22 May

Posted at 08:43h in Advertising

Focus On Your Customers, Never Your Competition!

 

One of the common thing marketers do is obsess over their competitors, ironically, this is exactly what one should avoid. The issue with being up to date with what your competitors do is that, this, in turn means that you are only mirroring your competitor as he is probably doing the same thing. The aim is to be innovative and sort of separate your brand, in order to improve the chances of brand elevation and growth. You know the saying? “Separate yourself in order to elevate”.

 

It seems utterly unreasonable to disregard competition intentionally when every industry is so competitive.

 

Wouldn’t I need to know what what my competition is doing in order to perform better than them?

What if I miss a new launch of something important?

How will I stay up to date with the latest technological trends and industry styles?

These are commonly asked questions when presented with the idea of completely disregarding the existence of competitors, but I have one quote by Nobel Prize winning author, André Gide that could change your entire ideology on this. “You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to step away from the shore”. This is one of the most relevant quotes in the attempt of opening the minds of marketers to see the perspective of NOT being mindful of competitors.

 

The business world consists of many guidelines on what to do and what not to do in order to grow your brand, the focal point of every “Competitive analysis” question is, of course “Who is your competition?”. In essence, there is absolutely nothing wrong with checking out what your competition is up to and staying up to date with that, but it is the leaders who are advanced,that can look beyond this. By looking beyond this,I mean, not looking at all.

 

It is both motivating and debilitating, to keep track of what your competition is up to, but as soon as you start feeling threatened or intimidated, it is time to switch up the focus.

How are your opponents distracting you from being a better entrepreneur?

Here’s why focusing on your contender could potentially wound your business.

 

1) You are only distracting yourself.

 

Checking out what your competition is up to is definitely a “natural” move, but there’s limits to this. Obsessing can easily enable you to focus on beating/bettering the standards of their business, instead of focusing on the reason you started the business in the first place, your customers/audience. Although it is supposedly a great strategy to focus on your competition, it is also important to filter out “common” business techniques accordingly. If you truly think about it, the guy that wrote, “Stay up to date and know every move your competitor makes”, is probably a billionaire somewhere and is not really going to give you the details, he is going to tell you exactly what you want to hear. Truly speaking, the idea of checking your competitors every move, is completely “fear based”, people generally fear innovation mainly because the chances of success are not 100 % guaranteed.

 

2) Limiting the growth of your business.

 

You are only limiting growth. Is it really advisable to base your company’s “plan”, on what your competition is up to? What if your so-called “reference” goes out of business, what happens then? Competition based pacing is super risky, because you never know what the future holds for the competition. Look at your own business, that is where all the energy and focus should be.

 

3) Negatively speaking of your competition.

 

If your competition is, “your competition”, the least you can do is respect what they are doing right. In order to surpass your competitors, you need to respect them, respecting them in this case refers to acknowledging their great methods of marketing because if they are a threat, then they are obviously doing something right. Do not hate your competition! “What John says about Peter, says more about John, than Peter”.

 

4) Stop doing what they do.

 

Just stop. This will not help you grow and be innovative. “Copy-paste”, methods in business can get you somewhere, but not as far as you wish to go if you are a BIG goal orientated marketer. Simply replicating existing concepts in the hopes of doing it better is not the best way of doing things, mainly because there’s nothing new and exciting about this approach. People want innovation, people are drawn to risky stuff.

 

5) Your customers don’t care about your competition.

 

The truth is, Once your audience have chosen your “product”, they are not concerned about your competition. Offer fantastic unravelment to possible problems your customers face and make sure that this is in their face. Once customers have chosen YOU, just focus on keeping their loyalty!

Research your competition and know what they are up to, but never obsess over every move they make. Competition is great for the soul, but don’t lose your focus. Focus on your company, how you can improve. Acknowledge your strong points, work on your weaknesses.

 

Competitors who?

 

 

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12 May

Posted at 11:48h in Advertising, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing

 

Ever wondered why you’re not standing out?

 

Why your competitors are doing better or why they have so much advertising out?

The answer is simple. Your competitors want to improve their brand by getting their message out to the world, telling consumers what they do and why which in turn adds value to their brand. But you don’t just want to show off your brand, you want to tell a story to that grabs your audience’s attention and gets you noticed in this competitive world. There are many ways to tell your story but here are a few successful tips to make you stand out.

 

 

Awareness

 

To add value to your brand, you first need consumers to know your brand.

Otherwise, how are you going to build loyalty? Get new clients?

To succeed, creating awareness of your brand is only the first step that advertising can successfully do for you. Always make your advertising clear about whom you are, what you do and what your purpose is in a creative way to stand out. This is your story and getting that story right is one of the biggest challenges but it reaps the best rewards when done correctly.

 

 

Communication

 

Advertising helps you communicate to your audience effectively but make sure the story your brand is telling adds value to your company and resonates with your target market. Otherwise, you will lose value very quickly because how you speak to your audience is what sets you apart.

Make sure your message is getting to the right target market as this helps add big value to your brand and will benefit your brand’s offering.

 

Engagement

 

The best brands create and develop ways to engage with their audiences because they recognise how important it is for consumers to be able to engage with a brand. If consumers feel they cannot build a relationship with you, they will think that your company is cold or irrelevant and will drop you quicker than a bad fashion fad.

So it’s up to you to engage with your target market positively and in a relevant manner so that they will buy into your brand’s story and be more likely to buy your products and or services.

This personal relationship is important to create brand love and when done successfully it will have them falling over each other to get a hold of your brand’s offering simply because they would have built an emotive connection to it.

