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Most people were unfamiliar with podcasts before 2005. But we don’t live in that world anymore. With over 383 million podcast listeners globally, it feels like everyone — from actors and comedians to talk show hosts and presidents — has a podcast of their own. While all this signal noise can make you feel like you’re too late to catch the podcasting wave, the data says differently.

In fact, that 383 million is expected to turn into 424 million in the coming year (with projections of continued annual growth). That’s why we’ve created a guide to starting a B2B podcast. We’ll help you understand what you need to get started, how to reach an audience, and how to track your results as you record, distribute, and record some more. Let’s get started.

B2B Podcasting — What Is It?

Before we dive into this guide to starting a B2B podcast, we first need to define the term. A B2B podcast is a podcast created and produced by a B2B (business to business) company. More often than not, it’s started with the intention of boosting brand awareness and building industry authority. It’s also a way to reach potential customers.

Different types of B2B podcasts will focus on different themes and subjects, and use different formats (audio or audio and video). The exact how and what of your podcast will depend on various factors we’ll cover below, including your vision, audience, and goals. However, at the heart of it, a B2B podcast is created with the intention of marketing your company by providing value to your target audience.

Is B2B Podcasting Worth It?

About 40% of all Americans listen to podcasts, a number that’s still on the rise. The audience is certainly there, so if you’re wondering if your podcast will disappear into the ether once you publish your first episode, it won’t (getting listeners is a different story, which we’ll cover below).

The most obvious reason to consider B2B podcasting is that it’s another weapon in the arsenal to help you get your business’s name, product, or service out there. It can help you attract new visitors, customers, and buyers. It can also serve as an excellent addition to your sales process. Additionally, podcasting can also help you network with other leaders in your industry.

Choosing a Team

Before you start thinking about equipment and distribution platforms, you need to think about building a strong team. Remember, your podcast host(s) make up the voice — and possibly, face — of your show. Decide whether you want to do a solo show or more of a roundtable discussion. 

There’s no right or wrong decision here, necessarily. However, unless someone on your team has enough of a personality to handle a whole podcast episode themselves, it may be better to start out with a few team members to keep the conversation alive.

If you’re leaning towards a group show, we recommend having no more than 3-4 people on at once. Too many voices on the show can make an episode feel crowded and chaotic.

Two young professionals recording a podcast in an office space with brick walls.

Getting Started: 3 B2B Podcast Tips

Okay, you’ve assembled the dream ensemble. Now what? Starting a podcast can feel overwhelming, and as B2B podcast production quality continues to improve, it’s natural to feel like there’s a lot to do just to get going. To help you on your way, below are 3 of the most important B2B podcast tips as you start your own podcasting journey.

1. Set Goals

Podcasting is great, but like any marketing initiative, you want to set clear, definable goals so you can make sure it’s worth your time. One way to do this is to use the SMART goals framework:

  • Specific. What needs to be accomplished? Who’s responsible for it? What steps need to be taken?
  • Measurable. Quantify your goals. Make it easy to track progress and reach the finish line.
  • Achievable. Is your objective something you can reasonably accomplish? Goals should be achievable and not too grandiose.
  • Relevant. Why are you setting the goals you’re setting? How do they fit into your business’s overall initiatives?
  • Time-bound. When will you know the project (i.e., podcast) has been a success? Set realistic goals so you don’t give up after a month but also don’t continue with the same strategy indefinitely if it’s yielding no results.

Also, this is a good time to ask yourself what exactly you want to get out of your podcast. For instance, do you want to:

  • Build relationships with your customers?
  • Grow your audience for brand awareness purposes?
  • Highlight your business’s product or service and drive demand to it?

If your answer is a mix of the above, that’s totally fine. Just be sure to define your goals ahead of time. Also, your goals may change along the way, which is totally normal. The only real failure at the outset of B2B podcast production is failing to set clear expectations and goals for yourself. Doing so could leave you 6 months down the line wondering if what you’re doing is having any effect at all.

2. Find Your Niche & Develop Your Vision

Next up on the list is finding your voice. Unless you want your podcast to speak very generally about your industry with no specific angle, you’ll need to find what makes you worth tuning into. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Who is my audience?
  • What is my expertise?
  • What value can I offer my audience?

Let’s start with the audience. If possible, reference your company’s buyer personas to help you understand who may tune into your podcast. This will help you craft your voice for the show (serious, light-hearted, somewhere in between) and understand what challenges the audience faces that you can speak to.

Next up, you need to be honest about your expertise. This can include any collective industry knowledge, career history, and anything your business brings to the table that speaks to the needs of your target audience. 

This question may also influence our section above on choosing your team. Having the host(s) of your podcast come to the podcasting table with enough industry knowledge and expertise to speak authentically and authoritatively can certainly impact the final product.

However, don’t allow a sense of imposter syndrome to prevent you from getting started. Nothing is perfect, and seldom is any endeavor excellent from the get-go. Sometimes the best way to learn is to five right in.

Finally, understanding the value you bring involves understanding what’s already been done among your industry’s top podcasts. While some overlap is natural, take this time to think of how to create something fresh. You certainly don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but a strict copycat model isn’t the most valuable approach. Instead of “brand-new”, think “brand-better”.

Take some time to listen to the top podcasts in your area of expertise. What are they doing right? Anything they’re doing wrong? From there, incorporate what works and learn to include what the current key players are missing.

3. Get Your Gear

When you’re brand new to starting a B2B podcast, you probably aren’t interested in contracting out and spending money recording at a third-party studio. In fact, one of the benefits of podcasting is the low-overhead it offers. Plus, given the fantastic tools on the market today to create a polished recording sound, you can get stellar sounds for relatively inexpensive.

To make sure you’ve got your tech stack covered before launching your podcast, you’ll want to have the following:

  • Recording software. For Mac users, Garageband is a free tool that comes with your computer that will suit all of your podcasting needs as your start out. Other popular recording software includes Audacity and Adobe Audition.
  • Editing software. This can and will often be the same as your recording software. Using a platform your can record and edit with makes the process even simpler, especially as you’re starting out. Riverside wrote a great blog on some of the top podcast recording software currently on the market!
A female business professional recording a podcast and filming herself on a digital camera.

Launching Your Podcast: 3 More Steps

The next steps in this guide to starting a B2B podcast is to focus on how to actually get your podcast up and listenable for your audience. From hosting to scheduling and style guides, here are 3 more B2B podcast tips to get you from the studio to the internet. 

1. Choose Your Hosting & Distributing Platforms

Wondering how to distribute a B2B podcast? It’s actually pretty simple, and there are more than a few platforms available to choose from. Below are five of the most popular podcast hosting platforms:

  1. BuzzSprout.Often ranked as the best overall hosting platform for podcasts.
  1. RSS.com. This platform is very affordable and easy to use.
  1. Podbean. Growing in popularity in recent years, this platform is easy to use. It also supports video.
  1. Libsyn. At $5 a month, this is one of the most affordable podcast-hosting platforms.
  1. Soundcloud.This platform offers you the opportunity to upload your podcast directly to Soundcloud and sync your RSS feed with distributing platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

All of the platforms mentioned above are known as hosting platforms. They allow you to upload your podcast so people can listen to it on the platforms they most frequently use. They’re not, in and of themselves, the platforms your listeners will most likely flock to.

This is where a podcast-distributing platform comes in. We recommend starting out with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and YouTube (if you’re recording video). To get your podcast on a distributing platform, all you need is the RSS feed link generated by your podcast hosting service. From there, just submit the link to each aggregator.

2. Develop a Publishing Schedule

Once the more technical side of getting your podcast started is complete, you want to turn your attention to brainstorming B2B podcast topics and developing a schedule. Popular podcasts will often publish one episode a week. However, it may be better to start out by publishing one episode a month. Just figure out what works best for your schedule and do your best to stick to it.

From a branding perspective, it’s better to start by uploading less frequently but more regularly, instead of recording an episode every week and trailing off after two months. Everything — including the flow of your podcasts, the topics covered, and the production quality — will improve the more you stick with it.

Monday.com offers a great podcast planning template to help you get started!

3. Create a Style Guide

A style guide could include your podcast’s logo, the editing style, and even the set design if you’re doing a video podcast. Whatever it is, we recommend creating a style guide to make sure the podcasts stay consistent.

Something as simple as creating a folder in Google Drive is a good place to start. Have a folder for your podcast’s logo, a Google Doc that describes your podcast’s tone of voice/aesthetic, and anything else that can help other members of your team best represent your brand when they work on the podcast.

Remember, it doesn’t need to be anything too fancy at the start. It’s better to just get started and hone your craft from there, instead of waiting for all the housekeeping items to be in order.

An up-close picture of a studio microphone and a computer screen running recording software on it in the background.

Once you have your first episode uploaded (congratulations, by the way) you should consider how to promote your podcast. Sharing your podcast organically on social media platforms is a good way to get started (especially on LinkedIn). Instagram is another great platform for this, especially if you’re doing a video podcast since you can share smaller clips of each episode on your feed and your account’s story.

Once you have a few episodes recorded and you’re proud of the finished product, you may also consider turning to social media advertising to target a relevant audience. Once again, LinkedIn advertising is a great platform for this, but you may also consider Facebook ads and Google Ads.

Report & Measure the ROI

Any marketing initiative is best when backed by data. Recording your podcast may be fun, but as with any endeavor, you may get to the point where you’re wondering if the input is worth the output. How do you measure your podcast’s success? We recommend tracking ROI with these four frameworks:

  1. Track your show’s downloads over time.
  1. Compare your podcast data to your other marketing channels.
  1. Compare your podcast data to benchmarks of other shows.
  1. Track any leads/customers that found you through your podcast.

