Today's small and mid-sized businesses are technically sophisticated and often times do their homework before making important decisions for their business. Yes, many small businesses have a smaller amount of decision-makers and often the business owner, President, or CEO makes the decisions but they will also seek out advice from their technology partners, by doing research online, and by gathering feedback from colleagues, staff, and trusted friends and family.

What does this all mean to you as a business serving end-customers and consumers, or even businesses (B2B, B2C)? This means we in the industry must treat these vital decision-makers as valuable members of the supply chain. As we think through our own sales and marketing processes, we must not treat these business buyers as consumers or just assume they purchase as a traditional consumer does. They are extremely valuable and many of them will come to the table or call you with already have performing a great amount of homework on you, your services/products/solutions, and may need you to clarify a few things or answer a handful of final questions before they make a final decision. 

Technology is a vital tool for small businesses, but buyers do not want you to treat them as a consumer. They will also place their value on you as a business on the way you go the extra mile to better understand their business, their industry, their market challenges, etc. This means it is important for you to set up your marketing campaigns, your website experience, and your marketing outreach (social, digital, and print) in a manner that speaks their language, supports their business challenges, and helps them solve problems and improve their outcomes. We have to continue to keep learning from our customers to improve our messaging and communications to them. The value of small businesses (from home-based businesses to those with 100+ employees) will be realized when we as an industry begin treating them like businesses, help them grow and flourish, and enable their businesses to operate in a digital-virtual-mobile global market.

What comes after a recession or even disruptive pandemic is people thinking clearly and rationally about their future and what they want in life. This Covid-19 pandemic is no different. We have had so much time with our closest family members, have worked from home and homeschooled, and many of us have lost jobs or income or our small businesses had to close the doors. This time to think gives rise to new ideas, innovation, creativity, charity, and entrepreneurialism.

That being said, some good things do come from global pandemics....and that is we will see a host of BRAND NEW businesses and people venturing out to start their own small business or side business. As part of that, let's talk about the importance of your brand, as we share a few tips, ideas, and thought leadership about brand strategy.

Seven ReMARQUEable Brand Thoughts:

1. Your brand tells your customers who you are and why you are unique
2. A brand is NOT a logo, your brand carries out your messaging and platform for your products and services across your marketing channels.
3. Your brand represents your entire team from the owner to the admin to the customer service, be sure to promote across your people.
4. A bad experience can tarnish a brand, be consistent and use your brand for marketing, messaging, sales, promotion, events, social, and more.
5. A brand strategy includes your entire identity, imaging, creative processes, messaging, communications, and all of the back office and front office (post-sale) experiences.
6. A good brand has engaging and interactive customer and digital experiences.
7. Your brand tells the world you are open for business in this digital world!

Number 4 is an important one, as there will always be a dissatisfied customer or client or patient. Following up, making things right, having clear remediation or service techniques is also part of your brand strategy. A person with a bad experience will tell upwards of 10 people, but will a person with a satisfactory experience tell 10 people....NO. There are ways to mitigate, correct, and adapt. From a branding strategy perspective, it is important to find ways to share those good customer experiences with the larger audience. Some things may include:

• Testimonials
• Use Cases
• Customer Interviews
• Better Business Bureau Coordination
• Ratings and Feedback Forms (web and social)
• Review and ongoing Adjustments to Issues, Troubleshooting, Customer Service
• Provide channels through your web and social for feedback and be timely with response (Forms, Messaging)
• Share the Good News from Customers, Partners, Awards, Recognitions, Achievements, etc.

Is business a bit slow? Are you feeling a bit stagnant due to the economy and changing business environment? Maybe it is time to consider kicking your business into high gear through improved marketing, a brand refresh, and an updated or modern logo/graphics and marketing portfolio. Every 2 to 4 years you should consider adjusting or refreshing your branding, logo, website layout, and other marketing channels. Every week, twice a month, or monthly you should be making changes to your website, adding blogs/press information, sharing new projects and client wins, and championing your small business.

Today's business is virtual, mobile, and digital. Whether we were excited about this or not, it is now the accepted model as we venture into working from home and mitigating risk to being inside environments where we have to touch anything. We want to be contactless and touchless for safety reasons, but we also need to find ways to make our business lives easier. In comes digital tools and mobile apps. 

