with, and what it might be like to work together. We’re big on being ourselves, and we hope that shows. It might be why the USDP team page is the most visited page on our site.  

The USDP Team page features casual photos of each team member. But when you mouse-over each one, you’ll find a fun, new photo highlighting part of their personality.

6. Make all team members use the same email signature template

All impressions of your brand, including email signatures, are essential to your organization’s brand health. It’s easy to consider this trivial–but it’s not. Even email communications from team members should represent your brand well.

You wouldn’t believe the number of emails we get that have nothing at the bottom. No full name, no title, no phone number, no web address, no message, nothing. Don’t miss this opportunity to clearly communicate and advance your brand.

Every USDP employee uses a simple email signature like this, with a link to relevant content on our blog.

7. Create video content 

Have you watched a video today? Four times as many customers prefer to watch a video about a product than read about it. Video is the quickest and most effective way to tell a story, explain, educate, or inspire. 

The good news is that big-time video productions are a thing of the past. Thirty-second to two-minute videos can now be shot on iPhones. Freelance videographers are all over and are quite affordable. People don’t read much anymore–and video is a great way to reach many audiences. (Just be mindful of including transcripts and captioning to ensure you’re ADA Compliant.) 

Nehemiah Manufacturing, a second chance company, shows its unique approach to creating jobs by making their employees the focus of their videos. Every video is closed captioned, which meets ADA requirements. Nehemiah hires people who have struggled with a criminal record and drug problem.

8. Take advantage of Google my Business 

Using Google my Business is a must. It’s a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears across Google search and Maps, so you can reach and engage local customers.  

If someone is searching for “iPhone repair near me” they’re very close to making a purchase. Don’t risk losing their business! 

Add your business name, hours, location, customer reviews, and photos, and make sure they’re accurate. Not only will people find you more easily, but you’ll also learn about how people are searching for you. Also, Google will like you more if you fully participate and frequently update your business content. Being popular on Google is good for business.

Have you claimed your Google My Business listing yet? Here’s a blog post that can get you started.

Google My Business information appears on the right side of a search result screen and includes things like address, hours, phone number, reviews, and website URL.

But wait, there’s more…. 

But people don’t read much, so we’ll stop. 

If you’d like to know what else you can do to boost your brand–or wonder what it looks like to have help implementing these tactics–let’s talk. We’re happy to help you boost your brand, or just talk through how it works.