Why Innovation Within Your Company Is So Important

Why Innovation Within Your Company Is So Important

Posted on by Tori Hall

One of the keys to success in today’s fast-paced and dynamic business environment is innovation. It is an essential ingredient for staying ahead of competitors, meeting the expectations of customers and adapting to changing market conditions. In fact, companies that are not able to innovate quickly and effectively tend to fall behind the curve and may eventually become irrelevant. So, if you’re a CMO or Marketing Manager, you need to pay close attention to innovation within your company – it could be the difference between success and failure.

5 Ways Your Company Benefits from Innovation

1. Innovation Drives Growth

One of the primary reasons why innovation is so important is that it drives growth. Through innovation, companies can come up with new products, services, and business models that can help them expand their customer base, increase revenue, and improve profitability. By investing in R&D and fostering a culture of innovation, companies can unlock new opportunities for growth and stay ahead of the curve.

2. Innovation Enhances Customer Experience

Another key benefit of innovation is that it can enhance the customer experience. By coming up with new and innovative ways to engage with customers and meet their needs, companies can improve customer satisfaction and increase loyalty. This could involve developing new products that are more user-friendly, creating new channels of communication, or leveraging digital technologies to offer personalized experiences.

3. Innovation Fosters Agility and Adaptability

In today’s fast-paced business world, companies need to be agile and adaptable to survive. By embracing innovation, companies can become more agile and better equipped to adapt to changing market conditions. This could involve adopting new technologies, diversifying into new markets, or forging strategic partnerships with other companies.

4. Innovation Attracts and Retains Talent

By promoting a culture of innovation, companies can attract and retain top talent by offering a stimulating work environment that values creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.

5. Innovation Requires Leadership and Commitment

Finally, it’s important to note that innovation requires leadership and commitment from senior management. Without buy-in and support from the top, innovation initiatives are likely to falter. It’s essential to create a supportive culture that encourages risk-taking and experimentation, and to provide the necessary resources and funding to fuel innovation.

Innovation is not a luxury for companies anymore; it’s a necessity. Companies that embrace innovation and create a culture of creativity, experimentation, and learning are more likely to stay ahead of the curve, grow their businesses, and adapt to changing market conditions. As a CMO or Marketing Manager, it’s essential to prioritize innovation within your company and make it a key component of your strategic plan. With the right mindset, tools, and resources, you can unlock the full potential of your team and drive your company’s success into the future.

How to Relaunch Your Brand Post-pandemic

How to Relaunch Your Brand Post-pandemic

Posted on by Tori Hall

The pandemic has caused countless changes in the way we live and work. Virtually no business has gone unaffected by COVID-19, and many brands have been forced to completely overhaul their business model to adjust to the new normal. If your company has had to shut down or pull back during the pandemic, you may be preparing now for relaunching. This could be a great opportunity for your business to reconnect with old customers and gain a new audience, but it’s important to go about your relaunch strategically. The world is still dealing with COVID-19, and the model you once used may not be appropriate anymore.

Here Are Seven Tips for Relaunching a Brand after the Pandemic

1. Connect with Your Customers

Everyone has been through an ordeal in the last year, and many people are still stressed and confused. Compassion and empathy should be at the forefront of your communications as you reach out to your existing customers. People look for stability during crisis, so they appreciate brands that are straightforward and organized yet understanding.

Think about the concerns that may be most common among your customers as you relaunch. Are your customers worried about social distancing in your store, or will financial issues make it difficult for your usual shoppers to engage with your business? Your customer base may be facing new problems or worries, and you should be prepared to address them when you’re relaunching.

Use social media as you plan your relaunch strategy. Check out what your target demographic is saying on social media to get an understanding of their main concerns regarding the pandemic. You could also set up a virtual conference to hear questions and suggestions directly from your customers.

2. Talk about Health and Safety Measures

Consumers tend to be wary of brands with questionable health and safety protocols. Even as we near the end of the pandemic, it’s still important for businesses to take precautions. To help your customers feel at ease, be open and honest about the measures you’re taking to protect both your employees and your shoppers.

