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Role of Brand Guidelines in Advertising Your Modesto Business

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Importance Of Brand Guidelines

Brand Guidelines For Your Modesto Business

Hey there, Modesto entrepreneurs! Let’s talk about something crucial in the business world, especially in our vibrant city – brand guidelines. If you have no idea what we are talking about, then this article is especially for you. Brand guidelines are like the recipe for your brand’s identity; they’re a blend of design, tone, and values that tell the world who you are. In the competitive landscape of Modesto’s business environment, these guidelines are not just nice-to-have; they are essential.

Why Brand Guidelines Matter

Consistency is Key

In the bustling streets of Modesto, from McHenry Avenue to downtown, your brand needs to stand out consistently. Brand guidelines ensure that whether a customer sees your ad on a billboard near Vintage Faire Mall or on a social media post, they recognize it’s you. This consistency builds brand recognition and trust, which are golden in advertising.

A Professional Image

Let’s face it; first impressions matter. A business that uses a mishmash of fonts, colors, and styles can seem unprofessional. Brand guidelines keep your advertising sleek and professional, showing your Modesto customers that you’re serious about quality.

Efficient Communication

With clear guidelines, your team knows exactly how to craft your ads. This efficiency means less time debating font sizes and more time connecting with your audience in Modesto’s dynamic market.

Creating Your Brand Guidelines

Know Your Identity

Start by understanding your business’s personality. Are you the laid-back coffee shop by Graceada Park or the cutting-edge tech startup in downtown Modesto? Your brand’s identity will guide your visual and verbal style.

Visual Elements

Choose colors and fonts that reflect your business’s personality. If you’re all about energy and excitement, bright colors and bold fonts might be your jam. If you’re more about calm and reliability, softer colors and clean fonts could be the way to go.

Tone of Voice

Your words matter. Whether it’s witty, professional, or friendly, your tone should resonate with your Modesto audience. Imagine speaking to your customer face-to-face – how would you want that conversation to feel?

Consistency Across Platforms

Whether it’s print ads, social media, or your storefront on Scenic Drive, your brand should look and feel the same. Consistency helps in creating a cohesive brand image.

Implementing Brand Guidelines

Educate Your Team

Ensure everyone from your marketing team to your front-line staff understands and can apply these guidelines.

Evaluate and Adapt

The Modesto market is ever-evolving. Regularly review your brand guidelines to ensure they align with current trends and customer preferences.

Use Professional Help

Consider hiring a local Modesto designer or marketing expert to help craft your guidelines. They can provide valuable insights specific to our market.

Conclusion

In the competitive business environment of Modesto, CA, brand guidelines are not just a marketing tool; they are a necessity. They ensure consistency, professionalism, and efficient communication. Remember, your brand is more than just a logo; it’s the entire experience you offer. So, invest in creating strong brand guidelines and watch your Modesto business thrive.

The Importance of Responsive Website Design

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The Importance of Responsive Website Design

I was hanging out with some friends the other day and I saw one of them pull out an old-school flip phone to make a call. I was immediately struck by the resemblance in how we tend to look down our noses at old technology and how consumers tend to snub website designs that are not responsive.

Think about it – when was the last time you saw someone whip out a non-smartphone? The little finger-scrolling motions we all make when cycling through our messages and mail have become a ubiquitous sight in any public setting. A phone without a finger scrolling? How gauche!

Well, our customers look at the website and graphic design in precisely the same way. Smartphone technology is less than a decade old – smart websites are even younger than that – but our customers don’t care. They want websites that interact with what they’re using now, not with what they used a decade ago.

What is Responsive?

What do I mean by responsive website design? In the simplest terms, responsive website design allows customers to utilize the site’s features from any device, be it a PC, a tablet, or a finger-scrolly smartphone.

Anyone with experience in web programming or graphic design immediately recognizes that there’s nothing simple about creating a site that allows full-featured use across multiple devices. As a graphic designer, I’ve been called on to create scalable interfaces that can grow or shrink to accommodate multiple screen sizes, so I know exactly how much effort and planning it requires.

