The average attention span of an adult is seven seconds. That equates to a 23-word caption. An email header with a subcaption. A brief audio clip. Seven seconds is all marketers get to present the best version of their products and services. You may be asking yourself, “How do I accomplish acquisition and retention in such a short time?”
Reaching customers effectively and efficiently is all rooted in one word: branding. In the highly competitive market of today, establishing a clear brand can help set you apart from your competitors.
In marketing, branding your business now goes beyond the color palette you choose, the logotype you put on the storefront, and how aesthetic your overall brand appeal is. Rather than focusing on what you are saying, the important thing now is how you are saying it to your audiences.
Here are a few key elements of branding to consider to maximize reach, impression, and growth for your brand:
- Keep your value proposition in mind.
Your value proposition is fundamental to everything the brand does. It is what sets a brand apart from its competitors. It exemplifies the value you want to provide to customers in a unique way. This statement captures the essence of your brand. Why should people buy your product or service?
Having a clear value proposition can aid in overall messaging efforts across various modes of communication while providing something to fall back on and enabling you to be able to portray this value proposition throughout all messaging efforts.
- A brand tone of voice is vital.
While your value proposition shows why people should buy your product, your brand’s tone of voice is the personality behind your brand. The tone of your voice should be a combination of your brand’s values and the people behind your brand, two key elements that set you apart from competitors.
Take a few moments to think about your employees. Do you consider your company culture to be more authoritative? Conversational? Collaborative? Informative? Jot down a few adjectives you think describe your brand, and then weigh them against your values—they should tie into one another.
Use these adjectives as descriptors to provide a tone to the messages you are sharing, ultimately allowing customers to differentiate you from competitors.
- Use branded hashtags and SEO to your advantage.
Today, seven out of ten hashtags are brandable. The use of a unique hashtag keeps your brand relevant and easily identifiable on social media. Search engine optimization (SEO) works in your favor to keep your brand at the top of search engine results and is a free marketing strategy.
Hashtags can be mutually beneficial for both the marketer and the customer. Hashtags boost social engagement and enable customers to find your brand on social media. Not only will customers be able to find content for your brand all in one place with the use of a consistent hashtag, but they will also be able to share their own unique content and post with the hashtag if desired. This enables a “community feel” for customers to learn more about your brand and engage with those promoting similar content.
For example, we use the brand hashtags “#NoyJoy” and “#NOYse” for our social media content. By going to these hashtags, a user is not just able to see the posts by NMG’s account but also the occasional client post, enabling a potential customer to engage with our work, customer reviews, and other posts in real-time.
Original content and SEO go hand in hand. By creating more original multimedia content (i.e., blogs, images, and videos) on your brand’s website and adding important keywords to the site, you are likely to attract more attention to the website and move up in search results. Search engines will naturally promote useful content to users looking for items related to your original content. Making sure your posts are relevant, offer unique value, and make use of important industry keywords can work in your favor when looking to boost your SEO. By optimizing SEO, you will be able to boost website traffic and, ultimately, overall brand engagement.
- Use social media to capitalize on branded elements.
You have a brand logo. You have brand colors.You have a distinct voice tone. You have thought about a few keywords important to the brand. Now it’s showtime—bring these elements together and present your brand identity on social media.
With a limited attention span topped by the continuous scroll that social media has now become, presenting your brand concisely is important for both acquisition and recognition. Studies have shown that creating brand consistency within messaging has boosted company revenue by 23% and helped create brand recognition at a rate 3.5 times higher.
Creating a consistent brand image does not have to be hard; it can be as simple as adding your brand logo and colors to social media posts. Not only does this create a better visual appeal, but it also evokes an emotional appeal. Essentially, colors can speak on behalf of your brand.
Combining the use of colors, logos, and messaging elements also gives your brand its unique brand identity—a pivotal piece to creating differentiation for your brand with audience members. You want your brand to stand out, so why not create a social media feed that showcases your core branding elements and sets you apart?
- Keep tabs on your surrounding market.
A pivotal part of marketing on any level is evaluation. A few key questions to keep in mind consistently:
How is my brand performing?
Am I messaging in ways that portray my brand adequately?
What are my competitors doing?
What is happening in the marketing industry that I should be aware of?
Notably, you need to stay on top of marketing trends when advertising on social media. Users are flooded with messages every day, and staying up-to-date on marketing strategy and tactics will only aid in growing brand awareness.
Establishing a continuous evaluation of your brand’s health and the competitive market will help you stay ahead of the competition and ensure brand consistency among the elements discussed above. Proper management of branded elements will enable your business to experience continued growth in the highly competitive marketing industry.
If you feel like you are ready to grow your brand and increase business but are still unsure where to start, Noy Media Group can help you! We offer various services within the digital marketing and print advertising realms and are ready to help you successfully launch and maintain your brand. If you are interested, contact us today.
Let’s Experience #NoyJoy together.