Blog

A while back we talked about the importance of the business card in the digital world of today. We discussed that even in the digital world of today the business card prospers in corporate business circles and is highly valued.

A business card exchange is almost ceremonious in most countries and has its own set of etiquettes. While the business card is important in all business circles, some cultures place great importance not just on the card but on how it is used. You should be well aware of the general business card etiquettes and even some of the norms that are confined to Asian countries and the like, but important nonetheless.

Do not treat the business card like a promotional flyer

The business card is a subtle way to market yourself, but remember the key word here is “subtle”. In no way should you treat the business card as a flyer.

Keep your business card to yourself until you are asked for your contact info. The business card is mainly used for networking, thus it is given to select individuals. Also when asked for your business card by someone, capitalize on that opportunity. If possible write a note on the back on the card, as a reminder of what you were talking about that led to an exchange of contact information. This will lead to your card standing out when they are going through the business cards they have.

Always have business cards on hand, and in good condition

The excuse that you have forgotten or run out of business cards shows you in a negative light. People will judge you as being unprofessional. Ensure that you are always carrying sufficient business cards and carrying them carefully. A business card is like a billboard that is representing you. A crumpled business card sends a very bad impression. Get a proper case for business cards, in order to ensure that they remain in mint condition.

If you are carrying business cards in sufficient quantity and that too of mint quality that ticks two important boxes. One more thing that is often forgotten is that no one likes someone going through all of their pockets and then briefcase just to find something. It makes you look like a forgetful and thus unreliable person. Ensure that your business cards are easily accessible and in a place that you will always remember.

Handing over and accepting business cards is an art

While in North America and even some European countries like Europe the business card is used a formal tool for communication information exchange, some cultures like that of Japan, Switzerland, China and Singapore treat the exchange of business cards very formally.

One habit that you should make is to always distribute the business card with your right hand. Many cultures put emphasis on receiving things of value from the right hand, and it is considered downright rude to put forward your left hand. This applies very strongly in India and the Middle East.

Second, whenever you receive a business card, do not accept and put it in your card case. Take a moment and scan through it. This shows that you are giving due respect to the other person. This is not something prevalent in North America, but Japanese, Swiss and the Chinese value such actions highly.

While the article above covers many important aspects of the business card exchange etiquette, it is not enough. What is required for true success is homework. Before you venture into new lands, always research about the norms existing there. In our environment today information flows with an ease that could not have been imagined 50 years ago, thus ignorance is not tolerated.

Ever saw faces where there were none? Like when the headlights and front bumper of the car gives you an impression that you are seeing a face. This highly interesting phenomenon is called Pareidolia and it’s the best personification of how the human mind sees and perceives things with each thing eliciting a different kind of a response. Brands are not different. We also associate feelings and perceptions with brands due to their external appearance. Stroll down a street and ask someone of what they perceive when they see things related to “Apple”, the highly successful producer of user items such as IPhones & Ipads, and the answers would be close to the words “young”, “edgy”, Futuristic” and lot of similar terms would definitely spring up. The most intriguing part in this is that none of Apple’s visual branding directly refers to any of these words or terminologies rather their brilliance lies in positioning their brand identity in such a manner that the consumers or the general public at large has come to think of it as something really young, edgy & futuristic. This is what the actual purpose of positioning a brand’s identity is, i.e. to elicit a certain response from the viewer each time anything related to a certain comes before him/her.

This trick happens when you learn how to humanize your brand and then let it work in your favor. It might look like a magical instantaneous type of a thing but its anything other than that. This a step by step process, which if done right will give you a feel from the start that its an identity that’s taking shape rather than a forced narrative. Lets give you the breakdown of how to build a brand identity that feels personal from the other end:

The foundational Questions:

Sit down with your brand team and the ones who have great understanding of what the vision of your brand really is and then ask them some questions like Is the brand masculine or is elicits femininity? Does the brand signify seriousness and maturity or is it funny and friendly? These are some fundamental questions that can go a long way into letting you understand what your brand would look like if it would one day come alive. Once you know the answers to these questions, then see whether it matches what you envisioned it to look and feel like. This will really clear you the path and show you the way to correct the branding strategy from its current standing towards where you want to take it.