Regardless of how much work it takes, today’s marketing efforts are joined at the hip with technologies that are evolving rapidly. Attracting the right audience, making them comfortable, and encouraging them to buy our product or service all require allowing them to connect to us in the way they want, not the way we want.

My friend with the flip phone? She was sending a text message, not shopping. Just goes to show.

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Digital Marketing

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Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Digital Marketing

Do you know what separates today’s extremely successful companies from those struggling to stay afloat—digital marketing? In today’s fast-paced, technologically driven world, no one can afford to underestimate the importance of digital marketing.

What is Digital Marketing

Most people assume that digital marketing is simply internet marketing. Technically, digital marketing relies on the internet, but to be truly successful at using digital marketing, you have to understand that there are different facets and layers. The companies that truly excel at digital marketing and that go on to become global powerhouses are the ones who know how the different layers of digital marketing connect and how to make each layer pay off.

Each time you put out some digital marketing material, it’s essential to know how the information connects to your master marketing plan and how you want your customer base to respond.

Entering Sale Funnels

Marketers don’t talk about sale funnels as much as they did a couple of years ago, but that’s because their attention has been directed to other things. Nevertheless, sale funnels are essential to digital marketing and brand building. The more visitors you can direct into your funnel, the more new customers you’ll end up with at the end of a specific sales period.

Some of the digital marketing material you use should exist to direct your followers into the wide part of your sales funnel. The content of this particular marketing content should be engaging, always feel fresh, and must include a link the person looking at the content can click. Make sure the link takes them directly to the sale funnel opening.

Boosting Your Search Engine Ranking

While the bulk of your customer base will likely find you via your social media posts, there will be a handful of people who need the service you offer or the product you sell and try to find it via a Google search. They will not go more than three or four listings on the first page, which is why you still need to make every effort to ensure your SEO is high. Each week, direct a small chunk of your marketing efforts to creating the type of content the search bots love.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing continues to be a crucial part of digital marketing. Many of your digital marketing efforts should focus on using mobile-display websites and fluid mobile app promotion. Mobile marketing can help build brand awareness, attract new customers, and launch new product lines.

How do you create an excellent digital marketing program that builds your brand and helps attract high-value customers? Trust us to handle the work for you so you can focus on the parts of the business where your talents truly shine.

 

Four Common Reasons Why Some Brands Fail

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Four Common Reasons Why Some Brands Fail

It’s no secret that some businesses never seem to get off the ground. Sometimes this is because of a bad business plan, poor management, or because the business wasn’t a good idea. While these issues can contribute to a business’s failure, a surprising number of times, the main reason the business fails is because of poor branding.

There are several reasons bad branding issues result in a business failing to catch on.

They Fail to Connect to Their Target Market

It doesn’t matter how good a business is. If the business fails to catch the eye of its target market, they aren’t going to make it. The problem is that the company usually spends all of its money casting a wide net with its marketing efforts instead of investing in consumer research and pinpointing the type of branding that resonates with its ideal customer.

The Brand Fails to Live Up to Brand’s Promise

One of the common mistakes we encounter when we’re looking at a business that failed because of the branding is that the company failed to live up to the brand’s promise. We see this the most frequently in businesses that novice business owners started. They have a great idea but aren’t confident about how they want to handle their branding, so they look to other businesses for ideas. The result is a brand that looks good but doesn’t quite match the business or product/service they’re offering.

Overextending the Brand

Recently we’ve noticed an uptick in branding failures that aren’t the result of the company having a bad brand but that the company is simply trying to do too much with its brand. This usually happens when a successful company expands its product line or offers more services. While the brand perfectly fits the original idea, it jars with the extension, and customers get confused. When it comes to expansion, careful consideration must be given to whether the company should expand under the same brand or if it would be better off creating two separate brands.

Creating Sub-Brands that Hurt the Primary Brand

While we are in favor of creating sub-brands, we do urge you to use caution. We’ve seen cases of businesses that launched a good sub-brand without realizing that the sub-brand was sending a message that ultimately contradicted and, in some cases, even hurt the main brand.

