Search Engine Optimisation

A strong brand is what can differentiate your business from any other, it helps you to stand out from the crowd and allow your customers to identify with your company in an engaging manner. Brands create loyalty, trust, a base on which to build your business and most importantly a connection with your customers.

When you think brands (like I asked you to with our previous series of brand management posts) you will think of the likes of Apple, Nike or maybe Asda, it is this train of thought which disenfranchises most small businesses from thinking that they too can create and develop their own brand.

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, this is not the case. Indeed, a strong brand for a SME (small-to-medium sized business) can be built with relatively little expense, this is because branding is all about perception. Perception of which is created in the minds of your staff, your stakeholders (funders/partners) and most importantly that of your clients, is based on what they see, hear, feel and experience with your company and/or products/services you offer.

The emotions (of the brand perception) are based on the messages your brand gives off. This is to say everything from if your showroom is warm and comfortable to how nice your staff are to the quality of services you offer, so you see it is not exclusively your company image or logo. (The logo of a company is NOT it’s brand)

Basically – A brand is much more about the promises you make your customers and how you fulfil these promises.

At this point it is therefore a good idea to know exactly what kind of clientèle you wish to attract, what your core message is, and this should be done before you even begin to create your brand – these should be in your business plan*

Top things to consider:

• Who do you wish to attract? (male/female, age range, type of person etc etc)
• Where does your business fit into the market (as a whole and locally)?
• Is your company based around cost or quality?
• Who are your competitors (locally, nationally and internationally)?
• How do your competitors look & behave? Describe the brand of your competitor.

Does your business (SME) need a brand?

Whether you like it or not, even now your business has a brand. That’s right even if you think your business has no brand it does, it has a personality.

Customers and Suppliers will already have formed an opinion of what kind of business you are. This will have been formed from simple things like phone calls, emails, letters, how quickly you pay your bills, how clean your office (or store) is and how receptive your staff are. All of the above perceptions of your brand are based on a deep level of thinking, they are subconscious perceptions, which may be working with you (or against you).

Once you realise that you do have a brand and simple actions can form opinions of the brand, you can really start to take control of the brand. This means controlling brand strength through producing/creating a more cohesive and positive message. So without further thought let’s get you started with the basic building blocks of your brand.

The good news is that all you need for this exercise is a pen and paper

Starting Point > Building Blocks of Brand Creation

Over the years more and more companies are awakening to realise just how powerful their brand could be for them. Take for example the word “cola” … have a think about it, my bet is you will be thinking CocaCola or Pepsi Cola … and so is everyone else, so now the question is what could you do with your brand to make it as strong as these in your market.

The Cola Effect

Firstly, you must take you must take a good hard look at yourself, your business and just what you have to work with, the longer you take on this section the more it will pay off later.  You may find little to work with (to progress with) in which case you will find what you need to change and adapt – these are valid findings … as always in the process make notes. This is known in the branding/marketing trade as a basic “brand audit” or “brand review” – though we would probe areas maybe you are too close to and take for granted.

Now you’ve got some notes, put them to one side. With any luck you already have a business, you have clients and suppliers, so ask them for their opinions – maybe do this via an online survey (people are much more likely to be honest and brutal if you are not stood in front of them). The views of these people are vitally important as they are the ones perceiving your brand, they are the ones to whom the brand really matters. They provide an “outsiders view” of your brand, adding depth to your review.

Repeat the above step with your staff, see if they agree with you and/or your external assets. Ascertaining the facts is very important, and the chances are your view, the staffs view and external views will be different - but hopefully not significantly. If they are the same brilliant, if not (as in 99% of cases) it simply means you need to redefine your message and find a new way to convey it clearly.

Tip: By including staff and stakeholders in your brand review and giving them a voice of opinion which you take seriously (you have to give them an open field to criticise without fear of rebuff) increases the likelyhood they will be willing to help make the changes you need, and it will also add loyalty and install confidence in your team.

