Saturday, May 12, 2012

10 Techniques To Building A Better Brand. Are you really listening?

Are you really listening?
Bullet Point Branding | 10 Tips To Building A Better Brand.

Click This! 

Are you really listening?


So much of Social Media now a days is people telling you to check out this tip or click this link for 5 great tips. Its a lot of do this, then do this, and if you are not doing this then you are not going to accomplish this, blah blah blah blah blah.

As a company or brand you need to be where your clients are. You need to find out where they are talking, what apps or sites they are posting on (hopefully they are on your Social Media sites or blog forums). And you need to LISTEN.


PSSST Hey!

Think of the 80/20 rule and apply it to listening to what your customers are saying. Listen 80% of the time and Talk 20% of the time that way you can hear what they are saying about you, your brand or your product.

Are you doing something exceptionally well? Are you providing an outstanding service. Is your product changing people's lives?

Do you need to beef up positive customer experience reviews? Does your company have ripoff reports against it? Are people dissatisfied with your customer service?

How are you going to reach your existing customers and advocates to ensure the delivery of amazing word of mouth about your brand? ... You LISTEN.

Here are 10 tips to building a better brand, enjoy.


  1. LISTEN! Crowdsourcing involves paying attention to what others are already saying.
  2. Ask a few questions.
  3. Don't be defensive.
  4. Don't be negative. 
  5. Embrace the feedback .
  6. Acknowledge the errors.
  7. Apologize for bad experiences.
  8. Amend your policies and procedures. 
  9. Incorporate your customers messages into your team meetings or stand ups. 
  10. Ask for input from your employees if they are monitoring the Internet. 


The bottom line is you have to open you ears and close your mouth, just for a minute, just to see what you hear. How are you using crowdsourcing techniques to improve your brand? We would love to hear your success stories.



Are you really listening?
BpB | Are you really listening?
Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 
 Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business email them at: info@BulletPointBranding.com









   
   
   
   
   



Monday, April 30, 2012

Making it Connect | Bullet Point Branding

Making it Connect | Bullet Point Branding
Making it Connect | Bullet Point Branding

Do you have Triple A for your Brand?

A few weeks back we offered up some easy ways to make your content stand out and insure it is retained with our: 3 Ways to Create Successful Content  post. So today we wanted to dive deeper into our last tactic, what makes information "Connect"?

Regardless of what anyone says the bottom line is this: 


"Marketing is about Connection"

If you can connect to your consumers at a personal level you will have their attention for a long time. Marketing should be geared towards your customers emotions, their needs will never trump their wants so what better way to engage them than through connection?

In social media connecting is all about being present and authentic in your campaigns. Social media has made it possible for people to express whats on their minds the minute they think about it. Your customers or prospects have the ability to start an online discussion about the likes and dislikes of your company or product. You need to be monitoring the web for specific keywords and phrases that allow you to diffuse or capitalize on the situation at hand.

If the conversation is good you want to capture that excitement and use it in promotions and testimonials. You want to engage your patrons through immediate thankfulness ( is that a word? ) and appreciation. It shows your community that you are listening to them and value their opinions. You can also find out the things you are doing right and keep going down those paths.

If the discussions are negative you want to be able to fix the situation as soon as it happens to avoid further damage to your brand. Here at Bullet Point Branding we have a protocol we use when monitoring a company online and we come across a potentially negative comment or post:


We Acknowledge, Apologize, and Amend


The exact policy is preset with the company at the beginning of our relationship but those three actions are vital to keeping your customers satisfied. We call them the "Triple A's of Engagement" you can call them what you want just make sure you are using them!

When you connect with your audience it solidifies your bond with them. You gain their trust, you make lifelong relationships, and you ultimately become more profitable. Connection is much more than pushing a message out there and hoping it sticks. Connection is about listening to your prospects and learning as much as you can about your customers.

How are you connecting with your audience?




Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at:BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com










   
   
   
   
   


Monday, April 23, 2012

Making it Creative! | Bullet Point Branding

Making it Creative! | Bullet Point Branding
Making it Creative! | Bullet Point Branding

Making it Creative

A few weeks back we offered up some easy ways to make your content stand out and insure it is retained with our: 3 Ways to Create Successful Content post. So today we wanted to dive deeper into what makes information "Creative"?

When approaching anything Social Media these days you are always geared toward one thing, going viral. You might be thinking nah I just want to reach my audience and have them buy my product. Or you might say I am just looking to increase my fans or likes but I don't need millions of hits. Well um don't look now but that is what going viral is all about!

