Ryan Briggs - Articles

What is Brand.. Part 1

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:30:00 -0800

Who Should Read This Paper?
A brand is an intangible thing promising a tangible result. Because of this, the discussion about brand and branding, while lively, is often not objective. With so much conflicting information in the public arena, how do business owners make educated decisions about their brand?

The aim of this paper is to explore the “brand culture” persistent in business and present it in a clear, objective manner. This paper is suitable for anyone in a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME or SMB) looking to understand the complexities of brand. Additionally, anyone considering investing money in one or more components of a branding exercise will benefit from reading this paper.

Executive Summary
“Brand is not what you say it is. It is what they say it is.” Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap

We live and work in a brand culture. Whether we recognise it or not, our customers and prospects make decisions based on their opinions of your brand. Even if we wanted to, we can’t avoid it. According to Dr. Stephen Downes, postgraduate lecturer in brand management and advertising at RMIT, a brand is a “set of associations in the mind of the customer. Brand lives in the mind.”

Brand damage
Unfortunately, many small and medium-sized businesses make decisions about branding without much consideration for their own products and services. Worse, they often fail to consider their customers and prospective customers. Enthusiastic about an advertising campaign or a slick sign, they fail to consider the overall impact these disparate exercises will have on their business. They are disappointed in an investment that didn’t generate returns. Worse, they are faced with a confused or disgruntled public.

This phenomenon is not limited to the small guy. Consider the massive misstep Kraft made naming their new Vegemite product, iSnack 2.0, and you get an idea how easy it is to do more harm than good.

Brand equity
A good branding strategy will produce a customer base actively participating in the promotion of your business. You will enjoy valuable references and Word of Mouth referrals. Both conditions lead to an improved revenue stream.

Recommendation
Small and medium-sized businesses face adversity on a daily basis. Accustomed to being jacks-of-all-trades, it’s difficult to relinquish control and hard-earned money to something as intangible as branding. Conduct a thoughtful investigation in how a branding exercise will benefit your company. Keep sending a consistent message about your company and adopt a strategy focused on the customer view of your business.

Definitions
For purposes of this discussion, the following glossary of words and terms is provided to ensure a complete understanding of the subject matter.

B2B – B2B is an acronym for Business to Business, a company that sells and/or services other businesses. Good examples of B2B companies are graphic designers, copywriters, sign makers, printers, and accountants.
Brand – The association a customer has with a company, product, or service is a brand. A brand is nothing more than an image or reputation.
Branding – Branding is the implementation of the brand related to a brand identity. Branding elements include logo, avatar, taglines, slogans, jingles, letterhead, business cards, signage, website, uniforms and anything else that represents a company.
RMIT – Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
SME – An acronym describing a business, SME stands for Small to Medium-sized Enterprise.
SMB – The same thing as SME, Small to Medium-sized Business is more common in Australian usage.
WoM – Word of Mouth is a form of informal reference where a person recommends a business using social media or other traditional ways of communication.

Brand Culture
“Smaller companies tend to think branding is something big companies do but branding is not advertising. You do not have to advertise like big companies to brand. Every company has a brand, which is as good as their market presence. It’s how you make people consider you.” Temi Abimbola, senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Central England

In an environment driven by consumerism, we have been conditioned to make decisions based on recognizable brands. When you consider names like Qantas, Vegemite, Blundstone and Uncle Toby’s, specific images appear in your consciousness. A brand can be the name of a product, service or company. A brand can represent one product, Blundstone – work boots, or a collective group of things, Uncle Toby’s – cereal, athletic performance and health.

As scientific data mounts to support the influence of brands and branding on the brain, a deluge of information arguing the necessity of branding has flooded the market. For an owner or manager of an SMB, it can be very confusing to know where to start.

What is a brand?
By nature, brand definition is elusive. One person’s perception of a brand may be different to another. When two products are primarily the same, the company with the most positive brand recognition will excel.

You might not want to think about it or invest money in it but every business, regardless of size or income, has a brand attached to it. Nothing you can do changes this fact because you don’t possess your own brand. According to Dr. Stephen Downes, postgraduate lecturer in brand management and advertising at RMIT, a brand is a “set of associations in the mind of the customer. Brand lives in the mind.”

A brand does two things:

Defines what you are in the eyes of the public.
Conveys how people feel about your company, product or service.

A brand, essentially, is your image or reputation. You can create and influence your brand, to an extent, but each customer will develop their own opinion about your company based on a rich history of experiences and WoM referrals.

What it’s not
Debate rages around brand. A brand is not a logo, a slogan or sign. You can invest money in expensive advertising, develop a slick website or run a radio campaign but if it doesn’t support the things that make you successful, it won’t benefit your business.

In a white paper titled, Give Them Something to Believe In: The Value of Brand Culture, ID Branding said it best:
“Executive leadership must realise that branding is no longer the province of the marketing department. Companies must build a brand culture that is rooted in the heart of the organisation and radiates outward as a natural set of actions based on a common ethos and worldview. This brand culture will not only unite employees in a common purpose and vision, it will also attract consumers and engage them in a deep and meaningful relationship that transcends the traditional marketing goals of brand preference and brand loyalty.”

Expensive
Companies like Qantas have the luxury of million dollar budgets to promote their company but the SMB is often operating on limited resources. With relatively small investments, SMBs making educated decisions about their image will achieve tangible returns. Best of all, these investments can be staggered over time as long as a clear brand strategy is adhered to.

Take the case of STM, an international company based in New South Wales. STM design and wholesale laptop bags aimed at those who are after an alternative to the black, briefcase-style standard. Director and Co-Founder of STM, Adina Jacobs speaks to the economy connected with a healthy brand:

“A strong brand, backed by a quality product, is the basis of a business like ours. Most SMBs don’t have large marketing/advertising budgets and strong brand awareness used in the right way can help you get your product out there without spending a lot of money.”

