Whether you engage in B2B or B2C business interactions, it is crucial to generate quality leads online to drive business growth and revenue. Finding potential customers and nurturing them through the sales process until they are prepared to make a purchase is the aim of quality lead generation.

Building visibility, credibility, trust, and interest from a specific set of people (possible leads) is another goal of quality lead generation. So, concentrating on lead generation can aid in directing traffic from high-quality prospects.

According to HubSpot, 67% of organizations rely solely on the statistic of lead generation to evaluate the efficacy of their content. Profit Blitz highlights that companies with successful lead-generation strategies generate at least 133% more income than those without effective lead-generation methods.

However, the million-dollar question is, ‘How can we generate quality leads online?’ Let’s get straight to the point.

How To Generate Quality Leads Online in 2023?

1.Conduct A LinkedIn Lead Program

LinkedIn can help you generate online leads, as most people use LinkedIn to network. Marketers say LinkedIn produces twice as many leads as any other social media site. With a 50% open rate, LinkedIn’s Message Ads perform better than conventional email marketing strategies. Here are some facts and figures that you probably won’t know:

• Compared to 13% on Twitter and 7% on Facebook, LinkedIn generates 80% of B2B leads.
  LinkedIn accounts for 80% of all social media-generated B2B leads. Four out of every five leads come from LinkedIn.

Number of conversions per social platform (Source: aboundsocial)

• Replicon, a SaaS startup, observed 11x greater response rates from LinkedIn’s sponsored InMail than from email.
  To generate quality leads online, Replicon contacted particular decision-makers by employing sponsored InMail. This demonstrates the potential effectiveness of directly targeting decision-makers on LinkedIn. The messaging platform – InMail by LinkedIn provides a unique way to reach influential business executives.

• LinkedIn produces three times more conversions than Facebook and Twitter.
  According to a HubSpot study, LinkedIn has a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, over three times that of Twitter (0.69%) and Facebook (0.77%), compelling another method how to generate online leads for business. Through LinkedIn, more prospective customers visit your website and are more qualified and prepared to make a purchase.

LinkedIn is the go-to platform for lead generation (Source: HubSpot)

What do these facts and figures tell you? Well, the answer is quite simple. Undertaking a LinkedIn lead program is crucial for generating quality online leads in 2023.

2.     Leverage the Popularity of YouTube (YT) Shorts

YouTube Shorts is a massive prospect overlooked by small firms while contemplating strategies to generate quality leads online. It now has an immense amount of potential but is underutilized. Compared to blogging, it is much more effective because YT shorts are only a few seconds long and it has video content, whereas the reading time of a blog is in minutes and may be boring.

Younger people make up the majority of users of YouTube, which has a short video format. Short-form content is essential to a larger strategy, even if it doesn’t always feel like the optimal content-sharing platform.

Businesses should consider using YT to engage in this. Now the question is, how to generate leads online using YT shorts? Here is one way: Take key points from your long-form videos and condense them into a short, finish the video off with something like, “If you want more info on this XYZ topic, check out the video in the link below”. This could be a product demo video, and the flow would look like this:

Short-form video (key info) [Push user to watch long-form demo video] -> Long-form video [User is encouraged to click the link to go to a landing page] -> Books call -> Deal done. All you’ve done is maximize your reach with YT shorts and focus on content already created to generate quality online leads.

3.     Embed Lead Capture Forms Directly Into Video Content

Similar to a give-and-take, by using lead capture software or forms, you can collect information from potential clients in return for an offer. Visitors can access your offering after filling out a form with their information. You can also get leads from people who download materials from your landing page using a lead-capture form.

Businesses should use lead capture forms because they help generate quality leads online and advance those prospects through the sales process. Importantly, they do so without being hostile. Someone is probably already interested in what your business does if they are willing to offer their information for content.

Even if the users didn’t initially visit your website with the intention of buying something, they come close to becoming an obvious and natural sales lead. Due to the value offered via a lead capture form, users must trade their private information for access. As a small business owner, once you have a user’s contact information, you can start a dialogue that might ultimately result in a sale.

For their Marketing Unboxed video series, the customer-data-platform company Zaius used a hybrid approach to content gating. They incorporated forms within each video rather than placing everything behind a form. The video included a lead generation form inviting people to subscribe but did not compel them.

 An episode of Zaius with their embedded lead generation form (Source: Unbounce)

Only ten episodes have been released yet, but they have already produced hundreds of new leads from it, and older episodes are still gaining subscribers. Some of these subscribers were later developed into new Zaius clients.

In other words, the above method employed by Zaius actually answers the question we asked right before beginning our conversation: how to generate quality leads for your business. The forms attached to the videos are sufficiently attention-grabbing without becoming bothersome.

