Branding, Design Thinking, and Brand Management: A Comprehensive Guide

I. Introduction: The Essence of Branding and Design Thinking

In the contemporary business landscape, branding emerges not just as a component of marketing strategy but as a fundamental element defining the success and identity of a business. It's a concept that transcends the traditional boundaries of a logo or a catchy slogan, representing the essence of a company and its promise to customers. Branding, in its truest sense, is the creation of a distinct and enduring perception in the minds of consumers, a perception that encapsulates the entirety of the customer experience.

This role of branding in business success has given rise to the importance of design thinking – a strategic, problem-solving approach reshaping how brands engage with their audiences. Design is a more profound analytical process to understand and address consumers' needs and desires. It's about empathizing with the target audience, defining their challenges, ideating innovative solutions, prototyping them, and testing them to ensure they resonate with the intended market.

At the intersection of branding and design thinking lies a unique synergy. This synergy combines the art of storytelling and emotional connection inherent in branding with the logical, user-centric design thinking approach. 

The significance of this synergy is particularly evident in today's digital age, where consumer preferences are constantly evolving, and the market is more dynamic than ever. In such a scenario, more than the traditional branding methods is required. Businesses need to adopt a more holistic and adaptable approach, one that is capable of not just capturing the attention of consumers but also retaining their loyalty and trust over time.

This article shares the nuances of the synergy between branding, design thinking, and brand management. It dives into how design thinking can rejuvenate traditional branding strategies, the role of empathy and customer understanding in building a brand, the importance of a well-crafted brand message, and the iterative process of prototyping and testing in creating a brand that not only speaks to its audience but also evolves with them. By examining these aspects, we aim to provide insights into how businesses can leverage the combined power of branding and design thinking to create a brand seen, heard, felt, and experienced by its customers.

II. Understanding Branding in the Modern Market

Branding in the modern market extends far beyond creating a visual identity for a business. It encompasses a holistic strategy designed to imprint a unique image and personality of a product or service in the consumer's mind. This process is not just about aesthetics; it's about forging a connection between the brand and its audience, creating a memorable experience that distinguishes the brand in a crowded marketplace.

The essence of branding lies in its ability to tell a story, a narrative that resonates with the audience. This storytelling is about conveying what the product or service does and communicating the brand's values, aspirations, and ethos. It's about building a relationship with the customer that goes beyond the transactional and taps into the emotional and psychological.

A successful brand in today's market understands and reflects its customers' needs, desires, and values. It's a brand that can effectively communicate its unique value proposition, clearly articulating why it stands out from its competitors. This requires understanding the business's core values, a keen insight into the customer's psyche, and an evaluation of the competitive landscape.

However, understanding branding in the modern market also means recognizing the dynamic nature of consumer behavior and market trends. New technologies and social media have dramatically changed how consumers interact with brands. Consumers today have more power and choice than ever before. They are more informed, more connected, and more discerning. They don't just passively consume; they actively engage, share, and influence. This shift necessitates brands to be more authentic, transparent, and responsive in their branding strategies.

Moreover, modern branding is not a one-time effort but a continuous process of adaptation and evolution. It requires constant monitoring and is relevant and appealing to the target audience. This includes keeping abreast of changing market trends, evolving consumer preferences, and emerging technologies.

Understanding branding in the modern market is about grasping the multifaceted and evolving nature of how brands are perceived and experienced by consumers. It's about creating a distinctive and appealing identity, telling a compelling story, fostering emotional connections, and staying agile in an ever-changing market landscape. As brands navigate this complex environment, the ones that succeed will be those that can align their identity and values with the needs and desires of their customers, creating a brand experience that is not just memorable but also deeply resonant.

III. Design Thinking: The Heart of Innovative Branding

Design thinking has revolutionized the approach to branding in the modern business landscape. It is a non-linear, iterative process that empowers companies and teams to understand their customers and clients, challenge existing assumptions, view problems from new perspectives, redefine them, and create innovative solutions. This process is broken down into five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Each phase ensures the branding strategy is creative, unique, and resonates deeply with the target audience.

A. Empathize: Understanding the Audience

The first stage of design thinking, empathy, is the cornerstone of successful branding. It involves stepping into the shoes of the brand's target audience to understand their needs, desires, and limitations. This process goes beyond market research; it's about gaining a deep, empathetic understanding of consumers' lifestyles, challenges, aspirations, and motivations.

This empathetic approach often involves various research methods, including qualitative techniques like interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic studies. It's about listening to and observing the customers in their natural environments and understanding their behaviors, emotions, and experiences. This level of insight is crucial for building a brand that connects with its audience emotionally and psychologically.

B. Define: Crafting the Brand Message

With a clear understanding of the audience, the next step is to define the brand's message. This stage synthesizes the insights gathered during the empathy stage and articulates the brand's unique value proposition. It's a process of distilling what sets the brand apart in the marketplace, ensuring the message is clear.

Defining the brand message is a strategic exercise. This process involves identifying the main benefits and features of the product or service, understanding the competitive landscape, and determining how best to position the brand in the consumer's mind. The goal is to create a message that differentiates the brand and resonates with target audiences.

C. Ideate: Generating Creative Solutions

The ideation phase is where creativity and innovation come into play. This stage is about brainstorming a wide range of ideas on how the brand can communicate its message uniquely and compellingly. It's a time for thinking outside the box, challenging conventional views, and exploring new possibilities.

