A screenshot of my e-mail Signature banner. Notice the clear copy and CTA. This signature banner automatically appends itself directly below every email I send.

Here are a few key reasons why professionals should have a creative email signature banner:

1. Branding

A professional email signature banner is a great way to showcase your personal or professional brand. It can include your logo, tagline, or other brand-related imagery, helping to make your emails more recognizable and memorable.

2. Expertise

Your email signature banner is a great place to showcase your expertise and highlight your unique selling points. You can include links to your website, blog, or social media profiles, which can help to promote your services and drive traffic to your online presence.

3. Trust

A well-designed email signature banner can help to build trust with the recipient. It provides important information about the sender, such as their name, title, and contact information, which can help to establish credibility and professionalism.

4. First impressions

Your email signature banner is often the first thing that the recipient will see, so it’s important to make a good impression. A well-designed banner can help to convey a sense of professionalism and attention to detail, which can be very important in the business world.

5. Contact information

A professional email signature banner is a great place to include your contact information, such as your phone number, email address, and website. This can make it easy for the recipient to get in touch with you, and can also help to promote your personal or professional brand.

Verdict

Overall, a creative email signature banner is an important tool for professionals. It can help with branding, building trust, making a good first impression, and providing important contact information.

I personally use email signature banners as a silent marketing tool because they are a subtle yet effective way to promote my brand, showcase my expertise, and provide important contact information to recipients of my emails. Since email signature banners are automatically included in every email that a person sends,  it simply means that it can reach a wide audience without the need for additional effort or resources.

By now, you should agree with me that an email signature banner is a non-intrusive way to promote your brand or services. It is included at the bottom of the email, so it does not disrupt the main content of the message. This can make it more effective than more overt forms of marketing, such as advertisements, promotional emails, email blasts, or WhatsApp broadcasts.

I hope you enjoy reading. If you have any questions, kindly drop your comments below.

The post Email Signature Banners is A Killer Marketing Tool, and Here’s Why appeared first on Branditechture.

Brand clarity refers to the way your brand works in general. It covers every little detail of your brand, including design and customer experience. Your brand strategy, brand story, brand attributes/values, brand personality, brand positioning, and target demographic are all included.

So, how can you use brand clarity to boost your marketing message as a small business owner?

It’s not as difficult as you may think! So, today’s post would be concise, sweet, and to the point.

In a few simple steps, here is how to use brand clarity to improve your marketing messages.

First and foremost, this is the most crucial phase in any marketing endeavor; you must establish what your customer truly desires. You should be aware that they may not want what you think they want.

You can’t blame them though, it is all about their true desires.

Yep.

So, what exactly do I mean when I say “their true desires”

Let’s start with the obvious issues.

Your customer has a little concern that needs to be addressed. Yes, they have a problem that has to be solved, but there are other reasons for them to purchase based on their underlying motives.

For example, let’s pretend you’re a wedding planner. Aren’t you a fantastic wedding planner? Yes, of course. The obvious issue is that someone expects you to handle all of the logistics and organize a fantastic wedding.

Or perhaps you work on house renovations. On the surface, the issue is that someone wants to remodel their outdated property, or perhaps they require an expansion.

These are only the superficial problems. Trust me, there are underlying issues that you need to figure out yourself.

You’ll be missing out on a lot of extra business if you solely frame your marketing message to fix your customer’s surface difficulties. You would also fail to create a “true connection” with the customer.

Understanding the underlying concerns of a prospective customer.

It’s your responsibility to figure out what’s going on behind the scenes with your prospective customer. Because finding and solving their deeper problem is really what will motivate them to hire you or buy from you again. In order to disclose the inner problem, you’ll have to ask even deeper questions from your customer.

Customers will be more engaged if you grasp this fundamental concern and work to structure your marketing message around it. This internal issue should directly relate to your marketing message. 

Why? Easy…

Here’s an example; When a client approaches us for a website design project, instead of sending an invoice and plunging into development right away, we would first probe into the client’s motivation to build a website by asking deeper questions like:

• Why do you think you need a website?
• Have you considered a web maintenance budget?
• Do you have a marketing budget to push the website after launch?
• What are your other plans for drawing traffic to your website

After many years of following this website design standard operating procedure (or SOP), we discovered that while some people just build websites for the sake of having a website, what most people want, however, is that their website become a lead magnet for them. To this end, we’ll needed to know how the customer intends to publicize or promote their website after launch or relaunch.

As you can see, by asking all these questions, the customer would naturally be convinced that we have all their best interest at heart. There is no better connection than this! Asides from that, this realization has also helped us achieve brand clarity, and it has helped improved our brand message during advertising campaigns.

While our competitors are focusing their marketing efforts on superficial concerns and the numbers. We talk to our prospects about their inner issues, that is why they are much more likely to patronize our services again and again.

So forging our standard operating procedure illustrated above for your business, you’ll definitely beat your competition and encourage repeated purchases or patronage if you always construct your brand’s marketing message around your potential customer’s underlying difficulties.

Understanding your customers’ problems can help you stand out.

If you want your marketing message to stand out from the crowd, you need to get to know your customers on a deeper level and figure out what it is that you can offer that will truly satisfy them. That’s when they’ll decide whether or not to collaborate with you.

They want you to repair their external problem, but what they actually want is for you to solve their inner concerns.

That, in a nutshell, is the key to brand clarity and of course, effective marketing. By diving a little further, you can have a better understanding of your customer. You’ll discover what genuinely inspires them, and you’ll win every time if you position your marketing by concentrating on their underlying issues.

Do you want to give your company’s website a new face? Take a few minutes to complete our web design questionnaire and we would take care of the rest! We can also propose a few things you can do right now to boost your branding and marketing by examining your brand, so feel free to talk to us.

Sign up to our mailing list if you really want to learn more about our branding and marketing strategies.

Thanks for reading!

The post How to Use Brand Clarity to Improve your Marketing Message appeared first on Branditechture.

Epiphany RBC’s Alfie Adamson opined that it is very important to look at human-to-human conversations.

“Businesses need to find early adopters in the community and persuade them so that they can influence everyone else. We can begin to achieve this by listening to people on social media. Using NetBase Quid, we were able to compile a list of all the keywords from their Twitter profiles.”

You met someone at a party, you were intrigued by them and you would definitely want to learn more about them. What steps would you follow to know more about them, do you;

(a) Ask them a prepared set of multiple-choice questions,

(b) Talk to them, or

(c) Join the discussion they’re having with someone else and listen to learn more about them?

Answer (a) is the approach that traditional market researchers have been adopting for years, according to Alfie Adamson, a senior research consultant at marketing consultancy Epiphany RBC.

Approaches (b) and (c) work together to provide a more modern, conversational approach that produces better data, insights, and ultimately, better business results. 

This was the key message from a recent panel session carried out by a popular marketing publication firm, The Drum. The workshop which was titled ‘Finding the human perspective; how conversation powers insight’, was produced in partnership with AI-powered consumer and market intelligence platform NetBase Quid. 

“When you get these interrogative surveys, which are incredibly tedious and really boring, it’s bad for the whole industry,” Adamson said, “Instead we can actually start having dialogues with individuals and be more engaged, which leads to greater results and deeper insights.” It’s important for the industry to have higher-quality data so you can offer more strategic recommendations.”

Research update for the social media age

According to Adamson, his company, Epiphany’s technique is still based on the old model of primary and secondary research, but it has been updated for the social media age. 

“If you’re looking at primary research, it’s very important to look at human-to-human conversations,” he said. “if you question customers, you’ll get really poor quality information, they aren’t ready to engage with you. 