The ultimate goal is to get shared, and get shared a lot! What is the best way to help you go viral? Making your content "CREATIVE"!! 

Being creative separates your brand from just another article producing company. Being creative allows you to have fun with your methods of delivery and really utilize all sorts of different techniques and platforms.

Here are a few awesome ways to make your content CREATIVE:

Use emotion - making people laugh, cry, get angry, and inspired will absolutely increase sharing potential.

Use different platforms - podcasts, videos, INFOGRAPHICS, eBooks, webinars, and photos.

Go Guerrilla - have an event and use a flash mob, have someone popping out of a trash can scaring people at a luncheon, crash tailgating events with a stilt character just get it on video and turn it into gold.
What are ways you have used to be creative and have given you success?



Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at: BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com





   





   
   
   
   

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Making it Consumable | Bullet Point Branding

Making it Consumable | Bullet Point Branding
Making it Consumable!


Last post we offered up some easy ways to make your content stand out and insure it is retained with our: 3 Ways to Create Successful Content post. So today we wanted to dive deeper into what makes information "Consumable"?

Making it Consumable


Does this sound like you?

Everyday you are bombarded with techniques, tips, re tweets and other intrusions telling you how to market your brand and it can really be information overload. They tell you things like try this tip, you need to be doing this right now, your competitors are doing X,Y& Z are you. 

It can all be extremely overwhelming and nerve racking. You feel like you have to do everything other "Gurus" are pushing down your throat to stay ahead of the pack but really it just incites a panic attack that makes you feel like you will never be able to keep up.


What Do You Want?

Well lets take a step back for a minute and really look at what you want to accomplish.


  • Do you want to introduce people to your brand or product?
  • Do you want to create a sales funnel to harvest the potential in your existing clients?
  • Do you want to create amazing content to solidify your brand's position in the industry?
To accomplish any of these goals you need to break down the steps and processes you already know. Then you need to create content in easy to digest bite size pieces. 

Your customers will thank you for the layman's terms, they will continue to gobble up the well thought out morsels of information and they will eagerly await your next problem solving contribution to their world.

What We Think ...

We here at Bullet Point Branding suggest giving 3-5 servings of information at a time. This creates a "Consumable" product or article or email, whatever you are developing. It will assure your audience that you care about their problems but also their time and it will set you apart from the info overload interference of your competitors. 

When you make it "Consumable" it leads to digestion and eventually repeat business. 

How can you make your information "Consumable"?

http://BulletPointBranding.com

Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at:BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com







   
   
   
   
   

Friday, April 13, 2012

3 Ways to Create Successful Content | Bullet Point Branding

3 Ways to Create Successful Content | bullet Point Branding
3 Ways to Create Successful Content


If you are looking to start a brand awareness campaign and would like to know where to get started, read on for the:

3 Ways to Create Successful Content


When I evaluate any content that will end up in one of my brand awareness campaigns I focus on three core elements. We call them the three C's here at Bullet Point Branding. The material must be Consumable, it must be Creative, and it must Connect.

1. Lets start with he first C - Consumable.

This point is pretty much the founding core of our business. People are suffering from information overload these days and everything has become so tech heavy that everyday business managers and employees are not getting the meat of the material. 

Your content has to be Consumable it must be broken down into easily digested chunks or bullet points and it has to have the ability to be retained.

2. Let's move on to the next C - Creative.

This is a no brainer these days. If your content is not Creative it will not get shared, it will not be indexed or downloaded it will be ineffective. 

Making your content Creative give you an edge over your competition because people will want to see what comes next and they will want their peers to partake in your material. Creativity increases your chances of going Viral and that is gold!

3. The last C - Connect.

Being able to Connect to your audience, your prospects, your customers is really what marketing is all about. Your brand is going to flourish if Connect on a deeper level than just pushing your product down people's throats. 

If you take the time to engage your community and find out their wants and needs instead of fooling them with trickery you are going to be able to see a huge difference in the way everyone associates your product.


Keep in mind marketing is changing but the foundation of building relationships is not. Water those seeds and nurture those prospects. Engage your audience by "Making it Consumable", "Making it Creative", & "Making it Connect"!

Don't suffer from Social Media Overload!

3 Ways to Create Successful Content | Bullet Point Branding
Social Media Overload | BulletPointBranding.com


http://bulletpointbranding.com


Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at:BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com






   
   
   
   
   

Sunday, April 8, 2012

5 Digital Tools To Boost Your Brand | Bullet Point Branding


5 Digital Tools To Boost Your Brand | Bullet Point Branding
5 Digital Tools To Boost Your Brand


5 Digital Tools To Boost Your Brand  

Every good brand has a few hacks on how they stay at the top of the mountain. In this post we look at just a few of those hacks that you can grab and start to use immediately in your business.

