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Launching just about any new website can turn out to be a singularly daunting task. And as the precious weeks turn to months, you feel that you are losing out on different opportunities and become really frustrated.

However, instead of feeling overwhelmed, you should try and treat your just website like any other brick and mortar business. That is, a site that is constantly changing and growing, and it is based on exactly how your potential customers may respond to your marketing strategies.

Remember, your website doesn’t have to be excellent the very minute you hit the publish icon. It is a good idea to follow a few important guidelines to ensure that you are launching a site that is not just secure but also easy to use. After all, your website has to be absolutely full of useful information.

Let us check this 10 step checklist to see what you need to do to create that perfect website:

Step One: Set a Prospective Site Launch Date

Once you have chosen your launch date, it is time to buckle down and really go to work! You must always keep track of how the work is progressing, and you should also tell other people about your new site and when it will be up and operational. Once the domain has been registered, you can also place a ‘coming soon” place holder.

Step Two: Pick A Nice Web Building Software

A quick search engine search will easily show that there are many options when it comes to choosing any specific website platform. This is why it is important to do your due diligence and research so that you will be able to find that one fits in your budget and suits your needs. You also need to look at your business needs and the technical skills and website preferences of your users.

Step 3: Choose a Really Nice Domain Name

The domain name you choose is the central location of your online address. I.e., it is what appears in the address bar of the web browser whenever a visitor comes to your website. For example, any custom and personalized domain (e.g., www.mybusiness.com) will also help the business look highly reputable to the visitor.

Step 4: Pick A Good Hosting Service Provider

You will definitely need to choose a specific hosting server and service provider for your website.

In fact, the relevance of this step in your website evaluation checklist cannot be over emphasized. This is because it is absolutely critical in maintaining the site. If you get a cheap and unreliable host, you will be vulnerable to long blackouts and periods where your website will remain unavailable.

Step 5: Focus on The End User’s Experience

The user experience, or UX for short, is a central component of your whole website. It relates to two distinct but equally important elements: navigation and design.

Your website should be very easy to navigate, and the visitor should feel that he is at home. Furthermore, the design should be esthetically pleasing and eye catching as well. This holds ever more true for a mobile website as well as an online business too. Every individual page should focus on how it can help the customer solve a problem, or it should focus on imparting knowledge and value addition to the target audience.

Step 6: A Consistent Feel and Look Is of Supreme Importance

If you have a blue page in your ‘about us’ section and a green one in “our team’ than it will jar the eye. You already have your logo in place, all you need is a theme, and that will come only with consistency in color and design.

Step 7: You Simply Must Create Compelling Content

The age old adage ‘content is king’ holds as true today as it ever did before. As a matter of fact, from important meta keywords all the way to value addition to attracting organic traffic, it’s always good content that comes to the rescue of even a moribund website.

Your content must be SEO friendly. That is, it should be optimized for search engines so that it will make it to the top ten of the popular search engines.

Step 8: Test It for Usability

If your site is not user-friendly, people will not be interested in staying long, and they will ‘bounce. It should be readable; the pictures should be clearly legible and not too small, and it should come packed with a host of features that can enable the user to share it on his social media walls and accounts.

The website audit checklist should also include how it can work with mobile phones since they are now supplanting notebooks and PCs.

Step 9: Always Try and Keep the Site as Secure as Possible

Safety and security, especially for an online business website, are of extreme importance. The site should also have all relevant HTTPS and SSL certificates. This holds true even if it is not geared towards an online cash transaction platform.

Step 10: You Should Sign Up for Analytic Software such as Google Analytics

Such a platform will easily let you know who is visiting your site and when. This way, you will be able to keep track of your target audience and also make sure that your bounce rate remains low. If it becomes high, you can take steps to decrease it. All of this is only possible if you are constantly analyzing your site.

Conclusion

In light of the above, we can safely conclude that the above 10 step website audit checklist is absolutely imperative if you want to make a successful and popular website.

Keyword research is a process where you identify popular terms that people search for on search engines like Bing, Google, and so on. These keyword search terms are then incorporated into content, so that it ranks higher on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Keyword search analysis is an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

The entire process involves choosing topics for your content that focuses on specific keywords for which you want your content to rank.

How to Research Keywords

In order to decide what keywords may work best work for your business, you need to identify your buyer’s journey and buyer personas. The buyer’s journey is important for numerous teams in your organization; its usefulness is not limited to the marketing team alone. For instance, your sales team might find it a lot easier to determine what approach works best for your potential customers.

There is no doubt each user has their own unique journey, but finding out as much about their goals, intent, and demographics provides you with countless keyword ranges. This is also why it is important to work on a content map, as it helps you plot your buyer’s journey and buyer personas on a map, giving you valuable insight about what content you are missing out on.

Once you have clearly defined personas, plan for the keywords you want to rank for and those you already rank for.

A simple process to follow would be the PIE method; which stands for Protect, Improve, and Expand.

• Protect

This portion is primarily concerned with keywords you already rank for — keep them locked as they are. This includes keywords associated with your product or service.

• Improve

Here, you deal with opportunity keywords. Your rank can lie anywhere between second to tenth on Google search result pages, these “low hanging fruit” keywords can be tweaked to increase authority.