4.     Using User-Generated Content (UGC) For Lead Generation.

An effective way to generate quality leads online is through UGC (User-generated content), which is unpaid or unsponsored content that users across all networks create or share when they use or revere your brand, its product, or its service. UGC can be comments, social media posts, forum discussions, podcasts, or even blog posts.

You can engage with the audience through UGC and gain their trust. Encourage customers to provide more user-generated content about your company, goods, and services as part of your marketing plan. UGC comprises things like reviews left on blogs or client testimonial videos posted on a B2B brand’s website.

The legitimacy of UGC is its main advantage. Since it is more objective and relatable, people trust information from other customers when looking for inspiration or recommendations for purchases. They read reviews and browse consumer images to choose whether or not to purchase something.

UGC has the highest impact on customers’ shopping decisions (Source: Stackla)

A study discovered that UGC primarily drives e-commerce firms’ increased trust and loyalty. User-generated content significantly influences 79% of consumers’ shopping decisions. This increases its impact by 8.8 times compared to influencer content and 6.6 times compared to content created by your brand.

UGC is a fantastic way to: 

• Obtain free marketing content.
• Expand your brand’s reach and engagement.
• Increase customer trust by providing social proof of what others think about your business.
• Increase the chances for people to share their experiences with your goods or services.

5. Leverage the latest SEO techniques for lead generation

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, consists of methods (both on-page and off-page SEO) to enhance the content of your website to raise its SERP ranking. The probability that search engines will display your website for an appropriate search query rises with a high ranking in SERPs.

SEO directly impacts the rise in organic website traffic and visitors, which will produce leads. There are various ways to generate quality leads online through SEO techniques:

1. Conducting an SEO audit
   
   Conducting a site audit can provide you with several recommendations on how to enhance and optimize your website. A site audit examines the technological framework, and on-page and off-page aspects of your website to assist in optimizing the blog to raise online visibility, leads, and conversions.
   
   A comprehensive site audit identifies the structural changes and content gaps that need to be addressed to increase website traffic.
   
   
2. Enable live chat
   
   Enabling chatbots may inspire audience confidence and guide them through various stages of your digital marketing sales funnel. AI-enabled Live Chats make the initial conversions more engaging. Chatbots assist in obtaining visitor information, converting them into leads, and guiding them through various digital marketing phases.
   
   
3. Localized SEO lead generation
   
   Assume you are an owner of a small business planning to target customers in a localized area. Your top priority should be implementing a local lead generation plan. To fully benefit from local lead generation, you should consider the following factors:
   
   
   1. Local Events: Participating in local events is an effective way to generate local leads for your company. Get a kiosk or use the networking event to promote your small business. Try persuading potential customers on how your business may benefit them.
      
      
   2. Google My Business (GMB) Ads: Running sponsored adverts is usually an intelligent lead-generation approach. Use the new Google My Business advertisements if you are a local business owner to appear at the top of local Map Pack results. This can lead to more emails and phone calls.
      
      
4. Niche-based SEO
   
   To implement a niche-based SEO strategy, businesses typically start by conducting keyword research to find the most relevant and high-value keywords for their niche. They then optimize their website’s content, meta tags, and other on-page factors to incorporate these keywords and improve their visibility in search results.
   
   Other tactics businesses may use to support their niche-based SEO strategy include building high-quality backlinks from relevant websites, optimizing their website’s loading speed and mobile-friendliness, and creating engaging and informative content that appeals to their target audience’s interests and needs.

Final Words!

Companies are always on the lookout to search for effective ways to generate quality leads online. We have provided some of the tried-and-test ways for quality lead generation. Acquiring quality leads necessitates a systematic approach using the most recent digital marketing tools, platforms and strategies. All the best for your lead-hunting journey!

A logo is a significant element of a business’s brand identity. It serves as a visual cue that allows your consumer audience to resonate with your brand. Naturally, if you want your brand or website to attract attention, the first step is curate an attractive logo.

Popular brands, such as McDonalds, Nike, Coca-Cola and Ikea have a powerful brand identity, which stems from their catchy logos. In this article, we will walk you through some steps to make your logo stand out and command attention.

Here, take a look:

Understanding your Audience

Every single marketing strategy, be it logo designing or content optimization, requires a marketer to understand the target audience. First and foremost, you must select your target audience, and understand the demand for your products and services. Are you producing a mass-produced product or service, or are you catering to a specific niche?

Before working on your logo design, it is important to conduct research on your audience demographic and explore designs that are popular amongst your audience.

Originality is Exclusivity

The significance of originality and creativity simply cannot be stressed enough as it allows a brand to capture exclusivity in its brand identity. A logo is simply not a design element that can be mimicked or copied from another brand. It requires you to study various designs and play around with graphics to create something that is original and unique.

