How to Brand Digital Marketing
Welcome to the ninth episode of #peekintoprocess. We are sitting down with Alina Scarcella - a mastermind of digital marketing to talk about what good branding looks like in digital marketing.
In this episode we discuss:
What the foundation to branded digital marketing looks like
What it means to be too consistent
How to save yourself from the bandwagon
Tips and tricks and research tools
or simply read the highlights below.
Erin
We took a hiatus but #peekintoprocess remains the same - it’s taking a look into the background of branding brand strategy and getting into the process. I am a lover of the process the creative process. And as you know, the more inputs, the better the output.
For this episode, we are excited to connect with Alina Scarcella. Alina and I have had the chance to work together. She has been a real champion of my brand and helped me create it, and so there isn't a better person for us to connect with today to talk about this - branding in digital marketing. She gave me confidence in digital marketing - which I lacked!
Alina
Of course, of course, I'm excited to get into it.
This is always hard and it's hard to see your own stuff. But when we met I was a virtual assistant. I was doing online business management so I was working on the back end of many people's businesses while they took the front end and did the work with the clients and did the more hands-on stuff. So I kind of fell in love with operations and how online businesses run, as well as the content creation that has to get pushed out day to day.
Now I have two areas that I mainly work with clients which is firstly, my content marketing plan. I handle a lot of people's digital marketing, basically people who have a lot to say but don't really know how to break it apart, or how to constantly and consistently push content out that's branded well and cohesive.
Secondly, I focus on all of the operational and the bigger product, the bigger production stuff happens in things that I like to call VIP intensives. That's where all the web design comes in, that's where all the operational and systems and all of that good stuff.
Erin
There's a lot of moving parts! All right, so let's break it down for the audience about all those moving parts, because like I mentioned earlier, I was intimidated. I don't know that I'm intimidated anymore because I have your services that you offer.
What's the difference between branded versus non branded digital marketing?
Alina
Well, I think just taking a look at what branding is, answers that, in my opinion I think that branding is basically the theme and the vibe that you're giving off in your business. So I think branded content, the kind of stuff that people are going to encounter maybe first, when they discover your business, it should sound the same. Maybe a good analogy, it's like when you go to a restaurant and you order something, and then you go back a month later and order the same thing, and it tastes completely different, you're like “wow, this is disappointing”.
It's definitely not all about the visuals, although that helps establish a vibe, but the way that you speak. You could be talking about a million different things. But if someone comes across my page and I'm talking about it, it's gonna be in the same tone. I set my foundation and I write them in black and white.
I want to seem like someone can come to me with any idea, and if it lands on my desk, I'm gonna think about it and expand on it and help them take it all the way. That's an established channel. Whereas someone who's not fully utilizing the concept of branding might be sending mixed signals to whoever's coming across and that if they're confused, they're gonna leave.
Erin
Alright, so here's a question that flips your answer on its head. What does too much consistency look like? When can you start to show up generically?
Alina
Okay, so a lot of my clients come to me and they'll see something on social media, or they'll see something out in the wild that they're like, “hey, this seems like it's really catching on why don't we try this?”, and usually my answer is if you're bandwagoning and hopping on every trend that trend is going to go away in like five minutes. It's just the nature of digital marketing, and having to be really consistent and constantly keeping up with the hamster wheel pushing stuff out. Everyone's gonna forget about it and in like two days anyways so there's no point in fully investing in those huge trends and being on the bandwagon.
Another thing that I think is good to do is mix things up. I think there's a way to combine your brand foundations with something somewhat unexpected and just try new things. Digital marketing is all about trying new things, seeing what sticks. There's always going to be stuff that falls flat.
Erin
Are there tips and tricks on how to show consistency in digital marketing, while still having a hook? And keeping them in the funnel?
A huge chunk of time when I'm creating content for clients is research, too. A big part of branding is appealing to people's emotions, even if you know what you're selling, isn't something that you would expect to to enact someone in an emotional sense. But I think it really comes down to just listening hard, and knowing the right resources to turn to to see what people are doing online.
One of my favorite quick tips for doing this is a website called the Answer The Public (www.answerthepublic.com). You can just search for a keyword and see what questions people are asking.
Erin
What do you see that clients do wrong? I know we talked about there being no wrong, only experimental, but what could cause problems?
Alina
Switching up your branding, too often, like the color scheme and logo and all of that stuff. If you keep changing it constantly, it's not going to be as memorable or as impactful as if you just stick with one thing and I keep it.
Erin
What you said when we started the morning, is there are certain things in marketing that help you get discovered, and that also serves as a research tool for everybody involved.
Alina
I encourage a lot of my clients to host polls and get their audience involved with building their business. So we'll post polls and questions and stuff like that to gain some insight into what people are actually looking for. And that helps develop great marketing strategies because that's going to help them gain more visibility and open doors for their audience to actually come in and interact with them one-on-one. It also guides the planning process, or their content marketing. We see a lot of questions that are the same and people are all wondering the same thing, and this guy has the answer. Guess what we're doing next quarter? We're answering it and we're expanding on it.
Erin
Alright, what’s next for Alina? What’s in the future?
Alina
I mean I'm always coming up with new stuff, and you know this because I usually message you! But yeah, basically right now, I am building out an online resource center. I've got some free stuff in there right now and I'm working on some more expanded courses. I'm gonna do a course on content, content to teach other people how to do it if they enjoy the graphic design process and getting creative, you know, visually as well. So that's coming. But yeah, otherwise, I mean, I think the beauty of being in business for yourself is deciding day to day.