Posts By: Geoff Braught

Social media is a useful tool for businesses of all sizes and across all industries. The ability to interact with a business via social media can boost customer engagement and loyalty, making it a worthwhile addition to a business marketing strategy. However, some business owners may have questions about social media or concerns they’re not sure how to resolve. Below are 14 questions that a business owner might ask about social media and the answers to each.

1. What Are the Company’s Social Media Goals?

Before setting up a business profile on social media, it’s helpful to establish goals that will guide the company’s actions on each platform. Figuring out the business goals as they relate to social media and interactions with customers also helps those responsible for managing the profile to know how to proceed.

2. What is a Hashtag?

A hashtag allows users to search for related posts with a shared keyword or phrase. To create a hashtag, include the # sign before a word or phrase. When using a phrase, don’t include any spaces between the words to make it clickable and searchable.

3. Should a Business be on Every Platform? 

Although there are three social media platforms that are most often used by businesses (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), additional platforms continue to pop up and become more popular every day. A business owner may wonder whether they should use the top three sites, set up profiles on new sites, or stick to one platform. The answer to this question depends on the target audience and niche. Businesses with a younger target audience may want to focus on the newest and most popular platforms, while those targeting established professionals may choose to focus their efforts on connecting through LinkedIn.

4. What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads are advertisements that can be targeted to specific audiences or individuals. The advertising options offered by the social media giant can extend the reach of a company’s marketing efforts. Ads show up in people’s timelines and news feeds, as well as on the right-hand column of the page. Customization options are available, including advertising to mobile versus desktop users and getting the ads in front of people in a particular area or demographic.

5. Should a Business Share Content from Other Sites?

Sharing content from other sites is an effective element of a social media strategy. It’s particularly effective if the business tags the individual or company who posted it first, as it may show up in the feed of the person tagged, extending the reach of the post. Reposting content can also help a business share more frequently and connect with a wider audience. When choosing content to share, it’s important to choose options from credible sources that appeal to the company’s target audience.

6. How Often Should a Business Post?

The frequency of posts depends on the niche and target audience in which the business operates. However, a company should post often enough to demonstrate its responsiveness and engagement through the platform. If a prospective customer visits a social media page of a business that has only a handful of posts, that individual may not engage with the company. Experimenting with different frequencies can help a social media manager determine the right frequency for the business and the needs of its followers.

7. How Is Social Media Success Measured? 

Measuring success on social media efforts involves tracking metrics and monitoring progress on the goals set when creating profiles. The most common metrics to track include click rates, follower growth, engagement rates, and referral traffic from social media profiles and ads.

8. How Much Time Will a Business Spend Maintaining Its Social Media Presence?

The time spent on social media management depends on the goals of the business. The main factors that go into a social media presence include content; campaign research and creation; engaging with the audience and followers; and posting updates. The frequency of posts will factor into the overall time spent on social media management. Companies that post multiple times per day on various platforms may have full-time social media account managers. Small business owners may allot 10 hours per week for social media.

9. What Mistakes Do Businesses Make on Social Media? 

One of the most common mistakes that businesses make is rushing to get content up, rather than taking the time to assess the quality of the content. High-quality content is more engaging and appealing to the audience, so it’s always best to create informative and useful content rather than just throwing posts on the page.

10. How Can a Business Attract Followers?

Consistency is key in attracting followers that fit into a company’s target audience. Posting high-quality content often that aligns with the brand voice helps a business maintain consistency on social media.

11. What Social Media Management Tools Should a Business Use? 

Social media management tools can save time, particularly for companies that post multiple times per day. Using the tools available can reduce the time spent posting, which boosts productivity and frees up time to focus on other tasks.

12. Is a Facebook Page Required to Create Facebook Ads?

No, a company can advertise on Facebook without setting up a Facebook page. 

13. What is a Social Media Story?

Social media stories are video and photo collections that disappear after 24 hours. Using stories on a business social media page can improve engagement and provide insights into who is viewing the content and interacting with a company’s profile.

