Tag: brand awareness

  • How to Write an Engaging About Page for Your Website

    F7OLW2SG0CDoes your About page grab potential clients’ attention or does it leave them yawning? We’re sharing tips on tone, content and format for creating an engaging About page that will make people want to work with your agency today!

    Tone

    When a potential client reads your About page they should feel like they are meeting you face-to-face for the first time.  You have the chance to make a good impression by adopting a conversational and human tone while still communicating what makes your services unique and superior.  An easy way to do this is embrace the use of “I” and “we” rather than writing from a formal, third person perspective. Your tone should be authentic and relatable while remaining professional.

    Content

    What should you talk about? Focus on telling your story with simplicity rather than filling an About page with industry jargon or fluffy descriptions.  People want to know where you came from, what you can do for them and why you are a credible choice. Show that you understand your potential client’s challenges and use examples of things you’ve done in the past to let them know you can solve their problems.

    Finally, always include a call to action.  What do you want them to do next? Your goal with your About page should be to motivate potential clients to contact you about your services.  Place contact information visibly on the page. Include several ways to get in touch including a contact form, email, phone number and physical address.

    Format

    Your About page offers a glimpse into who you are as a company – your history, the principles by which you do business and the people who make up your team. It is your first chance to establish trust with a client by showing who the people behind the brand are.  Don’t be afraid to move away from the traditional corporate About page format and get a little creative with what makes your company unique. Include images of your team that put a face to the name.  We like what Brio Benefits has done to showcase their team by incorporating a corporate portrait and a funny, personable candid photo along with each employee bio.  To view their About page, click here.

    Think your About page needs a revamp?  Contact us today and we’ll get you started!

  • 5 Ways to Optimize LinkedIn for Your Benefit Agency

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    Photo by Sebastiaan ter Burg

    LinkedIn is fast proving to be the foremost social media site for B2B marketing. Employee benefit agencies that rely on cultivating relationships in order to market a product or service may find utilizing more fast-moving social platforms like Twitter or Instagram challenging, but LinkedIn provides a space for professionals to interact with one another, share original industry content and create brand awareness for their company that results in leads and network growth. We’ve put together a list of five simple ways you can start optimizing LinkedIn for your business today:

    1. Create a Personal Profile

    Even if you don’t plan on doing much posting of your own on a personal profile, this step is imperative because right now LinkedIn requires that you have a personal account in order to make a company page. Your profile should contain a professional photo of yourself, your name, job title and ideally your work and educational experience as well as any relevant accomplishments or projects.

    1. Set Up a Company Page

    Now that you’ve created your personal page, you are able to set up a page that specifically provides information about your company to LinkedIn users.  This page should contain your company name, logo, a link to your website, and a short description of your business that includes relevant keywords that are specific to what you do. Keywords can be in the form of phrases such as “Maryland insurance broker” but should shy away from staying as vague as “insurance company.” This helps your page receive a higher ranking in search engine results. Finally, ask employees who have personal LinkedIn profiles to list your company in their work experience, helping ensure that you can be found easily when people search for your business.

    1. Share Quality Content

    Sharing content ensures more opportunity for people to visit your company page and then hopefully website to follow up! Posts can be a mix of your original content and outside articles, videos or podcasts that are relevant to your industry.  Recent studies show that the best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday between 7-9am, noon and between 5-6pm.  In addition, data revealed that posts made on Tuesday between 10-11am have the most clicks and shares. For best engagement results, companies should make it a priority to post on their LinkedIn page once a week, but no more than once a day.

    1. Join or Create a Group

    LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals to connect with peers working in their field or with similar interests where they can share helpful content, reviews, ask questions, post job openings and make new connections. You are able to either search for groups to join or create your own group based on your topic of choice where you can invite people to become members.  These groups are useful for connecting with prospects and establishing your company as an industry expert.

    1. Make Personal Connections

    By utilizing not only your company page but also your personal profile, you can enrich your business’s success by connecting with prospects and clients. Start slow by inviting 3-5 people to connect with you per week.  Follow up with a thank you message and a quick introduction when they accept your invitation.  Did you write a blog for your company or on an industry topic?  Post it to you profile. As you continue to share content, consider submitting it to LinkedIn Pulse’s editors to have your blog post featured.  This translates to much more visibility for your company! Finally, don’t be afraid to engage with others.  If you see content you like, write a comment or send a quick message to the author.  Other LinkedIn members are interested in the same thing you are – building mutually beneficial relationships!

    Generating brand awareness for your company on social media is becoming more and more important in our highly digitalized economy. LinkedIn offers the perfect space for your company using a B2B marketing model that is based largely on relationships to thrive and establish yourself as an industry expert while expanding your network of prospects and future business connections.

  • 3 Ways Social Media Helps Employee Benefits Firms

    MH46O0ISCFIn the world of employee benefits, we know that relationships are key. Particularly for independent firms, a new client is more likely to be obtained through a game of golf with a current client who knows local business owners than by a YouTube video explaining an online enrollment process. However, companies that do this type of B2B marketing can highly benefit from a robust social media presence, and we’re here to tell you how with three simple points:

    1. Increase Relational Reach

    Most professionals today have accounts on LinkedIn if not Facebook and Twitter. These three big social media channels offer a unique opportunity to nurture current business relationships and foster new ones. Becoming a part of industry groups on social media helps your business see who else is in your field with whom you could build partnerships or share services and keep up with what your current clients are doing both in business and in the community.  With private messaging, industry groups and platforms for public sharing, it’s easy to make initial and continuing points of contact with both current and prospective clients.  Don’t stop at just a business page – drive engagement by posting, sharing and connecting through your personal account and encourage your employees to do so as well – this adds an extra relational aspect to your brand which shows you personally care about your clients.