During your brand review there are several key questions you need to be asking all parties:

• What are the core abilities of your company? and the staff?
• What are you and your staff good and bad at? (remember be brutally honest)
• How do your customers and suppliers view your business?
  (ask them! – reliable, cheap, expensive, nice, warm, quality, exciting, customer focused etc)
• What words are associated with your business? (ask other business owners locally)
• Is there a pattern in your client-base? (demographic)
• Why are your client-base who they are?
  (you maybe targeting 18-24 year olds but your client base are all 40-odd… why?)
• Who would you like to work with in the short-term, and long-term? (audience wise)
• Finally, are there any black holes in your business, things people say are missing?

Constructing A Brand Review

When you’ve got the answers to the questions you’ve posed it’s time to take your notes again and compare to find the differences. With more answers you get more clarity for the review, now on a single page go through the answers you have, take key points, take recurring views and importantly write down the extremes of the opinions.

Now you’ve identified these differences in perception of your brand it is time to generate a plan, remain realistic and don’t be tempted to idealise your plan based on other brands or similar shops – you are your own business and stand alone in the market. Remember however that you need to be appealing to your market in some manner, whether its simply amazing products or astounding customer service.

Development of Brand Values

You’ve done the leg work, you’ve researched and analysed opinions of your brand, both internally and externally. Now it’s time to turn our attention to your “brand values” and the “brand commitments”.

Ideally you should have around three standing core values, two of which are based on difference brokers and the third is an overall value. There is zero benefit in having pages of unworkable brand values, you’ll never remember them and nor will your staff or external assets – forget long lists be concise and to the point.

Core Overall Brand Values – these are the values which your business must have to operate within a given market, generally unless you are in a tiny niche these maybe somewhat common to you and your competition.

As an example lets look at café’s – core brand values maybe a simple as being clean (both staff and equipment), quality food and good end user cost – most café’s will have similar values.

Difference Broker Brand Values – these are the values on the other side of the coin. They are what makes your business different from your competition, this is the important set of values which makes the big difference to your customers, it is something they will associate with you over any competition.

There should always be a link between who your brand really is and where you want your brand to go – i.e how you wish to be perceived by customers and suppliers. The most important thing in this process is often your staff, getting staff to understand your vision of the brand values can help define your brand significantly. And remember earlier you got them involved in the consultation, this is where they will thank you by helping you out.

Having staff understand your brand empowers them to behave in a certain manner which will reinforce your brand. So if you’re a casual company maybe they will wear everyday clothes to work (make sure you logo them up), but if you are working in a salon you want to show professionalism so your staff should be wearing a recognisable uniform. The staff you have are one of the most important tools in your arsenal for brand development, they are in a vital position to make or break your brand.

As I say they could break your brand, this happens if they don’t understand your brand values, don’t agree with them or sometimes simply aren’t at your meeting where you take questions – they’ve only seen them in writing and don’t understand it so interpret the values in a different way to you and other staff. Damage can easily be made into a company with one bad event, but it can take many years for this to be recovered – take BP at this current time with the events in america, this huge oil leak will not only cause staffing changes but will cost billions of pounds in clear up costs, but also billions in lost sales due to damage of the brand. So I repeat by empowering your staff from the start of your consultation you get them on board and understanding where you are going and why.

Your “brand promises” and “brand values” are the foundations on which you will base your brand, they are most vital aspects of your brand – but they can be helped along with a few little ideas … which conveniently i’ve put just below this section (how nice of me )

Brand Identity

This is the bit many of you will have visited for this is where your brand meets a logo … this is called brand identity (sometimes referred to as corporate identity). This of course refers to the visual identifier of a brand, the logo, this is one of the things which allows your audience to recognise your brand.

As with everything in your brand which carries a message, once you have a logo to make the most of the logo’s impact for your brand you should apply it everywhere you can. This being a visual identifier (unlike brand tone – see below) this means putting it on all of your products, your website, your business cards, letter heads, company vehicles, newsletters (both internal and external) and of course emails (there are many more but I won’t bore you).

When you completed your brand review, one of the things commonly found is that the logo needs “updating” or bringing up to date, in order to meet your business values – which may be significantly different since your last logo design. The logo is your opportunity to engage with your audience, things like style, colour and design are all elements which contribute to the effectiveness of your logo in engaging with your potential customers.