• Expand

Finally, and most importantly, this portion deals with opportunity terms that fare well in PPC, but have little to no visibility in organic. These keywords have a low probability of ranking on the top ten pages on Google.

To optimize your SEO strategy further, integrating a SERP API can provide a more accurate analysis of keyword rankings, search engine results, and competitor performance, helping you refine your approach and stay ahead of the competition.

Search Engine Keyword Research Best Practices

If you lack SEO keyword search, it is high time you take the necessary steps to up your game before you lose to your competition. To aid you in your endeavor, here are some keyword research best practices for you to consider.

Capitalize on Trending Topics

There is no need to complicate things. Sometimes, you do not need strategies or campaigns with unique content.

All you need to do is to check on the latest trends. Don’t overthink it, but it takes time to create relevant and fresh content.

Improve Your PPC Performance

Most companies think they can throw money at a problem to make it go away. Due to this, they only solve their problems by throwing their money at it, which means they have lesser finances to experiment with.

What these companies do not understand is that it is not money that is important, it is time. Marketers simply do not have the time to guess what keywords are going to work. To solve this, they can use Google to provide those much needed keywords.

You can start searching for keywords using a service or product name. Look for related keywords for relevance. Look for keywords that are pretty close, but something that is much more popular.

Once you have found enough keywords, load them into Google Ads.

Analyze Your Competition

When it comes to SEO, the idea is to outdo your competition on search engine results — find who your competitors actually are. You will also need to find out how they rank for keywords that you want to target.

To find out more about your competition and their strategies, you can use tools like SEMrush’s Position Tracker. Simply enter your competitors’ URLs, and the tool compares your rankings with those of your competition.

There are many tools that not only provide you with organic keyword results, but Google Ads as well. This way you can see what keywords are used by your competition for their ads.

Pick the top three competitors and analyze their strategies off-site and on-site. Look at their Meta titles and Meta descriptions. Check out what sites are linked back to them. See how well their pages are structured.

Use Keywords in the Right Places

Keywords need to be incorporated into the headings, Meta titles, and Meta descriptions on your page. They must be used appropriately, throughout your written content.

Think of it this way: every web page is an optimization opportunity — do not just focus on your homepage.

While optimizing each and every page on your website, target 2-3 keywords for each page. Of course, this means you need to plan what keyword phrases will be used on which pages.

Writing unique content around keyword phrases is an art. For this reason, be careful about the words you use and how you use them for maximum search ability and readability.

Keep in mind, keyword research is not a list of boxes you need to tick off. Take it seriously as a consistent and comprehensive activity for your next big marketing idea.

Use keyword research to constantly tweak your strategies based on what your customers search for. Then all you need to do is to figure out how you can do an even better job than your competitors to give them what they want.

Most of us receive an unspecified number of e-mails everyday – and most of them try to convince us to buy something. There are so many of these emails that clutter our inbox and we end up deleting them without reading any.

On the flip side, if you are engaged in email marketing, you would want each one of your emails to be opened and read, and ultimately translate into sales. For this purpose, you need to create emails that are engaging, captivating and convincing.

Why Email Marketing

Above is a comparative analysis of marketing channels that offer the best Return on Investment (ROI). As you can see, email marketing channel is well ahead of its peers.

A successful email marketing campaign has three basic components: getting leads, making sales, and retaining customers. When you plan an email marketing strategy for ecommerce, you must keep these three basic components in mind.

Serving as a guide to email marketing, this article provides you with some tips and tricks that will serve to enhance your ROI with the help of email marketing.

Create a Catchy Subject Line

The importance of the subject line of an email cannot be stressed enough. The subject decides whether the receiver will open your email or simply delete it without reading.

If the subject line isn’t catchy or compelling, the receiver will never open it. Moreover, the subject should not feel like a sales pitch.

One effective way of increasing the email open rate is by adding a sense of urgency in your subject line. You can make your sales offer time-sensitive so that the receiver is convinced enough to open the email and does not miss the opportunity to obtain an exclusive deal.

It’s All in the Words

One of the ecommerce email marketing best practices is the clever and concise use of words.

You have a catchy subject which compelled your target audience to open your email. Now what?

Your aim is to sell a product or a service — anything you write in your email should engage the recipient and eventually close the sale. There are a few words that are regarded as power words — make ample use of these words, such as ‘the best-selling’, ‘latest improved version’, and ‘sensational’ etc. These words render your product / service as more appealing.

Compare the following two lines:

• 1. This is a very good offer.
• 2. Embrace yourself for the new and sensational offer.

Which line do you think is more appealing?

Of course, the second one. By simply adding two adjectives to the line, you have changed the entire perspective of the receiver. The first one sounds generic and boring, while the second one seems full of energy.

Get your recipients to feel the excitement. They must feel how good it would be to wear the t-shirt your company is selling. How it will allow them to save money if they purchase the product within the next fifteen days.

For example, when a company chooses its logo, they want it to be attractive and impressive. They want their target audience to be impressed by it, which is why they look for something that makes their logo special — like Baskin Robins has the 31 in the middle because they have 31 flavors! Just like this, your email should be full of energy and you must look for a reason why your email is special for the recipient.

While drafting your email, you must keep in mind that your recipient must feel important. You should not address them with a generic name like ‘dear recipient’ or ‘dear subscriber’. They must be addressed in such a way that every one of them should feel as if you are addressing them. This will add exclusivity to your email.

