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When Is a Good Time to Rebrand

The decision to re-brand your business is a big one. A lengthy process that can sometimes cost a bit of coin, and it’s certainly a decision not to be taken lightly. However, if done for the right reasons and at the right time, a rebrand can be a great investment to the immediate and future growth of your business.

Done for the wrong reasons and at the wrong the time it can not only be a costly mistake but a PR disaster.  A recent example, one we can all learn from was by a household name, with a product we all grew up with and loved. Arnott’s rebranded their famous Shapes biscuit ‘updating’ some of their renowned flavours in the process. Australia went into meltdown. It’s possible we’re still in the midst of this meltdown as the benefits of this change have yet to be seen or understood.

Another famous example on the worldwide stage was when Coca-Cola made an attempt to re-brand their product to appeal to younger consumers in 1985. A strong consumer backlash forced the company to bring back the original “Coco-Cola classic” a mere three months later.

Evolving

If your business has evolved since opening its doors, it’s possible that the logo and brand you started with is no longer consistent with your current message or offering. It’s good practice to have a brand that consistently reflects your business’s message. New direction is the primary reason for re-branding.

Moving or Expanding

Moving your business or expanding geographically? If your branding includes geographic information or contains messages or meanings that only apply to one area, re-branding to appeal to the new location will be required.

Updating

Has the market or trends within your industry changed considerably? Has your brand become outdated as a result? Your brand reflects your business and is directly responsible for prospective client’s perception of you. An outdated and dull brand will not appeal to new customers- especially if you’re a company that sells these sort of services. It’s important not to get this confused with you feeling bored with your current branding – which can happen to the best of us.

While it is totally normal for any business owner to want to shake things up, it’s vital to recognise that this isn’t a good enough reason to re-brand, at least not on it’s own. If however you’re considering updating due to an outdated logo or niche a complete change may not be needed. A simple refresh may be enough.

Appealing to New Audiences

If you’re wanting to appeal or attract a new audience, then this is a solid enough reason for rebranding and one of the most popular. If you want to break into a new demographic, updating your brand to reflect their behaviours, likes and interests can position your business favourably. It is important to make a well-informed decision backed by research if considering this. Using an experienced agency to assist with re-branding is beneficial beyond the obvious design reasons. An agency familiar with branding will have years of knowledge and tested and tried experiences behind their expertise.

Merging or Acquiring

Another reason you may be considering a rebrand is if your business is merging with another or you are you acquiring a new one? Updating the brand to reflect the new dynamic not only creates and helps keep the brand consistent with offerings and message but it can also be a great marketing and PR strategy. Just be careful not to alienate existing loyal customers.

It’s not only important to get the timing and the reasons for re-branding right but to also make sure it’s done with longevity in mind. We can’t stress how important it is for a brand to remain consistent, solid and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers – no matter what type of business you’re in.

When considering rebranding you need to consider all elements of your business’s marketing platforms. With website and digital being a strong player in today’s business environment it’s important that a brand presents well in a digital environment as well as on traditional promotional material.

Get Expert Advice

Rebranding can be an expensive exercise and even more expensive if it isn’t done right. It’s a good idea (and a good investment) to get advice from a team who know and understand the branding process.

We recently re-branded our business to reflect the growth of our business and have had glowing feedback from many of our partners and customers. Digital is an important part of a re-brand strategy, contact us today to discuss how we can help.

How Snapchat Can Help Your Business

Almost everyone is on social media. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter most people have now embraced the digital way of communicating. What’s even cooler, is that new social media platforms are popping up everyday, reinventing the way we communicate with each other on a personal level, but also the way businesses can communicate to their consumers.

Enter Snapchat

With more than 100 million users each day, Snapchat is the fastest-growing social network of them all. With the unique way Snapchat works, it stands out from the other platforms and means if your business joins in, you have an amazing opportunity to stand out and shine.

If you aren’t familiar with how Snapchat works, it’s an app especially designed to make the experience of seeing content online with a mobile device instant and for a limited time only.

Snapchat’s main feature is the short shelf life of it’s content. The user (whether it be an individual or a business) can choose how long they wish to share their photo or video for (we are talking from 4-10 seconds). This means the content that is shared captivates the consumer, because if they don’t pay attention the content will be gone forever. It is this need for undivided attention that sets it apart from the other platforms.

How this Can Help Business

Interaction with consumers is one of the most important aspects of business. Getting a captivated group of people who are interested in your product is way up there on the importance scale too. Snapchat makes both these things easy to do. Not only are their millions of young people using this app, but they are ready and willing to join in the chat – interact with businesses they are interested in buying from.

How One Business Uses Snapchat

Say hello to 16 Handles, a frozen yoghurt chain that sends out offers to their young target market using Snapchat. Their customers only have to send a selfie or a snap of their friends eating yoghurt at a branch of the business and they are immediately sent a discount coupon to use on their next purchase. It will be a discount of between 5% and 100%. However, the coupon cannot be opened until they are at the checkout because it expires 10 seconds after it is opened.

