Month: October 2017

time to change your logo

Even Good Logos “Go Bad”

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time to change your logo

A rose by any other name, right? Not if that name doesn’t come with a great logo. This visual representation of your company showcases your unique identity to potential customers and fans. It also strengthens customer commitment and can even impact company performance.

A recent analysis of 13 major brands, from their inception to 2016, offers marketers some interesting insights into how logo changes tie into company earnings. On one side of the spectrum we have Levi’s, who haven’t changed their logo since 1936. On the other we have Amazon, who likes to change it up about every three years. While there’s no scientific correlation between changing logos and revenue, there’s value in building and nurturing an iconic brand.

Is it time to change your logo? Consider change when:

  • You’re out of step with design trends. Even novices can spot stale design.
  • Your logo is too complex, which doesn’t translate well for web and mobile.
  • Your company is evolving. You may be merging, expanding product offerings, shifting direction – or even distancing from past associations with your brand.
  • You’re going global and need a logo that’s more visual than language-based.

When you decide to change, keep it simple.

  • Wordless logos require shorter recall time for customers with short attention spans. Consumers also find them more personal and less corporate. They’re also easier to read on digital platforms.
  • Consider your customer’s attachment to your current logo. Is it strong enough that a redesign could actually hurt sales?
  • Get a second opinion, and a third. Ask focus groups before you launch a redesign to avoid being mocked or criticized on social media – or alienating loyal customers.
  • Be individual. If your new logo resembles any other known design, you may be facing charges of plagiarism.

Ready to refresh your brand? Signal’s writers and designers are here to help you present your company’s best face to the world.   

MedSpa at Cambridge Village Rebranding

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BACKGROUND

MedSpa at Cambridge Village offers state-of-the-art, non-surgical cosmetic enhancements and spa services to help people look and feel their very best. The Raleigh-based company engaged Signal for a full rebranding effort. Our team’s goal was to consolidate messaging and make the MedSpa brand more modern and engaging. The rebrand was designed to appeal to audiences of diverse ages and genders.

SIGNAL SOLUTION

Logo

Our team started with a new logo to set the tone for the rebranded MedSpa. The logo is fresh and open, drawing on circular design and modern typography.

Website

Signal created a dedicated website, www.medspacambridge.com, as part of the rebranding effort. The website – featuring large imagery, a blue color palette and a collage layout – offers visitors an immediate feeling of calm and renewal.

Messaging

We showcased MedSpa’s “Optimal Living” philosophy – a holistic approach that maximizes wellbeing. Messaging also focused on the spa’s advanced anti-aging and skin care technology, as well as the skill of the licensed professional staff.

Open house event

We designed signage, posters, flyers and digital ads for an open house event designed to introduce MedSpa’s innovative services to new customers.

get the skinny on dense content

The skinny on dense content

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dense_content

In a world where attention spans have fallen to mere seconds, every word counts – and high-quality writing makes the difference. Enter “dense” content, which offers readers “a lot of good, perceived value in a little bit of time.” Professionally written, dense content helps you tell the best story. It also serves up SEO, usability and lead generation benefits. Here’s what you need to know.

The basics

Forbes magazine notes that “a new trend may ignore length entirely, focusing on providing as much information as possible in the smallest possible space – dense content – to appeal to readers.” (Some may say that the emoji is the perfect dense content. But don’t scrap the English language just yet!)

Dense content combines the best of both snackable and long-form content. Think of it as “snackable done right.”

  • Snackable works well because people generally don’t have time for long reads
  • Long-form offers a valuable in-depth, authoritative exploration of a topic

The benefits

Snackable but low-quality fluff doesn’t provide value. People don’t read it – and they certainly don’t share or link to it. High-quality dense content, on the other hand, gets much higher engagement from your audience. When you pepper it with the right keywords, it also helps your websites rank higher. Bonus: Easy-to-read dense content also increases your site’s usability / accessibility.

Long-form content has strong educational and thought leadership value. Consider using dense content as a feeder, driving potential leads to fill out a form for a longer content offer, such as an e-book or white paper. When your feeder is high-quality, you earn respect with readers and pique their interest in more content.

How to write dense content

DOs DON’Ts
  • Edit well. Good revisions can help you trim the fat.
  • Make it chunky. Use bullet points, short paragraphs and graphics.
  • Mind your quality. Writing is an art, so use your best writers – or hire professionals.
  • Think mobile. Many of your readers will be accessing your content on a small screen.
  • Be verbose. Rambling on and on loses your audience.
  • Complex words. Keep it smart and simple, not stuffy or full of buzzwords. Test yourself with the Hemingway App.
  • Big chunks of text. There’s an acronym for this – TLDR, which means “too long, didn’t read.”
  • Confuse readers. Define and use key messages / message platforms to keep communicators on the same page.

Quality is more important than quantity – especially when it comes to content marketing. Let the Signal team’s professional writers deliver the dense content you need.

Switch from cross-posting to cross-promoting

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Cross-promoting

Staying above the endless stream of social media noise is hard work. To keep your audiences engaged, you need to share interesting content constantly. What’s a busy social media manager to do? Check out our recommendations below!

Cross-posting: saving time but sacrificing effectiveness

When you have an item to share on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and other accounts, it’s tempting to cross-post the exact same content on all of them and be done with it. However, you run the risk of repelling audiences with repetition – or content that doesn’t fit. Automating your social updates with cross-posting is not the answer.

Each social channel has its own rules, practices, audiences and quirks – so trying to make one piece of content fit every format isn’t effective.

Consider Instagram’s love for clever hashtags and banishment of hyperlinks as part of posts. Those hashtags won’t play as well on Facebook, where the hyperlink gets great traction. Cross-posting may provide an appealing level of efficiency, but it also comes with a disenchanting level of effectiveness and lost engagement.

Cross-promoting: adapting content to increase engagement

Cross-promotion involves tailoring content to each social media network. The process is more time-consuming but the ROI is worth it. If you have your core messages defined, cross-promoting can be pretty easy.

Where cross-posting may seem lazy or robotic to folks who follow you on multiple platforms, cross-promotion suggests that your brand is human and relatable. Adapting your content for each platform allows you to speak the language of that platform, hold your followers’ attention and get the most possible engagement.

Best practices in cross-promotion

First, make sure your posts maintain the human element. Provide points of interaction in your posts – ask questions, request opinions, engage followers and be sure to respond to them personally.

Consider these best practices to max out your engagement:

  • Use a strong headline and message. Take the time to find just the right words and make sure that headline is a great hook! Consider doing some A/B testing to determine what kinds of messaging work best for your audience.
  • Share to the most relevant networks. Not all content is suited for all networks.
  • Optimize your content. Follow the network’s unspoken rules and expectations for sharing to get the best performance out of your content.
  • Stagger your posts. Post at the optimal times for each network. (See our cheat sheet!)
  • Include a clear call-to-action. Your messages should ultimately be tied to a larger purpose beyond being seen or liked.

As with any social media strategy, the proof is in the ROI. Let us help you build a stellar social media presence today.