Why is your Brand important?
Your brand is the heart of your business and it starts with your logo. Your logo creates an emotional connection between your clients and your business. It also projects a perception of your company’s quality, reliability, personality and integrity. Let our creative team help you in this critical design process.
E Image Agency will assist you in the direction of your business’s image and set the tone for your creative designs. We will consider your unique company message and focus it into elements that elevate the value of your brand. Image is everything. Make sure yours says something.
Your Business’s Unique Fingerprint:
GRAPHIC
Visual presentation of the brand. Graphics, colors, typography, symbols, logos, photography, design of online dynamics.
STYLE
Your brand values articulated through language, tone, voice, age, IQ, character, humor and personality.
CONTENT
The philosophy behind your brand. Concepts, messages, themes, and ideas delivered through your brand.
Is Your Brand Working For You… or Against You?
If your brand design isn’t helping your bottom line, it’s time for brand makeover.
Did you know that your visitors are evaluating your company’s credibility based on your website’s visual design alone? A whopping 85% of consumers visit websites before making a purchasing decision, so a positive first impression of your online brand is absolutely crucial to your bottom line.
Give Potential Customers What They Want—Not What You Want.
Consider this: 46% of online sales are lost due to the website’s failure to build trust and credibility with the visitor.
What does this mean to you?
Your website needs to have a professional look and feel in order to build trust in your brand and products.
Your website must clearly convey your unique value proposition and distinguish your offerings from those of your competitors. In other words, it needs to answer your visitor’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?”
Websites should be designed from the ground up to be a prime conversion tool for all products and services…this is not to say that print media should be ignored, though. Sales kits, brochures, direct mail and other print ads are still vital; however now these materials will trigger a visit to your website, which in turn starts a whole new sales cycle.
How Effective is Your Brand?
Is it time to think about rejuvenating your brand? Think about these statements as they pertain to your brand and website:
1. I hardly ever (or never) receive compliments on my logo or website.
2. I receive a lot of email or phone calls from visitors to my website who aren’t sure what my company does.
3. My offline collateral (brochures, direct mail pieces, business cards) is inconsistent with my website.
4. I’m not even sure if I have a brand, and I don’t know where to start.
If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then your brand is no longer working for you – it’s working against you. It’s time to think about how to jumpstart your brand to yield bottom line results for your business.
Stale brands = stale sales
A powerful brand should never be abandoned or risk becoming “stale” for lack of updating and enhancements. We learned this the hard way by not updating our website on a regular basis!
Even the most successful companies update their brands frequently to stay ahead of the competition and to continually arouse consumer interest. They realize that branding is about the total customer experience – and your brand should be no different. Investing in your brand today means investing in your company’s growth tomorrow.
Why you should have a website
Establishing a web presence is essential in today’s global marketplace. Here are five key reasons why you should invest in a well-designed web presence.
Open to the public all day, every day
Limited office hours and different time zones won’t hinder your customers’ ability to visit your business through your website. You can reach those people at any time of the day or night.
A marketing piece that you can change instantly.
A website can be like an online brochure or catalog to promote your business. But, unlike printed materials, you can change your website anytime to reflect new developments, seasonal sales, featured service or product offerings, or just give your business a new look. Self-managed websites give you the ability to make as many changes as you want, exactly when you want them.
Present a solid image
A professional-looking website can instill confidence in your customers and give the impression that a small business is a larger one. A website is a necessity by today’s standards – your customers expect you to have one, and they expect your web presence to reflect who you are.
Customers get instant gratification
Customers and clients don’t always have the time to wait for more information – they want to get answers right away. With a website, they can find out the basics about your business, but you can also offer them even more – like downloads, samples, photo galleries, videos, news stories, links, or other content that will give them more information and keep them interested in you.
Promote your business and drive awareness
A website can help give your business more awareness among your customer base; locally, nationally and even globally. More and more consumers use websites as a starting place when searching for the best product or service. Without a website, you miss an opportunity to promote yourself and let your customers know who you are, what you do, and why you’re the best choice for their business.
Web Development
All sites are NOT created equal.
There is a HUGE disparity in design and coding among various Web sites. Given the abundance of “template-style” sites and “Web shops” with little to no marketing or design expertise, it is hard for companies to realize the value and impact that a well-designed Web experience can have on customers and on the company’s sales. Millions can be at stake. This is no time to be an amateur or penny pincher. At E Image Agency, our goal is to make our customers money, not cost them money.
