Branding - Old City Web Services

4 Branding Tips

May 18, 2018 by anoadmin

Branding is an imperative element of every marketing strategy. Without a well-developed brand your web presence, customer service, and products are at risk of being overshadowed by other businesses in your market. If it isn't time for your company to rebrand, stay competitive and further develop your brand with these four tips.

Identify your ideal customer

Ideal customers play a primitive role in branding. Knowing your target market can directly impact the success of your brand – after all, most marketing strategies are based on appealing to a company's dedicated customers. Once you identify your ideal customers, you can easily develop a social media presence and voice based on your findings.

Find your brand's voice

Businesses that take the road less traveled when building their brand's voice are more successful. Brands, especially those of small businesses, need to stand out from competitors by creating a distinguished voice that is unique to their market. Instead of mimicking the voice of big brands, establish what is competitive about your service. Base your voice on the feedback you've received from customers, family, and other businesses. This will help you create a strong and unique voice that accurately depicts your brand.

The hashtag #LoveFL is an integral part of VisitFlorida's brand. It's utilized throughout their site and social media platforms and gives users a sense of familiarity.

Once you have a solid idea of your branding voice, enforce it across every outlet. This includes social media accounts, print media, web design, and customer service. This way, your brand’s voice stays consistent whether it’s reaching clients through the web, on Facebook or in your storefront. A consistent voice will give your brand familiarity; some companies go as far as creating a specific list of words, phrases, and mannerisms which the employee base is encouraged to use.

Align visual pieces with your brand's voice

Logos, print media, packaging, web design, and storefront décor are the visual voice of your brand. Similarly to your brand's voice, visual pieces should be attractive, accurate, and most importantly, consistent with your brand. For example, I would never expect a store with organic-based products and earth tone packaging to have a logo with primary colors; this is a fitting example of why do it yourself logos don't work. Marketing collateral, web design, and logos are representative of your brand; they need to reflect your product and appeal to your customers.

Stay consistent on social media

To successfully establish your brand on social media, post routinely in your brand's voice. If you post every day for months, then suddenly stop: your followers will think your company isn't making new achievements; they might forget about your service or product; this can deter them to a business with a better social media upkeep. In the photo below, you'll notice that Best Western Hotels & Resorts posts on each social platform consistently, and use the same color scheme throughout each platform as well as the same language.

Note: Social media is an important platform for your brand because everyone from Baby Boomers to Generation Z actively uses it. In fact, a Google study found that Baby Boomers spend more time online than watching tv. Additionally, they found that 82% of boomers use at least one social media account; the leading networks for boomers are Facebook and LinkedIn. Source

Call us for more tips on social media, or check out these blogs: Social Media Tools, Social Media Holiday Campaigns, Local Businesses Getting it Right on Social Media.

Concentrate on the social media profiles that are benefiting your business the greatest! In many cases, businesses think that they’ll get left behind unless they’re on every platform. This is a waste of time and simply isn’t true. Instead, you should create profiles for every outlet but only zero in on one or two. In the long run, focusing on your most successful platforms will provide insight into what that following wants from your business and help you deliver more relevant material. Plus, I bet your ideal customers aren’t on every platform!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – manage their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Are logos really a big deal?

September 6, 2016 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Logos say as much about your business as the name, staff, services, and customer experience. A logo is the first impression customers get before stepping foot in your office or online shop. First impressions are important, especially when it comes to getting new customers. So, is it worth it to budget for a new logo or an upgrade? We at Old City Web Services are here to offer some insight about why a high quality logo is essential to building your business.

Good logos build consumer trust

It is the first impression a potential customer will have of your company and it becomes the visual representation in the customer’s mind. A poorly designed logo can make a company look like the “discount or low cost” option among their competitors.

A quality logo can stand on its own; customers will start to recognize your business based on the logo alone.

Why invest in logo design? Do it once, do it well

Logo design prices that are too good to be true are often a breeding ground for plagiarized work. It can be done so cheaply and quickly because it is stolen work. This costs the client in the end the embarrassment of a legal action against them, the expense of replacing all print, signage, etc. and the cost of having it done again the right way.

Consistency is key

It seems like a no brainer, but a company’s logo should be the same on signage, print, and the web. Every business should have a vector base EPS logo with specific Pantone colors. This allows proper color matching between various vendors who will reproduce their logo.

Taking the next step

Below are some of the logos the design department at Old City Web Services has created. If you are in need of an upgraded logo or a complete logo redesign, Old City Web Services has a design team ready to help make your brand stand out from the competition.

Silver-Feather

Establish the look and feel of your company with an eye-catching logo design.

May 12, 2011 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Your business brand begins with a professionally designed logo. Whether you’re starting a new business or have an established company, it’s never too late to give your company a professional face.

For a limited time, Old City Web Services is offering 10% off the cost of logo development. Sign a contract for logo design between May 12th and May 31st and we will give you 10% ($100) off of the total cost of your logo development.

Back in February we went over the basics of what makes up a logo, but now it’s time to dig a little deeper and find out what separates a great logo from all the rest. To do that, we need to answer each of the following questions:

1. How does the name of your company fit with your logo?

Your company name is a major part of your logo—so how does it look? It is really long or really short? Does it accurately describe your business? You want customers to have an idea of what your business is just by reading your company name. At the same time, you don’t want the company name to be so long that it’s distracting. Striking a balance between the two is key.

2. Is your logo similar to that of your competition?

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Old City Web Services designed this logo for the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce.

The idea of a great logo is to stand out against your competition—so do your research and know what colors, icons and other elements are already being used by other businesses in your industry to make sure your logo will be unique and completely original.

3. Who is your company’s target market?

From business professionals and soccer moms to young students and retired seniors, you need to know who your logo should be designed for. Different colors and icons will resonate with different groups, so you want to be sure that your logo is appealing to the right audience for your business.

4. Is the name of your business readable within your company logo?

It’s tempting to get really creative with fonts and shapes for your company name, but above all else you want to be sure that no matter how big or small your logo appears that it’s easy to read your company name.

5. What colors do you want people to associate with your business?

Certain colors evoke specific feelings with people, for example warm tones like browns and deep reds convey a sense of comfort while orange and yellow tones are more about energy and liveliness. So while you may be inclined toward your favorite color, you should also think about how those colors set the tone for your business.

6. How simple is your logo?

At the end of the day, the best advice you can ever get in terms of logo design is to keep it as simple as possible. Simple logos are easy to remember, easy to reproduce (even in embroidery and different print styles) and easy to understand whether they are in full color or black and white.

Turn over a new leaf for your business with a professionally designed logo.

Old City Web Services has been creating custom logos to fit the needs of businesses both small and large for almost a decade. Take a look at our online logo portfolio to see samples of work we’ve done for companies such as Village Academy, Devil’s Elbow and Arizona Custom Knives.

When you’re ready to get started with a new logo for your company, give us a call. The process begins with a 50% deposit and signed contract. We provide every client with four logo ideas to choose from, all created by our experienced professional artists on staff.

Call today 904-867-4112 or send an email to letusmarketyou@oldcity.com.

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