Optional
With the advent of the internet and a trend for consumers to educate themselves online, external control of the brand is no longer in the hands of the business owner. ID Branding further states:

“In an era where “transparency” is the word of the day, consumers will no longer buy the external brand image we create, but will take it upon themselves to find out what a brand really stands for by probing for their own truth. And if they catch a whiff of contradiction, they will bolt.”

More than ever before, it is vital for business to take an active role in defining their brand to the public.

Why is brand important?
According to Dr. Downes, “We don’t understand how much we rely on brands to make our decisions.” He goes on to say, “The difference the brand makes to the customer’s purchasing decisions can greatly affect the profitability of a SMB.”

His concern is that small businesses, in particular, often make decisions about their brand without much consideration to:

Products
Services
Customers
Advantages gained in updating or refreshing a brand

Why is brand important and how can it contribute to the success of a SMB?

Professional image
The initial step to building a trusted relationship is to make a good impression. How your company presents itself affects its ability to attract new prospects. Creating a professional image is important to establishing your company as a trusted partner. If you lack business cards, let your teenage nephew build your website or use a logo acquired from a public clip art folder, you’re setting an expectation your business doesn’t operate professionally.

Intention to succeed
When business takes itself seriously, so do prospective customers. An investment in your brand will establish your credibility as a serious operator fully committed to the success of your own enterprise. This is especially true of home-based businesses and sole traders. As Peter Crocker counsels on www.flyingsolo.com.au,

“The fact is, rightly or wrongly, perceptions are very powerful. So, as a home-based business people we can either choose to ignore the credibility issue and risk losing business (particularly from risk averse corporate clients), or we can play the ‘serious’ game for the sake of getting through the door.”

Establish integrity
Looking professional and having a desire to succeed are key ingredients to attracting attention to your company. The real test comes when prospective customers scratch beyond the surface to decide if your company is trustworthy. Leading brand strategist Vincent Grimaldi de Puget cautions on www.brandchannel.com,

“A major source of failure in the attempt to build a great brand is the lack of consistency among all the contact-points with the customer. In such a case, the brand message makes a promise on which the organisation does not fully deliver.”

A successful brand accurately represents your products and services and focuses on the customer view of your company.

Director and Co-Founder of STM, Adina Jacobs shares this insight about the influence of corporate integrity on brand:

“For our product, brand is very important, but just as important is the backing behind the brand. People know that the STM brand represents high quality product and that we back our product with high levels of customer service. We make sure that we are easy to deal with, both for our customer (the retailers) and end users (the people buying and using STM bags).”

STM understands, inherently, the importance of supporting a strong brand image with equally strong support and service. The integrity of their operation enhances the brand in the mind of the consumer.

What does brand mean to SMB?
Every company has a brand whether by design or circumstance. A conscious decision to make a positive impact on your brand will differentiate you from your competitors. Consumers are faced with more choices than ever before and a strong brand is a valuable competitive advantage.

Get it right – Brand equity
In his book Branding Insights for Small Business, Rocky Cipriano explains how brands create an emotional bond with customers. To understand the impact of customer loyalty when it comes to brand, consider what cola you drink or which running shoes you prefer. Without even naming a brand, it’s likely you’re thinking about a specific company.

Manufacturers of running shoes, automobiles, and soft drinks enjoy longterm, multigenerational relationships with their customers. SMBs can and often do cultivate the same sort of loyalty. In a world where purchasing choices are many, nothing is more influential than WoM references. With the advent of a global online WoM culture, SMBs have greater reach than ever before.

Brand equity is achieved when the elusive aspects of brand become a tangible benefit to the company. Adina Jacobs speaks further about the STM experience:

“We get a lot of editorial for our product in newspapers and magazines, ranging from new product mentioned, to reviews, to competition give-aways. We very rarely do paid advertising because a) we don’t have budget for it, and b) we feel that if people write about our products because they like them and they like what they do, then that speaks a lot louder than if we pay to splash our logo and picture in a magazine. The strength of our brand backed by a quality product allows us to do that.“

Although you may not aspire to become an international player in your field, even a localised customer reference base equates to monetary success. A successful brand will provide a natural lead generation and lead 8
nurturing campaign leaving SMBs more time to get on with the work at hand.

Get it wrong – Brand damage
Vegemite is an iconic brand rooted in the mind of Australian consciousness. It’s also a terrific example of what can happen when a company fiddles with a successful brand. In his blog for QBrand, www.qbrand.blogspot.com, Dr. Downes explores Kraft’s decision to name their new Vegemite product. The product sold a million jars prior to the fiasco but experienced a strong public backlash to the announcement of iSnack 2.0 as the official name. Sales of the product fell. Not only did the Vegemite brand take a beating, but the parent company, Kraft, lost traction, as well. Dr. Downes says:

“And ugly brand extensions may not cannibalise sales of the parent brand but they sure as hell can damage the image of the parent brand and the reputation of its owner. It's clear that many consumers are feeling a lot less warm and fuzzy about the Vegemite brand and Kraft today than they were last week.”

The iSnack2.0 example demonstrates how easy it is to stray off course. Kraft, obviously, was trying to appeal to modern tastes by adopting the lexicon of technology. It failed miserably and now suffers the consequences. The public mindset of the Vegemite brand is so strong it rejected a contrived attempt to change the image of the product.

Thankfully, most SMBs will never face the sort of complete failure experienced by Kraft. Nor, however, do they have the resources of recovery a multi-national conglomerate commands. The lesson is a valid one. Confuse the customer and pay the price through reduced trade.