Taking a look at the world’s largest podcasts receiving millions of downloads in a month isn’t going to help you determine whether your podcast is successful or not. The only shows you should focus on are yours and podcasts very similar to yours. From there, simply focus on providing value and building relationships with your ideal customers and clients.

Welcome to the World Of Podcasting

While this guide to starting a B2B podcast has all the things you need to get started, it isn’t intended to be the be-all and end-all of your podcasting journey. Take the B2B podcast tips we’ve shared in this blog and apply them to your project. You’ll most likely experience some roadblocks along the way — and that’s okay. Just keep working at it and refining your strategy as you go. Happy ‘casting!

Join Team Tower over at After Hours to learn more about promoting your brand and elevating your business through content, social media, and PPC.

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One of the first things a consumer will notice about your brand is your logo, which makes it so much more than just a symbol. It’s a visual depiction of your brand to help make it stand out and more easily recognizable.

However, you’re probably aware the biggest challenge of a logo is how easily it can be dated. If you’re thinking about redesigning yours and want a fresh look, this blog will help you understand the current logo design trends of 2023.

But more importantly, in the end, you’ll walk away with some tips on how to create a timeless logo that won’t become dated fast. And how to make a new one that represents your business well.

Trend #1: The Minimalist Logo

We’ve all heard the saying ’less is more’ and that’s what this trend is all about. Instead of using lots of color and contrast, a minimalist logo design tends to consist of simple fonts, small line strokes, and a limited color palette.

However, that doesn’t mean a logo like that can’t be interesting. Minimalist logos can actually have complex and even 3D elements (we’ll discuss this more below), without being overpowering.

The idea is to create something with less sensory overload for the viewer. A logo with just a few details creates a sense of breathing room for those seeing it, even if they aren’t design experts. Plus, having fewer details to load makes your logo more functional with screens and in other digital formats.

Minimalist logo design for bread shop

Trend #2: 3D Trendy Logo Design

In contrast to the first trend, three-dimensional design elements just started appearing in 2022 and are definitely here to carry into the upcoming years. 3D logos are iconic because they create a sense of realism that seemingly pops off the page, whether they’re online or on paper.

Adding depth or dimension to a logo can create opportunities for unique animation elements or simply to have a static, but eye-catching design. The 3D logo is a creative way to reach your viewer and engage them with your brand.

3d logo for bicycle shop

Trend #3: ’90s and 2000s Nostalgia

We’ve already been through the 80s influence of design and have definitely been moving through the ’90s and early 2000s inspiration. This period is often referred to as the Aughts time period.

If logos become dated so quickly, why reference vintage elements?

Well, truthfully, incorporating elements from the recent past and even what may be, for some of your audience, from the time of their youth, creates a sense of comfort. A vintage flair feels familiar and even may nod towards elements that have been lost in today’s heavily digital age.

Especially if your brand was founded several decades ago, a logo capturing nostalgic elements from that time may go a long way.

Nostalgia logo for beer company

Trend #4: Natural Patterns and Textures

If you want something that feels fresh and modern but can be paired with other trends, consider being inspired by nature! Natural-looking logos incorporate organic shapes that don’t feel so gridded.

And natural doesn’t mean it needs to contain the actual image of a plant. This trend can be accomplished simply by relying on earthy colors and organic-looking elements. As another way to make it pop, consider adding some textures like wood, grain, or stone, that create subtle elements to refresh your logo.

Nature inspired logo

Tips for Achieving a Timeless Logo: Balancing Trends with Needs

Redesigning your logo is a huge undertaking. And while modern logo design trends can influence the direction you go, it’s important to make sure your takeaway logo will last beyond the latest trends.

Logo design trends of 2023 are a great place to start and find inspiration, but you’ll want to make sure to take your actual project beyond them. Approach your project with the mindset of creating a logo that can survive the years to come. (Examples that come to mind include Apple or Levi’s.)

Below we’ll provide some simple tips to remember as you embark on the journey to find a new logo that makes your brand stand out.

1. Have a Long-Term Vision

Talk with your internal stakeholders and get a long-term vision of what you want the brand to look like. Do you want to be known as the funky 3-D nostalgic-looking brand forever? Make sure you all agree on what qualities you want to be known for and create a logo that accentuates that.

2. Base Your Design on Core Values and Products or Services

Who is your target audience and what kind of message are you projecting to them? Aim for a blend of trends and design that will make you look professional and evoke the right emotions in your audience when they see it.

3. Tell Your Story

Because who doesn’t love a story? Remember to avoid stuffing too much imagery or detail into your logo. If there’s too much going on, it can be difficult for viewers to understand what it all means or the story you’re trying to tell.

4. Keep it Simple

What does your new logo look like if it’s scaled up or down 50%? Will it look pixelated or shrunk?

Your logo will be used in a variety of digital and print mediums, so versatility is critical. Subtle elements and text are ideal if you need to use it across multiple platforms. And if your elements are vector, it’s even better for scaling your logo to any size.

5. Watch for Fonts

Fonts will make or break your logo. So make sure to not just pick the first you can find. Fonts also create emotion around your brand. For a more playful approach, try a script. Or for a more serious brand, a serif font may better convey your image.

Additionally, consider the readability. Make sure your font doesn’t just look appealing. It should also be legible.

6. Make it Hard to Imitate

Making sure your logo has a unique factor is about more than distinguishing you from the competition. It’s about making sure it can’t be easily copied. Plus, doing so ensures your new logo isn’t something that’s already been done or accidentally copied based on inspiration from a different company.

Most importantly, you want your logo to not be easily copied. If someone can take your logo and change the name, how will you be recognized? 

Having a one of a kind logo will definitely make you stand out from the rest of the competition and prevent others from taking it. If you make it as unique as your business you may only need slight changes as time goes on.

Ready to find a logo that reflects the message you want to send about your business? Speak with our team to see how our designers can help refine your logo and help it serve you better.

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Your website is often a user’s first impression of your brand, so you have to make a statement. But what makes a website stand out? These days, making a website attract attention is more than just ensuring it looks good. It must be easy to use, interactive, and informative. 

If you’re looking at your website analytics and noticing a lot of users are coming to your site and immediately leaving (a high bounce rate) then it might be time to make some UX improvements.

What is UX?

UX stands for the user experience within your digital space and encompasses a lot of disciplines that may be overwhelming to think about. But we are here to simplify and explain what goes into a user’s experience. By definition, UX is how the user thinks, feels, and interacts with your product, or in this case your website.

When a user comes to your site, they may evaluate in 1 of 4 ways, which are defined below. Your website should give the user value, be easy to navigate and be enjoyable to use. To help characterize your UX, ask yourself the following questions: 

Value: Is my site producing value for the user? 

Functionality: Does my site have a lot of page errors? 

Usability: Is my site easy to navigate and interact with? 

Impression: When a user first visits my site, what are they thinking? What immediate actions are they taking?

Difference between UX and UI

The terms “user experience” (UX) and “user interface” (UI) are often used interchangeably, even though they are describing two related but different things. The UI of a website consists of all the elements a user interacts with, buttons, slides, menus, maps, etc., or the relationship between the users and the computer systems and software. 

On the other hand, the user experience, as the name suggests, encompasses the entire experience of the website. UX takes into account how a user interacts with not just UI elements, but every other aspect of the website — load times, color usage, whitespace, mood, and subject matter in imagery, and even down to the amount of scrolling required to view elements on a page. 

When looking to improve your website user experience, think about the big picture. 

Why UX matters for your business

You may think that UX is something that will just help your website look better, but incorporating user-friendly features into your website design will also increase sales, and if applicable, products sold. If you are successful in improving your user experience, your bounce rate should also decrease. 

When a user visits your site, you don’t want them to move on from your site because they are frustrated when they can’t find answers on your site. Your ultimate goal in improving your website user experience is to grab your user’s attention and convert them into customers. 

A website that is aesthetically pleasing is one thing, but you also want a site that is easy to navigate, has limited page errors and motivates users to interact with your company. Creating a site with great UX allows users to trust your brand’s quality and credibility. 

Google Core Web Vitals

There are three Google Core Web Vitals that help determine a website’s user experience. These are the Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shifts. These Core Web Vitals will assess all aspects of the user experience and help give you an industry standard. 

We’ve outlined some of our best practices on how to improve user experience on your website that help generate traffic, keep users engaged, and allow users to easily reach their goals on your site. These practices are best paired with a strategic design team that creates content for your user. 

Keeping up with the Best Design Practices

1. Clear Call to Actions

What do you want your users to do while they are on your site? Answering this question will give you call-to-action ideas to incorporate into your site. The RICE marketing strategy will help you determine what types of call-to-action, or CTAs, to include on individual pages.  

If you are looking to interact with users that may not be quite ready to purchase your product or service, try adding soft call-to-actions on your website pages. Soft CTAs are not directing users to perform your main desired actions. Some soft call-to-actions ideas include: 

  • “Join our Mailing List” 
  • “Read Some Customer Testimonials” 
  • “Learn More” 

On some web pages, your goal should be to convert the user to a customer. This stage of the RICE marketing strategy calls for hard CTAs, which motivate a user to perform an end goal, for example, purchasing the product or service. 

2. Internal Linking

When laying out internal linking strategies, be conscious of the path you want the user to take throughout your site. Including internal linking allows website visitors to stay engaged on your site and easily learn more about your product or service.  

3. Take Advantage of White Space

Whitespace web design is crucial for users to be able to digest and understand the content on your website. Having a website that is cluttered with information, graphics, visuals, and other various content will cause users to feel overwhelmed and confused. 

Whitespace creates a visual break for the user’s eyes. When a user visits your site, you want them to see a clean, polished look that is easy to comprehend. 

Your whitespace web design can include more space between each body of content, margins on either side of the page, and group-related topics with white space. Remember, white space does not mean it needs to be white, the background color of your website can align with your branding colors. 

