Are you puzzled by conspicuous acronyms like SEO, SMO, UX, UI, and various others which seem to have clouded the branding domain? Well, this article will help you understand the meaning and crux of these concepts through some interesting analogies.

But, a question might arise in your head as to why is it necessary for you to know their meaning? Why should you bother?

If you are looking for an easy and sure-shot method to boost your brand, then these concepts are like your holy grail. They will improve and evolve your branding strategies to a whole new level that will instantly show results with minimal and intelligent investments.

So, let’s DECODE these concepts:

SEO is like personal training

Just like personal training, SEO trains you and directs you towards a healthier and stronger brand image. To achieve a good physique and healthy body, you need to work on it yourself. You can’t pay someone else to exercise for you. The responsibility and duty to improve your health is on you.

Similarly, Search Engine Optimization is one’s efforts to improve the digital footprint of their company. No matter if it’s a big organization or a startup, all entrepreneurs need to diligently invest in their time in SEO. But remember, it’s a relentless process that will require a lot of time. You won’t see those changes overnight, but eventually, you will observe your rankings improve.

However, some businesses try to take shortcuts, similar to how athletes take steroids. Often referred to as ‘spamdexing’ or ‘Black Hat SEO,’ these shortcuts include deliberate manipulation of search engine indexes, content automation, and unnecessarily stuffing content with keywords to solely boost their content on search engines. Such practices can get your website banned from Google and other search engines.

Hence, there is no substitute for hard work and a diligent work schedule when it comes to SEO. Only then will you be able to improve your brand image.

User Experience is the road beyond designs

Following the principle of User Experience will make you reach your goal faster than a merely attractive design. While a cool and esthetically appealing design will capture your audience’s attention, it is the User Experience that will determine whether they will stay on your website/app or leave.

In today’s market, everything boils down to convenience and how effortlessly you can tend to your customer’s needs. People can’t just be charmed with beautiful stuff and flowery language anymore. Your design should be easy for your customers to follow while providing for all the possible needs that they might have.

With an intuitive and customer-friendly design, you will see changes in your traffic and lead conversion instantaneously.

Email Marketing is like Financial Investment

Consider investing in emails as any other financial investment. As a marketer, you should not underestimate the power of emails. It will provide you the highest click-through rate than any other medium.

In the initial phase, you might have to start with a small group, maybe just restricted to your family and peers. But gradually, as they start to forward your emails to their social groups, you will find your brand awareness to be increasing.

Also, emails are the best way to remind your connection of your presence and build trust amongst them. So, no matter how much time it takes for you to reap its rewards, keep a consistent and constant emailing regime in your marketing plan.

Social Media is like Planting a tree.

A young and infant plant requires to be nurtured periodically with proper amounts of minerals and fertilizers to grow healthily. Similarly, an entrepreneur enters the social media market as a young competitor, so he/she has to start from the very basic level, with regular and planned posts.

It is also a persistent task to grow a tree. You need to do it systematically and diligently every day for the plant to grow healthily. In the same manner, one needs to be persistent when it comes to social media marketing.

And lastly, growing a tree is a lengthy process. It takes years for a tree to fully grow and reap delicious fruits. And so goes for social media marketing. It is a slow process and takes years to fully develop. But when it does, you can evidently see the change in your brand image.

Analytics tools are like Fertilizers.

If a garden is personified by social media marketing, then fertilizers are like analytics tools. Fertilizers give the plants proper nourishment and help them grow consistently and steadily. They prevent wild weeds and unnecessary organisms from growing around the plant, which can harm them.

In the same manner, analytics tools help you direct your content and social media strategy in the right direction, which can improve the company’s virtual presence. They give you an opportunity to utilize your resources to the optimal level. It guides you through the dense and confusing digital market and prevents you from derailing in the wrong direction.

Paid Advertising is like an oriental plant.

The way paid advertisements are used in social media marketing can be compared with oriental plants in a garden. You decorate your garden with a few vibrant and fresh-looking plants to attract people’s attention to it. And once their eyes are locked in on them, they get more interested in the garden.

Similarly, paid advertisements are relatively low-cost investments that entrepreneurs make to attract potential clients to their company. They provide quick and immediate responses rather than social media projects and search engine optimization.

Oriental plants don’t live forever, just like paid advertisements. You leverage your growth with advertisements in the initial phase, and then you can reduce it once the business has risen to a good stature.

Hope these analogies have helped you understand the long-used tools marketers have been employing to conquer the digital world. If you think that these ideas can be better understood by other similes or disagree with ours, feel free to drop us a mail.

Until next time, when we DECODE yet another facet of the complex and dynamic world of marketing.