Branding & Marketing: Obviously, Not Obvious.

While visiting the town of Paso Robles for some good ol’ wine tasting last weekend, my friends and I stumbled upon a bagel shop in the heart of downtown. Recommended by a friend, we had to give it a shot. As soon as I saw the exterior from the parking lot, I was ready to walk away.

Why?  Upon arrival, the front door was plastered with old photos of bagel sandwiches that appeared to be taken with a 20-year-old camera—faded and unattractive to the eye.

A photo is worth a thousand customers! According to Inc., as a business, you have eight seconds to grab a consumers attention before they swipe onto the next funny doggie video.

Something as simple as taking high quality photos can make the difference between earning or losing your next customer.

Of course, I trust my friend’s recommendations, but I needed a second opinion. The first thing I did was pull out my phone and google the bagel shop. Searching for a glimpse of hope, I found hundreds of positive reviews, mentioning how delicious the food is. According to Forbes, about 90% of consumers rely on reviews prior to visiting a business. Making sure your business has positive online reviews can affect not only the number of new customers, but also how much they are willing to spend.

Recently, my friends invited me to come try a new sushi burrito bar in Huntington Beach. Not knowing what a sushi burrito is, they sent me a link to the website, and I was immediately impressed. The design and branding were clean and captivating while the site was easy to navigate. Perfect recipe to roll you right in–pun intended. I was hungry for a sushiritto before getting my hands on one.

Consumers today are following more and more brands online simply because they like them.

One might think they have the greatest product ever invented and that everyone already knows about it, but they don’t. Making sure you take the time to build the story and personality of your business through photography, design and online reviews are crucial steps to gaining and maintaining clientele.

Next time you think, “how can I attract more business?,” look deep within your soul (or just look at the tips from this blog) and paint the vision you want the world to see.