Building up an online presence via content marketing will help exponentially in increasing your company’s brand recognition. So how do you go about doing this in a way that’s organic and authentic? Here are three tips to consider:

Blog Well. Blogging is an important factor in increasing your brand recognition. But you can’t just count on simply blogging. You need to come up with amazing content that’s original and be posting it regularly. Writing blogs sporadically won’t do you any favors, nor will just relying on the fact that you are posting at all. Quality content is key.

Email Smartly. With so many emails coming into inboxes every day, it’s easy for your email marketing efforts to go unread or directly to the trash. That’s why it’s important to strategize your emails and not spam your recipient lists. Email is still a better way than social media to acquire customers so it’s important to carefully plan out when and how often your email campaigns are going out to maximize the benefits.

Create Custom Content. Do your research and put in the effort when it comes to creating content of any kind. Consult experts, read studies, conduct interviews, design graphics, and personalize your content for your consumers. Those who see your emails, blog posts, ads, etc., will be able to tell if you are phoning it in or actually putting thought and energy into the content you’re putting out.

With more brand recognition and a stronger online presence, you’ll see increased traffic to your site and posts, which will result in increased sales. Your content marketing should be actively benefiting your company, not just allowing you to click the box of engaging in content marketing. Implement these tips so your content marketing efforts are the best they can be and raises your brand recognition online.

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Thanks to our previous two posts in our branding series, you’re no doubt starting to get a good idea of what goes into branding and strategies that will work for your company. In this article, we’re going to wrap up our three-part series with some last factors and pieces of advice to keep in mind when creating and developing your business’s brand.

Explore Mediums. These are many ways to get your brand out there and interact with your audience. Some college students prefer reading, some like videos, some like pictures, and other like multiple mediums. Don’t feel like you need to stick to one type of content in order to stay “on-brand.” Your brand can consist of different forms of content and still be furthering your mission of brand recognition. Exploring mediums also goes for different websites, types of advertising, etc. Try different things to see which are the best fits for your company so you don’t waste time or resources on a medium that isn’t resonating with your consumer base.

Integrate Your Efforts. Branding goes beyond marketing; it’s intrinsic to your company culture. That means integrating your brand is key to its success. The more you can integrate your branding strategies and efforts into social media, communications, etc., the more on-target your brand will be. This also ties in to earlier points mentioned about being consistent and relevant.

Don’t Be Random. Again, consistency is key! Plan ahead so your marketing doesn’t appear random and instead well thought out and strategized. This will allow your marketing effort to be more brand-worthy and further your brand the right way. Additionally, when it comes to your marketing efforts, don’t cheat or veer from your brand guidelines as this will appear random to your consumers. Part of building your brand means carefully creating a guide to your brand and implements them across the board. You don’t want to then stray from those guidelines a few months later because you suddenly want to use a color that’s not part of your brand’s palette or post something that’s not in your brand’s voice. Doing this will weaken your brand recognition and dilute your brand overall, especially if you do it multiple times, so it’s better to not be random but instead stay “on-brand.”

Get Feedback. A great way to help develop your brand or make sure it’s successful down the road is to get feedback. Ask clients, employees, friends, etc., what they think of your brand and to choose a few words to describe it. If what they think of your brand is way off from what your brand is trying to convey and stand for, you may need to spend time doing some further development and tweaking to make sure your business’s brand is doing what you want and need it to do.

Thanks for sticking with us and reading this three-part series — hopefully, you’ve learned some key factors of branding and gained some insight into how to better brand your business to appeal to college students! Brand away!

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We’re back this month with a continuation of our series on branding. As we said in last month’s post, we know branding can be a difficult concept to grasp and tricky to really implement. That’s why we’re continuing our three-part series with this second installment, where we’ll cover some more facts you need to know about creating your brand and maximizing its potential.