Ideation is a collaborative process, often involving cross-functional teams to bring diverse perspectives and ideas. Techniques like brainstorming sessions, mind mapping, and sketching are commonly used to stimulate creative thinking. The goal is to develop various ideas without judgment or constraint and then refine and converge on the most promising ones.

D. Prototype: Bringing Ideas to Life

Prototyping is about bringing to life the ideas generated during the ideation stage. This stage involves creating tangible representations of the brand's concepts, whether a new logo, a marketing campaign, or a product design. Prototyping is crucial for visualizing how the brand's ideas will be perceived and experienced by the audience.

Prototyping in branding can take various forms, from mock-ups and storyboards to digital simulations and physical models. The key is to develop something that genuine users can test and evaluate. This stage allows the brand to see how its ideas translate in the real world and make necessary adjustments before finalizing the strategy.

E. Test: Refining the Brand

The final stage, testing, is focused on refinement and validation. Here, the prototypes are presented to real customers to gather feedback and insights. This stage is critical for ensuring the branding resonates with the target audiences and communicates the intended message.

Testing can involve various methods, from user and A/B testing to market trials and focus groups. The feedback is then used to refine the branding strategy, adjusting it to align with the customers' needs and preferences. This iterative process ensures that the final branding strategy is aesthetically appealing and deeply connected with the target audience, creating a brand that is seen, heard, felt, and experienced.

IV. Brand Management: Sustaining the Brand Identity

Brand management is a crucial aspect of modern marketing that encompasses a brand's diligent maintenance, strategic improvement, and vigilant upholding to ensure it continually resonates positively with its target audience. This comprehensive process is fundamental in establishing and retaining a solid brand reputation and identity.

At the core of brand management lies consistency. This involves ensuring that every aspect of the brand's communication - from its visual identity, such as logos and color schemes, to its tone of voice and messaging - is uniform across all media channels. This approach helps create brand recognition and loyalty, as customers know what to expect from the brand, making a sense of trust and reliability.

However, consistency does not imply stagnation. Effective brand management also requires a keen adaptability to market changes and trends. This dynamic approach means that while the brand's essence remains stable, the strategies and tactics used to communicate the brand may evolve. This could be in response to new consumer preferences, emerging and new technologies, or changes in the market. By staying relevant and responsive to these shifts, a brand can maintain its connection with its audience and prevent itself from becoming outdated.

Additionally, managing brand assets is a significant part of this process. Brand assets are not just limited to tangible elements like logos or taglines but also include brand reputation and customer relationships. Protecting these assets involves legal measures such as trademarks and copyrights and strategic measures like quality control and customer service excellence. It also includes closely monitoring and managing how the brand is perceived in the market, addressing negative perceptions, and leveraging positive feedback to enhance brand equity.

In essence, brand management is a multifaceted and ongoing endeavor that plays a pivotal role in the success and longevity of a brand. It combines the art of maintaining the brand's core values and identity with the science of evolving and adapting to the market's demands, all while safeguarding and leveraging the brand's assets for sustainable growth and positive customer perception.

A. Consistency is Key

Consistency forms the backbone of how a brand is perceived and experienced by its audience. A unified brand message across all touchpoints – from advertising and product design to customer service and digital presence – builds a sense of reliability and trust. It reinforces the brand's values and promises.

The impact of consistency is multifaceted. First, it enhances brand recognition. When a brand consistently presents itself, its colors, logos, messaging, and overall aesthetic become deeply ingrained in the public consciousness. This recognition then translates into familiarity, a crucial factor in customer decision-making.

Second, consistency builds brand credibility. In a world where consumers are bombarded with choices and information, a consistent brand stands out as a reliable beacon. Customers may trust and stay loyal to a brand, consistently delivering the same message and quality.

However, achieving this consistency has its challenges. It requires meticulous planning, coordination across various channels, and understanding the brand's identity. Every piece of content, every marketing campaign, and every customer interaction must align with the core brand values and messaging. This alignment ensures that the brand experience is uniform, whether a customer interacts with the brand online, in-store, or through advertising.

B. Adaptation and Evolution

Adapting and evolving are crucial in today's market landscape. Successful brands can navigate these challenges and changes while staying true to their core values. This adaptability is not about chasing every trend but responding to market shifts and evolving consumer behaviors.

Adaptation in branding can take many forms. It could mean updating marketing strategies to align with new digital platforms, adjusting product offerings in response to changing consumer preferences or even rebranding to reflect a shift in company direction. 

Continuous reassessment is a vital component of this adaptability. Brands must analyze their market position regularly, understand emerging trends, and evaluate how they impact their target audience. This ongoing analysis allows brands to make strategic decisions that keep them relevant and competitive.

Successful adaptation requires a delicate balance. Brands must evolve in sight of their core identity and values. This balance ensures that while the brand stays current, it does not alienate its existing customer base.

C. Protecting the Brand

Protecting the brand is a critical aspect of brand management. It involves safeguarding the brand's intellectual property, such as trademarks, to ensure its identity is not misused or diluted. This legal protection provides a framework for the brand to operate safely and confidently.

However, protecting a brand extends beyond legal measures. It also involves monitoring how the brand is perceived in the market. This means closely monitoring customer feedback, market trends, and competitive actions. It's about proactively managing the brand's reputation, addressing any negative perceptions quickly and effectively, and leveraging positive feedback to enhance its standing.