 

Consistency

 

Advertising helps you establish a reputation but your reputation needs to be built on a solid foundation of what your brand stands for, keeping to what you promised is

key to building a strong brand.

Make sure that all aspects of your company are consistent with this promise from customer service, product quality, all communications, staff members, packaging and etc. Getting all staff members on the same page is key in adding value to your brand.

 

Content Marketing

 

One of the great marketing tools that will help you advertise your brand subtly and communicate your brand’s value is content marketing. This tool provides content to all your platforms, which opens up a world of possibilities and brings your brand closer to your consumers.

 

The key purpose is to catch and retain the attention of the consumer by the simply creating valuable and relevant content that will change or reinforce your consumer’s engagement – without trying to sell them anything. The purpose of this all is to continue building a relationship with your audience. Do this right and your consumers will reward your brand with loyalty and purchase. Another powerful tool is social media as it effectively engages your audience in real time. Check out our social media blogs for more successful tips.

 

Ultimately the best brands out there have laid down their basis to be able to engage with there audiences to create a meaningful relationship with their consumers which in turn helps the brand thrive in their market, because they got their brand right and the opportunities followed.

08 May

Posted at 07:41h in Advertising, Content Marketing, Corporate Identity, Digital Marketing, Video Animation

Do you know you can use video to advertise the majority of your business? Yet many of you aren’t sure where video can be used. A video is an effective way of advertising your company. According to Wyzowl statistics, 61% of businesses have incorporated video as a marketing tool. I will discuss 5 reasons why video is a marketing powerhouse and begin the steps towards a video marketing strategy that’s integrated with your digital marketing initiatives.

Why should you choose video?

Well it’s easy, videos:

Display nonverbal communication: Body language, a tone of voice and visual prompts help the viewers to further understand the video. Engage audiences: A combination of visuals and sound attracts the viewer with valuable content. Use a variety of mediums: A video can consist of animation, people, infographics, images and text. No other form of communication is able to interact with so many mediums. A specific target audience can be linked to a particular medium. Prompt shares: With quick, concise and relatable content using video, people find it easy to share. Overall 97% of consumers would happily share a video with their friends and social networks. Provide the best search engine results: Because there are less videos online than text, they have a better chance of reaching audiences who search a keyword. videos are 45 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google than text results.

These are to name a few benefits using video.

A video marketing strategy: How to use video for your business

 

Are you looking for a video strategy? Do you need a plan?

Work with us and we can give you a plan to suit your companies needs.

 

The Plan options are:

12 Months Video Production Plan

January – Company Profile Video

February – Promotional Video

March – Product Demo Video

April – Animated Explainer Video

May – Interview Video

June – Educational Video

July – Event Video

August – Branded Video

September – Behind the Scenes Video

October – Tutorial Video

November – Testimonial Video

December – Infographic Video

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Every Second Month Video Production Plan

Month 2 – Company Profile Video

Month 4 – Promotional Video

Month 6 – Animated Explainer Video

Month 8  – Infographic Video

Month 10 – Branded Video

Month 12 – Testimonial Video

[vc_btn title=”Enquire” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”danger” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bwd.co.za%2Fcontact%2F|||”]

Quarterly Video Production Plan

Quarter 1 – Promotional Video

Quarter 2 – Animated Explainer Video

Quarter 3 – Branded Video

Quarter 4 – Infographic Video

[vc_btn title=”Enquire” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”danger” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bwd.co.za%2Fcontact%2F|||”]
You could customise your videos to your companies specifications. You can choose what suits your campaign the most. Here is an outline of video topics that could be used for internal or external use – both crucial to your strategy. Below are explanations of the videos that are divided into 5 sections – Corporate Videos, Sales and Marketing Videos, Information Videos, Entertainment Videos and New Videos.

Corporate Videos

Corporate videos include:

  1. Company Profile Videos

  2. Introduction Videos

  3. Event Videos

Company Profile Videos

A company profile is a professional introduction of your business that aims to inform clients about its purpose, vision, trustworthiness, products and services. Why not create a visual form of your company profile by using video? The video can consist of:

 

  • A profile of important staff members and their role.
  • An introduction to what you do.
  • A brief background/history of the business.
  • The strategy and vision your business strives for.
  • The products and services available.
  • Management and ownership and previous/current client business.

Introduction Videos

Hosting an event and need a video to introduce a representative? Why no use an introduction video? This type of video introduces guest speakers before the come on stage and speak and doesn’t need to be very long.

Event-related Videos

Videos that pertain to events can be created. This includes event teasers/promo and a full event video. Events can consist of:

  • Awards Ceremonies Videos:

  • Conference Videos

  • Publicity Event Videos:

  • Launch Parties Videos

  • Team Building Videos:

  • Event Teaser Videos:

A teaser video is a “behind the scenes” look into what your event is all about. It helps explain:

  • What the event is all about.
  • Who should attend.
  • Answers to common questions about the event.
  • Basic logistics.

An event teaser must have personality and warmth in the message. As a video, you can show the actual people behind the event and add your own culture and personality into it. This will engage viewers and make them interested in the event. A full event video will consist of a story: going from a build up of small events throughout the day to the big event and the overall achievement (such as finding out the winner of a competition). The event can be on one day or spread over weeks or months.