Avoid Overly Complicated Designs

A logo that is too complicated to understand will not fulfill the due purpose of a visual cue. Consumers find it difficult to relate with or even remember logos that are overly complicated and complex. You need to create a symbol that will easily stick in the minds of your consumer audience. Remember, when it comes to logo designing, less is always more. The key is to make a dynamic impact with a design that is simplistic and attention-grabbing.

A Hidden Message

A logo must convey a story by adding hidden messages into its design. This message will convey the story behind the brand’s identity and existence. You can achieve this by adding a strong one-liner, such as the Nike logo. Or you can play around with words and phrases, or even symbols and other design elements.

Again, this is where creativity and originality comes into play. However, the underlying principal remains the same: a well-designed logo must convey a message and a purpose.

The Psychology of Colors

Colors are one of the most significant design elements of a logo, and they play a powerful impact in brand positioning and brand identity. You can make an impact with an attractive color scheme, but that doesn’t mean you should underestimate the impact of a grayscale logo design.

It all comes to down your brand identity, the preferences of your consumers, and the color palettes that resonate with your brand story. Each color and color palette reflects a series of emotions and feelings. It is important to understand these emotions and feelings in order to create an impact on your target audience.

COVID-19 has impacted all online and offline industries across the globe, and search engine traffic is certainly not immune to its impact. While many digital platforms and websites have experienced a surge in traffic, many ecommerce websites have witnessed a marked reduction.

In this article, we will explore 7 ways in which COVID-19 has impacted search traffic and how SEO experts can respond to this pandemic.

Here, take a look:

1. The Sale of Essentials has Increased

Ecommerce sites that are selling essential items have witnessed marked increments in traffic and impressions. People are turning towards ecommerce sites to shop for basic essentials and cleaning products, particularly hand sanitizers, toilet papers, wipes and more. While the demand for essentials are increasing, people are avoiding buying makeup products, clothing and luxury items.

SEO experts can respond to this surge in demand by curating segments and pages for products that are high in demand. It is important to keep a close eye on traffic data and impressions, and observe keywords and log files.

2. Increased Demand for Health & Wellness Information

In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, Google has developed stricter content policies for informative and advice articles pertaining to medical issues. There is a huge surge in the demand for health and wellness sites, as people are looking for information that they can incorporate in their everyday lives.

SEO experts must focus on designing easy to navigate and immersive websites that provide reliable and scientifically backed information.

3. Cooking Recipes are high in demand

Since more and more people are cooking at home instead of eating out, and cooking is also a healthy hobby, there is a greater demand for food and recipes-related content. This demand is likely to continue until the coronavirus pandemic is well behind us.

SEO experts can respond to this surge in demand by providing elaborate websites with immersive recipes. Structured data and content optimization will help boost the search results. It is also important to focus on recipes that do not require fancy ingredients.

4. Increased Traffic on Travel Websites

While the pandemic has shut down all possibilities of traveling and vacationing, people are still visiting traffic websites in huge number. They are looking for “cheap flights” and hotel discounts in hopes that the pandemic restrictions would prove helpful in scoring valuable deals. SEO experts can respond by pooling all relevant data into streamlined and structured websites.

5. Greater Demand for Publisher Websites

Publisher websites are facing an incredible surge in demand as people are constantly seeking updates on the worldwide impact of the pandemic. Needless to say, we have all been glued to news lately, and SEO experts can offer valuable support in terms of news and factual updates.

6. Decreased demand for restaurants

Restaurants have experienced a marked reduction in demand, while many are operating on a pick-up and delivery basis. If you are working as an SEO expert for a restaurant, perhaps you can push the audience to focus on delivery options. If your restaurant is closed down entirely, you can help your audience by starting a cooking show and teach them to prepare their favorite dishes at home.

7. Reduced Spending on SEO Campaigns

Businesses all over the world have had to cut down on their spending for SEO campaigns. These budget cuts have urged SEO experts to focus on organic search and content optimization, which has made SEO more significant than ever.

A logo is an integral ingredient of a brand’s corporate identity and marketing mix. It lays down the foundation for an immersive visual brand identity, and emerges as a symbol that resonates with the offerings of a business. We all know what they say about first impressions-they go a long way in establishing a brand identity that consumers will remember.

Needless to say, a logo influences the brand perceptions of a consumer, alongside shaping an attitude that encourages consumers to invest in the products or services of the brand. Modern-day society is painted with an abundance of brand logos. These logos are constantly competing against one another to engage consumers and capture their attention.

Have you ever thought what makes the McDonald’s logo or the Nike logo better than its other counterparts? It is their uniqueness and exclusive flair for creativity that allows them to stand out. You see, a logo is an amalgamation of various design techniques and trends that allow a brand to set itself apart in the industry.

In this article, we will take a look at the ingredients and factors that create a catchy and attention grabbing logo.

