Every Customer Touch Point Shapes Your Brand’s Story

An option to subscribe to an email newsletter on a work computer, demonstrating an example of a customer touch point

Picture this: a potential client discovers your business through a LinkedIn post, visits your website, reads your blog, and receives your email newsletter—all before making their first purchase. Each customer touch point weaves together to create their perception of your brand. At Paragon Marketing Group, we understand these moments of connection are crucial building blocks that drive business growth.

In this post, we’ll cover the difference between touch points and marketing channels, the customer’s journey, common touch points, the value of every interaction, and building your brand through touch points.

Understanding Touch Points vs. Marketing Channels

Marketing channels are the platforms or methods you use to reach your audience, such as email marketing, social media, or direct mail. Touch points, however, are the actual moments of interaction that occur within these channels. For example, while email is a marketing channel, a customer opening and reading your newsletter is a customer touch point.

Key Takeaway: Marketing channels provide the framework, but touch points create the actual connection with your audience.

Common Customer Touch Points

Now that you know the difference between marketing channels and touch points, it’s time to determine which touch points your customers are using to interact with you. Your business likely engages with customers through various touch points, such as these::

  • Website visits and blog content
  • Social media interactions
  • Email newsletters and campaigns
  • Direct mail materials
  • Customer service calls
  • Online advertisements
  • Customer reviews on Google
  • In-person interactions

Key Takeaway: To create a cohesive brand experience, you need to maintain consistency across all your touch points.

The Journey Through Touch Points

Touch points occur across several key stages:

  • Awareness: When customers first discover your brand.
  • Consideration: As they research and compare options.
  • Decision: When they’re ready to make a purchase.
  • Post-purchase: Throughout their experience using your product or service.
  • Loyalty: During ongoing engagement and repeat purchases.

Key Takeaway: Each stage of the customer journey presents unique opportunities for meaningful engagement.

The Value of Every Interaction

Not every customer touch point leads directly to a sale, but each one contributes to your brand’s story. Research shows that customers typically need at least 8 touch points on average before making a purchase decision. Each interaction builds familiarity, trust, and brand recognition.

For example, a prospect might search for a service on Google. Then, she may click on your website and read about your business. Before making a decision, she decides to look up your reviews on Google to see what other people think. She may even visit one or multiple of your business’s social media pages to see how up-to-date your brand is. Do people interact with the posts? Is the information current or outdated? She may decide to subscribe to your newsletter and think about what she really wants to do before making a purchasing decision.

Time goes by. Finally, the prospect is retargeted by a Facebook ad or maybe sees an ad on Hulu and is reminded of your business. She may receive another email or even click on an Instagram post before eventually deciding your business is right for her.

While the prospect needed several touch points before deciding to make a purchase, each touch point did not end with a sale. Rather, each touch point provided value by building familiarity and trust with the brand before the prospect finally chose to move forward.

Key Takeaway: Patient, consistent engagement across multiple touch points creates a strong foundation for future sales.

Building Your Brand Through Touch Points

Every touch point is an opportunity to demonstrate your brand’s values and expertise. At Paragon Marketing Group, we help businesses create meaningful interactions through various touch points, including:

Key Takeaway: Strategic customer touch points help create a memorable brand identity that resonates with your target audience.

Here’s a Quick Recap:

  1. Customer touch points create real connections within marketing channels.
  2. Consistency across touch points builds a cohesive brand experience.
  3. Different stages of the customer journey require different types of engagement.
  4. Multiple touch points work together to drive purchasing decisions.
  5. Every interaction contributes to your brand’s story and reputation.

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, every touch point counts. As a full-service marketing group, Paragon Marketing Group combines digital and traditional solutions to create meaningful customer interactions across all channels. We understand there’s no “one size fits all” approach to marketing, which is why we customize our touch point strategy to meet your specific business needs and goals.

Ready to strengthen your customer touch points? Please visit our website at paragonmarketinggroup.com or call us at 262-443-9092 to start developing a comprehensive marketing strategy that makes every interaction count.

Mastering Branding Consistency: Your Key to Unforgettable Impressions

multiple items on a desk reflecting the importance of branding consistency for a business

Branding consistency is crucial for building a strong and recognizable brand. At Paragon Marketing Group, we understand your brand is more than just a logo or a color scheme; it’s a story you share with your customers. Ensuring your branding elements are consistent across all platforms is key to communicating your story effectively and building trust with your audience.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the impact of brand consistency (and inconsistency), great branding examples, and some practical steps you can start taking to maintain brand consistency in your business.