A Website is, in most cases, primarily a marketing and sales tool. For a site to maximize sales and conversions, its essential components should be created by a team of experts in marketing, branding, programming, and design. The Web sites E Image Agency builds are HIGHLY customized, not only to our clients, but to their target audiences.
5 Common Web Design mistakes
There are often many mistakes made when creating a website. Has your website encountered any of these issues? If you don’t have a website: Learn about the top five website mistakes, and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1
Web page size. If your website takes longer than 10-15 seconds to load you should consider optimizing it for the web. This is one of the biggest mistakes a web designer can make. You may have a fast connection and love graphics, but if your visitors don’t have cable or a fast connection, your chances of getting them to wait that 10 to 15 seconds for your page to load is very slim. Unless you are business to business, I would avoid overuse of photos or graphics.
Mistake #2
Confusing Navigation. Before you build a website you should make a story board or sitemap for how everything is going to be setup. Come up with a plan to have some form of contact information on each page. If your visitor comes to a page and wants to purchase something and they cant find a contact link they will most likely change their mind while searching for it. Keep your navigation consistent on each page. If your visitor has to learn to use a different type of navigation system on every page, they will become easily annoyed and leave your site.
Mistake #3
Flashy ads. Well… by now you know you can bring in some cash through your site. So you sign up for banner ad affiliate programs. Only problem is many of their banners are animated and constantly flashing while your visitors view your website. This can be good in some cases for getting some extra cash. But visitors can be easily annoyed by these banners.
Mistake #4
Confusing Content. You want to make everything easy to read and navigate. A natural yet organized flow is best to engage and keep the visitor wanting more. Make sure you’re the level of your verbal communication fits your audience.
Mistake #5
Advertising. When you advertise your website the number one thing that you do not want to do is spam. It is very easy to advertise your website all over the web for free! You can use forums, article submission groups, online communities, chat groups, news feeds, and much more. If you do resort to spam this could hurt your website sales. We have seen it time and time again particularly in high competition industry. A competitor will report it to a website that degrades or gives bad reviews on your website.
Did your website fall into any of these mistakes? Of course there are some exceptions to such as B to B companies who want the flash and are not dependent on traffic . At E Image we are cognizant of all of them and will alert you of the possible issues.
Match your prospects’ buying process with your sales process
Seems simple, yet very few sites accomplish this goal. Most sites are created from the internal point of view, the “inside reality,” or what we call the “inside out” approach. This reflects how a company perceives itself, without the benefit of the prospect or client perspective, which creates a disparity in the sales process. In most cases, this approach confuses and frustrates customers and results in a poor click-through rate, or CTR.
E Image Agency, focuses on the external point of view and assists in designing a Web experience with relevant content that your customers can interact with and benefit from. We focus on persuading prospects to take the next course of action in a buying/information cycle.
Create an extremely effective Web site — and watch your sales rise!
People visit Web sites with a goal in mind: to learn more, to buy a product or service, to be convinced or reassured about something, to register for information, or for any one of a number of other reasons. By understanding your customers’ goals and motivations, we can create an intuitive experience to match. We can convert visitors to clients.
Customizing your Blog’s “Look and Feel” boosts brand equity, while making use of a powerful marketing tool.
What is a Blog?
A Blog is simply a web log with various functionalities. This has made Blogs a favorite tool to post news and events for companies, publications, associations, the Media, etc. But a Blog also serves as a free PR mechanism to announce virtually anything not only to your customers, but to the world, including leading media sources.
Blogs are monitored, tracked and even promoted by large search engines such as Google, and other specific Blog engines. They can be searched by subject matter, industry, topic…just about any viable criteria. Blogs are also frequently updated, which is important in web and search marketing, as explained below.
The Blog “Network”
Blogs also act as an excellent networking tool, letting prospects, vendors, customers, media, etc. read, link to, and even make comments on your Blog. These comments can be monitored, or even disallowed at your preference. Blogs also feature linking areas for relevant topics, as well as to products and services your business may offer. Keep in mind, the more relevant links to your Blog, and hence your site, the more you improve your websites’ “value” to most search engines. It is the linking and interlinking of Blogs that serve as a critically important tool for web and search engine marketing.
Custom Blog Design and Development:
Our Blog package includes a custom-design to match/promote your brand. A custom designed Blog can make an impact while keeping your brand consistent. It gives credibility and encourages a prospect to want to learn more about a business or organization. These designs include consultations needed to design a highly-effective Blog strategy and navigation.