In today's digital age, brand protection also includes navigating the complexities of online spaces. From social media to online reviews, brands must be vigilant in how they are represented and perceived online. This online vigilance involves monitoring and responding to conversations about the brand and ensuring its digital presence aligns with its overall identity and values.

V. Challenges and Opportunities in Branding and Design Thinking

The primary challenge in branding and design thinking is maintaining relevance in a rapidly evolving market. Consumer preferences, technological advancements, and competitive landscapes constantly shift, requiring brands to be agile and responsive. This need for agility pressures brands to innovate and reinvent themselves continuously.

However, this challenge also presents significant opportunities. Brands that can successfully navigate these changes have the chance to lead the market and set new trends. They can use design thinking to identify unmet customer needs and develop innovative solutions that resonate with their target audience.

One of the key opportunities is connecting with customers in new and meaningful ways. Brands can leverage emerging technologies, like augmented reality or AI-driven personalization, to create unique customer experiences. They can also tap into new channels and platforms to reach their audience, building stronger connections and engagement.

Another opportunity is using design thinking to create more sustainable and socially responsible brands. As consumers become more conscious of their impact on the world, brands aligning with these values can stand out and develop loyal customers.

While branding and design thinking challenges are significant, they open doors to innovation, leadership, and deeper customer engagement. Brands that balance these challenges and opportunities are well-positioned to thrive in the ever-changing market.

VI. Case Studies of Successful Branding and Design Thinking

Gucci: Revitalizing Luxury with Bold Design and Inclusivity

Gucci has seen a renaissance in its branding and design approach. The company brought a new vision to Gucci's designs, characterized by eclectic, bohemian, and gender-fluid styles, which marked a significant shift from the brand's previous image.

This bold move in product design is a prime example of design thinking – challenging conventional norms and focusing on inclusiveness and diversity in fashion. Gucci's branding strategy combines contemporary art, social media savvy, and digital marketing to create a modern, inclusive luxury brand. This approach has widened its appeal to a younger, more diverse audience while maintaining the brand's luxury status. Gucci's successful rebranding demonstrates how traditional luxury brands can stay relevant in the fast-paced fashion world by embracing innovation and inclusivity in design and branding.

Burberry: Digital Innovation and Heritage Brand Reinvention

Burberry, a quintessentially British luxury fashion brand, provides a stellar example of how a heritage brand can reinvent itself through branding and design thinking, particularly in the digital age. Historically known for its classic trench coats and signature check pattern, Burberry faced the challenge of staying relevant in the fashion industry.

Burberry embarked on a bold digital transformation. This included live-streaming fashion shows, integrating social media platforms, and launching interactive ad campaigns. Their approach was centered on "democratizing luxury" - making the brand more accessible and engaging for a broader, digitally-savvy audience.

Design-wise, while Burberry maintained its classic aesthetic, it also introduced modern twists and innovations in its products. This included the use of digital print technologies and collaborations with contemporary artists. The brand managed to strike a delicate balance between honoring its heritage and embracing modernity, appealing to long-time loyal customers and attracting new, younger consumers.

This strategic shift rejuvenated the brand and set a new standard in the luxury fashion industry for how traditional brands can adapt to the digital age. Burberry's success story underscores the importance of responsive branding and adaptive design thinking in maintaining relevance and competitiveness in the ever-evolving fashion world.

VII. Conclusion

Branding, when powered by design thinking, is a potent tool for brands to create a lasting image in the minds of consumers. It's an ongoing process of understanding the audience, creating innovative solutions, and managing the brand identity. As markets evolve, the companies that will thrive are those that understand the importance of adapting their branding strategies to meet the changing needs of consumers.

97 Digital Marketing Tips for Online Startups or Small Business

This article contains affiliate links.

Starting and growing an online business can be tough with all the competition emerging in the market. And selecting the right digital marketing strategies for your startup can be even tougher.

As an entrepreneur, founder, or small business owner, how can you choose the right digital marketing approach for brand awareness and sales? We’ve rounded up the top cost-effective and actionable strategies you can implement now.

Starting a Business:

1.     Start with research: Research your target market before launching a product or service to ensure people will actually want to buy it. Today, it’s easier than ever to perform research online to see what your target market needs or wants.

2.     Set SMART Goals: Setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely will help you stay on track. Setting three SMART goals is really the only way to see progress. For example, if you’re launching a business, then setting a goal of $50,000 for the calendar year would be a SMART goal.

3.     Know the different digital marketing terms: To become proficient in everything related to digital marketing, you need to know what each term means. You can get familiar with the various terms here.

4.     Draft a digital marketing plan: Now that you have researched your target market and that people will buy your offering, it’s time to create a digital marketing plan. This strategy should include your business objectives, strategies, messages and audiences, tactics, and a timeline with a budget. This document will serve as a short-term and long-range blueprint for your business growth.

5.     Create your buyer personas: Whether you’re running a digital or offline marketing campaign, you need to know who your target audiences are. This starts with creating buyer personas or those who are your ideal customers. You can determine this by conducting online research. We usually label each persona by name and include their ages, location, income, job titles, other demographics, psychographics, and buying behaviors. You should also list all of the goals, challenges, pain points, hobbies, and priorities to create personas that are valuable to your business. Additionally, all of this information will help you create the right offers to sell.

