Before you decide to rebrand, you need to make sure it’s absolutely necessary. Rebranding is not something you do without a good reason because of the risks involved.

The best way to know if you need to rebrand is to monitor your sales. If you’re losing customers to the competition, this is a sign that your brand is no longer resonating with them.

Changing market trends often force brands to rebrand. In the case of McDonalds, the company had to change its image from a burger shop to a restaurant with healthy options because a large enough portion of their target market wanted to eat healthier.

Market dilution is a reason many companies rebrand. What this means is that your original target market, which was very narrowly and specifically targeted, is no longer so narrow. Over time, your message has gone from appealing to a very specific segment of the market to no one specifically. In this case, it’s time to retune and work on your targeting.

Companies rebrand when they expand into new markets, merge with other companies or are acquired by other companies. There may be changes in target markets, products offered, or positioning that require rebranding.

You may rebrand in order to shift focus from negative to more positive aspects of your business. In recent years, oil companies have done this, rebranding themselves as providers of the energy of the future, rather than greedy polluters. Hopefully your image problems aren’t as severe as theirs.

Finally, there may be internal reasons. Your employees or associates may no longer believe in the brand and its vision.

In any case, something isn’t working or isn’t viable for the future, and this is why you need to rebrand.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

• Design aesthetics. It goes without saying that your site should be pleasing to the eye. A number of different elements contribute to a design’s aesthetic value, including typography, graphics, colors, and layout.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

• Hierarchy. A good website design will naturally guide the viewer’s eyes from what is most important to what is least important on the page, and in the right order. This is accomplished through the strategic use of fonts (including sizes, effects, and emphasis), spacing, graphics, and element placement.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

Starting up in the content marketing business can be pretty easy in terms of having plenty of content ideas. In the beginning there are a lot of ideas. But you might notice that as you continuously put out your content that there will come a point where you run out of new content ideas.

At this point, it’s time to get creative. How about asking your users, customers, fans, followers to help come up with new content ideas? Here are a few ways to do it.

Send An Email
If you already have a list of customers or buyers, you can send out emails asking them if they have any feedback they can give you. What problems are they facing? Once they get the sense that you’re asking for something that would help them get better content, most of them will be more than willing to help out.

This works very well when you have established that strong sense of community that conveys the “we’re in it together” sense.

Survey Your Audience
Another great way to get people’s opinions is through anonymous surveys.

Asking several questions and obtaining quite a lot of useful answers will make it worthwhile. Some of the questions that you might want to ask is how do they like the content they have received so far, what type of content would they like to see more of (or less of), what questions they might have, and so on.

Most of the time, an incentive or prize will get people interested in answering your survey. Just be sure that it isn’t a long survey.

Pick Up The Phone
You can easily pick up the phone and make some phone calls. If you get a customer order with a phone number on it then you could follow up with them to talk about how they like their product. Let them know that the purpose of your call is to be able to provide the best service possible. Ask for their feedback using 3-5 questions that you have prepared before making the call. Ensure that these questions are well structured and are relevant to the purpose of your call.

In this scenario you will be able to ensure that your customer’s needs are met and you will be able to use the feedback to structure future content. Providing them what they want/need will earn you loyal customers and readers for a long time to come.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

• Navigation. This is perhaps the most important element of web design. Your site’s navigation features are what will enable your visitors to travel from one page to the next, find specific items of interest, and form associations within your content. Without well-planned and executed navigation, you will lose site visitors and a lot of your valuable content could go completely un-found and unread. Navigation elements include primary/secondary navigation, menus, search bars, inbound links, and breadcrumbs, among other things.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

“What’s in it for me?” is a question that visitor will ask themselves when they visit your sales page or website. This all too important question needs to be answered very quickly if you don’t want your visitor to leave.

First Things First
Before writing any content for your website, look very carefully at its design. Give special attention to your header.

Evaluate whether your website can convey the benefits that the reader might get. For example, there’s a pretty good chance that readers won’t understand the benefits they will get from your site if your header just says “John’s site”.

But if your header says “SEO Tips from a 10 Year Veteran,” then people are more likely to be engaged. Add a good design to it to build credibility and you have a very big chance that your visitors will perk up and pay more attention.

Headlines
The headline is the most important component of a marketing piece. This is the first thing that visitors will read; therefore it is your first and oftentimes the only chance to capture their attention.

Upon reading you headline, people should be able to tell right away what the content is all about. It should get them all excited to read more because they were able to foresee the benefits.

Graphics
People’s eyes tend to notice the graphics on a page before they read any text. This is why using graphics to convey a benefit could be a very good tactic. For example, putting a picture of your big consulting check can give them a hint on the “what’s in it for me” answer in an article about earning money as a consultant. That graphic could be a lot more powerful than words.

And take advantage of that small spot right beneath the image. Most studies show that captions beneath images are more likely to be read than in most parts of a website.

Opening Paragraph
Finally, exert extra effort in writing your opening paragraph. It should immediately pull the visitor into your content and make them want to continue to read, watch or listen. Spend more time in the opening paragraph and you’ll have more of a chance to grab their attention.

A combination of those techniques will help you convey to your reader what’s in it for them in fifteen seconds or less. If you do these things right then you will increase your readership, earn returning visitors and bring in more sales.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

To have good content structure is very crucial in creating content that people will easily understand and digest. It also makes content creation a lot easier for you. Let’s go through the basic elements of a well-structured piece of written content.

