Keeping your brand at the top of your customers’ minds: Part two

Last week we gave you key details to keep your brand at the top of your customers’ minds. This week, we’re back to give you a few more to make your website stand out among the rest.

Be consistent
Building a business brand is more than just creating a logo. A brand is the emotion behind what someone feels, sees and tastes when they interact with your company on any level. Your brand is your company’s personality, and it is important that this to be consistent across all channels.

Close attention must firstly be paid to the visual design of your brand. This affects everything; your website, marketing efforts, printed materials and packaging to name just a few. It is important to be consistent with your logo as well as your brand colors, typography and imagery.

Pay close attention to the colors and typeface you choose to represent your brand. Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. Different colors convey different messages, so it is important to pick the right colors to represent the values of your brand. Likewise the typography you choose can also impact the credibility of your brand. For example, imagine if a law firm used comic sans in their marketing material, it’s unlikely to instill trust in potential clients.

If your business is expanding, it is important to document your design guidelines into a style guide so employees in your organization can maintain design consistency.

As well as visual design, it’s important to be consistent with your tone and the way you speak to customers. Whether it be copy on your website or via social media or support.

The values of your business will drive the tone of customer communications and branding. Consistency is key to ensuring a brand has maximum impact, and is memorable to a potential customer.

Generate buzz
A great way to stay top of your customers’ minds is by receiving press or by creating buzz within your industry. One way to do this is to innovate. Staying ahead of your competition by creating new products or services will establish you as the leader in your market. Potential customers will be attracted to this and therefore more likely to approach your business first when they are ready to buy.

If you have developed a new product or have started offering a new service that differentiates you from others, shout about it. Likewise, if you are expanding or have hit a huge milestone, make sure people know about it. Consider sending out press releases if you have a story to tell or an announcement to make. This will increase the likelihood of your story being picked up by the press. If budget constraints prevent this, consider what low budget stunts you can do that would initiate some buzz across social media or work on creating relationships with local press or key influencers within your industry.

Press and buzz on social media is a great way to keep your brand in the minds of your potential customers. When they are in a position to buy, they will draw from these awareness campaigns and approach your brand first. It’s important to note that the buzz generated around your brand should be positive, bad press could impact your brand negatively and have the opposite desired effect.

Staying atop your customers’ minds is imperative for any successful website. How do you ensure your brand isn’t forgotten?