Here, take a look:

Flair for Uniqueness

A logo has to be unique and exclusive as its underlying purpose is to distinguish a brand from its competition, and create an image that stands out and grabs attention. Many brands that fail to realize the importance of uniqueness and use basic templates or imitation end up struggle to carve out a sphere of influence in the corporate realm.

Imitation may be the best form of flattering, but as far as logos are concerned, it is the death of a brand’s visual identity. It is important to create something unique and exclusive to ensure that it creates a dramatic ripple amongst the consumer audience. Consumers appreciate originality and creativity, and a logo is the first step towards appealing to the tastes of the brand’s targeted audience.

Capture the Brand’s Vision

A logo may seem like nothing more than a tiny image that can be added to marketing materials and emails. But it is a great deal more, it is in fact an introduction into the brand’s philosophy. It is a token of design that can capture the vision and philosophy of the brand, and present it to the consumer audience with masterful strokes of graphic creativity.

A catchy logo resonates the ideology and philosophy of the brand, and presents this ideology with delicate strokes of imagery and an inviting blend of colors. These aesthetics create the visual identity of a brand-an identity that encapsulates a much deeper, and profound meaning. A logo must be original and unique, and it should represent the attributes of the brand through its design elements and colors

The Psychology of Colors

The psychology of colors reveals that each and every color palette reflects profound meanings and emotions, and the art of logo designing is all about playing with colors that reflect the ideology of the brand. Colors define the personality of a logo and vis-a-vis, the personality of the brand. Bright and bold colors work wonders at grabbing attention, but for certain brands and services, they may appear harsh and unflattering.

While bright colors work for certain brands, other need to create a more sophisticated palette of colors. You see, each color has its own distinctive influence and adds a deeper meaning to the message. For instance, red reflects a bold and sexy energy, while sunny yellow reflects optimism and positivity. Orange is a friendly hue that reflects creativity while green is all about sustainability and growth. Blue reflects an image of trustworthiness, black is powerful and reliable, while the fun and flirty pink exudes a youthful ambiance.

A catchy logo incorporates the psychology of colors to create a design that is visually appealing and reflects emotions of trust, excitement and creativity.

Now that 2020 is here, there is a lot that needs to be done to up your social media engagement game. You will need to keep adapting to trends so that you stay ahead of the curve. But what can you actually differently this year? What strategies and/or tricks will boost your social media engagement in 2020? To find out, read on.

Not all social media strategies can bring the same type of result to businesses in different industry niches. For example, B2C businesses can benefit from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. B2B brands on the other hand might have a better chance of performing better on LinkedIn and YouTube. This is why when it comes to agencies, you need to go for b2b social media – agency services. 

Boosting Social Media Engagement on Facebook

To get more engagement on Facebook, you should go live more often than not. According to a survey it was found that live videos performed better than the usual Facebook videos. In order for this to work, you will need to plan your video and notify your viewers beforehand. Do not forget to write a short description for your video, and give answers to questions your viewers are posting so they know they matter. Most importantly, be yourself.

Another great way to increase engagement on Facebook is by creating a private group. You may have a page for your brand, but that will not cut it. You will need a Facebook group to create a community that is all about your brand, which will in turn increase visibility and boost engagement. Just remember to keep posting, and avoid being salesy all the time.

Boosting Social Media Engagement on Instagram

When it comes to boosting social media engagement on Instagram, you will need to utilize all its features to their fullest potential. Features like mention sticker, question sticker, location tag, etc. can do wonders if you play your cards right. Use Instagram stories to keep your audience hooked as well, just be unique and fun about whatever it is that you end up posting.

To get more comments on your Instagram posts, you should post more videos, it really is that simple! Of course, people generally do not leave comments on posts on Instagram, but you can rectify that by posting more videos. Studies have shown that videos actually get more comments than the usual Instagram posts.

Boosting Social Media Engagement on Twitter

For Twitter, you will not have to do much to boost engagement. You can start with using hashtags wherever possible. Believe it or not, hashtags are a powerful way of increasing your reach and engagement. It will without a shadow of a doubt increase your exposure on Twitter. As long as you use them wisely, your Twitter account will get to the top in no time.

If you were not using GIFs before, then the fact that GIFs getting 55% more engagement on posts will get you started right away.

Other useful tips include interacting with other users’ content, retweeting whenever you are mentioned, responding to people who tweeted you, and sharing useful articles.

Boosting Social Media Engagement on LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a bit tricky, and there is nothing to be ashamed about if you were not working extensively on this social media platform in particular. It can be intimidating, and not a lot of individuals and businesses know how to boost social media engagement on LinkedIn.