Does the process of branding your start-up leave you feeling overwhelmed? Feel free to contact us. We take the stress and mystery out of successful brand creation.

Should you Redesign your Website in 2023?

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Should you Redesign your Website in 2023?

It’s not always easy to know if the time has come to redesign your website. Many business owners feel that as long as the site is getting a reasonable amount of traffic and generating sales, they should leave it alone. The reality is that sometimes the traffic slowly decreases, and the owner doesn’t know it. It’s also likely that an older website isn’t attracting new, potential customers, which means the business is relying on a current customer base that could already be in a dwindling phase.

Here are some unmistakable signs that your website is in need of a facelift.

It’s Not Performing Well on Mobile Devices

Most of your customers use mobile devices when using the internet. If your website doesn’t load quickly and smoothly onto the mobile device, the visitor will back scroll and visit the competition’s mobile-friendly website.

Content Updates are Getting Increasingly Difficult

While websites have evolved a great deal, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that content is king. You need fresh and interesting content to hold your customer’s attention and to make sure your website enjoys a high search engine rating.

The problem is that as your website gets older, content becomes harder to update. A very simple web design project will equip your website with the new or updated tools needed to quickly load fresh content onto your website.

Your SEO Could be Better

Have you checked your search engine ranking recently? Is your website still appearing on the first page for all of your keywords? If it’s not, there’s a chance that the problem isn’t your content. It could actually be that your website simply isn’t equipped with the newest things the web crawlers look for when ranking a website. A quick and easy web redesign project will help restore your site to its previous high rankings.

You’re Not Keeping Up With the Competition

Take a look at a few of your direct competitors’ websites. How does yours match up? While you don’t want your website to be a carbon copy of theirs, you also don’t want your website to feel like a vintage example of how things were once done.

Have you decided it’s time to revamp your website? Contact us and learn how easy and effective upgrading can be!

Top Website Design Factors for 2023

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Top Website Design Factors for 2023

You already know exactly how important your website is to the average customer. If your landing page doesn’t catch their attention in just a few seconds, they will move on to your competitor’s site.

While most business owners have gotten good about making sure they have an appealing website when they first launch their business, they tend to drop the ball when it comes to updating their website. It doesn’t take long before the website develops a dated appearance.

Make 2023 the year that you dedicate a portion of your resources to updating your website. Before you start, take some time to familiarize yourself with this year’s top website design trends.

Get Rid of the Stock Images

Gone are the days when you could post a few generic stock photos on your website and call it good. In 2023, your customers want to feel an instant connection to your web-based business. Custom images are one of the simplest and most effective means of doing this.

Customer photos and illustrations that are both high quality and very symbolic of your business not only give your web-based business a unique vibe your customers instantly respond to, but they also help you cement your brand.

If you’re going with photos, you should consider hiring a photographer who not only takes amazing photos and can create a custom portfolio of images for you to use but also understands the type of photos that generate the best response when incorporated into a website.

If you’re interested in adding some illustrations to your website, consider visually stimulating ones that can include:

  • Gradient changing illustrations
  • 3D designs
  • Layered graphics

Explore Parallax Scrolling

Parallax scrolling is one of 2023’s hottest webdesign trends. Not familiar with the term. Parallax scrolling is a technique currently being used in web design that allows the background to move at a slower rate of speed than the foreground images. This gives the entire page a cool, three-dimensional appearance. Until recently, parallax scrolling was most commonly used in game design, but more companies are embracing it and incorporating it in their 2023 web redesign projects.

Time to Start Creating Grids

Over the past couple of years, grids have become a bigger part of modern web design, and it looks like the trend will continue in 2023. If you’re not already using a CSS Grid Layout, now that you’ve decided to give your website a facelift, the grid is something to seriously consider.

The advantages of using a grid in your web design include the following:

  • A pleasingly clean aesthetic
  • Better complex responsive web design
  • Better compatibility with all browsers
  • Improved layout options

Feel free to contact us at 209-521-4748 for more information about 2023 web design trends that will help your website pop.