Digital tools are devices and software to help us improve our services, operations, and client interactions. Mobile tools or apps allow businesses to offer services, transactions, shopping, and client interactions through the use of simple mobile apps that can be integrated into small business websites or downloaded for free for clients to do business with you. Retailers and Fast Food retailers and food providers have embraced this, but other industries such as healthcare, professional services, and business service companies have been less inclined to adopt for whatever reasons.

Below are some of the tools you might consider for your business:

• Appointment and Scheduling (apps and website tools)
• Patient Admitting and Discharging 
• SMS or Text Reminders, Coupons, Discounts, or Inventive/Offers
• Online or Mobile Chat (Use of Chatbots)
• Customer Meeting Scheduling
• Reservations
• Email and Texting of Customer Receipts
• Mobile Point of Sale (POS)
• Touchless and Contactless Information Sharing

As we look for ways to continue doing business, we are also exploring ways to improve basic manual processes. Many digital tools, software, and mobile apps can be integrated or added to your website and linked back to your company email and other back-office systems like sales, finance, accounting, and marketing. If you are exploring tools for your business to operate in a virtual environment, contact us today and we can support you in onboarding, set up and integration across your small business.

Who else is bothered by the term "New Normal"? It is one of those terms being used throughout the business world to describe the way things are today, and the fact that businesses will need to adapt, adjust, accept, and plain just do the best with the way business is changing today. I personally embrace it and in fact is one of the main reasons I started vMarque. This is a massive opportunity for those companies stuck in the static, analog world to embrace the world of digital, mobile, and virtual.

With this new found acceptance, also comes a re-evaluation of the way we do business, share information, provide customer and client experiences, and serve customers or deliver products. One very small thing you can do today as a business owner, executive, employee is to invest in a modern and digital business card. These digital business cards can be saved as jpegs, pngs, and even PDF files. They can be shared and used in the following ways:

• A downloadable on your contact or about page on your website
• Shared to social media to existing clients and prospects
• Added to blogposts, social posts at the end of your written text
• Shared to clients through text, chat, and shared workspaces
• Used to follow up with clients you haven't talked to...maybe you just finished speaking with them, simply end your conversation by texting or emailing them your digital business card and thanking them
• Used and shared through other business platforms and tools you or your company uses to digitally communicate with customers 

The idea is to start small, but this is a very simple way to be personable with your customers, as you may not be able to see them face-to-face for the foreseeable future. Even if you do see them F2F, you may want to also use the digital business card and send to them on LinkedIn after you connect with them or after your visit. There are a host of ways to stay connected to your clients, business partners and network and the use of a modern, fresh business card is a must as we embrace digital.

Let us create a one-sided or two-sided business card for you today! Contact us today.

Written by Stephanie Atkinson

If you want to stand out in the crowded market, then building your personal brand can be beneficial in many ways. Your personal brand allows you to put your personal touch on the company you work for, the business you built, the market you influence, the lifestyle you share, and so much more. Personal brands include identifying your name along with a message, company, service, and/or product. You can also add a tagline or saying to further enhance your brand. Personal brands can help elevate who you are and what you stand for, along with sharing that with your peers, your competition, and your clients.

A few other pointers about personal branding are listed below:

• STAND OUT: If you want to move up the chain in your organization or company, personal branding allows you to stand out among your colleagues or peers. But check in with your company HR to confirm they are comfortable in your branding (they may ask you to not include the company name in your branding), but there are work arounds for that.
• INFLUENCE: Many marketers, executives, analysts, consultants, and advisors continue to work hard at getting exposure and sourced, and with that comes social media, images, creative content, blogs, interviews, awards, and more. Placing your personal brand logo on these images and posts, also allow you to put your MARQUE on your work. Influencers in any industry should have a personal brand both for print (business cards, brochures, handouts, sales) and digital (digital business cards, photography, graphics, etc.). A watermark can be easily placed on graphics, images, and posts.
• LIFESTYLE: The lifestyle blogger and range of businesses including beauty, home, wellness, skincare, home design, and home-based businesses should ALL have a personal brand. You are creating, sharing, and building a following, and with that comes professionalism. You should consider investing in a personal branding package at vMarque.com.

The vMarque "Personal Branding" packages include design of your name and company/tagline, watermark in black and white for use on images/media/content, print and digital business card design, and 1 other item that you choose among these options: 1-pager Brochure, 1 social media graphic with your watermark, stationary design. Check out our Portfolio to see samples. Email us for a quote!

