As more and more brands enter digital maturity, new top-level domains (TLDs) are becoming available for registration. Previously, only generic domain names and country code domains were available for use, such as .com, .net, .us, .ca, etc. Now the doors have been opened to a whole new set of domain extensions, including .business, .expert, and .guru. Here is everything you need to know about new top-level domain names and why they were introduced:
Growing Shortage of Alternatives. As companies expand their presence in the digital space, acquiring an appropriate top-level domain name has become increasingly difficult. It wasn’t long before most short domains were taken and resulted in newer domain names becoming increasingly long and absurd. For example, flights.com is unavailable and the alternatives becoming increasingly bizarre: cheapflights.com, buycheapflights.com, bestcheapflights747.com.
Providing New Choices. The introduction of new domain name structures not only made it possible for companies to acquire an appropriate domain, but also tailor their domain to appeal to both their target consumers and performance on search engines. For example, healthfoodbusiness.com can now be structured as healthfood.business or health-food.business.
A Domain Name at a Glance. With increased flexibility for companies to acquire a tailored and concise top-level domain, it is possible for consumers to gain more insight about a company directly from their domain name, such as their location and area of business. From a company’s perspective, a differentiated and professional domain name may provide it the edge they need over their competitors.
Increased Regional SEO Value. Search engines currently do not rank new domains differently from established domains on a search engine results page (SERP), but there are regional benefits where a .de domain will rank higher on SERPs in Germany but not in the USA. With this in mind, companies may want to consider how this affects their choice on a top-level domain name if their target audience is in a different region, for example: green-cars.ottawa.
New TLD Name Options. The list of available new domains is growing every day, but in general new domains can be internet terms, a description of an offer, or regions. Examples include: .website, .online, .webpage, .work, .photography, .travel, .ca.us, .berlin.de, .bc.ca, etc. The possibility for a company to acquire a more suitable domain is now significantly higher.
Restrictions on Choosing a New Domain. When a company is choosing a new top-level domain name, it must follow rules set by the respective domain registry. Common restrictions include trademark law and regional domain extensions. Protected company brands and names are not available while many regional domain extensions are only allowed if the company is based in that specific region.
Securing a New TLD Name. While many new domain names have launch dates, many others do not have a specified release date. Companies can either request a non-binding pre-reservation for domains without a specified release date or a binding pre-registration for domain names with a specified release date. Non-binding pre-reservations allow companies to pre-order a new domain name with no obligation to buy when the domain is ultimately released. Binding pre-registrations require payment upfront and is a binding agreement.
The availability of new top-level domain names opens doors for companies seeking to harden their digital presence. Ultimately, the decision to choose a new domain name is a strategic one that should be made in tangent with a company’s business goals. As the world evolves to be increasingly digital, how a company presents itself on the world wide web is more important than ever.
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Rebranding is not to be taken lightly. It demands a commitment of time, energy and resources to be successful. There are many things a company should consider and analyze before the decision to rebrand is made. As the world grows increasingly digital, more and more aspects of people’s lives are affected by the instantaneous nature of information. This needs to factor in to the direction the brand needs to take. The accessibility of information at people’s finger tips has changed the mindset of consumers, posing significant challenges:
Where are your consumers? It is difficult nowadays to find someone who does not own a smartphone with the ability to access the internet anytime and anywhere. As consumers spend more time on smaller screens, companies must optimize all aspects of their websites and platforms to perform on these devices— or risk hurting their brand with hard-to-read and poorly-rendered webpages. Companies either need to rebrand and keep up with the times or risk becoming obsolete.
Are you targeting effectively? With the rise of the digital age is the emergence of social media platforms and numerous new ways for a company to reach the people they would like to target. Each new medium requires a different strategy to navigate and not all companies are equipped to immediately do so. A company’s current messaging and image may not have the ability to capture the attention of its target audience. These obstacles are a clear sign that a company needs to revamp its brand to maintain a strong market presence.
How flexible is your current brand? A company’s graphics and visuals must be scalable and adapt to different mediums. Brand assets in the modern era are used for web, mobile, print assets, social media, icons, and the list goes on. All these elements must be taken into consideration starting at the core of a brand’s design for the company to grow along with its consumer base. When a company is unable to effectively utilize its brand in new mediums, a brand redesign is needed before the company falls too far behind.
As the digital age brings new challenges, it also brings new opportunities. An increasingly responsive world may cause initial difficultly for a company adjusting to adapt, but by rebranding doors are opened for the new brand to reach its target audience like never before.