In brand growth it is, of course, important to meet the needs of today’s ever changing markets (both locally and globally). Many big brands do this each year, every year (for example the multiple different apple logo’s over the decades). They also evolve the brand by examining the smaller details, for example Texas Instruments (a microprocessor manufacturer) examined whether sending paper datasheets with their products was effective and whether people used them … the answer was no (and its the same when people send newsletters in the post for many years without renewing the list – do people still read them after 5 years… probably not) … so TI made a move and put the datasheets online. This worked well for 2 several reasons; they could update brand image more easily as they weren’t reliant on old customer who would recognise a new logo, also it saved a lot of money – it cut packaging down and it also as a whole reduced cost of marketing ( part of which is now profit, part they reinvest).

If your business is in a market subject to changes then you should consider building into your “identity” a proportion of flexibility to allow your image to change over the years.

Brand Tone

Messages which your brand give off, be this for internal or external usage, memo email or bill board poster, the tone of a brand is important to the communication. The tone of voice is everything from the words you use, to the style used and the personality your message gives off.

The brand values and your identity should help you decide the right tone of voice for your company. The big companies have provided us with some fantastic examples, just one of which is the Virgin brand.

Virgin are known to be cheeky, friendly, outgoing and young – they aim for the youthful market of teenagers.
A great example is one of the latest adverts for virgin (bingo) - embedded below.

Ok maybe this doesn’t have the viral factor that virgin were seeking, but it does show that they aren’t taking themselves too seriously – and its the same with almost every other brand to come from virgin – find out more by reading some of the Richard Branson Books (here).

So with this in mind as yourself, does your brand have an existing tone and what is the tone? Also does your brand speak on a one-to-one basis or in third person?  Are you approaching your audience in an attractive and friendly manner or are you simply competing as someone else in the market … do you (again) stand out from the crowd?

Remember – your tone should always be consistent regardless of communication method or end point. This means from every member of staff the message should be both the same and as passionate.

Brand Management

Before reading this section it is very important to remember one little thing. Brand Management is not a short-term fix to the success of a business, rather brand management is about the long-term strategy that requires commitment.

When such a strategy is implemented effectively, your brand will grow and prosper. As your brand grows, your strategy must also develop – and this is when your long-term game playing becomes important.

Driving your brand forward is important, not just on day one but over the years and decades your business exists. The good thing is that you will have help along the way, in 2 ways. One you will have your staff and stakeholders, it is these people who have a vested interest in your brand and making it a success that will help push your brand forward in the best direction possible. The second is of course your customer, if you do a great job or offer something really amazing or different then your customers will be your best brand builder, best advertising media and better yet experience is Free … they will sell your product or services by word of mouth – this is where a lot of new sales can come from. You may also find that over the time your brand grows your employee base will evolve and you will begin to attract certain types of employee – think of the differences between employees in say Top Shop, a retail bank like Barclays and say technology leaders Google (all attract different types of people and employee based on brand values, tone and how you manage your brand).

As I’ve mentioned above customer interaction with you brand is a tool for your brand to evolve. You should be using this all important feedback, it is these people and this feedback that will show you how to grow and evolve and what your market wants from month to month and year to year.

To help your brand evolve you should be doing the following:

• Reviewing your competitors techniques,  see where they are going wrong and more importantly what they are doing correctly.
• If you see an unhappy customer or a confused customer talk to them find out what is wrong and correct it there and then.
• Review everything on a regular basis from staff progress, to brand identity, to overall customer happiness – reviewing everything means you see the bigger picture sooner.

Of course one thing you must remember is there will be victims of your progress along the way, you may loose staff who don’t like what you become, you may loose customers who may not like the way you are moving or you may loose faith in general of your brand external. The important thing is to review review review, know why your staff leave and try to make things better before they do, know where your custom is going and why (is it just brand values or something more?) and the most important thing is to keep going through it all – if you can’t keep faith in your brand then no body else will. Maybe you will take a “wider” view of your brand than others and in doing so you keep the values going but can change the methods by which you get to your end goal.