Is Video Marketing Important? | Modesto Video & Media Marketing

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Video marketing takes time and requires resources that aren’t always readily available to people. These two things make some business owners question whether video marketing is something they should really invest in.
The short answer is yes.

Video marketing is an investment that will ultimately pay off in a major way. According to data collected by Image Works, 55% of marketers who included videos in their email marketing campaigns experienced a higher click-through rate. The numbers go even higher when the videos are used in social media marketing programs.

The good news is that as long as you stick to a few simple tricks. Video marketing isn’t difficult and it will quickly generate a high return on your investment. All you have to do is follow a few basic tips.

Invest in good video equipment. Posting a grainy, dark video with poor sound quality is worse than posting no video at all. Not only should you invest in a video camera or smartphone camera that takes high-quality images, but you should also make sure you have a good light source and a high-quality microphone. Yes, these can seem expensive when you purchase them, but the good videos will quickly pay for the equipment. Plus, as long as you take care of this equipment, it will last a long time.

Know exactly what you want to do with the video. Before you start shooting, know what the goal of the video is and create a script that allows you to get to the point quickly. Keep your video content condensed and to the point, the same way you would if you were creating a blog post.

Keep things short. Customers don’t want to spend an hour watching a promotional video. They’re busy. They have other things to do. Keep your videos as short as possible. If you find that the content requires a longer video, break it into sections and post each separate video as a different part. Edit the different sections in a manner that the viewer feels compelled to click on the next part. Make sure you link all the video parts.

Create some buzz around your video marketing campaign. If you have an exciting new product launch or think you’ve created a video your followers will love, don’t be afraid to hype it. Create short little teaser videos and post those.

Don’t be afraid to ask your followers to help you generate video content for you. Encourage them to create videos with your products, post them on their social media page, and tag your business in the videos. Not only is this create valuable content and improve your business’s visibility, but it can also serve as an inspiration for future videos that you want to create!

What All Successful Video Marketing Programs Share

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Videos have taken the marketing world by storm and it’s easy to understand why. There are several reasons why video marketing is so successful.

  • People can watch videos out of the corner of their eye while they do other things, like clean the house and work on the computer
  • Videos allow out to really demonstrate how a product works and how it could improve the average consumer’s life
  • Videos can be short, informative, and entertaining
  • Videos are easy to share.

While there’s no denying that a successful video marketing program can take just about any business to the next level, it’s also impossible to ignore that not all video marketing programs are created equal. Some are considerably more effective than others.

When you observe a few successful video marketing programs, you’ll notice that they have a few things in common.

Videos are Routinely Posted

Businesses that are good at video marketing know that they have to routinely update their content. The ones that are really serious about developing a profitable video marketing program create a calendar that shows all the dates that they want to post fresh video content. Not only does the calendar help them to stay on track, but they can also use it to figure out when each aspect of their next video needs to be started and when they must finish it.

The Videos Stay on Point

Good marketing videos are the ones that have a clear goal. The producers don’t try to fit lots of additional information into the video. The video has a clear purpose. It’s better to divide a large video into much smaller, concise videos than to post one long video that frequently hops from one topic to another.

Good Call to Action

Individuals who have put together a solid video marketing program understand the value of a good call to action. They never post a video that doesn’t have one. Not only should your videos have a distinct call to action, but they should also be a natural part of your sales funnel.

The Videos are High Quality

Posting high-quality and effective marketing videos isn’t difficult. You don’t need expensive recording equipment. You do need something that takes a clear video, a good light source, and a quiet location. If your video is dark, shaky, or full of loud background noise, you’ll lose both viewers and potential customers.

Do you think your video marketing program needs an overhaul but aren’t sure what to expect? Contact us today! We can’t wait to help you out!

What Every Start-Up Business Owner Needs to Know About Digital Marketing

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What Every Start-Up Business Owner Needs to Know About Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

Getting a start-up up and running isn’t easy. It’s not uncommon for a person to get so involved with the process of developing their business idea, turning their vision into reality, and acquiring the financial backing they require to forget about things they’ll need down the road, like a good digital marketing plan. The fact that start-ups require a slightly different digital marketing plan than an already established brand with a solid customer base makes creating a successful marketing program more challenging.