What Is Branding Consistency?

Branding consistency involves maintaining a uniform appearance and message across all marketing materials and customer touchpoints. This includes everything from your logo and color scheme to the tone of your communications and the quality of your customer service. When your branding is consistent, it helps to create a strong, unified image of your company in the minds of your customers.

Takeaway: Maintaining consistent branding builds a cohesive and powerful image for your business.

The Impact of Inconsistency

Rather, inconsistent branding confuses your customers and dilutes your brand’s message. Imagine a company where the logo on the website is different from the one on social media, or the colors on the business cards don’t match the colors on the brochures. Even worse, think of employees wearing shirts with a business name that doesn’t match the name on the website. This lack of attention to detail can make your company appear unprofessional and disorganized.

Key takeaway: Inconsistent branding can make your company appear unprofessional and disorganized.

Great Branding Examples

Many successful companies have mastered the art of branding consistency, and we could write an entire post focused on just a few key examples. Instead, we’ll highlight two well recognized brands:

  1. Apple: This brand uses a sleek, minimalist design across all its products, packaging, and marketing materials. This results in a cohesive and instantly recognizable brand image.
  2. Coca-Cola: Similarly, this brand maintains a consistent color scheme, logo, and messaging across all its advertising and packaging, reinforcing its brand identity worldwide.

Key takeaway: Successful companies like Apple and Coca-Cola demonstrate the power of consistent branding.

The Connection Between Branding and Customer Service

Amazing customer service is an essential part of your brand. When customers have a positive experience with your company, it reinforces the brand’s values and promises. At Paragon Marketing Group, we believe every interaction with your customers should reflect your brand’s identity. It’s up to your business to make sure your customer service is consistent with your brand’s voice and values.

Key takeaway: Positive customer service experiences reinforce your brand’s values and promises.

How to Maintain Branding Consistency

Here are a few practical steps you can start taking to maintain consistency for your brand:

  1. Establish Brand Guidelines: Create a comprehensive guide that includes your logo, color scheme, fonts, and tone of voice. This will ensure everyone in your company is on the same page.
  2. Audit Your Brand Regularly: Regularly review all your marketing materials to ensure they align with your brand guidelines. This includes your website, social media, print materials, and even employee uniforms.
  3. Invest in Professional Design Services: Working with professional designers, like those at Paragon Marketing Group, can help you maintain a high standard of consistency across all your branding materials.

Key takeaway: Establishing brand guidelines, conducting regular audits, and investing in professional design services can help maintain branding consistency.

Here’s a Quick Recap:

  1. Maintaining consistent branding builds a cohesive and powerful image for your company
  2. Inconsistent branding can make your company appear unprofessional and disorganized.
  3. Successful companies like Apple and Coca-Cola demonstrate the power of consistent branding.
  4. Positive customer service experiences reinforce your brand’s values and promises.
  5. Establishing brand guidelines, conducting regular audits, and investing in professional design services can help maintain branding consistency.

Branding consistency is essential for building a strong, recognizable brand. By maintaining a uniform appearance and message across all platforms, you can create a cohesive image of your company that builds trust with your customers.

At Paragon Marketing Group, we’re dedicated to helping you achieve branding consistency with our professional design services. Please visit our website at paragonmarketinggroup.com or call us at 262-443-9092 to learn more about how we can help you tell your story.

How To Make A Lasting First Impression For Your Brand

A small business owner shaking hands with a client after making a good first impression of his brand

In today’s competitive landscape, making a strong first impression for your brand could be the difference in someone choosing your business over a competitor’s. If you want your small business to stand out in the market, it’s essential to craft a memorable brand image that will resonate with your target audience.

In this blog post, we’ll explore some effective marketing tips to help your brand make a positive and lasting first impression.

How to Make a Lasting First Impression for Your Brand

Uncover four key insights into crafting a brand presence that leaves a lasting mark on your customers and prospects alike:

Plans for a brand to make a lasting first impression on a desk
How can your brand make a lasting first impression?

1. Establish a Professional Website

In the digital age, having a professional website builds credibility and attracts customers. Your website serves as the online face of your brand, providing visitors with valuable information about your products or services.

To ensure your website makes a positive first impression, your website should be . . . 