Sales and Marketing Videos

Sales and Marketing videos include:

  1. Promotional Videos

  2. Product Demo Videos

  3. Testimonial Videos

  4. Branded Videos

  5. Airport Media Videos

  6. Social Media Videos

  7. Video Email Videos

  8. Website Cinemagraphs

  9. Commercials

Promotional Videos

Promotional videos are similar to company profile videos as they introduce your business. However, they are used to introduce your brand, services or products without putting too much information about your company profile. They can be seen as videos that are used after the company profile video has been attained. Promotional videos can include holiday greetings, specifying a specific holiday to entertain clients.

Product Demo Videos

 

Showcase your product or service by means of an animated video or live-action.

 

An animated product video can be the perfect way to show potential customers how a product works and the benefits of using it. Unlike live action, animation gives you the freedom to break out of the real-world and simplify complex ideas or processes using whatever environments, characters and graphics you dream up. Videos like these allow current and potential customers to see your products in action at their own convenience, without having to rely on a rep to walk them through the process. Of course, videos like these are also valuable selling tools, as salespeople can send them along to prospects before or after meetings.

Customer Testimonial Videos

Customer testimonial videos are a way to let your customers do the talking for you. Putting your most successful, happy, or unique customers on screen is a powerful way to attach a real-life narrative to your product or service. Customer stories typically feature one or more customers talking testimonial-style about how your company has made a positive impact on their life or business.

 

The most valuable part of a customer story video is the getting your customers to vocalise the problem they were faced with and how your company provided a solution. Along with interview footage, this type of video is typically packed with lifestyle shots (known in the biz as b-roll) of your customer using your product or service in their own environment.

Branded Videos

Branded video content is a way of advancing a specific message or mission while keeping your company in the background. Branded video content should be authentic, entertaining, usually under 60 seconds, and target your core audience. Unlike traditional advertisements, branded videos don’t sell anything, in fact, most of this content doesn’t even mention the brand at all. Instead, branded video content helps humanise your business by connecting to viewers emotionally and strengthening your brand voice.
 

Aiport Media Videos

Social Media Videos

 

 

Video Email Videos

This type of video is used in email marketing, using contact information you obtained earlier to send users targeted content. The video can be used in internal and external digital newsletters. What better content to send than a video to catch the attention of your users? Give them a dose of surprise and differentiate yourself by using a video at this stage.

 

Website Cinemagraphs

A cinemagraph is using a video or gif that play in the background of your website. This attracts a reader’s attention to the clever use of movement. It also allows viewers to interact with the website and stay interested and navigate through the website. Click on image below to see the effect. Promotional videos are similar to company profile videos as they introduce your business. However, they are used to introduce your brand, services or products without putting too much information about your company profile. They can be seen as videos that are used after the company profile video has been attained. Promotional videos can include holiday greetings, specifying a specific holiday to entertain clients.

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Commercials

A video advertisement, like those you see on TV or the Internet, is a short (30 seconds or less) branding-oriented video that promotes your company, product or service. A commercial video is inherently high level and should not dive into the details of what you do and how you do it like an explainer video would. An advertisement is meant to grab attention, garner interest, and get people excited about what you do. It’s a teaser designed to draw in potential customers.

Information Videos

Information videos consist of:

  • Tutorial Videos

  • Animated Explainer Videos

  • Educational Videos

  • Infographic Videos

Tutorial Videos

 

Tutorial videos are instructional videos that walk viewers through the proper way to use your product or service. For a website or mobile app, this usually involves a screencast and step-by-step directions on how to perform certain functions within your user interface (UI). For a physical product, this may include some live action shots of your product’s features and a visual guide to making them work. Tutorial videos cut down the ambiguity for users working their way through your product or service, which means fewer calls or emails for your customer support team. Rather than trying to talk someone through their issue with detailed copy, or crafting an instruction manual, tutorial videos allow users to follow along visually. Finally, since so much of your content marketing strategy will likely be geared toward non-promotional, thought leadership content, you should utilise video for those purposes too. The easiest video type to start with is the “how to.” This is a great opportunity to repurpose blog posts that require lots of screen shots and visuals to effectively demonstrate a particular process. As they say, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million!

Animated Explainer Videos

An explainer video is designed to explain your company, product, service or subject in a way that your audience can understand. Most explainer videos cover:

 

  • The problem
  • The solution
  • The features and benefits; and
  • How the solution works.

 

An explainer video must be short and engaging, while still conveying valuable, concise information.

At BWD we begin with understanding the company, product, service or subject we’re trying to explain. As a team, we then brainstorm creative ways to present and explain the content. A good explainer video concept needs to balance creative and strategy. The creative is required to engage the viewer and give them a reason to care about watching your video. The strategy is required to ensure you deliver a message that resonates with your viewers and motivates them to take the desired action.

Educational Videos

Educational video content is useful, informative, share-worthy content that helps position you and your company as an expert or thought leader in your field.  It could be a behind the scenes look into how your product is made, an animated infographic, or a video about current trends in your industry.  You might also consider turning your most popular blog posts and most frequently asked questions into educational video content.  If it’s something your audience would benefit from knowing, it would make a good candidate for a video. Educational videos should be used to generate awareness and build trust. They are not meant to sell a product or service. They’re most successful as an engagement tool on social media or strategically placed on your blog as part of your content marketing efforts.

Infographic Videos

 

Turning an infographic into a video. Infographics:

  • Also known as Information graphics

 

  • A graphic visual representation of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly

 

  • Can improve cognition by utilising graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends

 

An infographic video combines storytelling, visual text, and a voice-over to make complex issues understandable, memorable and to highlight certain points.

