Epic Marketing, Author at Epic Marketing

Logos and Color Schemes & Why They Matter

Posted on March 31, 2014 at 6:57 pm.

You own your business and it’s important to you to have it grow, flourish, and be successful. We don’t know of a single business owner who doesn’t feel this way. To help ensure that your business is profitable, you need to properly promote and sell your product. Now ask yourself this: what is the first thing consumers will see when they look at your company or product? The first thing that comes to our mind is your logo. A logo can help define a company and create a brand love and loyalty, which will resonate with your customer base for years on end.

There are many different design aspects that go into developing a great logo for your company. One of the biggest things to think about, one that is often overlooked, is the color scheme you want to use for your logo. Over years of marketing and designing logos, we’ve seen many companies who have chosen a logo color without putting much thought into what that color says to target audiences. There is a reason why there’s a color trend in different industries. For example, when you look at the eye products section at the supermarket, you’d be hard pressed to see any that are packaged in red. This is because when we think of our eyes, we think sensitive. When we see the color red, we think irritation, or powerful and strong, but when it comes to our eyes, we want soothing and calm. This is why most eye products are packaged in blues and greens.

There have been many interesting studies on the psychology of color. Different colors evoke different feelings in people. Considering your target consumer base when creating your business logo will help your company or product to resonate better with them. Let’s take a look at some colors and the feelings and concepts they inspire in us:

Red: Active, Power, Alarm, Strength, Hunger, Love, Passion

Yellow: Energy, Cheer, Optimism, Excitement, Youth, Caution, Friendliness

Orange: Health, Attraction, Happiness, Creativity, Innovation

Green: Natural, Soothing, Balance, Money, Growth, Healing, Fresh, New

Blue: Calm, Peace, Sincerity, Affection, Stability, Trust, Confidence

Purple: Wealth, Royalty, Dignity, Prestige, Wisdom, Sophistication

Pink: Tenderness, Caring, Love, Thoughtful, Sweet

Black: Authority, Classic, Mystery, Elegance, Bold, Formality

White: Clean, Pure, Innocent, Hope, Simplicity, Honesty

Gray: Traditional, Conservative, Reliable, Neutral

Brown: Outdoors, Longevity, Wholesome, Organic, Comfort

Knowing the expected reaction to different colors, and properly applying them to your business and its logo, will help to bring out the right emotions in consumers, silently urging them to want to do business with you. We found an amazing infographic that helps to further explain what we’re talking about. Designed by Kate Taylor, an Entrepreneur staff writer, we urge you to check it out: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232401

Knowing Your Target Audience & Being Realistic About Who They Are

Posted on March 11, 2014 at 7:01 pm.

Written by Epic Marketing

Knowing who your target audience is, isn’t always as cut and dry as one may think. Here at Epic we’ve noticed many of our clients had an idea of who they thought their target audience might be, but more times than not they were targeting the wrong audience. It’s probably better to say that some of our clients knew who they wanted to target, but their target audience wasn’t necessarily going to be the best audience to grow their business.

When it comes to marketing your business, it takes time and—yikes—money. If marketing was fast and free, there wouldn’t be professionals who know and specialize in marketing—like us! In order to fully understand who your target audience is, you need to address and identify where you want your business to go. What are the goals for your business? Do you want to bring in more new clients? Do you want to increase your annual revenue? Having solid answers for these questions will allow you to know which audience to target.

For example, if your business goal is to be the top healthy living weight loss clinic, your target audience will be different than if your goal is to double the amount of new patients you see each month. The target audience for weight loss responds differently to marketing than the target audience to drive new patients to your clinic. Clearly defining your business goals will determine the best audience for you to target.

Another approach in analyzing the best target audience is to look at your current client base. Determine who your best clients are, which ones pay the highest case fees, and which ones are the most consistent with their treatments. This audience may not be exactly who you had in mind when thinking about how to market your clinic, but this audience already has a proven track record with your clinic. This may be the best audience to target for your business to grow.

Once you’ve narrowed down the goals you want to accomplish through marketing, and have a good idea of who your target audience is going to be to make that happen, you’re off to a good start. That’s right, this is just the beginning of the marketing process, now comes the task of figuring out how to connect to your target audience. The ultimate goal is to reach them in such a way that they believe in what you’re offering, feel they need it and want to pay for it.

Target audiences are tricky because they identify with and react to different types of marketing and advertising. However, effective targeting of the audience that will help you to meet your business goals will help your business to grow. So in short, first identify where you want your business to be in a month, six months, a year. Second, identify the patients/clients that are most likely going to make this happen. Third, start figuring out what is the best way to reach them so that they’ll do business with you. And finally, keep in mind that if this all seems a little overwhelming to you, we’re here to help.

CRM Software – Do You Need It?

Posted on November 8, 2012 at 9:26 pm.

Written by Epic Marketing

Customer Relationship Management, also known as CRM, is a vital part of every business. No matter the industry, every business has a group of past and current clients, as well as an audience of future clients that need to be reached. Effective customer relationship management is a strategy that spreads across all departments of a business, including everything from sales and accounting to customer service. While some businesses have an effective internal method of keeping their customer relationships organized, other businesses often miss out on new customers and profits because of their lack of detail with customer relationship management.

How CRM Software Can Help

The main benefit of CRM software is that it helps businesses share customer information in a group environment and gives an overview of all customer interactions. Not only can CRM software help manage customers on an individual level, but it also allows company administration to see activity with all clients, including appointment scheduling, web leads, follow ups, sales, marketing, email blasts, accounting, etc.

If you’re finding it difficult to easily find customer information, track leads, produce management reports, or view customer touch points across the different departments of your business, CRM software could be a great organizational tool to consider in boosting your business.

Choosing CRM Software

What used to be available only for large businesses with million-dollar budgets is now accessible to small- to medium-sized businesses for a fraction of the cost. Which software your business decides to use depends on the goals you want to achieve by using it. Make sure that the software you choose is simple and easy to integrate—because after all, what’s the sense in having it if your employees won’t use it? As business becomes more mobile, you may also want to look for software that incorporates remote and mobile access. But no matter the specifications, CRM software can make a big difference in customer retention and satisfaction, overall improving your bottom line.

PR – The Public Perception of Your Business

Posted on September 21, 2012 at 9:39 pm.

Written by Epic Marketing

A news group recently estimated that the value of a 2-minute FREE segment on a local evening newscast is equal in effect to buying dozens of 30-second commercials. Public Relations is the driving force behind this exposure. It goes hand in hand with marketing, although there are significant differences. With PR, you’re trying to sell your practice to the media so they can in turn sell it to your target customers.

The following is an example from one of Epic Marketing’s clients:

A local plastic surgeon was seen in a magazine as a recipient of an award for excellence. A press release was developed and sent to the local media. A popular news station picked up the story and aired it on the evening news. The surgeon received dozens of calls and performed several surgeries. This same segment is now playing on his website and is still helping people make the choice to visit his office for cosmetic procedures.

Public Relations builds awareness of your business and its services, and will supplement any direct marketing and advertising efforts. This public coverage of your company will also make it appear larger and more established than it might actually be, which will advance efforts in driving new customers and even securing partnerships and funding.

As you know, most people now consult a search engine before making a decision on a purchase or even choosing a new doctor. When an article from a news source or a broadcast clip is found in this search, these provide inbound links to your website that increases your position towards the top of the search results. That coverage can also add tremendous credibility if you’re able to appear in a local news source!

So how do you create a unique story about your company that is worthy of PR?

1. Stand out from your competition. Embrace those things that make your company unique. Do you have four generations of family members working in the same business? Celebrate that. It’s worthy of attention. Do you offer a way of doing something that no one in your area does? Discover these differences. They could be newsworthy!

2. Testimonials. Ask for them! They boost your credibility and people will always prefer a personal recommendation from someone versus a sales advertisement.

3. Write a killer press release and send to local media outlets, (or have an ad agency with those contacts send the release—ahem, Epic Marketing). This release contains interesting information that highlights your business in a way that would spark the attention of a journalist. They’re always looking for a good story idea, especially from an “expert” in the field.

4. Hold a fundraising drive and offer something free at the event. Run a weird contest that gets attention. Attend a community event where you are a special guest. These are just a few ideas that you can do on your own, and relatively inexpensively, to improve the public’s perception of your business.

It’s important and worthwhile to diversify your marketing and PR strategies to grow your business in every wonderful way possible. If you’re clueless where to begin, let us help. We have public relations specialists at our firm that really dig this stuff.

One Website or Multiple?

Posted on July 13, 2012 at 9:48 pm.

Written by Epic Marketing

Is it better to have one large website or several targeted websites related to individual products or services you offer? Through our experience with clients across the nation in various industries, we have found that many businesses have multiple websites, but often are not maintained or optimized like they should be. As a general rule, it’s almost always more effective to have one authoritative website rather than multiple, small sites. Why? One website is far more productive for your budget and reaching optimal rankings while also creating brand consistency,

Additional websites are typically created as landing pages with keyword-relevant domain names. For example, a business may have a main domain for their brand name (companyname.com) but have other landing page sites for services they offer with a local keyword in the domain (city+serviceoffered.com). Keyword domain names used to be much more of a ranking factor than they are today. Even if your site has a keyword rich domain, your site won’t rank for those keywords unless it’s probably optimized and trusted by search engines. These landing page sites usually have thin content and a limited number of pages–two things search engines don’t like.

Having multiple sites is generally counterproductive for your SEO budget because instead of all of the effort going to helping your main site rank well, it’s divided amongst a variety of small sites that don’t have a lot of potential for ranking well in the first place.

Additionally, having multiple sites doesn’t help to improve your brand consistency, which is an important part of your overall marketing strategy. Multiple sites promote a disjointed brand image and can also detract from your brand credibility, especially if small sites lack design integrity and aren’t maintained.

In short, you will most likely get better results with one great website rather than multiple marginal sites, even if they do have keyword-relevant domains. In the long run, it will save you a lot of time, money, and effort while trying to help your business get the most visibility in search engines. If you have multiple websites but aren’t sure what steps to take next, contact us today to find out what our SEO team can do for you.

First Impressions Can Make or Break Your Advertising

Posted on June 8, 2012 at 9:53 pm.

Written by Epic Marketing

Studies show it takes as little as one-tenth of a second for us to formulate a first impression. However, many business owners don’t understand that the same thing applies when it comes to advertisements. Whether you like it or not, prospective patients and customers are judging your business in a split second based on the look and feel of your advertising. In a society that is flooded with advertisements, a successful ad has to stand out and make an immediate positive impression or it will be skipped over.

Think about the highest quality business you know of. What does their advertising look like? Now, think about the worst quality business you know. What does their advertising look like? Chances are there is a big difference in how you view the two company’s advertising in terms of credibility and professionalism. Some ads probably make you assume that the business is located in a back alley, while others make you picture the business in an impressive office building.

Your ad could have the absolute best messaging and content, but your readers won’t even get that far if they aren’t first enticed by a creative look and fee. That’s why you need a professional marketing firm involved with your advertising that knows how to accurately portray your business image.

At Epic Marketing, we know how to design attention-grabbing ads. Our creative team has more than 40 years of combined experience and has helped all of our clients improve how their business is portrayed through advertisements. Don’t take a chance with your image. Call Epic today to take your advertising to the next level.