We have all heard it – “Online marketing is the future of Marketing”. Why exactly is this case? The world has gone digital – Wikipedia has surpassed the encyclopedia as the go to place for information,  70% of  job searches are now internet based & software engineering is the fastest growing sector in the world. If your business does not have an online presence, you will miss out on customers, the best talent and a competitive edge. In Kenya it even more important to be online because of the high tech savvy youth population who are your current and future customer base.

How exactly does one go about building and online presence? The first step is having a website. Professionally designed websites provide important information to your customers, and give them a platform for feedback 24/7. Ensure that your website is SEO compatible, lest it gets lost among the millions of sites around the world.  Websites also help you reach a global audience.

To strengthen your brand online, blogging is key when creating an online presence. Most people confess to reading a blog or two when at work, so why shouldn’t the blog they choose to read be one of yours? Blogs are a fun and interactive way to keep your target audience informed, entertained and updated. Blogs should ideally be done one to two times a week on specific days.

The next important aspect is social media marketing. Social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You tube among others have a total of about 1.2 billion people worldwide.1 in every 5 minutes spent online is spent on a social networking site. This means that if your business is present on a social media network, you have the chance to reach a high number of potential customers. Increased awareness often leads to increased revenue, because customers know what they want and go for it.

Social media is also important is also an important player in viral marketing, which is very popular today. Viral videos can generate huge publicity for an organization, as witnessed by the Superbowl half-time commercials in the US.

And to round it all off, we have E-mail marketing. This offers your target audience the chance to sign up for regular newsletters and E-shots to which allow them to stay in the loop with on goings in your business, events that you may be having & special offers you may have.

Finally, in the words of Harold Wilson “He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” Adapt to the online revolution, or die.

A team of more than 20 Facebook engineers — led by a former Google programmer — is at work on a vastly improved search engine within the site, according a Businessweek report.

The idea, according to two sources, is to take better advantage of the heaps of content Facebook users create on — and off — the site every day. With people sharing status updates and supporting brand pages on the network, as well as using Facebook’s “Like” button to mark articles and videos from external sites, there is certainly a lot to take advantage of.

To date, Facebook hasn’t made search a priority, and it shows. The prominent white box at the top of each page is good at helping users find other members. It’ll also spit back Facebook pages for brands and locations, recent status updates from friends, and general Web search results powered by Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bing search engine.

If the Businessweek report is true, however, it will add yet another area of heightened competitive overlap between the two Silicon Valley giants.

Article courtesy of: http://mashable.com

Packaging

In marketing, another almost mythical area in the public consciousness, packaging is a primary tool for practically every known form of consumer product. The packaging is literally the product identity. Packaging is designed to capture a customer’s attention and it can directly affect whether they buy the product or not. Innovation and creativity come into play when it comes to packaging. A well-marketed product is packaged in a way that compels the customer to pick it up and take a closer look, at which point product descriptions and graphics must be clear.

The all time classic case is the Coca Cola bottle. An instantly recognizable logo, distinctive shape, and global fame came from this packaging.

Importance of quality packaging includes;

Some of the major significance of packaging can be as follows:

1. Can make a product more convenient to use or store, easier to identify or promote or to send out a message.

2. Can make the important difference to a marketing strategy by meeting customers’ needs better.

3. Packaging plays a key role in brand promotion and management. Packaging is of great importance in the final choice the consumer will make, because it directly involves convenience, appeal, information and branding.

4. The paramount concern of packaging is the reach-ability of the product without any damage. No matter where and how the products are transported or shipped, they arrive at the customer’s door in working condition without need of repair or adjustment.

5. Packaging is especially important in certain industry where future sales may be based largely on the quality, integrity and performance of a company’s previous delivery.

A logo is a unique design symbolizing ones organization. Logos help in strengthening an established brand, and get attention of prospective clients and customers in the market place.

Key Points on Logo Design

1. KISS – Keep it Short and Simple
In order to make your logo easy to memorize and understand it is advisable to keep it short and simple. People tend to ignore complex and lengthy pieces of information.
2. Timelessness
Being timeless means that time does not alter the quality of the logo. E.g. Coca-Cola. Creating a logo based on current trends can only end in disaster, find something that works for you, and stick with it.
3. Scalability
You should be able to display your logo on a variety of media e.g. T-shirts, Online, Banners, etc, without it becoming unrecognizable or distorted.
4. Adaptability
Your logo should still look good and the same even if you do it in black and white. It should also work well even if you use it with a light color in a dark background.
5. Relevant
The logo should convey the appropriate message. Even if the service or product is not shown in the logo, it should show appropriateness for the company.

Strong brands accelerate business performance and our conviction is that branding, at its best, is more than a marketing responsibility.

The service offered, the experience, the message communicated by the company or individual go to making the brand.

Simply put, a good brand is a good approach.
When Planet Yogurt wanted to introduce their new line of products, this is exactly what we gave their brand.

Read more about Planet Yogurts’ branding and branding at large with contributions from our very own CEO, Creative Director, Account Manager and Digital Strategist on a recent article ran by the Business Daily.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Turn+to+experts+for+rewarding+brand+for+your+firm+or+product+/-/539444/1354908/-/e2wng9z/-/index.html

As talk of Facebook mobile ads continues, LinkedIn just became the second social media giant this month to signal plans for ads in mobile.

During its quarterly earnings call, CEO Jeff Weiner said mobile access represents an ever-growing share of time users spend with LinkedIn with the company investigating ways to monetize those page views.

