The Art of Emotional Branding: Make Your Consumers Feel It

Posted on May 30, 2014 by admin

Branding Strategies 6It’s a fact that the art of shopping has taken over the internet. Window shopping and casual browsing have turned into web surfing and Google searches.

Businesses need to stay on top of that growing trend by focusing on what their consumers are looking for, not just supplying them with basic needs. One way to do that is to remember that your online presence is in competition with other businesses. One of your goals of your online marketing strategy is how to put emotional branding inside your message in order to stand out from others in your industry.

What is emotional branding? It is an important part of a marketing strategy that enables brands to distinguish themselves apart from their competitors by creating a relationship with their consumer. Consumers who relate to a brand prove to be loyal customers regardless of the competition.

Why is emotional branding important?

1. Consumers make emotional connections before logical decisions, so emotional branding helps strike a chord with your audience, making them feel attached before they have even decided to make a purchase.

2. Brands can influence their consumers to feel positive emotions like love, affection and attachment. When you create these feelings in your consumer, they are more likely to be drawn to your product.

3. When consumers feel good about something, they become loyal. Your audience is more likely to remember the way your message made them feel than just a phone number or website addresses. A message with strong content resonates long after the consumer hears it for the first time.

At Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions, we know the power of emotional branding and we can assist you in bringing the right elements into your brand’s message. Contact us today to find out about all the ways we can help you shine.

Posted in Brand | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stay on Top of the Newest Brand Trend with New Twitter Look

Posted on May 29, 2014 by admin

Everyone knows that social media is always changing. Updating apps, learning to16532510_s navigate a newsfeed and tracking statistics can seem like a full time job. It is important to stay on top of brand trends in social media to get the best results from your social media strategy.

One of the most recent social media outlets to update is Twitter.

What is New on Twitter:

  • A visually different profile page. Your profile and cover photo are now larger.
  • Stats about followers, tweets and favorites are prominently displayed across the page
  • You can now showcase your favorite tweets at the top of your profile.

Making sure your business is on top of brand trends will ensure your consumers know that you know what you are doing and understand the importance of online marketing. Understanding how to best leverage your brand on each new update is important, especially become using an outdated version looks unprofessional.

How Can You Optimize Your Brand Using Twitter’s New Updates?

  • Take advantage of the visual effects by uploading a noticeable profile and cover photo.
  • Help your best tweets gain the most reach by putting them at the top of your profile.
  • Use Twitter’s suggested followers to make more connections with consumers and your industry.
  • Your favorites are now prominent on your profile, so be sure to “favorite” tweets that promote your brand message and are relevent to your audience.

Social media is always evolving and keeping track of brand trends can seem challenging. With Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solution’s social media management, we take the guesswork out of your brand strategy and do the work for you. To learn more, contact the team today.

Posted in Brand | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Hashtags That Make Your Brand Stand Out

Posted on May 28, 2014 by admin

Hashtags are everywhere and it is time to get behind this movement. If you aren’t convinced, the 2014 SuperBowl saw more ads with a branded hashtag than ever before. The Budweiser hashtag: #BestBuds was included in over one hundred million tweets.

That’s what might be called potential. Ready to consider creating a branded hashtag? Here are five rules to keep in mind while brainstorming your new hashtag.

1. Short and Sweet is the Way to Go
Tweets are limited to 140 characters, as you know. However, you need to makeHashtag 1 sure you leave room for retweets and other comments to be added, so they need to be even shorter than that. Keep your branded hashtag to no more than two or three words, maximum.

2. Make it Easy to Remember
In addition to keeping it short, try to make it unique but easy to remember. Catchy words and descriptions are great and feel free to abbreviate terms. The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce just recently created a hashtag for the Parties on the Parkway 2014 using abbreviations (#POTP2014). It is abbreviated and short, easy to remember, and the year adds some description to the hashtag.

3. Be Specific
Events are more likely to have hashtags created for them these days. With events being relatively similar, it can be difficult to not get mixed in with another similar event. Be sure you are creating a unique hashtag by keeping the conversation relevant to your event and providing great content. Articles, blogs, and visual content can all help direct your hashtag while making it unique to your brand.

4. Be Professional
While it needs to be short, be sure to use proper grammar and spelling. Without it, the hashtag looks unprofessional and loses credibility. Create some separation between words, making it easier for your audience to read, by capitalizing each new word within the hashtag (i.e. #ContentMarketing).

