Category: Marketing

In today’s crowded market, establishing a unique brand identity has become crucial for businesses of all sizes. One of the essential components of creating a strong brand identity is developing a cohesive color palette that effectively communicates your brand’s values and message to your target audience. A well-designed color palette can enhance your brand’s recognition, strengthen customer loyalty, and increase the overall appeal of your brand. 

Here are five tips to help you create a cohesive color palette for your brand: 

Understand color psychology 

Color psychology is the study of how colors influence human behavior, emotions, and perceptions. Different colors evoke different emotions and have unique meanings. Understanding the psychology of color can help you select colors that align with your brand’s personality, mission, and values. For instance, blue is often associated with trust and reliability, while red is associated with energy and passion. Yellow is often associated with optimism and creativity, while green represents growth and harmony. 

Limit your color choices 

It’s tempting to use many colors in your branding to make it stand out, but too many colors can be overwhelming and confusing for your customers. Instead, limit your color choices to two to four main colors. Choose a primary color that represents your brand’s identity and values, then add a few complementary colors to support and enhance it. This approach will create a consistent and cohesive look and feel for your brand. 

Consider color harmony 

When selecting colors for your brand, it’s essential to consider color harmony. Harmony refers to how well colors work together and how they create a balanced and unified visual experience. There are various ways to achieve color harmonies, such as using complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel), analogous colors (colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel), or monochromatic colors (variations of a single color). 

Use color in different ways 

Using color in different ways can add depth and interest to your branding. Experiment with using your colors in different combinations, such as using your primary color for your logo and a complementary color for your website or marketing materials. You can also use color to differentiate different sections of your website or to highlight important information. 

Test your color palette 

Before finalizing your color palette, test it across different mediums, such as print and digital platforms, to ensure that it looks consistent and visually appealing. Consider how your colors will look in various lighting conditions and how they will translate to different materials, such as packaging or merchandise. 

In conclusion, a cohesive color palette is a critical component of creating a strong brand identity. By understanding color psychology, limiting your color choices, considering color harmony, using color in different ways, and testing your color palette, you can create a visually appealing and consistent brand that effectively communicates your brand’s values and message to your target audience.

You know how amazing your product is—and it’s now time to head online and let the world know just what you have to offer. By using innovative online avenues to market your product, you can step ever closer to financial freedom once and for all. Ready to get started? Here’s a look at the top five hacks to market your product online and let everyone know how they can benefit from buying one for themselves.

Create Your GMB Profile

Your Google My Business profile increases your company’s visibility and helps build trust in your brand. When people search for your company name, the profile pops up and offers an in-depth overview of your business.

Your customers will instantly have access to your company description and photos, contact information, and online reviews. If you have a brick-and-mortar company, the profile will also tell them your hours and where to find your storefront.

Once your GMB profile is set up, you can promote your products using targeted posts. Don’t forget to create a list of FAQs to help people move through the buyer’s journey by getting answers to their questions quickly.   

Run a Contest or Giveaway

Everyone loves to win, so why not drum up interest in your product by running a contest or giveaway? You’ll get all eyes on your product specs, features, and benefits while revealing your brand to the world.

On top of that, each giveaway or contest helps bring more social media followers, email subscribers, and website visitors. You can also directly market your product through each phase of the event, including when you announce the winners.  

Collaborate with an Influencer

Partnering with an influencer can help you instantly get your product in front of your target audience. You just have to find someone who creates content about your industry and have them share reviews and tutorials centered around your product.

The influencer’s community already trusts their input, helping build confidence in your product from the start. In addition, their content will also help highlight your product’s features and benefits to show people why they’d want to buy it for themselves.

Build an Online Community

As people move through the buyer’s journey, they want to get support that eases their concerns about buying and using your product. You can provide that support by building an online community for your brand.

There are many ways to create a community, too, such as making a Facebook group, Discord channel, or Slack workspace. You’ll want to lead the conversations, answer questions, and even organize events on a regular basis to make the community feel valuable to all your visitors.

Create Helpful Web Content

Web content can serve as an on-demand resource that helps people learn about your product and feel good about buying it. You can also use web content to drive traffic to your site and social media pages by using search engine optimization techniques.