14. Does Post Timing Matter?

People are more likely to use social media at certain times of the day, and frequently used times vary by platform. LinkedIn users tend to engage more frequently at the start of the workday, while Instagram and TikTok users tend to log in during break times, such as their lunch hour or in the evening. Timing posts based on the volume of active users can increase engagement and boost the effectiveness of the effort.

Establishing a presence on social media and maintaining consistency are challenges that plague many business owners. LHM Agency can provide visual content that aligns with a company’s social media marketing goals and business growth. To learn more about our services, contact us today.

Content marketing is a powerful and strategic way for a business to build an engaged following. High-quality content can boost page traffic, improve audience engagement, and increase a business’s credibility and authority. However, great digital content depends on a variety of factors. Here are some important things to consider when writing content for websites or social media posts.

1. Create a Terrific Headline

The headline is the most important part of an article since it must get a reader’s attention before they choose to read the rest of the content. Spending extra time refining a headline can improve the overall performance of the content. Using numbers or questions are two ways of creating headlines that make viewers want to read more.

2. Know the Intended Audience

A good headline is just a start to getting a reader’s attention. To get someone to read a page or post, the material must not only get their attention but keep it. Writing for a very specific audience helps hold their attention. Address the specific challenges or questions of the intended audience.

3. Analyze the Competition’s Content

Research content of similar businesses and observe which topics get the most comments or engagement. Use their content to generate ideas of compelling subjects for the audience and write on similar themes. Differentiate the content by adding specific brand elements that distinguish the content from competitors.

4. Conduct Research Before Writing

When writing content, take time to fully research the topic. Explore what content is currently published and generates engagement with the intended audience. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to search topic popularity by search volume. Once the content’s topic is determined, research the content. Then add credibility by including stats, precise data, and links to credible sources.

5. Share Actionable Tips 

Actionable tips, unique processes, and step-by-step instructions are all popular types of content across a wide variety of audiences. Share valuable information readers can implement or apply right away. The more valuable or relevant, the more likely they are to share it. Focus on problems the target audience struggles with and the business solves.

6. Develop a Unique Brand Voice

The brand voice is the personality attached to a brand and includes elements like tone, character, and language. Consistency is extremely important for creating a memorable brand voice. Many businesses create a reference sheet identifying specific brand voice elements and terms, especially when the company has multiple content creators. Developing a brand voice starts with analyzing key elements of the business, including its core values, website, and digital assets.

7. Optimize All Content With Best SEO Practices

Digital content is formatted much differently than print or newspaper. Explore best practices for optimizing online content, like short sentences, short paragraphs, bulleted lists, and how to use keywords properly.

Writing effective content can increase a business’s organic traffic. Using these tools, such as compelling headlines and optimized content, can go a long way toward improving a website’s performance. Contact the expert design team at Lokal Media House to create a solid and unique brand identity, from brand voice to logo to all other visual assets, and improve results from content marketing.

Google Ads are an affordable and effective way to drive qualified prospects to your website. As a business owner, you must have a clear strategy and a solid understanding of this tool to get the best ROI. If you need help, we obsess over paid advertising to get the best results. Unfortunately, many service-based businesses make three big mistakes with Google Ads. Avoiding these errors can help you jumpstart your lead generation and get the best return on your advertising investment.

Mistake 1: Choosing the Wrong Keywords

The first mistake plumbers often make with Google Ads is choosing the wrong keywords. The goal is to use keywords that your target audience uses when they search for help online. For instance, “plumbing repair” may be too vague and attract people searching for DIY solutions. However, the keywords “reliable plumbing services” are more specific and clearly indicate the user is searching for a service. You can even go a step further to include your local region, city, or neighborhood.

Choose Effective Keywords

Thoroughly research your target market to understand exactly what words they’re most likely to use in a search. Proper keyword selection is one of the most important (and most challenging) aspects of digital marketing. Discover which keywords your ideal customers are using and also what keyword trends are common for the region. Other helpful tools include Wikipedia, blogs, and the phrases that appear at the bottom of Google’s search results. There are so many creative ways to find the best keywords, you just have to do a little research.

