How do you define a testimonial? Put simply, a testimonial conveys an individual’s thoughts or feelings toward a product or service.

In marketing, praise from a happy customer is one of the most important tools a company can use to show potential customers the value of its products and services. Not only that, they help your business build trust with customers, which ultimately leads to increased sales. And it goes without saying, a satisfied customer is your brands best advocate.

Testimonials are powerful marketing tools

Leveraging testimonials is a powerful tool you can use in your marketing efforts and there are many ways you can implement them in your strategy. Let’s spend a few minutes highlighting three ways to take advantage of them.

1. Display testimonials on your website.

Think about your favorite websites? Now go visit a couple of them. Chances are you’ll find a customer comment or two prominently displayed on the homepage of the site (or sprinkled throughout the site.) Your website is your front door for customers to learn about and purchase your product or service. So it makes sense you use this valuable real estate to tout what your loyal customers are saying.

2. Use testimonials in your social media efforts.

Do you ever find yourself at a loss for fresh social content? Testimonials are a great way to engage customers. They are usually short in content making them perfect for sharing across your social channels. If you want to take it a step further, try video testimonials. Start by asking your customers to submit a short video reviewing your product or service and their user experience. Conclusion? A customer providing insight into how your company positively impacted them can be very powerful.

3. Incorporate them in your email marketing.

Email marketing is yet another way you can incorporate customer praise. First, tie it into your email content. For example, if you’re promoting your top-selling coat for the winter season ahead, include two or three customer testimonials all raving about varying benefits (value, warmth, style, etc.). Second, email is a great way to collect customer testimonials. So, try to include a link to a feedback form and ask customers to submit a testimonial for potential use in upcoming marketing initiatives.

Overall, I think you’ll agree it’s easy to see why testimonials are a popular strategy in advertising your business products or services. If you haven’t considered implementing them into your marketing initiatives, what are you waiting for?

Sustainability is top of mind with consumers. They have more choice than ever on where to spend their money. So more than ever, companies are focusing on sharing their sustainability efforts with their customers. Does sustainability affect consumer buying? The data says yes.

ESG (Environmental, social and Governance) are the criteria used by companies to build value. They organize business objectives around sustainability-focused risks and opportunities. Initiatives can include customers, supply chain, and even employees of a company. So get started! Basically, start by tracking your company’s impact on the environment. Then, measure your sustainability. Finally, share the results. This process can influence consumer interest in your company, your products, and your services.

Sustainability: What is ESG?

The environmental, social, and corporate governance framework highlights three areas where companies can track their sustainability. This can illustrate their impact on the environment.

• Environmental: Does your company strive to preserve the natural world? Chiefly, talk to your consumers about how you are addressing climate change, pollution, water management or greenhouse gas emissions. This information could take the form of a Sustainability Report at the end of the year. We do this for our client Acme Brick every year. You might apply content marketing on your website. Or use social media posts to highlight specific places where your company has excelled.
• Social: Does your company focus on including and supporting a diverse community? Referred to as DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), this set of actions enhances employee engagement and retention. Firstly, this could look like employee spotlight blog posts. Or you can engage the public with PR. Additionally, you might establish and promote programs to broaden your talent pool. Or you could support employees by offering training programs, like our client Diamond Brand Gear does.
• Governance: This aspect of ESG covers topics like cybersecurity practices, corruption prevention and management structure. Indeed, talking about your company’s efforts in these areas reassures clients that your company is solid. It can highlight innovation. Generally, you can share posts on LinkedIn touting an advance your company has made in one of these areas, as an example.

Consumers Want to Buy From Companies That Support Sustainability

As 83% of consumers demand more ESG best practices from companies, 91% of business leaders now believe that their company has a responsibility to act on ESG issues. Conclusion? Obviously, consumers want to follow, buy from, and visit these companies more readily than ever before. And it’s not just consumers that want brands to take on these initiatives. 86% of employees say they’d prefer to work for companies that care about these issues. Sustainability has become one of the top issues that people care about.

Sustainability as a business goal is not a trend. Certainly, it is key to creating meaningful relationships with your customers and your employees. First, make sustainability your company’s business goal. Next, set up programs that support sustainability. Then, track and talk about your success. Therefore, this process is a fountain of content that you can share with your customers. Grow meaningful relationships with them centered on sustainability. And in turn, grow your sales based on your customers’ desire to make financial decisions tied to the social good your company is doing.