Stepping Stones:

Now that you know the traits of your brand, its now the perfect time to start adding components and features that match those traits. This is called creative visualization and it includes all the components of the brand, from the type of the logo to the font used, everything starts getting a skeleton or a foundation, around which we can now start intensifying our efforts and build our brand identity through multiple integral components.

Find the Brand Gaps:

As you are now on the stage of building the components of your brand, you will come across various paradoxes known as brand gaps. These are the things which don’t match the personality of the brand you are currently building. For e.g. your brand feel is that of an extroverted person but your website is too strict and has a genuinely formal feel to it. These are the areas that need the highest effort to rebrand as anything too over the line will cause damage to your brand. The brand personality should match the kind of audience you are trying to serve and not just how you like it to be for e.g. if you are selling medical equipment and your client segment includes hospitals and medical institutions then going for a loud and vibrant brand identity will lead to a complete failure of your brand. Just remember, brand identity is the perception that people take away from your brand and looking at it from that perspective will help your cause immensely. Make your brand possess the best possible identity to garner higher attention and imprint a lasting impression of your brand.

As a social media marketer or enthusiast; it is important know about the common challenges on social media. These challenges are found to be quite stressing on any social media platform and if not resolved in an effective manner; it can lead to more drastic consequences and people on social media choose to engage with the content on their own terms. A consumer may visit any post regarding the brand activity and then deliberately ignore it just because it wasn’t appealing enough. Social media activities does have the potential to make your content go viral and spread out the message further at a lower cost but if your content is not targeted towards the right consumer; then all your activities may just die or dry out. That is why it is important to know about the common challenges which your business might have to face while dealing with the numerous interactions or crafting out your social media strategy.

Thus this blog would examine the 5 common challenges and how they can be resolved strategically in the light of social media marketing and communication.

Effective Community Management

Social media platforms are built around communities and do need constant 24/7 management. Such communities need prominence as do all organizations. Thus it is important that your community on any social media platform is created, shaped and nurtured to not just make interactive conversations but to also lead those conversations to be engaging interactive and create an environment where all your fans and consumers can interact directly with your brand.

Communicating and Outreaching

There is no doubt and every social media activity should offer an effective two way communication and reach out to the public; after all social media is an effective public communication tool as it allows timely messages. Therefore every social media activity has to tailored around consumer’s interest and make it exciting for them to stay constantly be updated with all your social media activities.

Spreading Awareness

Just as it is important to do fishing where the fish are; it is important to do advertising where there is an audience and what better way to find audience on social media platforms. As more people spend their time in social media; thus there are opportunities for brands to capitalize on as brands can know and learn more about their target audiences and their demographics and psychographics. More and more people on social media can easily be targeted through their profiles and the pages that they like or associate with themselves. The more people like or associate your page; the more chances there are for you to spread awareness about your product offerings and services to them.

Building Upon the Reputation

An important feature on social media is for brands to build upon their online reputation by monitoring what their consumers are saying and identifying any issues or problems associated with their brand proactively. It is also for brands to be able to communicate with their consumers and get their side of the story out as social media platform can be used to respond to your mentions, create a stir to further channel out your own agenda.

Support for the Consumers

Social media can sometimes be viewed as an additional customer service channels for the support of your consumers as most consumers are comfortable by using the social media platform to make their queries, highlight their problems or ask questions about your product or services. Thus it must be viewed as an opportunity for the business to respond to their queries in a friendly way to get the word out. A proactive customer service for your customers on social media can get them the satisfaction to stay royal to your business and product or services offerings.

While dealing and resolving such challenges, you can also be able to craft your content in way that can easily be picked by your consumers to go viral.

Building a brand is difficult, but re-building one after a failure is even more difficult. It is a well-known fact that human brain is naturally hard-wired to remember and talk about negative experiences more than the positive ones.

Anything worth doing is difficult and if you have failed as a brand then reinvention may be the only way forward to survival. There have been many big names that have gone to the pinnacles of success to the depths of utter failure, only to get back again as respectable brands. One of the most famous cases is the case of Skoda, the famous car manufacturer. Looking at Skoda we will talk about how you should go forward if you are in the difficult spot of facing failure or re-inventing your brand.

How did Skoda re-invent its brand?

One of the best jokes associated with Skoda in the 1980s was:

“Why do Skoda have heated rear windows? To keep your hands warm while you push it”. And the joke that Skoda must have hated the most, “How do you double the value of a Skoda? Fill it with petrol”.

