The better you brand your company, the more work you’re likely to get. Just think of top, world-renowned brands like Nike, McDonald’s, Apple, and Google. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or how big your company is, your brand makes a big difference in what potential clients and partners think of you.
This applies to your personal brand, too. Creating a strong personal brand helps you find a new job or move up in your current job. It tells people that they can trust you, count on you, and even look up to you.
Whether you’re an engineer looking to make a career change or someone who owns an engineering firm, you need to brush up on your branding.
Here are 10 of the top branding tools you can use to do so.
1. Graphic Design
Most people instantly think of a logo when they hear the words “graphic design.” This is an essential element of branding. Your logo is one of the first impressions a new user sees when they discover your business. It builds brand awareness and brand recognition.
But, graphic design work goes beyond that. This is what creates everything from the look of your business card to the design of your company apparel. It’s used to create new promotional products, product packaging, website landing pages, and much more.
2. Web Design
Speaking of a site’s landing pages, when was the last time you updated your website? If you’re still using something from 2009, you’re long overdue for an upgrade. It’s good to upgrade the look your website every few years to be on-trend with current design styles.
More so, you want it to be well-optimized, fast, and work well on all platforms.
3. Photography
Up next on the list of top branding tools is photography. Stock photos offer no benefit to your business. In fact, this is something that can significantly hurt your brand.
It’s always best to use custom photography for everything that you need a visual for. Invest in a photographer to take photographs of your office, your completed projects, and you and your team. Use these images when branding yourself instead of standard stock images.
4. Videography
You may not think that people would be interested in videos about engineering, but those in your target market are! Custom videos don’t have to be all about the work you do, either.
You can use making videos as a chance to talk about how you accomplish the work you do and what major shifts you see happening in your sector of engineering. This helps you create authority in your industry and get noticed by more people.
5. Blogging
Don’t feel too comfortable getting in front of a camera? Share your company culture and industry insights via blogging instead.
Try to blog on a regular basis if you really want to get the most out of this tool. You don’t have to publish a new article every day, but 2-3 blog posts a week will do wonders for your search ratings.
Just this small effort can transform how many projects you’re picking up. If you’re looking to really add to the amount of work your engineering company is getting, check out this useful site.
6. SEO and PPC
Search ratings are what help you get found when consumers are looking for answers to their engineering-related questions. As you start to develop more and more blogs and/or videos, you’re giving Google more content. Google bots then match that content to the user inquiries that best go with it.
This does wonders for your business. It helps you keep a steady stream of new visitors coming to your website, then eventually converting into new business opportunities.
PPC works in a similar manner. Instead of relying on content, though, it’s a form of digital marketing that helps boost the performance of your brand via funding ads. PPC is basically paying for ads in order to be found by online users looking for your services.
7. Social Media
Another way to create more positive buzz about your brand is to start using social media more. Make a company account and get serious about interacting on it. Create a social media calendar to keep all your posts on schedule and to help you plan out what kind of content you’d like to share.
Follow thought leaders, customers, and other engineering firms. Comment back to what people say on your posts and be willing to start a conversation with them on their own posts, too.
8. Reputation Management
The thing about online branding is that it won’t always be positive. You may get a negative review from time to time and have to do some reputation management.
But, it’s smart to make this a constant effort so that your brand never takes too hard of a hit. Keep an eye on all the social platforms you’re involved in and notice what clients are saying on third-party sites. Watch how your traffic rates ebb and flow and don’t overlook an issue when ratings really start to go down.
This could be a sign that something has happened to hurt your reputation and you’ll need to act fast to put your brand in good standing with your audience again.
9. Press Releases
If you do find yourself in a situation where you need reputation management services, start putting a press release together. This gets the word out that you’ve noticed your shortcomings and your working to resolve them. It tells users you’re owning up to your mistakes, which is a big step in the right direction.
10. Print Marketing
This can’t be stressed enough – print marketing isn’t dead. It’s actually a great branding tool if you know how to use it!
Don’t overlook the potential that things like business cards, posters, banners, and even some magazines have to benefit your brand. The key to print marketing is to plan the right placement and overall message.
Get the Most Out of These Branding Tools
You can read about all the branding tools you want, but it’s only when you learn how to use them that your engineering company’s brand will start to benefit from them. Luckily, you don’t have to do it all alone.
You may want to consider hiring a marketing or advertising firm to take care of your branding strategy for you. This ensures that you put your best foot forward and do everything possible to increase the awareness of and positive associations with your brand.
For more branding tips and tricks, click here.