Social Network of Influencers

Creating buzzzzzzz. Thanks Lloyd!

Ingredients to a Tasty Brand

I figure since my birthday is just a few days away, I'd compose an article that combines two of my favorite things, branding and cake! Think of your brand as the ingredients that bake up a big tasty cake for all your guests to enjoy. The individual ingredients are all important, but only when used together do they create something that everyone wants.

So, what will go into your tantalizing treat? Here are a few of the main ingredients:

1. logo mark
   
2. established brand values and promises
3. photography reflecting your products, business, and lifestyle of your intended audience
4. unique typographic treatments
5. how you communicate your brand message with employees and the public
6. how you create your message to appeal to your intended audience
7. consistency throughout all of your brand materials
8. always listen and understand your audiences' needs and desires

Mix these main ingredients together to make the tastiest brand treat for your customers. They will love what you offer and they might just come back for seconds. 

For more information on marketing, branding and design, visit Lisa Hromada ID Studio.

Copyright 2009 Lisa Hromada lhcreativeidstudio.com  - All Rights Reserved

Tips on how to market in a down economy

You've probably heard it before, but increasing your marketing efforts when the economy is down is the best thing that you can do for your business. The ways in which you market might have to change though to accommodate to the current mind-set of your target audience as well as to your current marketing budget. 

Before getting into some tips on marketing when the economy is down, I briefly want to express why it is so important. The number one reason is simply because more of your competitors are cutting back on their marketing. During down economic times, both large and small companies cut back on their budgets; marketing is often the area on which many companies cut back. This is not a good idea for them, but it's great for you if they do! If they cut back on their marketing efforts and you increase your marketing, there is less competition for you and you are more likely to get your message heard. The number two reason is because people forget fast and move on. If you are not connecting with your target audience on a regular basis, they will forget about you and all the great things you offer.

Here are some tips to help you concentrate on effective marketing in a down economy:

1. Don't push your services and products on your audience. Push marketing worked significantly better years ago because new products and services were being introduced and there was more desire and demand for these new things. Currently, many companies and retailers offer the same things, so there is more for the consumer to choose from. Especially in a down economy, you'll want to concentrate on offering your audience valuable information about your company, your specials, products or services and build (or rebuild) trust in them and give them the opportunity to make buying decisions when the time is right for them. This trust builds strong relationships, and these relationships are what inspire people to want to buy from you over and over. This is what pull marketing is all about.

2. Be sure that you are getting your name and what you offer out as much as possible. As I said above, people forget fast, so if you are not contacting them with information that is of value to them on a regular basis, it will be easy to forget all the wonderful things that you offer. 

3. Listen! When times change, peoples' priorities often change. Listen to what is really important to your target audience, then make strides to provide it to them.

4. Concentrate on value-based marketing. This can mean "value" as in offering coupons or an "added gift" with a purchase and it can mean "value" as in knowing your audience and what their values are. If you know what their values are, if you understand what is really important to them, you are then able to target your marketing efforts to cater to that.

5. Make informational connections. An informational connection is just that; you are contacting people, whether it be through networking events, talking to people while standing in long store lines, or sending out emails to provide them with information on what you have been up to in your business. I recommend sending out monthly email newsletters to the people in your database. If you don't have a database of people in your target demographic, it's time to get one. It's very simple and efficient once you get one started. Offer a free article or sampling of a new product for those who sign up (subscribe) to your newsletter on your website. Then, each month, it is easy to send them a short email about valuable tips, information on a new product that you have in the works, events you will be hosting, or whatever else will be of value to them. This is a great way to stay connected to your existing customers as well as new customers who are interested in building a relationship with your company.

These are just a few of many tips. If you want to learn more about efficient and effective marketing, take a look at the other articles in my blog and at Lisa Hromada ID Studio.

Copyright 2009  Lisa Hromada lhcreativeidstudio.com - All Rights Reserved.

