{"id":4243,"date":"2020-03-25T09:01:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T09:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/?p=4243"},"modified":"2024-08-26T06:56:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T06:56:23","slug":"digital-design-marketing-transformations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Design &#038; Marketing Transformations to Turn Small Businesses into Thriving Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>\n<p>It is a curious topic, it seems, to talk about transforming businesses into brands. It implies there is something more valuable in being a brand than being a business. Is it true? Is being a brand more valuable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The short of it is, yes, being perceived as a brand is more valuable and offers long-term benefits than merely being known as a business.<br>But what\u2019s the \u2018long\u2019 of it? <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#brand-vs-business\" >Brand vs. Business<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#but-do-these-emotional-attachments-mean-anything\" >But do these emotional attachments mean anything?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#importance-of-branding-for-small-businesses\" >Importance of Branding for Small Businesses<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#digital-transformation\" >Digital Transformation:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#digital-transformation-strategies\" >Digital Transformation Strategies:<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#1-your-brand-logo-and-other-visuals\" >1. Your Brand Logo and Other Visuals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#2-consult-an-expert\" >2. Consult an Expert<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#3-design-a-website\" >3. Design a Website<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#4-invest-in-google-ads\" >4. Invest In Google Ads<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#5-create-a-blog\" >5. Create A Blog<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#6-set-up-company-social-media-profiles\" >6. Set Up Company Social Media Profiles<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#7-start-email-marketing\" >7. Start Email Marketing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#8-create-video-content\" >8. Create Video Content<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-design-marketing-transformations\/#over-to-you%e2%80%a6\" >Over to you\u2026<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"brand-vs-business\"><\/span>Brand vs. Business<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A business is merely an entity that offers some goods or services. For all intents and purposes, it is a soulless entity, devoid of a voice or character, and focused on its bottom line. Customers may buy from a business but they don\u2019t form \u2018emotional attachments\u2019 to it. Those are reserved for brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brands are, essentially, \u2018perceptions\u2019 that are carefully cultivated by marketers and strategists, which encourage customers to associate certain emotions and personality characteristics to businesses. Successful branding makes us think of Nike as someone or something strong and passionate who challenges regressive norms; it\u2019s why we consider Coca-Cola as fun, friendly, and a great sport, and why when we think of Apple, we think of innovation, future, and creativity. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"but-do-these-emotional-attachments-mean-anything\"><\/span>But do these emotional attachments mean anything?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Do they help gain more customers, increase profits? Yes. When you know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.logodesign.net\/everything-branding-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">how to brand<\/a> successfully, you don\u2019t gain customers, you gain followers. Followers are more loyal than customers. They become defendants of the brand, its voice, and its extension. Consider the example of Elon Musk \u2013 the cool, creative genius and entrepreneur who\u2019s passionate about inventing brilliant products and machines that are out to save the world.<br>In 2013, when his company, Tesla, gained a lot of bad publicity after several of its cars caught on fire, Musk wrote a passionate blog post defending the company\u2019s machines and being completely transparent in what he had to say. His followers (customers) repaid his passion and honesty by making Tesla\u2019s Model S the most popular and <a href=\"https:\/\/afdc.energy.gov\/data\/widgets\/10567\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">best-selling electric car<\/a> in 2015 and 2016. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"importance-of-branding-for-small-businesses\"><\/span>Importance of Branding for Small Businesses<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Branding is ever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/moneywisewomen\/2012\/02\/21\/how-important-is-small-business-branding-really\/#71446ea05e6b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">more important for small businesses<\/a> than large enterprises. Benefits of branding are proportionally more for small businesses with limited budgets than the ones with abundant investments and cash-flow.<br>Strategic design and being digitally active are the two most vital tools in your marketing arsenal that can transform you from an SMB to a successful and thriving brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below, we will talk about strategies and steps that you can plan and execute to make this transformation a success.