Before relaunching, release a statement on your website and on your social channels explaining your health and safety protocols. Talk about your standards for employee testing, sanitation, and social distancing. Be realistic about what your business can offer, and avoid promising measures that you’re not able to put in place.

3. Find New Ways to Offer Your Product or Service

Although options like indoor dining and shopping are becoming more available, the pandemic has led to the popularization of some other business models. Systems like curbside pickup, delivery, and online shopping aren’t entirely new, but they’ve become much more widely used in the last year. Many shoppers prefer these low-contact, convenient options, and they may continue to use these methods even after the end of the pandemic.

If your business primarily offers in-person shopping or services, think of ways to make it even easier for customers to patronize your company. Even once it’s no longer necessary, these options will likely still be popular.

4. Offer Something Exciting

Relaunching is a big event, and this is a great opportunity for your business to celebrate. If possible, offer something special to mark the occasion. You could host an outdoor event if you have the means to maintain social distancing recommendations, or you could set up an online launch party.

Another option is to offer a new product to celebrate your reopening, which will give you a chance to further advertise your business. You could give a discount or promotional offer to your returning customers, too. Many brands are relaunching with some financial uncertainty, so offering a steep discount may not be possible. However, your company will get more attention if you give your customers something to talk about.

5. Strengthen Your Customer Support

An efficient, helpful customer support system has been the key to success for many businesses throughout the pandemic. Whenever there’s uncertainty, customers will look to brands with responsive and available customer support. Relaunching also requires strong customer service because your customers may be unclear about what has changed or what they should expect from you.

Most likely, a good deal of your customer support will now happen remotely. If you plan to have employees working with customers through email or phone calls, make sure they’re equipped with the right technology to reduce errors or delays. Consider investing in an AI chatbot to offer customer support, too. Chatbots are available 24/7, so your customers won’t have to wait until business hours to get a response.

6. Set Objectives

It may feel difficult to set specific and measurable objectives when planning your relaunch strategy. Many businesses have been in survival mode for the last year, and no one has known what to expect in the future. However, objectives are essential for measuring the success of your relaunch.

Each objective should include which metric you plan to change, how much you plan for it to change, and when you plan to achieve this goal. The purpose of your objectives is to become specific and methodical with your relaunch strategy and to determine whether or not your business had made progress. Don’t panic if your brand doesn’t reach an objective, though. It’s still hard to predict what the future looks like, so you may need to adjust your objectives along the way.

7. Market and Publicize Your Relaunch

This step may seem obvious, but you should never underestimate the importance of marketing. Even if your business was thriving before the pandemic, you may have lost some momentum when you had to close down. Unfortunately, it will probably take some time and effort to build up your customer base again.

Do everything within your power to publicize your company’s relaunching. Post frequently on social media, and put signs or banners outside of your storefront. Send announcements to your email list detailing your plan to relaunch. Some of your customers may simply need a reminder that your brand exists, and they’ll be excited to see that you’re reopening.

If you have the budget to invest in marketing, consider launching a paid search campaign with Google or other search engines. Paid search targets people who are actively searching for your product or service, so it almost always delivers excellent results. Another option is paid social media marketing, which delivers your ads on social platforms to people within your target audience.

Relaunching after COVID-19 may seem daunting. You might be unsure of how your customers’ needs have changed or how people will interact with your business post-pandemic. Remember that everyone else is facing this uncertainty, too. Although you can’t be sure of what the future will bring, you can research and plan for what’s happening today. Most importantly, be honest, clear, and compassionate with your customers. The last year has been immensely challenging, but brands that focus on togetherness will bring the security and stability that people crave.

Product Packaging Design Guide

Product Packaging Design Guide

Posted on by Tori Hall

Your product packaging design is one of the most important factors in your overall brand image. It’s the first thing your potential customers see, and it can play a major role in their decision to buy your products. High-quality product packaging design not only keeps your products safe and secure, but it draws shoppers’ eyes and communicates the value of your brand.

