Just like in web design, branding plays a major role in presenting your business or brand’s first impression to the world. For example, an outdated logo can actually deter your audience from learning more about you because human beings are visually driven, and branding is not only a representation of your identity, but also a marketing strategy in and of itself.

There are many things that can affect your audience’s response to your branding – colors (which colors are used, how many colors are used, etc.), logo complexity vs. simplicity, the words you use in your marketing messages to influence your audience, and as a business, even how you handle escalated situations with your customers affects your overall branding. Basically, branding is not just a logo that represents your company, but the overall image (again, pun intended!) you use to represent your business or brand to the public. Your brand extends from your logo, to how you choose to interact with your audience, to how you choose to market to your clients.

Sometimes, a brand has suffered from a bad reputation with the public, but it is possible to turn things around – it just takes some work and time. We can help you analyze your current brand to see how you’re currently being viewed by your audience so we can determine if there are any areas that could use some improvement, and we can help you to work on these areas, from a logo re-design to an identity overhaul that would allow you to move forward in a more positive direction.

If branding is an area with which you need some help, that’s what I’m here for! Let’s work together to improve your overall brand, even if it’s something as simple as your logo, or perhaps learning a new approach to caring for existing customers – I can help you to develop strategies that can be implemented and will produce improved results over time! 

When was the last time you picked up a phone book to look up a local business? Do you still read newspapers? How about commercials on TV – so many people have PVRs now (Personal Video Recorders) for their TVs that they just record their favorite shows and fast forward through the commercials. Do you fall into this category as well? Many people don’t even have cable anymore because they just watch videos on YouTube, or streaming services such as Netflix.

In today’s day and technological age, Digital Marketing has quickly become the new mainstream way of getting your brand known out in the world, and it’s not just the younger generations that are being reached. Even in small towns (and I’m based in a small town, so I’m speaking from my own experiences here), when people need more information or a recommendation of who to go to for a service or product, they’re going online first, and not necessarily to Google anymore. They’re posting to local Facebook groups asking for recommendations, tweeting out on Twitter for advice, tweeting about their negative experience with a company, even sharing photos on Instagram based on both positive and negative situations they’ve faced with businesses. I’m seeing this more and more – especially on Facebook as they’ve made it very easy to ask for recommendations. We live in a world where people share everything immediately online because they get instant feedback and support from their friends and family.

If you’re wondering what the difference between Digital Marketing and Social Media is, let’s first figure out the definition for Digital Marketing itself:

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium. – “Definition of digital marketing” – Financial Times. Retrieved on February 3rd, 2018.

Based on this definition, Social Media Marketing basically falls into the category of Digital Marketing because it involves marketing on the internet, to mobile phones, making use of digital advertising such as Facebook Ads, all of which are digital mediums – even a website is a form of Digital Marketing. Basically, the two terms are almost interchangeable, but really, Social Media Marketing is a form of Digital Marketing, specifically relating to using Social Media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram, which are some of the most used social media websites (not listed in any particular order). Digital Marketing is the umbrella and the specific types of online and digital marketing fall into its category.

Digital Marketing also includes something as simple as learning what to do to increase traffic to your website (click here to read more about our top 10 tips – with some bonus tips – on getting more traffic to your website or blog).

Another very important aspect of digital marketing is building an email list, and after many years, it still remains one of the best way to reach your audience. Email is definitely not dead! When it comes to using online marketing tools, many social media solutions can be used at no cost, while others will charge for paid advertising.

As a business or a brand, even if you’re using “free” social media services, it’s still not really “free” because it costs time to learn to use these mediums, and it also takes time to build a following using Social Media. Adding to the time is the fact that they are not static – they are always changing, and a business or brand really needs someone dedicated to implementing a Social Media strategy to be successful at it and to be able to keep up with the changes. Sometimes the changes are small, such as the sizes of images that should be used to a “cover” image on Facebook or Twitter, but if a business or brand doesn’t stay on top of these updates, their social media channel will not look seamless, which can affect their followers’ impression of them, which can then affect their overall brand image and strategy, and it just snowballs from there.

It’s also important to stay on top of Social Media for brand reputation purposes – many brand reputations have been destroyed via Social Media outlets due to neglect or not reacting to the public’s feedback on something, and unfortunately, on the internet, people are a lot more bold in their “feedback” (yes, I mean the negative kind). Don’t underestimate the power of the dark side – er, um, I mean, Digital Marketing! This is an area in which I have years of experience, and would love to share our knowledge with you to help you develop a working strategy that you can take away and implement, or you can even hire us to not just develop the strategy, but implement it on your behalf!

If you’ve been reading more information about my other services, you will have noticed that there’s quite a bit involved in the world of Websites, Branding, and Digital Marketing, but I hope you’ve been able to see how they are all related to each other, which is why I offer these services – they literally go hand-in-hand with one another. It all might feel a bit overwhelming and confusing if you’re just starting to learn about these things in more detail, and it may very well be that you need a little training in these areas – or maybe you have a staff member you’d like to train to implement a strategy we’ve developed for your business or brand. I can most certainly help with this because training is also one of my areas of expertise, and in fact, I am a Certified Instructor with over 10 years of experience developing and facilitating Technical Training courses, both leader-led (in-person and online), and designing and developing self-study courses that can be made available via an LMS (Learning Management System). An LMS is really just another kind of website that can host online courses.

If you have your own ideas about developing a course you’d like to offer online, whether as a paid membership website, or just a private portal for your staff, this is also something I can develop for you. This type of solution is a little more complex than just a basic website, but it has great results when done right, and I would love to share my knowledge and expertise with you to get things going! Did you know that a high percentage of people who start an online course have a hard time finishing it? I can even help you design the course content itself into nice, visually appealing yet user-friendly e-learning modules, with quizzes, and even a “badge” system that will help students feel like it’s a game which in turn encourages learners to complete the courses they start. I also have experience developing more complex learning modules (as opposed to just videos or PDF documents).

We love to develop courses that use stories to teach. Have you ever taken an online course? We’ve taken many, and some were amazing, but others were less memorable and downright boring. Our aim is to help you develop a course that engages your students’ attention, and stories are what makes online courses memorable and even fun to use as a learning tool! Do you want your students to complete a course to just get it done, or to actually absorb the information being taught? Stories are the key to teaching well – both in leader-led classes as well online courses.

We’ve put together a very simple example of an mini course module. It’s not big enough to have much of a story to it, but even without a story, it’s meant to be visually engaging. This is just a small e-learning module we put together to show you that e-learning doesn’t have to be boring – it can be fun, which helps students learn better! Click on the course image to view my training module sample!

Sample eLearning Training Module

In essence, if you’re in need of training in different areas of Digital Marketing, or you would like some help in developing courses (whether leader-led or self-study courses), I’m here to make this area of your business or brand easier. Please don’t hesitate to take advantage of my knowledge in this area, because the force is strong with this one – er, um, I mean the training expertise is definitely strong in me and I’d be more than happy to help!