“Then there’s secondary research, which is what’s already out there, and a lot of it comes from online content”. However, there are a lot of posts going on right now. For example, over half a million tweets are sent out every minute on the internet, it can be tough to decide what to focus on, but conversions and, of course, NetBase Quid can assist.”

Adamson cited a recent project in which Epiphany was requested to investigate ‘entertainment bingers’, or people who stream movies on demand on a regular basis. 

Prior research, the group revealed they sampled males who were located in the UK and interested in movies and TV. 

Using NetBase Quid, we were able to compile a list of all the keywords from the group’s Twitter profiles, revealing their passions, favourite brands, and people that inspire them. 

“Then you’ll be able to see that this is a functioning community, and you’ll be able to figure out what makes them tick, what motivates them, and what they all have in common.” We can begin to achieve this by listening to people on social media. 

Influencing the influencers

According to Adamson, all of this is important because it allows businesses to find early adopters in the community and persuade them so that they can influence everyone else. 

“We’ve all seen the innovation diffusion curve, which shows how you progress from the inventors to early adopters to the late majority. And the reason we begin with the most viable communities is that the innovators, the 2.5% at the beginning of the curve, are the ones that can truly lead to your value.

“Because once you have a thorough understanding of the demographic, you can start looking for commonalities and what motivates them, and you can start engaging with them online.” And if you truly understand what these folks are about, you’ll have greater word-of-mouth and more consumer resonance. 

Fast-fashion brands Asos and Boohoo, are two companies that excel at this, according to Adamson.  They’ve identified a persona known as ‘Daytime socializers,’ who are young British women who tweet about socializing, eating out, having a girl’s night out, and having a good time. They also promote Asos and Boohoo on the internet. 

“Boohoo and Asos recognize that these are viable communities; they tap into the relevant and current culture, with the content that they’re putting out there, and they’re really having a conversation with these daytime socializers,” he said.  

Primary and Secondary Research and The Social Listening Technique

Another important point highlighted by Adamson is that primary and secondary research must be used in combination, but how they are employed will vary depending on the project. For example, if you’re creating a survey and aren’t sure what questions to ask, you may utilize a technique known as social listening to discover a target audience online, learn more about them, and figure out what questions you should ask. 

Social listening (or social media listening) refers to the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a company, individual, product or brand on the internet.

If you’re evaluating primary research, you may enhance it with instances of what your target audience is talkimg about online using social listening. Ultimately, the key, according to Adamson, is to engage with your potential customers. 

“The more customers interact with you, whether through primary or secondary research, the stronger their bond with your firm will be, and the more money you’ll make.”

The post Treating Customers Like You Met at a Party: Crazy Lead Conversion Secrets appeared first on Branditechture.

The Scape Goat Brand of 2020

Corona Extra — The Scapegoat Brand of 2020

Let’s begin with Corona (Beer).

Corona Beer is a well-known alcoholic beverage worldwide, although it is mostly consumed in Europe and America. Corona is a pale-looking lager produced by Mexican brewery Cervecería Modelo and owned by Belgian company AB InBev.

The name of the beer was reportedly inspired by the crown on a church in Puerto Vallarta, a resort town on Mexico’s Pacific coast. “Corona” in Latin means halo or crown, and that’s how the beer brand got its name in 1925.

The Coronavirus Pandemic and Corona Beer

Coronavirus belongs to a family of viruses having spikes which include the SARS and MERS viruses. They got their name from resembling little crowns.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic that originated from Wuhan China in 2019 has no connection whatsoever with Corona lager beer.

Yet, Google searches have been trending for search queries such as “Corona beer virus” and “beer virus.”  

Some mischievous internet users also started polluting the internet with memes and videos linking the beer to the virus.  

For example, Jen Davies was seen in a video emptying the contents of Corona beer bottles down the sink because she is “trying to get rid of this virus in their house.” 👇

 

Jen Davies as seen in a video emptying the contents of Corona beer bottles into a sink.

 

More Similar Examples

We have seen cases where a company has “carelessly” adopted a trade name with an unpleasant meaning in another language or dialect. 

Here are just a few examples:

• Ford launched its Ford Pinto automobile in 1971 before learning that in Brazil, “Pinto” meant a small-sized male genital. “Pinto” is a relatively unworthy name for a car model that sold so well in Europe, so they eventually had to rename it to Corcel in Brazil.
• A food manufacturer based in Britain excitedly launched its “Bundh” Curry Sauce before learning that “Bundh” meant butts 🍑 in Punjabi (relating to the Punjab community in India). 
• India’s largest car company, Tata, announced its Zica car, an abbreviation of “zippy car,” but had to rename it to Tiago, the Portuguese name for James, because of its possible incorrect association with the Zica virus. 
• The Chevrolet Nova or “Chevy Nova”  could be translated as “no go” in Spanish, which reportedly had a negative impact on sales in Spain.

Unfortunate Events

Some brands have been linked to an unfortunate event despite having no connection to it. All because of a similarity with the brand name. For example:

• Isis Pharmaceuticals irresistibly changed its name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals in 2015 because of the rising popularity of ISIS terrorism in the media.
• A PR and events agency in Edinburgh named Tsunami decided to undergo a renaming process following the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.
• Tylenol was banned in several states in the US after capsules laced with potassium cyanide killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982. Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturer, recalled over 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules — A move that saw the company spend more than 100 million USD ($100m) at the time. They did a complete product rebranding before reintroducing the product into the market.  
• An appetite suppressant named Ayds in the 1970s reportedly suffered a huge drop in sales in the 1980s, no thanks to the AIDS crisis.

What to do to protect your brand

It’s largely not your fault, alright? but what can you do to protect your brand in a situation where your brand’s equity is under threat by an otherwise unrelated circumstance? Regardless of the strategy employed, there no guarantee that your brand would ever recover. However, some brands have managed to come back and claim a higher market share post-crisis. 

An example is Johnson & Johnson, which was once known for consumer products like baby shampoo and band-aid bandages. It has now become a pharmaceutical giant. 

At the start of the new millennium (2021), a whopping 45 per cent of sales had come from prescription drugs alone, up from just 18 per cent before the Tylenol crisis in 1980.

In 2021, Johnson & Johnson was granted the rights to commercially produce and market the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine under its pharmaceutical arm, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The vaccine was even marked safe by the World Health Organization. 

What a comeback!

Your own approach towards this issue may depend on the following factors;

1. Your trademark’s existing mindshare (or public recognition) 
2. The number of people who inadvertently connect your brand name to the disaster, and
3. The intensity of the effect on your sales or reputation.

Here are a few of the strategies you might consider, but you should be decisive in your approach before things spin irreversibly out of control:

• Do nothing (Although not recommended.) Wait it out until everything blows over
• Make major changes to the product packaging to counter the problem
• Start an advertising and publicity campaign to inform consumers of your brand’s position in the event.
• Send take down-notices to internet service providers (or ISPs) aiding the misleading videos or websites
• Report it on social media and charge your loyal fans to do the same
• Send official complaints to misguided media outlets asking for corrections
• Submit to major newspapers editorials explaining the facts
• If everything fails and you still sense a serious loom, change your brand name.

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Need one-on-one brand advice? Book a session by contacting us. Charges may apply.

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According to a BigCommerce report released in 2019, 17% of companies spend over half their marketing budget on influencer marketing. The Digital Marketing Institute also reported that an estimated 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations. We are here to break down the differences between a brand ambassador and a Brand Influencer in plain English language — even if you are new to this realm of brand marketing.