4. Write to Your Target Personas 

One of the best ways to improve your user experience on your website is to design your website for the user. What needs and pain points will your website solve for the user? Who will be visiting your site? 

Don’t be afraid to ask users questions or have them rate their experience. This feedback will help you shape your website to what works best for your target audience. 

5. Images

Images should enhance the copy and design of your website, not make the site disorganized or overwhelming. When thinking about what visuals to include on your webpage, find ones that explain the copy, evoke emotion, and talk to your audience. Avoid using images to just “fill space.”

6. Metadata 

Metadata may not be the most obvious practice to think about when looking for UX improvements, but having the correct metadata in place will help users find your website. There are a few different types of metadata, including descriptive, administrative, and structural. 

Your Google snippet will encompass the title tag and meta description, which is the first thing users see if your webpage shows up on their Google search. We recommend a title tag of fewer than 60 characters and a meta description of fewer than 160 characters. 

7. Mobile UX Design 

The UX improvements above are all very important to consider for your next website redesign, but if your site does not perform well through mobile, you’ll lose a lot of your potential audience. 

Key takeaways for mobile UX design are to make everything “thumb-friendly” as users will not have the accuracy of a mouse. Larger UI elements will ease the navigation and interaction points of your mobile website.  

Additionally,  remember that everything will be stacked so the content will appear much longer, requiring additional scrolling on mobile. We recommend keeping paragraphs to a maximum of three lines, so readers are able to digest the content fully without being overwhelmed. 

Mobile UX design is significant because it contributes to your Core Web Vital score. It will assess the accessibility of links, content readability, and other page elements. 

Two people looking at a screen with different mobile designs options

The Role of a UX Designer

The UX Designer will work with user research, front-end design, information architecture, and usability testing to increase your website’s user experience. They’ll help you make your website easier to navigate and interact with, so users are more likely to revisit and engage with your site. 

UX Audits

The UX audit is the first step in identifying any shortcomings on an existing site. The marketing team will comb the entire site, examining not only the UI but the overall user experience. This is to ensure the UX is serving the ultimate goal of the website. During this process, any user pain points or site goal misalignment will be identified and remediation will be suggested to ensure UX improvements across the site.

Ready to boost traffic and engage more users on your site through UX improvements? Work with our experienced web development team to set your site apart!

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Creating a marketing video could be just the thing to bring your business to the next level. If done correctly, videos can be extremely effective marketing tools and ensure you’re getting the attention and revenue you deserve. 

However, before you dive into creating a marketing video, you should be familiar with the different factors that will affect your professional video production costs. In this blog, we will break down what goes into video production and how you can plan a realistic video budget. 

What are Marketing Videos?

The main purpose of marketing videos is to address your audience’s problem, propose how your product or service can fix it, and then explain why the audience should choose your company over your competitors. 

There are many different names or types of marketing videos, like: explainer videos, corporate videos, and promotional videos. However, all of these short films are primarily used to highlight a company’s product, service, or business idea. 

Your video may even be used to present your company’s financial results to stakeholders, highlight a new initiative your company is partaking in, or be used as a business introduction for potential clients. 

No matter what topic your video is focusing on, in order for it to be successful, it should be high quality, represent your company’s brand identity well, and incorporate a strong call to action. Your videos should be compelling and well executed, leaving your target audience informed, as well as intrigued. 

5 Major Stages of Marketing Video Production

Making a marketing video usually involves 5 stages. Below is an outline you can follow when going through your video production process. 

1. Development

The development stage of video production is all about your concept and end goal. You’ll want to decide what you plan to get from this video and how you plan to achieve that. 

This is also the stage where you can create a timeline and marketing budget for your project. (More on video marketing costs to follow below.) Understanding the purpose of your video is key, because it will serve as the foundation for the entire production process. 

2. Pre-Production

The pre-production stage is where you begin to figure out the details of your video. Preparing a schedule will help you stay organized and on track as you work. 

You’ll also need to finalize your video script, as well as hire any staff or actors you need for your production team. Make sure you gather whatever equipment you may need and decide on location(s) for your video to take place.

3. Production

The production stage is when filming happens. All of the raw footage and content that will be presented in your video is created. This includes any video, audio, B-roll, and/or cut-away shots. Depending on how long or complex your video is, production could take anywhere from one day to one week. 

4. Post-Production

The post-production stage involves all the editing. This includes video editing, mixing audio and sound, adding sound effects, color grading, and/or adding any animation or motion graphics.

Another piece of this stage is video rendering and compression. These steps involve transferring your footage into an editing system, rendering it into a presentable format post editing, and eventually uploading it to wherever it will be hosted. 

5. Marketing & Distribution

This stage should be where you share your final video to reach your target audience and the general public. Your end goal and overall purpose that you determined in the development stage should be fulfilled in your distribution of your video. 

Woman working on editing and distributing marketing video.

Professional Video Production Cost Breakdown

Professional video production cost can be broken down into different factors or categories. Not every element is necessary for every video, and depending on what type of video you’re creating, you may only have some of these expenses. 

The prices for different services will also vary depending on what type of video production team you use.  where your business is located. Below are the most common factors that will affect your professional video production cost. 

Project Management and Project Coordination Expenses

Project managers or project coordinators are necessary to ensure your production costs don’t exceed your video production budget. In addition, these individuals help to manage the production timeline. When you’re on a schedule, you want to be sure that everyone is meeting their deadlines and staying on track. 

Depending on who you hire for this role, you may spend anywhere from $25-$250 an hour. The experience of the project manager or project coordinator will be the deciding factor in how expensive their rate is. 

Script Development Costs

This cost is only necessary if your video project requires a script. Hiring a professional script writer will help coordinate what your on-screen speakers will say. These prices will vary depending on the length of the script and the experience of the script writer. 

If you choose to use an experienced script writer, you could spend anywhere from $50-$150 an hour. Many professional script writers will provide you with a video concept, storyboard, and script for your video project.

Cost of On-Screen Talent

On-screen talent is optional when it comes to video production. If you don’t want to be on screen, you’ll need to hire actors, models, or voice-over talent to be the face of the video. 

The factors that go into these costs depend on their experience, as well as how much time they will be spending working on the project. In addition, the price for on-screen talent varies greatly depending on where you’re located.

Costs Associated with Visual Assets

Marketing videos often incorporate shots that supplement what’s being said on screen. In the video production industry, these are known as B-roll or cut-away shots. 

These are visuals that can be used to describe a product or service in your video. Some of the most common types of supplemental visuals include:

  • Still images
  • Stock photos
  • Licensed photos
  • Custom photography
  • Video
  • Stock video
  • Licensed video
  • Custom video
  • Illustrations/3-D elements
  • Stock illustrations
  • Custom illustrations
  • Purchased 3-D models

The price of supplemental visuals will depend on the quality of the photos, videos, or illustrations, as well as the time needed to film the extra footage. Most often, cut-aways and B-roll shots make up about 15%-50% of your filming budget.

Costs to Add Special Effects

Depending on the type of video you’re producing, you may include special effects like animations, motion graphics, or title overlays. Using these elements will add to your overall video production budget. If you’re creating a brand video intended to sell a product or service, you may want to include a call to action with the help of special visual effects.

Some videos only require simple graphics, while others may be entirely animated. For basic special effects editing, you may spend anywhere from $65-$225 an hour. However, the cost of high-quality 3-D animation will depend on the complexity of the project and range anywhere from $95-$300 an hour. 

Man editing professional marketing video.

Location Costs 

The location of where you plan on shooting your video will also play a role in your production costs. There are multiple factors that will determine your video shoot location, such as: 

  • Are you shooting indoors or outdoors?
  • Do you need a sound stage or studio?
  • Will you be filming in more than one location?
  • Are you shooting with a green screen?
  • Will you need to travel between locations?

Considering these questions will help you decide what you have to incorporate into your budget. Studio rental, fees and permits, travel fees, and building rentals may be required depending on where you’re shooting. You’ll also need to take into account the total time you’ll need at your designated location. 

Music Licensing Fees

If you intend to have any special sound effects or music in your video, you’ll need to add certain music licensing fees to your budget. Some websites offer license-free music. Just make sure you read all of the fine print to ensure the music is legal to use. There are also other options you can use, such as:

  • Stock music (royalty-free)
  • Licensed music
  • Custom scores

Royalty free music could be anywhere from $11 for a 2-3 minute track. If you’re considering hiring an audio engineer, you could spend anywhere from $500-$1,000 or more depending on the ability, experience, and tools needed for the project. 

Video Production Crew Costs

The size of your production crew will depend on the complexity of the project, the length of the video, and your budget. The people involved in the production of your video may include:

  • Director
  • Director of photography
  • Camera operator
  • Lighting professional
  • Sound professional
  • Grip professional
  • Makeup/hair artist
  • Video editor
  • Motion graphics artist/animator

The cost of hiring any of these personnel will depend on where you’re located, their experience, and the amount of time they will be working for you. 

Overhead Costs of Video Production

The overhead costs include any equipment or insurance required for your video production. In terms of equipment, this may include cameras, lights, sound, computers, and software. When it comes to insurance, this covers liability and workers compensation. These costs will vary depending on what equipment you use and the quality of those products. 

Takeaway: How Much Does Marketing Video Production Cost?

There is no simple answer to the question, how much does a marketing video production cost? because of the variables that go into creating a video production budget. 

However, there are baseline costs which you can use as a starting point. According to most production companies, the average cost of video production is about $1,000-$5,000 per finished minute. 

Video production can be a valuable marketing tool, no matter how you decide to create one. The most important thing to remember is to set a realistic budget that will allow you to accomplish your goals and stick to it. 

Video production team filming.

Ready to take your business to the next level? Find out how our team can help execute your video project and achieve your marketing goals within your budget.