Entertainment Videos

Entertainment videos include:

  1. Music Videos

  2. Travel Videos

  3. Behind the Scenes Videos

 

Music Videos

On social media, video is proven to be the strongest type of content – it leads to the most engagement, the largest number of views, and spreads faster than any other type of content. Not many groups are putting the time and care necessary to produce a professional music video – and that’s why you should beat them to it! A really solid sounding and looking video will make you stand out among your competition and give you a sense of professionalism. A music video can give you an edge over your competitors.

 

Travel Videos

Travel videos are a great way to show places or to advertise incentive trips for your company – and it motivates to staff to work even harder knowing they have the opportunity to go on holiday!

 

 

 

Behind the Scenes Videos

Do you have funny moments in the office or processes that you go through in completing a task? Why don’t you create a video showing the steps towards the end goal? This will help people understand what goes on ‘Behind the Scenes’. Show your personality and culture in the office environment. You can show silly and more human moments – tripping up or pulling pranks on colleagues. The video could be moments when making any of the videos in this blog: from music videos to tutorials to testimonials. All the bloopers could be transformed into one behind the scenes video.

 

News Videos

News Videos include:

  1. Online Journalism Videos

  2. Interview Videos

Online Journalism Videos

Bringing light to a matter in the news or creating your own company news channel could interest viewers in a more catchy way than writing an article.  Video can capture the audience’s attention more easily and for a longer period of time due to a deeper connection to the story. Instead of words on a page, there are actual moving images of a news event in video journalism.

 

Interview Videos

Interviewing a well-known person in their field about themselves and their achievements. Being interviewed on a certain topic – expertise. Interview to help promote a product or service – brains behind the operation. Informational, promoting a cause.

 

Remember videos can cover multiple sections in one video e.g. Promotional and branded video. If you are interested please contact BWD Advertising for your video marketing strategy plan.

24 Apr

Posted at 13:00h in Photography

It’s quite easy to speak about a product or service with just words, but the more important question is whether are words enough? Or do you need more than words to promote your product?

In this current age where the is so much data about most subject matters, most people when they hear about a product or service are inclined to check it online. Beyond the multiple words we can say the premise still holds as they are people who are more visual” a picture speaks a thousand words”. So can you afford to only use one medium to communicate your message about your product?

The great thing about the information age is that you are not just subject to people telling the story of your product but you have the platform to narrate your own story and other people will corroborate it.There are different ways of narrating the story of your product; photography is one of the best forms of story telling since it gives you the opportunity to place your product in the best light it can be.

Now that we have established that product photography is an essential part of your storytelling/website or profile. Here are some things to consider when conducting a product shoot.

The product

We need the product in the best form it can be at the time, since there are different schools of thoughts when it relates to what stage you should market your product. Regardless of whether you prefer to market the product  midway into production or you believe in the “build it and they will come” . The product needs to be presented in the best form it can be since photo will only showcase what is already there and you don’t always get a second chance to make a first impression.

Location

Where you choose to place your product largely depends on how you want to market your product. Your product needs to speak to the people/entity it is targeting. If your product is a high end product you need a location that resonates  with the target audience, by showing how your product adds value to there lifestyle. You can either do a studio photo shot which enables you to change the background of the product and highlight all its features, this is very helpful when you have a E-commerce website since it  give people to platform to view your product from different angles.

Outdoor shoot allows you to showcase your product in day to day activities.

Lighting

The best form of light that you have at your disposal is natural light, but natural light is not always enough in all settings. You need to have additional lighting on especially with indoor product shoot in order to properly highlight all the features of the product.

Models

Model show how to relate relate with your product on a day to day basis.

Now that you have considered all the factors that I have highlighted choose the factors that best relate to your marketing plan and product. BWD is more than able to assist you with any product photography queries.

21 Apr

Posted at 15:42h in Corporate Identity

Your company profile is often the first interaction people have with your business and what it has to offer, kinda’ like a tinder profile for your business. But if yours looks like it predates the Clinton administration, It might be time to level up.

01. Negative Space

“But can’t we squeeze something in there?” If you’ve ever caught yourself uttering this phrase, then this, my friend… is for you. Negative space is a fundamental part of any good design. Negative space loves you, it’s not an evil boogeyman lurking in the shadows and plotting to make your layout “look empty”. But when used properly, negative space can be a great way to introduce balance and breathing space to your design and create a deeper meaning to your designs by playing off of the relationship between negative and positive spaces.

02. Dramatic Typography

“ Can We make it 18 point Arial…Bold!?” Believe or not there is a galaxy of fonts out there beyond Old Faithful- Arial, Bold, and inviting some new fonts to the party can be a simple yet surprisingly effective way of modernising and drastically improving any design.
Typography needn’t merely be a vehicle for communicating your copy—it’s for making brash and bold statements. Experimenting with big, bold typefaces that grab the attention and engage the viewer. You can create a sense of drama through size and spacing or via unique textures colours, and arrangements.

03. Abstraction

“But that what does that have to do with me?” If everything was spelt out for you and presented on a silver plate, life would be rather dull don’t you think? Great design needs to communicate- yes- but it should also engage, challenge the viewer, offer a different perspective, be radical…say something! So berating people with visuals of suit-clad stock brokers for your investment company profile won’t be an insult to their sensibilities, but it won’t make them sit up and take notice either. Incorporating some abstraction in your design can be a great tool for engaging with the audience, and inviting them to ponder about the concept of the deign rather than being badgered with the same old thing that they’ve seen a million times over.