With all that being said, it’s time to delve right into it.

Brand Influencer vs Brand Ambassador

Who is a Brand Ambassador?

A brand ambassador is a character (usually a public human figure) who is contracted to represent a brand in a positive light, with the aim of increasing brand awareness through their social influence.

Pets like dogs, bunnies, and cats too can be hired as brand ambassadors, but this article is not going to cover much of that.

Read Also: How A Brand Ambassador Can Help Grow Your Company

Who is a Brand Influencer?

Similar to a brand ambassador, a brand influencer is also an individual character who leverages his/her social media influence to engage and connect audiences (usually their own fans) with brands. This is probably where the similarity ends.

Brand influencers often partner with brands to create “sponsored content.”

Without wasting your time, let’s underline some notable differences;

1. Exclusivity

This is a very distinct difference between a brand ambassador and a brand influencer.

Exclusivity is the practice of excluding or not admitting other things.

Ideally, a brand ambassador only works with a brand at a time. However, if they choose to work for another brand, it must be a brand from another niche.

In other words, a brand ambassador can’t promote or can’t be seen promoting a direct competitor, i.e. as long as a brand ambassador works with your brand, he should only be allowed to represent your brand publicly and genuinely, while avoiding anything to do with your competitors.

You can’t be a Nike brand ambassador and be seen in Adidas Yeezy slides. The same cannot be said for an influencer, as earlier stated, influencers are there to raise awareness about your brand while speaking positively about it.

You don’t own the exclusive right to an influencer’s genuine preference, as they can also promote your direct competitor’s brand immediately after promoting yours, or as they wish.

Brand influencers can work with as many brands as possible, even if it’s a direct competitor from the same niche.

2. Contract Time

This is yet another factor that can be used in differentiating between a brand ambassador and a brand influencer. The contract time (or contract period) is a time frame in which an influencer or brand ambassador works with a brand.

Brand Ambassadors often work for longer periods with brands, compared to brand influencers who are only enabled for the short term.

The time frame for a brand ambassador to work with a brand runs deep in years, depending on the contractual agreement between the brand and the ambassador.

On the other hand, a brand influencer is just in for the short-term activity, which can vary anywhere between a few minutes to a couple of hours.

A brand can always contract an influencer as their marketing strategy may require, but either party is disposable immediately after the contract ends.

3. Personal Investment

Personal investment in this context is all about how much these influencers (and BA’s) are putting in a brand; how they involve themselves in the growth process of the brand.

How closely are these entities following up on the effect of their activities on your brand?

Like you would have probably guessed, brand ambassadors tend to be more cautious with their public activities and show more respect and interest towards the brand that they represent.

Influencers are majorly in for the money (no disrespect intended) and don’t really care about how the other campaigns on their domain are affecting your brand.

Note: All Brand Ambassadors are Brand Influencers, but not all Brand Influencers are ambassadors.

The post Brand Ambassador vs Brand Influencer — 3 Main Differences appeared first on Branditechture.

This was a huge moment for Tiger Woods, but he wasn’t the only one winning and celebrating. 

Shortly after Tiger Woods was declared victorious, Nike dropped a video online starring Woods.

The effect of this was a complete sellout of some of the Woods-branded cloths on the Nikes Website.

In fact, according to Apex Marketing, Tigers Woods’s victory that day translated to $22,540,000 ($22.5 million) for the Nike brand.

And, even before this, Nike’s market share went from less than 1% to 3.9% within 8 months after Tiger Woods switched his endorsed balls to Nike in 2000.

Nike had also seen a $50,000,000 ($50 million) general increase in sales on golf balls between 1996 to 2002 after singing Tiger Woods. That was within 6 years of signing him as an ambassador of the brand.

Indeed, the effects of a brand ambassador cannot be taken lightly. But before we proceed, let’s clarify who, or what a brand ambassador is.

Who is a Brand Ambassador?

Photo Credit: Unsplash

As the name implies, a brand ambassador is someone who represents a brand. They embody the company’s ideals and help others have a sort of living and breathing perception of the brand. 

A brand ambassador is someone who makes people come to love a brand. They are essentially the biggest fans of the brand who spread news and testimonies about the brand (through word of mouth, social media, interviews, and any other medium they can access). 

A brand ambassador can even be a loyal employee who is dedicated, loves the brand, and is willing to tell other people about it. It could also be the founder/owner of the brand.

But, ideally, a brand ambassador is someone of influence – who can convert a lot of people into raving fans of a brand. That is, they usually have a huge following, are influential, and are knowledgeable in a particular demographic. They also have a good understanding of what the brand is about, and can communicate that to their community effectively.

We’ve already seen a good example – Tiger Woods. But as you can imagine, Tiger Woods is not within the reach of most companies.

So, let us first understand the benefits of having a brand ambassador, then we’ll move over to identifying the characteristics of a good one, and finally decide on if it is worth investing in.

Benefits Of A  Brand Ambassador – Why Have A Brand Ambassador?

A company, or brand, has one sole purpose and that is to thrive. Below are some ways a brand ambassador can help your company do that:

• HUMANIZING YOUR BRAND
  It is hard to explain what a brand stands for without anyone standing out to show it. A brand ambassador literally gives your brand a physical form. They embody the image (credibility), ideals, and promises of your company. Think about a physically fit person representing a fitness gear company. The brand ambassador helps people picture the company and what it wishes to offer.
  
• POSITIVE ASSOCIATION
  People have a strong desire to associate with the people they like, and consequently the people or things that that person likes as well. Fans idolize celebrities and try as much as they can to emulate their behavior and lifestyle. This admiration can also rob off your brand if you get associated with the individual. In fact, many people would unconsciously believe that your brand contributed to the person’s success and glamor.
  
• HIGHER CREDIBILITY
  Due to the faith and trust already garnered by the ambassador beforehand, people would tend to trust in the authenticity of whatever brand they associate themselves with. You want to be this brand.
• CONNECTEDNESS
  By associating with someone who is already part of a community, your brand enjoys a subtle connectedness to the community and culture, making it easier for people to fall in love with your company.
• EASY REMEMBRANCE
  People remember other people more than logos and fonts. This means, by associating with a big or familiar name, your brand would easily stick to the minds of people. This keeps your company memorable.
• DISTINCTIVENESS
  People are bombarded with thousands of advertisements daily, and this leads to “advertising blindness”: where an individual can be looking at an advert and nothing would register in his or her mind. However, by associating with a person they already like, you stand a chance of sticking out amongst your competition.
• MEDIA GROWTH
  With a combination of humanization, connectedness, credibility, positive association, and distinctiveness, your brand ambassador would almost effortlessly drive lots of eyeballs to your company. This translates to more interactions and followers in the diverse media you find yourself in. This inevitably expands your brand’s footprint across all media – and the society at large.
• INCREASED SALES
  With more eyeballs comes more leads, and with more leads comes more conversions. Research from MarketWatch indicated that just a single endorsement can (almost instantly) drive up to a 4% increase in sales.
• INTERACTION
  A brand ambassador can help keep your fans and customers happy and engaged. They would be someone that would always be there for them to “talk” to. This could happen in form of interacting with the brand ambassador’s contents on social media, blogs, magazines, or in person.
• BUILDS BRAND LOYALTY
  Loyal fans and followers of the brand ambassador can easily become your loyal fans and followers too. This is because, when they get to see a real person (not an actor) use and talk about your products/services it urges them to believes completely, because why won’t they?