Video Production Services

If you’re reading this blog, you probably already have a budget for marketing and a hunch that you need to find new ways to optimize your marketing budget. As an agency, we know that no matter the size of the budget, every dollar must bring value to the table.

But even after you’ve dotted your I’s and crossed your budget T’s, how can you stretch your marketing budget further? Here are some of our most practical tips for effectively using your marketing budget to get the best ROI on your investments.

1. Lay the Foundation for Your Optimal Marketing Budget

The key to any marketing budget is having a plan. You’ll want to analyze your company’s achievements, future goals, and areas for improvement. Asking these questions will help you lay a strategic foundation to effectively use your marketing budget.

It’s a general rule of thumb that your marketing budget on average should be 10% of your annual revenue. If you have more aggressive goals, you may want to consider adjusting to meet those objectives. More than half of that budget should be spent on digital marketing.

This can be nuanced, so comparing past years’ budgets and results with future goals can help you paint a more realistic picture of the means you’ll need to achieve that growth.

Be S.M.A.R.T. About Your Goals

When talking with clients about their goals, we often hear the phrase, “I want to generate more leads” or “I want to increase revenue.” These are important goals, but on their own, they aren’t specific enough to your business to carry you through the day-to-day. Consider the S.M.A.R.T. goals you can make that lead to those wins. 

As you paint your picture of success, consider including measurable goals – like gaining referrals, getting email signups, or increasing your organic web traffic each month. Now you know where to put the dollars in your budget.

How Will You Measure Your Goals?

In the words of Peter Drucker, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Sounds easy enough, right? But as marketers, we often find ourselves passionate about a new initiative or content strategy and not so passionate about the detailed measurement of all those initiatives after they launch. It’s easy to be excited about the next idea.

And it makes sense – analyzing marketing data can feel like a big hill to climb. When you use tracking (we’ll get to that later!), it can help illustrate the value of your investment and reduce marketing waste. 

This is especially important if you need to stretch a tight marketing budget. Every business’ KPIs are different, but here are some to consider: 

  • Visitor-to-lead conversion rate
  • Opportunities generated
  • Revenue generated
  • Website traffic to blogs
  • Clicks generated from paid advertising

Consider the Season

If you’re using the same amount of ad spend or duplicate initiatives throughout every month of the year, you’re not optimizing your marketing budget. A great example of this is the tax industry. 

As you ramp up and prepare for the busy season, increasing your ad spend or awareness efforts at a higher level makes sense. But once you’re in the new year (when people need to have their taxes done), your spending probably doesn’t need to be quite as high. 

This shouldn’t be guesswork, however, which is why it’s so important to make sure you’re tracking what you do year-over-year and forecasting your digital marketing efforts for the future.

2. Invest Spend In Your Brand Equity

In marketing, large ticket efforts like social media or billboard ads are often top of mind. But what about your brand? What’s your reputation in your industry? Brand equity is based on the consumer’s perception of and experiences with your brand. And it’s important that your marketing spend supports your brand equity development.

Successful marketing should also translate to the customer’s attitude about your brand. This is helpful to your budget because organic digital marketing tactics will cost less over time compared to efforts like PPC.

Consider Factors Like Google E-A-T

Expertise. Authoritativeness. Trustworthiness. These three elements are essential to not only building brand equity online but achieving a great SEO ranking down the line. 

Rich content that contains valuable information and insights, such as optimized blog posts or case studies, shows a level of expertise. Authoritativeness is what happens as you develop a content library, by demonstrating your expertise above others in your industry. Trustworthiness comes from several factors, like how secure your site is or the number of positive vs. negative reviews.

Invest In the Right Quality and Quantity of Content

What defines quality content? Rather than giving us a step-by-step guide, Yoast tells us that “the easy answer is: your users.” But is that an easy answer? Yes and no. Various elements go into creating great content, but the end-user is always the key perspective to keep in mind. 

You’ll recall earlier we mentioned that at least 50% of your marketing budget should go towards digital marketing. When it comes to content marketing, we recommend at least 25% of that digital marketing umbrella be used towards the content budget.

Content marketing is a form of organic internet marketing. While this strategy is a long-term commitment, it can be a cost-efficient digital marketing effort because the actual costs are relatively low compared to efforts like billboards or TV ads. 

To see success, you need to generate a lot of content, but it also needs to be high quality. 

Phase 1

As you look to get started, take it back to the basics and make sure you’re using those dollars to invest in a strong foundation. That means optimizing the content on your existing web pages first and foremost.

Phase 2

Only after you’ve optimized your existing website pages to include SEO keywords and a greater wealth of quality content should you begin shifting your resources to producing new, quality content.

What does the breakdown of all that quality and quantity content look like for your budget? We’re about to take a look.

Let’s say you have 50 hours budgeted for your team to spend on content per month. You might consider using this strategy:

  • 25 hours, about 50% of that time, on blog writing and / or whitepapers
  • 2.5 hours, about 5% of the time, optimizing or rewriting one page on your website
  • At least 12 hours, about 25% of the time, for email marketing
  • Starting with 7 hours, about 15% of the time, each month depending on the season
  • And lastly, 2.5 hours or about 5% of the time to plan your upcoming month’s content

If you’re still unsure how to work content into your overall strategy, take a few minutes to read our blog on creating a content marketing strategy.

3. Test and Track Your Marketing

Earlier in this post, we talked about setting up ways of measuring your marketing goals so that you can stretch your marketing budget. As you launch your efforts, you’ll also want to track, A/B test, and review what you find.

Track Organic & Paid Digital Marketing in Google Analytics

Thanks to tools like Google Analytics and integrated CRMs, certain ROI tracking is easy. Google Analytics will allow you to track the leads and conversions from a variety of paid and organic initiatives. 

For example, tactfully tracking website visitors from your social media ad campaign and subsequent conversions helps put tangible value to your marketing spend.

Certain marketing initiatives, like a logo refresh or non-profit sponsorship, for example, are a little more difficult to track the ROI on. 

Now, that’s not to say that those less trackable efforts are any less valuable – they’re very important. Nonetheless, some marketing efforts will never have a clear, trackable line, and that’s okay. It’s also one of the reasons why it’s so important to track the ones that do.

Ultimately, at the end of the year, you’ll likely be taking the analytics data and pairing it with your KPIs to present to your executive team, CEO, or CFO. Proof of ROI from the marketing budget will help advocate for your marketing budget to stay the same or even grow in the future. 

A/B Test Your Advertising

New to A/B testing? Harvard Business Review has a great refresher on what this looks like. Essentially, it gives you room to be creative with your marketing and make small tweaks along the way that help you optimize your campaigns and spend your budget better. Here are some A/B testing examples: 

  • If you run a social ad, consider testing different verbiage with the same image or vice versa. 
  • In a PPC ad, consider the trends and test different keywords along with their subsequent combinations.
  • If you’re utilizing email marketing, send one variation of the campaign to a subset of your audience and another variation to the other subset. This will help you to see which performs better.

Invest Strategically

We know that ad time during March Madness might seem like a great and glamorous idea, and it very well may be. Nonetheless, investing a significant portion of your marketing dollars in a singular effort can be risky. That’s why it’s important to use testing, tracking, and measuring to inform your decisions and select the right mix of marketing tactics.

4. Don’t Underestimate Public Relations

To effectively use your marketing budget, a holistic approach is important. A mix of both paid and free public relations can complement your marketing efforts in calculated ways.

Positive Press

Launching a new product? Consider a press release to accompany your campaign. Have a team member who’s great at public speaking? Check with your local chamber about doing a presentation on an area of your business’ expertise. 

On the other hand, consider using your existing resources creatively towards a local non-profit’s fundraising campaign or by participating in a benefit golf tournament. 

There are four primary types of sponsorships to consider.

  • Financial Sponsorship: The business pays money in exchange for benefits outlined in the sponsor package.
  • In-kind Sponsorship: The business donates goods or services instead of a monetary amount.
  • Speaker Sponsor: The business pays the expense (travel/accommodations) for a speaker to present at an event.
  • Venue or Location Sponsor: The business covers the venue fee or allows the use of a venue they own/occupy.

These various options allow you to find the perfect match for your resources. By donating something you already have, like a few hours in your venue, to an event with attendees that are your ideal client, you’ve been able to stretch a tight marketing budget in a creative way.

Referrals

Since we already know that people talk to each other about their favorite – or not-so-favorite – products, brands, and experiences, why not ask your customers for a referral?

As you look at your budget, consider the cost per cold lead vs. the investment in rewarding your clients and the warm leads they refer. Is that reward a complimentary service? An upgrade? Make sure that whatever you choose has the potential to be good for you, your client, and the lead.

You might be fortunate enough to already see this happening organically, but if not, consider creating a referral program.

Awards and Recognition

If you need to stretch a tight marketing budget, awards and recognition within your community and industry can be a helpful complement to your traditional efforts. Consider checking with your local chamber of commerce, business journal, or reader’s choice awards for free entries while exploring industry awards for paid entries. 

If you work with an agency or consultant, see if you can partner together on this initiative and share the entry fees.

Project management team working together

Getting Started: Putting Your Budget In Place

Every business has different needs, strategies, and circumstances. This isn’t a hurdle, but a unique puzzle we as marketers get to pull out and put together. No marketing budget is one-size-fits-all, even a small marketing budget. 

The ideas and strategies we just reviewed will help you consider your unique business needs and challenges so that you can save time, money, and produce results.

Not seeing the results you want or need to elevate your efforts? We can help with a free audit of your marketing budget. You’ll get an unbiased, third-party view on your spending and efforts, along with third-party pricing.

Reach Out Today

If you’ve ever compared marketing in-house vs. agency vs. freelancer, you know there are many important factors to consider. Making the right choice for your business starts with defining your marketing objectives and weighing them against your strengths and weaknesses. In this blog, we’ll review in-house, agency, and freelancer marketing models to help you make the best decisions.