Mistake 2: Not Optimizing Keywords in Ad Copy

The second mistake many plumbers make with Google Ads is not properly optimizing keywords. Quality Score is a Google Ad metric that impacts whether ads appear on a search result. Optimizing the keywords in your paid ads is important to receiving a good Quality Score and getting the ad displayed on relevant search results.

Optimize Keywords

Proper keyword optimization can be challenging. Keyword optimization involves research and analysis to choose the best keywords and keyword sets for a company’s products or services. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can identify keyword variations and show the search volume for individual keywords and keyword sets. When optimizing keywords, it’s important to avoid overusing keywords, a tactic known as keyword stuffing and not put every possible keyword into the ad content. Including the keyword in the title and URL of the landing page is another optimization method.

Mistake 3: Sending Ad Clicks to a Business’s Home Page

This one happens all the time. The most effective ads send users to a designated landing page with a strategic purpose (such as filling out a form to receive an email) instead of a business’s home page. Directing visitors to a properly optimized landing page that effectively answers the user’s search query improves the Quality Score and advertising results.

Create a Powerful Landing Page

The most awesome landing pages have a single call to action (CTA) that guides users to perform a certain behavior, such as submitting their email address to receive a checklist relevant to the page’s content. This way, you can add your prospect to your company’s mailing list whether or not they contact the business. This is really helpful because you can use your mailing list to send targeted emails to encourage them to schedule a service with you or even use this list in further targeting your paid advertising.

Since Google Ads are so complex, a skilled marketing and digital service agency that loves getting results through paid advertising (like our team at Lokal Media House) can manage your Google Ad campaigns from start to finish and provide the best return on your investment.

Ok ok ok… we already know what you’re thinking. You think that Email Marketing is another wasteful initiative that just spams your clients/prospects. You might have even already tried this effort yourself and had seen quite the loss. 

But we are here to tell you that email marketing is pretty much the opposite of wasteful, and actually has one of the highest returns out of any digital strategy out there. 

“WHATTT?” – You.

Let us give you the facts.

In a world full of technology, about 56% of the global population has internet access, and almost 100% of that 56 has an active email address. This tells us that more than half of the world is using the internet and able to receive emails. 

Just look at your inbox, for example!  All of your subscriptions and email updates you like to receive from your favorite companies are strategies put in place to get you to buy into something-whether it’s their product, or even just to keep you interested or informed. 

Regardless, Email Marketing is a great way to stay connected with your clients and to engage with your prospects. It has a 4400% ROI and produces phenomenal results.

In fact, by 2022, Radicati estimated that 4.25 billion email users will maintain 1.86 email accounts on average. As of 2019, 4.33 billion people have access to emails, and 3.93 billion use emails. 

With mind-blowing numbers like that, we know you’ve got to be sold by now. But for skeptics out there, we’ll break it down even more based on where and how you should implement email marketing. 

Social media

Most email service providers have premade footers with social media icons for you to include links to your Facebook, Twitter, or other social pages. 

You can also set up your campaigns for easy social sharing. In other words, your subscribers can click a button, or copy and paste a URL, to share a campaign the same way they’d share a landing page.

Finally, you can embed user reviews, posts, and your own social feeds so your subscribers can connect with you wherever they hang out online.

Urban Outfitters put this visually pleasing email together to highlight their hottest posts (and products) according to their Instagram audience. Take note of the share buttons at the bottom of the email, too.

Content marketing

Email is the perfect tool for promoting your best blog posts. 

77% of people prefer email for permission-based advertising. It’s easy to forget that social media is technically permission-based because it often doesn’t feel that way.

With email, people have voluntarily given you their email address, so you know they want to hear from you and read your blog content. 

Marketing Sherpa found that 19% of people unsubscribe from mailing lists when brands are constantly trying to sell them something. It’s actually in your benefit to prioritizing blog posts, podcasts, tips, tutorials, videos, infographics, and other valuable content through email over promotional material.

You can make good use of your content with stunning newsletters and custom RSS feeds. U.S. Outdoor Store always includes a perfect ratio of interesting content and promotions in their email campaigns.

Webinars

People who follow your social pages won’t always see your posts unless you promote them (which could cost you)—so these are not the best places to advertise something like a webinar.

