If your company does not have an online brand presence then basically you're Nuts!
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s), who fail to have an online brand presence are the one’s losing out! Forget the days of “Build it and they will come”, Irish consumers or "Internet Users" are already there, on computers or mobile phone devices to today…
“We are now living in what some people call the digital age, meaning that computers have become an essential part of our lives.”
Young people who grow up with PCs and mobile phones are called the digital generation. You probably noticed this Christmas how the young folk of today received mobile phones, laptops, iPads, computer gaming equipment or something to do with technology and or the internet, it’s growing and it’s growing fast.
With that in mind...
Let me try and highlight to you that nearly all types of queries today, be it for; banking, travel, ordering food or seeking the very best quotes for that all-important house extension involves Technology, Computers and the Internet.
On 17 June 1991 Telecom Éireann delivered a leased line to the O’Reilly Institute in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), that was a whopping 26 years ago. Today, according to CSO figures, 82% of Irish households are connected to the internet and EU figures show that 78% of Irish people consider themselves regular users.
On top of this, 97% of businesses are connected to the internet and most of the internet-based companies (Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc) have bases in Ireland. (No Brainer).
81% of households now have internet access Irish businesses are still not engaging in e-commerce, despite the majority of Irish consumers buying and transacting online
1 in 6 Irish SMEs, or 17%, still have no website, social media account, or any online presence whatsoever. Over half of these offline SMEs have no intention of building a website in the near future.
71% of Irish consumers find it “extremely frustrating” when a business is not online and 3 in 4 say they are more likely to purchase from a business that is online. (Enough Said). 6.5 billion Euro’s spent on-line by Irish consumers in 2015
So how can you increase or create your brand presence online?
Branding is what sums up your company, the emotional connection between your company and your companies potential clients, a way of defining your business to yourself, your team and your external audiences. A mood board presented to the market place associated to your product/service, depicting confidence and knowledge in your specified area of expertise.
Many think of branding only in terms of the brand identity such as the name or logo associated with a company product or service, but brand gurus seem agreed that it is much more than that – it is dependent on a customer’s psychological affinity for a product. A Brand is described by Leslie de Chernatony and Malcolm McDonald in their classic 1992 book ‘Creating Powerful Brand’ as;
“An identifiable product or service augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant unique added values which match their needs most closely. Furthermore, its success results from being able to sustain these added values in the face of competition.”
To create a confident and user friendly brand presence online you can apply the following to your company’s requirements:
Review the product or service your business offers, pinpoint the space in the market it occupies and research the emotive and rational needs and concerns of your customers and potential clients. Get a statistical view of a population, generally including age, gender, income, schooling, general occupations and so on. For advertisers to be successful, they must be keenly aware of demographics and your business.
Your brand character should promote your business, connect with your customer base and differentiate you in the market. You will need to follow most if not all the guidelines below, for an online presence that works all day long (and night);
COMPANY NAME: Your company name plays a monumental role in a brand's growth and perception, meaning it can completely make or break a company.
Try to keep it short and simple, it has to convey the right message and it has to wow the audience.
CORPORATE IDENTITY: A Well Designed Logo – DO NOT go for the $5 option or these Template Sites, or do so and you’ll find out what I mean!
CORPORATE FONT: Choose again a really nice font family that suites the vibe of your
Company Brand. Make sure you have all the different styles and weights.
Your company logo is what people associate with, it’s the first introduction to potential clients, the first impression of your company and it is what most people either like or dislike straight off the bat. To the general public, logos serve as an instant reminder of a company or a product; to the client they're the point of recognition on which their branding hangs; and to a designer they represent the challenge of incorporating the clients' ideologies into one single graphic. (NICE...)
Design a long version for on-line and off-line material and a shorter version for the likes of your Facebook Business Page, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
No wonder, then, that logo design features so prominently in our lives. In an age where everyone must have a website to support their product, service or the company behind it, the demand for a top-class logo has never been higher.
TAGLINE / SLOGAN: A slogan is an advertising tagline or phrase that advertisers create to visually express the importance and benefits of their product. it’s a theme to a campaign that usually have a genuine role in people’s lives. It has the ability to loan people’s time and attention by putting consumers at the heart of the solution to achieve a successful online brand presence and awareness.
COLOUR PALETTE: It’s very important to have consistency across all Marketing Material, and colour is a major factor to me. Go with a comforting theme of earthy colours if that represents your company or maybe something fiery and bright?
PHOTOGRAPHY/ILLUSTRATIONS: Choose a range of good quality imagery, you have a choice of image collection, the photographic route, Illustrations, which are great to use and cost effective, you can find these online or what is becoming very popular now is
video messages.
WELL DESIGNED WEBSITE: A Website is so important these days for your online brand presence. Create a professional look and feel online through your site and remember not to over load it with too much content, make sure all your content has relevance and remember “Content is King,” ad in “Key Words” that relate to your company, this will help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Include and update ongoing BLOGS like this one to your site and when searched for these key words, search engines like Google or Bing etc. will send out “Bots” to find you!
SOCIAL MEDIA: This is a great way to generate traffic to your site and is called “Inbound Marketing,” this basically means that you are driving potential clients or customers to your site for FREE.
I will expand on these bullet points above in my next blog very soon and keep you updated as often as possible!!!
You can see how our team of communicating experts at “DM Talk for SME’s,” have put things in place thus far. I think a great example for you guys thinking of starting your own SME or who have been in business for a number of years would be the current advertising campaign and a company that always’ “Hits the nail on the head” is Sky Broadband & The Lego Batman Movie "Epic trailer" by WCRS (take a look at the consistency).
Sweet… OK until next time!
Clive ;)
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