Segmenting Your Recipients List

Everyone is not interested in everything.

An academic will be least interested in your running shoes. Likewise a sportsperson will not be compelled to buy the latest research paper on Shakespeare. This means that you must first divide your recipients’ list into proper segments, and then send marketing emails that are specifically targeted. This results in a notably higher percentage of success.

There are several criteria’s by which you can segment your list. These include (but are not limited to) cultural background, geography, purchasing history, and past behavioral data of a prospective customer. Eventually, the burden of segmenting falls on your shoulders. You must decide how your list should be categorized and who should fall in which category. Just keep in mind that everyone in your list should get the right email – something in which interests them, so that they intentionally move towards your landing page.

Send- Don’t Spam

Once you have all the basics of an email put together, you need your target audience to read the email. Design a drip email campaign using any email marketing tools or automation software that allows you to send out messages over a period of time at different intervals.  Drip emails save time and energy because they are created in advance and send out the right message at the right time while increasing brand awareness. Eventually, they improve your open rates by up to 70%. The idea is to choose a trigger, identify an audience, craft a suitable message and maintain the drip consistently over a period of time. A good drip campaign delights the recipient, and they don’t realize it is pre-written and automated.

The Final Word

Ecommerce email examples are abundant over the internet. There are also ecommerce newsletter best practices which you may consider. In simple words, you can find just about any kind of email that you may be seeking. This does not mean that you can use any one of them for your specific purpose.

With the help of the above listed trick and tips, you can make sure that your recipients don’t delete your email without reading it. It must catch the eye of the recipient, and in the end, convert into a sale. Only then your objective will be achieved.

Not very long ago, most people considered social media websites, and particularly Facebook, for teenagers. However, over the past few years, Facebook has evolved into a potent advertisement channel for reaching a wider niche audience.

Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions)

The above chart shows that the number of global social media users will cross 3 billion threshold by 2021 — most of them will be using Facebook. The increasing use of smartphones and other mobile devices will further fuel Facebook’s penetration among the general public through its app.

Widely regarded as a site for social media interactions, Facebook has slowly morphed into a highly effective – and competitive – marketing tool.

Businesses and entrepreneurs who had the vision and the understanding to decipher Facebook’s marketing power in advance, were the first to tap into it for the purpose of generating leads for their products and services. The exponential scope of Facebook can be comprehended by the fact that every day, more than 3 billion goods / services are liked / disliked, and commented on through this social media website. This translates into a huge opportunity for businesses to present their products / services to an unimaginable number of people who feel connected to your brand by virtue of watching it almost every day.

Some of the benefits of Facebook online, marketing are listed below:

Cost Effectiveness

One of the most notable benefits of Facebook business marketing is that it is extremely cost effective. In fact, it is regarded as among the cheapest channels for advertising your products / services. While traditional media channels like television, radio and magazines charge a lot of money to deliver the message through your target audience / customers, Facebook does the same for far less amount of money.

Effective and Efficient

There are certain businesses that pride themselves on their after-sales service and the level of engagement with their customers. For such businesses, traditional media does not provide the tools that Facebook offers. The social media website, offers prospects of interaction between company and customers in real time. Prospective customers can also avail opportunities of obtaining information about a certain product / service. Customer queries can be noted and resolved within minutes.

Escalated Attribution

Attribution is a term that is used to denote the number of times a customer looks at the company’s brand. It is a common belief that the more a person looks at your brand, the more chances that he / she will eventually become a customer. A case in example could be McDonald’s golden arches logo.

The chart above shows that the reach of Facebook is much more than its peers. This increases your customer attribution because avid Facebook users may stumble upon your brand more often while surfing the web, raising the chances of customer conversion manifold.

Encourage Traffic

There are several ways of diverting web traffic towards your own website with the help of Facebook. For example, there is a prospective customer who has seen your Facebook page, and wants to know more about your product / service. For convenience of such customers, you can add a link to your own website in your Facebook page. This link will take them directly to your website where all the necessary information is readily available. Similarly, you can also link your blog posts.

Targeted Marketing

For successful marketers, there is nothing better than finding the right people for marketing a product / service. If a person needs to buy a vacuum cleaner, he will be least interested in the best guns available in town. Facebook allows you to identify needs of its users and carve out a niche market for your product. This saves time and efforts that may be wasted on people who are not interested at all.

Exponential Outreach

There are billions of people all over the world who use Facebook on a daily basis. This simply means that this social media website reaches billions of people within no time. The diversity of Facebook users is enormous whether geographically, culturally or linguistically offering a wide range of basic population to whom you offer your product. Such a huge and user-friendly database is a God-given opportunity for anyone who is seeking to position himself as a major producer of any given product.

Measurable Results

When it comes to Facebook page marketing, guessing is simply out of the picture. Results of Facebook marketing campaigns are easily measurable. Every click is recorded and every conversion is reported. A simple conversion add-on helps you track your entire advertisement activity. It also reports how many conversions you achieved through Facebook. Facebook does not offer you guesses. It offers numbers that speak for themselves.

Immediate Answers

Facebook is very fast — its results are concise, concrete, and timely. Once you start a campaign on Facebook, it can positively reach thousands of people within a few seconds leading to surge in customer curiosity. This translates into an increase in web-traffic towards your own website, and an increase in conversions. The best part is that all of this happens within no time at all.