With email, however, your subscribers genuinely want to hear from you, so they’ll be more likely to respond favorably to your webinars.

Real-world events

Social media can be dicey when promoting events. You often need to share a lot of valuable information to get people to act, and the posts are shown out of context or out of order. 

With email, you can create an onboarding sequence for your events. It offers you the option to spend time explaining the attendees and the event’s goals. You can also easily embed links so readers can RSVP and add the event to their calendar. 

Taking control of your audience access and analytics

Email service providers don’t hold your audience hostage and make you pay to access analytics. You can easily learn about your subscribers and use that information to improve the performance of your future campaigns.

You’re also able to keep track of your most active and engaged subscribers, which will help you send retargeting campaigns—both through email and social media—so you’ll always know where to devote your marketing resources. Plus, you can identify patterns, trends, and possible new markets.

Email marketing is one of the most heavily scrutinized marketing methods in our post-GDPR world. At first, that thought might make marketers cringe. 

But it’s actually a good thing because it means brands must prioritize the privacy of subscribers over their own data collection. 78% of customers say they’re more likely to trust companies with their personal data if it’s used to personalize their experience through channels like email.

Since email gives you unrestricted access to your subscribers’ behavior, you can learn more about their interests and habits to create targeted campaigns. Personalization is important—even mandatory—going into 2020. 

To further personalize your emails, guide other digital marketing campaigns, and even plan future business decisions, send out surveys to your most loyal and active subscribers to collect quality data.

You’re not in control of the relationship—and that’s okay.

More than 75% of people prefer email marketing because they’re in control of the relationship. For consumers, email is a refreshing break from intrusive social media ads. Why? Because if they see something they don’t like, they can simply unsubscribe. 

Plus, email is highly regulated through GDPR and anti-spam laws. This hopefully doesn’t scare you, because these are good things. 

People will always know exactly how and where you got their email address. Since you’re only collecting email addresses from people who choose to hear from you, you’ll never waste money on your campaigns.

Encourage your subscribers to take more control over the relationship

Marketers gain the trust of their subscribers when they encourage them to take control of their inbox.

How do you do this? Insert a link to a preference center at the bottom of all your email campaigns and prompt all new subscribers to fill out that page. 

According to Marketing Sherpa’s survey, 45% of people unsubscribe from mailing lists because they receive too many emails (either from a single brand or in general). Another 91% of people unsubscribe because they aren’t happy with the content—either the campaign is too promotional, generic, or uninteresting. 

A preference center lets your subscribers tell you exactly how often they want to be emailed and what type of content they want to be sent. Here’s an example of a preference center by Brooks Running.

Stay at the forefront of automation and technology

Think the hottest marketing technology is only accessible to big brands with massive budgets? Not so. 

Email service providers give you access to cutting-edge automation features to create a human experience that 84% of customers say is the key to winning their business.

• Segmentation
• Customer journeys
• Post-purchase communication
• Re-engagement
• A/B testing

The importance of email marketing has only grown over the past few years. We’ve discussed a lot in this article, so here are a few things we hope you take away:

• Almost everyone who has internet access has at least one active email address
• Email makes it easy to integrate all of your digital marketing campaigns
• Email marketing gives you the chance to build personal relationships with your audience
• Your subscribers are in control of the relationship—and that’s a good thing.

The final details…

It’s a big step to invest in Email Marketing and there is a lot of research that needs to be done before you start buying programs and building campaigns. 

First, you need to know your goal. Would your email campaign serve as a simple monthly newsletter? Or even maybe a complex drip campaign that would need to send SMS texts or even take payments? With our current technology, you pretty much have the Burger King option when building out a strategy- Have your way! 

It’s best to analyze the demand of your customers/prospects and what’s best for them when strategizing what type of emails should go out. In most scenarios, you should have multiple campaigns serving different purposes. 

If you are unsure, hit up your Lokal Media House, we will help you determine your first steps. 