Develop Your Brand. You may think after you’ve brainstormed what your brand is that you’re done and it’s time to just create your brand. However, the actual creation of your brand will take some time and is something that really needs to be developed and cultivated. The more questions you can come up with about your business and the more potential questions you can think up that your client base may want to know, the better you’ll be able to develop your brand as you attempt to answer all those questions and have them inform your brand’s evolution. Part of the development of your brand will be creating your brand’s persona and voice, something we’ll discuss more in the next two points.

Be Consistent. Brand recognition doesn’t happen after just one instance of interaction with a consumer or potential client. Multiple impressions are needed to really cement your brand in someone’s conscience. With that in mind, consistency is integral to you being memorable. This is done partially with your logo, colors, fonts, titles, descriptions, etc., but goes beyond that, too. You’ll want to create a voice for your company that reflects your brand and can be implemented across all your marketing efforts. Is your brand more friendly and informal? Adopt a more conversational tone to your messaging. If your brand is more high-class or business-oriented, you’ll want to be a bit more formal in your company’s tone. Once you’ve established what your organization’s voice is, you’ll be able to be consistent with that, along with your other branding tools.

Connect with Your Consumers. An important part of building your brand is connecting and engaging with consumers and getting into their mindset. What do you want them to think and feel when they see or interact with your brand? Once you’ve compiled a list of the emotions and thoughts you want to invoke, narrow them down to five or less. Those few words or phrases should then be the basis for defining your brand and how it looks and comes across to your audience.

Relevancy Is Key. If your content or products aren’t relevant, your whole branding process will be for naught. You want your content to invite conversation and interaction with your target demographic which means they need to find it relevant and interesting. Think about what they like and want and let that inform your content and products.

Don’t miss next month’s blog post where we’ll conclude this series on branding and give you some final pieces of advice and factors to consider when you’re creating your brand. In the meantime, start putting these tips into action!

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When people talk about marketing, the words “brand,” “branding,” and “brand recognition” are tossed around a lot. But what do those words mean and how can you put them into action, especially when it comes to catering to a college student consumer base? We’re covering what you need to know about branding in a three-part series to help you inform your marketing strategy and better publicize your business.

Know Your Audience. What does your audience want and need? What do they like and care about? What inspires and motivates them? And most importantly, how will your business help them achieve the answers to these questions and reach their goals? You need to really understand your audience in order to properly market your company to them — and that means diving into their psyche and exploring who they are and what they stand for. Once you do that, you can move on to actually building your brand, but fail at this first step and your branding efforts won’t yield the best results.

Understand Your Value. Now that you know your audience, you need to position your business as a unique company, offering something different than your competitors. Relay to your audience why your business has value — something that can only happen once you fully understand what your organization’s value is. What’s your mission? What do you stand for? Why should college students buy or interact with your brand — or care about your brand at all? The answers to these questions will help you better brand your business and steer it in the right direction.

Branding = More Than Just A Logo. While a logo is an important part of the branding process, your brand goes beyond the logo — your logo is just a physical representation of your brand. So what colors are you choosing? Why? What does your logo mean and could it be construed as something else? Is it similar to an already existing logo that may confuse consumers? And does your logo adequately reflect your brand? Before you start creating and analyzing logos, make sure you’ve really thought out what your brand is and what your business stands for. Perhaps there’s a phrase or slogan that will be part of your brand and also part of your logo or branding process. Once you’ve made these considerations, then and only then, can you begin playing around with logos.

Embody Your Brand. Every person that works for your company is a representation and ambassador of your company and brand. That means everyone needs to know the brand, share it, and try to be it. Knowing what your brand’s attributes are, what it stands for, its value, etc., is something each employee should be responsible for. You never know who will end up making an impression on someone else when it comes to your brand so you want all your bases covered and every employee to be a potential influencer for your brand, maximizing your brand recognition.

Stay tuned for next month’s blog post where this series will continue and we’ll continue to share advice on branding your business! Until then, start implementing these tips to improve your company’s brand.

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