5. Visual Content is Key
The most successful hashtags are those that pair it with visual content such as photos, videos, and infographics. These tools are useful to those who are just joining the conversation, as it can make it simple to gather information quicker. Additionally, with the updates Twitter just made to their platform, visual content has a greater focus. They made these changes because they recognized that visual content was getting more attention and more engagement. Be sure to use that to your advantage.

If you are ready to create your own branded hashtag, but aren’t sure where to begin, contact Susan J. Campbell today. We are ready to pair a solid branded hashtag, visual content, and great copywriting to get your brand heard.

Posted in Hashtag | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobile Marketing Boosts Your Brand

Posted on May 27, 2014 by admin

Video 1What do you need to know about mobile marketing that you haven’t already heard? It seems that everyone wants to proclaim that with every New Year, “this” is the year for mobile marketing.

According to Gartner, a billion smartphones will ship this year. It’s obvious that the mobile age is upon us, but how many people are using their mobile devices to interact with marketing messages? According to J.D. Power and Associates, around 60 percent of mobile users are as comfortable with mobile marketing (ads) as they are with the ones on television.

Compuware says that 85 percent of mobile users would rather use apps than mobile web browsers. Is your company taking advantage of this and developing a user-friendly app that can further your marketing goals?

The mobile user is definitely interacting with their devices enough to warrant an effort to reach out to them. According to an analytics firm called Flurry, which tracks a billion mobile devices and 300,000 apps, people spend nearly two hours a day on their smartphones, most of that time is on an app.

Users aren’t spending the bulk of their time shopping or learning about different projects – about 32 percent of the time (according to Flurry) users are engaged in gaming. Nearly 20 percent of the two-hour day is being spent on Facebook. However, according to eMarketer, around 15 percent of ecommerce will be from mobile commerce.

Mobile marketing goes beyond creating a Facebook page or Twitter account for your company. While these are valuable channels, you need to know how to use them, add quality content and connect with users with a planned strategy.

Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions can put mobile marketing strategies to work for you. Contact today and find out how our solutions make a difference to our clients and how they’ll drive more success to your brand.

Posted in Mobile Content Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to Hit the Ground Running with a New Business: Monday Morning Coffee with The Red Barn Yarn Farm

Posted on May 26, 2014 by admin

Sometimes a great business comes along and you just want to go there and spend some time with the owners. In the case of the Red Barn Yarn Farm, I found myself wanting to go there, but it wasn’t to just meet the owners. I wanted to hang out with these guys:

Red Barn Yarn Farms

Meet the Alpacas at the Red Barn Yarn Farm. Their wool looks so soft and fluffy, but wait until you see what happens when Jenny Hudgins works her magic after what what is known in the yarn business as “shearing.”

At Jenny’s family-run business, they harvest the wool from their own Alpacas, spin it, dye it and sell the yarn. They take their business to the next level by offering knitting classes every Saturday and give lessons on spinning the yard. They also have a great retail store that sells knitting supplies, books, and other tools for crafting with wool.

Red Barn Yarn Farms 2

 

We first heard about The Red Barn Yarn Farm at a St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce event. Hearing Jenny Hudgins describe her business immediately peaked our interest. We were even more intrigued to find out that it’s a family run business just outside of St. Joseph. Jenny, along with her husband James and their three children, Austin, Sam and Tori, began working toward opening The Red Barn Yarn Farm three years ago when the family bought the alpaca farm and moved to St. Joseph from New Mexico. After many years of research and hard work, the business officially opened in March 2014.

As we looked more at their website and social media, we realized that Jenny and her family had a great grasp on some important steps for new businesses from a marketing standpoint.

What Jenny and her family have done with their new business is a great example of starting from scratch.

  • Create a great website will comprehensive information? Check.
  • Consistent and interesting posts on Facebook? Check.
  • Giving customers a unique product? Check.
  • Hosting events to keep customers coming back? Check.
  • Invite the community to your business to show it off? Check.

They have a great recipe and hit the ground running in their new business. The Red Barn Yarn Farm receives a thumbs up from the staff at Susan J. Campbell. We applaud them on creating a niche business that is creative and fun, as well as their active presence on social media. Their consist posts offer a way for customers to engage with the business and offer a great inside look at how the business works and creating a family business feel to their brand.

We are always brainstorming more ways The Red Barn Yarn Farm and other new business can start telling their stories and reaching their target audiences. Contact the staff at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions to start your own brainstorming session today.