Summary
No one is immune to the power of brand. Large corporations with seemingly limitless budgets suffer from brand damage. It is imperative the owners and managers of SMBs participate in building brand equity for their organisation.
Managing a brand does not have to be expensive. Investments in branding can be staggered over time. It is imperative, however, to keep delivering a consistent message.

The single most important aspect to influencing your brand is to maintain an accurate representation of your company. Keep focused on how the customer is viewing your organisation. Brand lives in the mind of the customer.

Understanding the power of brand, both positive and negative, is a key component to success for any business. SMBs who actively manage their brand identity enjoy tangible economic benefits. Conversely, a company allowing their reputation to be tarnished or driven by the competition will experience reduced trade.

About the Author
Sarah Mitchell is the owner of Global Copywriting (www.globalcopywriting.com), a freelance writing company based in Fremantle, Western Australia. She specialises in content marketing and B2B documents. Her specialities include white papers, case studies and blogs. Her experience includes 20 years in the IT business. She has five years direct sales experience and over 10 years writing experience. She has lived and worked on five continents.

Integrated online/offline campaigns

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -0800

Offering better returns for the same investment, integrated online and offline marketing campaigns are becoming increasingly popular. Whilst it is well known that advertising through more than one medium will always produce better results, there is a new trend emerging.

With current developments in online and offline technology, there are new ways social media, print and website advertising channels can be integrated together to boost customer awareness, collect important customer information and prompt a call to action across the different marketing channels.

Generating online / offline push and pull by mixing marketing methods can be done in a number of ways. Whilst any mixed media campaign can measure generated user activity and collect data, a well designed, strategically implemented campaign will build brand recognition, leading to all important word of mouth advertising that can bring immeasurable value to any business's reputation.

One such model of integrating online and offline methods is shown:
Social Media Advertising > Online Data Capture > Dynamic Print with promo code > Website activity

Social Media Advertising
With the ongoing popularity of social media, the advertising potential in this area continues to proliferate, with interest growing in social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and many other sites. The great part about social media advertising is that you can target a very specific audience. In a universal flood of online information and promotion, the relevance of an internet advertisement is key to achieving results.

Advertising facilities on these websites often allow fine tuning of who will see the message, using demographic, psychographic (personality and attitude based) and firmographic (company or organisation based) filters. As payment for these advertisements is per impression or per click, you can avoid overspending on a campaign by ensuring that your ads are only viewed by certain types of people.

Factors such as geographical location, age, gender, keywords, educational establishments, workplaces and personal interests can all be controlled. Advertisement performance can be tracked in real time, showing analytical information of who is clicking on your ad. By determining your target clientele beforehand, measuring the ad progress and when necessary, making appropriate modifications, your campaign will achieve the best results.

Online Data Capture
Providing a link from a social media advertisement to an online data capture microsite will allow you to further advertise your product and gather important data from interested customers. In a connected call to action campaign, the success of an online data capture site is dependent on its significance and its approach.

The quality of the design is a very big draw card, as this is where most customers will make their first decision on whether they like the look of your offering. By validating your offer and using online forms you can pinpoint the specific needs and areas of interest of customers, collecting their personal details and information about their requirements. This will provide a valuable database of very important potential customers. With this database, the next step to dynamic print or email marketing can be made.

Dynamic Print
Dynamic print is a fairly new method of marketing that enables unlimited variations of the same document to be printed. With dynamic print you can address customers personally and acknowledge their individual requests. Personalising textual content is an excellent way to attain brand loyalty. By incorporating a good incentive with an online promotion code, this tangible reminder will encourage targeted individuals to visit your website and take advantage of your exclusive offer. Dynamic print is also a good tool to follow up purchases with.

Website Activity
Using print with a promo code to draw visitors to your website will not only improve your site's hit to sales conversion ratio, but will provide you with invaluable information about who has visited and their browsing activities. Promo codes can be used to allow access to special areas of the website and the site's overall performance, measured by browser responses, can be analysed.

By analysing user activity, you can see which parts of the website are generating the most interest and are performing the most effectively. In addition, increased website activity can greatly improve search engine rankings.

Email Marketing
Email marketing can be used in place of dynamic print or to enhance a mixed media campaign with print. Another excellent way of building brand recognition, emails can keep customers up to date about a business's latest activities with newsletters and special promotions.

Emails are a very inexpensive and unobtrusive form of advertising, allowing customers to respond to messages at their own convenience and giving them the option to unsubscribe if they wish to.

Integration of online and offline campaigns, a new way of marketing here to stay
Many businesses are already achieving great results by astutely marketing themselves in this way. Eventually most major firms will follow the marketing methods of these companies, many of whom are already reaping the benefits of personally engaging with their customers and learning from them. Integrating different methods of marketing will not only reinforce any campaign by extending its reach, but also provide a grasp on a large section of the best potential and active customers.

To get this integration to work, careful planning is fundamental. Many businesses employ tech savvy, switched on individuals to help organise and run their cross media campaigns. Knowing the ins and outs and latest trends of various marketing channels (especially social media) and how they work together is essential. A good understanding of the current market, coupled with a fresh and dynamic approach to the different methods of integrated advertising, will help almost any business achieve its goals.

E-commerce - The global market..

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

With the expanse of the online market, more and more businesses are taking advantage of e-commerce. As consumers are increasingly drawn to the convenience and ease of online shopping, companies large and small are generating great revenue from this method of trade.

Without the need to spend on public premises or massive amounts of stock, e-commerce websites can often be run solely from a home office and are a highly cost effective, low risk investment for many start-up businesses, as well as established retail companies.

