Category: Blog

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5 Marketing Initiatives to Keep in Mind

As you grow your business, you want to ensure that it is standing out from the rest. Your commitment should go towards focusing on a range of professional marketing initiatives that allow you to concentrate not only on spreading the word but also building your business with the large picture in mind:

  • Website – Having a website is crucial because it increases the chances of people finding you online.  Most customers will go online first and do their due diligence on the company before making a purchase decision. If you do not have a website, you will miss out on all of the potential business.

 

  • Collateral Material– Although not all businesses will require the need of collateral material, keep in mind that having printed material is a significant component of how your business could be perceived by your website_penmutualprospects and clients.

 

  • Business Signage – Be it internal or external, a creative and attractive sign can assist your business to stand out among the clutter in the marketplace and stand apart from the competition as you position yourself top of mind with customers.

 

  • Wall Murals – Wall murals add a design element to your space but they also give an impressive impact through a totally creative and gorgeous feel with intricate and fun details leaving a memorable impression on your customers, partners and employees.

 

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – One of the important elements of SEO is making your website easy to be found by both users and search engine robots.  SEO helps search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to figure out what each page is about and how it translates into search results from a user’s perspective.

 

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Memorable Slogans

Slogans constitute a cornerstone of your branding strategy helping you establish a long-lasting and memorable impression on your target market. Your slogan needs to be:

  • Simple
  • Effective
  • Easy to remember
  • Unique

The following list includes some of the most popular ad slogans:

  • “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” (Alka Seltzer)
  • “You’re in good hands with Allstate.” (Allstate Insurance)
  • “Don’t leave home without it.” (American Express)
  • “We try harder.” (Avis Rent A Car)
  • “A little dab’ll do ya.” (Brylcreem)
  • “The ultimate driving machine.” (BMW)
  • “Have it your way.” (Burger King)
  • “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.” (Camel)
  • “Just do it!” (Nike)
  • “M’m! M’m! Good!” (Campbell’s Soup)
  • “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin.” (Charmin Toilet Tissue)
  • “It’s the real thing.” (Coca Cola)
  • “A diamond is forever.” (De Beers Consolidated)
  • “You’ll love the way we fly.” (Delta Airlines)
  • “Put a tiger in your tank.” (Esso)
  • “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” (Federal Express)
  • “Capitalist tool.” (Forbes)
  • “When you care enough to send the very best.” (Hallmark)
  • “Beanz meanz Heinz.” (Heinz Baked Beans)
  • “I think, therefore IBM.” (IBM)
  • “It is. Are you?” (The Independent)
  • “Grace…space…pace.” (Jaguar)
  • “Snap! Crackle! Pop!” (Kellogg’s Rice Frispies)
  • “Finger lickin’ good.” (KFC)
  • “Have a break. Have a Kit-Kat” (Kit-Kat)
  • “Betcha can’t eat just one.” (Lay’s)
  • “I’m lovin’ it.” (McDonald’s)
  • “Where do you want to go today?” (Microsoft)

Do you  have a favorite slogan that you care to share? We would love to hear from you.

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Important Branding Elements

magnetic-cut-out-400x375Branding is one of the most important elements that could contribute to the success or failure of your business. Branding goes beyond just your logo to include your colors, fonts, designs, imagery, collateral material, online presence, business signage, wall murals, vehicle wraps, trade show booths, and more… Your branding is how your customers perceive you as it promotes recognition, enhances your key points of differentiation, provides motivation and direction to your staff, generates referrals and sets expectations.wall_graphic_irb

As you build on your recognition, you also create awareness among consumers, vendors and partners. Your brand becomes a leader in the industry as it symbolizes your unique selling proposition and signifies an emotional connection with your customers. With a job well done, brands can help you rapidly establish a strong reputation and high level of credibility in the marketplace.

Your brand, signage, logo, colors, wall murals and collateral material represent you and a promise to your customers. You are the brand. Your brand is you. Your staff is the brand; same with your customer service, marketing material… Think about every element. What does it say about you? How does it relate what you are going to deliver to your customers?

Consistency is key to achieve successful outcomes. You need to think high degrees of consistency when it comes to your visual, verbal and auditory identity in order to deliver a consistent customer experience while helping you to stand out among the clutter.

