Tag: research

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Branding Ideas

Branding

Keeping up with branding is time consuming, but it can help you to get the work you want. Check out these ideas for a place on where to begin.

Research your favorite brands

Do you subscribe to newsletters that you love? This is a great place to start. Figure out what it is about them that you love and incorporate that into your material. Do they include a list of what they’re reading/watching/listening to right now? Include a section in your newsletter for your customers as well.

Also ask yourself what they do well. Is their information informative? Have good design? Help you find new products? Think about areas you can improve on, and areas you’re skilled at. Then align this list to both sides and see how your online engagement changes.

Look at other businesses’s branding

By other business’s we mean businesses you want to be or businesses want to work with. Check out their social media and replicate what they do with an original idea. By the time you do outreach to them, they’ll look at your work and think the same thing when you visited their page (“Wow! I want to do that!”)

This is also a good time to evaluate if you need to improve on what you know. If you discover you have to brush up on certain areas (video for instance), watch a tutorial or buy a book so you’ll have the knowledge in place when you try to expand your offerings.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.

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A Guide to Copywriting

A Guide to Copywriting

Copywriting may seem easy on a surface level, but the best copywriters spend hours trying to come up with the perfect line.

So what is copywriting? Copywriting is the art of writing copy (or the words that go on your website, products, advertisement, etc.) that make your services compelling and initiates your customers to take action.

Sales people reach customers one at a time, and a copywriter reaches them all at once. Although it may just seem like words on a paper, copywriting is a critical part of your business.

Understand your product or service

You should know your product or service inside and outside. If you don’t spend some time with it, researching it, using it, and whatever else you can do. This sets up the baseline and gives you the sales advantage; you should be the service expert so anytime someone asks you a question you know more about it than anyone else.

Create your product/service description

A good way to start this is to answer these questions:

  • What makes the product or service unique?
  • How would you describe the product or service?
  • What benefit does the product or service provide?
  • Is their pain the product or service alleviates?
  • What are the product or services features?

By knowing your product or service better than anyone else, answering these questions should come easy.

Know your customers

Knowing you customers, and what they want, can take some trial and error. One thing that will make this trial and error easier is through research. Here are some questions you should find the answer to:

  • Who currently buys your product or uses your service?
  • Who would you like to buy your product or use your service?
  • What does your typical customer look like?
  • What do they love?

Knowing your customer means you can cater your copy to make it more compelling. Remember, copywriting should be unique, specific, and convey urgency. The combination of these may not seem easy, but with a little work you can become persuasive in 20 words or less.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.