 Ah, it’s good to be back. Today, we’re going to be talking about something I’m pretty passionate about in the world of marketing: branding. Specifically, brand voices. My introduction to the world of branding was everything it should be thanks to my branding professor in college. He was exciting, inspiring, and funny. He was passionate about branding and had an extremely successful career in it. To make it short, let’s just say I never missed one of his classes. Wherever you are, Professor Diego, I hope you are doing well. Let’s get back on topic and take a look at what makes your brand voice so important.

Why Is Your Brand Voice Important?

Well, I’m glad you asked. Your brand voice is the lifeblood of your overarching brand. You may want your brand to be confident, simple, and straightforward, but without the proper brand voice, nobody will know! Take a look at Apple and the iPhone. Every year we get a new iPhone and they sell millions of them, even with minimal changes year after year. There are phones out there way more capable than even the best iPhone. So why does Apple continue to have so much success? Their brand voice. Apple’s brand voice is confident, intimate, and it communicates quality. We don’t buy the iPhone because we know all the technical specs. If we really cared about that, most of us would probably look elsewhere. We buy iPhones because of the way their brand voice makes us feel. 

Now, let’s take a look at how to determine your brand voice.

First steps

Your brand voice should be different from your competition. (I mean…duh)  At the very least, it’s an identifying characteristic. At the very best, people are choosing your products or services over your competition simply because of the way you communicate. Wow, who knew marketing was that simple? So how do we act on this? First, take a birds-eye view of your content and compare it directly to your competitors. What’s different about your web page? Your social media? Your core values? Literally anything that you could differentiate from your competitors.

Take note of everything different about your content. Once you’ve done that, you’re one step closer to having a unique brand voice. Here are some examples of content you should be analyzing:

• Core values 
• Website 
• Promotional videos 
• Promotional graphics
• Print ads
• Business cards 
• Newsletters

Once you’ve completed a thorough analysis of your branded content, we can move on.

Narrow it down

Now let’s take a look at these unique characteristics you’ve taken note of. Without disclosing too much about our ultra top secret branding processes, I’m going to guide you through the process of choosing the best words to describe your brand. First, make a list of words that describe you. I’m talking like 20-30 words. Select your 15 favorite words from that list and continue narrowing it down until you have 3-5 words. To quote the late great Billy Mays, “but wait there’s more.” When you have your 3-5 favorite adjectives, I want you to hop onto google and find strong synonyms. Don’t be excited, be passionate. Don’t be original, be authentic. See what I’m saying?  The key to the branding process is to do it differently and make sure people know about it. When you set a foundation of strong adjectives it trickles up and makes everything you do with those words stronger. Call it “trickle up marketing.” I really need to trademark that…

Still stuck? Let’s phone a friend.

In the world of marketing, surveys are always your friend. Nothing compares to a good ol’ fashion focus group. Surveys and focus groups are a fantastic way to obtain valuable information about what customers think about your brand, your voice, and more. Other benefits include:

• Honest answers
• Learning consumer mindsets on competitors 
• Large reach

After you have narrowed down the list, you have an idea of what your brand voice is. Feel free to expand on each of these words with synonymous adjectives to give your team a better idea of what you’re going for. 

For the visual learners… 

Now we have to come up with some guidelines for the copywriters that will be responsible for communicating your message to consumers. To do that, we’ll need to create a brand voice chart. A brand voice chart outlines the dos and don’ts of communicating with your brand voice. You can easily create a brand voice chart in google drive or word, whichever you prefer. Here’s an example of a brand voice chart. It really just compares what you are to what you aren’t. Simple as that. It’s important to have a brand voice chart available to every member of your team. It’s equally important to have consistency with your brand voice. Consider printing out copies of the chart and handing them out to your team members.

Now that you’ve got your brand voice chart ready to go, make sure you go over some examples of work that really hit the mark of your brand voice. If your content creators have a vague idea of how and what to communicate, you lose individuality and, therefore, money. So there you have it. You’ve gone through the process of identifying your brand voice. But maybe you’re not a fan of what you’ve come up with. Not a problem, we’ve got a fix for that!