First, if you’re the creator of a start-up that suddenly realized you haven’t done a thing to promote your enterprise, it’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. It happens. The good news is that it’s never too late to create and utilize a digital marketing plan.

Second, get to know exactly what it takes to successfully use digital marketing to promote a start-up.

Nail Down Your Brand

You can’t expect to launch a successful digital marketing program for your start-up if you don’t already have a good idea of what your brand is. The aspects of creating a successful brand include:

  • Decide what kind of vibe you want to project
  • Choose a few suitable colors that will be incorporated into all of your branding material
  • Create a unique, eye-catching logo that matches your industry and start-up’s personality
  • Design a website that helps drive home your brand. The colors, wording, images, etc. should all be on brand.

Start Creating Website Material

Now that you’ve started to figure out your brand, it’s time to turn your attention to the next phase of digital marketing: the website. Not only does your website need to reflect your brand, but it also has to appeal to your target market. Fill it with content that your target market will find interesting.

  • Don’t forget to blend some SEO-friendly key phrases into your content.
  • Resist the urge to make all your content into a sales pitch
  • Create a schedule for uploading new content
  • Include a solid call to action with all of your content
  • Remember that short blocks of content are more effective than long blocks of text

Combine Digital Marketing Ideas

There was a time when you could focus all of your marketing resources on one platform and use just one or two forms of marketing but those days have passed. These days, it’s important to spread yourself out and promote your start-up through a lot of different channels.

  • Don’t forget to use:
  • Influencers
  • Video Marketing
  • Several different social media platforms
  • Pay-per-view marketing
  • Referral marketing
  • And more

How are you handling your start-up’s digital marketing needs? Do you need help or simply want to see if there’s a more efficient way you could be using digital marketing to promote your start-up? Feel free to contact us for suggestions.

Does Your Successful Business Need Social Media Marketing?

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Does Your Successful Business Really Need Social Media Marketing?

social media marketing modesto

If you thought that because it’s 2022 and you’ve managed to create a successful business, you can grow lax on your social media marketing, it’s time to think again. Rest assured, there is another business currently sitting out there, waiting for you to drop the ball on your social media marketing so that they can swoop in and steal all of your loyal customers.

Social Media Marketing is an Excellent Way to Showcase your Business’s Customer Service Skills

Yes, we just said that you can’t get lazy with your social media marketing, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep creating promotional posts. Make 2022 the year that you turn your social media accounts into a customer service extravaganza. Encourage your customers to use their social media accounts to share stories about your business. When they do, reply to those posts. Not only does this help boost your business’s visibility, but it also provides you with the means to connect with your customers.

You should also use your social media accounts to respond to questions and concerns your customers discuss. This is a great opportunity to show how your business is really connected to your customers, and how you’re willing to make adjustments to your program and identify and correct holes in your customer experience.

Focus on Developing Authenticity

Instead of dedicating your social media marketing program to promotional and brand recognition posts, your accounts develop authenticity. Create posts that show your product out in the real world. Encourage your customers to create short video snippets of your products and tag you in the posts. Explore alternative ways to use your products. Not only does this type of marketing program help create brand authenticity, but it also creates outside recommendations that studies show are more effective than company-led promotions.

Explore Other Social Media Platforms

Now that your business is successful and you’ve gotten a handle on how to best utilize your current social media platforms, use 2022 to explore other platforms that you’re not as familiar with. Not only does this provide you with a way to revitalize and reuse some of your old marketing material, but you’re also putting yourself in a position where you can easily adapt to any new marketing trends and platforms that come along in 2023.

What are you doing to keep your social media marketing interesting for your established and successful business?

MHD Group provides results driven solutions that elevate brand awareness above the competition, motivate buyers and ensure customer loyalty by effectively integrating branding strategy, graphic and web design, marketing, digital media and public relations.