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How to Maintain Brand Consistency?

Your marketing efforts could include multiple and diverse initiatives that usually help expand your reach and stay top of mind. In order to ensure consistency, you should consider creating a set of guidelines that connect together the look and feel of all of your marketing materials. Also known as your brand standards, such guidelines will help you expand by creating awareness while developing the key differentiators your company has when compared to the competition.

Consider focusing your efforts on the following:

  • Your Colors – considering that you integrate colors in everything you do when it comes to marketing, advertising, communication and more, it is crucial to remember that this specific element plays a major role in leaving a lasting impression on your target marketing. As you commit to a palette, remember that every color has a different meaning and level of influence.
  • Your Logo – the design of your logo should be consistent but also is the case with its placement and sizing. Every communication is an opportunity to leave an impression on the recipient; from letterheads to postcards, from emails to brochures…
  • Your Graphics – The symbols and shapes you use for branding purposes should be consistent as well in order to help your audience to remember you as you work your way to stay top of mind.

Always remember that your brand is your promise to your customers and prospects about what they can expect, how you deliver and what makes you different in the marketplace.  Consistency should lead to strong equity increasing your customers’ levels of loyalty and commitment. Are you being consistent with your branding efforts?

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The Importance of Taglines

Despite being a very important element of branding and marketing, taglines are not given the attention they deserve.  Although they are simple, taglines are very effective because they communicate a consistent message to your target market as it projects the mission, goal, vision and unique selling proposition of your company.

Your tagline can be updated as you progress with your business’ goals and shift strategy reflecting a fresh and focused company presence. Taglines should be:

  • Simple and clear
  • Creative and unique
  • Memorable and persuasive

Taglines should be thought of from the first moment you start your planning for branding or launching a new marketing campaign. Having a tagline allows you the opportunity to add an emotional message to your brand which will make you stand out as you start coming to mind first.

A tagline that will help you cut through the clutter should be one that communicates the company’s benefits with personality while connecting with your target market on an emotional level.

  • Taglines derive from your mission, vision, products and services. They:
  • Showcase and link your offerings to a need
  • Extend a promise to your target market
  • Tie to your logo

The value of taglines build and grow for years and with time working along with your company name and logo to help with your marketing and branding efforts.

Taglines can be included in:

  • Advertisements
  • Business cards
  • Collateral material
  • Digital marketing files
  • External signage
  • Internal signage
  • Wall murals
  • Vehicle wraps
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The Effectiveness of Car and Truck Wraps

ambrosiatruckYou see them on the streets and in popular and busy areas. They catch your attention because they are unique and innovative. They are mobile and have a wide reach due to the constant use of vehicles which will help your business build widespread awareness and expanded reach. They increase your daily visibility and they are the most memorable visual media with the lowest cost per thousand impressions.

We are talking about the effective way of marketing through car and truck wraps!

With exquisite designs and unique bright colors, vehicle wraps leave a lasting impression on your target market. While TV commercials can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions, car and truck wraps help you leave a lasting impression and generate a favorable reaction on behalf of your customers for only a few thousand dollars.

The sky is the limit when it comes to creative design for your vehicle wraps. The following are a few elements to take into consideration:

  • Vehicle template
  • Visibility of design
  • Target market
  • Market goals
  • Readability and effectiveness

Turn your vehicle or entire fleet into mobile billboards with eye catching, colorful graphics.  Our tag line is “Making yourcar.wesite business the center of attention” and there are few ways to market your brand more cost effectively than transforming your vehicle into a lean mean lead generator.  Our professional designers and installers love, love vehicle wrap projects!  Don’t wait; generate traffic while you’re in traffic!

A full vehicle wrap may not be in your budget at this time.  So consider doing a partial wrap where only your doors are wrapped, or to start why not just do your back window with your logo and website address?  If you have camera ready art we can install something like what is shown above for as little as $125.

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Can Your Logo Completely Represent your Brand?

As you work on branding or re-branding your company, there are steps to follow in order to ensure the brand image you create follows the right visual representation.