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Today, a website is the front door to your association, and every effort must be made to deliver a powerful user experience for current and prospective members. Your digital platform must be modern and intuitive. Beyond a great design, it is important to make sure your website is addressing all of your association key performance indicators around member services, member retention, communications, activism, and engagement.
To this end, when thinking about your association’s website, a great design is not necessarily where you should begin. The first question you should ask yourself is, “Is our website working as hard for our association as it can to help us achieve our association goals in the most efficient manner.” Understanding where your members are coming from, how are they accessing the site, and what tools they need to be successful all must be asked up front through a discovery process in order to maximize the impact of a new website.
With that thought process in mind, here are some recommendations to consider when undertaking a new website design for your association:
- Provide the tools and resources to help your members do their jobs more effectively. They are paying you to be their advocates, and they need your help in taking action, remaining relevant, and proving the impact and rationale for their membership. For one membership organization, we built a tool that enabled human resources professionals to directly send a presentation to their bosses to show the value and impact of their membership in that organization. It was a very effective tool for ensuring membership dues.
- Clearly communicate the value and impact you provide. Make sure your messaging and value is clear right up front. We have worked with many associations who are going through an identity crisis and don’t understand why membership may be down or why they are less relevant than in the past. It may be time to audit your messaging and positioning, both internally and externally, to ensure it is relevant to your members and the communities you serve.
- Don’t be afraid to brand with impact. Changing colors or changing logos can go a long way toward sending a powerful signal to your constituencies. And make sure that the design direction you take aligns with that of the industry you serve. If you that’s the tech community, make sure your brand feels techy. If you serve the healthcare community, make sure your brand aligns. You get the picture. Modern, fresh and engaging can really make an impact in the perception of your association as you go to market with a new website.
- Content. Content. Content. Being a thought leader and delivering authoritative content is critical for success. Keep your content fresh and engaging, update it regularly, and address the current and emerging topics that are of importance to you members. Association content marketing is becoming a must for the most advanced associations.
- Make sure your content is Search Engine Optimized and your architecture is designed for SEO best practices. There is so much talk about SEO that people get confused. But that should not be the case. Go analyze what people are searching for and align your content around that. Ranking high with Google and Bing can be very effective.
- Go mobile. Look at your stats. People are accessing the web from mobile devices more than ever and the stats continue to rise. A responsive site is a must in today’s digital environment. If a user does not have a great experience with your association on a mobile device it can impact your value immensely.
Top branding firms focus on a variety of factors when rebranding a company. A brand refresh is a large undertaking that involves individuals at all levels in an organization to successfully implement. With the aid of a branding firm, the process can be smoother than expected. Here are 5 more things top branding firms to consider when rebranding your company:
What is your company’s reputation in the market? A company’s reputation can precede it in the market place and form impressions in the consumer’s mind even before they have exposure with your brand. If your company has less than a positive reputation within the market place, rebranding will provide you the opportunity to start anew with a clean slate.
Are you planning to expand your business abroad? There are many adjustments for a company to take their business into the global markets, and a rebrand may be necessary for a company to ensure they appeal to consumers in the global markets past cultural and social lines. Top branding firms are experts in helping companies navigate this tricky terrain to achieve growth in international business ventures.
Has there been a drastic change in executive leadership? A change in a company’s top leadership positions may cause enough organizational changes that the current brand no longer resonates with the company’s new direction. Rebranding the company becomes necessary for the company to maintain a cohesive voice and image.
Is there the need to further develop a corporate identity? As a company grows and develops overtime, the preliminary guidelines set for the brand at the beginning may no longer be strong enough to define the brand as a whole. Without a standardized visual style or extended color palette for example, the company’s corporate identity quickly becomes muddled. Top branding firms set disciplined brand guidelines to ensure uniformity company wide.
Has there been a change of company ownership? When a merger or acquisition occurs, or if a company shifts from private to pubic, there is the immediate move to rebrand the firm. In the case of a merger or acquisition, rebranding fully integrates the new portions of business under one corporate identity to maintain uniformity in the market. When a company shifts from private to public ownership, the company now must comply with legal requirements and top branding firms can be a key player in aiding this transition.
A brand refresh is more often than not a necessary marketing strategy as a company grows and undergoes changes. Top branding firms aid companies of all industries in making this critical change and continuing achieving success in their respective markets.