Is your brand looking dated or tired? Is it still representing your business the way it needs to? One of our new clients came to us for a social strategy and execution. That is what they thought they needed. But, upon initial discovery, we altogether realized that would be shooting money into the wind. What they needed was really a brand refresh.

How Do You Know When You Need a Brand Refresh?

Examine your brand! This is what we did as a team with this new client. First, we did a deep dive discovery process that included several steps:

• A brand audit laid out all the brand’s existing materials like their website, collateral and social, to see if their branding is still relevant and representative of their current business.
• Internal and external stakeholder interviews uncovered brand insights and allowed everyone to see the business through other’s eyes
• A competitive analysis was conducted of the industry that the brand operates in, and who their competitors are.

The Conclusion? The Brand Needed a Refresh.

There are specific and necessary steps to take in a brand refresh to be thorough. We like to follow this tried-and-true plan when we undertake a company’s very important branding!

1. Project timeline – Stick to it and hold each other accountable. This will keep moving things forward with all eyes on the prize.
2. Brand pillars – Define your vision plus three other very important things. Want to know what those things are? We are happy to share them with you! And our process as well. Just call us!
3. Solicit feedback beyond the leadership team – The more internal buy-in throughout the entire process the more successful an initiative and brand your company will become. Your greatest ambassadors are your employees, so make them part of your branding process.
4. Testing of concepts – Your refreshed brand should connect with both internal and external audiences. So testing the concepts is important to find the clear choice.
5. Roll out plan – A disciplined execution of the branding roll-out plan will make your new brand refresh a success. Whether it’s a new logo, tagline, website, collateral or PR, timing is everything and having a plan is key to making the big splash you want to make.

We look forward to sharing the results of three brand refreshes we are currently working on. Coming to you this fall, y’all.

Marketing items to high schoolers is very different than other age groups. High school means freedom. This includes the ability to get a job, drive, and buy things without asking parents.

Social Media

As the first generation born into technology, Gen Z has grown up with the internet. For high school students in particular, social media surrounds our daily lives, making it easy to access new products and reviews faster. When targeting a high school audience, the first thing you will want to do is create a social media presence, especially on Instagram and Tik Tok.

Marketing to High Schoolers with Trends

For products such as clothing or make up, it is important to follow trends. Stay up to date on the latest styles and aesthetics. In typical high school manner, everyone wants to fit in, this means providing products similar to the current high school style. In regard to social media, creating content that follows popular trends will increase the chances of your product being seen. For Tik Tok, use popular sounds with a unique idea, making the Tik Tok more likely to get on the for you page.

Accessibility and Inclusivity

High schoolers are cheap! Most income comes from a minimum wage job or allowance from parents. The price of a product can immediately deter consumers, especially if is not a well-known name brand. Make sure the price is reasonable for the product. It is also important to make products inclusive to all ethnicities, body types, and genders. Exclusion can create bad reviews and overall dislike for a company.

Visuals

Once the consumer has clicked on the website, visual organization is a key part of reliability and user attention span. As someone who frequently purchases products from Instagram or Tik Tok, the first thing I notice is the website’s aesthetic. If a website looks low quality, chances are the product is also low quality. By using attention grabbing visuals and colors, while also maintaining the clean look, users will trust the product more.  Secondly, in a world of 15 second Tik Toks, the average attention span is much shorter. When websites are difficult to navigate, most users will simply give up. By making products easy to find through a search bar or navigation tabs, people are more likely to stay on the site.

When Marketing to High Schoolers, Think Like One

Overall, when marketing to a younger audience, it is important to think like a high schooler. What you may like or dislike, could be completely different because high school is its own world. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see a product that would be amazing if one little thing was changed, such as a childish image or an older print. Step outside of your world and think like you are 17 again!

Blogging for Business Benefits in 2022

Is your business blogging? Blogging for business benefits is a cost-effective way to establish your thought leadership and more. One of our new clients asked us last week why they should be blogging. Working towards being the expert in your industry means sharing your expertise.  Blogging is a simple, clear, cost-effective way to do this. When done properly and consistently, blogging brings benefits to your business. And this translates into more visibility, more customers and customer loyalty.

What are the Benefits of Business Blogging?