What is In-House Marketing?

With an in-house model, the bulk of your company’s marketing is handled by your own employees. Most businesses with an in-house team don’t use freelancers or agencies to supplement their marketing. Building a strong in-house marketing department starts with identifying the most important roles and filling them with experienced professionals who know how to achieve your goals.

Your in-house marketing team should include a marketing manager/CMO, creative director, and specialists in:

  • Internet marketing: SEO, local SEO, PPC, content, email, and social media
  • Web: design, development, UX design, eCommerce, hosting, and maintenance
  • Creative: branding, strategy, and print media

You may choose to supplement a small in-house team with the expertise of a marketing agency, which can handle areas outside of your strengths. We’ll take a closer look at the most common in-house marketing models below.

Common In-House Marketing Models

There are three main in-house marketing models: full competency, traditional, and hybrid:

  1. A full competency in-house team possesses comprehensive digital abilities and doesn’t require any external support.
  2. A traditional in-house team handles the bulk of your marketing efforts and only occasionally seeks support from third parties.
  3. A hybrid in-house team (or in-house marketing agency) is a separate in-house “agency” that works outside of your marketing team. They’re structured like a traditional agency, but their only client is your parent company. Hybrid teams typically take a more holistic look at overall marketing strategy and will occasionally outsource highly-specialized tasks to agencies.

Benefits of In-House Marketing

There are several pros of handling your marketing in-house vs. agency advertising. We’ll dig into each of these benefits in the following sections.

1. Brand, Product, & Service Knowledge

One of the biggest benefits of going in-house vs. agency is your existing employees’ familiarity with your products, services, and unique value proposition (UVP)/unique selling proposition (USP).

Your internal employees may also have a better grasp on your personas and where prospects and customers are in the buyer’s journey. With the right training, your in-house team can become resident experts who speak to your target audience using the most effective marketing channels.

2. Company Investment & Consistency

Your in-house marketing team is deeply invested in your success, as your fortune is also their own. Plus, rather than marketing several businesses, all of their attention is focused on your brand.

In-house designers vs. agency marketing can also help you ensure brand consistency and boost your team’s creativity. In fact, 56% of businesses feel they became more creative after consolidating their marketing under one roof.

3. Improved Communication & Flexibility

In most cases, marketing in-house vs. agency means faster communication and enhanced collaboration. Even if some of your team members are remote, you can connect instantly with them for important meetings and conversations.

More immediate communication allows you to make decisions quickly and respond to new trends. It also minimizes lengthy lead times because you can easily communicate with stakeholders. Additionally, you can make quick changes to time-sensitive assets and deliverables, rather than waiting on third parties.

In House Agency Freelancer 2 jpg Marketing In-House vs. Agency vs. Freelancer: Benefits & Drawbacks

4. Data Ownership & Transparency

Going in-house vs. agency can give you a better understanding of fundamental marketing data (like spend and results) to facilitate more informed decisions. And if you do choose to work with an agency from time to time, data ownership can help you select the right services since you know your strengths and weaknesses.

An awareness and clear understanding of your marketing data also promotes transparency across your organization. In fact, 59% of marketers feel bringing their advertising in-house contributed to increased transparency, better information/resource sharing, and enhanced communication.

Drawbacks of In-House Marketing

While there are benefits to marketing in-house vs. agency advertising, there are also several significant drawbacks to be aware of.

1. Creative Stagnancy & Routine

Focusing on the same topic(s) for extended periods of time can get old quickly, negatively impacting your marketers and creative team. This can make it more difficult to generate fresh ideas or get a solid grasp on what your competitors are doing. And if your team becomes too entrenched in routine, they may stop thinking outside the box.

2. Inexperience & Lack of Resources

Depending on how niche your industry is, new employees may not have the necessary experience and knowledge to produce high-quality work. Properly training new hires takes time and may end up diverting your focus from essential marketing duties. If you don’t have enough talent within your in-house team, you’ll want to hire a marketing agency to fill in the gaps.

3. HR Difficulties

Successful marketing requires a long-term strategy, so it’s very important to hire talent who will stay with your company. You’ll have to make strategic adjustments every time an employee leaves, which will slow down overall progress towards your goals.

Turnover also heightens pressure on remaining team members to pick up the slack, which can result in unsatisfactory work or cause other employees to leave. Plus, it takes much longer to hire and train new personnel than it does to partner with a marketing agency.

4. Pricey Software & Tools

Marketing and creative tools (e.g. SEMrush, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Adobe Creative Cloud) are an expensive proposition for in-house teams with limited budgets. Plus, you’ll need to vet potential tools to determine which ones are right for your business, which can be very time consuming.

What is a Marketing Agency?

Marketing agencies employ specialists who work with you to achieve your business goals. Their staff are experts in a variety of areas, including web design/development, content, and SEO, among others. Depending on your bandwidth and needs, you can outsource some or all of your marketing to an agency (like Tower!)

Benefits of Hiring a Marketing Agency

There are many pros of working with an experienced digital marketing agency vs. in-house advertising. We’ll review the most significant benefits of working with a digital marketing agency vs. freelancers or an internal team below.

1. Immediate Results

Agencies employ seasoned marketing experts who can usually deliver results more quickly and effectively than an in-house team. They can also efficiently scale up or down with your needs, which means you won’t have to let go of internal employees if you want to pause your marketing efforts. And as we mentioned above, it takes more time and effort to hire new team members than it does to partner with an agency.

In House Agency Freelancer 3 jpg Marketing In-House vs. Agency vs. Freelancer: Benefits & Drawbacks

2. Fresh Viewpoints

Agencies hedge against creative stagnancy by providing an unbiased assessment of your marketing and innovative plans for improvement. They may suss out opportunities that you’ve overlooked because they’re not as immersed in the day-to-day operations of your business.

If the agency you choose already has experience within your industry, they’ll probably have a solid grasp on what’s already been done and what’s trending. This frees up valuable time for you to focus on highly-specialized marketing that requires in-house levels of expertise.

3. Experience & Expertise

Agencies typically specialize in certain industries, so you’ll easily be able to find one with an in-depth understanding of your market’s challenges and opportunities. And because agency staff have experience across every area of marketing, there’s no need to build a large in-house team.

Most agencies also have established connections with trusted third-party vendors like photographers and videographers. Ultimately, partnering with an accomplished marketing agency helps ensure you get the best value and highest return on investment (ROI).

4. Lower Costs

Working with an agency is usually less of an upfront and ongoing investment than hiring and training a team of in-house marketers. You also won’t have to spend any time or money on training new internal employees. Plus, agencies already subscribe to the best marketing tools, so you won’t have to invest in pricey software.

Drawbacks of Hiring a Marketing Agency

There are many benefits of partnering with a digital marketing agency vs. in-house advertising, but there are also a few cons to keep in mind. However, these drawbacks can easily be negated by working with a client-focused agency that always keeps your best interests in mind. 

1. Different Locations

If your marketing agency is located in a different time zone than your business, it may be difficult to schedule video meetings or phone calls that fit everyone’s schedules. You may also be unable to meet in person, which can be valuable at the beginning of a client-agency relationship.

2. Less Attention

You may end up feeling neglected and out of the loop if your agency isn’t completely client focused. If your account executive doesn’t function as an extension of your in-house marketing team, it’s time to find a new agency.

You’re not working under the same roof as your agency, so communication and decision making typically take a bit longer. Additionally, your agency may sometimes be slower to address your needs depending on their workload, priorities, and internal concerns.

3. Lack of Control

Working with an agency requires you to give up some control over your marketing, since they work best with the latitude and freedom to make strategic decisions. It’s very important to find an agency you can trust to always have your best interests in mind. Giving their experts the space they need to make strategic choices will net you the best results while also reducing roadblocks and bottlenecks.

What is Freelancer Marketing?

Freelancers are hired on a contract basis and provide specific marketing services to clients on a project-by-project basis. In some cases, freelance marketers also have full- or part-time jobs at other companies. You’ll find freelance marketers that specialize in every aspect of marketing, from content creation and web design to local SEO and social media advertising.

Tips for Hiring a Freelance Marketer

There are several important items to keep in mind when hiring a freelancer vs. agency advertising or building an in-house team:

  • Review their portfolio to gain a sense of their experience and skill level
  • Closely examine their LinkedIn profile, resume, and cover letter (if applicable)
  • Request referrals and testimonials from their previous clients
  • Choose a freelancer with knowledge of and experience with your industry
  • Interview multiple freelancers and compare them based on skills, experience, and rates
In House vs. Agency vs. Freelancer jpg Marketing In-House vs. Agency vs. Freelancer: Benefits & Drawbacks

Benefits of Hiring a Freelance Marketer

If you’re considering hiring a freelance marketer, there are several important benefits to be aware of. We’ll take a closer look at each one below.

1. Inexpensive Option

If you don’t have the budget to hire a marketing agency or build an in-house team, freelancers are probably your best option. In fact, 40% of businesses prefer freelancers because they’re a flexible and affordable way to quickly scale up or down.

Since they aren’t full-time employees, freelancers save you money because you don’t have to provide them with benefits. There are also no long-term commitments, and you only pay for the marketing and creative work you need.

2. Enhanced Agility

If you employ in-house marketers, freelancers can quickly step in when your team is overworked and their productivity is flagging. Plus, freelancers usually don’t have to give two weeks notice to a current employer, so they can start immediately and hit the ground running. And because you aren’t confined only to people in your immediate area, you have access to a larger pool of talent.

Like agencies, experienced freelancers can bring a fresh perspective that revitalizes your marketing and helps you think outside the box. Marketing trends are always changing, so agility and adaptability are key to success.