16 Handles’ target audience is Gen Y & Gen Z and they know this generation love taking selfies. With the discount offer expiring after 10 seconds it creates a sense of urgency, ensuring that it is highly likely to be used. When consumers use the coupon their details are kept by the business, thus enabling them to create a list of customers who are keen to buy. 

Not just food for thought

All kinds of business can benefit from Snapchat, especially if their target market is between 13 and 35. You can share behind the scenes snaps and other content users can’t find on your other social platforms, and have sneaky discount coupons, giveaways and specials of various kinds sporadically to keep them tuning in.

How to Get the Marketing Gold

Anyone who wants to harvest details (names and email addresses) from potential customers who visit their website knows it’s not as easy as it sounds. But, if you’re creative it can be easier than you think. All you need to do is offer them something in return for the gold.

Getting people to part with their email address doesn’t have to be all that difficult if you offer them something of real value. A free giveaway will also add interest to your website and make your visitors think twice about leaving it without giving you some contact details, especially if you make it super easy to signup.

Also keep in mind is the free gift or offer should align to that of the service or product your business offers. This is to make sure your website visitors will be actually interested in signing up. So what can you offer? It really depends on the kind of business you have, but here are a few suggestions:

A White Paper

This will usually be on a topic of interest to your visitors and is more in the academic line. It is usually around 7 pages, but can be more or less, so long as it contains important information that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. It may also contain validation links to certain points that are made as well as links back to whatever you are selling or whatever else it is you would love to encourage them to do. Ours is a 2 page jargon free guide to website design that you can download from this page here.

Free Designs

Free designs can be as elaborate or simple as you like. They can be in template form or in the form of an offer, depending on how much time and effort you are prepared to give. Templates are the easiest and quickest to do as they can be made in advance.

An Informative eBook

This can be on a topic that your visitors are sure to be interested in. For instance, if you are selling cat food, an appropriate eBook could be on cat health, different types of cats or even cat training. You can put links in the eBook back to your website products, or to other websites that sell cat items, so long as they are not in direct competition to your own products.

A Fiction eBook

If you are selling fiction eBooks, offering a short fiction book is sure to be a winner with visitors to your website. It should be one that is not available anywhere else. If your books are for adults, offering a free one for their kids might work. Or you could offer another eBook that they would be interested in – this is usually a short story or novella.

A Short Email Course

If you are offering training of some kind, a short course will be the ideal free giveaway. It should contain valuable information while offering hints about how much more your training can offer them. It is easy to automate sending this course using an email responder such as Active Campaign or MailChimp (we have put more information together about these email services in a previous blog). You can offer something like one email containing tips and hints a week for 4-6 weeks. Links should go to your main course at the end of each email.

A Special Offer

Again, it totally depends on what your business is, but offering a special promotion in exchange for signing is a good idea especially if you are trying to increase sales. Whether it’s a free valuation or a 10% off coupon, you can get really creative and your potential customers will appreciate the thought.

Be Daring

Remember, the best giveaway will solve a problem for your visitors, be easy for them to follow and also remind them of your brand in the future. Doing something a little different will also get their attention, so try and be creative when brainstorming a way to get their details. Don’t forget, once you’ve got their details that’s when the real marketing fun can begin.

Its also important that your website has the latest tools to help you market your giveaway and connect your new client details directly to your email marketing program – give us a call if you would like to discuss a more connected online marketing strategy than you have today – 1300 796 771.

One Simple, Effective Way to Connect with Your Customers

Applying the personal touch when selling online can be challenging – especially when most businesses sell online to spend less time on the phone. But there is one surefire way to connect with your shoppers in a way that benefits them and you and that’s by adding a live chat feature to your website.

Three awesome reasons to seriously consider live chat on your website:

1. Multi-tasking – In the era of multi-tasking your customers will be ever so grateful that they can type out a question, grab a cuppa, pay a bill and then come back for the answer. And that question might just be what’s been holding them back from purchasing. You can also multi-task, keeping multiple chats open at the same time – no annoying hold music for anyone!

2. Information – Just by reaching out to you the live chat tool can tell you where the customer is, what Internet browser they are using and other information useful for helping them shop and checkout. Live chat can help you answer all those questions without even having to ask, and its the kind of information your website technician might need to fix a site issue.

3. Trust – A tool like live chat can be personalised with names, images and information that helps your customers comfortable that they are speaking directly to you. It helps build trust between a person who needs help and the person who can provide that help. Trust easily leads to loyal and repeat customers.

We think businesses can easily extend a personal approach to their online shoppers in many ways, but live chat is certainly at the top of that list. Our eCommerce solutions are live-chat enabled and even allow you to shop on the customers behalf if they need some help after chatting with you.

Get in touch if you are interested in more information – info@wkdigital.com.au.