Weiner’s remarks come a week after reports surfaced that Facebook will begin serving ads to its 420 million-strong mobile audience. The Financial Times cited unnamed sources who pinpointed a launch date of early March, ahead of the company’s planned public offering in May. Those sources referred to the pending ads as “‘featured stories’ in the news feed.”

In August, LinkedIn revamped its mobile presence with new apps for Android and iOS and a new mobile site. As a result, Weiner said mobile is the fastest growing service on LinkedIn, accounting for more than 15% of total unique number visits.

At Creative Edge’s New Media we have a few ideas for little things you can do for your customers using Digital Technology, while achieving great customer loyalty in the process. Consider the following as a way of sending your Christmas corporate messages:

1. Web Graphics
   Yes, simply put in a Christmas theme on your website wishing your website visitors a Merry Christmas and Happy 2012. They say it’s the thought that matters. Shed off the corporate look and spread some holiday cheer through your corporate site.
2. E-cards
   After a year of sending out promotional e-shots and newsletters, what a fresh breath if would be if you send out an e-card to wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year? Make it better and put in a special offer if they respond to the e-card and wish you a Merry Christmas too.
3. E-signatures
   With every email that goes out, end it with a nice graphic for the Holiday season. Be it a simple Holiday wishes message or a special Holiday offer, E-signatures are hard to miss. For maximum impact, make it graphical and try to use comical humor or witty text to attract attention. It’s easier to sell to a smiling customer J
4. Facebook Landing Pages
   With the advent of Social Media, every corporate is now setting foot in Social Media especially Facebook. Here’s an opportunity to take advantage of Facebook landing pages to send out your Holiday messages. You could even add in some interactivity and ask Fans to share with you their 2012 plans. Facebook has plugins like these that enable you to take things to the next level.
5. Twitter Backgrounds
   Do you own a Twitter account? Get rid of the corporate background just this once and put in a nice Christmas themed background. The rule in Social Media is that you have to be part of the conversation. Act aloof and you lose out as a corporate.
6. Web Animations
   Change your website banner into an animated Christmas banner. A small gesture which has a great effect on your online corporate image.

There you have it. The beauty of all these is that they can all be achieved with minimal budgetary allocations. Talk to us on info@creative.co.ke.

Check it out and feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Once you have settled on a technical architecture, you will need to decide on a site structure that best exposes your content to site visitors, and to the search engines.

The easiest way to think about your site structure, is how you will expect visitors to navigate and find content once on the site. Some questions you will need to answer to help you come up with the best structure will include…

- What pages will the homepage link to?

- How many, and what are the top level content categories?

- How deep will these content categories be?

- How will relevant pages link to each other?

The answers to these questions will should result in a fairly obvious navigational structure. Be sure to test it with real users too. Getting your on-site usability right is just one aspect you should be considering as part of your overall SEO plan.

This navigation structure will also help web crawlers to determine what pages are considered the most important on the site. It will also help to establish the relevance of any content you might have to specific topics too.

There are a few others factors that you will need to keep in mind as you develop and refine your sitemap though. Some of these are summarized below.

Targeted keywords

One of the cornerstones of effective search engine optimization is the targeting of appropriate keywords. You will need to know the types of terms and phrases that people use to search for services and products similar to yours.

Ideally, your site’s navigational structure and page hierarchy will be a reflection of this.

Cross linking content

One of the most powerful features of the web is the ease with which anyone can navigate from one page to the next, by simply clicking a link leading to a relevant piece of content.

It is important to ensure that your site is internally complete, and that you make it easy for visitors to find additional relevant content easily. Even on ecommerce sites, linking to related complementary products or indeed alternatives, can be incredibly powerful and profitable.

Amazon does this well with the “What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?” and “Customers who bought this item also bought…” links.

Also important to keep in mind, is linking content that might seem intrinsically different. Your CMS for example, could provide anyone viewing an article on topic X with a link to an image gallery of the same item, or a discussion about it on your site’s forums.

Using appropriate anchor text

“Click this link” is not the most informative anchor text. Today, web users are savvy enough to be able to follow links without being explicitly told to “Click Here”. Anchor text is also incredibly powerful for indicating to the search engines the subject matter of the target document.

Everyone involved in producing and linking content on the site should understand the importance of using descriptive anchor text, particularly when linking to other internal pages and documents on the site.

Breadcrumbs

Navigational aids such as breadcrumbs can make a significant difference to the overall usability of your site. This is true for both search engines and human visitors to your site.

Keep your site shallow

The breadcrumbs noted above will also help you realize if you are going overboard with your site’s hierarchical depth. If you have Home>Category>Sub-category>Sub-sub-category>sub-sub-sub-category>Content, it is probably time to pause and re-evaluate your site’s hierarchy.

Keeping your site shallow will reduce the number of clicks users have to perform to find your content, and will also do wonders for your SERPs rankings.

Generally, the rule when coming up with a structure for your site, is to keep it as simple as possible. Simple for your site’s visitors to understand, simple for the search engines to crawl, and simple for your internal content developers to maintain.

About the Author: Ben C Hoss – San Jose SEO. If you have any Search Engine Optimization needs or questions, feel free to contact me.

Brand Image is the cumulative perception of your consumers, suppliers, employees and all those you relate with. It can be likened to your reputation. Whether you are a global corporation or a one-man outfit, your image is your brand. Have you done all you can to protect and accurately represent your brand?