Business blogging contributes to your marketing strategy. This particular practice of marketing is called Content Marketing. When you consistently write about topics that are important to your audience, you’ll enjoy these three business benefits:

1. Creating new branded content to share. Are you always trying to come up with something to share on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that supports your branding? Write a blog! This blog post can then become branded content. Share on your social channels, like our client The Slay Diaz Group does.
2. When you offer a behind-the-scenes look into your product, your process, or your industry, you are building loyalty with your customers. Share insider information — like our client Diamond Brand Gear does — and it will help you build a relationship with your existing customers and attract new ones.
3. You can also instruct people on how to do something specific. Help them achieve a goal or get an answer to a question, like our client Spot On Talent does. Here, you are establishing your authority and building organic SEO (search engine optimization) with Google. Putting keywords that speak to a topic in your headers and copy about that subject in your blog post makes you more likely to be the one that Google sends people to on search results when they ask Google a question.

Sharing Your Business Knowledge Makes You a Leader

If you’re a long-time reader of the Front Porch marketing newsletter and blog, you’ll see that we put these content marketing strategies into practice not only for our clients, but for ourselves. We want everyone to succeed, and we want you to be able to benefit from our business experience. So we share it openly. We want you to be able to optimize your LinkedIn profile, practice successful PR, and know what’s important in marketing if you’re a start-up business.

If you’re ready to level up your marketing and demonstrate to your industry that you’re a leader by adding Content Marketing to your mix, let us know. We can guide you through the process and help you set up an easily-executable calendar, schedule and topics. We can even ghost write your blog posts for you, share your content to your social channels, and optimize your content for better SEO.

Going Digital is the Future

If there’s anything we learned from the pandemic it’s that going digital is the ultimate way to survive as a business. No one expected an event like this to disrupt the world as fast as it did, but we adapted. Lots of corporations switched to being remote or hybrid; and Zoom became a household name. With the world going digital many of us started to realize the importance of marketing ourselves online and there’s no better place than LinkedIn. Membership has climbed to reach over 780 million since the pandemic hit. So there’s no better time than now to upgrade your LinkedIn!

Personal branding is a topic we’re all familiar with. We all know it’s important, but many of us don’t give it the attention it really deserves. Most of the time were just too busy to give it any real time or thought. We think “I know there’s more I could be doing to improve my LinkedIn.” However, in this day and age its crucial to have your personal brand looking clean and professional. Here are a couple of tips and tricks to improve your LinkedIn profile.

Upgrade Your Profile Picture

Your picture is the first thing people see when they click on your LinkedIn profile. It’s important that you get this right. First make sure the picture is a recent photo of you, then make sure your face takes up about 60% of the frame. No long distance shots, and smile with your eyes!

Choose a Background Photo

Choose a background photo that represents either what you do, or your interest in visually interesting way. If you don’t have your own photos to work with, I recommend using a free hd stock image site called Unsplash. Also try to stick with a photo that fits within 1584 (w) x 396 (h) pixels for the best quality.

Get Creative With Your Headline

Your Headline doesnt just have to be what your business is. Try to add a little bit of flair or creativity to it. For example take a look at EA Talent Recruiter Jason Yuan’s LinkedIn headline, “I don’t usually stalk profiles, but when I do I usually have a career opportunity for you. Want to connect!?”. See how he managed to hook your attention and explain what he does? This is what you should be shooting for.

Expand your Network

Linkedin has amazing networking opportunities and has made it very easy to expand your network. One helpful tip is to link your profile with your email address book. LinkedIn will then suggest people you should connect with. Once you start connecting with people you may even notice that you have connections working at companies that you are currently applying for. I strongly suggest if you are in college that you connect with those who go to your school in your major. You never know when that connection may come in handy.

Take Skill Assessments

These are free tests that LinkedIn has created to help you stand out amongst the crowd. According to Linkedin candidates who have certified skills are 30% more likely to get hired. I recommend to getting certified in the Microsoft Excel assessment. It’s a universal skillset that will always help you standout. Obviously the more certified skills you have the better.

Publish Your Own Content

The best way to get noticed on LinkedIn is to publish engaging, long content. You should start pumping these out to start conversations. Make sure it’s interesting. A good tip is to look at the trending articles on LinkedIn News on the right hand side of your account. Look at the trending topics on the platform and share your thoughts or experiences on the topic. If you can don’t be afraid to sprinkle in a little emojis. It may sound stupid but it actually increases reader engagement. Just don’t over do it. Also try to steer away from politics on LinkedIn. This is a platform for professional networking, it’s not Facebook or Twitter.

A Brighter Future Awaits

Upgrading your LinkedIn doesn’t have to be done all in one day. Try to take it in small chunks. These steps may seem trivial at first, but I promise if you knock these out when you have your lunch break, or when find yourself with extra fee time you won’t regret it. Allow LinkedIn to work for you by taking the first step!

