Branding in Patterns

Posted on October 31, 2012 by admin

When watching a commercial on television, you may begin to associate a certain type of advertisement with certain brands. While advertisers may not come right out and say the name of the product they’re marketing, you know because you have become accustomed to their type of commercials. Each spot may be different, but the general message stays the same. Welcome to the wonderful world of branding in patterns!

Branding in patterns gives consumers a unique perspective as to how to identify your business without showing them the same message over and over again. Customers expect consistency in the brand, but don’t want to see the same things over and over again, that’s according to an online article. This allows your marketing to stay fresh and new.

If every piece of marketing material, whether it is online, video or print looked the same, your customers would probably get bored and not pay attention to what you’re trying to advertise. When this happens, your clients may inadvertently decide to look elsewhere for the same product or services because they may view that as lack of creativity on your part. If they don’t see anything new with how you share your message, then they may start to feel as if you don’t stay current on the trends when dealing with your own business.

The way you market says more than the words or phrases you use. Customers become accustomed to seeing a pattern in your brand, which helps establish trust and loyalty, but they don’t want to see repetition to the point of boredom.

What you include online versus print should have consistency, but how you deliver the message may be radically different. Making sure your customers know it is you is vital in every piece of marketing material you share, but mixing it up can continue to keep them interested.

Posted in Brand, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

5 Reasons Why You Need a Business Blog

Posted on October 30, 2012 by admin

Blogs – seems like everyone’s got one. Well, there’s a good explanation for that. Blogs are an easy way to get fresh content in front of viewers. They improve credibility, further SEO efforts, and increase the visibility of your brand.

But if you weren’t already convinced, here are five additional reasons as featured in an article by Small Business Trends as to why adding a business blog to your marketing mix makes good sense.

  1. Tell Your Story. Most of the time, when the story’s good, people listen. Blogs are a great way to become more open with customers, help them understand core values, and invite them to do business with you. They are also more effective at attracting and engaging new customers than a boring promotional pamphlet.
  2. Bring Back the Personal Touch. A business blog opens the door for a personal relationship with your followers by personifying your business. Reading a well written blog is like listening to an old friend. Too often business communications are dull or uptight. Instead, we should speak to our customers as if they are sitting right across from us. Let’s face it, formal marketing content can be downright boring.
  3. Ensure Content Stays Customer-centric. Hosting a regular business blog is a great way to invite feedback, address concerns, and show customers you care and can meet their needs. In doing this, the attention is always redirected back to your followers, forging loyalty and trust.
  4. Get Acquainted with Customers. By soliciting feedback, a business blog can help connect customer names with faces. It can also be used to track particular interests, so marketing offers can be tailored and allows for better decision making by presenting a more accurate view of consumers.
  5. Listen to External Environment. An interactive blog directs attention to business trends and topics you might not have noticed otherwise. This can help hone your skills as a consultant. It may even shed light on hidden issues, letting you correct them in their infancy.

    Let the experts at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions tell your story. We write business blogs on a regular basis and can help you stand out from the crowd. To get blogging, contact us today.

Posted in Blog Writing, Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Monday Morning Coffee with Tech Team

Posted on October 29, 2012 by admin

In the city of St. Joseph, who do you turn to when you need your small business network managed? Is there someone you can call that can host your phone system or manage your applications in the cloud? If the answer is yes, is this organization small enough to care about your uptime?

They may be a brand new name to you, or the same guys you see in your office when you need assistance, but Tech Team LC is one of the newest and fastest growing companies in St. Joseph. With a focus on personable care, Jason and Travis get to know you, your company and your goals to right-fit you with the solution that fits your needs and your environment.

A spin-off of IT firm Triggerfish, Tech Team offers general IT services for small businesses, cloud-based solutions for minimal upfront costs leveraging the new NPG data center, and hosted PBX in the form of the their own branded product. In fact, for one low cost per user and the purchase price of a Cisco phone, Tech Team will outfit your whole office with VoIP calling, complete with any enterprise phone feature you can imagine.

