Brand identity

We have no marketing plan

Two of my customers, reasonably sized companies turnover in the millions, have no marketing plan, nor any kind of digital strategy that I have been able to unearth. Maybe it’s because they also don’t have a marketing manager, like a lot of businesses*?

They do a bit of this with this company and so and so looks after their website. Anyways, they “pay an agency to look after our SEO” and they don’t really think they need anything else, but they are both about to launch new websites… hmm, can anyone see the fault in the logic?

Paying over the odds for the black art of SEO

Both customers, when asked what the agency is doing for them, can’t answer the question. Now whether that is because I’m not asking the right person and someone else in the organisation knows what they do, I don’t know, but I figure the person who commissions the website should have some idea, surely?

Or whether that’s because the agency do reports (I hear of a lot that don’t, unless they are asked) and the business owner doesn’t understand them – well, I see that as the fault of the agency too – they need to explain what they are doing and what ROI it is bringing back for the money spent. At least that’s my theory.

* By my figuring from the labour force survey 2011 and the business population estimate 2013

We want Twitter/ Facebook/ Google+/ Instagram/ Pinterest/ Linkedin…

“We want social on our site”, I get told. My first question is why? Does your target market hangout on Google? Is Facebook suitable for your B2B business? What are you hoping to gain from being on these platforms – sales, brand recognition, customer support?

What type of social works on your website?

I can think of three types for starters – Follow, Share, Feeds. Which do you need?

Do you want users to follow your company posts?
Share your content on their own walls/pages?
Do you want to demonstrate your activity on social on your own website? *

(*Hint: Nothing worse than a dated feed, kind of like old-school news that’s years old).

Are you broadcasting or interacting? (More questions, sorry).

Do you know the answers?

Logo design and re-design

Which comes first, the chicken or the logo?

I can’t tell you how often I have come close to the end of a web project, or even published it only to be told “we’ve decided to change our logo”. At which point any halfway decent graphic designer will sigh heavily. Why?

Logos are a focal point for website design

There should be a cascade effect from the logo which should not only clearly show the company name, but also set the tone (through font, colour and shape) to attract your target audience. These elements will have been echoed throughout the design and you change them late in the day at risk of having a logo that looks like it doesn’t belong to a design or having to redesign from scratch (usually at a cost).

What do you need to brief your branding designer on?

See above (ideally before your website re-launch even begins). Who is your target audience, what do you want to say to them, how do you want your company to come across? What information will they look to find on your website and which pieces of information are most important (usps)?

What have these got to do with your logo?

Everything! A good graphic designer worth his salt will pitch the logo perfectly in terms of fonts, colours (the psychology of colour is fascinating), and idents to get that message across to your customer in the right voice and in the right format for a variety of purposes.