Our package also includes programming your Blog for your use as specified, or a custom-coded version using either a Blog service such a Google’s Blogger created specifically for your company. There are many, many things a Blog can do for your image and your marketing, so email or call us to discuss in more detail.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
• The truth about Social Networks.
• What is guerilla marketing?
• Will they help you or can they hurt you?
The truth about Social Networks
Social networks, such as Face Book, Ning, Twitter, My Space, BeBo, Flickr, Digg, and LinkedIn started off with a small following of early adopters who used them as they were intended to be used, simply to connect with other users. As time went on many people began to use social networks in an attempt at marketing their companies. This isn’t isolated to social networks though. The same thing has happened with just about every technology you can think of. With the printing press, came catalog. With the telephone, came telemarketers. With the personal computer, came desktop publishing. With the Internet, came web sites and with email, came email marketing.
When used properly and ethically, just about any form of technology can be used to increase the exposure you are able to generate for your company in a positive manner. The truth is: a few people who refuse to maintain any sense of decency attempt ruin it for the rest of us. These same people think SPAM email is perfectly acceptable as long as it makes them a few dollars.
Don’t shy away from utilizing social networking in your marketing plan though; the key is working with a company like E Image who understands how to use these social networks. From contests, to surveys or quizzes, there are many ways to make networks work for you. Sign up for our newsletter and we will send you tips on social marketing.
What is guerilla marketing?
The term “guerilla marketing” has been used to describe many types of marketing, often times erroneously. In it’s simplest form, guerilla marketing is using unconventional or outrageous techniques to generate exposure for a company, product or service. It is most effective when the techniques used relate in some way to what is being marketed. See our case study of E Image’s sponsorship alliance with Patrick Dempsey’s race team- Dempsey Racing and El Grado Tequila.
Effective guerilla marketing comes from a combination of a strong understanding of traditional marketing and the application of unconventional thinking. There is a lot more to it than simply pulling an outrageous stunt. In depth research on your target market and your competition must be conducted, followed by detailed planning. Keep in mind that guerilla marketing can often take longer than other methods of marketing to generate initial results, but will usually deliver larger rewards in the long run.
What is a typical media package?
Social Media Packages:
Facebook: Creation of a profile for one designated “community manager” at your company and creation of a complete company “fan page”(including addition of content feeds and other beneficial applications)
Twitter: Creation of one (1) profile for your company; set up of 2 RSS content feeds from your blog or other content source; research to find relevant people to follow.
LinkedIn: Creation of a profile for your company, including addition of beneficial applications to promote your content and/or events.
Social Bookmarking Sites: Creation of profiles on up to 5 social bookmarking sites of your choosing (such as Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit, Mixx, and Delicious); bookmarking of up to 12 pages of your content on each site; Stumbleupon advertising campaigns for up to two of your pages.
Squidoo: Creation of one keyword-optimized Squidoo page with informational, engaging content about your niche and links to your website.
Slideshare: Creation of an optimized profile for your company and upload of one presentation. Don’t have a presentation? We can create one for you for an additional fee.
Optimized Press Release: Creation of one press release announcing your social media campaigns and keyword optimized for search engines.
Advanced Social Media Package – Online Video Promotion
This package includes everything in the Starters package PLUS:
Video Creation: We’ll create videos, complete with a professional actor and/or voice over, so they can be promoted through online video channels.
Video Promotion: We’ll consult with you to determine the best promotion strategy for your video content, then upload on one or more of the following general video sites: You tube, Vimeo, Metacafe, as well as upload one of the following niche video sites:
• FreeIQ (general business)
• IMBroadcast (online marketing)
• Howcast (how-to)
Or any other niche video site relevant to your business.
We’ll create your profiles/channels on each site and optimize each video upload with relevant keyword tags to ensure your target audience finds them. We can even show your staff how to promote your videos on your blog or website for even wider reach.
Ongoing Social Media Work
We believe that engaging content is the foundation of a successful social media strategy. By consulting with you on your target audience and overall goals, we’ll create relevant, valuable content for your website on an ongoing basis. This includes:
• Articles
• Blog posts
• Flash/Powerpoint presentations
• E-books and whitepapers
• Widget Development
Social Media Profile Management
We’ll also submit content to relevant social media sites and provide you ongoing community management and social media training – so you get the most benefit from your social media strategy.
Custom Email marketing campaigns
This powerful marketing tool is used to keep in touch with clients; introduce new products and services; update any news, give tips, announce staff changes, upcoming events and awards; and communicate anything your prospects might find interesting.