04. Bright, Bold Colours

“Isn’t that green a little too green?” They say fortune favours the brave, well that holds true for design as well. One of the most psychologically effective tools in the design arsenal is colour, yep that little six digit Hex code can be the difference between a hit and a miss. Move away from those drab and muted, 1960s-inspired colour palettes in favour of bright pastels, luminous neons, and richer, more saturated colours. If your goal is to introduce your designs to the 21st century, a vibrant new colour scheme might just be the thing that that old profile has been begging for, besides all you need to do look is check out Pantone’s Spring 2016 Color Report to realize that, that old “safe” corporate blue is well past its sell-by date.

05. Modularity.

“Will this be enough content? I can add more” Modular layout design style does an exceptional job at breaking up long reams text and organising it into manageable chunks of copy that’s easier to digest and less intimidating than a layout that resembles an economics textbook. Instead of long-form blocks of text. making the information more manageable entices more people to want to interact with it. Modular design functions as a fantastic management tool while also it also looking really professional and being a welcome breath of fresh air.

21 Apr

Posted at 07:28h in Social Media

Social media has become a prominent platform for various diverse, unique, and shared-interest communities to thrive. A platform like Twitter has become a way for many people to join in the conversation and make their voices heard. The trick with Twitter is that your posts have to follow certain rules e.g. character limits, hashtags, and handles. Sometimes, it can be a bit daunting to know what exactly you need to focus on with copywriting.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to master the art of twitter.

Even shorter still

The 140-character limit is already a challenge, especially if you want to commit as few grammatical sins as possible, while still speaking the language of Twitter. Unfortunately, some bad news awaits. Shorter than that is even better. According to Social Media Examiner, shorter tweets of 110 characters get 17% more engagement. This is attributed to the fact that you are leaving space for people to retweet, add their own comments, and tag someone.

Don’t go pre-teen with your text

We all love (or love to hate) abbreviations. Although they are a time-saver, don’t use abbreviations to the point where it makes you look like a pre-teen texting his/her best friend. It will make you look lazy and sloppy, and that is definitely not what you want to convey to your consumers. Be aware of the brand language that you use and make sure that it always speaks back to brand’s personality and identity. It’s better to stick to the normal grammar rules as much as possible, because you don’t want to leave the reader confused about what you are trying to say.

Go for the retweet

Retweets can be a very good way to reach new audiences and gain new customers. Research indicates that tweets that get the most retweet often contain a direct request. So, don’t be afraid to be bold and ask your followers for a retweet or ‘RT’. This tactic shouldn’t be used too often though – you can easily come across as spam. Tweets with third-person singular pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’ also receives more retweet, states some studies.

 

All about interaction

Don’t irritate your followers with links to your products and don’t constantly tell them how wonderful you are. You have to interact with them first (just like real life). A good recommendation is the 80/20 principle when it comes to Twitter. This means that 80% of the tweets you post should drive interaction; retweeting relevant content, replying to your followers, and answering questions. This means that although your copy for Twitter may be brilliant, it will be a lot less impactful if the social and interactive aspect of your brand is missing.

Timing does count

When Buffer analysed over 4,3 million tweets, they found that ‘early in the morning’-tweets receive the most clicks, but ‘at night’-tweets receive the most favorites and retweets. Depending on what your goals are with Twitter, this could be something to keep in when looking to optimize your impact and interactions.

 

 Keep it upbeat

It’s better to keep tweets positive and upbeat. Positive messages are more likely to inspire your followers to click on the link you posted or reply to your message. Avoid negative stories and language.

Twitter can be a complicated world to navigate between hashtags, handles, and character limits, but it doesn’t have to be. With these guidelines and a bit of practice, you will be tweeting like a professional.

Remember: A tweet a day keeps the unfollowers away.

11 Apr

Posted at 15:11h in Video Animation

 

If you still considering having a still infographic, guess what? you still stuck in the past. Animated and interactive infographics are the future. Interactive infographics engage with viewers better and can help add interest to topics that might otherwise come across as dull.

An infographic is a popular form of content marketing that can help you simplify a complicated subject or turn an otherwise boring subject into a captivating experience.

Our brains process images differently to visuals. Visuals are processed in simultaneous, as this part of brain is relatively old in evolutionary terms.

 

Why the digital move?

 

In the world, we live in today “content is king” but not everyone has time to consume all of it. However, we live in a digital world where everything is interactive, so on the flip side of the coin I would say “interactive content is king”.

Statistics show that interactive content marketing helps businesses to get distinction in the market.

Interactive infographics lay a firm foundation for generating and converting leads. Further, it makes your marketing plan livelier and engaging.

 

In a nutshell, interactive infographics allow you to…

  • Paginate your infographics for easier navigation
  • Allow users to click and reveal more information
  • Get users to highlight certain areas of the infographic
  • Add scrolling affects

 

How does an animated infographic benefit your company?

 

An interactive or animated infographic has essential elements that are vital for businesses. These critical components can:

  • Attract an audience
  • Increase engagement
  • Boost site traffic
  • Use as one technique that supports goals for increased search visibility.
  • Most powerful way to attract backlinks

 It’s easy to see why more and more brands are looking to embrace the benefits of interactive content (animated infographic) into their overall marketing strategies.

 

What is the impact of an animated or interactive infographic?

 

It’s no surprise that infographics perform incredibly well as a form of visual content marketing. The fact is that we are living in a world that creates new forms of content each day.

  • If your infographic can attract customers or even inform them, then undoubtedly it will boost your sales and generate high revenues for your business.
  • Interactive or animated infographic plays a vital role in maintaining the attention of online audiences when they come across your content in search of information.
  • They are highly effective in educating your consumers.