For my next point in brand management 101 I would like you to consider McDonald’s the fast food global franchise chain, and how they have perfected their menu on a global level. Brand continuity is important and it is only through planning and good strategic management you can get this. Your brand should be consistent both ascetically (from logo to shop layout) and in price (and not forgetting quality and message, but i’ve rambled on this above). So back to McDonald’s, you walk into a shop your greeted by the same checkout system in each restaurant, the same price (effectively) and lets not forget the small detail that is the staffing uniform. McDonald’s have perfected all of the above on not just a local level but also a global level – something other brands such as SubWay and KFC seem to struggle to do very well.

Finally in this short brand management 101 section I want to consider ‘resources’ and the reality that your resources can only reach so far. If you over reach you will look a little silly and will also look completely stupid and untrustworthy when it comes to your brand being bankrupt. However, one key point I must emphasise is that not all old adages are true, they say “pay peanuts, get monkey’s” this is all well and good I guess, unless you want monkeys

Finally, Your Brand is Living

From all the above you should have come to realise that a brand is at the centre of any company. If your body is akin to the business, then your brand and everything about it is your heart and soul. Now think of the big brands and how they deliver on all the above areas. Sure they have huge amounts of money and people now, but go back to the start of their stories – not many had any money at day one (at least not on the level they do now) – so if they can do it, so can you.

My final bits of advice are quite simple;

• With the worlds markets ever more competitive, you must find your place in the market and essentially you and your team must decide on the direction of your brand (using the techniques above).
• By using these techniques you wont just develop a brand – that is nice I know – but you will also create an advantage over your other SME competitors, this in a world where people like to support local small businesses can be very important.
• If you can create a distinctive brand for your business you can then go onto develop a business to go with it. There is a train of thought which says if you create a brilliant brand that you can use that brand for any business(es) you want, i believe this is very true – a great example is Virgin … so…..

Today is the day you start to grow your brand for tomorrow.

If you need any help with your brand then feel free to contact me.

Now this post title may evoke certain emotions within those involved in the web industry on a day-to-day basis, and of course the content creators of any business website (though of course creating good content isn’t just for the web). The one reaction I am sure many will have thought is “not this again” or “another post about writing good copy” (followed by pressing the back button of the browser).

Well if those people are still reading let me reassure you this isn’t going to be the usual dribble you get from many SEO Blogs, today I want to focus on “good content” in terms of the feelings you can evoke within the reader of your site, or even from the graphics you use.

Looking over various emails from current and previous clients, and correspondence between myself and those who are interested in SEO Services or just wanted to know more about SEO – I am given the feeling overall that they (in their mind) are saying “I could do that” and they all generally show the perception of developing good content is easy.

Now without being too blunt (and as any good copywriter will tell you) it is NOT easy. Indeed given the overpowering noise of the internet (you know the stuff you don’t want to know or where someone is rambling on before getting to a point, or maybe not getting there at all) and the need to be more than distinctively average, creating great content is not easy. Given that the noise to good content ratio is pretty poor (for most sites), I’ve formulated 4 key points to help you to create good content – and no, this doesn’t mean I’m saying that anyone can create good content.

Be Passionate

Even if you are selling what is the most boring thing on the earth (for example a toe nail) it is your job as the content creator to be passionate, if you’re not no body else is going to be (ever!). Boring content means bad bad results, ok you may get the odd sale but you will not sell more than if your passion for your work were evident for all to see. Now if you invented your product or service I am sure you will have no issue showing your sheer passion and belief in the product – and the user will feel your passion. If you are struggling to show passion for a product/service (you’re not alone) why not join the many who hire someone to inject that extra bit of passion.
Passion is a key selling tool to evoke emotion within a user.

Be Intentional

Think about this term before you read on, like those who read this article before I published it you may struggle to understand exactly what I mean. Plus even if you do, you may still struggle to do this with your own site(s) – like me (yes within these four walls I am sometimes guilty of this). Planning your content and the delivery method(s) you will use for each bit of content, if you use a trial and error method in posting analyse your statistics and you will produce more predictable results. In other words, this means you can start to create posts, pages and other content which will bring people back time and time again, or will create more links to your site – it also means you don’t waste time posting links (or other content) where you don’t need to, time you can spend more productively. Further more plan each article or page, do not dance around the main points in your content, make them stand out. At the heart of this point is one key point
Do NOT leave content and delivery to a “spur of the moment”.