When was the last time you took inventory of your company website?

Are you scratching your head trying to remember when you last took inventory of your company website? Chances are, this might very well be the case. We sometimes overlook the critical role our website plays in our marketing efforts. For marketing to be effective, every touch point needs to be in alignment – including our website. While you’re spring cleaning your brand, don’t forget your website!

Now that you’re thinking about your site, let’s spend a few minutes talking about some of the questions you’ll want to ask yourself to determine if your website passes the test or if it could use a refresh or maybe even a complete redesign. 

Company Website Inventory Questions:

• Does your website reflect your brand? What words have you heard your customer’s use to describe your website? Are they in alignment with how you want them to perceive your brand?
• How does your site stack up to current design trends? Is your design aesthetic simple and minimalistic?
• Is your content current? If not, why? Are you just not taking the time to update your content regularly? Or does your website platform make you rely on someone else to make changes?
• What website platform are you using? Is it using the latest technology and plugins? If not, your visitors may very well not have the best user experience on your site.
• Is your site getting a lot of bot traffic? If so, it may be time to improve your website security.

Steps to Take in an Inventory Process

These are just a handful of the questions you might ask yourself. Others can range from SEO to responsive design to supporting a content marketing strategy. Whatever the reason, if you answered a resounding “Yes” to one or more of these questions, it might be time to dig in your heels and get started. Which leads to the question, what steps are involved to launch a refreshed or new website?

• Audit your current site. Ask yourself. What is working? What isn’t?
• Research your competitors for best-in-class sites
• Develop your creative brief (define your target audience, brand guidelines, what are we communicating, goals, priorities, etc.)
• Establish a timeline
• Wireframe development
• Content development
• Design your site
• Develop and test your site
• Launch your new site

Why Your Site Needs to be Just Right

It may seem overwhelming at first, but when you breakdown the “Why” behind redesigning your site and the steps to implementation, you’ll realize that a new and improved site is right at your fingertips!

Are you assessing your brand right how? Recently I was invited to sit in on a brainstorming meeting about marketing and growth. Here I was able to pick up some powerful marketing tools needed for growth. These tools may be applied both for personal and business growth.

Assessing Your Brand: Assets

In growth, we learn powerful information. So look at and determine your growth, and the path you took to get there. Assess the road your brand has taken – whether it’s a personal or business brand. Revisit where you have been and decide where you’re headed. Assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses by asking yourself these questions.

• Present your strengths and weakness so that you stand out, sell your brand.
• What is new with you? Determine what you have learned and how it matters.
• Why does your business exist?
• Who are previous clients and why did they hire you?
• Evaluate your goals: where do you see yourself long/short term?

Target Audience Evaluation

Your target audience are the people you want to work with, your customers and potential customers. The internet provides resources to reach your target via platforms such as blogs, newsletters, social media, and alumni groups. Use these resources to be present for your customers, and assess your brand’s voice on these platforms.

• Who are you targeting? Who’s the decision maker that could benefit from your expertise?
• What are the hot topics? What’s trending in your brand’s space?
• Protip: Subscribe to platforms that your target audience subscribes to.
• Listen to your customers. Assess what they are talking about, and their relevance to your brand.
• Protip: Participate on sites that interest you, this is a great networking tool for finding like-minds.
• Become like your target, interact with their “friends” socially to really get to know them.

The Social Media Impact

Social media is more than a picture sharing platform, it is great for networking. Use social media platforms such as LinkedIn to learn about and follow clients to implement current trends.

• Use social media to introduce your brand to your potential customers, potential employers, and to your peers.
• Seek out and become a “friend” to past clients as well as their friends, and network with them, sharing your expertise.
• Your LinkedIn page should mirror the career for which you are aiming. Find websites dedicated to that career and subscribe to them. This will allow you to network and stay on top of any current or future possibilities. Brag about yourself on your profile, be proud and loud.

Plan and Grow Your Brand

Planning is the most important step one can do to get to the next level. So, plan, plan and keep planning. Brainstorm with colleagues and staff about ways to grow your personal brand and/or your business’ brand. Gather, analyze and leverage data, creating a message map of the recurring themes that you see. Really think about: what is your end game – a job, a career, an entrepreneurship? Evaluate and understand what you will need to get there by assessing your brand. Update your skills, explore what’s new and current. Investing in yourself is important to your brand’s growth.

Are you ready to spring clean your brand for 2022?