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There are many factors top branding agencies focus on when rebranding a company. Typically, companies rebrand every 7-10 years but what motivates them to do so? Rebranding often involves choosing a new standardized color palette, a new logo, a new voice, and even a new name. Company dynamics shift to embody the new image and it can be challenging for everyone involved. Here are the 5 things top branding agencies to consider when rebranding your company:
How does your brand stack up to the competition? When placed next to your competitors, how does your company measure up? Do you appear modern and cutting edge? Or do you appear outdated and in need of an upgrade? Visuals aren’t everything, but the first impression a potential customer has of your brand may be a lasting one and ultimately sway their decision in a saturated marketplace.
Are you reaching your target audience? Companies utilize different strategies to appeal to different consumer groups. What appeals to millennials may not capture the attention of older generations. If your company’s goal is to reposition itself in the marketplace to win over a new consumer base, a brand refresh from a top branding agency may just be what your organization needs to reach its goals.
How are the markets changing? Technological advancements have caused major shifts in many industries that have required companies to adapt quickly. The rapid pace of digitizing society has meant companies need to keep up with the times or find themselves left behind. Top branding agencies specialize in positioning their clients for success by implementing best practices in the digital space.
How has your company grown? As companies evolve and increase the offerings of their goods and services in different sectors of the market, the original brand may no longer resonate with its diversified consumer base. Such disconnect between the brand and its offerings may begin affecting the company’s marketing efforts of outlier products or services. Top branding agencies work with clients in such growth dilemmas to find cohesiveness in their organizations and create a new corporate visual identity to tie everything under one brand.
Are there inconsistencies within your company? Are there many different versions of consumer-facing assets used within the company? Is the company voice disconnected from one product or service to another? Are consumers unaware two of your products or services are offered by the same company? If so, rebranding may be a necessary strategy to help both the consumer and company connect the dots of a fragmented brand.
A company rebrand from a top branding agency is more than just aesthetics. A fresh new look and feel is noticed by consumers and works as a strategy to bring more cohesion to the company while simultaneously drawing attention from the market.
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Brand Strategy
The Message and Brand Story
Rarely do you get a chance to work with a client so convinced that they can change the way cancer is diagnosed and treated that it energizes an entire agency. That was the case with Inspirata. After spending five minutes with founder Satish Sanan, it became clear that he had the resources, vision, and passion to shift an entire industry. With significant backing from major investors including the founder of NetJets, Satish came to Bluetext to launch a brand in a very short time. He wanted to focus on building and executing the business and asked us to develop a name, logo, messaging, website, brand story, process and video. The Bluetext team was up to the challenge.
The Name
Creating a name across the medical informatics industry is a challenge as every great idea seems to be taken. But after an extensive messaging process and a team that was open to exploring many possibilities, we came up with this concept of Inspirata, meaning inspiring data. By digitizing the entire pathology workflow process, Inspirata is focused on transforming cancer diagnostics and driving better patient outcomes for people across the globe. They are focused on inspiring a market and everyone fell in love with the name Inspirata.
Brand Presentation
The Logo
Clean, elegant, professional – that is the hallmark of this brand, and the logo is designed as a simple yet elegant mark that is recognizable but not overpowering.
Corporate Visual Identity
Bluetext designed a corporate visual identity system that aligns perfectly with the brand mission and story. It is simple and elegant but not overpowering.
Website
The centerpiece of the Inspirata brand is a powerful, responsive website designed to be easy to use, easy to navigate, and drive users down a path to understand the vision and mission of Satish and his entire management team. Big bold imagery, vibrant colors and lots of original content are the hallmarks of this powerful website which can be found at www.inspirata.com
Brand Delivery
In advance of the company’s launch at the USCAP 2015 Conference in Boston, Bluetext designed a powerful tradeshow booth to highlight the pathology office the future, designed an interactive infographic which demonstrates the company vision of transforming the case review of the future, and developed, in partnership with Philips, a partnership video to talk about the impact the two companies will have on the global digital pathology market.
In the arena of top marketing firms, data-driven marketing seems like the key buzzword of the past few years. In fact, it’s no passing fade. Leveraging analytics to reach target customers has become a key component of any successful digital campaign. According to a recent survey by the Global Alliance of Data-Driven Marketing Associations, employing a data-driven approach has become the backbone to just about any campaign or messaging—whether it’s targeting the right audience, or even predicting potential success. And as marketing technology continues to make inroads across the industry, it’s should not be surprising that more businesses want to take a data-driven approach to their marketing.