6.     Set a firm digital marketing budget: Setting a firm budget and only spending within that number is one of the most important actions you can take when it comes to digital marketing and advertising.

7.     Look at others who have done it: Reference other founders and entrepreneurs in your industry who have been successful in building their ventures. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to creating an offering. Look at what’s in your market and what you can do to improve what’s other there.

8.     Value proposition: Make sure your brand has a value proposition to ensure you can attract the right target audience. A value proposition is simply what makes your business attractive to prospective customers and clients. We recommend that your value proposition be woven throughout all of your website content so that your prospective readers are not left guessing what makes your business unique and different.

9.     Data and Information: Make decisions to improve your business based on the data that’s available to you. For example, if you notice your bounce rate is above 60 percent on Google Analytics, then try optimizing that page to lower the bounce rate and keep people on your website longer.

10.  Set up the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Setting up and tracking the right KPIs for your business is critical to its success. You should set up a list of relevant KPIs for your business before launching any new marketing campaign. Here are a few of the topmost common ones: return on investment (ROI), unique site visits/visitors, time spent on site, search engine rankings, bounce rate, referral traffic, inbound link, likes, mentions, and comments on social media, and opt-ins and conversion rates on landing pages.

11.  Research the legal structure: To run a business, you will need to create a legal entity for your company. You can choose a sole proprietor, limited liability company (LLC), C-Corp, or an S-Corp.  You can find more information here about what type is right for you, or you can speak to an attorney.

12.  Survey your existing audience (if you have one): If you’re stuck on what to offer your customers, simply survey them to see what is missing and that you can create as part of your next product line. If you’re just starting out, you can conduct research on social media and other online communities. Quora is a great place to start.

Sales and Marketing Funnels:

13.  Sales/marketing funnel: To turn prospects into customers, you need to have a sales funnel in place. This funnel consists of getting qualified leads into the top and then moving them through the middle to the bottom to turn them into customers. Our FemFounder.co sales funnel looks like: social media and blog content at the top of the funnel, our email sequence in the middle of the funnel, and then the bottom of the funnel is an educational webinar.

14.  Landing pages: Having multiple landing pages with various lead magnets can be an effective way to build your email list. A simple PDF or cheat sheet is sufficient to capture leads. We have about a dozen per landing pages per website. Niche landing pages have been a huge help in building an email list. We use LeadPages for most of our landing pages. Not only is Leadpages affordable, but this software also offers all of the tools you need to start building an email list.

PR Landing Page

15.  Lead magnets: You should offer free content in exchange for email addresses. This type of digital marketing is called a lead magnet. After someone signs up for your email list, this is the perfect opportunity to build a relationship with your new subscribers. To further engage with these subscribers, you may want to deploy a follow-up email sequence which is generally the following order: email 1--thank you email with lead magnet, email 2—value-based email, email 3—soft pitch with an offer, and email 4—a value-based email with a hard pitch. If you’re stuck on what to offer, here are some ideas for you to consider:

a.     Free cheat sheet

b.     Free printable planner

c.     Free coaching call

d.     Free sample

e.     Free checklist

f.      Free templates

g.     Free spreadsheets

h.     Free e-book

i.      Free challenge

j.      Free guide

k.     Free resources  

PR Lead Magnet

16.  Thank you pages: Thank you pages are prime real estate to promote your low-priced offers. After someone signs up for a lead magnet or an email list opt-in, direct them to a low-priced offer page. Offers can range from $1.00 to $99.00. This is often called an upsell. I find this to be a great supplement to revenue.

17.  If you’re looking for an all-in-one platform that offers email marketing, landing pages, upsells and down sells, and other digital products, Kajabi.com is a great place to start your research.  

Building a Blog and Generating Traffic:

18.  Blog and organic search: Use your blog to enhance your search engine rankings. Each blog post should be at least 2,200 words long, optimized with a one to two percent keyword density, and contain internal linking to other relevant blog posts on your website. Longer, more substantive blog posts will help your website rank for more keywords instead of publishing shorter 500-word posts that were once effective.

19.  Blog pillar content: A few years ago, we would blog on topics that relate to our target audience, but we would never publish content that’s beyond 2,400 words and that was pillar-like. But now, Google prefers blogs with pillar content which is usually longer than 4,000 words with shorter blog posts that support pilar content. For example, this blog post that you’re reading is considered a pillar blog post. It’s over 4,000 words and has links to our areas of expertise: publicity, branding, search engine optimization, and Pinterest marketing. And then, we plan to build out each one of those pillars by publishing a minimum of 20 blog posts. This strategy may seem as if it’s overkill, but we find this approach to be the most effective when it comes to search engine rankings.

20.  Blog headlines: Your blog headlines need to be captivating and engaging to get readers to click through to your site. Shorter and pithy headlines win. Here are a few examples of blog posts we’ve used in the past:

a.     “How to Change B…”

b.     “How to do C in D Steps”

c.     “How to Transform Your A…”

d.     “How to Stand Out from the Crowd from Y”

e.     ”How to Overcome X

f.      “How to Generate A to do B”

g.     “How I Did A to Achieve B”

h.     “A Signs to do B”

i.      “X Mistakes I Made Doing Y”

j.      “A Reasons to B”

k.     “Z Ways to Supercharge X”

We also recommend using a headline generator to get variations for your blog posts.