Starting from Scratch

Now, let’s run through a hypothetical situation. Say you went through the process we just went over and then decided you want to change your brand voice entirely. How would you start from scratch? First, you need to take a look at a handful of external factors that are critical to developing your brand voice from scratch. Start off by taking a close look at your target market. Who are the major players and how does their brand voice help them attract clients? What kind of voice is there an opportunity for? Make sure you have a good idea of how to communicate to your target audience what problem you solve in the industry.

Take a deep dive into researching demographics and psychographics to fully understand the people you’re targeting.  After that, it’s time to come up with a voice that works well for your industry. If you’re an energy drink company, you need to be exciting. Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar are all heavily involved in extreme sports and have powerful and exciting brand voices. This shows that marketing with extreme sports can be successful. At the same time, while the major players within the industry focus on extreme sports, you could be supporting an entirely different industry. This takes us to my next point.

Avoid copying your competitors. 

Like I stated at the beginning, individuality is key to stealing customers from your competitors, If you copy what they do, what reason do they have to switch? Make sure your brand voice is easily identifiable, attractive, and consistent. 

Look for outside inspiration.

Take a look around and gather examples of branding that resonates with you. It’s okay to take inspiration from other companies, in fact, we encourage it with our branding process. We encourage our clients to make lists of logos, songs, packaging, movie characters and more that they feel represent their brand and what they stand for. If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything. Word to Alexander Hamilton.

And there you have it. Follow these simple steps and you’ll have a strong idea of your current brand voice and how to change it! Looking for more help? Get in touch with our team at Lokal Media House. Cheers!

Let’s get started…

Here at LMH, we consider ourselves to be experts when it comes to the written content on social media (we hope you agree). What better way to explain the steps of writing your own blog, than on ours! Writing a blog post is like learning how to ride a bike for the first time. You can watch tutorials (or read articles about how to write an awesome blog post) but nothing prepares you quite like getting on the bike and pedaling. You get the analogy. 

Blogs are a great way to drive more traffic to your business. They also give your business a platform to show your stuff and gain credibility. You know that blog posts are key to growing your business, but you don’t know how. In this post, I will show you how to create content that your readers actually want. Let’s get started. 

First Steps

The first step to creating a great blog is research. Be prepared to spend a couple of hours researching, and then a couple more. Put your thinking cap on and let the ideas come to you when you least expect them to (yes, thinking counts as research). Writing an outline with your research is a great way to save some time down the road because your blog will turn out organized and easy to follow. Using keywords and refining the search term based on date allows you to find relevant articles quickly. Writing on topics that interest you is a plus, but bloggers should strive to take any topic and make it interesting. While I talk about research, I think it’s important to emphasize credibility. Don’t forget to check your facts! Wikipedia was never a reputable source in high school, and it most certainly isn’t now. 

It is also important to know your audience, and what they want from your blog. Most readers decide in the first 2-3  seconds whether they will stay on the page, so first impressions are everything. Different industries have certain keywords and questions that members are asking. Will you answer those questions? There are many free resources available to gain insight into your audiences, such as Quora or Twitter’s advanced search engines.

Show-Stopping Headlines

Creating a show-stopping headline should be a high priority. Your headline determines the amount of traffic that visits your page, therefore it should be top-tier. Interesting headlines are the “clickbait” of journalism, just make sure they still make sense with your article. Instead of “How to ride a bike”, you could write, “How to conquer the scariest thing on two wheels”. Which one would you pick?  Point made. Here are a couple of examples of our favorite headlines to date:

• “Cows lose their jobs as milk prices drop”
• “Safety meeting ends in accident”
• “City unsure why the sewer smells”
• “Murderer says detective ruined his reputation”

Although these headlines are comical, they do their job. Readers are drawn to the articles that pique their interest. Sometimes, an outlandish headline is exactly what you need to get eyes on your blog. 

Don’t Forget the Word Count

Now you’ve made it to the third step, writing your post! A successful blog should be long enough to get your point across, but not an essay. In my case, a blog post should be long enough to avoid an angry message from my boss (nervous laughter). Feel free to “brain dump” or let your brain flow with ideas from your head onto your paper. 2,000 terrible words are better than no words. Then, you can go back and delete the nonsense, leaving a myriad of perfect sentences. Looking back, I often find sentences that can combine to make perfect pairings and sound awesome together. Not everyone views your perfect sentences on a computer though. In the twenty-first century, it is important to remember that most content is consumed through cell phones. Knowing this information, you might want to bold important ideas so you make sure they are seen. This brings us to our next point. 