 

How do you distribute Interactive infographic?

 

If you haven’t thought about influencer marketing as a source of distribution, then certainly consider it. If you’re providing value to your audiences, they’ll usually be more than happy to share your content.

As for paid amplification, it’s a good idea to test platforms, including these:

  • Twitter ads
  • Facebook ads
  • LinkedIn ads
  • YouTube ads
  • Googles ads

If you’re not already using any of those, first determine whether your target audience is there. Then test on a small scale and increase budget as you see results come in.

 

 

How do you get hold of an interactive infographic?

 

Guess what it’s true when they say “ask and you shall receive’’ depending on how much you have, just joking. Media agencies are a great example, for instance Breeze Website Designers (BWD) has managed to help brands achieve bringing commutation ideas to life for the past 10 years.

It’s no doubt that BWD will provide you with amazing interactive infographic and their client tell will vouch for that.

 

How much does it cost to obtain an interactive infographic?

 

As you may know, making an interactive infographic requires a lot of effort. It is not a one man’s job to interpret the data, come up with great visualization techniques and finally design it. So, it is better to hire a team which has people who are experts in each field, than hiring a freelancer who may be expert in one field and not so good in others.

 

Breeze Website designers has a data analysing team, conceptualising team and a design team who are gaining expertise in their respective fields to give the best output for the client.

Pricing model:

It’s a bit complex and we can think of different schemes such as the following:

  • Total effort required for the work (This is a man hour measure for the effort required for a work done)
  • Volume of work from the client (It saves us a lot of time if we are engaged on a continuous basis or on a repetitive mode, it saves us time understanding requirements, preferences and marketing effort and time)
  • Time span

Conclusion

Interactive content is powerful stuff – from boosting click rates to gathering more data and converting more leads. And it’s not rocket science to get started: Take any of your existing content and pull out themes, concepts, and ideas that could inform an interactive experience.

Remember what is crucial is understanding your audience and their needs, powerful content will result in an impactful interactive infographic. 2017 is really the year that your company goes digital with interactive infographics.

 

Be bold and take the first step by contacting www.bwd.co.za/contact/

06 Apr

Posted at 10:24h in Digital Marketing

 

Maintain a Consistent Brand Identity Across Social Media Networks

 

A brand consists of interconnected arrangements of ‘business personality’ traits. It is important to keep these ‘traits’ of your brand in mind and most importantly, consistent , even on different social media platforms. With the blasting development of computerized advertising, steady brand messages are becoming noticeably easier to execute and reach an audience. However, most organizations are at a pause as to being more successful at networking their brand’s image consistently online.

 

Two cool brands that have done this well are Nike and Tshepy Boutique, these two brands have utilised the recipe of consistent branding, not only on social media, but in the actual brand and products offered – Think of this as sticking to a particular “theme”. The branding of your business needs to be consistent within itself, prior to attempting to be consistent on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

 

Advantages of Consistent Branding

 

Before we jump into the ‘how’, let’s discuss ‘why’ it is important to maintain consistency. Successful correspondence of your business and brand messaging is extremely important. Attempting to keep your messages predictable can actually help your brand develop a dedicated client base. The way your clients react to the growth of your business can change depending on your ability to maintain consistency. Having an awesome brand with a very organized correspondence plan will make consistent social media branding easy and most importantly, effective in the growth of your company.

 

Here Is How To Maintain Consistency On Different Social Media Platforms.

 

  1. Give your business one identity (refers to a visual or even a colour) that clients can identify with and immediately associate with the brand.
  2. Separate your business from competing brands – Go out of your way to make sure there’s nothing about your brand that could be mistaken for another, especially competitors , ie, brands of the same industry.
  3. Choose a voice – A voice refers to how you are speaking to your audience (This includes imagery as well as language)
  4. Remain active on social media platforms, try to post daily, if not weekly.
  5. Create a consistent look (profile pictures/cover pages).
  6. Post appropriate content, content that relates to your company , this automatically makes it easier to brand on social media platforms consistently. See below, an example of how Tshepy Boutique managed to brand consistently.

 

Facebook

 

 

 

Instagram

 

 

 

 

Twitter

 

Showcasing Tactics for Achieving Brand Consistency on Social Media

Now that all on the list has been checked, apply all the principles across social media. Remember that social media branding goes beyond just having the same profile picture across platforms, the content you share needs to tie in with the brand. Your brand’s online networking will direct how the image of your brand performs. More people today utilize online media to inquire about a brand before giving it a shot. With that being said, it is now up to you to find a way of having a spectacular web presence. Like the old saying goes, “first impressions are important”. Once consistency has been achieved within your brand, consistent branding on social media almost happens by default. Here is an example of a brand that has maintained consistency within itself before trying to apply web consistency.

The Design and Graphical Elements

 

The look of your image is dictated by your logo, format, hues and all the other design components. Facebook and Twitter contain a huge amount of customization choices. Your company can make an outwardly striking page which mirrors your brand’s identity and message appropriately. Stock photography is an awesome cheat method of visually representing your brand with high resolution, striking imagery. Custom photography is also great for your brand because the message is understood more on a “personal” level, either way, the main thing to pay attention to is the quality of the images you choose to place, because these images represent your brand. When uploading content on social media, the best way to maintain consistency is through a Photoshop Template. This makes it easier to position imagery and text exactly the same on each image.

Here is an example of a brand, Tshepy Boutique that successfully uses stock as well as custom photography on their social media pages.