In 2017, the company, Under Armour, was on the brink of collapsing.

Sales were down and revenue forecasts didn’t look sunny. Everyone agreed that the company had reached its peak and the only way was down. And things did go down.

Within hours of trading, Under Armour’s stock had crashed by 30%, and the company was getting closer and closer to bankruptcy and total extinction before it was miraculously saved.

Some 70,000,000 people decided to support this company out of the blue. Who were they?

You guessed it right, they were the 70 million fans of Dwayne Johnson (Aka, The Rock), who the company had signed earlier that year as their brand ambassador.

As of the time of this writing, that 70 million fans have grown to over 234 million (on Instagram alone).

That being said, it becomes expedient to know the kind of person with who you associate your brand, as they can be the difference between life and death for your brand.

So, sit back and relax, while I show you the important features to look out for when picking your brand ambassador

Important Features Of An Ideal Brand Ambassador  – The Things To Consider When Picking A Brand Ambassador

Below are some of the most critical factors you must consider before picking a brand ambassador

• ONLINE PRESENCE
  With a huge following already in place, a brand ambassador can help you cut the time it takes to build awareness, and with their influence, you could start having conversions right out of the door.
  Although this is not an indispensable factor to consider, it is definitely a huge plus as it gives both your brand and the ambassador an edge.
  
• PASSION AND COMMITMENT
  It is essential that the brand ambassador is genuinely passionate about your company and products (or services).
  This is because people can sense when something is fake.
  A brand’s growth and authority is highly predicated on how enthusiastic and authentic the communication between the brand and the followers is. With weak messaging or communication, the sales and consequently growth of your brand will suffer.
  The only way around this is to get a brand ambassador that is actually passionate about your brand.
  This characteristic is highly inflexible – unless of course, you signed someone more charismatic than Michael Jackson.
• KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MARKETING
  While passion is great, it becomes a whole lot better if the brand ambassador understands the rudiments of advertising and marketing – the strategies and core principles to it. Unlike passion, marketing is a skill that must be learned and adapted to dynamic situations. A brand ambassador should be aware of this and approach the duty of creating brand awareness with the end goal in mind – sales.
• PROFESSIONALISM
  Being a representative of the brand, it is insanely important that this person has a good record and reputation. They shouldn’t have anything on the records (online or offline) that drags the image of your company on the floor.
  They represent your companies’ ideals, therefore their attitudes and behavior are directly linked to your brand. It is therefore crucial that you are upfront with them on how you expect them to act – your demands and the redlines.
  A cautionary measure to take is to first go through their records yourself before signing them.
• WORK ETHICS
  The aim of getting a brand ambassador is to smoothen things. Therefore, you want to ensure that the person is easy to work with.
  This implies, the person needs to be punctual, dedicated, skilled in writing or speaking, agreeable, understanding, and handles discomfort well. You want someone who can do the work well, without squabbles.
• TRUSTWORTHINESS
  Trust is the glue that binds relationships together – it is doubly so in business. Without trust (from the prospects) there won’t be leads, without leads there won’t be conversions, and without conversions, there won’t be a company.
  Brand ambassadors exist to aid in creating strong and lasting relationships with customers. People have to come to trust your brand and what it promises.
  Therefore, your brand ambassador has to have a zest for building relationships.
• SIMILARITY WITH THE TARGET AUDIENCE
  If the brand ambassador is seen as an outsider by the target audience then they become hardly useful to your company – as they cannot be used to penetrate the market. A brand ambassador should be the ideal model of the market your brand wishes to penetrate – a runner for runners, a fighter for boxers, and someone pretty for fashion lovers.
• POTENTIAL TO GROW
  And finally, a feature of great brand ambassadors that you don’t hear very often is this one.
  Brand ambassadors need to have the potential to grow – in authority, followers, and influence.
  A brand ambassador should be an asset, not a liability.
  They should be someone your brand would be more than happy to support through thick and thin because you believe in the potentials they hold – the potential to grow both themselves and your business.

This list is not exhaustive, but it captures the essentials. The next step is your research and decision. But first, let’s quickly talk about something.

Also Read: How To Set Up A Successful Brand Ambassador Program

How To Manage A Brand Ambassador

Just so you have a better perception of the relationship between companies and their brand ambassadors, consider Nike. I know, I know, Nike again?!

Anyway, in 2017, when Tiger Woods was experiencing a lot of challenges in his family and career (after admitting to cheating on his wife) and a DUI arrest, he was promptly dropped by many other brands, except Nike.

Also, In 2003, Kobe Bryant (may his soul rest in peace) was charged with rape, but Nike didn’t drop him either.

However, the Nike brand has been noted to disassociate itself from any person who cheats in their career.

For example, Lance Armstrong who cheated on the field of play, and Michael Vick after he pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges, were both dropped by the brand without second thoughts.

This is because, whilst Nike tolerates human shortcomings, and even supports their ambassadors during difficult times, they do not support cheating in a profession.

In essence, when choosing a brand ambassador, it is crucial to know what they are representing for your brand.

To Nike excellence in sports was an “ideal” and highly valued, and so a cheating sportsman could not be associated with them – no matter how famous or talented they may be.

So, you have to place your demands and draw the redlines upfront when dealing with your brand ambassador(s). 

Final Thoughts: How a Brand Ambassador Can Help Grow Your Company

So far, we’ve learned that having a brand ambassador is a great way to stamp your brand in the minds of your customers.

It is also a great way to showcase what your company is about (to prospects and fans as well).

Therefore, it is crucial that the person that is chosen to embody the brand is exactly what the brand wishes to portray – someone who embodies their ideals.

It is also crucial that this person has the company at heart, and is enthusiastic to tell others about the brand.

Brand ambassadors don’t always have to be massively influential, and all-knowing, but they should be interested in growing, willing to learn, and easy to work with.

A brand ambassador can essentially help your company grow by serving as a foot in the door – giving you the access to connect and do business with the people in their demographic.

“…a brand ambassador serves as a foot in the door”

And if done well, it is usually a win-win situation, and worth investing heavily in.

To help you get a feel of what brand ambassadors are worth to companies, look at the following numbers:

What (Some Popular) Brand Ambassadors Are Paid

Kylie Jenner, via Getty Images

The format for the list below: “Brand: Brand Ambassador – Payout”.

Try not to “blush” at these numbers.

• Puma: Kylie Jenner – $1 Million
• L’Oreal: Penelope Cruz – $2 Million yearly
• Proactiv: Jessica Simpson – $2.5 Million
• Nike: Michelle Wie – $4 Million
• Emirates Airlines: Jennifer Aniston – $5 Million
•  McDonald’s: Justin Timberlake – $6 Million
• Chanel: Brad Pitt – $7 Million
• Coach: Selena Gomez –  $10 Million
• Puma: Usain Bolt – $10 Million
• St. John: Angelina Jolie – $12 Million
• Assorted Companies: Floyd Mayweather – $25 Million
• Diet Coke: Taylor Swift – $26 Million
• 7UP: Dj Tiesto – $30 Million
• Nespresso: George Clooney – $40 Million
• Pepsi: Beyoncé – $50 Million
• Dior: Charlize Theron – $55 Million
• Nike: Serena Williams – $55 Million
• Vitaminwater: 50 Cent – $60 Million to $100 Million
• Foreman Grills: George Foreman – $200 Million

The list goes on and on

And while it would be wrong to directly correlate Beyoncé’s ambassadorship to Pepsi’s $201.11 Billion net worth (according to Macrotrends), and impossible to measure her intrinsic value to the company, it is what noting that its effect on the company’s growth (and sustenance) is palpable – evident enough to be backed by $50 Million)

So, to the question, “is it worth it?”, the resounding answer is “Yes.”. An ambassador can skyrocket your company’s growth.