3. Low Maintenance

As we alluded to above, freelancers are much easier to hire, manage, let go, and replace than full-time employees. They also require less of an emotional investment from you as an employer. It can be difficult to fire underperforming full-time employees due to legal protections, but this isn’t an issue with freelancers.

Drawbacks of Hiring a Freelance Marketer

There are multiple cons to consider before choosing a freelancer vs. agency marketing or an in-house team. Here are the most important drawbacks to be aware of.

1. Longer Timelines

You’re probably not your freelancer’s only client, so it’s important to prepare for longer turnaround periods and project timelines. It may also be difficult to integrate freelancers into your existing systems and procedures, which can slow down the onboarding process. These impactful delays can be especially problematic if you’re in the early stages of developing your company.

2. Disconnected Schedules

If your freelancer is extremely busy or lives in a different time zone, it may be difficult to schedule phone calls and coordinate meetings. Plus, the flexible working hours associated with freelancing means they may not always be available during the traditional workday, unlike agencies or full-time employees. Be sure to consider who will coordinate freelancer schedules, oversee/review their work, and set deadlines to keep them on schedule.

3. Variable Quality

Anyone can freelance, so properly vetting candidates is crucial to making a wise investment. Some freelancers may not have the skillset to handle multiple marketing functions, which means you’ll have to hire several people. And piecemealing your marketing often produces disjointed, lower quality work than you’d receive from an in-house team or agency.

Deciding between marketing in-house vs. agency vs. freelancer? We’d love to discuss your goals and challenges and explore how Tower Marketing can help you achieve your business objectives.

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Whether you listen to Christmas music year-round or dread the holiday rush, there’s no denying that the holidays are the most profitable time of year for many businesses. In fact, estimates from the National Retail Foundation attributed between $755.3 to $766.7 billion in sales last holiday season alone.

In order to capitalize on some of the biggest shopping days of the year, here are a few of our favorite holiday marketing ideas and advertising tips.

General Tips for Holiday Advertising

Before we dig into the tactics that can help boost your business during the holiday season, it’s important to understand the bigger picture of marketing during the holidays. Here are five goals to keep in mind when planning your holiday marketing campaigns.

1. Be Timely

It’s never too early to start planning your holiday marketing ideas and initiatives. Pages can take up to 45 days to rank, so we recommend moving any web-based tactics live no later than mid-October. While Christmas isn’t until the end of December, many people start shopping in early- to mid-November, well before Black Friday deals hit.

2. Be Brief

With advertising competition at an all-time high, attention spans are short. Keep your messaging short, sweet, and impactful for the best results.

3. Stay Focused

Online noise and increased ad costs mean that your holiday advertising ideas have to be sharply focused to make an impact. If you have a limited budget, focus on a few key days of sales based on historical data from years past.

If you’re looking for the strongest return possible on a small budget, remarketing is another great option, as you’re likely to see a higher conversion rate by advertising to former and current customers.

4. Respect Your Brand

Just because it’s the holiday season doesn’t mean that your blue brand has to transform to red and green! Consider what the holidays look like visually for your business, and allow your foundational brand to shine through in every marketing initiative you undertake.

Here are some holiday angles to consider:

  • Feel-good, charitable, emotional, and grateful
  • Exciting, flashy, and full of great deals
  • Fun, bright, and family-focused
  • Non-denominational, winter-focused, or inclusive of all winter holidays

When choosing a direction for your holiday marketing ideas, always consider your business’s brand, tone, and overall marketing goals. Slapping a graphic Santa Claus on your year-round advertising simply doesn’t cut it.

5. Be Truly Competitive

Don’t expect to own the market and see a massive boost in sales if you’re only willing to offer 10% off and free shipping. In order to succeed at marketing during the holidays, you’ll need to be generous with your sales and special offers, especially to loyal customers who have waited all year to make a big purchase and get a great deal.

If you’re a service-based company, consider offering vouchers or pre-orders that customers can buy now and use later. Not only does this create urgency and encourage sales, but it allows you to pre-schedule and guarantee your next year of business ahead of time.

In order to rank during the competitive holiday season, you’ll need to foster strategic search engine optimization (SEO) on your website year round. That being said, here are a few considerations to keep top-of-mind to expand your optimization during the holidays.

Holiday SEO & PPC Strategies

SEO and PPC should be a major focus when it comes to holiday marketing ideas. Making timely gift guide landing pages for holiday search terms is one of the best ways to capitalize on the busy shopping season.

Fill these pages not only with best-selling products but thoughtful content that will help customers who are unfamiliar with your business make a quick and easy purchase. And, be sure to focus on internal linking and all of the usual SEO-boosting suspects to get your pages ranking.

Keep in mind that like with any paid medium during the holidays, you’ll pay more per click than you do during other times of the year. The heavy competition can be discouraging when deploying your holiday marketing ideas through PPC, but it can pay off big if you are strategic in your keywords and bids.

The Merits of Google My Business

An often-overlooked element of your website’s search engine optimization is your Google My Business (GMB) profile. This panel allows customers to view your company’s store hours, reviews, and updates without even having to click through to your website.

Be sure to complete your GMB profile before the holiday season begins, and revisit it frequently to ensure your hours, contact info, and other store details stay up to date.

Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns: Signups & Savings

The holiday season is one of the best times to grow your email list organically. The trick? Offering direct, valuable savings to customers to encourage them to sign up. Once you have a customer hooked, here are a few tricks to prevent them from unsubscribing:

  • Use subject lines to create urgency around sales and deals
  • Create email automations for abandoned carts
  • Offer valuable content like gift guides and product tips

Inboxes are especially cluttered this time of year, so be sure that each email you send has a true purpose and won’t simply frustrate your customer to the point of unsubscribing.

Holiday Social Advertising Strategies

With high costs and oversaturated platforms, social advertising during the holidays can be incredibly competitive. You’ll have to be at the top of your game if you want to stand out among the crowd.

Giveaways, contests, and other content that encourages audience engagement can be particularly helpful in breaking through the noise. While you have limited space to get your message across, try to think about your audience and speak directly to them in a novel and creative way to grab their attention. At the end of the day, authentic ads that showcase great deals will do far more than screaming at users with all caps and bright flashing signs.

Writing Content for the Holiday Season

When it comes to holiday marketing ideas, content is everything. Here are three tips to keep your content thriving and bringing in new customers.

1. Be Timely

We can’t stress enough the importance of timeliness when it comes to seasonal content. It can take weeks or months for your content to be indexed and served to users. And, many users start researching holiday decorations, gifts, and more up to two months before the big day. 

That means any search-driven content you have planned needs to go live no later than October. It may feel strange working on holiday copy before fall has even arrived, but it will pay off big time come the holiday season.

2. Consider Your Unique Holiday Customers

During the holidays, millions of people shop for gifts at stores they’re unfamiliar with. One of the best ways to earn a new customer is to make sure they have everything they need to make a decision (and a purchase), even if they’re unfamiliar with your industry.

Consider building out your product pages further to aid in product comparison and streamline decision-making. Product guides that go over sizing, features, and the differences between product models can also make online shopping a breeze for those unfamiliar with your store.

3. Utilize Internal Linking

Internal linking is one of the top ways that Google understands the architecture and content relationships on your website. This means that high-quality internal linking can help your holiday-themed blogs gain traction faster when every day counts.

Use links with purpose. No reader wants a constant bombardment of product links without any explanation to help them make a decision. Be sure to include plenty of helpful and educational content links, as well.

Breaking the Mold with Creative Holiday Campaigns

With so much noise online, you’ll need to think differently when brainstorming holiday marketing ideas if you want to stand out in your customers’ eyes. Consider the go-to marketing tactics of competitors and industry leaders, and then brainstorm adjacent or opposing ideas to get started.

One of our favorite innovative holiday marketing strategies over the years was a digital holiday card we created for local law firm Barley Snyder. They wanted a unique and memorable way to wish their clients and colleagues a happy holiday season. We planned, designed, and animated a custom digital greeting card that was equal parts meaningful and charming.

Barley Snyder Winter Holiday Wishes 2019

Check out the full Barley Snyder case study. 

Dreaming of an amazing holiday marketing campaign but don’t have the time or resources to bring it to life? See how our team can help!

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Have you heard about Google’s new Core Web Vitals? An addition to the four existing Page Experience signals, Core Web Vitals are crucial to the best possible user experience (loading, interactivity, and visual stability). Google will gradually start rolling out these metrics in mid-June, and they’ll play a full role in ranking determinations by the end of August. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at each of the Core Web Vitals, how they’ll impact your website, tools for improving them, and more.

What Are Google’s Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals assess user experience (on desktop and mobile) in terms of speed and how quickly visitors can interact with a page. Each Core Web Vital “represents a distinct facet of the user experience, is measurable in the field, and reflects the real-world experience of a critical user-centric outcome.”

Rather than focusing solely on text elements, Core Web Vitals evaluate the quality of overall user experience (UX) within a page. There are three Core Web Vitals:

  1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
  2. First Input Delay (FID)
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

LCP assesses performance and loading, FID responsiveness and interactivity, and CLS visual stability. Core Web Vitals make up the largest portion of your Google Page Experience Score, which also includes the following existing search signals:

  1. Mobile Friendly
  2. Safe Browsing
  3. HTTPS
  4. No Intrusive Interstitials

We’ll take a closer look at Page Experience Score later in this blog. Let’s start by digging into the details of each Core Web Vital.

Core Web Vitals 2 jpg What You Should Know About Google Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vital #1 :: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how quickly the largest content element on a page loads. This is typically a large, block-level piece of text, image, or video. Rather than assessing load time for the entire page, LCP examines how long it takes a page to load from the user’s point of view, which is the most important page speed metric of all.