You do want to be like the good brands don't you?



1. Social Bookmarking:

Look at Pinterest they have been unstoppable this year pounding out their place in the Social Media Universe. They just became the #3 Most used Social Media site (behind FacebookTwitter). And StumbleUpon gets 17+ million monthly visitors your brand needs to be there.

2. F-Commerce:

F-Commerce is Facebook Commerce for those of you who do not know. It is reported that almost 25% of internet time is spent on Facebook! Facebook uses the power of trusted friend to build credibility and have brands sell their products.

3. Digital Coupons:

Coupon codes available online means your customers don't have to wait for Sunday for the sales! Get direct access to potential customers through online sites and advertising.

4. Mobile Photo Sharing:

Think Instagram and Flickr. These types of sites give behind the scenes access and instant interaction to fans and consumers. It brings brands to a new level of comfort and becomes more personal.

5. Gamification:

Engaging people while they are playing hits on so many different levels. It will solidify your brand as a key player and associate your brand with good times!

Here is a BONUS 6th Tool the awesome INFOGRAPHIC:










Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at:BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com










   
   
   
   
   

How To Think Like A Global Brand | Bullet Point Branding

How To Think Like A Global Brand | Bullet Point Branding
How To Think Like A Global Brand


How To Think Like A Global Brand

They say that if you go to pretty much any Non-English speaking country they are going to know at least these two words in English:
  • No 
  • Coke
Let's break that down for a moment the word No is a pretty simple word and I think the ease of a head shake along with a two letter word (more like just a sound) can be performed by any old circus monkey so knowledge of that word is not all that impressive. But the word Coke and the recognition of soda as a Coke and not vice-versa is unbelievable.


Social Proof

I have been to four different continents and about 20+ countries and I can vouch for this fact first hand. When in doubt just ask for a Coke. I think that the folks over there at Coca Cola understand a thing or two about Branding. They put in the man hours doing their research and development and have the best marketing and PR people on the planet working for them.


The Video

Here is an awesome video example of how Coca Cola engages a younger demographic and ensures their brand awareness and product survival for years to come.

Enjoy!









Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at: BulletPointBranding.com| info@BulletPointBranding.com




   





   
   
   
   

Thursday, April 5, 2012

6 Quick Tips To Jump Start Your Brand's Social Media Campaign | Bullet Point Branding

6 Tips To Jump Start Your Brand's Social Media Campaign | Bullet Point Branding
6 Tips To Jump Start Your Brand's Social Media Campaign


6 Tips To Jump Start Your Brand's Social Media Campaign

Whether you are an in-house Social Media Manager for your company or a Social Media Solutions Consultant freelancing out to multiple companies, one thing remains the same ... you have to have a strategy for your social media campaign!

Everybody has different opinions on where to start and how to approach the Social Media Campaign and that is fine it does not matter where or how you start. What matters is that you start ... NOW!

So here are Bullet Point Branding Group's basic Social Media Campaign steps there are 6 of them. They are listed in the chronological order the way we perform them.



1. Assess what has been done already.
  • Does the company have social media accounts in place? Are they set up to convey a uniform brand awareness approach? Are they on the right social media sites (the one's that there target audience are on)?

2. Take a peek at what the competition is doing.
  • Research what social media sites the competition are on or not on. Monitor the industry specific keywords ( use sites like Hootsuite or Radian6 ) along with the competition's name and see if there are complaints or compliments. See how you can do things better and more authentic.

3. Set goals.
  • Some of you might be thinking that this should be step #1 and that is fine if you want to do it first this is not the Social Media Campaign Bible (we do our homework first). When ever you do this step make sure the goals are specific and clear. 

  • Do you just want better brand awareness? Do you want to increase customer acquisition? Do you want to engage your community and increase customer retention? Do you want more e-commerce transactions? The list goes on and on just be specific and clear.

4. Develop creative, engaging content to be distributed through the correct social media platforms.
  • Ex. if your company is a resort destination and no one is monitoring Trip Advisor that is a problem! Make sure your promoting through cross platform marketing as well to help solidify your presence on your social media channels.

5. Execute the strategy and make sure you are constantly tweaking and adjusting your material.
  • Use crowd sourcing techniques to see what your audience and customers are saying, what they care about and what they do not care care about.

6. Monitor and report on your ROI (Return On Investment).
  • The sites mentioned above (  Hootsuite or Radian6 ) make life so much easier. Create reports and spreadsheets to help you stay organized and informed.

