idbd:focus

Plan for Brand Success

With the holidays fast approaching, business owners take the 4th quarter to plan for the upcoming year. Now is the time to take inventory! While you are busy planning your 2016 business sales and marketing goals, be sure to incorporate your brand, design and outreach needs:

1. Your Business Logo/Tagline... is it outdated? Do you need a revamp your look and message to reconnect with your audience? Are your competitors looking similar to you? Most importantly, is your logo and tagline still true to your overall brand message? 

2. Your Business Cards... is the information correct? Do you have new employees? Are you utilizing both sides of the card? Does it list your social media channels? Do you have enough supply to get you through the first quarter of 2016? Do they leave a lasting impression?

3. Your Marketing Materials (brochures/post cards/stationery)... are these items up-to-date and reflect your services/products correctly? Do you need to update photos/content? Do you have enough of these items to cover business events that you may be involved in through the first quarter of 2016? If you mail these items out, when was the last time you updated your lists?

4. Email Marketing... are you connecting with your audience? What are your open/click/conversion percentages? When was the last time you updated your templates? Your mailing lists? Does your mailing list have relevant contacts on it? How long have you been using your advertising campaign(s)?

5. Social Media... Are your social media platforms branded appropriately? Are your posts informative and geared towards the user benefit? Do you have an overall plan for your posts that tie into your marketing goals? Are you initiating conversations with your followers?

6. Your Website... is your content up-to-date and reflective of your services and products? Do all of your links work? Is your navigation user friendly? Is your site responsive and mobile-optimized, with all the coding current? Are you using the most up-to-date SEO standards? Have you been tracking your analytics? What are your bounce & conversion rates? When does your domain/host server expire, and are you happy with their services? 

One of the best ways to ensure that your brand and design materials are on par for the upcoming year would be to get a professional assessment. At Identity Brand + Design, we’ve developed the brand{id} – our 4-step brand assessment that will determine the overall effectiveness of your business brand which will provide you with the professional guidance to enhance your brand message and strategy. This service will help your business connect with your target market on a much deeper level so that you are viewed as the best and only option of providing a solution, service or product to your target market.

We also offer the web{id} – our 5-point website assessment that will determine the overall effectiveness of your website and provide you with the necessary recommendations to enhance your website’s performance – and results. This service will bring more value to your business by differentiating your website from that of your competitors and by converting more viewers into customers. 

Whatever your business sales and marketing goals end up being, be sure to keep these points in mind to ensure success and growth for the upcoming year.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”  ~ Pablo Picasso