A good LCP is less than 2.5 seconds, which means the largest element shows within 2.5 seconds of when the page starts loading. Optimizing your LCP is important because longer load times are proven to have a severe negative effect on bounce rates. To improve your LCP time, consider:

  • Removing large page elements
  • Upgrading your web host
  • Implementing lazy loading
  • Removing unnecessary third-party scripts

Core Web Vital #2 :: First Input Delay (FID)

First Input Delay (FID) measures the amount of time from when a user first interacts with a page to their browser’s response to that interaction. User interactions include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Selecting a menu or navigation option
  • Clicking a link or button
  • Entering text into a field
  • Opening an accordion menu on mobile

FID goes beyond your PageSpeed score because it measures the time it takes for a user to complete a specific action. That means it requires field data from real-time users and cannot be generated through lab simulations.

A good FID should be no more than 100 milliseconds to provide great user experience on the web. To improve your FID time, consider:

  • Utilizing a browser cache
  • Removing non-critical third-party scripts
  • Deferring (or minimizing) JavaScript

Core Web Vital #3 :: Cumulative Shift Layout (CSL)

Cumulative Shift Layout (CSL) calculates the total number of layout shifts that occur as an entire page loads. In other words, it determines how quickly a page is visually stable during the loading process. Page stability during loading helps ensure visitors don’t click something by mistake or have to re-learn where links, buttons, and fields are.

A good CSL is anything less than 0.1. Your score can be as low as 0 and increases every time shift layouts occur. In other words, a higher score means elements are jumping around a lot while your page loads. There’s no maximum score, but Core Web Vitals score 0.25 or above as “Poor.” To improve your CSL score, consider:

  • Adding additional UI elements below the fold
  • Ensuring ad elements have reserved space
  • Defining size attribute dimensions for media

How Do Core Web Vitals Fit Into Google’s Ranking Factors?

Core Web Vitals are a crucial new component of a metric set known as Page Experience signals. These assess a page’s overall user web experience by considering the most important non-text elements. In other words, they consider how users perceive their interactions with a page and how useful that page is in satisfying their query. We’ll examine the four existing Page Experience signals below.

Core Web Vitals 1 jpg What You Should Know About Google Core Web Vitals

1. Mobile Friendly

This assesses how easy websites are to navigate on mobile devices. This includes the accessibility of links and on-page elements, along with content readability. Every part of a page should be just as functional on mobile as it is on desktop, which is the foundation of responsive design.

2. Safe Browsing

Safe Browsing determines whether a website has problems like hacked content, phishing, and malware. It’s focused on ensuring that visitors can safely browse for what they’re looking for.

3. HTTPS

This metric assesses the security of a website and whether it’s being served over HTTPS per Google best practice recommendations.

4. No Intrusive Interstitials

This signal ensures that essential on-page content is not obstructed by intrusive interstitials (pop-up ads), promoting a pleasant browsing experience.

How Are Your Core Web Vitals Scores Calculated?

Core Web Vitals scores are calculated using the 75th percentile over a 28-day window. In other words, it uses three of four site visits (75%) to determine whether a page meets the target for each Core Web Vital. If a page satisfies the recommended scores for all three metrics, it passes the Core Web Vitals assessment.

How Will Core Web Vitals Impact Your Website?

While Core Web Vitals are certainly important, it’s key to understand that Google considers hundreds of unique signals when ranking web pages. However, Core Web Vitals can make a significant difference for pages that are competing for extremely competitive terms. Core Web Vitals will evolve continuously over time as user expectations change, so it’s crucial to stay informed.

How Can You Improve Your Core Web Vitals Scores?

There are many free tools you can use to analyze and improve your Core Web Vitals scores. Bettering these metrics can help you outperform your competitors and rank higher in Google search engine results pages. We recommend the following tools to review your Core Web Vitals scores and uncover opportunities for improvement.

Tool #1 :: Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Report

If you want to improve your Core Web Vitals scores, start with Google Search Console’s Core Web Vitals Report. Located in the “Enhancements” section of your Search Console account, the Core Web Vitals Report provides an overview of how your entire site is performing.

Mobile Score with Mobile View What You Should Know About Google Core Web Vitals
Screenshot of Tower Marketing’s Core Web Vitals Report.

The Core Web Vitals Report uses field data from the Chrome User Experience Report to group indexed URLs by issue. This is because UX problems on similar pages are typically caused by the same underlying problem. Each URL is scored as “Poor,” “Needs Improvement,” or “Good.”

Once you’ve pinpointed a problem, you can remediate it using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Google Lighthouse. The following two sections examine these tools in more detail to help you optimize for UX.

Tool #2 :: Google PageSpeed Insights Report

Your Google Search Console Core Web Vitals report links to a corresponding report in Google PageSpeed Insights, which is powered by Lighthouse lab simulations. PageSpeed Insights measures Core Web Vitals using both lab and field data. Focus on the “Opportunities” and “Diagnostics” sections to identify issues on each URL and effectively optimize for site speed.

PageSpeed Insights Loading What You Should Know About Google Core Web Vitals
Screenshot of PageSpeed Insights loading Tower Marketing’s website.

Tool #3 :: Google Lighthouse

Google Lighthouse is an automated tool that runs audits against a URL and creates a report on that page’s performance. Lighthouse 6.0 includes lab metrics for Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), making it an invaluable tool when assessing Core Web Vitals.

Total Blocking Time (TBT)

Lighthouse 6.0’s third new metric is Total Blocking Time (TBT), which correlates directly with First Input Delay (FID). Simply put, TBT calculates the total time between LCP and Time to Interactive (TTI). TTI is the amount of time from when a page starts loading to when it reliably responds to user interaction.

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

The “Opportunities” section of your Lighthouse report also includes Time to First Byte (TTFB). As the name suggests, this is the amount of time it takes a browser to receive the first byte of page content.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

Included in the “Performance” section of your Lighthouse report, Time to Interactive (TTI) measures how long it takes a page to become fully interactive. TTI works alongside TBT to pinpoint and diagnose interactivity issues that can negatively impact your FID. Because it’s not field-measurable or user-centric, TTI isn’t included in Core Web Vitals.

Tool #4 :: Google Search Console Page Experience Report

The Page Experience Report combines your Core Web Vitals report with the other four Page Experience signals: Mobile Friendly, Safe Browsing, HTTPS, and No Intrusive Interstitials. Taking a deep dive into each component of the Page Experience signal can help you uncover new opportunities for improvement, which can be particularly helpful in tie-breaker situations.

Tool #5 :: Google Chrome User Experience (CrUX) Report

The Chrome User Experience Report is an anonymous public report of user experience data from millions of web pages. It measures field data (as opposed to lab data) on all three Core Web Vitals and doesn’t factor in simulations or Googlebot visits. Seeing how your pages perform in the field is a great way to pinpoint valuable improvement opportunities.

Tool #6 :: Google Chrome DevTools

Google Chrome DevTools are built into the Google Chrome browser and are designed to help you diagnose and remediate issues that can lead to a high CSL. They also measure TBT, which is beneficial when looking to improve your FID.

Tool #7 :: Google Chrome Web Vitals Extension

Available in the Chrome Web Score, the Web Vitals Extension measures all three Core Web Vitals in real-time. This instant data on loading, interactivity, and layout shifts helps you identify opportunities that can make a big difference.

Tool #8 :: Semrush Site Audit Tool

The Site Audit Tool in your Semrush account reports on a variety of data that correlates with Core Web Vitals. This includes loading speed metrics, HTTPS security protocols, JavaScript and CSS errors, crawlability, and more.

Partner with Tower Marketing to Improve Your Core Web Vitals Scores

The best (and easiest) way to identify and remediate Core Web Vitals issues is by working with an agency like Tower Marketing. Our experienced team of web developers and SEOs have the tools to bring your site up to Core Web Vitals recommendations, and we’ll fix any problems as they arise.

Want to check Core Web Vitals for your site and see how you stack up against these new Page Experience metrics?

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We hear from businesses all the time that are looking for a new logo. Perhaps they’re starting a new company or are looking to modernize their business. But what many of these businesses don’t realize is that creating a brand identity will provide far more value to their company than simply redesigning their logo.

If you’re not sure where to start when creating a brand for your company, here’s everything you should know before approaching a rebranding project.

What is a Brand Identity?

Simply speaking, a brand identity is the set of elements that establish your business visually and set it apart from your competitors. These elements likely include a logo, color palette, fonts, and key pieces of messaging. They must be consistent but flexible, and perhaps most importantly, they must be functional and easy to use.

But creating a brand identity is about much more than a handful of visual elements. Your brand is in everything you do. It’s the greeting you use when you answer the phone. It’s the decisions you make on packaging and materials. It’s how you react to a crisis. Your brand is what makes you, well… you.

Your Business’s First Brand vs. Rebranding

While the process for a first brand vs. a rebrand may look similar, there are a few key differences to keep in mind.

Your First Brand

If you’re a start-up or new company, you likely won’t have as much data on your customers as an established business. In this case, external research is especially crucial to make sure you have a clear picture of your potential customers. Doing this research will not only help you in creating a brand identity, but may also be of use in your business development strategies and your lead generation.

If you’re working with venture capital, a startup incubator, or any other investors, you’ll also need to keep them in mind. The buy-in of these key players is essential to a successful brand launch.

Before you engage with a logo designer or agency, outline the internal process for your team. Include a timeline, key players who will be involved at each stage, and a budget. This will ensure the brand is developed on time and on budget and will help your key stakeholders feel included in the process.

Rebranding

If you have an existing brand and are considering rebranding, you have a major advantage over new companies since you know far more about your customer than they do. The flipside is that it can be harder to separate yourself and your view of your company from how your customer sees you.

For example, you may have in your mind that you need to level up your brand into a more formal, professional space. However, your customers may love your approachability and lack of red tape. 

While pleasing higher-ups and stakeholders matters, your company’s success relies on your customers. Balancing the needs and desires of both groups will ensure that you develop a successful brand strategy.