Research, Insights and Analytics

Facebook is a potent and robust marketing tool. It offers amazing analytical tools that gather, analyze, and present user data in such a manner that it can be easily arranged according to their demography and preferences. You can easily segregate your target market towards your marketing campaign.

Competitor Knowledge

Facebook not only provides you with comprehensive knowledge about your own customers, it also offers information about your competitors. When you have knowledge about your competitors, and how they carry out their marketing campaigns, you get a competitive edge which allows you to be more specific in your marketing approach. This results in more conversions and increased profits.

The Final Word

Entrepreneurs are only beginning to understand the scope of using Facebook for marketing, and how it can enhance their business prospects in an ever-changing world. Smartphones and mobile devices have increased Facebook’s outreach manifold. These days everyone is connected all the time. The situation has opened new doors for marketers who are seeking ways of reaching worldwide audiences with much less associated costs. Facebook has proved its worth as a potent marketing tool. There is little doubt that it will beat all its peers in the marketing game.

Source: Pixabay

The iconic golden arches of McDonald’s stand tall and strong for all the world to see. Although the fast food chain has roots dating back to the 1940s, the brand remains a symbol of success among countless others – with over 40,000 restaurants in 118 countries across the globe.

While the logo has evolved to embrace aesthetics and innovation over the decades, it’s still easily identifiable as the sun. This blog discusses the fascinating journey of McDonald’s logo history, highlighting the changes in its design trends over the years. More importantly, we’ll dive deep into the essential qualities of the logo that make it instantly recognizable by all. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.

The Evolution of McDonald’s Logo – From Past to Present

The story of McDonald’s logo evolution begins in 1940 when two brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald, decided to open a small barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino, California. The original McDonald’s logo was much different from the one we see today. Back then, it was very basic, just a simple rectangle logo made up of three lines of text in black on a plain white background.

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By 1948, McDonald’s tweaked the logo, switching the color of the background and letters while adding an image of a smiling chef. More importantly, the logo was edited to incorporate several details to showcase the main selling points of the fast food chain.

For instance, the word ‘barbecue’ was replaced with ‘hamburgers’ as the latter was gaining more popularity in the US. The logo reflected the change that McDonald’s was now a hamburger joint. Plus, the super competitive price was added to both top corners, drawing attention to its budget-friendly meals. And finally, the phrase ’Buy em by the bag’ highlights another trending option – takeaway foods. This logo stayed with the brand for five years.

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But by 1953, the logo changed completely. Color was introduced along with a mascot named Speedee, a hamburger-faced chef, in the center of the logo. ‘McDonald’s’ in red lettering appeared for the first time, which we see still associated with the brand today.

While ‘15¢’ remained on the logo to indicate the price point hadn’t changed, a red banner reading ‘Coast to Coast’ symbolized the expansion of the brand in franchises. This logo stayed with the company for several years.

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As the logo changed, the McDonald brothers were also interested in altering another aspect of brand identity – building a restaurant with a golden arch on each side. Stanley Clark Meston saw the potential in such a design, not only to help the brand stand out dramatically but also to bring attention to the fast food chain. This double gold arch design played a key role in McDonald’s logo evolution, staying with the brand for years to come.

In 1961, the first version of the logo with the iconic golden arches was created by Jim Schindler. It was inspired by the architecture of the company’s restaurants designed by Meston, and it’s similar to the one we know today. The double arches overlapped to form an ‘M’ shape with the classic yellow and red colors of McDonald’s with the brand name appearing under it. The text remained consistent with just a few moderations over the years.

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By 1968, the logo was slightly modified. The inner ends of two arches converged into a single line instead of overlapping, making the logo look more like a letter ‘M’. The diagonal line was removed, and the brand name written in black crossed through the arches.

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In 1975, the design of the logo remained simple and classic. However, some changes were made to its colors. A red background text was introduced, while the McDonald’s text switched from black to white. Since this original McDonald’s logo is still used by the company, it is the most recognizable version of the brand, making the insignia instantly recognizable across all age groups.

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The drastic changes witnessed through the McDonald’s logo history ended after this phase. The logo had only slight variations incorporated into its design. For instance,  in 1992, the red background was removed, and a red trapezoid was added below the golden arches.

However, this change stayed for about a year before the brand removed all lettering to leave a plain logo – just the golden arches on its own. This minimalist version has remained more or less the same since then, looking modern and stylish for decades. And yes, the logo still makes people all over the world smile. The only difference is the use of a new tagline in 2003 – I’m lovin’ it to the logo.

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Lessons to Learn From McDonald’s Logo History

There’s no doubt McDonald’s logo is a great example of branding done right. Let’s highlight some of the key points:

1. Powerful Logo Design Elements

There are several design elements to consider, such as:

Shape

First off, the simplistic shape of the logo used by McDonald’s has been quite consistent for the past several decades. So people are already familiar with the golden arches that resemble an ’M’, helping to tie in the name of the fast food chain with the logo and reinforcing the brand. In fact, the shape of the logo can be traced back to the architecture of their first franchise, opened by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955.

Color

The logo utilizes two signature hues – red and yellow – to grab people’s attention. The use of these colors has become an essential aspect of brand identity and has stayed with the company for nearly half a century on its signs, packages, buildings, etc.