​Written by Stephanie Atkinson

3 Tips Before Website Launch

1. ​Decide on Company Name and Domain
2. Verify Availability of Website and Social Media Accounts
3. Set Branding & Simple Company Goals

Step 1: Decide on a Company Name and Domain 
So you have decided to go into business for yourself or start a new company (Congratulations!)...maybe you already have an idea on company name or are getting close. Well, before you get too far, it is great to explore other companies that might have that name in the market or areas you are going to sell into or compete in. You can also search your state for business name filings to see if that name might be available. If you incorporate, depending on the state that you incorporate in, there are attorneys and legal entities that can also perform that search for you. You do NOT want to start a company with a company name that is already being used, has negative meaning in other languages or cultures, or impedes on your ability to be successful.

If you already have a company name and want a brand refresh, then you may also explore new domains or domain redirects that allow customers to type in a website and it point to your older website domain. In addition, you may be considering a complete refresh of your brand, but want to keep your company name and domain (that is understandable). In this case you may skip to Step 3 or be completely ready for a NEW website and branding refresh.

Step 2: Verify Availability of Website and Social Media Accounts
If you are set on the company name (and have verified it is available) and have a domain name in mind, explore the availability of that domain and be sure to explore the region or state or locations you will operate in. For example, if you are a Colorado Wedding Photographer, you may want to explore if any other companies have the same company name in that state. You can do this by searching that company name in quotes in Google and putting the word Colorado as part of your search. You can also search domain names in google to see if a company name is already taken, but I recommend using GoDaddy.com as not only will it tell you if the domain name is taken, but you can also see how it recommends other domains or names that might be similar. If you run into a roadblock, you may consider a different company name. If you do decide to move forward, purchase that domain immediately from GoDaddy or a similar site.

Also, make sure to make sure your company name is simple, easy for customers to spell if they hear it, and try to avoid domains that have dashes or special characters. You will also want to explore if the company name or desired social media names are taken, and search those in Facebook Business Pages, LinkedIn Businesses, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. If you are dead set on a cohesive branding and naming across your website and social media accounts, then doing your homework and research is important. Of course, these are all things vMarque can complete and perform on your behalf, with the exception of setting up your Federal ID (Employer Identification Number, EIN)) and incorporating (LLC, Sole Proprietor, Partnership, etc.) but we can very well support you in pointing you to the right places.

Step 3: Set Branding and Simple Company Goals
Now that you have a name, a website domain or URL, and have set up your social media accounts or have verified they are available, the next step is to explore your brand and company goals. Don't make it too complicated. Define what your business does, how is it unique, who does it serve, what are the primary products, where does it operate, and what do you want your customers to know. Putting this foundational list on paper will help you before you get to the website design and development stage.

Think about the basic pages of a website...your homepage, your services or products, about, contact, and blog. What are you passionate about and know how you can make a difference in your industry and for your clients. This is very simple and basic planning, but will support you in further refining and growing your brand.

​Written by Stephanie Atkinson

Welcome to our new website and company. We will be building out the site and business details, including packages and available services over the course of the next few weeks. We would love to share with you a small bit of how this business got started, but first learn more about how we chose the name vMarque and a little about the company.

What's in the Name
The 'v' stands for ‘virtual’ and 'Marque' is a French word or name for ‘brand’. 

Who We Are
vMarque, LLC is a design and creative agency elevating small businesses to become virtually ReMARQUEable. Services include creative, design, and print media development, production and onboarding across marketing channels including social, web, media, and print platforms.

Who We Serve
​We serve global small businesses and offer affordable turn-key services (one-time or monthly packages) to compete in a virtual world by helping with online sales, digital marketing, brand recognition, and creative mobile enablement.
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This company came about after witnessing how the pandemic disrupted so many small businesses. Many small businesses were not prepared to go virtual, deliver and provide curb-side, sell online, schedule appointments online, embrace mobile apps, and so much more. We see a great need to make it simple, affordable, turn-key, and less of a burden. There is no reason all small businesses shouldn't turn to a trusted agency to transform their small business to be mobile, digital, automated, and truly reach customers in creative and reMARQUEable ways.

​Stay tuned as we showcase our products, packages, and streamlined services!