Since the social media platform has over 300 million active users, you will need to take advantage of the professional networking app, but the good news is you have the following tips to count on for phenomenal results:

• Much like Facebook, you will need to go live here often as well. As soon as you go live, your followers will be notified. Just choose a topic, any topic, and talk about it. Provide unique insight, and encourage your viewers to ask questions so that they interact with you.
• One of the best things about LinkedIn is that it has support for hashtags. So use them wherever you deem appropriate. Remember, you can’t use them sparingly like on the platforms mentioned above.

Other useful tips for boosting engagement on LinkedIn include writing LinkedIn blogs and articles, engaging with others, creating your own LinkedIn group, joining other LinkedIn groups, and the most important of them all, and sharing content that is relevant to your target audience.

Social media is a place where you can always count on your consumers to be present and active. There is absolutely no reason why you should not use this to your advantage. Reach your target audience more easily, by simply being active and responding to queries and concerns on all social media platforms. If you are not present on all social media platforms, then it is high time you create your presence.

Boosting your social media engagement really boils down to how effective you are in showing you care about your target audience. When you show them they matter, and you take their comments seriously, there is no way your social media engagement will not grow. By doing something so simple, you can actually make a big difference, so much so, that your target audience will opt for you rather than your competitors each and every time.

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Let’s start with a fun fact. The next time you look at the NBC logo, look a bit closer. If you see just a splash of six colors, look again. You might see a beak sort of thing on the purple splash. That’s because the NBC logo is actually a peacock. However, NBC’s logo wasn’t anything close to a peacock when the broadcaster introduced its first logo. The NBC logo evolution spanned over almost 100 years and has taken the shape as we know it today.

NBC logo evolution: a timeline

National Broadcasting Company, or NBC, was founded on November 15, 1926, and it is one of the oldest major television networks in the United States. It was created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and was the first network to broadcast regular television programming. NBC has aired a wide variety of programs, with some of the most popular shows being “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Voice,” “Law & Order,” and many more. The broadcasters are divided into many divisions, including Bravo, CNBC, E!, MSNBC, NBC, NBC News, Oxygen, SYFY, Telemundo, Universal Kids, Universo, USA Network, NBC Sports, and NBC Local Stations. The company also owns Peacock, its streaming service.

Not only this, but NBC also produces and distributes films and programs through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group. While the portfolio is nothing short of fascinating, NBC also has a glorious history of evolving from a radio network to a giant media and entertainment company. Nothing symbolizes this evolution better than the network’s logo.

The first logo: The lightning bolt era

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The first NBC and the original NBC logo is often referred to as the “NBC Radio City Microphone” logo. The iconic logo was in use during the early days of NBC, when it primarily focused on radio broadcasting. The logo, introduced in 1926, was created to symbolize the network’s commitment to quality and innovation in broadcasting. The logo was typically rendered in black and white, as color television was not yet widespread during its early years.

It featured a stylized microphone, representing the network’s association with radio broadcasting. “NBC” was written in capital letters with a map of the USA in the background.

The simplified version

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The logo which then followed, was a much-simplified version of the first logo. It was a simple square with NBC written diagonally inside it. Like the previous logo, it was also black and white, and the design had lightning bolts around the letter ‘B’.

The colored logo

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In 1943, NBC introduced its third logo. Unlike the previous two, this one had a splash of color – red lightning bolts. The design was subtle as it had a microphone in the center with NBC written on it, while the lightning bolts were placed on the left side of the microphone. On the right side, there was a different wave pattern for the television network. The meaning of the NBC logo was to indicate the company’s transition from a radio broadcaster to a TV and radio broadcaster.

Simple typography

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The following two logos were devoid of any graphics or colors. They were simple typography with NBC written in the uppercase inscription. In 1946, the company’s simple yet elegant logo featured a traditional italicized serif typeface with NBC written in black over a white background.

It was followed by the same color tones but with a different typeface. To give the logo a more modern look, the simple serif font was replaced with bold and strict sans-serif in 1952. The letters were wider with a black outline and a thick black shadow.

More colors

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Only within a year, the simple typography logo was shelved for a more colorful design in 1953. The broadcaster introduced xylophone NBC as its logo was created. The visual emblem featured a xylophone and a black mallet. The instrument was stylized with three colors – red, green, and blue. The logo symbolized NBC’s recognizable chimes played as a seven-tone sequence first played in 1927 and became instantly recognizable with the broadcaster.

Here’s what Justin Peters, the executive creative director of Carbone Smolan Agency, says about the chimes:

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The peacock appears

In 1956, the iconic peacock made its first appearance. The bands of colors were used to signify the channel’s color broadcasting capabilities. It was created by NBC logo designer John Graham. The logo has 11 colored segments topped with red, blue, yellow, orange, and green appearing twice, while purple appears once. Each segment was topped with a drop of a contrasting color. The iconic peacock body stood in the center with a partial profile, with a head plume in white color. The appearance and centrality of the bird were reduced in the late iteration of the logo.