And, while all of these perks are important, the best value Tech Team brings to the table is their ability to understand your goals and work with you to help you achieve them. The IT professionals working under this brand are local – they live, work and play in the St. Joseph area. So, all of your needs are met to by professionals that understand the local market and are close enough to get to your location when you need them.

The digital world in which we operate today demands a close approach to our networks, systems and applications. At Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions, we’ve been impressed with the momentum with which Tech Team is building a loyal customer base and their approach to customer care. They listen to our challenges, understand what we are trying to accomplish and recommend a solution that best fits our needs so we can focus on our core competencies.

When talking with Jason and Travis concerning the fact that I wanted them to be the focus of our Monday Morning Coffee blog, one key question I had was what they wanted our readers to know about them. Jason’s answer: “That we’re awesome.” He was only half kidding, but he was right. If you’re looking for IT support or hosted phone systems that meet your budget, give these guys a call at 816-396-8400 and tell them you read about them on SJC’s Monday Morning Coffee!

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Surprise: Storytelling May Not Actually Get Results from Content Marketing

Posted on October 26, 2012 by admin

Thinking about your next blog or article to promote your brand? Set that good story aside. For now.

Instead, let 1980s hairband legend Poison give you some advice. If you want to convert content marketing efforts into leads and sales, pause for a moment and start belting out lyrics from their heart-welling, decade-marking ballad “Give Me Something to Believe In.”

The truth about storytelling in content marketing is that even the most well-written, accurate and memorable tale you tell about your product or service to your customers may only give them something to think about – and this may not mean they’re actually going to put that thought into action. Instead, an Econsultancy article says equip your readers or prospective customers with something to believe in. Give them boosts of confidence in your ability to solve their challenges, and rev up their personal buyer’s knowledge and faith in what you’re offering. How?

Three Things To Do Beyond Storytelling in Content Marketing Strategies:

1) Provide Experience (A Deeper Focus Than Just a Story):  Show readers or prospective buyers repeatedly that the actual experience of your product or service works. As noted in the article, this worked for PetRelocation.com, this is not the same as just telling a good story. This means posting video clips or images across your social media platforms that have been delivered to you by your customers, and that demonstrate a part of the successful product or service you offer. For PetRelocation, it meant posting images of real human beings that work for the organization relocating precious pets while their owners moved the rest of their belongings.

2) Give them Something to Believe In – Themselves. Think about transitioning from storytelling in content marketing to an approach that really hones in on showing buyers that yes, this too can happen for them. Lead them on a straight path through your content that ends in their belief that they have the knowledge and the ability to buy successfully from you, and that they’ll see a positive change in their life because of it.

3)  Ask Consumers to Take a Next Step. They’ve been enjoying repeated experience-oriented content from you. They’ve come to realize that they have the knowledge and power to buy from you and see it turn out well. Now ask them to do something with this foundation of confidence. Consider asking them to add an experience with your product or service to their Pinboard or their Facebook gallery. Ask them to give you a review on a top online source. Ask them to respond in all your content.

Another suggestion:  consider creative customer experiences with your product as a theme for the next three months of your content creation strategies. Build concepts around confidence, buyer belief and taking action into your keywords, your videos, photos and profiles. It’s something your audience can really believe in.

Posted in Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

It’s Holiday Video Time: Heat Up Your Video Content Now

Posted on October 25, 2012 by admin

It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas … video.
With the holiday season approaching in just weeks, today is the day to act when it comes to creating new video ads and video content that will capture some customers’ good cheer. In fact, a recent Marketing Profs blog says video may be starting to outclimb numbers related to TV watching.

The competition for video content to help bring in holiday sales is also growing fiercer. This is because many organizations – whether they sell services or products – realize that video hits home with viewers in ways few other platforms can.

How to make your video content a must-see during the holiday season:

1. Engage viewers with an experience. Show small moments of your team interacting with actual, real users of your product or service. This builds trust and the belief that you are worth investing in.

2. Make them laugh. Humor is hotter than ever, especially if you want your ad to be shared by viewers across social media.

3. Give them a time frame. Utilize the approach of one-time holiday sales or a 24-hour event, for example.

4. Ask them to take action. Sounds simple, but it’s critical to helping your video content take off.This action might include sharing the video, or sending one of their own.