21.  Update old blog content: To improve your search results, update old blog content that has received the most organic traffic from search engines. We recommend focusing on optimizing your top five blog posts. You can find them in your Google Analytics account.

22.  Keywords: As the basis of any organic ranking on a search engine, incorporating keywords into each piece of content will help your website and business rank higher on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. I generally recommend using a one to two percent keyword density for each keyword phrase. Limit keywords/keyword phrases to three or fewer in each piece of content for blogs that are shorter than 2,000 words and limit keywords/keyword phrases to six or fewer for content longer than 2,000 words. Please note, that when you sign up for Google Keyword Planner, you will need to add your credit card information even though you will not be charged.

23.  Use Medium.com and other blogging platforms: Posting content on Medium.com can help your content rank higher on search engines. Just make sure you use the “Import” prompt for a canonical tag. You can also make extra money by posting on the platform. We make a few hundred dollars a year by posting on Medium.com.

24.  Blog post headlines: If you’re stuck on the type of blog posts to write and publish, here are a few ideas: “Interview with Expert A”, lists, infographics, step-by-step instructions, or beginner guides. There are many other blog types and headlines you can use depending on your brand and offerings.

25.  Content upgrades: Content upgrades are accents or upgrades to an existing blog post. For example, if you have a blog post on “Top 10 Women’s Styles this Season”, a content upgrade would be a branded download that may offer “3 Footwear Styles All Women Need to Have this Season”. LeadPages offer content upgrade prompts as well.

Testing Your Marketing:

 26.  A/B Test every piece of marketing collateral: To ensure you get the best possible return on investment or conversions, testing every piece of collateral is crucial. For example, for any blog post or landing page we publish, we will test every element—from the headline to the subheadline to every graphic. Whatever version has the best response, that is the winner. It’s easier than ever before to test marketing assets with all of the tools available.

Developing and Implementing a Social Media Strategy:

27.  Instagram as part of your digital marketing strategy: The power of Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels can be crucial to a startup’s digital marketing strategy. Posting daily can grow your following organically as well as increase engagement, while the grid or feed shows potential followers what your brand is all about. Just keep in mind that your feed is not going to convert—but your Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels will convert. If you’re short on Instagram Story ideas, here are a few to get you started:

a.     The best piece of advice you ever received…

b.     The worst piece of advice you ever received…

c.     “I learned how to do X by doing Y’

d.     Small transformation in business

e.     Testimonials/short case studies

f.      What success means to you

g.     Share information about what projects you’re working on

h.     Some of your background as an entrepreneur

ProgressWellness.com Infographic

28.  Pinterest as a list-building vehicle: Using Pinterest as part of a list-building strategy is very important. Creating on-brand Pins with snappy headlines will entice potential readers to click through to your blog. Read this for more information on Pinterest marketing.

29.  Twitter marketing: Twitter is one of the most underused social media outlets available. Not only is it easy to connect with other industry experts, but Twitter also makes it easier to connect with the media and pitch them accordingly. We like to use Twitter to find the right media contacts and connect with other industry thought leaders.

30.  Facebook marketing: Using Facebook to build your business can be an effective way to connect with potential customers/clients. Using Facebook groups can be a strong way to build a community. You can join other groups as well as start your own. Just ensure you follow the guidelines as well as set up your own guidelines.

31.  LinkedIn: Although I don’t use LinkedIn as much as I could, I’ve heard that the platform can be a great way to connect with other experts and thought leaders in your industry.

32.  Social media value-based/promotional split: When you post on social media, 70 percent should be value-driven, and the remaining 30 percent of the content should be product/service/lead magnet promotional, although an 80/20 split is even better.

33.  Social sharing: Make it easy for readers and visitors to share your content. Put share buttons on each blog post or podcast episode for your readers. Sumo.com makes it easy for others to share your content.

34.  Live streaming: When you live stream, this enables prospects to connect with you on an intimidating level. Facebook and Instagram are great places to share your expertise in live video form.

35.  Infographics: Posting infographics on your blog and Pinterest can send large amounts of traffic to your website. This infographic we posted on Pinterest and blog and has been shared a few hundred times. Please note, this is an older infographic (which we will update accordingly). Here is another example:

36.  Social selling: Selling your products, services, or other offerings on social media can be a huge boost to your bottom line. You can sell directly to prospects via Instagram or Facebook.

37.  Comments on social media: When you receive comments on your social media, respond quickly to build the relationship. Our rule of thumb is to respond to any comments within a 24-hour period.

38.  Social media icons: Ensure your website has social media icons connected to your accounts in the footer so potential readers can follow and engage with you.

Creating a Power Brand:

39.  Branding: Ensure all of your branding is consistent with the colors, logo, layout, copy, and overall business. Although building a cohesive brand can be difficult, we recommend you start this process by thinking about your brand as a personality. How do you want your target market to perceive it? How do you want your copy to speak to others? This will help make sure your business is identifiable and recognizable.

Femfounder.co homepage

Providing Super Customer Service:

40.  Superior service: Always under promise and overdeliver because then, your customers/clients will never be upset. Providing the best possible service or products will help you build and retain a loyal customer base.

41.  Customer service: Ensure your website has some form of customer service and respond to all queries in a timely manner. You don’t need to have a call center, but you should have a dedicated email address and a chatbot that can answer questions as needed.