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"digital-transformation\"><\/span>Digital Transformation:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a simple approach of transforming offline business strategies into practices that can be carried out digitally too, essentially carving out a streamlined digital space for the brand. If done correctly, a brand\u2019s offline and online strategies complement each other and create a cohesive business plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most businesses, it should not be an all-or-nothing approach. In most cases, digital transformations are a multi-year approach, with most critical changes being carried out right away and budgets being allocated for future changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make the digital transformation successful for your brand, you need to be proactive and not look at your competition for pointers. Let your future goals and challenges guide your digital transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following are some of the tested and proven digital strategies that work for small businesses\u2019 digital transformation by converting them into successful online and offline brands.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"digital-transformation-strategies\"><\/span>Digital Transformation Strategies:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1-your-brand-logo-and-other-visuals\"><\/span>1. Your Brand Logo and Other Visuals<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The logo is the most powerful identifier of a brand. In digital space, a brand logo becomes even more important for a small business trying to build its branding strategy. It becomes your identifier, setting you apart from others in your industry, and if your logo design is strategic and representative of a far-reaching goal, people can form associations with it and understand the brand message you\u2019re conveying through it.<br>To update your business logo for digital space, it needs to be resized (to fit various digital platform specifications), touched-up, and in some cases, completely re-imagined. In addition to your logo, you may also need to update other brand visuals, such as your brand colors, business card design, and think of templates and themes for your digital posts, both website and social media. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2-consult-an-expert\"><\/span>2. Consult an Expert<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If the above deliverables sound like a lot to you, don\u2019t feel overwhelmed; you\u2019re not alone. Several SMBs \u2013 33% \u2013 shy away from going digital since they don\u2019t know how to do it and do not have the budget to hire dedicated IT\/digital marketers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is, there are numerous design and marketing agencies offering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/digital-marketing-consulting-agency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consultation services<\/a> that will take care of your digital transformation as well as digital marketing needs in return for a fee. How much that fee is going to be can depend on a lot of factors but negotiations often take place. So you\u2019re bound to find a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/digital-marketing-company\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">digital marketing service<\/a> that will help you launch your online presence complete with utmost design and digital sophistication.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3-design-a-website\"><\/span>3. Design a Website<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For small businesses, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/nicoleleinbachreyhle\/2014\/09\/29\/websites-for-small-businesses\/#7c88e5f02026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">investing in a website<\/a> can be the difference between success and failure. A website is your digital store that is always open. It\u2019s working and serving your customers even when you\u2019re sleeping, vacationing, or visiting friends and family. It works tirelessly and smartly. It gives you important data, lets you build leads, and sure, its cost can be a lot for your small business\u2019 budget, but the benefits far outweigh any expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strategic website design is your brand\u2019s extension, always on-brand, and communicating your brand message from every page, through every point of interaction, and present in your website colors, fonts, layout, and even navigation. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4-invest-in-google-ads\"><\/span>4. Invest In Google Ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step after creating your website is to tell people about it and invest in measures that make online traffic searching for what you\u2019re selling come to you and not your competitor. These measures include organic search engine optimization, paid ads, and similar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/digital-marketing-trends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">digital marketing strategies<\/a>. The digital marketing that will give you the highest return on your investment is Google ads. According to statistics, for every dollar spent on Google ads, businesses make an average of $2 in revenue. 64% of consumers, who are on the internet looking to buy something, will click on a Google ad to make that purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This further proves that investing in a Google ad campaign can give you a higher ROI than any other paid digital marketing measure. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5-create-a-blog\"><\/span>5. Create A Blog<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To augment your digital transformation, think of more ways to reach your customers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lyfemarketing.com\/blog\/benefits-of-blogging\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Blogging<\/a> is still one of the most successful ways to keep your audience engaged, gain access to new customers, and retain the existing ones.<br>It establishes you as a voice of authority in your industry, helps you connect with your audience in a more relevant fashion by allowing you to cover your product and service areas in more creative ways. For example, a fashion brand hosting a blog that talks about the latest trends, features how-to pieces, and covers the latest fashion news will become of more value and relevance to its target market than an online store that\u2019s just focused on selling. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6-set-up-company-social-media-profiles\"><\/span>6. Set Up Company Social Media Profiles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve established your website, have launched a well-thought-out ad campaign, and are also regularly writing your blogs, it\u2019s time to join the space where all the conversation is taking place: social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For millennial and Gen-Z consumers \u2013 the largest section of the consumer market \u2013 social media platforms are their second homes. To engage with them, you must be present where they are. According to 82% of marketers handling small businesses, social media is of the greatest importance to their businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, do some data mining and prioritize the social media channels where most of your target market is hanging out. Then following what the data says, set up your social media profiles. The most popular social media channels for most market segments are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Each one\u2019s target demographic is different and each one is used for different purposes by its audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facebook is for lengthy discussions and extended conversations, for example, while Instagram is more visual with its audience not bothered about detailed dialogue.<br>Study each of the social media channels in detail so when you launch you know what kind of content will suit which kind of platform the most. It will help you be more strategic in your content marketing which is all that matters.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7-start-email-marketing\"><\/span>7. Start Email Marketing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To make the most of your digital transformation and solidify your brand message, you must use email marketing to reach parts of your target market that you may have not approached before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the data, 81% of small businesses successfully rely on email as their number one customer acquisition channel. 80% of SMBs use email marketing to retain their existing customers and consider it their main driver for both purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/how-email-list-building-services-can-enhance-your-sales\/\">email marketing<\/a> in more than one way to engage your customers. You can use it to send your first-time customers welcome emails, remind those who\u2019ve left their carts abandoned, or to promote your upcoming products as well as notify your customers whenever you\u2019re going to host your next sale. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"8-create-video-content\"><\/span>8. Create Video Content<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re going to be digitally present, you may as well be digitally active. And nothing says more digitally active or alive that being a brand who posts videos regularly. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/best-video-marketing-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Video is a powerful digital marketing tool<\/a> to impact product and services sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As per a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/news\/video-marketing-statistics-for-2020-infographic\/566099\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">video marketing stats<\/a> report, every day, 75 million Facebook users go on the site\u2019s video platform to consume videos hosted there by brands and other users. For some market segments, videos are even more powerful than blogs. 65% of senior executives report visiting a website after watching a video related to it on YouTube. In fact, \u2018how-to\u2019 searches on YouTube grow by a 70% rate every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to that same report, not only videos are viewed a lot but they are a huge engagement factor on Facebook. If you publish a post on Facebook accompanied by a video, it will have a higher engagement rate of 13.9% compared to that of a text-only or text + image post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But these stats only work for videos that are optimized as per user demands. For example, customers are increasingly demanding videos to be optimized for both horizontal and vertical orientations. And Instagram has already delivered on that demand. All Insta videos can now be viewed both horizontally and vertically.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"over-to-you%e2%80%a6\"><\/span>Over to you\u2026<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So there you have the long and short of what it takes to turn a small business into a successful, thriving brand. If it sounds simple to you, it\u2019s not. If it sounds too complicated, it\u2019s not. There\u2019s a learning curve involved but there are experts available who can iron-out the most complex areas of it for you. And don\u2019t forget the innumerable \u2018how-to\u2019 articles both on Google and YouTube that can potentially make you a digital marketing expert in no time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But whether you decide to \u2018swing it\u2019 or consult an expert, start slow and keep your business goals as your long-term guide. This strategy will never fail you; instead, it has the potential to launch you as a trail-blazer who starts the trends and remains focused when others are jumping on seasonal bandwagons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here\u2019s to you, making your mark. Sounds off in the comments on how it\u2019s going so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is a curious topic, it seems, to talk about transforming businesses into brands. It implies there is something more valuable in being a brand than being a business. Is it true? Is being a brand more valuable? The short of it is, yes, being perceived as a brand is more valuable and offers long-term <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":4250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vocso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}