Just remember a Social Media Campaign is a constant work in progress. Techniques change when new productivity applications are updated. When technology evolves and makes monitoring easier you have to adapt and go along for the ride. It doe not matter how you start but start NOW! 

Keep learning through all of the new eBooks and video tutorials available and you will keep your company's brand light years ahead of the competition! If you have any other steps or comments/questions I would love to hear them.


Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at: BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com







   
   
   
   
   

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Why is my Facebook app so slow? | Bullet Point Branding

Why is my Facebook app so slow?
Mobile FB App | Bpb

Why is my Facebook app so slow?


Could Mobile Facebook App Jeopardize the Whole Company?


Everyone loves Facebook I get it (okay maybe I shouldn't say everyone but at least 800+ million of us do anyway). What I don't get is this, in a web 2.0 age of lightning fast service and devices how come it still takes forever to open, load and then update my profile or news feed on the official Facebook Mobile App for my iPhone (Shout Out)?

Do you think that a user should have to remove all the other applications running or delete and reinstall the app just to shave off a few seconds of the eternity it takes to be ready for use? I wonder how many status updates out there sound like this: "Well I had something cool to share but I forgot what it was now." How much information have we lost due to this slowness disease?

Consumers may or may not leave the social network giant all together because the app runs slow but is it not worth it for Facebook to at least make sure they stay atop the food chain with amazing products that run like a well oiled machine?

I'm not being overly dramatic and saying I am never using Facebook again but I would love to be able to open the app and have it run with in a second or two just like all my others. Should I give them some slack because the network is so big that it might take a extra time to open due to all the members, or does that have nothing to do with it?

I would love to hear from others who have my concerns please let me know!

Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche!

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business email them at: info@BulletPointBranding.com

   
   
   
   
   

Monday, March 12, 2012

Infographics Drive Engagement! | Bullet Point Branding

Infographics Drive Engagement! | Bullet Point Branding
Infographics Drive Engagement!


Infographics Drive Engagement!



I have seen the future of consumable information and believe me it is bright! Literally it's bright boldly colored charts of easy to read data about any given subject.

Infographics make retaining information easier, they can be basic or graphically designed. Anyway you put it INFOGRAPHICS make it more fun to learn. They are making a huge impact on social media by way of digestible statistics. People can easily visualize a snapshot of information and if it's creative it will get shared faster than a boring medium.

Articles can tend to be a little on the wordy side. The worlds attention is getting smaller all the time due to the newest productivity tools available (thanks GOOGLE). INFOGRAPHICS hit on multiple levels because you can assess what the key bullet points are for a quick read and then go back and dive further into some of the more descriptive info lurking inside.

Bottom line is they are a welcome addition to how we learn something and I think they are destine to make a huge impact on how we develop, communicate and present.

Take a look at some awesome examples that just barely scratch the surface!

















Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at: BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com










   
   
   
   
   


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Unsubscribe From My Newsletter and Unfollow My Tweets, Please! | Bullet Point Branding

Unsubscribe From My Newsletter | Bullet Point Branding
Unsubscribe From My Newsletter!


Unsubscribe from me Please!

I know it might sound crazy but I want people to unsubscribe from any and all posts, newsletters, email blasts and social media sites I create.

Don't get me wrong I want my community to be involved in what I have to say but I do not want people to sign up for something the are not going to be an active member of.

A lot of potential customers or clients maybe even peers are signing up for lists if they liked one particular post but then they just lurk in the background and don't contribute. They don't really want to be a part of something bigger.

I want involvement. I want discussion.

I have been guilty of list subscribing and not contributing as well, but now I have been purging my lists, twitter followers and actual people in my life (surprisingly, that one is a little easier then the others) that don't have value and don't contribute to a better community.

I have also made goals of being more active in blogs, Facebook, Twitter, & other social media sites, as well as in my profession life. And I think the keys to being successful and achieving these goals lies in the shedding of excess and getting back to the basics.

Stop stretching yourself so thin and trying to be everything to everyone, and start becoming passionate about something and contribute creatively and frequently!







Author: Bryan Fulton is the Founder and CEO of Bullet Point Branding a company designed to deliver creative content and social media strategy to small businesses that do not have the time or manpower to effectively connect to their clients and customers through Social Media in house. 

Bullet Point Branding concentrates on giving your company an authentic social media presence and creating engagement throughout your niche! 

To see what Bullet Point Branding can do for your business visit / email them at: BulletPointBranding.com | info@BulletPointBranding.com