Building a Robust Email List:  

42.  Build an email list: Your email list is your single most valuable asset, so striving to build one consistently is critical to your business survival. We know building an email list can seem overwhelming or like it’s overrated, but it’s really not. Building an engaged email list can be the difference between generating a profit versus. not generating any revenue. For example, every person on your email list should generate at least $1.00 per month. So, if your email list has 1,500 subscribers, your brand should generate a minimum of $1,500 per month.

43.  Engage your email list: Ensuring your email list is engaged is the key to building a long-term relationship and loyal customer base. Sending out content that’s both relevant and interesting is the key to building an engaged email list. You want to strive to have at least a 15 percent open rate. You should also ensure your list is clean, meaning there is a low bounce and unsubscribe rate.

44.  Editorial calendar: Creating an editorial calendar for your blog, email list, and social media schedule can help streamline your content creation process. I usually make an editorial calendar at the start of every quarter for all of our content across all of our web properties. Plus, this enables me to recycle content so I’m not reinventing the wheel.

Designing and Executing Online Ads:

45.  Facebook ads: Facebook ads can be a great way to generate leads in an inexpensive way. Whether you’re a graphic designer or a realtor, Facebook can be a great resource for qualified leads. The cost per lead has increased quite a bit over the last two years but Facebook ads can still be a great resource for entrepreneurs with a small ad budget. According to WebFx.com, if you use CPC (cost-per-click), the Facebook ads will cost about .97 per click, while if you use CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions), the cost will be about $7.19 per 1,000 impressions.

46.  Promoted pins: Using promoted pins on Pinterest is an effective way to build your business. For starters, the cost per lead is about one-third of Facebook. It’s also about one-sixth the price of running Google ads.

Constructing a Compelling and Searchable Website:  

47.  Website design: Designing a website that is both engaging and informative will be the best way to attract qualified leads. Your website should have a minimum of the following pages: home, about, services/products, blog, and contact with opt-ins to capture email addresses.

48.  Domain names: Grab all versions of your domain name to ensure that no one can steal them. Just make sure your name is not trademarked already. You can do that by conducting a simple trademark search on the USPTO website.

49.  Website load speed: To ensure your website ranks highly and that your bounce rate remains low, page speed is critical to keeping website visitors engaged. We use this resource to test all of our website page speeds.

50.  SSL: Make sure your website is secure by having an SSL certificate in the URL bar. This SSL certificate signals your potential customers that your website is in fact secure and safe.

51.  FAQ page: To cut back on frequently asked questions from customers or prospects, have an FAQ page that can be found easily. We usually post our FAQ page to the navigation and direct customers there whenever they have questions.

52.  SEO tips for your website and blog:

a.     Ensure the content is clear and well-written.

b.     Appeals to your audience.

c.     Content is evergreen.

d.     Part of a permanent category on your blog.

e.     Original and exclusive to your website.

f.      Contains a long-tail keyword (at least five keywords in one phrase).

g.     Contains a long-tail keyword in the URL.

h.     Includes a long-tail keyword in the H1 and H2 headers in the post.

i.      Contains a long-tail keyword in the first paragraph.

j.      Ensure you link to previous articles on your website throughout the article.

Formulating and Implementing a Publicity Campaign:  

53.  Publicity for your brand online: Getting online media coverage for your business can be a gamechanger. Not only can publicity build brand awareness, but it can also generate traffic and email subscribers to your website. Publicity also helps with SEO because it helps build backlinks.

54.  Guest blogging: Writing as an expert on other blogs or digital magazines can be a great way to build your creditability in your industry as an expert. We write for Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, and Inc.com—all of which have been game-changers in our brand credibility, search engine rankings, and overall brand awareness. To get started, you can search Google for such opportunities by searching “Industry + guest posting submissions” or “industry + guest blogging opportunities”.  

55.  Press releases: Writing and sending a press release over the wire is a cost-effective way to get your message out to millions of readers online and secure backlinks which are great for improving your organic search results. Whenever we have a major announcement to make, we send out a press release via PRWeb.com. For $350.00, we reach millions of readers all over the country.

56.  Media opportunities: Finding media queries to pitch can be a great way to build your brand awareness. Helpareporter.com is a great resource for publicity that’s completely free. We also have a handful of properties where we like to profile experts. You can sign up for our media opportunities here.

57.  Content syndication: If it’s allowed, syndicate your content on other platforms to reach more readers. For example, we syndicated our blog post Why Most Startups Fail on ThriveGlobal.com to reach tens of millions of readers every year. In turn, this blog post was shared thousands of times on social media.

Drafting Engaging Email Sequences:

 58.  Nurture email sequence: To get new email subscribers hooked on your content, setting up an email sequence that engages them is the best way to keep them opening and reading your emails. An effective nurture email sequence generally contains four to six introductory emails in the following format: email 1--thank you email, email—value-based, email 3—introduction to you and your business, email 4—more value, and email 5—soft pitch with an offering, email 6—more value; and email—hard pitch with your offer. We have nurture email sequences set up for all of our lead magnets.

59.  Abandon cart emails: Every e-commerce website will experience prospects that abandon their carts. When this happens, it’s important to have an email sequence set up that encourages the prospect to make a purchase. Give them a reason to buy right then such as offering a coupon or creating some type of urgency. Additionally, remind them why they put the items in their cart in the first place and add a few more related items to give them options. Make sure the items are in the same or a similar category and in the same price range.