Enhance Your Post

A blog with only words is a boring blog. In order to WOW your readers, there are many elements that can be added to your post. Use images to add visual understanding and clarity. This will also allow the reader to picture steps in their head, thus increasing the chances of them remembering your post. You can add graphs, photographs, drawings, and even videos. Different fonts, colors, underlines, and elements such as arrows make your blog interactive. 

Your blog should be a call to action, with defined steps on how to get to an end goal. Explain complex topics clearly and make sure your message is clearly conveyed. This is not the time to leave things to the imagination. After researching your topic, you should cover a lot of ground with your new knowledge! Creating subheadings to break up your page makes the information more manageable for your reader. Most people will only skim for specific information, and that ok, as long as they can find it quickly.

Sprinkle In Some Humor

On top of artistic elements, add humor to your blog. After writing, you can go back and add *quirky* bursts of comedy to your blog. Subtle, yet appreciated is the way to go when it comes to blog humor. You can even make running jokes throughout the piece. I could have made another bike joke to wrap up this paragraph, but I chose to save my readers from the pain of reading another one of my analogies. 

You’ve written your blog, now what? 

Congratulations on your work of art, or literature in this case. Before posting for the world to see, make sure you proofread your work. Typos decrease credibility and just look plain stupid. It also helps to read your post aloud to check how it all flows together. Having a team of editors review your work is a great way to receive feedback. Sometimes, moms and colleagues make the best editor in chief. Don’t be afraid to change things at the last minute if you want to. Blogging is not about perfection, but about creating (WOW that was deep). 

Still need help? Get in touch with our professionals at Lokal Media House! 

Happy Blogging.

Let’s dive in…

Ok so picture this. You’re going downtown to meet up with a friend for lunch. While you’re waiting outside for them you notice them walking down the street. They have on some fly-as-hell brand new Nikes that you have never seen before. You give them props on their kicks and head inside.

Here’s the question: In this imaginary scenario, how did you know they were Nikes? You’ve never seen them before, so it’s not the design that you recognized. Just because they look good doesn’t automatically attribute them to being made by any particular manufacturer. So how did you know? It’s the logo. 

It doesn’t matter what item it is, if you see it with a swish you automatically associate it with Nike and all that they have built their brand identity to be. That is the power of a logo that people love. But how does one create a logo that is recognizable and beloved? That is what we’re going to be discussing today, and that is what I hope you can learn by the end of this blog. 

Creating a new logo can be a daunting task but the process isn’t as bad as it seems. The logo creation process can be broken into two basic stages: research and design, or more simply put planning and execution. 

Planning

The planning stage of this process is where you gather up all of the useful information you might need in designing your logo. The first step in planning is to do a full inventory of what you’re looking for in your logo. This step is essentially a journey in asking questions to understand what the goal of your logo is. Examples of these questions include:

-Why do you want or need a new logo?

-What do you want people to think of when they think of your company?

-Which brands do you look to as being similar to yours?

-Which brands do you want to avoid being associated with?

-How will you measure the success of your new logo?/ What is the goal of your logo?

-Who is your target audience and what do they respond to?  

The key here is to actually write out your answers. This is important for two reasons. One, it allows you to easily compile your research when you’re done. But two, it also gives you insight into your brand that you had never fully thought through before, and it can be a kind of self-discovery experience about your brand. Once you have completed your inventory of questions you will want to summarize them into a strategy that gives an overview of your business and brand. You can then move to the next step of researching which is an investigation.

The investigation is where you dive into the basics of design to educate yourself on the different ways that font colors and shapes can affect people. For example, the color red is associated with passion, danger, joy, and love. The passion and danger is exhibited in logo’s like Red Bull and Supreme while brands like Nintendo and Lego play off of the joyful aspect of Red. Red isn’t the only color with associated emotions though, all colors have them and the same is true for fonts and shapes. The investigation step is where you explore what colors, fonts, and shapes resonate with your brand identity. Once you have an understanding of what design can do to the human psyche and emotion you can begin to compile brand inspiration. This step is the gathering process.