Part One: Understanding Your Audience

While it can be tempting to put pen to paper and start sketching out logo ideas, it’s crucial that your brand begins with your audience.

Who Is Your Audience?

Understanding your audience is the first step toward creating a brand. You’ll need to get inside your customers’ heads to understand what they look for in a product or service, what drives them to make decisions, and how to make them choose you over your competitors.

Here are some methods and strategies to explore to find out more about your customers:

  • Conducting market research
  • Holding focus groups
  • Performing social listening to see what customers are saying
  • Asking customers to fill out surveys (online or in-person)
  • Developing a persona to better illustrate your typical customer
  • Diving into Google Analytics, social analytics data, or other information you may already own that can tell you more about your customers
  • Hiring an agency to create an audience intelligence document for your company

Once you’ve decided on your method, you may need to complete further research to understand how to leverage the method you’ve chosen. Fair research without bias or leading questions is your best chance at understanding your customers authentically.

Here are some questions to consider when researching your audience:

  • Are your customers consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B)?
  • What is/are your main demographic(s) – age, gender, location, etc.?
  • What is their education level? Financial status? Marital status?
  • What drives them to choose you over your fiercest competitor?
  • What matters to them most? Price point? Quality? Convenience?

You’ll be far more successful in creating a brand identity once you have a solid understanding of your customers and know what makes them tick.

Part Two: Strategizing Against Your Competitors

In addition to researching your customers, you’ll also want to take a deeper look at your competition. You may have already gathered a list of competitors your customer mentioned in your former research, but don’t be afraid to include other competitors you know in the industry.

What do their brands look like? Do you want your brand identity to stand out from the crowd? Or would you rather blend in but do so with perfect execution? What do their brands do well and poorly?

Answering these questions as you engage with a brand designer will help you have a clearer vision of what you want. And, it will help guide conversations about your fonts, brand color palette, and brand voice down the line.

enwild logo on blue background
A logo we developed for outdoor gear retailer, Enwild.

Part Three: The Logo

Getting a new logo is exciting. It’s one of the most visual pieces of your brand and is an element you’ll likely interact with on a daily basis. Plus, it’s the face of your brand when it comes to customer interaction. Here are a few tips to make sure you get the most out of your new logo.

Put Your Customer First

It can be hard to distance yourself from your company’s brand, but remember that you are not your customer. When creating a brand identity, try to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about their demographic, the other brands they likely shop from, and how your brand can best appeal to them. Just because you don’t like brutalist design or the color orange doesn’t mean it isn’t a great option that your customers will love.

Provide Great Feedback

One of the areas where many companies struggle is in providing their logo designer with concrete, specific feedback. Keep these things in mind to make your revision rounds go as smoothly as possible:

  1. You won’t like every design option you receive, and that’s okay. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind truthfully. Your designer has heard it all before and would rather take the criticism and help you develop a logo you love.
  2. Incomplete or partial feedback wastes your valuable time and money. Provide complete feedback from all relevant stakeholders, and resolve any internal disagreements before the feedback is sent.
  3. Be specific and resolute. Take time to absorb the logo options you’ve been given before providing feedback. Try to pinpoint the elements you like and those you don’t to give your designer clear action items moving forward.

Ask for the Right Assets

The best logos are flexible and have different options to utilize depending on the situation. For example, you may want a single-color logo for embossing or an icon version of your logo for tiny applications.

Here are some of the variations you may want to consider requesting from your logo designer:

  • Horizontal and vertical options
  • Icon only/text only
  • Black and white/one color/two color
  • With and without copyright or trademark symbols
  • Optimized for embroidery or vinyl cutting
  • Transparent/vector/pixel-based files

Your logo needs to be flexible but consistent. Getting the assets you need upfront will help your brand be a success for years to come, even if you don’t have an ongoing relationship with your brand designer.

Part Four: Supporting Brand Elements

In addition to your logo, your brand should be defined by supporting elements like colors, fonts, textures, and messaging. While your logo may be the most recognizable visual, your brand is nothing without a complete suite of elements. 

Imagine Mcdonald’s without their signature red and yellow, or Amazon’s logo in a script font. Logos need the support of a full brand strategy to do their best work.

color palette of green and purple
A colorful but intentional color palette our design team created for Robertson Insurance.

Brand Color Palette

Color palettes can be a divisive topic within a brand. You may be tempted to call out your favorite color, or maybe you want to stay with your existing colors because they have worked thus far.

Here are four things to consider when choosing or approving a branding color scheme:

  1. Your color palette should reflect your brand, not your personal tastes. Just as red and black would never be appropriate for a daycare, there are likely colors that don’t make sense in your industry or your niche within your industry.
  1. Different colors evoke different emotions. There’s a reason the cereal aisle is full of red and orange boxes and that most luxury companies focus on black and white: because brand color psychology works. Your designer will be able to help you pinpoint which colors are best for your industry, but consider the emotions you want your brand to evoke. Respect? Excitement? Trustworthiness?
  2. Take a look at your competitors’ color palettes. Do you want to blend in or stand out? There’s no wrong answer, but knowing what your brand will look like amongst your competitors matters. The best brand colors are intentional and strategic.
  3. Consider contrast for readability and accessibility. Just like brick-and-mortar businesses need to offer accessibility in the form of wheelchair ramps and elevators, online businesses should consider accessibility in terms of their design. While it’s a bit more complicated than just choosing the right colors, keeping accessibility in mind during discussions about your brand color palette can save you trouble later.
image1 Creating a Brand Identity for Your Business
A typography-focused logo for law firm Chieppor & Egner, LLC.

Fonts

Choosing a font for your brand is another discussion where everyone will have an opinion. What’s most important is to focus on your customer and your industry over your personal tastes. Check out our four top tips on how to choose fonts for your brand:

  1. Keep it simple. Your entire brand only needs one to three fonts. Choosing more than three fonts can make your brand look disconnected and hodge-podge.
  2. Prioritize legibility. Sure, a thin script font may be the perfect fit for your brand, but it loses its value if no one can read it. Consider various applications — from massive billboards to long-form documents — when choosing a font for your brand.
  3. Let your brand voice shine through. Your fonts should give customers a subconscious first impression of your company’s personality and values.

Messaging, Voice, and Tone

When it comes to brand messaging, what you say matters – but how you say it is just as important. No matter who is writing on behalf of your brand, the tone and voice must be the same. This presents a cohesive and professional front for your business that will earn customers’ trust and loyalty.

The voice and tone you choose should be consistent with the brand identity you’ve created. It might be exciting and fun-loving or determined and resolute. Whatever it is, it must be steady and present in all elements of your brand.

You’ll then need to convey your business’s new tone and voice to all employees who speak or write on behalf of the brand. Consider creating a brand standards guide that answers questions like:

  • How do I greet customers or clients?
  • What should I say when I answer the phone?
  • What person and tense do I write in?
  • How do we address (or not address) difficult subjects like religious holidays, social movements, and political events?
  • What is the elevator pitch for our business?
  • Are there any terms or industry jargon we want to avoid?
  • How do we react to crises in writing (both externally and internally)?

Part Five: Rolling Out Your Brand

Once you’re given your final logo and other brand assets, you may think the hard work of creating a brand identity is over. But the truth is, the way you present and roll out your brand to the rest of the world is just as crucial to its success.

Announcing Your New Brand Internally

Getting employee buy-in of your new brand is key. Whether you opt to include employees throughout the branding process or only notify them when the brand is complete, it’s important that you present your new brand in the right way. 

circular logo for NNBC
One of the logos our team developed for the National Novelty Brush Company.

Consider a presentation, offer free swag like t-shirts or water bottles, and include plenty of time for questions and answers. The way your brand is perceived internally will set the stage for how your employees convey your company to customers and business partners, so it’s imperative that they have a positive view of the new brand.

Announcing Your Brand Publicly

Perhaps even more important than presenting your brand to your internal team is announcing it to the world. If you’ve seen one of the many new branding flops over the years, you’ll know just how much first impressions can matter when creating a brand identity.

Depending on your industry and the size of your business, you may want to consider some of the following:

  • An event to celebrate the new brand reveal
  • A formal press release to share through PR outlets and on your website
  • A PPC campaign to clarify the change for users if your rebrand involved a name change
  • An email campaign to announce the change to your current customers or clients
  • A short statement to share on social media and your website
  • A letter and swag bag to send to key investors and stakeholders

Creating Consistent Ongoing Brand Collateral

Finally, you’ll need to set your new brand up for success so it can be used appropriately by your team for years to come. If you worked with an experienced agency, your new brand should come with brand standards and a brand style guide to share with the rest of your team.

booklet flipped open to show various Enwilid logos
A brand guide our team developed for Enwild.

These documents will show appropriate and inappropriate uses of the logo, as well as detail the fonts, brand color palette (in RGB, CMYK, HEX, and Pantone), and resources that are allowed within the brand. They will help your team stay true to the brand as the designer intended it and will give you a resource to turn to when in doubt. Everyone in the company, from the CEO to an intern, should feel comfortable using the brand and be able to identify inappropriate use.

If your agency didn’t include one, you may also want to create and circulate a tone and messaging document that explains any changes to the brand voice. This can be especially useful if you had no formal brand in place prior to your rebrand. 

Part Six: The Future of Your Brand

You’ve done it. You’ve created a brand identity that shows the world who you are and where you shine. So what next?

While you likely did some outreach during your initial brand launch, ongoing Internet marketing can help you continue to grow your brand awareness and bring traffic to your website. You may want to consider search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, or content marketing to engage new audiences and grow your business.

Above all else, stick to your brand standards, encourage your team to evolve your brand over time, and enjoy the process.

Considering rebranding your business? Creating a brand identity can be a rewarding and engaging experience with the help of a trusted brand designer.

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