Business Branding: Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions You Should Keep

As the New Year approaches, I wanted to share a few smart branding resolutions business owners should abide by for 2012. Consider moving these from your “to do” list to your “just do it” list. 

Make your branding consistent:

Take inventory of your collateral and marketing materials. Make sure they are aligned with your brand’s message and mission. If not, remove them from the public eye and focus on creating new, on-point communications to replace them. Remember: the more consistent your communications are the greater the chances your customers will buy in to your message. 

Make your website mobile-friendly:

Every day more and more people are performing online searches via their mobile devices—we’ve definitely noticed a growing trend toward mobile in Enzo Creative’s analytics. Presently, few websites are optimized for mobile devices and the ones that are show up near the top of the results on Google mobile search. It’s a massive opportunity that you really should capitalize on. 

Offer more online content:

New, original and respected commentary is a great way to increase organic page ranking. Publish original insights, videos, info-graphics and images that are compelling and relevant to your audience. You can publish on your site but also look to share content elsewhere on the web or as a guest columnist on respected blogs—make sure you always request a link back to your site. Google also weights social engagement which makes this an important resolution (see below).

Encourage interaction in my social platforms:

What is your favorite social media platform? Facebook? Twitter? Google +? LinkedIn? Tumbler? Make sure you are engaging your fans and followers so your social sites generate “social” activity instead of just being a dispensary for  your latest sale or product information. Ask questions, post surveys, share videos and links. Asking for reviews is also a good practice.

Embrace new technology:

Look at new technology as an opportunity to improve the overall experience for your customers. For example, a restaurant that streamlines the ordering process by substituting iPads for its menus is an attention grabber. The ability to have photos and videos of menu items as well as other relevant information at customers’ finger tips is priceless, not to mention the value of the buzz and media coverage it can generate.

Do you have more business branding resolutions? I'd love to hear them. Send them to me at lou@enzocreative.com. I'll update posts with the information.