  • User-friendly. Visitors should find your website easy to navigate and understand. Your site should have a flow to make it seamless for users to explore with clear CTAs (calls to action) to move visitors toward making a purchase, booking a service, or contacting the business.
  • Visually appealing. There’s a science to color and design, and visitors will see right through a website that had no time and effort put into its design. Your website shouldn’t be filled with ads, difficult-to-read fonts, or eight different colors.
  • Mobile-responsive. Some of your client base might be on a computer. Others may be on a tablet or mobile device. If you want your site to attract the highest possible number of visitors, then it must be accessible across multiple devices.
  • Optimized for SEO. Optimizing your site for search engines will improve your site’s visibility and attract organic traffic.

Takeaway: Establishing a professional website that is user-friendly, visually appealing, mobile-responsive, and optimized for SEO will help make a positive first impression for your brand.

2. Maintain an Active Social Media Presence

Social media platforms offer a valuable opportunity to engage with your audience and showcase your brand’s personality. But have you ever visited a company’s Facebook or Instagram account and realized they hadn’t posted in a few months? Visitors are often left to fend for themselves or become “detectives” in finding the information for which they’re searching.

That’s why consistently posting relevant and engaging content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Nextdoor, or other platforms can answer the questions for which visitors might be searching all while helping your brand build awareness and establish credibility in your industry.

Aside from posting consistently, here are a few ways you can actively engage with your clients on social media:

  • Respond to comments and messages promptly.
  • Stay up-to-date with current trends.
  • Note what type of content with which your visitors engage, and then share more of that content on your platforms.

Takeaway: Build positive brand awareness by maintaining an active social media presence through consistent posting and active engagement.

3. Invest in Quality Creative Assets

Compelling creative assets are essential for capturing the attention of your audience and conveying your brand message effectively. Invest in high-quality assets, including photography, videography, graphic design, and marketing materials, to convey professionalism and attention to detail.

Similarly, well-crafted copy that speaks to your brand’s values and resonates with your target audience can help you make a memorable impression and differentiate your brand from competitors. Whether you collaborate with in-house creatives or contract with a marketing agency like Paragon Marketing Group, we recommend having talented professionals create visually stunning content that reflects your brand’s personality and values.

Takeaway: Investing in high-quality creative assets can help your brand stand out and leave a lasting impression on potential customers.

4. Provide Exceptional Customer Service

Delivering exceptional customer service is key to making a positive first impression and building long-term relationships with your customers. Your branding never stops at the sales or marketing side. To maintain a positive reputation and establish your brand as one where people want to give their business (and continue giving their business), you need to provide extraordinary customer service. A few ways you can accomplish this include:

  • Responding to inquiries and concerns quickly. If there’s been an issue with a client’s service or product, one of the best ways you can manage the problem is by responding quickly so that the client understands they’re a priority. Often the way in which you defuse a tricky situation can become more memorable than the issue itself.
  • Address customer feedback and reviews thoughtfully. As a small business owner, it’s never easy to receive a critical review or negative feedback. But that doesn’t mean you can’t respond professionally, even if the review was unkind or untrue. Plus, other prospective clients will be watching and reading what you respond. How you respond will tell them whether or not your business is worth considering.
  • Go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations. There are so many ways you can accomplish this. Whether you offer a special discount, give extra attention to detail to a customer’s account, follow up on service where a client had concerns, or even offer a listening ear, you can always find a way to exceed expectations. Your customers will not forget how you made them feel.

Takeaway: By prioritizing customer satisfaction, you can create a positive reputation for your brand and earn the trust and loyalty of your audience.

Here’s a Quick Recap:
  1. Establishing a professional website that is user-friendly, visually appealing, mobile-responsive, and optimized for SEO will help make a positive first impression for your brand.
  2. Build positive brand awareness by maintaining an active social media presence through consistent posting and active engagement.
  3. Investing in high-quality creative assets can help your brand stand out and leave a lasting impression on potential customers.
  4. By prioritizing customer satisfaction, you can create a positive reputation for your brand and earn the trust and loyalty of your audience.

Crafting a strong first impression for your brand is essential for small businesses looking to succeed in today’s competitive market. By following these marketing tips and investing in your brand’s online presence, design, and customer service, you can create a memorable and impactful brand image that resonates with your target audience.

To learn more, please visit our website at paragonmarketinggroup.com or call us at 262-443-9092 to learn more. We’re here to help you elevate your brand and make a lasting impression.

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!

 

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!