Do you ever find yourself getting burnt out from what you see online? Your senses are bombarded with content, data and information. Even a brief search on Google leaves you being met with headlines such as; ‘Five top tricks to smash an avocado!’ and ‘You’ll never believe what X said about Y!’ What I’m trying to get at here (in a way that’s far too cynical for a person of my age, I’m sure) is that much of the content being churned out claiming to be ‘shocking’, ‘different’, ‘interesting’ or ‘revealing’ ends up being exactly the opposite.
It seems that the more content produced, the poorer the quality much of it ends up being. Perhaps we have a distorted view, seeing as we witness so much of this content day in day out. But we believe that the way in which a brand succeeds online these days is through being different – or at least being true to your values.
The team here @laurenslindeman; wanted to explore some of the ways in which a brand can stand out in today’s online market.
Be Authentic
We’ve put this first because we cannot stress how important it is. You’ll get nowhere as a business, online, if you try to be someone you’re not. Know your core values and appreciate that you can’t please or target everybody. Many brands fail because they take too broad an approach to their marketing. They try to cast their net over everybody, and spread themselves too thinly in doing so. You can, of course, have some breadth to your approach, and you should always aim to be pushing for wider audiences. There’s a difference, however, between pursuing a targeted approach and taking a scattergun approach. On the flipside of this, don’t feign authenticity or be a sickly-sweet crowd pleaser. Above all else, people value honesty, and they will always opt for a firm they deem honest over someone they think is purely trying to grab their money. As a men's fashion agency, we’ve found the businesses who perform best are those that stick to their values. This is something that’s never going to change.
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment
Until this point, you may have always marketed your brand in a certain way, and it may have brought you some success. Straying from this strategy may seem alien, scary even. After all, as humans we’re innately programmed to fear the unknown. There’s much to be gained from dipping your toe into other forms of marketing, however. If you’ve focused particularly on email marketing, for example, and have found yourself stifled by recent updates to GDPR regulations, then why not try some blogging? Alternatively, if you’ve felt visually your website or your social media channels feel dated, then why not play around with some graphic design software.
It’s very easy, these days, to create high-end looking graphics even without the expensive Adobe-type software. Implementing a custom graphic every other few posts on Instagram, for example, will knock the calibre of your brand image up a couple of notches.
If you want to take a more multi-faceted approach to your strategy by utilising these other disciplines, but don’t feel able to do them yourself, then don’t worry! We offer these services in-house here at our agency in Den Bosch. Our creative output benefits from the fact we’re all under one roof, better enabling collaborative working and project synergy.
Utilise Modern (More Modern) Marketing Technologies
Video content has long been touted as the solution to every marketer’s problems. Whilst it’s by no means a miracle form of content, it’s certainly one of the most effective. The benefits of video content marketing are well-documented and various. They include:
Video content is fantastic from an SEO perspective. The major search engines such as Google look highly favourably upon those brands which put out video content, because in their eyes, it’s the most engaging, helpful form of content there is.
If you want your professionalism to come across, video content is a great way to go about it. Not every brand uses video marketing, far from it and, simply put, it acts as a great differentiator. If it’s done well, it helps elevate a brand from a mediocre player to an industry leader.
Looking for meaningful, high-quality traffic? I.e. the sort which converts? Then utilise videography within your website – especially on pages like the homepage. More often than not, you’ve only got a small window in which to capture people’s attention before they flitter off elsewhere. Getting people watching a video is a great way of ensuring they stop and properly take stock of your site. In other words, video content is a great way of getting your foot through the door when it comes to securing a customer.
Don’t Rush Into A Strategy
When you’re putting pressure on yourself to both get results and also be creative, you often end up doing neither. Many brands rush into their marketing, thinking of an idea and determining that there can be no alternative but to go for that first inkling.
A better approach in the long term is to give your brain time to breathe, creatively speaking. Better still is to do this with other people so that you’re able to bounce ideas off one another. Few projects stem from one singular vision (though popular culture would lead you to believe otherwise). Most arise from a melding of different viewpoints and perspectives, to form something unique.
Whatever you end up choosing, there can be no doubt that digital marketing should form an integral part of your brand’s present and future. So, if you’d like to find out more about our men's fashion marketing agency, then get in touch! Contact us today on +316 15 47 17 32. We’d love to get to know you and your brand better, so that we can help you succeed!