The benefits

Having an e-commerce facility can extend almost any client base and increase sales, reaching new customers in potentially any geographical area. Existing customers may also enjoy the benefit of being able to browse 24/7 from the comfort of their own homes, or prefer buying online altogether.

Online shopping allows web browsers to type in and find exactly what product they want, as well as access valuable information about the business. Some customers may not enjoy dealing with staff in stores, who may be uninformed or pushy about selling their own stock. For many consumers, shopping online is easy and quite often a lot cheaper, as online traders sell with fewer overheads.

Setting up

Outlining your objectives
An e-commerce business requires clear planning from the outset. Gaining online traffic from search engine results alone can take several weeks. It is important to define a clear search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, as well as run parallel marketing campaigns to enable your website to generate the sales it needs in the soonest time possible.

Online shop design
Much like an actual shop, the appearance and layout of an e-commerce website will play a critical role in its success. A professionally designed website can give customers the feel of a large, well established company, even if there is only one person running it.

Whilst the nature and vibe of a business can be reflected in a good design, having a website that's also easy to navigate is vital, as this will help customers find exactly what they want quickly and ultimately make a purchase.

Localised, nationalised and internationalised e-commerce
Localised e-commerce websites enable you to sell goods specifically to certain regional areas. Individual prices, offers and product ranges can be localised with the use of IP address mapping. The same principles can be applied on a national scale. With localised and nationalised online shops, you can tailor your business to meet the needs of particular areas of the market.

For an online business to be truly global, correctly planning an internationalised online presence is essential. Proper internationalisation incorporates localisation by adapting language, currency, domain names and recognising aesthetic preferences and cultural differences, appropriate for the respective national and regional markets.

Marketing

As online shopping continues to grow, so do the number of e-commerce websites. A newly established e-commerce site should be promoted in as many different ways as possible. Having an eye-catching design and user friendly interface is only the first step.

Search marketing
A skilled web designer and / or SEO specialist will be able to help a website achieve the desired search engine listings under chosen key phrases, however this can take time and should always be backed up with other marketing methods.

Email marketing
Targeted email campaigns are relatively inexpensive compared with other marketing techniques. Using a professional template that maintains aesthetic continuity with the website will strengthen brand recognition and provide a quick and easy link to the goods available online.

Dynamic print
Opposed to static print, dynamic print allows unlimited variations of the same document, enabling you to target your paper campaign to specific groups or individuals. Responses to dynamic print campaigns are usually more than double that of static print.

In tandem with dynamic print, you can also incorporate PURLs (personalised URLs; i.e. www.johnsmith.yourdomainname.com.au). As soon as a prospective customer accesses a PURL website, they will be greeted with information that is relevant and aimed at them.

A print campaign can reinforce the credibility of a website and serve as a tangible reminder to potential customers.

Viral marketing
Word of mouth is by far the best form of advertising for almost anything. Viral marketing is a fairly new way of online promotion that cleverly relies on individuals to voluntarily pass on advertisements through emails, blogs, message forums and social networks. Viral marketing can be incredibly cost effective and extremely wide reaching, but needs to be planned carefully, as generally only campaigns that are highly entertaining or offer genuinely good incentives worth sharing will entice people and encourage them to spread the word.

Security concerns
Over the years e-commerce technology has improved vastly. Online shopping is now safer than ever before. In fact even more so than in a real shop. Some customers may still be uneasy about giving their personal and financial details online, but generally this reluctance to buy over the internet is diminishing, as consumers are becoming more educated about the reliability of online security measures.

Providing contact details, such as email addresses, telephone numbers and postal addresses is a simple way to improve confidence about security. Allowing customers to make contact over the phone, even for just straightforward sales enquiries, can help nervous buyers overcome their worries.

If you have an actual store, listing the physical address and including images of the premises on the website will reassure customers that the company is genuine. People concerned about security may also check reviews about the business on the internet, or even visit the shop (in which case the website has worked as a very inexpensive advertisement).

Abandoned carts

A notable trend of online shopping is abandoned carts (unclosed sales). Whilst the majority of decisions made by customers to abandon carts can't be controlled, factors in the layout and presentation of the website can be, to try and prevent this:

shipping prices - any shipping fees should clearly be shown at the start
total cost - ensure overall prices are not higher than most other competitors
registration required before purchase - this can be a barrier to sales
checkout process - this should be streamlined, the less steps, the better
site stability and reliability - ensure that the site is not unstable or unreliable

Overall e-commerce websites should always be customer focused by presenting clear information, having a user friendly interface and being easy to navigate.

Expanding and growing your business online

Many businesses that have branched into e-commerce have experienced massive growth. As online stores can offer lower prices, better variety and greater convenience to more consumers, the demand for internet shopping is rising.

Getting into e-commerce as early as possible will offer the best opportunity for success. As well as building customer awareness and confidence, a strategically marketed and well designed e-commerce website can easily facilitate expansion. Product ranges and details such as current stock levels can be added or changed very quickly.

An online shop can accommodate the needs of customers who may not be able to visit actual premises, due to geographical or time constraints, at the same time allowing all customers access to information online about a business's latest offers and newest wares.

With the potential to increase sales and profits, at decreased costs, more companies (and consumers alike) are taking notice of the possibilities of ecommerce. As interest in online trading continues to grow, e-commerce will soon become a vital element for many product based businesses.

Blogging, Building Business

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0800

A blog (web log) can be about anything and written by anyone. For business, blogging is a great way to attract and maintain the interest of readers, with an online journal of your latest activities. With a business blog you can build brand recognition, establish credibility and develop a rapport, with potentially thousands of people who may not have otherwise known about your business.

