Emphasis Branding™
Where SEO and SEM provide the basic essentials of bringing your target market or audience to your website, Emphasis Branding focuses on what the customer sees and does once she or he has arrived.
Emphasis Branding affects customer behavior, getting them to act in their (and your) best interest, a call to action of some kind. If you are a retailer that would likely be a purchase. If you are a manufacturer that may be a request for information, a quote or sales call. If you are a marketer that may be a webinar sign-up or the ubiquitous whitepaper download. If you are an affiliate then it’s a click-thru that leads to a sale. At its most basic, Emphasis Branding is a call to action. But it goes far beyond that.
Emphasis Branding is achieving our client expectations. Branding expectations evolve from extensive and precise interaction with our clients. It involves a thorough analysis of your costs and inventory, including your product mix and margin mix, as well as other factors such as profit/cost centers, landing page utility, site design, traffic flow, etc. It also answers the question: What products are the “best” to sell?
Typically, clients carry a very small percentage of products that make up a large percentage of sales. Marketers often speak of an 80/20 rule, where 80% of sales revenue comes from 20% of inventory or services. You may have a 70/30 split, or perhaps an 80/5 split. The problem is, profits don’t usually follow the 80/20 rule. In fact, it's usually the inverse - the 20% of inventory has a lower profit margin than the other 80%, which is why you have to carry the “excess” inventory. The 20% might bring your customer to your site, but you really hope she buys one of the 80%. In most cases, you have to carry the 20% for just that reason.
Emphasis Branding promotes a call to action on the 80%. It extends beyond the phantom landing page, the “Customer Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and the “You Might Also Like.” Emphasis Branding is more like an actual shopping experience. Walk into your favorite store, let’s say a computer store. What is the first thing you do? Where do you go first, then second, then stroll around a bit before leaving? The most important thing may be “what makes you buy?” and “what makes you keep coming back?” Emphasis Branding answers all of these questions…and more.