Finding the Best Marketing

Where to Start Your Internet Marketing

I recently spoke with one of the top social media strategists, Sally Falkow. I asked her what her recommendations are for those wanting to start out their online marketing and don't know where to begin. I'd like to share her response with you:

Sally Falkow's Recommendations for Starting Your Internet Marketing

1. figure out two keywords or phrases that will bring good, relevant web traffic to your website

2. optimize your home page and one interior page with those terms

3. add an RSS feed to your website

4. write one article each week and add an image (be sure to tag your image as well with good words)

5. Use an RSS feeder - such as PRESSfeed

6. add your articles and images with tags to the website. The articles will go into the feed and links within your article lead people back to the website

If you're interested in more from Sally Falkow, you can find her at http://falkow.blogsite.com and http://twitter.com/sallyfalkow

To read more articles on marketing and branding,check out my website Lisa Hromada ID Studio for new content at http://www.lhcreativeidstudio.com

Copyright 2009 Lisa Hromada lhcreativeidstudio.com - All Rights Reserved

how to bring more people to your website

Here are a few ways to get more people visiting your website and how you can start ranking higher in search engines. 

1. Submit your URL to popular search engines - Three of the most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It's easy and free to submit your URL, but make sure that your website is web-ready with the right keywords, design, and easy, readable navigation. 
2. Create and submit online articles - There are many websites out there where you can submit articles about company news, products and services. Be sure that your articles give solutions or how-to information on subjects related to what you do, to encourage people to seek you out for more information. Your articles should be rich with keywords (the words that searchers might put into search engines) and give your viewers a "call to action" at the end, such as suggesting that they visit your website for more great information.
3. Start a blog - Well, you know what a blog is, right? You are here after all. But to clarify, a blog, aka Web Log, is a website that houses web entries usually maintained by an individual or group of individuals with regular entries of commentary, opinions of products or events, and on just about any subject under the sun. Many provide commentary or news on a particular subject. The benefit of a blog is that it is fed through RSS (really simple syndication) and distributed throughout the web for anyone who is looking for information or commentary on your subject.
4. Optimize your website content - This is going to be one of the most important things you do when creating your website. The best ways to optimize your website is by using tags, keyword rich text, and lots of useful HTML links that the web can read.
5. Send out optimized press-releases - Get your press releases onto news websites; you want to specifically target news websites if you can because search engines, such as Google and Yahoo love news. Some are free and some you can use for a small fee. An optimized press release (press release with keywords) on a news website will reach millions of users immediately, connect people back to your website, establish you as an authority in your field, and help raise your search engine visibility.

Get more articles on my website Lisa Hromada ID Studio

Copyright 2009 Lisa Hromada lhcreativeidstudio.com - All Rights Reserved

4 ways to Improve Your website content

Get more people visiting and coming back to your website! The following are just a few ways, but some of the best ways to improve your website content.

1. Optimize your website content. You might have a drop-dead gorgeous website, but if no one is finding it, what's the point? The only way that people will find you is if you optimize your website so that the search engines can seek out your content. Many of my other articles will focus on the best tools that I've found to optimize your website.
   
2. Add keywords and phrases to your website pages (which is one very important way to optimize your website), so that people quickly scanning your website find exactly what they are looking for right away. Most people only spend 10-20 seconds at the most checking out your website to see if it is worth their time. Make it worth it!
3. Be sure you describe your company clearly and prominently on your website so that your target audience can find you easily in the search engine listings. There is a special place in your website code, called the description tag, where you should write a short description about your company, products, services and other information you offer your visitors. Whether you are designing your website yourself or hiring someone to create it for you, be sure that your description tag is used properly.
4. Update, update, update! Search engines love new content! Update the content of your website regularly, and the search engines will keep coming back for more, thus helping to improve your search engine rankings.

Learn what tools you need to leverage the power of search engine optimization, press releases, networking (even for those who don't like to network), become a successful entrepreneur, and increase your profits and visibility. More information at www.lhcreativeidstudio.com

Copyright 2009 Lisa Hromada lhcreativeidstudio.com - All Rights Reserved