Video content is only one element of a successful content marketing strategy – but it packs power. Be sure to tag each and every video with keywords and phrases. Also be sure to add a personal element that reflects what already makes you stand out from the crowd, year-round.

 

Posted in Content Marketing, Video Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Giving Your Brand Message a Powerful Voice

Posted on October 24, 2012 by admin

 

In a world of tweets and sound bites your business needs to convey your core message in a concise and powerful way.  That is really what brand messaging is all about.  Your company is competing with a cacophony of voices in the client’s ears every day.  Finding a strong, clear voice for your company is imperative if you are to stand out from the crowd.

Developing a strong brand voice is a matter of whittling down past everything that is true about your business until you can state the essentials in as few words as possible. You can’t expect to tell your customers everything about yourself during a first encounter.  The chore of brand messaging is to get them to take a closer second look.  First encounters need to communicate either core beliefs which drive your business or something that makes you unique and sets you apart from the competition.

This is a lot more difficult than you might think.  Creating an advertising slogan that represents you and captures the attention and imagination of the target audience will take some time and creativity.  The most effective brand messages express how your business meets the needs of your potential customers with a pithy statement that can be easily recalled.  The statement should convey how your brand intersects with customer experience.  Lofty, aspirational sentiments won’t do the trick.  This message needs to resonate with the audience’s everyday need and life.

Getting the brand message right is key since subsequent and ancillary advertising should build on the core message.  Regardless of what form slogans and advertising campaigns utilize, the trick is to give a unified message.  Keep it short.  Make it clear.  Be real.  Hit home with the audience.  Brand messages which follow those guidelines will be heard above the din.

 

Posted in Brand, Content Marketing, Messaging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Content Driven

Posted on October 23, 2012 by admin

What message are you trying to communicate? Are you using all available tools to get that message across to your audience? Content is key. And it’s what you make it. Whether it’s in blog form or a video testimonial…your audience is waiting to soak up what you put out there. Don’t be left at the bus stop any longer. Contact Susan J Campbell Copywriting Solutions to unlock your creative brand power.

Posted in Blog Writing, Content Marketing, Video Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Since 1966: The Family Planning Clinic Focuses on Healthy Lives for All Life Stages

Posted on October 22, 2012 by admin

“I’m definitely a woman’s advocate. I truly want to just be there for women whether it’s to help them know their options in contraceptive care, have a cancer screening or a safe place to live.”  – Family Planning Clinic staff

Some of the best-kept secrets in a community operate quietly, behind the scenes, building a stronger community and providing critical service to people from all demographics and life stages.

For more than 40 years, thousands of individuals have utilized one source for reproductive health care and education to lead the healthy, quality life they desire:  The Family Planning Clinic (FPC), a service under the Family Guidance Center umbrella that operates as an independent entity. Now known as FPC, the doors to this service have provided life-saving cancer screenings for men and women, health screenings for disease and education about how elements like exercise and avoiding smoking can lead to longer, healthier lives since the 1960s. As an active part of the Northwest Missouri community, the Clinic can also provide referrals to additional health care or social services when an individual needs help planning their best care path.

During the past few years, the FPC has relocated to a state-of-the-art center in St. Joseph, opened a clinic in Maryville, Mo., and expanded their hours to meet the demands of working professionals with the perspective that reproductive health goes hand-in-hand with overall health. Last year, the Clinic’s experienced team served more than 2,500 individuals and provided more than 8,400 visits. With a new website, myfpcnow.org, and plans for focused communication strategies, FPC is working to help women and men across age groups and life phases to know there’s someone who will listen and to provide the testing or information they need to stay healthy, such as contraceptive care. Same-day or walk-in appointments are also available, reducing critical wait time.

Since 1966, numerous stories have emerged about how FPC helps people and saves lives. Part of this unique ability to serve comes from the clinic’s acceptance of Medicaid, many insurance plans and also a sliding fee scale – making care accessible to many who would not seek care otherwise. One woman told her FPC physician that her cancer screening at the clinic was the only physician’s visit she had seen in years. When a test was positive for cancer, the team helped refer her to next steps for care – none of which would have been possible without the services of the clinic. Many others choose the FPC for their care because of the ongoing commitment and compassion of the staff, as well as convenient hours and services.