When creating web content, think about what your customers might want to know about your product. Then, write up the web pages, landing pages, and blog posts with as much info as you can provide. For even better results, consider using paid ads to drive traffic to your landing pages and then let your content do the rest of the work.

Focus on one product promotion method at a time to get the ball rolling. Eventually, you’ll want to cast a wide net by putting all these online marketing methods to work for your brand.

Marketing is a lot more important than the average person might realize, especially when it comes to fast-food restaurants. Most people already know what fast food joints are already in their towns and cities, but might need that extra push to be convinced into heading there for a meal. Because of this, restaurants dump a ton of money into marketing and making themselves look better than the competition.

There have been plenty of dud campaigns along the way that have cost restaurants millions, but then there have been some that drove up revenue so much that the marketing campaigns felt like pennies in comparison. Here are five of those campaigns that fall into the latter category, and are not only remembered by people who were alive when they ran but are known to those born years after.

Have It Your Way

Back in the day if you went to a fast-food restaurant and wanted to make some substitutions to your order, there was a good chance that you would’ve simply been told to order something else. That all changed in the early 1970s when Burger King released their “Have It Your Way” campaign, allowing customers to alter their meals. In fact, Burger King encouraged people to change their orders.

If you didn’t want mayo on your Whopper, Burger King told people that “special orders don’t upset us.” The jingle has been a staple for Burger King ever since, and an altered version was used in recent years. You may know it better as the “Whopper Whopper” commercial that played several times during seemingly every sporting event and became an earworm for millions.

I’m Lovin’ It

In Germany, McDonald’s released an ad campaign called “Ich Liebe Es,” which became a familiar catchphrase worldwide. It was translated into every native language for countries that had a McDonald’s, and in English-speaking countries, it was “I’m Lovin’ It”. In the early 2000s, McDonald’s went all-in on the ad campaign, even tabbing pop superstar Justin Timberlake to create a full-length jingle.

The song was even written by Pharrell Williams, showing just how serious McDonald’s was. The catchphrase became a permanent slogan for McDonald’s and its catchiness had people saying it even outside of the fast food context. Just how successful was the catchphrase in some countries? The Timberlake jingle became the number-one song for a brief period in Belgium.

Subway’s Weight Loss

As fast food became more prevalent in modern society, it was linked to the rapid increase of obesity worldwide. Many fast-food chains were scrambling to do something that would make them appear healthier to the public, and Subway was the one that came out on top. Using a spokesman who at the time seemed like a wholesome everyman that lost 250 pounds by eating Subway, the chain became the go-to for people who wanted fast food but also wanted to lose weight.

This increase in new customers caused Subway to rapidly expand around the world to become the most common fast food chain globally. The advent of the $5 footlong came along around the same time, but the increase in prices and the tainted legacy of Jared Fogle has knocked Subway from its top spot.

Where’s the Beef

Many people accused fast food restaurants of using small hamburger patties and large buns to make their sandwiches appear larger in advertising, and Wendy’s knew that. The burger chain wanted to rip on the likes of McDonald’s and Burger King for this practice, and enlisted the help of actress Clara Peller to look at their burgers and ask “Where’s the beef?”

The slogan became an international hit and caused Wendy’s to explode in popularity to the point where they were rivaling both of the big two. The “Where’s the Beef” campaign was so successful that it even launched a novelty song and was seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts around the world.

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

Another one of those slogans that really caught on to the point where people said it without even thinking about fast food was “Yo quiero Taco Bell?” In 1997, Taco Bell launched a marketing campaign where a real-life chihuahua named Gidget asked that very question, and was voiced by Carlos Alazraqui of “Reno 911” fame.

While many marketing campaigns only last for a couple of months at most, “Yo quiero Taco Bell” became a staple of their advertising for three years. Interestingly enough, though, Taco Bell was sued successfully for over $30 million when it was discovered that two men from Michigan pitched the idea to Taco Bell. The restaurant chain didn’t pay them royalties after denying their pitch in 1996.

Marketing is one of those things that seems really easy on the surface, but if you aren’t involved with it on a daily basis, it can be a lot more complicated than you think. There are a lot of intricacies that go into a great marketing campaign, and many moving parts, especially when it comes to your spending budget. While it’s not easy, it’s certainly not impossible to emulate what some of the most successful companies have done.