 


Stock Photography

 

 

 

Custom Photography

 

 

 

Consistency In Content

 

Some Broad Rules To remember With Regards To Visual Marketing:

 

-Keep the colours, logos and formats comparable over all the different networks.

 

-Use the same tone (language).

 

-Your website should be similar to the social media branding.

 

-Attempt to maintain visual unity.

 

-Don’t forget to give careful consideration to the colour palette, textual style, and other graphical components.

 

Consistency In Website

 

 

 

Consistency In Logo

 

 

 

 

Colour Usage

 

 

 

Moodboard

 

 

Maintain Consistency In Content

 

Although it is not advised to continuously post the same content on different social media platforms, there is a way of bringing about unity, without being identical in content. Consider your audience, and what type of people use the particular social media platform. For example, one would not necessarily post a link on Instagram because it is an image based platform. Another example, Instagram is more a platform for younger people, whereas Twitter is a platform used mostly by writers, or journalists. Understand what each of the different platforms entail, and design your content posting, based on that. Try not to bombard clients with similar content over and over, also keep the pace of uploading content somewhat fluctuated.

 

Send Consistent Social Signals

 

There are many platforms online that could guide you towards the right direction about keeping your brand consistent. Look at how big brands network on social media & attempt to apply this on your own brand. Another tip is to link your social media accounts, this makes it easier to manage and stay up to date with what & when content is being uploaded.

 

Social media branding can be an opportunity to expose the personality of your business. It is important to keep posting professional but not boring. Stay human, even though you are representing a business. Give users the opportunity to engage and communicate with your business online. Maintaining consistency in your branding is not actually the challenge, however, the challenge most brands face is being consistent with posting and keeping the audience engaged. Even if it is one post every two days, this is a means of marketing even if the user just scrolls down,. If this happens continuously, your brand will surely be remembered – ultimately that is what all businesses strive for.

 

 

 

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03 Apr

Posted at 09:22h in Website Design

One of the most common questions we get from prospective clients is ” have a site that I paid a large amount of money for and it looks decent yet we’re not getting enough leads or sales. Could you help us?”In practically every case, the appropriate response is yes and one of the main reasons they are not getting the leads or sales they expected is on account of the utilized a web architecture firm to plan and manufacture their organization site as opposed to utilizing a digital advertising agency that really utilises what they prescribe todrive their own particular business.

All things considered, here are 10 of the most widely recognised reasons why your present site isn’t creating enough leads and/ or sales

1. You neglect your website

You spend a great deal of money on public exhibitions, print, signage, vehicle wraps, TV and radio promoting, however with regards to your site, you invest almost no energy or money on making it as well as can be expected be, despite the fact that you realize that each and every individual that ever considers purchasing from your organization will visit your site before settling on an official conclusion. As it were, you see your site as a cost – or an indispensable evil – as opposed to an income creating resource, and you’re leaving a considerable measure of money on the table as a result of it.

 

 

2. Manage your online reputation more efficiently

You could easily generate dozens of great online reviews. Reviews are very important because you read customer reviews yourself, but when it comes to managing your own online reputation, you haven’t worked a review strategy into your process.

 

 

3. You don’t write blogs

You don’t invest any energy making blog content for your site. Try not to stress, you are not the only one on this one. The issue is that blogging is an imperative web index positioning component. At the end of the day, week after week blog entries (or more) will enhance your odds on flying up on the primary page of Google. Besides, dynamic site sites are demonstrated to help expand web movement change rates by at least 150%.

 

 

4. You are not investing in intergrating video on your website

You don’t have any explainer video’s or podcasts on your site. You are losing an extraordinary chance to warm up leads by setting up trust and validity on your site. In that capacity, your transformation rates are not as high as they ought to be.

 

 

5. You’re not running your pay per click campaign effectively

You as of now have a hunch that your Google AdWords crusade is not producing the measure of leads it ought to be. You’ve never observed the reports and don’t know how much the organization you contracted is spending on your campaigns or and the amount of that spending they are keeping in their pocket. Indeed, you’re most likely paying for clicks on watchwords that are unimportant to your business, yet you don’t know since you’ve never observed a click through report.

 

 

6. Your site is not responsive

Your site is not compatible with iPhone, iPad and other cell phones. You lose a bigger number of clients than you think in light of the fact that about this. Furthermore, Google is making versatile cordiality a noteworthy positioning element this year. On the off chance that you have awesome Google rankings now and your site is not completely mobile optimised, you may kiss those rankings farewell soon. To know about responsive design, read this article here.

 

 

7. Your SEO is not as effective

You don’t have any natural search engine visibility. When you write in your item or administration in your city, you are mysteriously absent. You are not endeavoring at search engine optimization (SEO), or you’ve been scorched by a SEO organization, or you are right now working with a SEO firm that is not getting you results.

 

 

8. You have poor social media presence

You’re not active in social networking in light of the fact that “you don’t have sufficient energy” despite the fact that you realise that is not valid. A dynamic web-based social networking channel creates demand for your products, helps your organization set up an association with the community, and adds to your search engine rankings. Read this article to improve your social media presence.

 

 

9. Your website content is not interesting

Back in the times of “Manufacture it and they will come”web composition, substance was fundamentally the words you put on your static site pages that would remain the same for quite a long time to come. For a long time this really worked sensibly well if the substance on your website pages was catchphrase streamlined. Yet, as we as a whole know, Google isn’t in the matter of giving a truly pleasant search involvement, they’re in the matter of offering publicising. So in the course of recent years, Google has ceaselessly refreshed the calculation they use to figure out which locales appear on the principal page of their search results and which sites/pages get kicked into the storm cellar. All under the appearance of Google attempting to give a superior affair to individuals searching the web for answers to their inquiries and issues.