The Intro
The very first sentence of your article should be carefully written such that it catches the attention of readers. People should have a glimpse of what your article is about from the first sentence.

Similarly, your first paragraph should be an elaboration of the first sentence to get people more interested in reading the rest of the article.

Set Expectations
Don’t go to the meat of your content just yet. Let the people know what should be expected from the rest of the article.

You can present it in details like “We’ll talk about, X, Y and Z” or simply “Here’s how to …”

What’s important is that you are able to prepare your readers on what your content will cover.

Main Points
One by one, talk about your main points.

Separate your content into chunks so that it’s easier to digest. Break up your article into subheads and subsections instead of presenting it as one big chunk of a 500-word article.

Ensure that the “what’s in it for me” question is answered quickly. Write it in a way that the readers will feel that you are speaking to them directly.

Oftentimes, presenting a few different opinions, solutions or angles can help a lot. So if you talk about investing, you can give them a few methods that they can use.

Also give a few practical or common examples. If you talk more on theory, people will most likely not remember it after a few weeks. Examples will turn the theories you wanted to share into something concrete. And people are likely to remember examples that demonstrate the principle.

The End
The conclusion will be the last paragraph of your article. It should summarize everything written in the article. You can also give emphasis on some important points.

There are times when it’s good to leave the readers with one concrete piece of action that they can readily take and put into action. Sometimes, it just wraps up the content nicely. Or if is fitting you can end your article with a call-to-action and let them know what to do next.

Follow this structure to provide your readers with a good sense of what is to be expected from the content and you will keep them engaged. Organizing your thoughts and creating an outline before writing will help the process flow much easier for you.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

When reading content written by someone who knows how to write in their own voice you will notice something special about the tone of the content. You will be able to feel the passion, self-expression and the clarity in what they are trying to convey.

People are moved reading articles, listening to audio or watching videos by those who write or speak with their unique voice. What most people fail to see is that those people put in a lot of effort and work to find that voice and it doesn’t come naturally.

As a content marketer, you might be wondering how to find your voice. Well here are a few ways that are to help you.

Passion
It’s important to find a topic you are passionate about. This will help your unique voice shine through. If you are into knitting, don’t force yourself to write or talk about network marketing.

Think about a topic that you could go on and on about for hours. Think about what you would still go on talking about even if you’re not getting paid for it.

It should be about something that gets your adrenaline pumping just by talking about it.

We understand that passion cannot be a career for everyone but you’ll be surprised to know that a good number of people are able to make money from the things they are most passionate about.
Let your passion be the starting point of finding your voice.

Self Expression
Express yourself. You have an opinion so be bold and state that opinion. This is not a time to be politically correct. Speaking from your heart might turn some people off, but it will attract your raving fans and those you want to attract. Some people will love you and others will hate you but so what. You are speaking to your target market not everyone in the world. This is how true followings are built. You might not be able to build something if you are always trying to please everyone. Be natural, casual but self-expressed with the passion that you have.

Impact
There is a big difference between content that is created for the sake of content and content that is created for impact. People can definitely tell the difference. When you create your content, try asking yourself two important questions: Who would I like to help with this content? How much impact will this content make in someone else’s life?

The intensity of really wanting to help people will be felt through your writing, your content, your voice. And this feeling will create loyalty among your audience.

People can’t just point to you or your voice and tell you whether you’re good at it or not. Your voice is your content’s vibe. It’s how you present everything that you ever wanted to say. A great voice creates that sense of loyalty, creating followers and a community. A weak voice will send people away from your content.

Your voice isn’t “one thing” that people can point to and say whether it’s good or not. It’s more about the overall vibe of your content and how everything is presented.

Finding your voice does not happen overnight. It will take some time and patience, but you will find it if you practice the things mentioned above on a regular basis.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.

When you have a consistent brand, it is far easier to attract and keep new customers. But, it’s important that each representation of your brand can either help or hurt the other aspects of your brand; this is why branding mistakes should be avoided whenever possible.

But creating a brand isn’t easy and that’s why there are so few sites on the net that have that strong presence and identity that they need.

Approach Branding with Consistency
The point of a consistent brand is that it should represent a certain degree of quality and a certain predictability in terms of what users expect from your brand and its assets. Customers should know that anything containing your logo will be something that they can count on and find it easy to share with their friends and family without fear of disappointment.

So if your website is about surf boards one week and then dry wall the next, you’re going to potentially lose attention; the attention you seek — converters. Likewise, if you put out a brilliant product one month and the next product launch is trash, people will tend to not trust you or your brand in future. Stay true to your vision.

Visuals Matter!
Aesthetics are an important aspect of your branding and if you don’t have a strong visual thread through your advertising, web design, and content marketing, your brand isn’t going to be memorable to your customers.

Don’t Miss Opportunities
Every business card, social media profile, invoice, piece of content, and email is a chance to strengthen your brand and instill trust. Don’t miss an opportunity to show off your brand and all that it stands for – all while protecting your brand from misunderstanding.

Be Self Aware
When planning and creating your brand, create it the way you would expect people to see you and how YOU would want to experience any other trustworthy brand. To do this effectively, you need to be objective and realistic. If you’re a one-man-band tinkering in your free time, then don’t try and brand yourself as a global corporate enterprise. It will ring false and your brand and customers will lose all faith and trust.

We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.