Whether you’re working for yourself or part of a large company that needs a marketing boost, there are some open secrets in the industry as to how you can find success. If you’ve hit a wall and are looking for ideas, here are five secrets from some of the greatest marketing campaigns that have been seen in the business world.

Keep It Short

It’s no secret that social media is the most dominant force in all of marketing these days as people move away from traditional cable television, magazines, and newspapers. Even streaming services have ad-free options, leaving a lot of companies to focus solely on social media because it’s the only place left where they know that they can get someone’s attention.

Because people scroll through social media so fast, there’s a very limited amount of time in which you can capture their attention. This has caused a lot of companies to turn their focus to short videos, which are much more attention-grabbing than a simple still image of an item that you’re selling. Make it funny, keep it short, and don’t lose that attention if you want to succeed.

Be Interesting

We alluded to it with the last tip, but you have to be interesting if you want to stand a chance against all of the other companies fighting for that minuscule amount of attention in the social media age. Think of the most boring commercials that you’ve ever seen. You probably can’t name any, right?

Now, think of the funniest or most outlandish commercial that you’ve seen. You can probably come up with a dozen of them just off the top of your head. Interesting, even if it has nothing to do with the product that you’re selling, is going to get people in the door. Getting that attention is the best thing that you can do as a marketer, and from there you can go into sales mode.

Inspire

If “funny” or “outlandish” isn’t what you’re aiming for, then being inspirational is another way of getting a lot of good attention. It’s one of those emotions that we respond to instantly, even when it comes to commercials. Think of movies like “Rocky” or “Hidden Figures”. People love a good inspirational story, and if you can tell one in 30 seconds or less, that will go a long way.

There have been a lot of companies that have had memorable marketing campaigns that were based around inspiration. Think of the Find Your Greatness campaign by Nike or the Space Jump campaign by Red Bull. We all want to see the pinnacle of human achievement, and attaching your brand’s name to that achievement is huge for marketing. 

Be Catchy

When a song is super catchy, it’s often referred to as an earworm. It doesn’t have to be a top 40 hit on the radio to fall into this category, though. A jingle that’s from a commercial can end up being just as big of an earworm. Anyone that has watched a football game will probably just randomly start singing “Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Whopper” because of the infectious Burger King jingle.

These days, people would say that Burger King is “living rent-free” in the heads of anyone that’s seen the commercial. All it takes is just to hear the jingle a couple of times and, all of a sudden, there’s that part of the brain that can’t escape the brand name. Is it a cheap way to get people to remember your brand? Maybe, but it works.

Uses Prices When Necessary

The last big secret for marketing campaigns is that you should never reveal the price during your first impression of advertising unless you know it’s lower than your competition. If you are indeed selling at a lower price, then that should be the main part of your marketing campaign. When people are aware that you’re offering the best price for them, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the campaign looks like.

After all, price is the biggest factor in what people buy throughout the world. If your price isn’t as low as some of your competitors, then you have to get their attention through the methods that we’ve discussed earlier. Either way, you now have a winning strategy for marketing regardless of price.

Starting a company is easy if you have the right amount of money, but making that company grow is the hard part. Successfully getting your name out there and offering the best services at the same time is a combination that countless companies attempt to do, but only a handful are able to do that.

Some of the companies that have become staples of your everyday life got that way because of their innovative growth strategies. Here’s a look at five of those corporations that went outside the box to become massive in size and revenue.

1. Facebook

When it started, Facebook was only for people who attended Harvard and eventually branched out to anybody with a verified college email address. Mark Zuckerberg knew that only a finite number of people could sign up for Facebook, and it sort of made Facebook an “exclusive” club that not everybody could get into.

After opening up Facebook to the public, Facebook took off like a rocket because of the floodgates of people who wanted to join. Afterward, Facebook began coming up with a new strategy for advertising that made the business one of the largest tech companies in the world. Once it reached a massive size, Facebook focused on growing with the Metaverse, while also acquiring messenger and photo apps to help bolster its services.