Product packaging design involves every element of your product’s exterior. Style of packaging, type of material, colors, images, and typography are all a part of your product packaging design. Well-crafted product packaging is creative, eye-catching, and functional.

There are several steps involved in the package design process. A clear plan of action from the very beginning is key for your design project to run smoothly. Here is everything you need to know about product packaging design:

Getting Started With Product Packaging Design

Careful planning in the early stages will help the rest of the product packaging design process go smoothly. As you start brainstorming for your product packaging design, identify your brand image and your target audience. You should have a clear idea of what your potential customers are looking for and what kind of product packaging design will draw their eye.

You should also create an information hierarchy for your product packaging design. Choose the most important piece of information that you want customers to see, and use this as the centerpiece. This could be your brand logo, the name of the product, or an image of what’s inside. Then, choose two or three other pieces of information to display clearly but secondarily to the centerpiece in the product packaging design.

As your product packaging design comes to life, remember to envision it as a 3D item. Your mock-ups may be on paper or on a computer screen, but the real product packaging will look much different when it’s constructed. You could even print out a draft of your product packaging design and tape it together to get a rough idea of how it will look in three dimensions.

Before working out the details of the product packaging design, find and connect with a reputable printer. You should have an idea of what the printing job will cost so you can set a budget for materials. Your printer should provide dieline templates for the box or label, too, which you or your designer can use to guide the product packaging design process.

The Three Layers of Product Packaging

There are three layers of product packaging, and each gives you an opportunity to represent your brand and share your story. The outermost layer of packaging protects the item from the elements, especially during transportation. This typically is the box the item ships in if you sell your products online.

The inner packaging surrounds the item inside the box and keeps it packed safely. This could be tissue paper, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, or anything else that stops the item from jostling around during transportation.

The last layer of the product packaging is the box, wrapper, bottle, or other container that houses the item itself. If you sell your item in brick-and-mortar stores, this is the packaging that your customers will see on the shelves.

You should have a product packaging design strategy for all three of these layers. Some businesses only put care into the design for the innermost layer of packaging, but the outer box will give the first impression. Every layer of your product packaging design should be cohesive to provide a great unboxing experience for your customers.

Colors

Color is one of the first and most important decisions you’ll make for your product packaging design. It’s also one of the first things your customers will see when they look at the product. Most colors are associated with a particular emotion, so you should choose the colors in your product packaging design carefully to fine-tune the customer experience.

Here are some examples of the feelings different colors can evoke when used in product packaging design:

• Red: energy, excitement, passion
• Orange: adventure, creativity, warmth
• Green: health, growth, generosity
• Blue: stability, peace, calm
• Black: power, mystery, authority

Your brand colors should be the foundation of the color scheme for your product packaging. This will strengthen brand recognition and help your customers easily identify your products among others on the shelves.

You should also make an intentional choice between bright and pastel colors in your product packaging design. Bright colors are vibrant, exciting, and eye-catching while pastels are calming and comforting. Think about your desired brand image and how you want your customers to feel when using your products. Your product packaging design should reflect this.

Typography

Like color, the typography in your product packaging design will have a big impact on the way shoppers respond to your products. You probably already have a logo that shows your brand name, but you’ll also have to choose typography for all of the smaller text in the product packaging design.

Simplicity is always key for typography. Use text that’s clear and easy to read, and avoid using too many different types of fonts in your product packaging design. Two or three fonts can help to break your labels up into segments, but any more than that will make your product packaging look cluttered and messy.

Consider your brand image to choose an appropriate font. If you want your product packaging design to look serious and professional, a font like Georgia or Times New Roman should work well. If you want a clean or minimalist product packaging design, try a sans-serif font like Arial.

Written Copy

Once a consumer is drawn in by the visuals on your product packaging, they’ll read the written copy. If your products are on the shelves, this is your chance to convince a curious shopper that they want or need the item. If a customer has already purchased the product, the written copy on the packaging should reassure them about their choice.