  • Keep your objective in mind while focusing on building a design that can strengthen your image and identity while generating a reaction on the side of your target market that will result in a strong positioning amongst your competition.
  • Identify your target audience, unique selling proposition, market reach, key differentiators, long-term and short-term goals.
  • Establish how you would like the logo to represent your values.
  • Decide on the design: logo, icon or a combination of both.
  • Would you prefer the full name of the company? or abbreviation of the company’s name?
  • The tag line is an element to consider if your goal is to create deep understanding of your organization especially if your company’s name does not project what your business is about.

Your logo goes beyond the artwork and letters to share a story about who you are, what you offer and what makes you different; thus the importance of it and the necessity to allocate enough time, planning, and research in order to go through the process and be able to complete successful outcomes for your brand to leave lasting positive impressions in the marketplace.

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The Importance of Business Signage for your Business

monument2We have touched in previous blog posts on why it is necessary for your business to establish good presence through prominent and effective signage that grabs the attention of your target market. The following includes some additional information from credible sources that support our previous blog posts and discussions:

SmallBusiness.Chron.com shares:

  • “Function – Signs serve as a type of silent salesperson for your business. Exterior signs draw attention to your place of business and help differentiate it from others on the street. Interior signs help customers locate merchandise and can lead to impulse sales when added to special displays. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration website, signs serve as a primary link between a business and its customers.”

 

  • Types – Exterior signs can be ground-mounted or building-mounted. Ground-mounted signs can take on a variety of shapes and sizes, and are typically mounted near a road to attract the attention of passing motorists. Building-mounted signs are attached to the place of business and may be useful in areas where foot traffic is prevalent, such as a downtown shopping area.

 

  • Significance – Signs can be an essential component of a business’s overall marketing strategy. A sign that contains a business’s logo can help reinforce its brand. Signs are also used to draw attention to promotions and to convey information about the business. Because an exterior sign is visible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, its effect is continuous.” Click HERE to read more

 

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Your Booth – lights, space, and sound

Tradeshow_3When setting up for a trade show, keep in mind that your booth or table is your first opportunity to make an impression and attract the attention of the attendees. Your space can be noticed from a distance and your effective setup should play a major role in encouraging people to take notice, stop, and initiate a conversation about your offerings.

Neat, inviting, colorful and well-designed, your booth need to be clutter-free and easy to navigate. Your offerings should be the center of attention while constituting the focus of your booth design. Always make sure that your presentation catches the prospects’attention and presents an opportunity to generate interest on your prospects’ side.

Engaging people as they walk by your booth is very crucial as well but it will not be effective if your booth is lacking a welcoming space.  Although the hours at a trade show could be long and tiring, it is very crucial that you stand as you welcome the attendees and try to engage them in a conversation. But take such a thought into consideration as you are setting up your space because you would want to include room for a quick break during down times.

Take other exhibitors into consideration as well. Although you want your booth to reflect your brand, you would not want to run loud music, bright animation and/or excessive light which might bother your neighboring booths.

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Adding Life to Your Walls

Red Wall MuralYour home, office and property are places where you spend the majority of your time. These are also places where you spend time with people who are important in your life including family, friends, employees, clients and prospects. This is one of the reasons why many work hard to make sure that the ambiance of these establishments are well taken care of. Having a clutter-free and organized space is your way of showing the important people in your life that you care.

Your walls provide a great space to be creative and give life to your environment.  Some of us lean more towards simply painting the walls with plain colors but then there are others who take an extra step and add some designs and more color to make their homes and offices more appealing and welcoming. Your walls could be noticed by everyone. Consider giving them a unique touch and a more personal look.

  • Wall stickers can help you accomplish such a look and add a beautiful touch to your walls.
  • Patterns applied through the use of stencils or wall papers would be another option to consider.
  • Faux painting offering a mimicking or imitating design look such as marble or wood paint could also alter your space and achieve the right look and feel that you are aiming for.
  • Wall Murals would give an impressive impact through a totally creative and gorgeous design with intricate and fun details.
  • While some think of shelving as a storage solution, consider using shelves as elements of design to dress up your walls.
  • Arranged in a creative way, tiles, bricks, mirrors and frames offer endless options and design approaches to consider.