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As a symbol, the peacock became associated with NBC. In the coming years, it was used as a logo for the broadcaster’s other subsidiaries as well. The brand and the logo became so interchangeable that the company named its streaming service Peacock. While in future redesigns, the peacock was shelved as a logo for a few years, but it never retired.

Back to typography

In 1959, the company surprisingly shunned colors and went back to typography only. NBC was written in the appearance of a snake. The resemblance was so conspicuous it was named “NBC Snake”. It was a combination of wordmark and mid-century corporate branding. NB was nested above C in a thin black font on a white background. The logo was also designed by John Graham.

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According to Steve Heller, the broadcaster changed the logo as it was apparently having an identity crisis while competing with its rivals like CBS and ABC.

The big N

The NBC Snake persisted till 1975, after which the logo underwent another redesign. This time, NBC chose a big N as its logo. It was designed by Lippincott & Margulies and Dolphin Productions (TV) and showcased red, white, and blue for the color scheme.

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The design featured two trapezoids placed side by side. The color schemes featured a red trapezoid, while the blue one was placed inverted to the red trapezoid over a white background. This logo served as NBC’s face for only a short while due to legal challenges. In 1976, Nebraska ETV filed a trademark infringement case against NBC. The broadcaster settled the matter out of court and gave new equipment worth $800,000 to Nebraska ETV, along with a payment of $55,000 to cover the cost of a new logo. After the settlement, NBC was allowed to keep trapezoids as its logo, but the company decided to move on and bring the peacock back.

Peacock returns

In 1979, the NBC logo evolution continued, and it saw some more changes. The broadcaster kept some elements of the trapezoid logo and fashioned it with the peacock logo NBC used in the past. The outline of both trapezoids denoting “N” was kept in the background in blue color. It was overlaid with the peacock in the foreground. This iteration of the peacock was different than the one used as a logo from 1956 – 1975.

While in the previous logo, the peacock was a more distinct imagery in contrast to the color palettes, this time, the bird’s body was amalgamated with the bands of colors. The color combinations were also altered. In the previous logo, purple appeared only once. This time blue was featured only one time in the center, and all other colors had two palettes – used as feathers – placed opposite each other. This looked as if the feathers mirrored each other. The color of the bird’s outline matched with the outline of N in the background. The head plume was also made more imposing. The logo got the nickname “Proud N” because the peacock was holding its head high in the logo.

Improved peacock

The peacock is still the broadcaster’s logo, but it has seen at least three redesigns since 1979. The previous logo stayed for around 7 years when, in 1986, the company felt the need for a redesign. The logo was simplified, and the number of feathers was reduced from 11 to only six. Each color appeared just once. The N outline was removed from the background and the peacock. The peacock was now looking towards the right as compared to the left side in the previous logo. The head plume was removed, and the body was made slimmer. The bird was perched over the “NBC” logotype.

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This logo lasted for the longest time without any redesign before it was simplified in 2010. The design upgrade gave a modern look to the logo and gave it a three-dimensional effect. The visual appeal was made more metallic with a sharper color and grey fill between the feathers and the logo’s outline. The logotype was completely removed, and the bird became the standalone logo.

In another iteration in 2013, the logo was given a glossier look, and the NBC logotype was placed at the bottom of the peacock once again. In the most recent modification, the logo was made two-dimensional with a minimalistic look, similar to that in 1986. The logotype was thicker in a modern geometric sans-serif font.

Conclusion

For some, the NBC logo evolution and the constant changes were due to the broadcaster’s quest for its distinct identity. But, for others, it was the channel’s struggle to change with time and appear on par with its competitors. However, the current NBC logo is the perfect example of how logo designs could be used to convey messages – like the company’s business model, motto, ideology, or identity. The six-colored feather in the NBC peacock logo depicts the company’s different sections: yellow is for the news section, orange for sports, red for entertainment, purple for the radio, blue for the network, and green for production.

Launching a startup or running a small business? You must be aware of how vital graphic design is in building a company. You may also have an idea of how costly graphic design projects can be.
Almost 70% of small business are willing to pay $500 while 18% would pay up to $1000 for logo designing.

It takes just 400 milliseconds to our visual cortex to process the visual elements of a logo. This is essentially the time you have to capture (or lose) the attention of your customers.

For this reason, business owners should have a working knowledge of designs. This way, they have greater control over their brand’s appearance.

And the first and major graphic design product is developing a logo. A logo is more than just a color and font. On a deeper level, it reflects your brand’s personality. Logo design then is the process in which you communicate your brand’s personality to your consumers.

Considering there are several types of logos (abstract, emblem, word mark, etc.), how do you go about choosing the best one for your business? Continue reading to find out.

