Branding is the most important component of digital marketing:
It secures your traffic sources, creates lead generation channels, builds trust and loyalty.
Today we are talking to the digital branding specialist @ShellyKramer
About Shelly
Shelly Kramer is a 20+ year marketing veteran and co-founder of V3*Broadsuite.
She’s a brand strategist focused on delivering integrated marketing solutions in both the B2B and B2C space.
Make sure to connect to Shelly on Linkedin.
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you become a marketer? What’s your career path?
I started my career in marketing with a midsized agency about a million years ago. Then went out on my own as a marketing consultant about 23ish years ago.
So I suppose that means I’ve been doing this a very long time. Or that I’m old ?
My journey to the digital space began when I started seeing the role the web was going to play in marketing/business. That made me an early adopter of sorts, at least from a marketer’s standpoint (not necessarily from a geek standpoint).
I had some great early mentors. People who taught me to always be curious and to never hesitate to ask questions. I also was lucky enough to learn brand strategy by working with a brilliant marketing strategist.
Absolutely. I’ve been very fortunate to have great ones throughout my whole career.
Q2 What does digital branding involve and how it integrates into overall digital marketing strategy?
I think differently about “digital branding” than many. I think that the digital space is a communication channel and that we use those digital channels for communicating a brand’s message/purpose/products, etc. .
So when it comes to “digital branding” I think you go back to the basics. Business strategy, business goals, target audience and how we use different tactics (and channels – digital or otherwise) to achieve those goals.
Digital branding is really (1) who are our target markets (2) what they want and need (3) how we reach them and deliver on that.
Well, do you expect an ROI from your “TV Branding” or your “radio branding” or your “direct mail branding”. My point is that “digital” is a communication style — and of course you can expect ROI from your digital efforts.
Your brand is always about you. And how you make customers feel about what is you do or sell.
think that your brand name overall is an asset. How you leverage that asset (website, tradeshows,. online tactics, offline tactics, what you do across omnichannel leads to what kind of value that asset can deliver).
As someone who specializes in the B2B space, I would argue that ?
Q3 Please share some digital marketing tools you use on a regular (daily, weekly, monthly) basis…
There are so many. Tools for email marketing, demand gen, programmatic, FB ads manager, LI ads – more tools than time to discuss.
Social media graphic creation: Canva, Visual.ly are favorites of our team. Content curation: Feedly, Scoop.it
Website assessment tools: (Moz is a favorite), heatmap tools, Unbounce – all things we use often.
Dashboards are invaluable, Hootsuite, Sprout Social. We are fans of Brandwatch and Onalytica.
“Tools” is kind of a misnomer. Platforms is more appropriate. Many choices. Act-On, Right-On, Marketo. I think you have to be very careful with demand gen — it’s tempting to go the DIY route and not make any headway
We are big fans of Moz’s suite of tools, like Followerwonk, and use BuzzSumo on a daily basis as well, for a variety of things.
Great tools. The problem with tools is that there are so many, it’s truly impossible to test them all.
I forgot about @spyfu … love that as well. I’m also a big (long time) fan of @getclicky for analytics. When every developer wants you to demo their platform – they have no idea what a time investment is involved there
Mastermind groups are great. I have a trusted group of friends who share information/insights on a regular basis
I agree. But these “tools” are not intrinsically something that all possess. That’s why you need team members who do.
Q4 Humor is your personal brand most distinguished characteristic that sets you apart. Is it happening naturally? Do you tend to recommend clients using humor or staying away from it? How to build your digital brand using humor?
How to build a digital brand using humor. Start by knowing your audience. And the personality of your brand. There is always something your audience will enjoy, from a humor standpoint. Don’t try to force it, just be “human.”
B2C or B2B it’s really humans that we’re connecting with, digitally or otherwise. Being formal, in some instances, is good. In other instances, being warm and down-to-earth, or even funny, is good, too. It all comes down to knowing your audience.
That’s a challenge indeed. And the same for Americans doing business globally. Communication nuances are important to learn.
That’s one of my mantras … I love learning. Thankfully. Otherwise, I’d be in the wrong business! And the exciting thing? It changes every day. If we didn’t love change, that would be problematic!
Q5 How do you keep yourself organized? Do you manage to have life beyond Internet Marketing?
How do I stay organized? I’m masterful at scale. Which means that I’ve surrounded myself by an army of incredibly smart people (like @mistygirlph, to name just one). My job is to give direction, then get out of their way and let them do their jobs.
I also am fortunate to be wired such that I function very well in a state of chaos – which I believe describes much of our work life today. I thrive on that, and am grateful for that personality trait.
We are also fans of tools that help us stay organized. @slack has proven invaluable, as has @asana
We are also in the process of building an intranet for our team, to further streamline access/communications
For those of us who live in the tech space, using tools that help us do more, better, is a constant focus. Another thing that makes live easier @freshbooks for time-tracking for our team and invoicing — OMG I love it so much!
I like control, but I’ve learned to let go of that need + try to let my team fly + flourish. They don’t always need me.
When I say “chaos” I mean more of the need to constantly juggle many things concurrently — and keep it all straight. And I think that’s a challenge for many folks today – no matter what their area of focus. There’s a lot going on, at a rapid pace.
Our previous branding chats:
- How Blogging Helps Brand Yourself & Sell Your Services: Twitter Chat with @DreBeltrami
- Relationship Building Twitter Chat with #BrandChat Founder @mariaduron
- Self-Branding Twitter Chat with @ChadPollitt
- Building Online Career: Twitter Chat with @AngelaAlcorn
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