BuyMyDrone

BuyMyDrone Clip

Just another fun video for a CcyberReadyStore.

#crs

What is a Brand

What is a brand?

BRAND

A brand is the "personality" given to a product and/or service. It creates a tone of voice, personality and visual identity that is unique to the product and/or service. A brand differentiates a product from similar products and provides greater credibility to sell the products.


Good branding inspires action, change, aspiration, or in some cases, gets your customers to fix something that ails them or change their minds. A well-established brand will provide consumers with a decision-making-shortcut when feeling indecisive about the same product from different companies.


Most people tend to think of brands based on their visual identity (logo, website and colours, are some examples). These are very important elements of a brand. The name and logo often provide potential clients with the first impression of the brand and product. Successful CEOs and business owners know that branding goes deeper than a name and logo. 


Companies tend to use different tools to create and shape a brand. For example, branding can be achieved through:

Advertising and communications:

Brand communication is a voice. It humanises any brand to be able to create real and relevant conversations with people. Connections that may last a moment or that last for a lifetime.

Product and packaging design:

The silent salesman that will grab busy consumers’ attention in-store. Packaging informs consumers about the product’s properties and visually differentiates the brand from the competition on-shelf.

In-store experience:

Brands that are going to continue to thrive are the ones that can deliver a consistent and memorable experience across all touch points – which means digital and physical. “The ones who really get it understand the practicality and utility of shopping in an online environment, matched beautifully with a human experience and brilliant people who can help customers throughout their journey.” 

Pricing:

The fundamental rule of pricing tells us that the price charged for a product must match the value consumers perceive that they get when they buy that product.

Sponsoring and partnerships:

Brand sponsorship is a marketing strategy in which a brand is supporting an event, activity, person or organization


The #1 piece of advice for any type of business with regards to branding is to have a cohesive look all across your social media platforms and blog. Whether it is a traditional business or today's e-commerce brands, the most valuable asset for building a branding are visual. The key to great branding is knowing how your customers view you compared to the competition.

#CRS

FunDogsFunCats

FunDogs & FunCats

Just a fun video for a niche market CyberReadyStore.

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CyberReadyStore Promotional Clip

CyberReadyStore Promotional Clip

My E-commerce Story: CyberReadyStore.co.za

The journey begins.

I made the decision to enter the e-commerce business. An opportunity to own my own e-commerce franchise crossed my way, and I took it. My first e-commerce store was delivered to me, seven days later, and I was ready to start selling.

Now what?

I first I felt a little overwhelmed. There is so much information available out there. Where do you start? How to make sense of all the information out there? There are so many decisions to make. What systems do you invest in? What are the important considerations to think of at the beginning that could make a big difference later on?

If this was not enough, encountering all these terms is like learning a new language. There is SEO, digital marketing, bounce rates, conversions, building sales channels, social media and so much more. It is not just about knowing and understanding what all these terms mean, but also how they all link together? What is important, and what is not? The list can go on and on.

It seems this 1 decision, start an e-commerce store, opened up a Pandora’s box. This made me think that there must be others that feel the same way, so I decided to create a blog. A blog to:

•    Write about my experience/journey.

•    Unpacking the various topics

•    Trying to make sense from all the information out there.

•    Lessons learned

•    Share content and expertise with other people I found helpful

•    Create a reference space with relevant content, covering the many topics one will encounter.

My hope is that this collection will grow over time, and I invite anybody that would like to contribute to this endeavor to please get in touch with me on info@cyberreadystore.co.za I would love to hear about your insights, thoughts, strategies, and stories.

#CRS

6 Things to consider before you get started.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

I suppose it will be nice if you know the size of the elephant before start chewing your way.

I always try to contextualize and establish some degree of the structure when I start something new. In this installment, I will try to do the same. Considering the vast field of e-commerce and all the elements involved, I developed my own framework, of how I think everything fits together. I am not suggesting that this is the only way. Other frameworks surely exist. Many would possibly disagree with some of my viewpoints and point out things that are not on the list. 

This is a working document and the framework will continuously evolve over time. It will definitely change over time and expand to include more content and resources. I am inviting anybody that would like to contribute to this project to please reach out to me. My contact details are info@cyberreadystore.co.za Lets start a conversation.

For me, this framework provides a starting point. My strategy is to get a basic understanding in as many of the topics involved and then over time become more skilled in each. I suppose that it is almost like being back at school. You have a number of subjects that you will master in a progressive manner over time, becoming more skilled in each.

Another reason why I like my strategy is that it creates a synergy. Considering all the various topics and the elements involved, a holistic view will help you to make better decisions at the start. Ensuring you invest in the right technology that would enable your vision from the beginning, could save you a lot of time and money later.

Feeling overwhelmed?

Therefore, without further delay, here is version 0.1 of the framework under development.

6 Things to Consider V0.1

1. Brand

Your Story

What differentiates you?

Value proposition

    Consumer Phycology

    Colours/fond/images/logos

2. Strategy

     How do you plan to enter the market?

     Marketing Strategy

     How often to launch new products/services

     Pricing

3. Technology

Website

Mobile

Apps

Disrupting Tech

4. Automation

Processes

Social media aggregators

Email programs

5. Marketing

Marketing Plan

Social Media – The Big one

Other channels

6. Content

    Creation of marketing material

    Product presentation

    Content types

SEO

I think many people will argue that social media must be a topic or category of its own. My view is that social media is an element or function of marketing. Many businesses rely solely on social media marketing, but it is important to remember that there are also other marketing channels available, which depending on the type of business can be as effective.  

Next time I will start to unpack the framework in more detail, one topic at a time.

    #CRS