Category: Digital Strategy

image of someone checking their email

Use Business Email for Your Small Business


Stop using hotmail.com, gmail.com, aol.com, yahoo.com, outlook.com, or any other .com or random TLD for your small business email addresses. Use the DOMAIN NAME of your website instead (i.e. mydomain.com).

One of the most common mistakes small business owners make is to use a general, free email address to communicate with their partners, vendors, employees, and customers. Using a “personal” email address for business class email is problematic for several reasons, and they are:

🔐 Security: Today, nefarious actors employ free personal email to commit fraud and extract revenue from unsuspecting customers. A scammer could register an email address matching the name of your business. For example, my agency is “digitalstrategyworks.com.” The scammer would open an email account: “[email protected]” then reach out to my customers using that false address. The customer may not realize it’s not me and disregard safety, but if they are aware your email comes from your domain, it’s more likely to reach them. Additionally, when you use business email, protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are applied, confirming you are who you say you are.

✅ Branding: When I send an email from my domain, “i.e. (me)@digitalstrategyworks.com,” my brand is impressed upon the recipient that I’m a trusted contact. Trust is critical. And, the recipient is more likely to open it.

📩 Deliverability: Today, all major providers of email, whether that be Google or your hosting company, utilize a “white list” and “black list.” As emails are delivered, the email address itself and the content of the emails are ranked for the likelihood of spam or scams, and they end up in your customers’ spam folders. Using a business email address through a service like Google Workspace “whitelists” your email address as it originates from your domain. Additionally, providers of free personal email also don’t like it when you use a free, personal email address to send hundreds or thousands of emails to customers. Your account is at risk and could be shut down at any time. You’d lose all your contacts and access to emails in your inbox.

These are just a few good reasons to use business-class email on your domain. Unsure how to set up a business-class email address, please do reach out to me, and I can set it up for you. I use Google Workspace, which comes with mail, docs, sheets (like Excel), calendar, and more. Reach out to me and we’ll set up a call to get you started with your proper business email address.

Mastering Brand Consistency: How to Maintain a Unified Brand Voice and Visual Identity Across Social Media Channels

In today’s digital world, businesses must maintain a unified brand voice and visual identity across various social media platforms to build strong brand recognition and deepen audience engagement. Each platform has its own characteristics, but a consistent brand presence can foster trust and long-term loyalty. Keep reading for strategies that businesses can employ to keep their branding consistent across all social media channels.

Develop a Multi-Platform Style Guide

A brand style guide is essential for ensuring consistency, especially when different teams or individuals manage different social media channels. While the brand’s core identity remains the same, the style guide should account for the unique nature of each platform. For example, Instagram may focus more on visuals, while platforms like LinkedIn may require a more formal tone. Tailor the guide to each platform without straying from the core brand message. Include best practices for tone, language, and visuals on each platform. This approach ensures that, while the content may vary in format or tone slightly, it all feels like part of the same brand.

Use Consistent Visual Branding

Visual identity plays a major role in creating a unified brand image across social media. The company logo, fonts, colors, and imagery should remain consistent across all platforms. Whether it’s a Facebook cover photo, an Instagram post, or a YouTube thumbnail, these elements should be instantly recognizable as belonging to your brand. Create templates for common social media posts, such as quotes, product highlights, or announcements, that align with your brand’s visual identity. This reduces the need for constant redesign and ensures consistency. However, make sure to optimize images and visuals for each platform, as dimensions and formats differ.

Adapt Your Voice Without Losing Consistency

While each social media platform has its unique style, adapting your brand voice to fit the audience and context of each platform is crucial for engagement. For instance, your tone on Instagram may be more casual, while LinkedIn might demand a professional approach. That said, any adaptations should remain within the brand’s core voice. The brand should feel familiar across channels, regardless of variations in tone—whether professional, friendly, or humorous. An effective way to maintain consistency is by using the same key phrases or brand-specific jargon across all platforms, ensuring a seamless experience for your audience.

Leverage Content Repurposing Smartly

Repurposing content across social media channels is a great way to maintain consistency, but it should be done thoughtfully. Directly copying content from one platform to another may harm engagement because each platform’s audience expects different styles and formats. Instead, repurpose content in a way that feels native to each platform. For example, turn a long blog post into a series of Instagram visuals or a concise Twitter thread. This approach ensures that your brand message remains consistent while appealing to each platform’s specific audience and content preferences.

Monitor and Adjust Based on Audience Feedback

Maintaining a unified brand voice and visual identity across platforms requires ongoing monitoring. Audience preferences change, and your brand’s approach may need to adjust to remain relevant while maintaining core consistency. Regularly analyze social media engagement metrics and pay attention to feedback to gauge how well your content is resonating with audiences on different platforms. Based on this feedback, you can make subtle shifts in tone or visual style, adapting to what works best for each platform without compromising your brand’s overall identity. This ensures that your messaging remains fresh and engaging while staying true to your core branding.

Using Adobe Express to Maintain a Unified Brand Voice and Visual Identity

Adobe Express offers a suite of tools that can help businesses maintain a cohesive brand voice and visual identity across various social media platforms. Below are some key Adobe Express features that can streamline the process of ensuring brand consistency:
  • Easily create a professional logo that reflects your brand identity and use it across all your marketing materials for instant recognition.
  • Remove image backgrounds to create clean, polished visuals that highlight your products or services without distractions.
  • Build engaging infographics to communicate key brand messages and data in a visually compelling and consistent style.
  • Design sleek presentations that carry your brand’s fonts, colors, and imagery for a cohesive look across every customer touchpoint.
A unified brand voice and visual identity across social media channels are critical for building strong brand recognition and increasing audience engagement. By defining your brand’s core identity, developing a tailored style guide, and ensuring consistency in both visuals and tone, businesses can build a cohesive and memorable presence. Balancing the need for platform-specific content with a unified brand approach will help engage diverse audiences effectively while maintaining consistency across all channels. Photo via Adobe Stock