Show your expertise

Showing that you're an expert in your industry is one of the best ways you can market your business. You should never underestimate what you know about your field or be afraid to offer opinions. If you operate in a specialist area, visitors to your blog will probably be looking to learn from someone in the know. Readers will seek knowledge and facts, ideally with a professional's interpretation. Blogging enables you to share your information in a friendly and personal way.

Build your reputation

By freely providing useful information without obligation, you can establish your credentials and gain the trust of visitors. A regularly updated and interesting blog will encourage repeat visits and subscriptions. Whilst sharing your knowledge, you can inform people about what separates your business from the competition. This can assist readers with their buying decision and help them to feel more confident about dealing with you.

Establish relationships

People respect honest, transparent and upfront information. Many blogs have a facility for two way communication where readers can leave comments and give feedback about articles. This interaction is an excellent way to get people involved with your blog and respond to individual queries and requests. Bearing in mind that most of your blog traffic will be from first time visitors, you can focus your blogging efforts on introducing yourself to the people who've just found you. People may be looking to solve a problem that you have a solution to.

Improve search engine rankings

Search engine robots / spiders love frequently updated websites. Having a blog will increase your search engine visibility (more pages will be listed) and improve search engine rankings. Applying known search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques and continually updating your blog with keyword focused content will help you keep ahead in the SEO race.

RSS
An RSS (Really Simple Syndicate) facility enables visitors to subscribe to updates. Through an RSS feed, readers can keep informed about a website's latest news without having to revisit the site. RSS feed readers present a summary of the news content, details like publishing dates and a link to view the content in full. RSS enables users to access news from different websites all in one place, rather than have to visit each site individually.

Most internet browsers will have an RSS toolbar. RSS content can also be read with various standalone programs for the PC as well as hand held mobile devices. RSS is popular as it ensures anonymity and privacy for subscribers.

Tags
Tags are specific words chosen by the blogger to categorise their blog content. You will normally see tags listed under the blog title. With the use of an internet blog search facility, people can search for blogs that are tagged with specific words. If your blog tags these words, it will be listed in the search results, usually chronologically.

Link building
Link building (back linking) is the process of getting third party websites to link to your website through hyperlinks (links) on their pages. Having quality internal and external links to your blog or website will increase web traffic and attract the attention of search engine robots.

Fellow business bloggers who share similar interests often exchange links between each other. This mutual alliance (and fairly standard practice) between bloggers is fantastic for SEO, but must be reciprocal and genuine. Linking with highly unrelated, illicit or spam type (link farm) websites must be avoided, as this can actually damage your search engine rankings.

It's very important to link only with reputable websites. Also, search engine robots are more responsive to links with keyword relevant anchor texts (clickon link titles) rather than links with web addresses as the link title.

Linking with well positioned websites can greatly boost your search engine rankings. Ryan Briggs uses his personal website rokryan.com to improve SEO for his clients' sites. As the site is well established and on a separate domain to his business website, he can quickly build up anyone's search engine ranking, as search engine robots crawl his posts within minutes.

What to blog about

While the options for business blogging are fairly unlimited, having interesting, well written content is critical. Writing about trivial and subjective matters, like what you did for lunch or the new carpet you've had installed in your office is unlikely to interest most people. Readers want to feel that their time has been valuably spent. Also being too candid, outspoken or critical may offend some readers.

Ideally, a business blog should be informative and entertaining, whilst creating a buzz about your product or service. Your business blog should never stray too far away from its marketing objectives. At the same time, the content should always be newsworthy and compelling and never overtly sell or self promote.

If you're at a loss for ideas, there are many things you can blog about:

news about new products or services
business related events
references to online resources
'how to' information
the current climate in your industry
review of trade publications
new and old ways of doing your business
interviews with fellow professionals or customers
offer open ended questions to customers on how you can assist them, responding to any feedback
invite posts from readers

You can also get blogging ideas from discussions with colleagues, customers and information you've seen or read elsewhere.

Does your business need a blog?

If you have a dynamic website, a well maintained blog can provide information to your visitors in a more personal and in depth way. By offering readers the opportunity to give genuine feedback in real time, other viewers will check a blog to find out unbiased information about a product or service they may be investigating. People are interested in news about what happens after the point of sale. A business blog can enlighten potential customers about this.

Business blogging; DIY or an all inclusive design package?

DIY business blogging
Writing your own blog can be fun, a chance for you to project your personality and expertise across to your readers and present knowledge about your business. Most CMS websites will have a built in blog facility that is very easy to update, alternatively an external blog website can be used, linking with your business's website. Business users with the time, money or resources to spare may prefer writing their own blogs, whilst other businesses may not always be able to. If you decide to have a business blog, keeping it frequently updated is very important.

All inclusive blog packages
Some businesses may feel that their time is better spent on other pursuits, but would still like to enjoy the benefits of having a well maintained, quality business blog. Ryan Briggs offers all. inclusive blog packages bundled with targeted SEO strategies and copywriting to all existing CMS customers; available in 3 month, 6 month and 12 month plans. Contact Ryan to find out more.

Website Content Management

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:13:00 -0700

Many smaller organisations have websites that aren't (or can't be) regularly updated. Often on these sites you'll find missing links and news of 'forthcoming events' that have not only happened, but have been long forgotten.

The internet is a primary source of information for a lot of customers and the importance of maintaining any business website should never be overlooked. A well maintained website will show customers that you are interested in keeping them up to date with all the latest news and product information, no matter what form of communication they choose.

With a content management system (CMS), both technical and non technical personnel can immediately add, edit or delete information online. Investing in a CMS website can be a smart move for the future of any business.