However, if you’re still unsure how your company is going to use the opportunities that would be unveiled to you after making that investment (in an ambassador) then you should consider working on your goods and services in general, and on your Marketing in particular.

This is because, just like your logo, color, fonts, or website, an ambassador is more or less part of your branding.

And just like the rest (of the branding essentials) without proper promotion, they are redundant. But, used properly, they become catalysts for magnificent growth.

The post How A Brand Ambassador Can Help Grow Your Company appeared first on Branditechture.

I have often said, the success of a business is partly based on its service and mostly based on its level of oversubscription; how many customers you’ve got waiting — ‘Waiting’ being the watchword.

Imbalance is the secret to achieving this. Demand must always outweigh supply.

You should always have more people wanting you than you can actually satisfy, but that can’t happen if people don’t even know you.

There’s a particular time-tested process every business has to go through before it can have clients or customers — It’s called the KLT factor.

And the very first letter in that abbreviation means KNOW.

People have to know that your brand exists before they can become your customers.

So, what’s a brand ambassador program?

A Brand Ambassador Program is a platform via which you, on behalf of your brand, formalises your relationship with a “public figure”, with the primary aim of leveraging their social influence and reach to promote your own brand. 

You might want to consider setting up your own brand ambassador program for the following reasons; 

• Build brand awareness
• Develop trust with prospects
• Strengthen already built trust with existing clients/customers
• Generate sales, retain customers or attract new ones
• Increase engagement.

So, if you are looking to employ the services of a brand ambassador for your brand, here are the few tips you MUST consider;

1. Set Specific Brand Goals

Dear entrepreneur or CEO. Whatever you don’t measure, you cannot improve.

And nothing helps you measure the progress of a brand ambassador program like setting goals or milestones.

You’d have to first evaluate your stand or position as a business, so as to confirm what you have, where you are, where you want to be, and what it will cost you to get there.

That’ll lead to specific questions like;

• “What do we hope to achieve?”
• “How do we hope to achieve it”
• “How many resources are we ready (not just willing) to invest in this program?”

If you’re new, brand awareness should be your goal.

If you’re losing customers, trust development should be your goal.

It’d be catastrophic for a business to lack a good understanding of, or mix up its goals. Resources would be wasted and regrets would follow.

Worse is, you may never want to try a brand ambassador program again, and that fear alone would be costing you a lot of money — You’d be leaving a lot of it on the table.

2. Develop Your Ideal Customer Avatar (or Buyer Persona)

As mentioned earlier, a brand ambassador program is an amazing marketing strategy that works wonders only when done right.

A Customer Avatar or Buyer Persona is a detailed description of someone who represents your target audience. This is not a real customer, but an imaginary profile of someone who embodies all the features of your ideal customer.

But first, before you sign that brand ambassador, do you have a buyer persona? 

Have you done your research on their demographics, interests, preferred social media platform(s), favourite hangout spots etc.?

Determining your buyer persona is a big step towards selecting the ideal brand ambassador(s) for the program. The next point will throw more light on this.

Read Also: How A Brand Ambassador Can Help Grow Your Company

3. Correctly Select Your Brand Ambassadors

For a successful brand ambassador program, there are 4 major pools I’d strongly advise you to fish from;

• Major Influencers
• Minor Influencers
• Employees
• Loyal Customers

Major Influencers are those with massive followership whether live, online or on TV like popular thought leaders and niché authorities.

These guys are great for brand awareness campaigns; get the word out, since multitudes is the goal.
You can find them via different influencer marketing platforms.

Minor Influencers are those with strong followership but in smaller circles than the guys we just talked about above.

These guys are preferable when focusing on a trust development campaign.

The difference between them and the major Influencers in your brand ambassadors program, is that, when the major Influencers mention your brand, people try it.

But when these minor influencers recommend your brand, people trust it.

Employees, who I believe are employed, citing their belief in the brand (depicted in their work ethic) as one of the requisites met, should also be part of your brand ambassadors program as one of your brand’s ambassadors.

In fact, every employee should be an automatic brand ambassador

In short, pick ambassadors as they relate to your brand and its core values.

One big mistake a lot of brands make is to select brand ambassadors based on their amount of followers only.

Whoever is picked as a brand ambassador, becomes the lens through which people perceive the brand.

You can’t be a vegan-friendly retail outlet and pick a well-known meat lover as a brand ambassador just because they have a massive following online. The success, if any, would be short-lived.

“Everybody in a relationship is an influencer” a wise marketer once said, “but the ability to discern which relationships you want to be influenced, determines the success of your brand ambassadors program” I’ll add.

Loyal Customers are those who have shown brand loyalty over time. They are those customers or clients who have chosen to stick to your brand unconditionally.

They are usually the easiest source of referrals to your business, because they compulsively spread your gospel.

Who else could be a better brand ambassador?

They also help with user-generated content such as product testimonials and/or Google My Business reviews.

Read Also: 10 Common Branding Mistakes You Must Avoid 

4. Agree On A Compensation Plan And Stick To It

The worse thing that can happen to any brand, is for the same brand ambassadors who proudly endorsed them to unendorse them with testimonies of bad treatment or breach of contract.

Dear stakeholder or entrepreneur, do not, I repeat, do not let that happen to your brand.

Trust me, you do not want to see the impact of such scandals on your brand.

5. Build and Maintain The Relationship

After the brand ambassador program ends, do not burn the bridges!

One of the secrets to a successful brand ambassador program is consistency. Repetition. Continuity.

Influencer marketing strategy is usually a short-term business relationship, but brand ambassador partnerships are usually long-term.

Make the necessary sacrifices to maintain the relationship.

Keep the communication lines open.

The post How To Set Up A Successful Brand Ambassador Program appeared first on Branditechture.

Branding and Marketing are two interconnected terms that are sometimes erroneously used interchangeably due to their subtle differences.

Here are seven big differences no one has probably told you before;

*The questions below may help explain these points in an intuitive way.

Branding is “Why”, Marketing is “How”

Branding

• Why do we exist?
• Why should people trust us?
• What makes us different?

Marketing

• How do we progress?
• How do we measure our growth?
• How do we achieve our set targets?

Branding is long-term, Marketing is short-term

Branding

• What is the company’s vision?
• What can we disrupt in our industry?
• What long-term influence will we make?

Marketing

• What will bring quick results?
• What will get our voice and message heard?
• What tools should we use to do it?

Read Also: How to Build a Unique Brand in 2021

Branding is macro, Marketing is micro

Branding

• What is our philosophy?
• What is our culture?
• What is our voice?

Marketing

• What software will we use?
• How will we break our plans into chunks?
• Who will help us on this project?

Branding defines trajectory, Marketing defines tactics

Branding

• Where are we going?
• What motivates our decision to go there?
• What is the purpose of our goal?

Marketing

• What are our measurable goals?
• What are our deadlines?
• What is the size of our budget?

Branding builds loyalty, Marketing builds response

Branding

• Why will people connect with our brand?
• What can we do to delight customers?
• What will make them feel inspired?

Marketing

• How can we get more clicks?
• How can we get a greater open rate?
• How can we generate leads?

Branding creates value, Marketing extracts value

Branding

• Who are we speaking to?
• What value can we give?
• What impact will it make?

Marketing

• How many people responded?
• How do we increase engagements?
• How will this data help us?