While McDonald’s color choice was influential in building its visual branding, the colors, on their own, also have a deeper meaning. Psychologists claim that the color red does more than recall the traditional red-and-white checked tablecloths used at diners across the US. It helps stimulate appetite and excitement. On the other hand, yellow is associated with happiness. So the brain processes these colors to create images of cheerful dining experiences.

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Font

McDonald’s introduced a custom sans-serif font in the 1960s, called McLawsuit, which is still being used to this day. The clear typography not only streamlines the logo’s appearance but also makes it legible in any size. The rounded edges and simplicity make the brand feel approachable and friendly. Additionally, the absence of visual clutter means there are no distracting elements. This allows the logo to stand out boldly, enabling people to instinctively associate it with the fast food chain.

2. Brand Visibility

While the logo appeared on everything, from packaging to advertising to signage, the McDonald’s corporation invested in developing the visibility of its brand even more. For instance, restaurants were made easily accessible on the US highway system. Moreover, they ensured most people lived within a three-minute drive of a McDonald’s joint. So customers were sure to encounter a McDonald’s wherever they went.

3. Progressive Efforts to Develop Brand Recognition

The design is based on the familiar arch used in the physical architecture of their restaurants. This strategy enables customers to instantly connect the logo with a feature they have seen at the location, an aspect that builds brand recognition in consumers of all ages.

But most of the McDonald’s appeal is directed towards children, like Ronald McDonald, the brightly-painted playgrounds, the tasty finger foods, and the free gifts in all their Happy Meals. Believe it or not, research suggests that children can recognize a brand logo before they recognize their name. Once you’ve got the kids hooked on the brand, they’ll likely be loyal customers for life.

Final Thoughts

The McDonald’s logo has an interesting story behind it. The success of this fast-food chain lies in the history and legacy of the Golden Arches. The story of McDonald’s logo history emphasizes the importance of basic elements such as shape, font, and color in creating a powerful logo.

Over the years, McDonald’s has perfected its visual identity, using a minimalistic approach with the right color palette to evoke the desired emotions from its customers. The logo stands as proof of the effectiveness of simplicity and consistency in branding.

The 4th of July is right around the corner, which means you do not have that much time to up your social media game or run promotions. Considering the fact the 4th of July is the biggest retail day of the year, there is absolutely no reason why you should miss out on it. Last year, sales were estimated to exceed $7 billion, and this year it will most likely increase by leaps and bounds.

So if you want a nice bump in sales, especially if you have had a hard time during summer, then you should take advantage of this 4th of July before it is too late. To aid you in your cause, here are some of the best marketing ideas that will allow you to fire up your 4th of July game like never before.

Offer Discounts

This should be a no-brainer when it comes to great marketing ideas for all seasons. For the 4th of July specifically, you will need to hold special promotions and sales. If you are wondering why, because it will work without fail. Shoppers are most active during this time of the year, and this is the perfect time for you to engage with them.

By running sales and specials for the 4th of July, you will let your target audience know you care. Incorporate a 4th of July theme in your campaign. Even if you can’t, there is nothing to worry about, but only as long as you run promotions and sales during the holiday week.

Patriotic Promotions and Sales Offers

If you have some great offers for the 4th of July, make sure you promote them on social media. Let your customers know that they should shop at your store.

Promote posts for your merchandise, and if need be, set up a Facebook ad with a patriotic offer of your very own. Not only is this is a quick way to get the word out, but it will attract old customers as well as new ones.

If you are concerned about overspending, fear not. Facebook ads are relatively cheap, not to mention easy to pull off. What is interesting is you can customize them for your current audience, or for an audience that has a similar demographic.

Show Your Patriotism on Social Media

Promoting posts about your merchandise on social media is not going to be enough. You will have to post pictures of your employees and customers celebrating their patriotism. There is no harm in showing your store either.

Wish everyone a great holiday, and share your posts as well those created by your customers. Got the extra mile by posting holiday graphics on Instagram, changing your Twitter or Facebook cover photos or sending out email specials.

If you are open during the holiday week, make sure you let your customers know about it so that they can visit your store.

To get your customers into the holiday spirit, create a DIY photo with patriotic props and backgrounds. What is the best about this approach is that it is inexpensive, and you will end up engaging your customers, making them happy in the process.

For each and every post, use a custom hashtag, encourage your customers to use those hashtags while sharing their content. If you want to increase the organic reach of your posts, share and tag your customers.

Add some Flare to your Push Notifications

Believe it or not, mobile messaging matters quite a bit, even more so during the days leading to the holiday.

Be strategic about your push notifications, spend as much time as possible to find the right words. With well-timed and quippy messages, you can increase your click throughs by entertaining your customers instead of solely focusing on selling something to them.

So while spreading the word about special events, holiday discounts and app-exclusive deals, make sure you do it in style.

Think Outside the Box

Some other great business marketing ideas involve thinking outside the box. Do not restrict yourself to strategies that have already been adopted by other businesses and brands. If you want to leave a lasting impression, then you will need to show your audience, and others too, that you are different from the rest.

Apart from the usual sales and promotions, you can tell great independence stories. Share your own or your customers’ to let them know that no sacrifice is in vain. For instance, you can tell a story about your own business and its struggles to reach where it is today.