Spring is in the air! As much as we need to enjoy this time and “smell the roses” it’s time to go through your media channels and update them. Use the idea of spring cleaning on your brand and your company’s media assets to help you stay relevant with what’s going on in terms of design, copy, content, PR and media to be competitive in today’s marketplace. Maybe its time for a marketing audit?

Could your logo use updating?

Let’s first start with your logo. Is it still relevant? Does it convey what your company stands for and the products/services you provide? Maybe it doesn’t necessarily need to change, it just might need an update. Use these questions as more of a checklist, and think about your logo against the backdrop of your company’s competitors’ logos. Sometimes business have had the same logo for decades and it works, but sometimes it does not. What these companies often do is simplify their logo, and clean up the look of it to make it feel more modern.

Is your social media talking to the right people in the right way?

Try a spring cleaning social audit:

It’s time to get your hands dirty and do some data analysis – spring clean your social media. Take a look at the insights/analytics offered on each of your social media platforms to find out better times to post. See what content you have posted in the past that got the most likes and comments, and then do more of that. Long-term, you can record your followers and likes in an excel sheet or Google sheet, to track changes from month to month. Or you can subscribe to a scheduling app like Buffer or Hootsuite to post your social media. Those types of platforms have great analytics to track your engagement over time.

Then do a competitive analysis:

Hello Neighbor! Your social media be doing well and be on track, but it’s important that you see what your competitors are up to as well. Pablo Picasso once said “good artists copy, great artist steal.” Now don’t take this advice literally, but don’t be afraid to adopt similar strategies that other companies in your industry are doing. It’s a great place to start. Work smarter not harder. Start with something that works in your industry, make it your own, and then improve on it.

Brush the cobwebs off your website.

Your website is your company’s home. This is probably the most important place to focus your spring cleaning because this where you want your clients to go – again and again. Since this is your brand’s home, how good is your homepage? Make sure you have quality imagery, an engaging font, and text that flows well when read.

It’s important to consider not only how your website looks, but also how it works. Is it easy to navigate your website? Does your website answer the questions that people would ask about your product or service? You might also consider adding Google Analytics code to your website so that you can study your site visits. Where do visitors come from? What pages do they read? How long are they staying on your site? This information can help you continue to build a better and better website over time.

Conclusion:

It’s important to stay up to date with your brand’s image online and this spring is the perfect time to do it. Get your spring cleaning done sooner than later, and welcome your customers and fans into your remodeled “house” the rest of the year!

How to communicate corporate social responsibility for your brand

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business’ commitment to philanthropic endeavors and environmentally friendly practices. It is essential for businesses in 2022. Why? Sure, today’s successful businesses are “responsible” organizations committed to profits. But in today’s world they are also responsible for other higher callings. Their consumers now demand it.

Gen Z is all in with brands who demonstrate corporate social responsibility. First, younger generations thirst for buying these products. Next, they want to work for these companies. So CSR gives businesses an opportunity to engage with not only their consumers and their employees, but with the communities in which they live and work in a meaningful way.

Yes, deeper client and customer connections will follow.

CSR efforts benefit the economy, society and environment. They demonstrate how the organization uses its resources in broadly beneficial and ethical ways. Showing that your company or brand is a responsible partner, employer and neighbor will be key to business success going forward.

How does a brand communicate CSR activities?

Talk about your company’s corporate social responsibility with a CSR report. A CSR report highlights your organization’s achievements. It builds social responsibility into your brand’s identity. This report makes the organization accountable to its stakeholders. And it shows progress year over year. Then highlight how your company has saved energy or fuel, renewed land, or reduced their carbon footprint. Finally, showcase better employees work environments with safety initiatives. Also implement DE & I programs that promote equity in hiring and promoting employees.

Your CSR report’s content can then be repurposed all year long as social media assets. Highlight individual specific goals your company has met with this effort. Statistics and data can be turned into compelling visuals and narratives that speak to your customers, your client partners, your employees and your community. Communicate your social responsibility efforts in these ways:

• Email Marketing – create an eblast once a month or quarterly to key stakeholders
• Social Media – create content and consistently communicate, once a week or month
• Internal Communication – utilize existing intranet or internal emails to communicate CSR activities

What size business needs to show Corporate Social Responsibility?

A CSR report may be easier for larger businesses to execute. But, small to midsize businesses can do it too. These businesses are exercising the same values albeit in smaller, yet still remarkable ways. And that is worth talking about. CSR activities can separate your business from the competition in a truly meaningful way. So consider incorporating this important effort into your business.