The use of data to improve the effectiveness of marketing, and to measure it, is virtually universal these days. In fact, a recent study found that the number of marketers who still don’t use data are now just one in 10. In addition, even more complex data techniques, such as integration of third-party data and cross-channel measurement, were found to be widely used.
The survey found that more than nearly 80 percent of advertising and marketing professionals are now using data-driven techniques to maintain customer databases, measure campaign results across multiple marketing channels, and segment their data for proper targeting. Again, for those of at the top digital marketing agencies, this finding makes perfect sense. Marketing automation platforms, when configured properly, can easily deliver this type of feedback, and those platforms have been aggressively showcasing these capabilities.
The survey, which targeted both advertising and marketing executives from a wide variety of industries, notes a clear shift in spending patterns. The survey respondents reported a strong expectation that spending on data-driven efforts would continue to rise. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said their spending on data analytics for marketing would rise, while only seven percent said they expected a decline in spending the coming year.
While data-driven marketing is not quite yet a flawless solution, that’s not unexpected for a relatively new approach that relies on new technologies, data-driven marketing isn’t a perfect solution, at least not yet. A recent analysis from Square Root found a challenge for many companies is gathering the type of high-quality data that is necessary to optimize results. Data analysts are searching to find more effective ways to collect, manage and understand data. Forty-four percent of the survey respondents reported that they were still using outdated tools. A similar amount believed they could make decisions without in-depth data. According to the survey, over a quarter of respondents cited other time wasters from data source overkill to bad numbers. Square Root’s study, in particular, found more than half of data professionals felt they could use better training, closely followed by another 49% who desired more user-friendly or updated data tools.
But chief marketing officers and other executives wouldn’t be making these investments if they didn’t think they deliver results. They recognize the benefits to the bottom line.
Want help delivering a data-driven marketing program that delivers clear results? Give us a call and see how Bluetext can help.
The battle is in full force on who wins and who loses in the new world of streaming content. It’s not just about consumers who want more choices and are not happy with the bundled offerings they now pay for. The impact extends to advertising, the cable wars and the mega-digital platforms – Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflicks, Instagram, YouTube and others. To help navigate these uncharted waters, I recently appeared on “Boom Bust: Unplugged,” on the RT Network, to discuss the evolution of TV, the rise of streaming content, and the battles within the communications sector.
The caption that accompanied the interview sums it all up: “Who wins in the world of digital media? We dig into the world of digital advertising, streaming, cable, YouTube, Facebook, Google and more. Guest Jason Siegel from Bluetext helps make sense of it all. Are digital ads pushing out traditional cable ad-spots? Will streaming devour cable or will cable providers avoid being swallowed whole by this digital onslaught?”
Streaming vs Cable: Who Wins? BoomBust w/Jason Siegel Chief Digital Offer of Bluetext from Bluetext on Vimeo.
The interview delivers my view of the ongoing competition that is the result of streaming adoption, and why I believe that in the world of passive content, the trends are like a pendulum swinging back and forth for the business involved. How will the “Proprietary-Content-Only” platforms such as HBO GO fare against the “Hybrid-of-Proprietary-and-Licensed Content” plays like Netflix? Watch the video, then share your views with us. I would love to know what you think, and who the winners and losers will be!
Contact me to discuss this, or if you want to learn how Bluetext can help execute your brand’s digital strategy.
If your digital marketing agency team doesn’t have a SMAC roadmap, you may find your company drifting off-course in 2017 and beyond. Here’s brief refresher course on SMAC.
Social Media
Social Media continues to evolve. Platforms rise and fall by the year vs the decades of old. Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Snap’s Evolution Will Result in Interesting New Opportunities.
2. Twitter Fatigue Will Worsen.
3. Users Will Crave More Vicarious Experiences.
4. New Areas of Communication Will Emerge.
Mobile
Mobile devices are the cornerstone of how new business is being built and legacy businesses are reinventing themselves. Mobile devices allow users to constantly update their profile, stay aware of deals and promotions, and track locations and buying habits by virtue of connecting to various wireless signals and near-field communication (NFC) devices.
Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Consumers redefine purchase boundaries; mobile marketing, brand partnerships deepen
2. Department stores, mobile marketing partners tackle the ‘Amazon Effect’
3. Programmatic accelerates: brands, tech, marketing continue to invest
4. Next-generation creative, video redefine mobile engagements
Analytics
As databases have grown larger and processors and memory have become capable of chewing through hundreds of millions of records in a short time, we have begun to see how analytics can do more than just track clicks. Analytics can establish links between entities and make intelligent predictions about customer behavior based on knowledge a system has about a customer — knowledge that has been informed by social networking.