Why CMS websites work

Content management systems are an incredibly convenient and straightforward way to control and manage web content. With a CMS you can maintain and grow your own website with complete ease, with a management program so user friendly, even the managing director will be able to use it.

A valuable investment
Taking the CMS option can be incredibly cost effective, especially if you plan to make continuing revisions and upgrades to your site. A static website may be cheaper at the outset, but requires a web designer to update your pages.

Easy to update
Users can become annoyed when they see out of date information or mistakes on a website, this may also cause legal issues. A CMS enables you to keep all of your web content accurate and current. With a dynamic CMS, online information can be entered or changed in seconds. New products or offers can be added quickly and easily, improving your business's image and increasing the likelihood of return visits.

Anyone can add content
Content managers can set varying authorisation levels for different personnel. Approval processes can be fine tuned to allow individual employees specific access privileges, enabling them to contribute and update particular website content from anywhere in the world. By authorising your employees to make online changes, you can use the services of your web team more effectively and save money. A webmaster's time is far better spent focusing on technical areas like redesign and functionality.

Maintain brand consistency
Irrespective of the number of people working on or changing content, a CMS website will maintain your business's brand identity and aesthetic continuity throughout. Often styles are set globally, meaning that any text added will be formatted to a set of guidelines that have been implemented.

Gather customer information
A CMS that fully integrates with the data capture functions of your website will enable you to build a clear picture of visitors from the information they submit. Alongside data capture, you can use your site statistics to monitor user browsing habits, to see which areas of your website are performing the best.

Basic online forms allow potential customers to submit their contact details and provide further information. There are a number of ways to gather data from your online visitors:

User defined forms
E-marketing or newsletter subscriptions
Secured member area login
Online polls and surveys
Comments and feedback
Brochure and document downloads

Even if you only ask for contact details, this is a great starting point to follow up any potential leads.

Fresh content = more traffic
Having new and interesting web content will establish your online reputation and encourage visitors to return.

With an RSS feed, potential customers can anonymously subscribe to updates without having to disclose their email address. Web users can be cautious when it comes to giving details over the internet. Through RSS, prospective clients can skim through your latest headlines at their own leisure. A quality CMS will enable full control over the creation and management of your RSS feed.

Improve 'Searchability'
Frequently changed web content will attract search engine robots / spiders to revisit (crawl) a website more regularly. Search engine robots read META data to categorise and classify website information. META data can include structured keywords, descriptions and web page text. With a quality CMS you can edit META data and ensure that this is done correctly. The highest possible search engine rankings can be achieved with a search engine friendly CMS, continually updated, relevant web content and the right META data.

Room to grow
A scalable CMS will grow with your website. Over time, the requirements of your site can easily change. Site content and user traffic could double, triple or even grow over ten fold. Will your CMS be able to cope with this extra growth?

Scalability in a content management system is critical. There are a number of content management systems that work well with small amounts of content, but begin to slow down or fail as site content or web traffic increases. A properly scalable CMS works in tandem with scalable web server hardware to make optimum use of all the available server space, efficiently handling any future expansion.

A good CMS will allow you to customise the functionality and add on modules, such as document control features, discussion forums, events calendars and e-commerce facilities. The right CMS will grow as online technology advances, allowing you to completely manage and expand your website's features, with only minor modifications and design styling required.

Efficient redesign
With changes in product ranges or corporate branding, many businesses may be looking to revamp their website every so often. Redesign of a static website requires a web designer to remake every single page, which can be time consuming and costly. CMS websites can be 're-skinned', a process that essentially overlays a new skin on top of the original, leaving the website's database untouched.

A solid foundation you can build on
A web content management system provides you with the tools you need to manage and develop your own website. You can respond quickly to any changes your competitors make, keeping your customers up to date with all your latest offers.

As web technology advances, users increasingly judge a business's professionalism by their online presence. This presence is not only achieved with great design, but evolving content.

A CMS will enable you to keep ahead in an ever competitive market. A dynamic website can enhance your business's reputation, improve search engine rankings and bring long term cost savings.

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Practical Social Media for business

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0700

EXCERPT ONLY
Please note: If you wish to access the full version of this exclusive white paper valued at $75 AUD, please subscribe to our mailing list whereby you will receive FREE access to it via our secured client resources.

Introduction
Social media is quickly becoming a vital tool for business. Also known as social marketing, social networking and Web 2.0, the buzz around social media is impossible to avoid. The problem is the maze of products and surrounding hype make it hard to know how to engage with your clients and prospects. With a blurred line between personal and business usage, many people are nervous to enter the fray for fear of doing more harm than good.

This paper is developed for business owners or people that have marketing responsibilities in their job. It’s also suitable for anyone that wants to learn more about social media and successfully use it in their
professional lives.

The information contained in this paper is not exhaustive. Rather, it’s meant to provide enough practical advice, hints and tips to give the social media novice confidence to start engaging in the broader Web 2.0 community.

Market Drivers
Recent research clearly suggests that Word of Mouth (WoM) is one of the key influencers in consumer spending habits. A study conducted by PQMedia (www.pqmedia.com) published in July 2009 states:

Spending on word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing rose 14.2% to $1.54 billion in 2008, despite the worst economic recession in 70 years, accentuated by secular and structural trends battering year growth is expected to slow in 2009, WoM spending is on pace to grow another 10.2% this year, placing it among the fastest growing advertising and marketing segments. By comparison, the U.S. economy, as well as the advertising and marketing services sectors are all expected to decline in 2009 for the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930's.