Branding is the being, Marketing is the doing

Branding

• What is our personality?
• What is our purpose?
• Who are we here to serve?

Marketing

• What are actionable steps?
• How long will this project take?
• Who is going to drive the project?

In summary, your brand is who you are and what you want to be perceived as by your target audience (or the general public at large). Branding entails your long-term strategy aimed at improving that brand image, while marketing is how you build awareness of your brand.

It is quite easy to confuse the two terms but I hope you now have a better appreciation of these differences.

The post Branding Vs Marketing — 7 Differences No One Told You appeared first on Branditechture.

You just need to learn how to optimize your Facebook profile for quality leads.

Facebook discourages people from using their personal Facebook profile primarily for commercial gains, but you can still use your Facebook profile to indirectly promote the awareness of your brand.

In this article, we shall exploit those hidden opportunities.

What is the problem with Facebook Pages?

First, you need to know that Facebook Pages are different from personal Facebook profiles.

Facebook Launched Pages for Business on November 6, 2006 — A major improvement to the original Pages feature, giving you access to a wide array of reporting tools that may provide you with useful analytical data that may help in your marketing decisions — something that Facebook personal profiles lack.

On a Facebook page, you can either check the analytics metrics for a whole Facebook page or check the metrics for a single post or ad.

A screenshot showing the analytics report of our Facebook page since the last 28 days. The red downwards arrows mean that there’s a drop in numbers when compared to the previous 28-day record.

Luckily for most people, a Facebook personal profile is hands down the winner when it comes to impressions, engagement and organic reach.

Just in case you are a newbie;
Reach means the total number of unique people who have seen your page, ad (a.k.a advert or advertisement) or post.

Impression means the number of times your page, ad, or post has been seen by people. Note that impressions is not concerned with the uniqueness of accounts, but how many times that page, ad, or post has been seen.

Organic Reach means the total number of people who have seen your ad or content without any form of paid distribution. The opposite of organic reach is inorganic reach, which is usually acquired via the use of paid distribution a.k.a sponsored or paid advertising.

Engagement ( not related to romance 🤣) is when people interact with or take action as a result of ‘consuming’ (your) content; this could be either through clicks, likes, shares or comments.

The problem with Facebook Pages is that you can’t pretty much use it the same way you use your Facebook Profile to join Groups, and Like and comment on people’s status updates.

This is why it is ok for us to assume that a personal Facebook profile would typically allow us to reach a relatively wider audience as compared to a Facebook page.

Using the table below, let us quickly compare the most important limitations of Facebook Pages with reference to this blog post.

UPDATE: Facebook has made an attempt to improve Pages reach by creating a separate News Feed for Facebook Pages. If eligible, You may use your Facebook Pages to join certain groups and interact with other Facebook Pages.

If you have a Facebook page that is not performing well, let me know in the comments. I might just write a separate guide on how you can organically boost the reach and engagement levels of your Facebook Pages.

Please be informed that the purpose of this post is not to discourage you from creating and maintaining a Facebook Page for your business, but to teach you how to attract and close leads while still going about your normal social activities on Facebook.

Now let’s go!

… But wait 👇

What Are Leads?

In layman’s terms, leads (also known as sales leads) means prospective customers who have all the demographic characteristics to eventually become your customer.

Depending on the context in which the word is used, a sales lead can also refer to an individual or organization that expresses an interest in your goods or services.

To close a lead means to convert a prospective customer into a buying customer.

Closing leads usually begin from a point of contact or communication between you and the sales lead, regardless of who initiated the communication.

How to Optimize Your Facebook Profile for Quality Leads

Back to the subject of this article, let’s quickly itemize 10 things you should do in order to prep your Facebook for your professional audience — In other words, optimizing your Facebook profile not only for attracting quality leads, but also for closing them.

1. Update Your Privacy Settings

Your privacy is the first price you must pay if you want to maximise your visibility and be accessible to your leads. Strict privacy rules would only reduce or eliminate your chances of being discovered and contacted and here’s why;

A prospective client on Facebook might;

•    Want to send you a message to ask some pre-purchase questions
•    Want to see your previous posts on your timeline
•    Want to send you a friend request to follow up with your future posts
•    Want to search for your profile via Facebook
•    Attempt to search for you via Google and other search engines.

Due to the reasons above, it becomes necessary for you to review and update your privacy settings on Facebook.

The Facebook Privacy Settings Screen (iOS)

To update your privacy settings on Facebook;

• Using the Facebook App (Android & iOS):

Tap the hamburger menu ☰ on the top right (Android) or bottom right (iOS)

Tap Settings & Privacy

Tap Settings

Under the Privacy section, tap Privacy Settings

• Using Facebook Web on PC (web.facebook.com):

Simple! Just click here >> https://web.facebook.com/settings?tab=privacy

OR

Click the dropdown menu ▾ on the top right

Click Settings and Privacy

Click Settings

Look the left pane, click on Privacy

• Using Facebook Mobile site (mobile.facebook.com):

Simply click HERE,

OR

Tap the hamburger menu ☰ on the top right

Tap Settings

Tap Privacy Settings

• Via Facebook Mbasic:

Mbasic is the most lightweight version of Facebook on the web.

You can use Mbasic by visiting the Facebook website via https://mbasic.facebook.com/.

Go to https://mbasic.facebook.com/

Scroll down to the footer and click Settings & Privacy

Under the Privacy section, click on Privacy Settings

• Via Facebook Lite for Android:

Tap the hamburger menu ☰ on the top right

Tap Settings

Under the Privacy section, click Privacy Settings

Now that you are fine with your privacy settings, it’s time to move on to the next item on our checklist.

2. Use A Professional Profile Photo

Your profile photo should be square (Technically referred to as aspect ratio 1:1, which means the height and width should be equal) and it should be at least 200px by 200px.

A profile photo (Credit: Yusuf Odukoya, Facebook).

If you aren’t familiar with photo dimensions, do not worry, Facebook would most likely prompt you to crop your photo before saving it as your profile photo, just make sure that the most important part of the photo (i.e., from the tip of your head to your shoulder) is within the round frame provided.

This is the photo cropping modal that appears before setting a new profile photo on Facebook. This feature may or may not be available depending on the Facebook platform you are on. For example, there’s no way you’d get this on the mbasic Facebook.com version which is notably bare on features.

Ideally, whatever profile image you have chosen should show your head up to your shoulder. Do not show anything more than that.

I’ve seen some people use a full image as their profile photo on Facebook. It is wrong! Next time I see someone doing that, I might just involve the cops (LOL). If you see someone doing that too, report them to me 😁.

Your profile photo (or headshot) should be crisp and clean. Using a professional photographer for that sole purpose wouldn’t be a bad idea, but a good camera phone would do the job, too.

Now that you have a clean headshot, I recommend that you use a solid colour (ideally your brand colour) for the background.

If you don’t have graphic design skills, you can use either of the following beginner-friendly tools (listed in order of personal preference) ;

Image Background Remover by Adobe: Adobe Express is a collection of both free and premium creative tools developed by Adobe, however, the most useful one for this purpose is the image background remover tool. To use, visit https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/image/remove-background or simply click HERE.

Profile Pic Maker: Remove and replace the background of your profile picture with just three clicks. Even my grandmama had no problems using it for the first time. Just visit https://pfpmaker.com/ and upload your headshot. Works on both Mobile and Desktop browsers.

Remove.bg – Originally an AI-powered background remover tool, but now features an option to further edit images after the background is removed. You can use this feature to set your preferred background colour.