60.  Triggers in your email sequences: To ensure you maximize your open rates, set up triggers within your email service provider based on opt-in and interests. Using triggers based on interest will help ensure you only send content that interests your audience.

61.  Subject lines: Every one of your emails—whether it’s a transactional email, part of an email sequence, or a value-based email—your subject line is the single most important element that makes someone open or deletes it. So, ensuring the subject line is short and engaging will be the key to getting someone to open it. For example, “X Ways to Do Y” or “5 Ways to Use Pinterest to Build an Email List” can be an effective subject line. Other email subject lines such as “3 Stylish and Affordable Fashion Trends for Spring”, “Are you still interested in A?”, or “Name, do you still need help with X?” can also work. The shorter and more personalized the subject line is, the better the chances the subscriber will open it. Here are a few more email subject line options:

a.     “Need a little extra help?”

b.     “Are you struggling with X?”

c.     “X Ways to do Y.”

62.  Email personalization: Personalizing all of your email communication based on segmentation and interests will help engage your subscribers. It’s really all about speaking directly to the person. The days of mass emailing are over.  

Asking Your Customers to Leave Reviews:

63.  Get reviews: Asking your existing customers to leave reviews on your website or a marketplace where you sell can be a great sales tool. The more positive reviews you can garner, the more you’re likely to sell.

Optimizing Mobile Websites with Clean Links:

64.  Mobile website: With more than half of the people online shopping on their mobile devices, ensuring your website is optimized is for mobile use is important to generating sales. Squarespace and Shopify are both great options for mobile-optimized e-commerce platforms. We recommend going through the checkout process on your mobile site to ensure all of the prompts work properly.

65.  Clean links: If you have many different links with messy endings/slugs, Bit.ly enables you to create memorable links with analytics so you can track all of your traffic. Bit.ly also offers a free version.  

Setting Up Google Analytics and Google Alerts:  

66.  Google Analytics: To track your website traffic, bounce rate, and click-through rates, installing Google Analytics on your website is integral to optimization. Google Analytics is free and is the single most valuable resource any website can use.

67.  Google Alerts: To monitor the web and social media for your name and brand, setting up Google Alerts is important. You should track every time you or your brand are mentioned online. 

Managing Your Online Reputation:

68.  Reputation management: Managing your reputation across the web and social media will be a great way to keep a pulse on your brand name as well as what else is trending and being covered in your industry.

Updating Your Website Copy:  

69.  Website copy: Update your website content often (at least monthly) to improve your organic search rankings and allow new visitors to land on your website. Make sure your content contains the right keywords that you want your website to rank for by using Google Keyword Planner. You will need to set up a Google Ads account to use Google’s Keyword Planner.

70.  Get personal: When it comes to writing your brand narrative for your website and other marketing collateral, get personal. Share the struggles and successes you encountered as an entrepreneur. This will help you become more relatable and attract more of your target audience. There are boundaries though—and there is such thing as sharing too much information.

Developing a Remarketing/Retargeting Campaign:

71.  Retargeting/Remarketing: If you’re running digital ads, then consider implementing a retargeting campaign to sell to prospects who visited your website or social media but never signed up for your email list or made a purchase. We use Pinterest and Facebook retargeting ads. 

Creating On-Brand Graphics:

72.  Graphic design: With the invention of Canva, it’s easier than ever before to design professional graphics for your website, emails, and social media posts. You no longer need to hire a professional graphic designer. We use Canva for every aspect of design for all our websites.

Collaborating with Influencers 

73.  Brand awareness and influencer marketing: Build brand awareness by collaborating with influencers and ambassadors to promote your business. Many larger influencers will charge a fee to collaborate, so we recommend you start off by looking for micro-influencers to collaborate with on social media.  

Scheduling Joint Ventures:

74.  Joint ventures: If you want to expand your online reach, collaborating or joint venturing with other experts on a certain subject can quickly grow your audience. You can partner with experts who have adjacent audiences to build your brand awareness and audience. We have joint ventured with other branding experts.

Asking for Testimonials:

75.  Testimonials/Case studies: Gathering testimonials/case studies from previous customers and clients for your website is a great sales tool because it shows others that you’re trustworthy and delivered results. Video testimonials are also a great way to build trust with potential clients/customers.  

Using Social Media Automation Tools:

76.  Automation tools for social media: Using social media automation tools is effective in scheduling your social media posts. Scheduling content in advance will free up a lot of your time as an entrepreneur. We like to use the TailWind App for Pinterest and Instagram scheduling. HootSuite.com can be great for scheduling content on Facebook and Twitter.com. If you’re just getting started, both platforms offer free versions to test.

Drafting Calls to Action that Convert:

77.  Calls to Action (CTAs): Ensure all of your website content has calls-to-action placed strategically throughout to help build an engaged email list. I generally recommend that you have CTAs in the header, footer, a pop-up, in the right margin, and an exit pop-up.

Ensuring Your Website is Searchable:

78.  Backlinks and search engine optimization: As we discussed above, securing as many quality backlinks is important in helping your website rank higher on search engines. For example, one link from Forbes.com or ThriveGlobal.com can cause a huge bump in your website traffic and domain authority. Striving to get backlinks should be a larger part of your SEO strategy.

79.  Images: Ensuring that your images are optimized properly with the right keywords and the right sizes will help your website rank better. An image saved with a random string of characters will not rank properly. For example, if you own an e-commerce fashion brand, then your images should be named with the product description and only contain five words.