That explains where people are investing their advertising and marketing dollars but it does not address why. In another recent research report, Bridge Ratings (www.bridgeratings.com), an American company providing audience measurements for radio, discovered that “strangers with experience” had rocketed up in ratings second only to “friends and family with experience”. This means consumers weigh the advice of a total stranger higher than teachers, newspaper/magazines and TV news reporters. Traditional advertising proved to be near the bottom of the list slightly ahead of telemarketers.

Email Marketing, success by design

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Email marketing is a cost-effective and powerful way to communicate with your contacts and increase potential leads and sales. To beat the competition, it is vital you know as much as possible about your customers and target them with relevant messages. Relating to your recipients' individual interests is instrumental to the success of your campaign.

Design is crucial. Having a professionally tailored email template will reinforce your business's image. Using a template that directly links to and maintains aesthetic continuity with your website will greatly aid in search engine optimisation and enhance your business's brand recognition.

The Advantages

With the fast pace of technology, email marketing is now widely accepted as an unobtrusive and efficient form of communication, by both potential and existing customers alike. Nearly all businesses are able to benefit from this method of contact. When done properly, a targeted email campaign can truly strengthen your business to customer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) relationships.

Cost
Email marketing is very inexpensive compared with other direct marketing techniques. Compared to direct mail marketing, marketing by email can save you hundreds of dollars that would otherwise be spent on postage and stationery. Being paper free, email marketing is also greener.

Easy and immediate
With a pre built template, all you need to do is add the content and press send. You can reach people within seconds, no matter where they are in the world. This is the most efficient way to keep your customers informed of all your latest offers, literally at the drop of a hat.

Faster response times
Compared with paper marketing techniques, response times to marketing emails are considerably quicker. On average, most emails are opened and responded to within 72 hours of receipt. The minimum response time to a direct mail campaign is normally over a week.

Beneficial to SEO
Direct links to your website will not only give your customers an opportunity to find out more about your business, it will greatly improve your search engine optimisation and subsequently your website's search engine ranking.

Better targeted to your customers
By giving recipients the option to opt in or unsubscribe to your campaign, you can shortlist the potential customers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Email marketing is an excellent way to assist your contacts with the decision process to help them buy your product or service.

Increase of sales conversions
Many customers don't buy at first glance. Typically a buyer will research a number of different options and varying costs before making a final decision. This decision process can often take a considerable amount of time. If you are able to obtain your prospect's email address in the interim, you have added ammunition. By staying in contact with your potential customers and keeping them clearly informed of exactly what you have to offer, you can ultimately increase your sales.

Measurable results
The effectiveness of your campaign can be tracked and reported in terms of emails delivered, opened, forwarded and links clicked. By seeing who clicked what, where and when, you can tailor your email campaigns accordingly.

The dos and don'ts - Making it work

There are a few rules and practices to make your campaign work. With a flood of online information, it is important that you don't send spam emails and make sure that your messages are always relevant, by finding out as much about your customers as possible.

Always have consent
Any unsolicited commercial email is classified as spam. Spam emails are not only annoying, but illegal. You need to have the recipient's consent before adding them to a permanent mailing list. As people become increasingly desensitised to spam, the capability of many email programs to detect and thwart potential spam emails continues to increase, either relegating these messages to a junk folder or blocking them entirely. You don't want your emails to be filtered as spam. The use of exaggerative or exclamatory language in the subject line or body of the text is likely to get your email sent to the junk folder immediately. Symbols like '$$$' and lines like 'best products ever' are a definite no-no.

Get people to subscribe or 'opt in'
Offering a useful incentive, such as a discount or exclusive benefits will motivate customers to sign up for email updates. By making special offers exclusively available via email you will encourage customers to check your latest messages. You can build up your email list by putting opt-in tick boxes on your paper marketing material or via your website. By highlighting the benefits of subscribing to your email service and asking for the minimum of information, customers will be more inclined to sign up.

Familiarity and trust
A familiar preview is critical. The majority of people will only open an email based on a decision about the sender's email address and subject line. If your sender name isn't clearly recognised, there is a good chance your email will remain unopened or be deleted. Whenever possible, address recipients by their name. A personal greeting will make them feel individual and welcome.

Use a catchy subject line and write an engaging message
Subject lines are very important when it comes to getting noticed. In fact, many people choose whether to read an email based on the subject line alone. If you use a carefully thought out subject title, you will attract the attention of your readers. Newsletters can be a great way to keep customers regularly informed about things they may be interested in, such as a new product or service you are offering that may be specific to their needs, or an exclusive discount. Whatever your message, always get straight to the point. People generally aren't interested in reading long stories. The use of succinct, concise language will encourage readers to click onto your website to find out more.

Keep it relevant and get the frequency right
Focus on people who are interested in what you're offering. Untargeted or irrelevant emails can be irritating and may reflect badly on your business. Recipients must always be given the option to unsubscribe or opt out of receiving further messages. Only send messages when you have something new or interesting to say. Don't flood people's inboxes, emails sent too frequently are pretty much equal to spam.

HTML emails, plain text emails, or both?
Different email formats have their own benefits. A professionally crafted HTML email template can incorporate your business's logos, pictures and graphics and will make your email look more like a web page. A small number of email programs are not able to read HTML emails correctly, so one option is to ask recipients to choose a preferred format when opting in for your email marketing.

Plain text is readable on any email platform. If you are intending to exclusively email people who only use devices with text only capabilities to check their emails (such as mobile phones), plain text may be the way to go. Alternatively, you can send HTML emails with plain text, so even if the images can't be seen, the text is clear. In this instance, written references for all images should be included, so customers who are unable to view the pictures can be assured they're getting the whole message.

Monitor your campaign
You should record the number of responses and pinpoint the types of customers who are replying to your messages. This is a good way to assess the sort of people who are responsive to this marketing approach. You can log emails that have been delivered, opened, forwarded and links clicked.