Be Creative

Ok this in some ways speaks for itself, I’m saying be unique in what your content says both literally and emotionally. If you are writing the same kind of thing again and again then not only will your passion move away, but so will your users. We are all guilty of this from time to time. For example I was guilty of this for sometime with this site in the beginning, until I realised that wasn’t what people wanted, they wanted variety and to get something different from what any other site can offer. If you are not unique then why would anyone come to you? it’s simple they wouldn’t. Now although they say a picture speaks a thousand words, this is ok for humans so do include graphics to aid your points, but it is the word which feeds the search engine spider. My point is this
Unique content means happier users and search engines

Be Consistent

If you are the owners of a blog or a website which produces a fair amount of content then this is simple, create a schedule and keep to it, humans like things on a regular basis (think of your 3 meals a day, equate this to the number of posts per week or month and set days these are delivered). If you content is static – an information only site – then this is a little harder but here is where both you guys (and women) and the regular release content readers must take note. Content is the key to the gold passing your palm, keeping the tone, manner, style (and timing as mentioned above) is very important, especially for information pages. No body likes to get used to the tone of a page (which users do subconsciously) only to be unsettled on the next page because the tone has changed making it near impossible to read, it also means that they will miss much of your content as they can’t grasp what you are saying. My point is as follows
Chopping and changing style, tone & timing is not good for you or your user.

So despite the title of this article, creating good content is NOT so easy. It just happens to look easy. So if you create content here is my challenge to you. Think of content you have created, being brutally honest, did you put all of the above points into your content? If you’re as honest as you can be then you will be likely to say “yes there was effort, but no passion” or “maybe it could have been delivered in a better format or via different channels”. If you’re not so serious then i’m not sure what will happen other than you will continue on the path you have been on, I just hope that this some how subconscious makes your content better somehow.

Did you know that you can earn some cash from SEOAndy by referring one of our services to a friend? Click if, You want to know about our referral scheme.

Well we’ve finally reached the end of our “building your brand” series of articles, this is the sixth and final instalment (7 if your technical about this). In this article I will look at the 10 things which will make your brand/company not just stand out from the crowd and competitors but also develop your unique selling point (usp).

It may seem like a lame way to do these in a “top 10″ fashion but that isn’t how I’m treating these, these points are in no particular order and are all important to any brand, regardless of size (generally).

Increased Selection

Increasing your selection of products and/or service is one simple way to stand out from the crowd. Another reason for a larger selection is that you are seen to be covering all areas of your market, the more you offer under one roof the less work clients need to do running around from business to business, plus maybe you can give them a discount for taking multiple services with you (remember how to improve customer loyalty)
Consider: if you sell something (product or service) don’t just offer them on your site, go to free advertising like gumtree and freeindex. If its a product try ebay or amazon.

Innovative Product / Service

If you have a new product with a patent covering it or a service that others don’t offer, you will have something that no one else can offer. Another reason for doing this kind of thing is that you show you are upto date and working towards the future in your market, you are a market leader.
Consider:  Patents can take sometime to occur, especially world rights, so apply in good time - remember you can go to manufacture with patent pending. Also make sure you tell potential clients you are the only brand selling the product and what makes this product/service so special.

Multi Use Products / Services

Once you have a service or product, think of how you can twist them to become useful for something else. Multi purpose products mean that the end user doesn’t need to buy another product, they save money and are likely to come back to you.
Consider: Aspirin has multiple uses including treating pain and preventing heart attacks – very useful. Mobile phones are now digital cameras too… what in your selection of products & services can you twist to help your end user.

Extreme Customer Service

Customer service can make or break a brand, ensuring your customers know you are eager to deliver the best service both through products and customer service implores the customer to trust you and your company & possibly recommend you. Going the extra mile can often make the difference between a sale or no sale, or between the customer return for repeat custom or not.
Consider: If someone contacts you that you ensure you say thank you, ask them for feedback on your product or service (and say thank you for this), ensure you go the extra mile (sometimes literally like Dr’s doing house visits). Maybe like myself you can send an automatic thank you to anyone enquiring using a form on our websites. – This point helps with customer loyalty too.