Skoda is one of Europe’s oldest brands and before the Second World War II it was considered a competitor to Mercedes in Eastern Europe for its excellent car quality. However after World War II Skoda’s factory fell under communist control leading to decline in investment which ultimately led to a steep decline in quality.

The turnaround began when Skoda was purchased by VW in 1992. VW knew from day one that brand myths have life of their own and the negative image of Skoda would far outlive the reality, however they began with a solid strategy. They first asked the Skoda team to fully focus on build quality, which they did. The car designs were changed, but even then elements were sustained which showed the Skoda heritage, for example the front grille. This is important, for some things are essential to the identity of the product.

Second came the marketing. Skoda did not try to shuffle all the bad customer goodwill under the market. Instead they made humorous ads which showed customer’s perception (that Skoda made bad cars), then the advert showed the new cars, with the tagline “It is a Skoda too. Honest”. The adverts were loved.

Quality which made their cars stand shoulder to shoulder with Toyota and Honda, and clever adverts Skoda has now taken over 2 percent of the market share of one of the most competitive markets of the world.

Where do you start brand-reinvention from?
First of all a brand has two very important offers, an emotional one as well a real offer. You have to offer a good product or service, which is complement by an “image” that gives it a bit of that magic factor. Think of Haagen Dazs Ice-cream when you think of the magic factor.

The onus of the quality part is on the business management. Re-inventing the image is something for which you should hunt a marketing agency, and in this day and age a marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing. Skoda worked on its quality and the amazing advertising campaign was led by Agency Fallon. Brand re-invention should start with self-reflection, and then effective market research to find which parts need to be worked on. The market research is again something that should be outsourced to digital marketing specialists for a digital marketing firm for a much larger reach.

Designers may find it difficult in the early stages of designing as they need to incorporate their mental strategies for solving out designing problems and finding the right element to blend it with the creative art. The Idea Generation is one of the most difficult phases in the designing process as fresh ideas need to be generated by the designer which can still remain incompletely understood. Here are some of the ways for a creative designer where he or she can gather creativity and intelligence to design anything creative.

The Preparation Phase
The preparation phase for a designer is pretty much about ‘fact finding’ or ‘collecting’ information or creative references. It is a way to build knowledge about the problem for the client; what he wants and what he needs to display or portray. Thus the creative designer must focus on identifying and evaluating all creative and inspirational ideas before generating a design idea concept.

Inspiration information is usually in the form of images where the designer evaluates all analytical reasoning with the influence of visual elements and creative designing solutions. All such findings are important and crucial for the designer and can also be executed by expert think tanks or strategist for guiding the designer who can further use computational design software tools to efficiently develop and support the designing creativity.

Finding the Cognitive Approach for Designing
Research is always an important process for designing activities. It is important to know about the market dynamics for their creatives and art. So in order to blend creativity in the designing process, it is important to browse all inspirational materials from all the sources and involve analogical reasoning to develop your own creative idea concept. Analogical thinking is often triggered by visual stimulation through various images and art. It stimulates the designer’s creativity builds upon a structure of thought process during the designing process.

Looking for the Inspirational Mediums for the Designers
It is also important to create a link between organizational values or product visual characteristics with the creative design concept. Anyone of these elements or factors can inspire feelings of emotion. Designers are always on the lookout for inspiration and must indulge themselves to know about different creative trends and design news.

However, some creative concepts are difficult to implement because of the limitations of computational or editing software tools. While searching for different design concepts, designers must also keep check for specific colors or shapes which can easily align and be relevant with the organization or with its initial purpose. Designer’s creative concept has to be efficiently supported by the computational or editing software to shape it up for realization as these tools are able to take the designer’s creativity and subjectivity into account. The real challenge is to conduct early efficient informational and inspirational phases for the creative idea generation. Such findings help to guide the designing process to reach a fruitful outcome or result.

Judging or accessing creative ideas or designs can be a difficult task as the evaluator must possess the particular skill to see eye to eye with the designer. The creative designs made can be on the principle of both rational and emotional but personal taste, liking or preferences can collide and not reach on to a conclusion or mutual consensus.