    1. Become Industry Experts

    One of the biggest things social media can do for your brand is add credibility as an industry expert through the content you post, thus giving you more opportunity to develop relationships with a larger pool of people. Start by creating a blog post a few times a month that educates about a unique service you offer or explains an aspect of employee benefits that is often confusing to clients. The key is to offer content that is engaging, educational and gives value to the reader – this should not be a sales pitch – quality content will bring a reader back for more. Share this post on your company and personal LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts and encourage employees to do the same. Reply to comments and shares with a personal note of thanks or a follow up question to foster engagement!

    1. Offer Creative Content

    We know it’s important to create original content, but what does that look like? Start with a blog. Write succinct posts about topics relevant to your industry, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box a little bit.  We all know employee benefits topics can get boring, but what about doing a profile on an employee who has benefited from a client’s wellness program that your firm set up?  People want to hear her story. As you get more comfortable, explore other mediums.  Share photos from company workshops or community events where you were participants or make a short video explaining a commonly misunderstood aspect of employee benefits packages. And don’t worry – if you don’t know where to start with creating content, there are companies to which you can outsource that will help you find the perfect way to share your story as an employee benefits broker.

    Social media is increasingly becoming a vital tool in how we do business in today’s economy.  By understanding and implementing these three concepts about how to use social media in the employee benefits field, you can expand your relational reach, establish your business as an industry expert and offer diverse creative content that sets your brand apart and generates client loyalty.

  • 5 Reasons Why SEO is Important for Small Businesses – SEO Marketing

    Why Should You as a Small Business Owner be Concerned About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

    Because you want to provide visitors to your website with such a fantastic user experience that they will tell others! Because you want to provide search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo critical information so they will place your site in the
    top 5 spots on the returns page!

    The job of a search engine is to take the information typed in by the user and locate the most relevant websites using those keywords. Simply put, if you are not engaging in SEO, you are not on that first page of results – the other guy is! By investing in search engine marketing, you are staying competitive with those other guys while giving your brand name exposure 24 hours, 7 days a week and are sure to gain new customers – even while you sleep. Let’s take a look at what a good SEO service can do for you while you take a snooze…

    5 Reasons to Invest in SEO Marketing

    1. Optimal User Experience

    SEO is ultimately about providing the user with the friendliest, fastest, best experience possible. A search engine wants to provide the user with what they are looking for, and when it can do that, both parties are happy. A happy visitor will become a returning visitor.

    2. Optimal Reach

    People unconsciously trust search engine results. If Google places Dave’s Donuts in the top spot of a search, then it must have earned that place and it must be good. User then tells all his friends on Facebook and Twitter that he’s going to Dave’s and he invites them, leaving the link for them to click as well. The laws of multiplication can work pretty fast, and before you know it, a dozen hungry teens show up at Dave’s Donuts! Why? Because the search engine matched everything perfectly, and it all pointed to Dave’s.

    3. Optimal Potential for Conversion

    Internet marketing, including SEO, attracts people who are already looking for your product or service. You don’t have to scream, dance, or wear cool clothes to gain an audience; they are already convinced of their need which is why they went searching in the first place. No bold print ad placed front and center on the magazine page is required. You just have to present yourself in one of those top 5 results and – voila! They were looking for you and you showed up right on time! You still have to convince them that you are the better company to purchase from, but half the battle is over. Once they come to your website, if you have invested the same tedious work to optimize the user’s experience with you by providing the content they seek, then you are well on your way to gaining a new customer.

     4. Optimal Exposure for Brand Awareness

    As stated in point #2, people unconsciously trust search engine results. If Dave’s Donuts is #1, then Dave’s serves the best donuts. But most users do not just run over to Dave’s the next hour and buy a dozen donuts (unless they are local teenagers)! They do, however, file it somewhere or bookmark it. They go clicking around the world numerous times before making a final decision. If your website is employing top notch SEO services, how often might that user come across your company name while conducting his search? What if your company came up 3 of the 5 times they searched for that desired product? Next thing you know, they have clicked through to your website.

    5. Optimal Insight into Your Customers

    If your website is properly optimized, it will increase your search engine visibility, usability, and credibility, all of which increase traffic to your site. Now that you are enjoying higher numbers of visitors, Google Analytics (which every website should have set up) can track valuable information about your visitors. Find out what browser they use, what key words, the technology they use, their geographical location, the days and times they are most active, how much time they spent on a page…on and on. This information will help you discover your target market, hone your advertising, and determine strategies based on facts rather than just educated guesses. The better you know your customers, the better product or service you can provide, the higher the ROI.

    Search engine optimization is no longer an option for businesses that want to be competitive, grow, and see returns on investment. But it is only one piece of the puzzle. If your website does not contain viable content, then no matter how much money or time you spend on SEO, it is wasted. Content will always be king. But when used in conjunction with other important marketing tools, SEO will provide visibility, traffic, credibility, branding and help you gain valuable insight into customer behavior.

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