The team at FPC is a true advocate for both women and men who need critical services and education to live their healthiest life. Today, the FPC name is becoming known as a resource for top-quality, convenient care across the region, and continues to represent a local success story with lasting impacts.

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Content Marketing – What it Means for Your Brand

Posted on October 19, 2012 by admin

In the world of marketing, we consistently talk about the importance of the brand. As the business owner or decision maker, you spend a great deal of time and research on what needs to happen to develop your brand. At that point you then start to push it out to your target audience. If you’ve been doing this a while, you know what happens next – the audience runs with it, associating their own elements with your brand.

This outcome can be both good and bad. If your audience immediately takes to your brand, you can drive home the message you want to communicate. For most, however, solidifying that brand takes some time, and then consumers play a role. They often have more say about what your brand means than your entire marketing department. The good news is you don’t have to settle on the consumer direction – you just have to get in the conversation.

Today, you have access to so many more tools than you did even 10 years ago that allow you to drive the conversation, engage your audience and achieve the branding initiatives you want. First and foremost – it starts with the content you create. You have to add value for the target audience. Don’t use your social media and promotional platforms to simply shout out things you want your audience to hear or know. Instead, focus on those things they want to know and tie back to your brand.

For instance, are you a retail operation with a storefront and an online store? You may want to brag about the products you carry, your customer service and the free shipping you offer. Yes, all of those things are important to your audience and you should definitely promote that information as an extension of your brand. But, what if your target audience member doesn’t feel like making a purchase? Will they come to your store or your site?

Consider providing him or her information on the latest movements in your industry as they pertain to their use of your products. If there is a new fabric available that is sturdier than the old standby, let them know. If one of your main manufacturers is offering a webinar on the importance of their platform, push that information out. Not every communication will lead to a sale, but it does contribute to the building of valuable relationships.

In the content marketing realm, you have a world of opportunities to get into the conversation. Make a video that is communicative and entertaining and ask your audience to share it; write regular blogs that share valuable information your audience actual wants to read; comment on other posts within the industry so you’re engaged on leading platforms; invite your social media followers to share ideas and comments with you – and respond.

The important point is to use content marketing to promote the messages you want to send, as well as those your audience wants to hear. In doing so, you can have more control over your brand and the impact it has in the market.

Posted in Brand, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gaining Third-Party Credibility: When Experts Talk About You, It’s Awesome

Posted on October 18, 2012 by admin

The good, the bad and the busy: gaining third-party credibility takes effort when it comes to your content creation strategy, and it takes time. It also turns your content into a mighty force for gaining new leads and building customer trust.

Today it’s not enough to write consistently high-quality content for your audience and hope for the best in terms of search rankings. It’s not enough to post some blogs or whitepapers and believe you’ve got content marketing down. Moving boldly toward getting  your content reblogged, reposted, published again or shared across social media by leaders in your business niche is the cream of the crop for your content marketing efforts.

Called third-party credibility, gaining the respect that equates to getting shared or republished by industry leaders means your content is powerful, effective and targeted toward results. Aside from quality writing that adds value, location is everything when it comes to gaining third-party credibility.

How do you know where to add your content to achieve third-party credibility?
– Find the sources online where your customers go. This may include the professional groups or organizations they are in, or the publications or magazines they read online.
– Move beyond immediate customers and think about vendor areas they may go or trade-related industry sites they may utilize.
– See if these organizations or publications are looking for submitted content, such as blogs or articles.
– Talk to people who are leaders in your field which places they go for great content, and check there for ways to send your message.

As for topics, make your content useful. Gaining third-party credibility is a more natural occurrence when the information you’re offering is related to changes in your field, new technology or useful tips related to solving a challenge. Don’t forget to shake up your content mix with tools like video, tagged photos and slideshows.

Why is this work so important? Getting reposted and republished from industry leaders means you have a better chance of being associated with quality accreditations, quotes, news articles or other invaluable clues that tell your audience how amazing you are when they search for information in your field – and the more ways you can do that, the better.

Posted in Brand, Consistent Customer Communications, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments