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Operating a business, especially when you are competing with big brands with devoted customers can be difficult. This is why it is essential that you find ways to differentiate yourself and create a solid brand building process.

We have all tried using famous brand names as synonymous with a similar brand. For example, some people might say they want a glass of Coke, but what they really meant was they want a glass of any soda. Many people use the word Tupperware to denote plastic food containers. Moreover, one person may say that he or she needs a Kleenex, but would eventually end up saying he or she wants a tissue.

These are just some of the proprietary names that have become the apex of brand awareness. They are all so well known, to the point of replacing the generic terms for similar products in the market.

Though there is no secret potion for becoming an instant household name, there are brand building strategies you can do to help you get to where you need to be.

Target Your Market

One of the greatest foundations you need to build is your audience. As they will be in charge of spreading who you are through referrals and word-of-mouth, know who your consumers are will give you a better understanding of the kind of advertisements you have to cover. Figure out their behavior, lifestyle and buying patterns. For example, if your target market is the senior citizens, then it would be best to get some advertisements in the newspaper.

If you are targeting people who are tech-savvy, then you know that advertising on the internet would be more cost-effective rather than getting an ad printed on the local paper. Determining who will be buying your products will support your overall brand strategy (digital or not). So this is definitely an important step.

Create A strong Logo and Tagline

Famous brands have taken advantage of visual branding. So creating a brand logo and a memorable tagline is the next step. Think about this as this might be the driving force of your popularity. Your logo and your tagline should appear on everything that related to your business.

Because these two will become your identity, you need to be willing to spend some time and money in the inception of these two. If you can, hire a professional designer or work with a creative agency that specializes in branding and business identity.

Think About PR

One of the purest forms of boosting brand awareness is public relations. Many big companies have had some help with their PR to help manage how the public sees their brand. Working with PR firms are essential because they can help you garner a national coverage even though you are not targeting something this high yet.

One form of brand building that has emerged recently is Instagram and building a large following on the giant social media channel. With over a billion users, more and more brands are jumping on the bandwagon.

If, however, you prefer a more local awareness, you a section of your brand on the local paper can help. Many PR firms also help businesses with their social media awareness for a top up cost.

Ultimately, it is your brand that resonates with your target consumers. So you need to find the perfect visuals and the most suitable brand voice. When the three steps above are taken properly and timely, you have the strongest chance of connecting with customers and leaving an impression on them.

Many budding entrepreneurs and business moguls in the field of e-commerce are using Google Adwords. However, some people actually do not know what this tool is for.

Getting started with a campaign can be overwhelming, partially because Google AdWords itself is a tool used by many people using the internet. This means every wrong decision made can lead to wasted money.

To briefly explain, Google Adwords is a system that Google had developed and produced to aid webmasters in marketing their brand, products and services. It is used to market affiliate sites by ads that appear when users search for key terms related to the product you are offering. The entire system is based on pay-per-click and shows up as a sponsored link.

By bidding for keywords or a series of key phrases, a webmaster can predict where his or her ads may appear. The cost will only add up as more users click on the ad as a result of the search on the search engine.

Although the thought of using AdWords can be daunting, its complexities can be learned rapidly. Reading forums of digital marketing websites will provide you with the fundamental knowledge of how to use this tool. If you prefer to learn from another person, you can quickly sign up for webinars that will teach you the ropes of using AdWords in exchange of a small fee.

Another way of successfully incorporating Adwords in your site with ease is to find a local SEO expert. Seeking the services of a famous business may provide you with the most comprehensive tools, but local specialists are typically less expensive and are more hands-on with their clients. There is no such thing as the best seo company, so shop around to find a good adwords advisor.

It is an option you can consider if you are truly serious about learning more regarding AdWord campaigns. Whatever option you choose, you will still need to set aside a budget and shell out money.

The question now is, why should you use Google Adwords? Below are some of the critical features of AdWords that might (or might not) convince you why this tool is essential.

Reaches Local Customers Reliably

One feature AdWords offer to their users is its location targeting option. This means if your website or business is operating locally, or your website has shipping restrictions, geo-targeting will help your site become more visible to potential customers close by.

This feature prevents you from wasting any advertising money on internet users who cannot get a hold of your products and services or who are not in your area. It can target countries, states, cities, regions and counties. It can also perform radius targeting wherein people within your distance can see your ads.

Follow Customers With Retargeting

You have experienced this. You visited a site, stayed there for quite some time, and left. Suddenly, you keep seeing their company ads on every website or even social media pages you are on.

This is what they call “retargeting”. If the user has visited your site, they acquire a cookie. It comes from a code that you have initially placed on the backend of your website which allows Google to track their searches.

Enables You To Measure Results

Tracking the stats of how well or poorly your site has performed is vital in predicting your business strategies. Google AdWords permits you to customize, measure and monitor all your campaigns using your dashboard.

These goals include website traffic, conversion and sales, return on investment and brand awareness. It also traces other valuable information such as the headline that had the best click-through rate, best-performing keywords and ads.

Apart from the highlighted benefits above, Google AdWords offers other features that you can utilize. Learning it all on your own will take a little bit of time. But once you know what to do, you will surely be able to handle your campaigns with a breeze.

In today’s digital age, a website is a basic necessity for any business. Once it is up and running, it can become a streamlined destination and act as your virtual headquarters, information center and storefront. Whether you have created your own great website or had someone build it for you, a key element to your online success is choosing a great web hosting provider.

Selecting such a web hosting company may not be as easy as it seems. Since most web hosting suppliers advertise a 99.9% uptime, money back guarantee, and the first month of hosting free, it’s hard to determine which service is the best right away.

So how do you make sure that you choose the right web hosting service provider for your business? Below are three important features you need to look for.

Technical Support

Many business owners, especially those who chose to go the online route do not work on the typical 9 to 5 schedule.

For example, if you are working on your website at the wee hours of the night and you require some help with your digital certificate, you need a web hosting provider that offers technical support at any time of the day to provide you with the answers to your questions.

A 24/7 technical support availability is very important especially when you encounter unknown issues at your website. As someone whose spending time and money on their business, you don’t want to be left alone to deal with a problem that is not even your fault. To avoid such scenario, verify the web hosting provider’s tech-support response time.

Reliability

In the world of business, your website defines your business.

It can act as a portfolio for your brand, especially when you are meeting prospective clients for the first time. If you have a poor quality or slow loading website, this can damage your chances of doing businesses with potential clients, especially when your site is constantly down when they try to visit it.

In addition, if your website is actively marketing products and is acting as a storefront at the same time, you need the confidence that when a potential customer finds your business on the Web, they can easily access your website and place an order even if it is in the middle of the night. When your web hosting provider is constantly down, how much revenue can you afford to lose?

Whenever choosing a provider, investigate well this point and ask what their guarantees are. These are indicators of the provider’s reliable service.

Security

You have to make sure that the provider offers a security mechanism in place that is appropriate for protecting your business and online transactions. Web hosting is at times quite erratic due to the testing the providers conduct.

It is typical that the hosting provider conducts maintenance. These updates are performed to ensure that they continue to offer the best service. But sometimes, this can lead to the deletion of your website, and nobody really knows why until you ask them yourself. But a great provider must offer a backup service that can effectively restore your website in the event of a crisis such as this.

Another important security feature is SSLs. If you are running an ecommerce site, security needs to be established to protect the information and resources of your customers or clients. SSLs is an encrypted link that ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.

For additional protection, a provider that offers sitelock should be preferred. It is a cloud-based security tool that scans your site for vulnerabilities and malware. It can detect the threat and security risks encountered on your website.

You must find a web host that can support all the efforts that you want to apply now and plan to apply in the future. If not, you will find complications and problems that will only cost you more money and more time.