Remove.bg has Android and iOS apps.

3. Get a Nicely Done Cover Image

An example of a Facebook Cover Image (shown behind the profile photo).

The importance of a good Facebook cover image cannot be over-emphasized.

To some, a Facebook cover photo is just that picture which “beautifies” the top of their page, but clever entrepreneurs use this medium to elegantly display more information or on-going promotions or offers about their brand.

You should be interested in leveraging your Facebook cover to increase your brand’s visibility. A professionally designed Facebook cover photo can help your brand reach new heights.

Tools such as Freepik Editor and Canva allow you to make Facebook cover images from a set of pre-designed templates. However, that might not pretty much cut it.

Fortunately, we can help you design a custom Facebook cover that is perfectly suited for your brand. Just click HERE, fill in your personal/contact details and search for “Facebook Cover” on the next section.

Is your Facebook cover image good enough to capture the attention of your target audience? Send me a screenshot or a link to your Facebook profile via yusuf@branditechture-agency.local and I’ll reply with my recommendations (If any). Please do note, however, that this free consultation is subject to my availability.

4. Tidy Up Your Facebook Timeline

May I suggest that you take a second look at your Facebook timeline? Yep, because you may need to do a thorough clean up or as required. Check the following list;

• Check for, and remove those irrelevant memes and friend tags on your Facebook timeline.
• If you’ve been tagged a lot by friends in the past, dig up, review and clean up those tags if necessary. Also, be sure to Turn on tag review so that you would have to approve tags of friends before they appear on your Facebook timeline. You should be in control of what appears on your timeline henceforth. Click HERE to learn how to turn on tag review.
• Review your old posts and check if they conform with your new goals. If they don’t, you can either delete them or hide them from public view.

It’s pretty okay to have a few posts of you just “being yourself” and going about your normal life, but if you smoke weed, for example, you might want to reconsider hiding that from your timeline. However, there’s little verified evidence that uploading photos of yourself smoking weed or shisha may affect your convincing power — at least, not when you already have more than enough relevant content on your Facebook timeline.

Your first impression is most likely going to be your last impression, so if prospective clients check your timeline and all they can see there are jokes, fierce political or religious arguments, irrelevant memes and all sorts tags carelessly displayed on your wall, then they might not be convinced enough to engage in a business-related conversation with you.

5. Use Your Real Name:

Facebook has always had a policy of requiring users to supply their real name on the platform. Although the enforcement of this policy has lacked some strictness, there’s still a risk of getting caught.

There might be some privacy benefits if you choose not to use your real name, but generally, the benefits of using your real name on Facebook far outweigh the risks.

Regardless of your reason for joining Facebook, one of the benefits of using your real name on Facebook is that it facilitates account recovery if your Facebook account ever gets flagged. You may be asked to supply a Government-issued ID (Which must contain a matching name) for verification in order to recover your account.

If you are in doubt, check out this person.

Now, after all your efforts, would you want to permanently lose your Facebook account just because you had used a pseudonym (or a deliberately misspelt name)? I guess not.

Concerning leads, one massive benefit of using your real name on Facebook is that you instantly command some credibility and trust.

6. Add Your Work Experience:

Edit your profile and add your work history to show your work experience. This information shows up on the Intro section of your timeline and it’s usually seen upon landing on your Facebook profile.

TIP: To keep things simple, adding only your current job would be enough.

An example of a good Facebook intro

7. Update Your Contact Details:

Doublecheck to verify that your profile does not contain outdated information such as contact phone number, social media handles, website address(es) etc. Update them if necessary, and do your best to keep them updated if anything changes.

8. Add or Review Your Bio:

On Facebook, the Bio provides an opportunity to sell yourself in 101 characters or less.

A very short, yet informative Facebook Bio

Use the bio to your full advantage by describing what you do and/or how you may be of help to your target audience.

It’s very important to be informative in a concise manner because you have just 101 characters to do this.

9. Add (Related) Featured Photos and Highlights:

Use the Featured Photos and Highlights feature on your Facebook timeline to your advantage.

Facebook Photos & Highlights as shown on the Facebook app. (Credit: Yusuf Odukoya, Facebook)

Featured Photos as shown on Facebook Web. (Credit: Yusuf Odukoya, Facebook)

It is a very good idea to display photos of yourself at work, your best works, photographs of your certificates, awards, your flagship products or services, yourself speaking at an event etc., it all depends on your profession.

10. Keep Uploading More Content That Is Relevant to Your Business.

Finally, I’d like to use this opportunity to let you know that the relevance and usefulness of anything you upload on your Facebook timeline will directly affect the level of patronage you will get on the platform.

This holds true for any other social media platforms, so if you are hoping to land that big client one day, then you should start focusing on posting mostly contents that are not only useful to people, but are also relevant to your business or brand.

A resourceful Facebook post

If you ever run out of ideas on what to post, Nairaland, Reddit, Quora and Pinterest would certainly provide you with loads of new content ideas, all you need to do is search using keywords which are specific to what you do.

BONUS: A CASE STUDY

I will quickly round up this post with a case study. This entails a prospective client (now client) who needed a logo design, and here’s how it happened in detail.

August 26, 2020, a very popular Facebook user, Dianna (Not real name) made a post seeking recommendations for a graphic designer who could help her design a branded vehicle mockup for her business. In her exact words:

Please I am looking for someone who does amazing mockups for branding of vehicles.

Like, I explain what I want and the person does the design and sends back to me.

A sample is here.

Kindly make it easy for me to choose by including previous jobs you have done.
Thank you.

I humbly commented under the status, knowing fully well amidst the rush that even if I didn’t get her attention due to the huge number of comments, at least, I would get someone else to notice my profile which obviously stood out.

What happened after?

Well, I was very right 😌. She didn’t notice me, but other people did. One of those who noticed me went a step further by sending me a message requesting a logo design for her new restaurant.

Apparently, she had gone through my profile and fallen in love with what she saw. At this point, not even a bad prophecy would stop her from patronizing my services 😂😂.

That is the power of keeping a focused and optimized profile on Facebook.

She requested to see my pricing to know how much it would cost. I quickly sent her three logo design packages to choose from.

To my surprise, she chose the highest package 😱.

She came back online.

“Send me your account details”, she said.

I quickly sent my details and prepared an invoice for the project (I applied a small discount on the net total).

She instantly made an 80% advance payment. “I’ve sent 150k”, she said.

PS: 150,000 NGN = 417 USD

… And that was how a new business relationship started.

I had successfully added a new client by just optimizing my Facebook profile.

I’ve successfully closed many other leads on Facebook since then; thanks to my optimized profile.

Optimizing your Facebook profile could prove to be the one-time investment that you need to start getting top quality leads like mine. However, you don’t just optimize your Facebook profile then sit back and relax.

You still have to participate in engagement-driven activities like posting and commenting in groups, commenting on status updates, posting helpful and relevant contents, etc., in order to generate those leads.

Thanks for reading my blog post.

Let me know if you have any questions by using the comment section below.

💡 We offer premium social media account management services that may interest you if you are looking to promote your business on Facebook. To get started, click HERE to get in touch with our friendly support staff or HERE to start a project straightaway. 

The post How to Optimize Your Facebook Profile for Quality Leads appeared first on Branditechture.

Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Google Search and Google Maps.

New customers are the lifeblood of your business, and in order for your business to grow, you need a steady supply of fresh customers month after month, year after year.

If you have a really tiny marketing budget, Google My Business will definitely help you get the best bang for your little investment.