Posted in Monday Morning Coffee | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Understanding the Importance of Blogging

Posted on May 23, 2014 by admin

Blog 12You never know when or where a prospective client may pop up. It could be in the aisle at the grocery store, during a meeting or more than likely, while a consumer is browsing your website. One of the best ways to connect with potential consumers is with a content rich and informative blog. Consumers feel more confident towards a business that offers informative content about their product and are then more likely to become a loyal client.

There are many questions that arise when considering whether or not a blog is a good use of your time and money. When considering the importance of blogging, remember the advantages:

Blogs make a connection. The importance of blogging will be evident once you see that you are able to make connections with your consumers before and after they do business with you. They can review content and gain confidence in your brand. When you offer content that is valuable to consumers, they will trust you as a viable and expert source.

Blogs enable you to strategize and implement a marketing plan. When you post consistently, you will increase your online presence and SEO. Also, consumers will react positively to a brand that is timely. It is also important to have a reputation of always having new and interesting information on your blog so that your customers know to visit more consistently, ensuring that they are engaging with you on a regular basis.

Blogs allow you to be creative and innovative. The importance of blogging relies on your ability to offer a new dimension to your brand. Give a “behind the scenes” look or share expert opinions and reviews about your products. Blogs give you a voice to talk directly to your consumers. If you feel stuck on finding a topic, take to social media and ask your consumers what they would like to know more about or post a Q and A to offer direct answers to their questions. Blogs are an excellent way to show your target audience that you are listening.

Blogging is a vital part of your marketing platform. The professional writers at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions take time to know your brand and research the best ways to distribute your brand’s message. Contact us today and let’s start strategizing ways to make your blog shine.

Posted in Blog Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

LinkedIn Can Surprise You

Posted on May 22, 2014 by admin

LinkedIn 4LinkedIn recently reported 300 million users worldwide with an increase of 46 percent in their revenue from Premium Subscriptions. While it is unsurprising that they have continued to grow, there are a few recent findings from Wayne Breitbarth that might be a little shocking to hear about.

1. There are now 41 percent of individuals who are reporting 500+ connections, with a full 15 percent with more than 1,000 connections.

2. According to the respondents of Breitbarth’s questions, 58 percent stated they are now spending more than two hours a week on LinkedIn. This is a 10 percent increase from last year. Individuals aren’t going to spend time on a site that isn’t doing anything for them, so it would seem that they are seeing results.

3. Breitbarth found out that groups are no longer getting the attention they once did. Perhaps this has been due to site wide automated moderation, or SWAM, or even too much spam, despite the moderation. The results dropped 22 percent this year from last year’s 62 percent.

4. It also follows that only 16 percent of individuals were in the maximum number of groups allowed by LinkedIn, which is 50. This shows us that the majority of individuals are not participating in the full benefits of the groups and the actual social networking website.

5. When done correctly, the popularity of individual status updates rose to 39 percent from 10 percent.

6. The Company Page feature jumped from the 24 percent to 57 percent. This is probably the best option for small to mid-size companies. Not only does a LinkedIn Company Page provide better search results on Google, it is easy to post status updates and other industry news for your followers. A respondent also reported that 42 percent of their leads came from LinkedIn in 2013.

LinkedIn has provided multiple businesses and individuals an amazing opportunity to network. Susan J. Campbell would like to help you create a company page and, hopefully, see the leads roll in. Contact us today to see how we can help!

Posted in LinkedIn Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Skeptics and the Mobile User Experience

Posted on May 21, 2014 by admin

Mobile Marketing 4Computer users are going less and less to their desktops and laptops, preferring instead to go to their mobile devices to absorb online material. Researchers at the Penn State Media Effects Research Laboratory have found that mobile users are a wise group and are very unlikely to get any value out of flashy banner ads that offer free stuff or warnings about viruses. In fact, many mobile users believe that when they click on a banner ad, they are subjecting themselves to a potential threat, researchers found.

If you’re trying to deliver a valuable mobile user experience, you’re going to have to think of something other than banner ads because today’s mobile users are tech savvy.

What mobile users find particularly useless are banner ads that require the user to do something immediately. The goal of the ad is to inspire the user (or scare them) to click on the ad and be taken directly to the offer. However, researchers found that these are the ads that are consistently ignored. Furthermore, test subjects who were given the choice between clicking on an ad that displayed a security warning, free gift icon, and a third that showed both, subjects said the most untrustworthy ad was the one offering a free gift.