On the other hand, you can commemorate the event by remembering those responsible for keeping the people and country safe. If possible, donate money to support a cause for veterans, or highlight the great things a local firefighter has done for his/her community.

These are just a few ways you can separate yourself from the rest of the crowd this 4th of July. The possibilities, are quite literally, limitless.

The aforementioned marketing ideas are great if you are not sure what to do this 4th of July. Make the most of this information so that you benefit from greater reach and an increase in sales. Remember, all of this only works if what you do is something your customers can relate to.

If you are looking for more top marketing ideas, you will find plenty more online. For this reason, make it a point do your own homework beforehand to find strategies and ideas that will best suit your business in particular. However, if you are not sure where to start, or if you are in desperate need of assistance, there is no harm in getting professional help, this applies to all aspects of marketing, be it content or website design.

It is that time of the year, and Superhero fans ranging across the DC universe are “justifiably” intrigued (pun intended). DC has finally announced not only the official series of Justice League logos for all of the individual members of this elite club but also released some really nifty footage from the all-new ‘Justice League Movie.’

As far as the logos are concerned, it is perfectly evident that the good people at DC have really gone over and above the call of duty (just like the superheroes they have created). Let us take a look at these logos one by one

Look Up, It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane…. No, It’s Superman!

The Kryptonian’s ‘Superman’ Logo has always struck deep into the hearts of the people who idealize him. The ‘Red Color Gradient ‘has been liberally mixed with the dark red color of blood. This is why it almost immediately strikes the viewer as mute testimony to his superhuman strength and other powers; all contained within this logo. In fact, it is difficult to tear one’s eyes away from a logo that just throbs with an alien power, of the kind that can dispatch evildoers in the blink of an eye. This logo is the ultimate showcase for massive power, held firmly in check by the inner goodness of the one man who has the privilege of wearing it.

The Dark Knight Rises In All His Glory

The ‘Bat logo’ is as old as Batman himself. It is the embodiment of a young boy’s transformation from a privileged and pampered child to the masked vigilante that evildoers love to hate and fear. It is an important reminder of the power of tragedy and how it can transform anyone into a wonderful source of justice. The simple yet powerful symbol of the bat is all black and designed to scare bad guys and anyone else who is in the thrall of the raw power behind the ‘black bat’ logo.

Wonder Woman: The Thrilling Amazon Princess

The new ‘Wonder Woman’ Logo is slightly reminiscent of the old WWF (World Wrestling Federation before its transformation,) thanks to its twin ‘W’ look. But here all resemblance ends once and for all. Nevertheless, the solid beak shape of the ‘middle W’ basically represents a bird in flight and is quite different from the old version of the same logo. The new braces on this logo also bring about a complete change in the overall look, and it portrays Wonder Woman as a bird that will tear down and sink her talons in the forces of evil. With this logo, it is easy to visualize her as an immortal individual who can tangle with the very gods and come out a winner!

Aquaman: The Undisputed King of the Seven Seas!

To say that this logo is unique would be a mild understatement! Aquaman has been part of the DC universe for almost 80 years, and his logo has gone through many iterations over the past few decades. However, this time around this logo has a muted and darker look. Especially since the emblem itself is redolent of the mysteries of the underwater world in which the man lives. It has intrigued not just Aquaman fans alone but conceptual designers, all over the world. Everyone is eager to see what the new Aquaman equipped with his emblematic logo will do in the upcoming Justice League movie.

Flash: Sheer Poetry in Motion

If ever a logo can be said to showcase poetry in motion. It would be the electricity bolt that Barry Allen carries on his chest to show the world that he is indeed ‘the fastest man alive.’ For a man who is faster than ‘greased lighting,’ this is a suitably apt logo. It brings with it a time-honored tradition in which the electric flash logo and the golden flash logo merge to create a highly symmetrical symbol that is a cause of great excitement for Flash’s myriad fans, all over the world.

Part Human, Part Machine… Complete Cyborg

This new logo is not just attractive but singularly appealing as well. It heralds the Cyborg’s entity as a brand-new member of the Justice League. The Cyborg is an interesting take on the ‘meta-human’ concept since he still retains his humanity while being a part machine. The DC comic reading fans will be used to this logo, but the people who have seen this bright red dot only in the movies. Well, all we can say is that they are in for the treat of a lifetime!

Conclusion

For all those fans who have been eagerly waiting for the all-new ‘Justice League Movie,’ the new justice league logos are a tantalizing teaser of what is to come. Going by the logos alone, we can safely assume that the movie will be the kind of blockbuster that will certainly keep the audience to the edge of their seats.

Whirlpool Corporation is an American company and one of the world’s best-known multinational manufacturers of electronic home appliances. It currently boasts of revenue figures well above $20 billion per annum.

As a matter of fact, the organization itself has constantly been striving to come up with ‘state of the art’ domestic appliances that will be able to improve the living standards of the people who buy Whirlpool products. In keeping with a mindset that inspires such innovation, Whirlpool has over 70 research centers that are located all over the world.

But all products and brands have a particular life cycle regardless of how well known and accepted they are amongst their target audience. Here, Whirlpool is certainly no exception to this rule. This is indeed precisely why back in 2010, the Whirlpool Corporation made the critical decision to modify its logo design. They changed the original font type to sans serif. Apart from that, they also altered the hook around the text. Finally, they also changed the ‘whirl’ in their ‘Whirlpool,’ as well.