As always, use your brand image to guide your style. You could use a casual, humorous tone if it’s appropriate, or you could use more straightforward, serious copy if you need to establish trust in your customers.

There’s a finite amount of space on your product packaging, so be concise with your written content. Use short sentences and bullet points to convey the information succinctly. Remember that most customers won’t read every single word on the packaging, especially if it’s completely covered in text.

Material

Your choice of material greatly affects the quality of your product packaging. The ideal material depends on what’s inside the container. Something easily breakable will need heavy-duty packaging. The box the product comes in can be a good opportunity to be creative and represent your brand, but functionality is the top priority.

Look to your competition to assess what kind of material is best for each layer of packaging. If every other business in your niche uses a certain material or style of packaging, it’s probably a sign that you should follow suit. While doing something different will make you stand out, there’s also likely a reason for the norm.

Product packaging design is an intricate but exciting process. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your business and attract new customers. Throughout the project, remember to be clear and consistent in your messaging and design so that all of your products become immediately recognizable to your shoppers. Take your time with every package design decision, and don’t be afraid to create multiple drafts until you find the perfect design.

6 Rebranding and Relaunching Strategies for Small Businesses

6 Rebranding and Relaunching Strategies for Small Businesses

Posted on by Tori Hall

A strong brand image is critical for any business. Consumers want to buy from brands that they understand and trust, so your company needs a clear identity to gain a loyal following. Sometimes, though, you may need to adjust or update your image to maintain or grow your customer base. Rebranding is the act of changing your company’s image. This often includes changing your name, logo, or other elements of your design, but the purpose of rebranding goes much deeper. Businesses typically choose to rebrand and relaunch when they want to change their identity or their public perception.

You may have realized that you need a different approach to stand out from your competitors. You might be trying to distance your brand from a scandal or a controversy in the past. Your company may be expanding to other industries that you now want to incorporate into your image. Whatever the reason, rebranding your business is possible if you’re strategic. Check out these 5 things to consider when hiring a rebranding agency for your business.

Companies of all sizes undergo rebranding. Some of the biggest brands in the world have changed dramatically without losing popularity. If you plan carefully, brand relaunching can be the perfect way to expand your audience, keep up with the current market, and improve your reputation. Here are six strategies for how to rebrand your business:

1. Determine What You Want to Change

Rebranding is very difficult if you don’t know exactly what your intentions are. Before you make any changes to your business, you should be able to describe your current brand image and articulate what you plan to adjust.

Determining your new identity at the beginning of the project will help you stay focused and consistent as you rebrand and relaunch. If you’re not sure how specifically your image should change, consult with your employees. Your team understands your company’s current image, and they probably have some valuable insight into where your brand should go.

Talk to your loyal customers, too. Find out what keeps them coming back to your business and what they would like to see changed. By consulting with your customers, you can determine which elements of your business should stay the same and which should be updated.

2. Designate Your Project Manager

Consistency during your rebranding and relaunch project is key. Undergoing a major change can be confusing for both your team and your customers, but making sure the changes themselves are consistent can help.

The best way to ensure that everything unfolds smoothly and consistently is to assign a project manager. This person can oversee the entire project, making sure that every task is completed and that your rebranding is clear and consistent. When one person is at the helm of the relaunch, you can avoid mistakes or miscommunications that would make the process more confusing.

3. Create a Mission Statement

Your mission statement explains who you are and what you hope to accomplish. If you’re rebranding your small business, your mission statement probably needs updating. Rebranding involves changing your company’s goals or identity, so you should be sure to rewrite your mission statement to reflect your new image.

Crafting a new mission statement will help you maintain consistency during your rebranding and relaunch. Every change you make should adhere to this statement.

Keep customers informed, too. Place your updated statement on the “About” page of your website. When you’re ready to make your rebranding public, announce your change in mission statement on your social media platforms. Your mission statement should help customers understand your business and its values, which encourages them to feel a stronger sense of loyalty toward your brand.