Look for similarities between the people who have responded to your emails. By gathering as much information as possible about these customers, you can modify and increase the effectiveness of your campaign.

Handle your responses
Response rates to email marketing campaigns are normally around three percent. If you have a response rate well below this, you may need to check that you're focusing on the right type of customers and addressing their needs.
If your campaign is successful, you will need to ensure that you have enough manpower and / or production capacity to accommodate your customers' requirements and deliver what you have promised.

Legal issues
It is your responsibility to make sure your marketing emails are compliant with the law. The Australian government Spam Act identifies three main criteria for any form of e-marketing:

Consent - You must have the recipient's consent and be able to prove how you obtained it.
Identification - Include accurate information that identifies yourself or your organisation as the authorised sender.
The option to unsubscribe - Ensure you have a functional facility for recipients to unsubscribe from your messages at any time.

Planning for results

A directed and professional email marketing campaign can work superbly as an integral part of your marketing strategy. Using a template that incorporates your company logos and reflects your business image will enable recipients to associate your emails with your other marketing methods (such as a website and paper marketing materials).

With careful thought and planning, you can create an exceptional campaign that will represent the best your business has to offer and increase sales. An unplanned, reckless or undirected campaign can do the opposite.

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Specialised SEO service delivers..

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:14:00 -0700

Paul Maietta at Fitzgerald Photo Imaging knew he had a good website but realised it wasn’t performing the way he wanted. With a goal to grow his business in a tough economy, he sought professional advice. What he got was much more than he originally expected.

“I have a significant investment in the website” Paul said, “but now I want to quantify it and see how it works for me.”

The Fitzgerald Photo Imaging website is attractive and feedback was positive, but there was no way to tell how many new customers it was generating. Paul assumed that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) had been considered when the website was developed, but suspected his rankings on Google, Yahoo and MSN were low or non-existent. While Paul didn’t know a lot about how to change that, he knew that if his company wasn’t appearing on the first page of a search, he was missing valuable business opportunities.

Finding the right partner

About the time Paul realized he needed help, Ryan Briggs approached Fitzgerald Photo Imaging with a proposal to implement a SEO package over an 8-week period. Promising measurable results and regular progress reports, Paul felt he had found the right service. Before he could make a decision, he wanted to make sure that Ryan was the right person to deliver that service.

“I’ve dealt with too many people in the web industry that are happy to take your money then they just move on to the next person. ” says Paul “I prefer to have a working relationship with someone, an on-going relationship”.

Prepared to pay for a customised service, it was important to find someone that could dedicate themselves to his website. Paul was looking for a level of service and professionalism that would see the actual work performed with minimal disruption to him and his staff. He wanted someone that understood if he was going to achieve his growth objectives, he had to be capturing a broader clientele base. He needed someone accessible. Ryan met the requirements.

Developing a customised SEO solution

An initial consultation with Paul helped Ryan to understand the business objectives of Fitzgerald Photo Imaging. Ryan was then able to design an intuitive SEO plan that would produce business intelligence from the website that would assist in decision-making. The initial goals were simple:

300% increase in Google page 1 results
600% increase in Google, MSN and Yahoo results
30% increase in unique user traffic

The plan included comprehensive recommendations that formed the initial step in attaining the established goals. Possessing an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of SEO, Ryan provided
detailed information on:

Changes needed to the website
Key phrases that would help drive business to Fitzgerald Photo Imaging
How to infiltrate the Fitzgerald Photo Imaging brand on the world-wide web
Designs for an on-line ad creation campaign

Importantly, Ryan took a benchmark to ensure that results could be accurately measured throughout the service period. Paul’s suspicions about the effectiveness of his website were confirmed. Of the six key phrases that Paul considered important to his business, only four were getting any traffic. The rankings were abysmal.

Unexpected Results

Ryan was delivering much more than SEO tuning. He was providing consultancy that entailed multiple layers of service. The first progress report delivered three weeks into the exercise detailed more improvements. Paul started getting data on unique user traffic that he had not had before.

With hard data to prove results, Ryan developed a new set of recommendations to steer more business towards Fitzgerald Photo Imaging. Notably, he was able to tell Paul which parts of his website were generating low returns in user traffic. In a short time, the SEO was providing high quality data that could be used to operate the entire business.

Paul puts it this way, “It helps us gather data about what people are interested in. You get to know your potential customer population. If you know three areas we thought people would be interested in and one of them there’s no interest regardless of what we do, there’s no point in wasting money providing that particular product.”

Intuitive Decision Making

As the 8-week SEO project continued, so did the benefits. With each benchmark, Paul was able to determine how he wanted to tune his website. With each progress report, Ryan was able to provide more data that was relevant to the day-to-day operations of the business. Ryan and Paul were able to take an attractive website and turn it into a significant tool to deliver a continual source of business intelligence.

Paul began to consider how he could use the SEO to leverage future business. What started as a short-term project to improve the effectiveness of his website was turning into a long-range business practice that could assist him in modelling new marketing ideas.

“It’s quite interesting to experiment with a few other bits and pieces. A couple areas are really working and that’s paying dividends,” Paul states. “Maybe we’ll revisit an area that wasn’t successful and dedicate some time to see if we can drive that. Just because something didn’t work the first time, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to work.”

By the end of the project, Fitzgerald Photo Imaging realized an extensive improvement in the function of their website exceeding the goals defined for the exercise. Ryan Briggs had successfully delivered the benefits promised. By providing a controlled, measurable SEO with progress reports and recommendations at regular intervals, Ryan Briggs is a proven and worthy business partner in any economy.

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