It is pertinent to note that a logo is the visible face of a brand. And any changes to a logo means that the perception of the target audience will also change in line with the vision and the mission around which the brand coalesces and operates.

Whirlpool: Ushering in an Age of Large-Scale Expansion

Keeping this factor in mind, people at Whirlpool decided to reflect their massive expansion plans in their logo too. And the best way forward was to solidify their identity in their chosen target market with a well-crafted logo design that would easily reflect their expansion process in many different categories. Especially since they are going for both horizontal growth and depth in their product portfolio.

Whirlpool’s new logo design is in stark contrast to the old one. While it may not seem to be very different to the layman’s eyes but when the two are juxtaposed together, it is easy to see that it is a far more straightforward than its older counterpart.

As a matter of fact, the main design idea for this radical shift in identity has a lot to do with reinforcing the twin notions of elegance and novelty. The two traits for which the Whirlpool logo and by extension, the brand itself is renowned for, the world over.

If we were to study the logo more carefully, we could easily see that the brand has also shifted the concept of customer orientation very nicely in their new Whirlpool logo.

In a nutshell, the easily recognized loop centered around the middle of the typographical arrangement has been consciously and deliberated altered to a continuous and concentric circle. In marketing parlance, this is known as the “Ring of the Promise.” This ring, in fact, depicts the continuous commitment of the Whirlpool brand to their customers. This commitment is in the form of a promise to provide highly improved quality and integrity in all of their electronic products. This unspoken promise to the end consumer bears mute testimony to the extremely high standards for which this brand is justifiably renowned.

The Graphical Aspect of The Whirlpool Logo

From a purely graphical point of view, the elaborate “Swirl” in the logo that is located directly above the alphabet “W” was itself an addition dating back to the early 1960s. It was supposed to denote the fact that the brand manufactures laundry products for the discerning consumer.

Perhaps, this is why the very name ‘whirlpool’ was almost synonymous with top-end washing machines and several other laundry products. However, this swirl has been completely removed from the logo because the company has diversified both its target market as well as its products portfolio.

These days, they manufacture an extensive range of large and small electronic household appliances that they distribute pretty much all over the world. Actually, the brand was able to capitalize on the core values of their original product line and the goodwill it had generated for them, for so many decades.

Building on Customer Trust

Their end consumers implicitly trusted the Whirlpool brand, and this meant that this trust and goodwill was directly transferred to the new products that they developed and launched into the target market.

And now the brand is one of the leading producers of all manners of household appliances and has effectively overtaken many of the original top brands in this field.

Keeping the above in retrospect, we can see how it also applies to the development of the Whirlpool logo as well. Here, the graphical and visual balance of the current logo is far more appealing than its older counterpart. This has a lot to do with its light minimalist touch. Not only is the logo both more precise and refined, but it is also far more readable as well. In fact, it is entirely in keeping with the brand’s latest and most modern and topographical illustration.

Many of the alphabets in this logo have made the transformation from 3D to a flatter 2D look. Apart from the alphabets, the ring that is the cornerstone of the logo has been effectively transformed into a 3D object d’art. The selection of the color follows a neutral scheme marking. This is done to ensure that its esthetics legibility and readability remain constant.

Conclusion

In light of the above, we can safely deduce that Whirlpool has quite successfully met both its customer-oriented as well as its expansion-oriented goals in this all-new logo design.

We all love Subway, don’t we? Well, most of us do. What’s not to like about it? You enter the shop and choose everything from the bread and the fillings to seasoning and sauces – all of which come together to make a sumptuous wrap we call a Sub. Sure, the company has had its ups and downs over the years, but it has constantly tried to keep itself relevant according to the customers’ preferences. This was the reason why the old Subway logo was replaced with a new one in 2016 after almost 15 years.

Subway logo evolution

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Subway started in 1965 as a single sandwich shop founded by 17-year-old Fred DeLuca. The goal for DeLuca was to earn money to pay for medical school. He received a loan of $1,000 from Dr Peter Buck, a family friend, to set up the sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He named him “Pete’s Super Submarines” after Dr Buck.

Soon, the two men opened another shop and then a third. Then came the moment for the first marketing pivot. To boost brand recall and recognition, they decided to shorten the name from Pete’s Super Submarines to Pete’s Subway. At the time, they introduced the yellow logo with the arrows around Subway.

In the 1970s the brand dropped the word Pete’s from their name. According to one theory, this was done because on the radio – the social media of that time for marketing – Pete’s Submarine sounded a lot like ‘Pizza Marines’ which impacted their customers’ brand impression. Then, the number of Subways multiplied as the two partners decided to begin franchising.

This brought incredible growth and popularity to the sandwich shop. Today, it is one of the largest restaurants in the world in terms of the number of franchises. On its website, Subway claims to have more than 37,000 restaurants in over 100 nations. The company has more restaurants across the world than any other chain, even beating giants like KFC and Mcdonald’s.

The Subway logo history also reveals interesting insights into how the company always tried to keep up with the changing demands as the years passed by.

Why old Subway logo was changed?

Since 1965, when it was Pete’s Super Submarines, the company had several logos. The original Subway logo was actually the blue and red Pete’s Super Submarines logo. Over time, it changed to Pete’s Submarine and then to Subway.