To keep up with the explosion in Big Data, companies and corporations are beginning to invest in BI projects and more and more sophisticated analytics infrastructure. Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Multi-channel Attribution
2. Focus on ‘Return on Analytics Investment
3. Monetization of Data
4. Exciting new players in the MarTech arena to complement the core analytic platforms
Cloud
The cloud element of SMAC refers to the capability a business has to spin up vast amounts of capacity that are paid for by the minute or hour. Businesses do not need to spend millions of dollars building another data warehouse – they simply rent it from a cloud provider, do their work and turn it off. When the business environment changes, they simply spin up another cluster in the cloud, pay another few hundred dollars and continue building insights.
Some new trends we see emerging that we see potentially continuing to gain momentum.
1. Artificial intelligence (AI) will make personalization a reality in 2017.
2. Self-service will be the new normal.
3. Enhancing the Buyer Journey
4. Google Tag Manager and other granular analytics modules being the norm
With buyer sophistication growing daily, marketers need to deliver increasingly smarter strategies and campaigns. Are you taking the time to measure how your efforts are working and think about how you might enhance your efforts, or do you find yourself quickly moving from one campaign to the next?
Need help with your SMAC TALK? Contact the digital marketing gurus at Bluetext.
At Bluetext, we know that branded name searches are the most common way potential customers, partners, prospective employees and investors will find you online. We also recognize that a change in name and brand identity can be critical components to growth in a rapidly evolving, global digital economy.
We have a trio of these unique projects right now and understand that – because a name will inevitably involve a domain change – it could have significant consequences to the search equity you have built around your current name and website. Here are the five most critical steps to minimize the negative impact of a name and/or domain change and preserve the organic search rankings, domain authority and link equity you have worked so hard to acquire:
- SEO & Inbound Link Analysis
During the initial phases of a rebranding exercise, you will likely be tempted to roll out fresh content as quickly as possible with your new website. It is important, however to begin this process with both an SEO Audit and ROT Analysis to carve out redundant, obsolete or trivial content and at the same time identify assets that your analytics can clearly demonstrate have delivered site traffic, leads and positive brand exposure up to this point.
During the brand migration process, we also recommend retaining your existing web properties for a few months and performing an inbound link analysis of the external web pages that are still linking to them. Deleting them immediately would deprive you from leveraging the link equity gained by these pages as Google begins to understand and assimilate the changes you have made in order to update your index in conjunction the new content you are rolling out.
- 301 Redirects
Because rebranding is by its very meaning the process of changing your company’s corporate name and identity – it is impossible to maintain two separate versions. Therefore, one of the most important steps to take when launching a new domain is to redirect your old URLs to their new equivalents.
The primary purpose of keeping the old content as described above is to preserve and leverage the link equity you have acquired from existing backlinks to other websites and transfer that organic value as you redirectthat page to a new one. This helps everyone – and most importantly Google – understand that both old and new domains refer to the same organization.
- Avoid 404 Errors on Deleted Pages
On the other side of that same coin, be careful not to allow pages you are deleting in the migration process to suddenly disappear – it is critical to redirect them to either the new homepage or a placeholder page on the new site – otherwise you will risk losing any equity that page once had as well as its potential for associated traffic to the new domain. Every link pointing towards your new domain has the potential to transfer incremental value to your new domain.
- Google Search Console
Google’s Search Console is by far your most critical tool for communicating a name and domain change to Google. Before your new site launches, you should ensure that both your old and new domains are verified in the search console. Once you migrate to the new environment, you can submit a change of address request through your old domain’s account to ensure that your redirects are working perfectly.
In addition, we recommend submitting the sitemap for your new domain to the search console so Google can register those changes and ultimately index your domain more quickly post launch.
- Optimize. Optimize. Optimize.
One of the most important steps in preserving search equity during the migration process – and one that is given a back seat – is the maintenance of on-page optimization after your new site is launched. This starts with optimizing your title tags for each primary keyword – this the text that Google will display as your page title for every search result – as well as the text that will display in the user’s browser when they visit your page. From there is critical to leverage H1, H2, H3 and H4 tags to reinforce your primary and secondary keywords, as well as their long tail keyword variations you want to rank for.
And finally – continue to acquire new links for your site. Each link coming in is a signal to Google that your content is valued, reinforcing how you are indexed and maintaining your position at the top of rankings for the keywords that are driving your business.