It requires much attention, imagination, trust and reasoning to properly evaluate and review the creatives but if any one of these aspects are missing from the evaluator’s assessment then it would eventually lead to conflict and the overall design or creatives may lead to something which won’t be as creative or attractive as previously made. Much of the relationship values between the client and the creative designer depends upon their ability to constitute the ‘creative reasoning’ behind the designs. Creative agencies have their own think tanks and expert designers who think and work for countless hours to drive and implement the creative thinking in the art of the design idea and bring it into realization. All then depends on having those ideas valued by the client for whom they are created.

The Communication Process

It is also important for the agency to be able to execute engaging communications with the client and present the creative designs more effectively to them, thus making it easier for them to judge the creativity and the concept behind the design in shape of a logo or creative material. Most clients spend their days by working out the details with revenue sales number, thus dealing with creative ideas or abstracts can be daunting for them.

Most clients don’t understand that a creative idea design cannot be measured or weighted in terms of sales or revenue generation and can easily be destroyed or eliminated by uncertainty. Most creative designers can face questions as:

• How can you know if it’s a good viable idea or design
• How can you turn this good idea into a great one to boost sales
• Can it be modified just a bit more to have that great impact on the viewer

All such questions can be answered much easier with proper reasoning if both the designer and the client understand each other well.

What To Do When the Client Comes Judging You

Whether it’s a creative logo design, graphical content, video or animation content, mobile app development, poster/ flyer design or a brand identity creatives; they all must be reviewed with imagination and skill. With marketing communication whether it’s traditional or digital; one must inherit or possess proper judging criteria with proper relevancy, subjectivity and reasoning. It takes a lot of time and effort for a creative idea to be developed and emerge from nowhere, the best way is to back it up with industry experience and innovation.

Creativity must be nurtured carefully in the art of designing so that it makes it easier for the client to properly evaluate and review all its prospects and recognize and encourage its development and the thought process.

A good tech-savvy digital marketing company will make you the best looking and working online store out there. They shall ensure (hopefully) that your online store is line with your present business, that is, it has the same logo, a theme similar to your existing website (or if you do not have one, one that reflects your branding strategies so far). That is all good however for you to be truly successful there are some questions which you will have to ponder over. What are these questions? This is something that an excellent digital marketing agency will tell you. A good one will help you set up a storefront, an excellent agency will help you start a viable business.

First-off, if you are reading this, congratulations! You are thinking of venturing into a market whose potential is growing every day. However with very little barriers to entry, the competition is stiff. So there are two main things you need to decide on before you set up an online Shopify store.

The first is the development of an e-business plan. You will say that you already have a business plan in place, and all you need is a website. I will have to rudely say that you do not understand what an e-business plan is. An e-business plan involves having an awareness and understanding of what it means to do business online, how it will differ from your day-to-day existing strategy and having an inventive strategy that helps you compete.

Just saying that you need an e-commerce business plan is really vague so let s break it up into achievable tasks.

What is different about you?

No matter where you conduct business, you have to ask yourself what are you offering your customer, what is different about you or how are you doing something better than what the others are offering. You have to find out what sets you apart from the lot.

For example, let us take the example of GatorPack. It sells shipping supplies like so many people out there. However, what it does differently is that there are just three options on the front page and you simply choose one and pay for it. No digging about the website, no about us or fluff, just down to business. It may not work for a newcomer but it works for many who just want an extremely fast and simple process.

Think of it this way. All online businesses are like shops adjacent to each other. So you really need to stand out.

What is the competition?

Not everyone can come up with something unique and out of this world and not everyone has to. You just have to find your competitor’s weakness and somehow ensure that you do it better. So before getting an online store made, scope out the competition and make sure you also tell your chosen digital marketing agency about the competition.

For example, up until now the main point of online retail stores was fixed selling prices which was convenient for many but there are some who like to bargain. And thus to cater them, some online mobile retailers came up with a unique bidding option that allows each individual customer to bargain by quoting their price. It is simple things like these that can give you the edge you were looking for.

And do not worry you do not have to go it all the way alone. Do this basic homework and then scope out a digital marketing agency that will help your further polish your e-commerce plan.

A website is a 24/7 sales force. It will always speak of your business in a positive way, day in day out. There is no such employee in this world. Many small businesses reluctantly develop or get developed their first website. But once they do get a good website up and running they are soon converted. A website is one of the most effective and yet cheapest promotional tools.