After a couple of evolutions, the company settled on its most recognizable logo till then. In 2002, the Subway logo featured italicized bold font – in white colors for SUB and yellow for WAY – with green outlines. The tips of S and Y ended in the iconic arrows which came to be identified as Subway’s brand identity.

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Another version of the logo, designed in the year 2015, featured the same typeface but this time with green colors and without any outlines. Basically, they turned the logo into a monochrome, reduced the font size, and removed outlines to create the new iteration of their logo with the iconic arrows retaining their places.

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The green and white logo remained Subway’s face for almost 15 years till 2016, when the company decided it was time for a logo redesign. The new Subway logo had a modernized design as per the contemporary needs.

The inscription was bold but not italics, with the rounded sans-serif typeface. The white and yellow font colors were changed to yellow and green, and font outlines were also removed. With the removal of italics from the typeface, the arrows on S and Y appeared more pointed and sharper.

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Design elements

In terms of design, the new logo still had green and yellow elements but looked minimalistic in line with the demand of the late 2020s. A number of brands redesigned their bulky logo to create simplistic versions that look easy on the eyes and can be responsive on smaller screens, like mobile phones.

The company also created a monogram out of its new logo, this monogram which was then designed on the company’s packaging. The monogram only features S formed out of two arrows, each pointing in the opposite direction.

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If we talk about the Subway logo meaning, it features two iconic arrows, depicting entry and exit. This means that customers could grab their food swiftly and have it while on the go. This aligns with the company’s reputation for serving food with convenience.

The vibrant yellow and green colors in darker shades used by the company were in line with the practice of most restaurants and eateries to use bright colors in their branding elements. This obviously has a psychological element attached to it as sharp colors improve people’s appetites, convincing them to make a run to the restaurant and grab their favorite meal.

Let’s now discuss some of the reasons why the company might have felt the need to leave Subway’s old logo and come up with a new design to become its identity.

1.  Competitive edge

At the time Subway redesigned its logo, the company was not doing very well in keeping up with its competitors like Chipotle and Firehouse Subs. So, in a sense, the new logo was a means for the company to revamp itself and compete with its rivals with a new face and energy.

This is what the Subway CEO said when the new logo was launched:

“The Subway brand is recognized throughout the world, and this new look reinforces our commitment to staying fresh and forward-thinking with a design that is clear and confident without losing sight of our heritage.”

This clearly hinted at the company’s ambition to get in the race with its competitors and compete with new energy with a new logo.

2.  A new face of the brand

At the time of the launch of the new logo, a Subway spokeswoman told CNBC that they saw this as a way to refresh their look while remaining true to the brand’s origins by using the vibrant color palette of the mid-’60s when the brand was founded.

Subway always had a reputation for offering a meal different from its competitors. A fully customizable sandwich with the bread of your choice, the filling of your choice, loaded with veggies, drenched in your favorite sauce – wow!

Subway logos over the years have tried to reinforce the company’s USP – freshness. Subway positioned itself as a healthier alternative by promoting nutritious and wholesome meals. Their “Eat Fresh” slogan resonated with health-conscious consumers seeking better options on the go.

But, over time, it started losing out to the competitors who were offering a more diversified product. What Subway needed was a fresh start. By updating its visual identity, Subway hoped to reinforce its relevance, attract new customers, and also get its MoJo back to win lost customers who might have gone to other options.

After the logo redesign, the company launched a new loyalty program called “Subway MyWay Rewards.” Under the new scheme, Subway introduced personalized deals and rewards for customers based on their buying history. This idea was to improve the rate of customer retention and increase footfall in their restaurants.

3.  Evolution based on people’s preferences

For Subway, the new logo was the “next step” in its evolution. This was also stated by Subway’s president and CEO Suzanne Greco, who stated that they were on an exciting journey to meet the changing tastes of their guests.

So, the company didn’t only stop at changing its logo. It also made tweaks to its menu and brought in a more diversified range of products. It started using the rotisserie chicken and carved turkey breast in its Subs and launched a new tech division called Subway Digital to revamp its website, mobile application, and digital payments – all for a more seamless customer experience.

4.  New marketing efforts

After redesigning its logo, the next logical step for Subway was to familiarize its customers with it. This required an ingenious strategy to present the logo in such a way that it could attract the most eyeballs. So, what did the company do? They started airing their ads with Subway’s new logo during NBC’s coverage of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. This only seemed like the most logical marketing step because where else would you find more eyes than the most popular sporting competition in the world?

The company also used online mediums for its marketing before the revamped logo and symbol were rolled out at all Subway locations in 2017. Another marketing strategy used by the company was to make the new logo a part of the campaign to highlight its USP – fresh and locally sourced offerings. Earlier, the company had pledged to not use artificial colors, flavors and preservatives in any of its products. This was done to reinforce the brand perception of Subway offering fresh products.

The new campaign was named #SearchforBetter, and it was created by a Boston-based company. The new campaign was also launched during NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Conclusion

The decision to replace the old Subway logo was a conscious effort on the part of the company to pivot its brand position and adapt to the changing demands of its customers. The new logo gave the company a fresher and more modern look, which was in sync with contemporary demands. Subway’s rebranding was helped by an elegant design that had a modern look, but also the elements to reflect the company’s pasts – like the iconic arrows and green and yellow color.