Convenience of Sale

Make your product or service be convenient to buy or use, it can make that last step to use a little easier. A great example of making a service convenient is Banking ATM’s in supermarkets or shopping centres. If you offer a local service make the service more accessible by getting leaflets into local shops, show your support for these shops in return for a little help for your local shop.
Consider: If you offer a service or product ensure you reach a wider audience by using the internet as a revenue stream

Confidence in Expertise

If you have expertise in a given field you should be using this to sell, and training others to sell for you. Sounds simple when I say it like that and it can be but the important thing is that you use the knowledge to a useful end with your customer. A great example is your best friend, the IT guy, you call him up and he can help you with many things from “why doesn’t my printer work?” to “how do I install this?” to connectivity issues … he shares his knowledge, but equally if he worked for an IT company he could use and exploit this knowledge as a selling tool to make a sale or to upsell – both valuable sales you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Consider: If you are the line manager or overall manager of a company, do your staff have ALL the knowledge they could in your field of speciality – if you work in clothing shop for “hip” teenagers, do your staff know about the latest trends and how people want to look?if not why not? Get them Trained. – Equally this can be said for any part of any business.

Pricing Strategy

Consider Apple and Microsoft – Apple are highly priced, “executive toy”-like, amazing quality products (apparently ) – whilst Microsoft are a lower priced common place machine for everyman and his dog, plus they are always in the new for viruses and stuff (it seems). Not getting the picture ? Ok well …
Consider: If you price high you convey quality for the higher end of the market, lower pricing will bring the thrifty peoples attention. This isn’t always true though, if the whole market charges high prices for something – either they are all great quality or something is going on – great example of this is the Virgin Atlantic & British Airways price fixing scandal.

Longevity of a Product or Service

As I’ve mentioned before your primary selling tool should be based on time and emotion (see price advertising means fail here). But I feel the need to clear this up with a few examples from adverts those in the UK (maybe else where) will recognise. Using time to tug on the strings of emotion can mean selling at a high price easier because you are offering the little bit extra (seemingly for free!).
Consider: Tyres – Michelin (amongst others) are always always going on in TV adverts about how much further the tyres they sell can go compared to “ordinary tyres” … this is like Fairy Liquid saying 50% extra free on bottles in store and in adverts going further telling you in every advert for the past 5 years that “fairy liquid lasts longer” … an interesting outcome to note is that on TV adverts saying xx% free doesn’t appear to work for the UK market, however when instore or looking at posters in the street or banners on the internet xx% free does very well.

Offer a Guarantee

Offering some kind of promise is a fantastic way to either clinch a sale or implore trust in your company. Asda (Walmart UK for you americans ) offer a money back guarantee “if you are not 100% satisfied” with their home-brand products, everything is covered from shampoo to cutlery to food goods – a great way to show you are quality in what you do. This week Asda have gone one step further (in some way) and have jumped on what is a common bandwagon in other industries (insurance mainly) and say if you can finx X cheaper in asda than another shop get the difference off your next shop.
Consider:  99.99% of those who see your offer will never take it up, there may be one or two people who do but because you have grown trust and belief in your brand, products and services the sales generated from this will be far far more than the sales you would have recieved without – but be careful not to offer something you can’t keep to. Broken promises can spread the world in seconds in this digital ages – as can bad news … ask Gordon Brown.

Packaging for Market

Offer packaging options which make you stand above the rest. Supermarkets do this by offering a variety of long-life bags, plastic 5p ones, fabric 34p ones and more. The shape and designs change, size, brightness, environmental concerns and more all make a difference. The thing with packaging for supermakets like Asda, Tesco and Morrisons is that this is another way to raise revenue, but for the foremost they don’t they claim they do it for the environment and so make no profit … but this isn’t the same for small businesses or sending out parcels. If this is you…
Consider: Can you package using less material – saving money and space, Can you make the package childproof – this means if its a present or damageable good it won’t get hurt, Can you make the packaging intuitive – Ribena  juice cartons with a straw in the side, where as cheaper drinks have no attached straw (not user friendly), Can you offer free gift wrapping at a certain price, Can you brand your packaging so that even whilst in transit your brand is being seen.