What’s the takeaway? Researchers say the most important thing an advertiser can do to offer a mobile user experience that means something is to be honest and only offer useful products or information that doesn’t include garish graphics in your mobile marketing strategy.

If you aren’t sure how to get more positive attention and have failed to capture the traffic your company deserves, call Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions. We can develop and execute a key strategy for your brand growth that involves a positive mobile user experience. We know what works (quality content) and what doesn’t work (banner ads that offer free gifts). Call us today and get the attention your brand deserves.

Posted in Mobile User Experience | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Twitter Packs a Mean Punch With Little Messages

Posted on May 20, 2014 by admin

Twitter 3Is Twitter really a vital part of your marketing plan? It is hard to imagine that a message that can only be up to 140 characters can be effective, but brands are finding more and more ways to use Twitter to actively engage with consumers on a meaningful level.

Twitter has many advantages, including:

• Providing real time feedback from consumers
• Addressing consumers’ concerns in a timely manner
• Identifying influential clients who are engaged and willing to help share your message
• Tracking which messages are the favorite, retweeted and quoted, giving you insight on what strategies are most effective
• The more your brand name is active on Twitter, the more likely your search engine results will increase

Those advantages aside, how else is Twitter so effective? It helps brands engage with consumers in ways that fit into the daily lives of their clients. Consumers can share their thoughts with brands in a convenient and spur of the moment post, while also directly contacting the brand. Not only are you getting their messages, but all of their followers are seeing your brand name, as well as a link to your profile.

Twitter is also a great way to show off your brand. With the use of creative hashtags, your consumers can do a bulk of advertising for you. Giving them creative ways to engage with your brand is a sure fire way your marketing plan will go further than you can imagine.

While your consumers are on Twitter talking about your brand, they are also providing you with excellent feedback. Use their comments and questions to assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses.

Twitter will prove to be a worthy element to your marketing plan. At Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions, social media experts show you how to fully engage with your consumers. Contact (or Tweet!) us today to find out how.

Posted in Twitter | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Monday Morning Coffee with Habitat ReStore: Get Your Repurpose On

Posted on May 19, 2014 by admin

St. Joe Habitat 1What’s one of the hottest trends on Pinterest, on TV and in conversation? Repurposing. Everything from furniture to craft items to architectural scraps can be remade and repurposed into something new. (By now, you probably know someone who is making couches out of duct tape and coat hangers and selling them on Etsy)

Repurposing is certainly environmentally friendly and socially responsible. It’s also, in its essence, the premise behind the St. Joseph Habitat for Humanity ReStore – and with garage sale and flea market season in full swing, it’s the place where gently used stuff gets new life.

Like its name, the “ReStore” is in the business of restoring items like furniture, hardware, paint and even some construction piece to new life with new owners. On a deeper level, customers who shop the ReStore know they’re finding a needed item to restart their own home project at a great price, and they’re helping keep items out of dumps or landfills that still have plenty of life left. Everybody wins.

The store models several national Habitat ReStores, in that community members, builders and contractors can donate their scrap or unneeded items. Volunteers and staff price them and sell them, but at bargain-conscious prices. Revenues can be returned to the community by helping support Habitat projects.

This month, the ReStore is partnering with the St. Joseph Regional Association of Realtors for a garage sale event, complete with a food truck and lots of realtors’ items for sale. It’s part of a week-long celebration of the store’s third year in business, and working together to boost the event and the brand of Habitat with local realtors is a smart move (pun intended). Not only can Habitat work within realtors’ social media channels to share their message, but they are reaching out to a group of brand champions who can tell clients who are moving out or moving in about the ReStore. They’re hitting an audience target that can continue to expand throughout the year, and that’s a sweet spot to be in.

Projects at the ReStore line up nicely with the ongoing outreach and volunteer coordination from Habitat for Humanity, including home build events for women and other specific groups. Photos and videos online are engaging and full of energy, which helps create a stronger brand perception for Habitat.

This week, Susan J. Campbell Copywriting thanks the ReStore for three years of great repurposing and creative energy. In many ways, we’re also in the business of repurposing – we help businesses repurpose brand messages to give them new life with target audiences. If your brand story needs a fresh start, give us a call today.

Posted in Monday Morning Coffee | Tagged , , | Leave a comment