4. Conduct Market Research

Sometimes, rebranding a company mostly involves cosmetic changes to the logo, color scheme, slogan, or other design elements. However, in most cases, changes happen because businesses need to overhaul their current strategy to increase their sales or improve their reputation. You probably have an important reason for rebranding that’s vital to the success of your business.

For the campaign to be effective, you or your campaign should perform a market analysis. Identify what your competitors do successfully that you could incorporate into your new brand. Here are some of the most important areas to research while you make a plan for your relaunch:

• Popular design elements: colors, logo, website design
• Target demographic: age, location, income level
• Customer buying habits: type and frequency of products
• Current trends in the market

5. Be Public About Your Rebranding

Informing your audience of your rebranding is a key step in the process. Sometimes, businesses rebrand without announcing it because they don’t expect customers to notice. Your loyal customers will take note of the changes, though, and they’ll want to be kept informed. To avoid confusion, you should publicly announce your rebranding project.

Before your relaunch, post on your social media profiles about the upcoming change. Briefly explain your intentions behind rebranding, but assure your customers that they won’t see a decline in the quality of your products. Set a specific date for your new brand to go into effect, and let your audience know when to expect the change. Be available to address any questions or concerns that arise as a result of the relaunch.

6. Set Goals for Your Relaunch

Like with any new endeavor, you should set specific, measurable results for your rebranding and relaunch. You’re going through this process for a reason, so you should have a plan for how you’ll measure your success. Where do you want your business to be one year from now? How will rebranding change the trajectory of your small business?

Some of the most common goals when rebranding a company include the following:

• Increase sales
• Expand target demographic
• Improve customer loyalty
• Strengthen brand recognition
• Increase website visits
• Increase email signups

Not only should your goals be actionable and measurable, but they also should be time-specific. Although you can’t predict exactly how your rebranding will affect your company’s performance, you should have an idea of when you want to achieve these objectives. If your company isn’t close to reaching your goals in the expected time frame, you should reevaluate your plan.

Rebranding can be a great way to revitalize your small business and find a new way to connect with your target audience. All markets change over time, so your original brand identity may need some updating to stay current. You can make your rebranding and relaunching a seamless transition if you do your research and make a careful plan first. By defining your image, mission, and goals, you’ll set your company up for success as you rebrand. 

Designing a Logo for Your Company – Mistakes to Avoid

Designing a Logo for Your Company – Mistakes to Avoid

Posted on by Tori Hall

Logos are important. You knew that already. A good logo represents your company, helps people to remember your brand, and even attracts new customers.

A bad logo, on the other hand, can undo all the hard work you’ve done to get your company up and running to begin with.

There are several basic elements that go into designing a logo. The color, font, shape, graphic choice, spacing, and style all play an important part in whether your design is successful or not. But just as those basic elements need careful attention, there are also several mistakes that are shockingly easy to make.

Fortunately, with a little advance warning, they’re also easy to avoid.

Let’s take a look at seven mistakes that are frequently made by new designers, and how you can keep from falling prey to them.

Use A Raster Image

This is a very basic one, but it’s important. And if you don’t have a lot of experience with design, you may not know this off the top of your head.

Logos need to be flexible and scalable. Your design will be used in a variety of ways, across a plethora of platforms — from your website, to your social media, to print ads, emails, maybe even billboards! Obviously, your design needs to be able to go from very small to very large without losing its clarity.

A raster image, however, is based on pixels, which means that when it is sized differently than its original, it gets pixelated, or fuzzy. A fuzzy logo not only looks amateurish, it also is completely ineffective because it’s impossible to see the true, authentic logo as it was mean to be.

Your design needs to use vectors, rather than rasters. Vectors are built of mathematical equations using lines and curves, allowing them to be resized without losing their integrity. Make your logo effective at any size by using a vector design.

Design Is Too Complicated

There’s a reason why “simplicity” comes up as a popular design trend year after year — simple is effective. Simple works.