Strategizing a Content Marketing Plan:

80.  Content marketing: Implementing a content marketing strategy helps you rank higher for certain keywords on a search engine while educating prospective customers/clients about your brand. Publishing long-form content every month can increase your overall search rankings. Although content marketing can be tedious, every online brand should add it to its overall digital marketing strategy.

Making Sure Your Website is Designed Well:

81.  UX/UI: Designing your website with your user or visitor in mind is crucial to keeping them on your website longer thus reducing the bounce rate. So, when you’re designing your website (if you DIY it), then strive to make the design look great, the user experience intuitive, and the layout easy to use as each of these will make your website appear credible and trustworthy.  

Implementing Video Strategies

82.  Video marketing: Adding videos to your blog posts or on YouTube can help your content rank higher on search engines. We use YouTube.com (free) and Wistia.com (free and paid options) to host our videos.

83.  Short form videos: As TikTok and Instagram Stories grew over the last two years, short-form videos will continue to gain momentum as consumers are more likely to consume quick and easy-to-view content over long-form videos.

Utilizing Voice Search:

84.  Voice search: With more consumers using apps like Siri and Alexa, voice search is becoming more important than ever before. So, ensuring your website is optimized for voice search is crucial to being found. 

Developing an Affiliate Marketing Program:

85.  Affiliate marketing: Promoting other experts’ products or services can be a great way to supplement your annual revenue. Joining affiliate networks is the first place to look to promote others’ products or services. We are members of Impact.com and PartnerStack.com and promote products/software that complements our content, services, and products. Please note, if you are going to promote affiliate products, you must disclose them at the top of the post.

Leveraging Quizzes to Grow Your Listing

86.  Quiz marketing: Using quizzes as part of your digital marketing strategy can help increase email subscribers. You should follow up the opt-in with an engaging email sequence. We recommend a four-part series with the quiz results, an introduction to you and your business, a value-based email, and then a hard pitch with an offer that aligns with that quiz result. You can add more emails based on what the offer is. Using TryInteract.com is a great platform to use for quizzes.

Getting involved in Local Marketing:

87.  Local marketing: Start by focusing on local search engine optimization, fill out your Google My Business Account, select the right category for your business, ask your customers to leave reviews, including all of your contact information along with the website, email, and phone number, and ensure to use the right keywords to be searchable.

Hosting Workshops:

88.  Webinars and workshops: To get qualified leads at the top of your marketing funnel, hosting webinars can be a great digital marketing strategy. About 30 to 45 minutes should be teaching and then the remaining 10 to 15 minutes should be a hard pitch. When your webinar is structured properly, you can generate hundreds of leads and thousands of dollars in revenue.

Launching a Podcast:

89.  Podcast, your own show: Although we haven’t launched our podcast yet, a podcast can be a great way to build brand awareness and get qualified leads at the top of your marketing funnel. Your show can be in a format of a Q+A interview or a solo show. Our show will be a combination of interviews with industry experts as well as solo shows.

90.  You can use a podcast to build your brand and connect with other experts in your industry.

Getting on Other Podcasts as an Expert:

91.  Podcasting on other shows: Being a guest on other podcasts can be a great way to get in front of other audiences. If you’re going to pitch yourself to a podcast show, make sure to listen to it so you know what topics are covered and the type of guests the show interviews. Here’s a template you can customize for your podcast pitching:

a.     Hi (Name),

I hope you're doing well. I came across the (podcast name) on (where you found it) and would love to be considered to be a guest (at X time). I found (episode number with title and one point) interesting and valuable because of (A and B).

(Include your short bio with your expertise and then include a handful of bullet points). I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you!

Name 

Getting Involved in Online Forums:

92.  Forums and communities: Participating in forums like Reddit.com and Business.com are great places to connect with others and share your expertise. While we have not explored this option much in the past, we’ve heard anecdotally that forums can be great for generating website traffic.

93.  Commenting on other blogs: In the past, we would comment on other blogs to build relationships with those bloggers. We’ve made a few very strong contacts by doing this.

Using Digital Technology 

94.  Use AI to your advantage: If you’re crunched for time like most entrepreneurs, then there are plenty of AI tools available to provide support to your business. For example, writing long-form blog posts can be extremely time-consuming. So, to save you time, you can use AI writers. AI-Writer.com is a tool that will create content for you based on a blog title. While some of the articles are not that great, this tool is great to help you outline the content and use snippets for social media.

95.  Auto-Scheduling Tools: Using a tool such as an Acuity scheduler can save you a lot of time scheduling conference calls and meetings.

Partnering with Charities:

96.  Social causes: Partnering with a cause that aligns with your business can entice consumers to buy from you over the competition. For example, if your website is built on Shopify, you can make donations to a charity through the Shopping Gives app. You can donate a certain percentage through the app or a certain amount from every purchase made. You could also reach out to other charities that align with your business to see if they would be interested in partnering with your venture.

One More Tip:

97.  Start with and focus on one thing at a time: To prevent burning out, creating a digital marketing plan, and doing one thing at a time is the key to success because studies show that multitasking causes more harm than good. Leave multitasking in the past where it belongs.

Selecting the right marketing agency for your small business or startup is crucial to its long-term success and sustainability. If you would like to enhance your brand awareness or get more website traffic, shoot us an email at Kristin@MarquetMedia.co.