2. Amazon

Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore back in the 1990s, but things have changed tremendously since then. Now, Amazon is a one-stop shop for anything that you can think of, and delivery comes in an instant. There have been a lot of ways in which Amazon has grown, including cutting down on shipping costs through some masterful logistics that have made using the website more appealing to the public.

With the expansion of Amazon, the company began adding more services including Amazon Web Services, which has helped Amazon power the internet for a lot of the largest companies in the world. Bezos has even acquired businesses such as Whole Foods and Twitch to expand the company’s reach. Being able to master the art of shipping is what has really set Amazon apart, though.

3. Dollar Shave Club

One of the best ways that you can grow your business is through a tremendous marketing strategy, and few companies have shown how to do more with less than Dollar Shave Club. The company introduced interesting and hilarious advertisements to catch attention. The prices for Dollar Shave Club were already among the best, but they just needed eyes on the product.

Their marketing campaign went viral on the internet and once people were introduced to the website, it was an easy decision to use them for razor blades and other grooming services. The number of viral videos that Dollar Shave Club successfully created made their marketing budget really cheap, and the revenues that came in, as a result, were almost entirely profitable.

4. Red Bull

In terms of energy drinks, there are a ton of different brands to select from, but Red Bull tends to be the first one that comes to mind. Red Bull isn’t just a company, it’s an entire institution to the point where if you didn’t know they were an energy drink company, you probably wouldn’t know what they sell. Red Bull was able to grow tremendously during the 1990s and 2000s by handing out their product using young women in highly-branded vehicles and have put their name on everything since.

Red Bull sponsors just about everything under the sun these days. They want to make incredibly sure that the first image that comes to mind with energy drinks is the Red Bull logo. As a result, the company has a market share of around 40 percent, with revenues of over 8 billion Euros per year.

5. Spotify

Just like energy drinks, there are a lot of music streaming services, and many of them are aimed at the younger generation. While many large companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have all gotten into the streaming business, Spotify still stands out at the top. Not only is it user-friendly, but the algorithm makes it much better for new people to use.

Once Spotify was able to impress people with its suggestions, it was able to convert those that had gotten a free subscription into lifetime listeners. Spotify has the system perfected while other billion-dollar companies are still trying to figure it out.

Effective online marketing can push your company to grow in unexpected and delightful ways. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to market their company, or use the digital tools at their disposal. These five tips can help you market your company in real and meaningful ways.

1. Engage with Potential Customers

Engaging with customers keeps your company at the forefront of the people who could become your clients. There are many ways to engage with potential customers online.

• Use social media to establish a brand and nurture relationships with people who could benefit from your company’s servcies.
• Follow up with customer feedback, whether it’s negative or positive. Show clients you care.
• Start an email marketing campaign to keep clients thinking about you when they open their inboxes.
• Create an online forum that allows customers to engage with each other and with your company.

2. Learn the Needs of Your Customers with Digital Surveys

Use customer surveys and online engagement campaigns to learn what your customers need and want from your services. Knowing the needs of your customers can help you tailor your services and grow your company in ways that will benefit your clients. Learning about the needs of your customers also makes your them feel recognized and valued, which in turn can increase their loyalty to your business.

3. Establish Relationships Through Smart Online Tools

Develop an online loyalty program for your clients to benefit from when they’re engaging with your company. Revise your website and online tools to make interacting with your company easier. This way, when clients engage with your company, they’ll have positive experiences that will keep them coming back for more.

4. Nurture Online Relationships

Once the relationships between potential clients are established, nurture those online relationships with effective online content that clients need and want.

• Update your blog regularly with content that is engaging and interesting to clients.
• Offer online classes to clients who need to know more about your services or services related to your business.
• Create a newsletter for existing clients to keep them in the know about changes in your industry.

5. Stay Consistent in Your Efforts

Clients need to see consistent digital engagement in order to stay loyal to your company. Create a division within your company responsible for maintaining these online relationships with clients. What works one day may not continue to work in the future, unless you’re constantly updating your tactics and revising you understanding of your own clients.

As your company becomes more savvy in its marketing efforts, it will start to develop a rhythm and method that works. Remember that all client bases are different, and what works for one company may not work for another! Knowing your customers and their preferred methods of engagement is key.