Building a website is a great first step, but just like a storefront it needs to maintained, and once in a while it needs a fresh coat of paint. Building a website is not enough. You need to maintain it and update it now and then.

Many ask that why should you update your website? Well to make it sufficiently clear we shall break the reasons down.

Design

What looks good, Appeals!

A website is the first impression of your business for many. If your website has a banner saying “Summer Sale 2008”, it does not bring back fond memories of time travel and the movie “Back to the Future” but look plain unprofessional. This is an extreme case.

Designs do become outdated no matter how good. One example is flash. It was all the rage a few years ago, now you never see it. Also if your website has had no recent blogs etc, it becomes apparently clear that it is not something that the business spends its time on and as we said it is the first impression of your business for many. Do you really want customers to see that the last update was last year and give the feel of a shop that is full of cobwebs?

Technique and Coding

New browsers and operating systems used to be a huge event. Nowadays the speed of progress is so fast that it is hard to keep track of what changes come when. You have to ensure that your website is compatible with these changes. It is important that your website’s code (HTML and CSS) is still valid.

Also with each new update comes greater efficiency. For example if your website was built a few years back and has not been updated since then, there are good chances it has a lot of unnecessary HTML code which is making it load slower, and in turn possibly affecting its Google ranking.

Marketing

New marketing techniques

Call to action techniques often change over time. Those vibrating Windows 97 style dialogue boxes no longer work. Actually, they were plain irritating even back in the day and still are!

If your website is not updated then you are missing out on the new effective techniques that are being used.

Also with each new update comes a greater focus on effective information collection. Sales information is very important in creating effective sales campaign. Recent updates in the years have really focused on this. Some of the best features you get these days include conversion tracking, user recordings and heat mapping. If you are using an old website you might not have all of these.

Many small businesses get their first website developed via freelancers or do it on their own, thus regular update is a challenge. But in this day and age, regular updates are a necessity. The best bet would be to get a digital marketing agency that works in close collaboration with you and updates the website whenever necessary. This will of course cost you, but the benefits are worth it; no one likes a derelict shop and that’s what an ignored website is.

Long time ago was the era of big cars, Chevrolet’s with half a street’s sprawling length, and now we love our hatch-backs. Then came the time of the big box supermarkets, We loved these supermarkets. Some of them are so big it seems they never end and you never seem to have walked it all, ever. These supermarkets have everything under one gigantic roof and shelves to match. From a toothbrush to a motorbike, you can buy it all here. And with the advent of the supermarkets came the downfall of the mom and pop stores; or at least so we thought. Mom and Pop stores have survived and even prospered. And now these Mom and Pop stores can prosper more than ever for we have fallen out of love with the big supermarkets.

And it is not just stores. Small boutique hotels and family owned bed and breakfasts are stealing customers from the big fish. Why is that? The fact is simple. While the big competitors can provide good service, they often fail to provide a personal touch. The personalized and a completely unique experience is something that an owner owned enterprise can easily offer. Starbucks may be great, but it cannot match the level of “personal” touch that my local coffee shop gives me. The owner knows me, I know him. There is no receipt. I even have tab there.

These small businesses have a brand lying around that they do not know of. People are daily searching for “small” businesses where they can feel comfortable. This phenomena is gaining so much traction that Wal-Mart has actually announced plans to scale down the size of their establishments.

Small businesses are in an extremely advantageous position. For most of these small businesses there clientele are the customers who have somehow passed the shop or are situated in the nearby neighborhood. Small businesses need to tap the power of social media to increase clientele.

First of all they could begin with the basics and create a Facebook page and advertise in their establishment. This allows more people to check in and tag your page. This works even better than the traditional word of mouth. Second would be to connect with your customers on Twitter and get a little more banter with you and them. Some of your customers may be the kind who prefer to keep their talking online. Not everybody in this day and age is comfortable walking up to the owner and strike a conversation.

Social media can really help to get your business name out there. You can even make additional sales through it. Facebook has brought out its marketplace feature and it is quite effective. However many small business owners find it too complicated. But complication is not a problem. Big corporates roll out their social media strategies via the help of professional marketing firms. To help small businesses new boutique digital marketing agencies have emerged which offer a personal and budget friendly service to those who are planning their business’s first venture into the digital world. A good digital marketing agency will be able to help you get a whole branding process going. Do it on your own, or get help but capitalize on the love for small and get going.