Heads-up! Listing your business or service on Google My Business is completely free of any charges.

The only investment required here is the time required to set up your Google My Business profile. 

However, if you have some cash to splash, Google My Business allows you to “boost” your business listing for a fee, but that is a topic for another discussion.

In this post, I will walk you through how to set up your own Google My Business profile in order for you to also get clients and customers from Google searches. 

Before we start, there are a few points to note;

• You don’t need to “boost” your Google My Business profile to get clients, you just need to optimize it. I have never boosted my own personal Google My Business profile before, yet I still get calls from clients who found my business listing via Google search. The same can be said for Branditechture as a Design Agency, at least, as at the time of publishing this post. 

• Prospects who find your business via Google Search results are usually very serious ones. Based on my experience so far, they always looked desperate to patronize my business. (FUN FACT: I have achieved over 90% success rate in closing deals with leads from Google searches)

• The sole purpose of this tutorial is to teach you how to achieve the same results above without spending money on sponsored ads. 

• This post is for people who don’t have a Google My Business profile yet, but if you are looking to optimize your existing Google My Business profile so that you can rank higher and ORGANICALLY gain more impressions, then you may skip to part 2. 

• Relax, you don’t have to follow every single step in this guide, but following most of them will guarantee you some success. 

Read Also: How to Optimize Your Facebook Profile for Quality Leads

Part 1 – Create your Google My Business Profile 

Please note; the words “Profile” and “Listing” can be interchangeably used in the world of Google My Business, but in this article, I would be using the earlier more often.

In order to create a Google My Business profile for your business, you need to have a Google account. 

A Google account is the account you use with Google Services like Gmail, YouTube, Google Keep, etc. 

Most people already own a Gmail account, so I would assume that you already have one. Having a Gmail account automatically means you have a Google account. 

If by any chance you don’t have a Gmail account, you can quickly go create a Google account by clicking HERE  

Now that you have a Google account, let’s proceed to create your Google My Business profile. 

To Create a Google My Business;
 

• Visit https://google.com/business or click HERE
  I think it is a good thing to save/bookmark this address because you’ll need it to access your Google My Business profile in the future.

• Sign in with your Google account
  Click on Sign in. You may be automatically logged in if you were previously logged in on any of Google services such as YouTube.

After signing in, Click on Add your business to Google as shown below

• Enter your business name

Triple-check to ensure that your business name is spelt correctly.

For your business name, you should always use title case – meaning that you should start every word with an uppercase (A.K.A. Capital letter).

• Choose your Primary business category

This stage is very, very important because it determines when you will show up on Google search results. 

You can choose to add additional (secondary) categories later if your business falls into more than one category.

Google search results are all about relevance, so choose the category (or categories) that is/are most relevant to your business. 

• Do you want to add a location customers can visit, like a store or office?
  You have two options to chose from – Yes or No. Your choice should depend on whether people are required (or whether you allow people) to visit your address or not.

If you have a physical shop (A.K.A brick and mortar,) you should select Yes.

Unfortunately, Google My Business will most likely not allow you to have more than one business per address so make sure you are setting up Google My Business for your most important business first. You can attempt for others later.

If you work from home and would never allow strangers into your home, then I recommend that you choose No for the sake of your own security and that of your family.

Choosing No is also a better option if you don’t run a brick and mortar shop. However, this means your business won’t show up on Google Maps (and Google Places) since there is no address to start with.

• Enter your business address

If you had selected Yes above, then this is where you’ll enter your business address so that Google can verify and correctly mark it in Google Places. 

If you had selected No, then you would simply be asked to select the places you serve instead. What does this mean? It simply means selecting those geographical regions which your services or products can be (successfully) delivered to. 

• Add your contact details
  To complete your Google My Business profile setup, you will be required to add contact details such as your phone number and website address. If you do not have a website, there is an option to skip that. 

It is without a single doubt that businesses with a website are usually taken more seriously by prospective customers.

Branditechture Design Agency can help you get a crazy website running in less than 72 hours.

Click HERE to build your website. 

Read Also: Marketing Your Business -We’ve Exposed 8 Proven Ways!!

Part 2 – Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Up till this point, I had talked about setting up a Google My Business profile, but did you know that an unoptimized Google My Business profile is like a Facebook account with no profile picture? 

Before we go ahead, let’s take a look at what an optimized and unoptimized Google My Business profile looks like.

How would you react if a Facebook user with no bio, no display picture and no photos sent you a friend request on Facebook? Would you ever send a friend request to such a profile, to begin with? That is exactly how your Google My Business profile would be perceived by your prospective customers if left unoptimized.

That being said, the rest of this article will guide you on how to optimize your Google My Business profile.

Here is a complete checklist that will help you optimize your Google My Business listing (or profile)

1. Complete every section of your Google My Business account

Completing your Google My Business Profile will not only help Google rank you higher in local search results, but it will also help improve the number of actions customers take when they come across your profile in Google Search results. 

Since there is a lot of info to provide, let me give you some guidelines for prioritizing.

These aspects of your profile should be completed right away:

Business Name

Set your Logo

Address (If applicable)

Phone 

Website (If available)

Hours (Opening and Closing Hours)

These sections can come next;

Additional Photos; Interior, Exterior etc.

Category and Attributes 

Products and services

From the business (This is akin to Business Description as written by the business owner)

These sections are never finished:

Posts

Reviews

Answer questions from customers and prospective customers alike.

2. Be meticulous with contact information

Make sure your business name is exactly the same as it is on all other platforms. 

Never append a location name to your business name (unless it’s part of your brand name) as this is considered spam by Google. Doing that could get you penalized.

Always try your best to ensure that both your business name and address exactly match your other listings across the web. This means using “str” vs “street” or “co.” vs “company” consistently. The Google Search algorithm takes these inconsistencies into account when assessing your credibility.

If you run a brick and mortar shop or office, Indicate both your working and non-working hours. This encourages customers to visit you, and it also helps to avoid a potentially disappointing experience by someone who took the trip out to your shop or office only to find it was closed.

3. Select primary and secondary categories

Google offers quite a number of categories, so it’s important to choose the correct ones. 

Choosing your primary and secondary categories is instrumental in getting discovered through related searches on Google, especially if your business falls into multiple categories.

You need to be very specific when choosing categories for your business. 

It also helps Google My Business to provide you with additional features which are closely related to that chosen category of yours.

4. Write a complete “from the business” description

The “From The Business” section appears lower in your profile, often under the reviews section.

You can use this to describe your business in your own words. 

It supports up to a maximum of 750 characters. 

When writing a “From the Business” description for your Google My Business profile, I recommend that the first half of your content should contain KEY information about your business. 

Key information highlights what product(s)/service(s) your business offers and your mission.

5. Other Things to do include;

• Publish Google posts weekly Upload new photos weekly
• Answer questions
• Accept and respond to reviews. 
• Add your products and/or services
• Review and update your Google My Business profile information from time to time.

If you have completed most of the steps in this guide, then just sit back and expect orders, visits, calls and messages from your prospective clients.

To conclude, setting up your own Google My Business profile is a very big plus to your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Does Google My Business Have A Mobile App?

Yes.

Fortunately, most of all the recommended actionable steps discussed above can be achieved via the use of the mobile app.

For Android: Cick HERE to Download the Google My Business app on the Android PlayStore.

For iPhone/iOS: Click HERE to Download the Google My Business app on the Apple App Store.

If you have any questions, please leave your comment below.

The post Full Guide: How To Use Google My Business to Get Customers appeared first on Branditechture.