A few things are getting to be plainly evident as the tide settles on the end of 2014; one, creating significant and valuable substance on a reliable premise is basically imperative and two, how well your content is recieved by the web can have a truly enormous effect on your outcomes by the day’s end.

So what do we mean by “important, valuable and predictable”? By reliable we mean both consistent and much of the time, for example, one great blog entry  every week. (Much of the time = week after week, regular=every week).

By important and helpful we mean making content that resounds with your prospects as they go through the purchasing procedure for your item or administration. As per Forrester, 70-90% of the purchasers voyage is made through online research, some time before a prospect turn into a lead at your organization.

In case regardless you’re dealing with your business constrain with measurements like dials/day, you’re a dinosaur, best case scenario and you should call senior natives since they are the main individuals left on the planet who answer their telephone notwithstanding when they don’t perceive the individual calling them on their guest ID. Keen organizations today realize that prospects search for data on the web and do a dominant part of their research before regularly connecting with an organization for a demo, value cite, information demand or arrangement. On the off chance that your organization doesn’t have an arrangement to make content that answers their inquiries and concerns and distribute it on the web, you will be helpless before your rivals that do.

 

 

10. You don’t enough Calls-To- Action

You are spending a huge amount of cash on showcasing and publicizing to direct people to your site, yet can’t make sense of why it’s not changing over into more deals. This is on account of you’re not guiding guests to a convincing suggestion to take action on your site in a way that changes over those visits into a deal or possibly draws them into your business channel. See examples here

31 Mar

Posted at 07:47h in Advertising

The Best Logo for Your Company

How easy is it to establish a simple and effective logo for your business? Actually, it is quite simple. Many businesses tend to overthink the process of choosing the correct logo, and this makes sense because this is the face of your company.  Getting the correct logo is actually a simple procedure – simple in the sense that it does not need to be a complicated artwork. In fact, the less complexity, the higher the chances of success. In this day and age, everything is fast paced and moving at a rapid speed, try to think of your logo in the context of a street sign. While on the move, one should still have a few seconds to look at it – that is not the challenge, the challenge is to get people to see it and remember it.

Here are the top elements to consider when choosing the perfect logo for your business!

 

1)     Less is More, Effortless Design

As an individual, one would generally like their face to be remembered. The same principle applies with logos, and what better way to be remembered than not having too many elements to have to store in your mind. This brings us to simplicity. Simple logo’s are proven to be the most effective and memorable types of logo’s. Your company needs a face, and that is the role of the logo – something recognizable and of course,memorable. Less will always be more in logo design, keep it as effortless as possible, that’s how one can make sure that their company logo is striking. Effortless design is striking design, and striking design is excellent design, this is definitely what you want.

 

2)    Using colour that emphasises meaning

Colour, is the biggest cheat code when trying to reach the subconscious minds of your audience. This sounds like a magical remedy, and in essence it really is.The use of colour of your logo should be relevant to the company as well as the emotions of the audience. You have complete control over what emotions you wish your audience to experience when viewing your logo. Remember to make sure the logo uses colours that are representative of the company, in such a way that it doesn’t negatively affect your brand’s identity. Do not use too many colours for your logo , 1-3 colours is the standard amount of colours to be used. More than 3 colours is not recommended but if you feel strongly about it, no one is stopping you. You ultimately want your logo to last forever, so be careful of representing your company with too many colours. Memorable logo’s usually have less colours, take the logo for Nike and Apple as an example of successful monochromatic logos.

 

3)    Memorable & Timeless

When branding the ‘image’ of your company, it important to maintain consistency in order to make it memorable and timeless. Memorable logos are usually simple. Timeless logos are usually simple as well. Something that is relevant now, might not be relevant in a few years but simplicity is timeless This is also the key to ensuring whether your logo will withstand the test of time. You want your logo to be timeless because when you continuously re-brand, your audience automatically loses track of the brand and that will affect their loyalty towards your brand. This happens because your brand will appear unreliable and the audience has no reason to stay loyal to a brand that’s unreliable and forever changing.

 

   

4)     Versatile & Appropriate

Versatility in this case refers to placement of logo in different places. The logo should be versatile enough to be resized smaller or bigger, used in grayscale, black, white, inverse etc. If this does not apply to your logo then it is possible that your logo has too much detail. Remember, the more simple it is, the more effective. Keep the brand in mind when developing your logo – the logo should be an appropriate visual representation of the company. This is the face of your company and you need the face to be as crisp as possible.

 

5)     Keep It Fresh

When choosing a logo for your company, the last thing you want to do is copy and paste something that already exists. This is literally the worst thing to do for obvious reasons. What you do want to do is keep the logo design fresh. Fresh design doesn’t necessarily refer to it being funky and playful, but fresh refers to originality more than anything. The best way to stand out is by having a fresh logo, I cannot emphasize how important it is to make sure your logo is original. Fresh logo’s are usually well thought out and immediately have a link to what the company is all about.

Ultimately , these steps seem easy to follow, but we all know the opposition between theory and practice. It is important to get your logo designed by a qualified designer who already understands these principles, this will make life a lot easier. Finding the ‘face’ of your business will entail trial and error processes, but this guideline should narrow everything that is  crucial down for you, and make your life much easier. Contact experts in branding, BWD Advertising (https://www.bwd.co.za/logo-design-process/) to assist in your logo design.

 

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