Conversely, if your logo design is too complex, too busy, has too many elements, the effectiveness will be significantly reduced. In fact, the more elements you have, the less likely the brand design is to be remembered and recognized — two major factors of what makes a good logo to begin with.

Rather than letting your brand identity be a free-for-all and shoving as many elements as possible into that little space, be choosy. Strip your elements down. Keep removing them until the logo operates at the lowest common denominator, as simple as possible. Remember, simple = memorable, and memorable = effective.

Using a logo design tool for ideas can be helpful in this regard, as they usually offer you the simplest of suggestions, rather than anything too complex.

Too Reliant On Trends

Trends certainly have their place, but that place usually changes from year to year, or even from season to season. It’s difficult to predict what trend will come up next; and it’s equally difficult to predict when, exactly, a given trend will end.

This means that if your design is too reliant on a popular trend, it will look dated as soon as that trend is over. You could choose to update your design on a regular basis, of course, but that won’t help with recognition or memorability.

Instead, design your logo based on classic design principles rather than individual trends. Looking at the long-term for your logo makes more sense than leaping onto whatever bandwagon comes your way.

Bad Font Choice

Individual elements such as fonts need attention, too, because they play into the overall effectiveness of your logo as a whole. If you have a well-designed logo, but have chosen a font that doesn’t fit or is downright illegible, it will tear at the effectiveness of the brand image.

One important tip when it comes to fonts: ask for feedback. A font may seem perfectly legible to you, but may not be nearly as clear to others. Remember that just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sometimes good font choice is, too.

Poor Color Choice

Running right along with the issue of choosing a font is the issue of choosing your colors. There are several sub-mistakes that can be made here.

• Choosing colors that clash. Don’t design your logo in a palette that makes the viewer’s eyes bleed. Just don’t.
• Choosing colors that render text or other elements invisible. If you don’t have enough contrast between your text and your background, there’s going to be a problem.
• Choosing colors that just don’t fit your brand. Take a look at some of the information on the psychology of color.
• Making your logo completely reliant on color. Remember that your logo may be printed or used on different platforms, and not all of them will have the exact same color capabilities. It’s even a good idea to make sure that your design plays well in black and white, just in case.

Doesn’t Fit The Brand

Branding is the act of creating a visual representation of a personality, and allowing it to communicate with others. The personality belongs to your brand — the others are your audience. Your audience identifies with your company on a personal level because of branding.

Which puts a lot of pressure on visual branding elements, such as your logo design. If the design doesn’t fit the brand personality, it sends a wrong message to your customers, and hinders their ability to identify and engage with the company.

Basically, if your company is traditional, values-driven, and family-oriented, your logo should be, too. This is true if your company is edgy, youthful, and quirky, as well as if your company is grassroots, home-grown, hand-made, your logo should be, too.

To create a logo that doesn’t align with the brand personality is to create a communications misfire. Make sure that the brand and the design are cut from the same cloth.

Your Logo Looks Too Much Like The Competition

A final mistake that is frequently made in logo design is the creation of a copycat, or lookalike. This can be attributed to one of two things:
● Lack of market research, so you don’t know what your competition is doing and you accidentally stumbled onto a lookalike logo design.
● Desire to capitalize on an existing design; you’ve done your market research, found a competitor that is doing well, and created a logo that could be mistaken for the competition in order to draw sales away from confused customers who aren’t paying enough attention.

Both of these causes are detrimental to your company, and both of them need to be avoided. Market research is always recommended before you start a company, anyway — and it’s a vital part of excellent, effective branding.

On the other hand, choosing to create a lookalike logo won’t really do you any favors, either. People will catch on, and your brand will suffer because of its apparent inability to trust in its own uniqueness.

Trust your brand — and create a logo to match

Logo design isn’t as simple as some may think, but that doesn’t mean it’s beyond your reach. Just make sure to avoid these seven potential mistakes, and you can create a successful, effective, memorable logo that perfectly aligns with your company brand.