Consider Logo Design Types

There are 7 types of logo designs:
• Abstract
• Mascot
• Combination mark
• Emblem
• Lettermark
• Pictorial mark
• Wordmark

Abstract logos are not only imaginative, but they can immediately communicate what your business is all about. The DropBox logo, for example, is a blue colored box conveying the idea of safe data storage. However, there is always a chance of being too abstract with these logos.

Mascots are usually used by sports teams. Such logos are visually appealing, using images of animals, people or even imaginary things to represent the brand. Michelin Man is an example where a brand has positioned itself with a mascot logo.

Then there is the pictorial mark, aiming to convey the brand through an image. Examples include Twitter, Nike and Target. These logos are often used by global companies to achieve consistency in branding.

The complete opposite of pictorial mark is wordmark. Coca Cola is a major example. Lettermarks are also text-based, used to highlight companies with acronyms, like IBM. However, if you want the best of both worlds, you can go for combination mark, like Dunkin’ donuts or Baskin Robbins.

Emblem logos likewise combine design elements with text. Examples of this style include Mastercard and Harley Davidson.

Pick the Right Font

Typography or simply the choice of font goes a long way in establishing your vibe. When choosing fonts, you have to three main options:

• Serif

Serif fonts established trust. Think newspapers or academic journals. You find such fonts being used to share quotes, and there’s data to show that readers actually gauge the trustworthiness of a quote by the font used. So go for serif fonts if you want to create a professional image for your company. The downside is that such fonts can also make your logo look outdated. A major brand using a serif font logo is Gap.

• Sans Serif

San serif fonts are all over the internet. Even Google has a san serif logo. These fonts give off a clean, modern look. They are easy to read as well. You can use a sans serif font to create a fresh, new personality for your business. The downside is that you may end up looking like other companies. It is hard to stand apart with a sans serif logo unless you’re Google!

• Script Fonts

Finally, script fonts can be used to create an elegant, creative or even a casual image for your business. However, these fonts can be difficult to read.
Of course, you can always use more than one font in your logo.

Choose the Best Color

Finally, colors are also integral to projecting your business personality. According to a survey, 80% of consumers believe that color increases brand recognition. Colors are cool because they convey emotion:

• Red represents excitement, boldness, and youthfulness
• Orange represents confidence, happiness and friendliness
• Yellow gives off warmth, clarity and positive vibes
• Green stands for peace, health, and abundance
• Purple exudes creativity, wit, and imagination

Likewise, a combination of black and white can denote calm and balance. Blue, on the other hand, evokes trust and strength. In fact, more than 30% of the top 100 brands use the color blue in their logo. Gap, for instance, uses navy blue, whereas Google has a brighter blue. Research also shows that people find color combinations in similar hues appealing.

This again ties back to your brand personality. Once you know what kind of image you want to portray, you can experiment with different designs, fonts and colors to discover the right logo for your business.

If you have launched a start-up or you are running your business for a couple of years, you already know the necessity of digital marketing.

For many business owners, the mere thought of a digital marketing campaign seems terrifying because of big words like ‘keyword research’, ‘competitor analysis’, ‘buyer persona, ‘journey mapping’, ‘user intent’, ‘SEO’, ‘PPC’, ‘Google Analytics’ etc.

Of course, a full-fledged campaign requires both time and expertise. But that doesn’t mean you should delay creating your digital presence.

In the following paragraphs, we will list down some effective digital marketing tips that you can apply immediately.

#1 Engage Customers on Social Media

One of the first things that a company must do today is leveraging brand awareness on social platforms. A great way to engage your audience on each platform is to customize your messaging. This means you must avoid sharing tweets on Facebook!

Of course, it takes longer to create unique posts or Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, but it’s worth it.

Also, discover which platforms your target market uses and restrict your efforts to them. For example, there’s no use creating content for LinkedIn if most of your prospects hang out on Instagram.

#2 Leverage Video

There are several avenues for engaging with your tribe though video. Consider Facebook Live or Instagram and SnapChat stories. You can sit down and create a short video on your phone, announcing a new product update, share industry news or answer questions. With a little bit of editing, you will have good enough video content to add value to your website, blog or social media profiles.

#3 Start A Blog

Publishing creative content regularly is not just good for SEO (see point #5), but it also improves brand engagement and provides value to your audience. One of the best ways to publish regularly is to start a blog.

If you are in business, chances are you know more about your product, service and industry than the average person. You can create blog articles to educate prospects, answer their questions, and just be generous with your content. As engagement increases, conversions will follow suit.

#4 Repurpose Your Content

One of the key benefits of blogging is that in time, you create a library of useful content. This, in turn, makes it easy to develop social media posts and video scripts. This is known as repurposing or repackaging content. You can also turn your blog posts into infographics, which are known to increase engagement.

