Identifying your target market isn’t easy, and it takes time. Once you’ve identified your target market, you need to get in front of them, grab their attention and give them a relatable reason for why they should choose your product or service. This is where it gets tricky–it is up to you to also give your customer something in return for their attention. In other words, you had better know your audience.
When it comes to developing and designing a website, there are two options. Hiring a professional agency to handle the coding and upkeep of the website, or doing it yourself with programs already online. It’s great that sites like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, etc. are around for those who need them but lack the funds for a web developer or time to learn to code. But unfortunately, the DIY websites aren’t the best choice for everyone. Yes, you will be paying more than $20 a month for your site, but if you were to hire a professional, you would have the freedom to create something that fits your company’s personality. Continue…
When people think of a brand often the first image that comes to mind is the logo. Companies like Nike, Apple, and Starbucks can be identified if you only see the logo – the name is not even necessary. In today’s digital world, branding is way more than just a logo. A consistent identity must go very deep within company collateral. It needs to communicate not only the values of the company, but also the careful precision and attention to detail.
Branding is often discussed everyday by individuals in the marketing, advertising and design industries, but rarely is it defined with a simple answer. In brief, branding is one of the most important tools a company can utilize to reach their target market, build recognition and develop customer relationships. It includes a wide range of factors such as logos, colors, patterns, typefaces, imagery, packaging, taglines, wording and more, all of which combine to create your company’s image.
Why Do Consumers Need Consistency?
In order to build a strong brand, you must stay consistent throughout all of your selected mediums. This strategy creates the opportunity to gain brand recognition among your target audience when done correctly. On top of that, consistency brings clarity and purpose that consumers then buy into. In turn, consumers become loyal to a brand. However, building this kind of trust takes time and effort.
Most consumers have to be exposed to a brand many times before they are loyal to it. So a consistent brand message has to be established so that consumers will immediately distinguish it from a competing brand. This means a business potentially loses customers, and may even help its competitors, if a consistent “look” and tone is not achieved. Continue…
In case you missed it, we have been counting down our top 4 metrics for a successful website and website redesign. Starting at number four, Optimize Your Site For Social Media, then following it with the importance of Incorporating Appropriate and Relevant Content, and now leading up to our newest post: Customer Driven bulldog infographics Design!
One of the most important things your website needs to accomplish is connecting with your target audience. After all, what is the point of having a website if it doesn’t provide any value to your business? We have been discussing many ways to improve your current website to adhere to your target audience by adding relevant content, integrating social media, etc… The reason we mention those first is because they all factor in to our next metric: Customer Driven Design. It sounds simple and obvious, but you would be amazed at how many websites are designed without a deep and solid understanding of their target audience and how they navigate the web. To help you get a better understanding of what exactly a customer driven design means, we have offered up some special “tips.”
Other than building slick new websites, did you know HMG Creative has a pro team of brand developers and designers? It’s true. Check out our most recent project below to find out how our team helped Hamilton Asset Management Group create their new brand identity.
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Most companies reach a point in their business lifetime when their web presence no longer accurately reflects their goals or identity. This can happen for a number of reasons – after early stages of quick growth and self-discovery, or even after having been around long enough to outgrow a site that had been with them from the beginning. No matter the time or reason, approaching this risk and overlooking it can be extremely detrimental for business, as a company’s online presence largely dictates the way they are viewed to prospective clients, and the world at-large.
In our ongoing effort to support nonprofits, we’ve recently teamed up with Central Texas VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster) to provide them with a few of our various services. Central TX VOAD is a membership association of independent, voluntary organizations that are active in one or more of the phases of disaster—preparation, response, recovery and mitigation. Their ultimate goal? To deliver service to people affected by disaster while simultaneously eliminating unnecessary duplications of effort in order to increase efficiency. Central TX VOAD also collaborates with government and other relief organizations in order to further its goals. Among their many members, one of them is OneStar Foundation, a nonprofit we’ve also worked with in the past. We love seeing our nonprofits working together!
It’s January again, the holiday spending spree is over for most people, and it’s time for marketers to do some re-evaluation as we start gearing up for the spring. In the midst of the holiday hullabaloo, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture in terms of branding and purposeful marketing. So now is the time to take a deep breath, look at your brand image, and determine where you need to step up your game. If you’re ready to kick off 2014 with a smarter branding strategy, start with these five resolutions:
As ubiquitous as the Internet is, there are still many people who do local SEO company marketing that don’t realize how important having a good web presence really is. Or a website at that. When was the last time you searched in the Yellow Pages for a plumber or that new restaurant your friends are talking about…’99? I thought so. But nowadays, having the courage to just start a website isn’t good enough – anyone can have that since it’s not 2004 either. The key is to have, as the title says, a good web presence.