In the gathering process, you simply search for brands and logos that interest or resonate with you and begin to compile them. It is important to put thought into this part but don’t overthink it. The gathering is similar to a Pinterest board. Go in knowing what you’re looking for but don’t overthink the selection process. The whole point here is to simply amass a collection of logos that resemble your goals. Once you have gathered these logos, you need to do some analysis on what stood out about the individual logos and see where you find similarities.  If for example, you resonated with both the Airbnb logo and the Adidas logo that could be a sign that triangular logos are your thing. Whatever it is, the overarching qualities from your compiled logos are probably attributes that you either purposefully or subconsciously chose because they fit into your brand’s identity.

After you have finished all three of these steps all you have to do is put all of your research into one central folder and you will have guidelines for the design of your logo. This is the second part of creating your logo: the execution. 

Execution 

When you’re designing your logo there are some tenets of all great logos that are important to remember. All great logos are simple, unique, and versatile. 

Simple is huge. Often people looking to design logos want to say so much about their company and their brand that they overcomplicate something that should be simple and legible. Less is more with logos, so when you’re designing your logo always ask yourself, “can this be simpler?” By keeping your logo simple it is more recognizable at first glance. Busy logos are hard to read and most of the time your consumer base only has a glance to see, recognize, and associate your logo with your brand and ultimately your company. 

The next tenet is uniqueness. While it is nearly impossible not to have an influence on your logo making it one of a kind is hugely important. If your logo can be easily conflated with another it doesn’t matter how great your design is. The whole point of your logo is to be a symbol of your company, if it reminds people of another company you won’t have any financial gain from your logo design.

The third and final tenet is versatility. This is the easiest tenet to forget when designing your logo. Versatility essentially means that your logo looks good no matter how you apply it. A good logo can be on a 1×1 inch design in the corner of an advertisement or on a giant billboard. Think about the ABC logo, it can be displayed on a light background with its usual dark circle light lettering, but it could also be displayed on a dark background with a light circle and dark lettering. If your logo only works in certain circumstances it is a limited logo. 

These are the three biggest principles of logos that will help you in killing your logo design. 

With all the knowledge you have the green light to start designing your logo. Some useful tools to start this process are a sketchpad and pencil or in the digital space, there are tons of helpful resources. One tool LMH loves to use is the Canva Logo Maker. It’s free and is useful in getting you started with your logo. Vectr and Adobe illustrator are alternatives though Illustrator isn’t cheap. It is important here to treat your logo like a paper. Your first logo will likely not be “the one.” It is more like a rough draft to be edited so keep an open mind. 

Revisions

Once you have completed your logo design ask yourself “how could it be better?” “Is it timeless?” and “how is this logo best used?” Take the answers to these questions and go back and tinker. Run a comb through the entire design until it is a logo that you absolutely love. Once you love your logo, it is time to set up guidelines for using it.

A misused logo is a useless logo so know your logo’s strengths and weaknesses. If your logo doesn’t have thick bold and dark lines, it probably should not over photography. Ask yourself “How is my logo best used?” and write it down. Once you have these guidelines you are ready to implement your logo. 

Creating a logo people love is not an easy task. However, it doesn’t have to be something that you put off or neglect because “it’s too difficult”. Creating your logo is a process and it can be a fun and rewarding process. Here are a few parting tips to get you through the process. 

Be persistent. It can be hard at times to get a logo that you feel exactly personifies your company. If you’re struggling, don’t give up you will hit a breakthrough. Bring in others. A team of creatives is ultimately more creative than the best of designers, so be sure to include others and ask for outside opinions. Have fun. Ultimately, you are creating a logo that people will associate with your brand forever, and there is a lot of pressure in that. Don’t let that pressure get to you, have fun, and enjoy the process. 

Get in touch with us here at LMH. Our team of expert designers has years of experience and knows how to set you apart with a logo that fits!