Repurposing has dual benefits. On the one hand, you’re creating new content for different platforms with very little effort. On the other hand, you are providing tailored content to your audience, boosting your branding efforts.

#5 Optimize your Website

Creating a website is a must for your digital presence, but it’s not enough. You need to ensure that your website ranks high on search engines to increase visitors. SEO, like all digital marketing processes, requires a particular set of skills, but you can at least optimize your website for high-ranking keywords.

There are free tools available for keyword research. You can also look for specific words and phrases that your audience uses by looking at Google search bar suggestions. Once you have decided on the keywords, you can naturally incorporate them in your page title, the header tag, meta tags, and meta descriptions.

#6 Improve User Experience

User experience refers to how people engage with your brand through websites, mobile apps, social media etc. Elements of good user experience include tailored content, relevant communication channels and an intuitive user-interface (UI).

So before launching your website, see how fast it loads. When creating your business profile on Facebook, leverage chat bots. And when publishing a new blog, tweak your content for simplicity and a reader-friendly tone.

Paying attention to these details results in smooth user experience.

#7 Test, Test and Test Some More

Finally, there are a dozen forms of digital marketing and a hundred ways of executing them. How do you know which one is right for you?

The answer is testing. Lots of testing.

Even if you have just started with your digital effort, you need to pay attention to numbers. Which pages of your website get the most traffic? Which ones have the greatest engagement? What is your average post reach on Facebook? How many people click the links at the end of each blog post?

Ultimately, it’s all about testing and adapting, finding out what works and screening out what doesn’t.

Writing great content is not very difficult. In fact, all it requires is a bit of hard work as well as a dash of creativity to get the job done right, the very first time over.

An important step in any content writing 101 guide is to get the facts right.
After all, if you do not have anything of value to add to a conversation, than it will simply lead to your article or blog being considered ‘click bait.’

And here it is pertinent to note that Google and other common search engines are a whole lot smarter than ever before. Various algorithms will effectively ensure that you ‘never’ end up in the top 10 or the ‘holy grail’ of search engine results.

What Does Content Writing Mean?

It is basically concerned with the creation of value based content that will be consumed online. If done correctly, it will decrease the bounce rate substantially. ‘Bounce rate’ is when a person comes to the site and finding nothing of interest, he closes it or in other words ‘bounces’ off.’ A good content writer will not only enthrall his audience, but he will also make good and sure that there are sufficient keywords to attract the relevant traffic to the site.

Here it is pertinent to note that blog content writing is somewhat different from creative content writing. The words and sentences of the former are smaller and easily digestible to a large audience. When writing creative content, you have to remember that you are in a race against time.

If you make the slightest mistake about your sentence structure, overall length, and verbosity, the target audience will lose their interest and click off the site. After all, it only takes just a swipe of the finger to do so!

However, content writing pros really know their jobs well, and they keep their target audience visiting their site.

Understanding Your Target Market

Here it is vital to understand that all content generation strategies needs must take into consideration the specific personal preferences of the target audience itself. That is, what are the demographics as well as the psychographics of the target audience you are trying to attract. For example. If you are into sports shoes in Perth, it will not make sense to pepper your articles on Bitcoins (for instance).

In a nutshell, you will have to customize your content and ensure that it is relatable to your audience’s personal preferences.

Headlines are important

We all know that headlines are important. The chances are that many ‘digital marketing content specialists’ continue to write reams and reams of their blogs and favorite articles. And they do not even understand the fact that it not always the body text of the content that actually catches the eye, but the headline.
In other words, if you can capture the imagination of your reader right from the word go (so to speak), then he will be hooked sufficiently well enough to read the whole thing. And once he does so, he will enter the marketing funnel. That is, he will take the first steps towards doing whatever it is you have created the website for. Such as generating interest in the second world wear (for instance) or trying to buy/sell a particular product. This is why you must always try to go for a really eye-catching headline whenever and wherever you can.

Avoid Errors as Much as Possible

Spelling and grammatical errors are just plain off-putting. If you make enough of those, then your target audience will think that not only are you bereft of any knowledge regarding the subject matter, but you are bereft of any knowledge. Period! Typos are the bane of any well written blog or article, and you should try and run them through any online grammar and syntax correcting tool of you can.

Do Your Research

If you are going to write an authoritative article or blog, it makes sense to have the required knowledge for the task at hand. Otherwise, you will just come off as a ‘wanna be’ writer who is trying to write about stuff that he does not know anything about.

And this is not like the dark ages when you have to go to a library to find data. A simple Google search will land all the data at your fingertips, and you would just need to put it all together, properly enough.

Conclusion

Ultimately these website content writing tips will generate plenty of organic traffic to your site. Apart from that, they will also go a long way in making sure that you can actually retain the core interest of your target market. So that they keep coming back to you again and again.