Niche Quest Media (203-762-1366) details how to increase brand equity for your shopping mall or retail outlet with branding and publicity SEO campaigns. Read on to learn more…

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

The New Main Street that Can Save Shopping Malls – Branding and Publicity SEO

Shopping malls have been an essential part of the American landscape, but they’re in trouble. The rise of online shopping has taken its toll on brick-and-mortar stores, with thousands closing their doors since 2017. More are expected to close in the coming years.

To solve this problem, Niche Quest Media developed a Branding and Publicity SEO service for shopping malls that produces powerful brand equity like never before.

Shopping center owners and retailers have an unprecedented opportunity to build powerful brand equity, increasing consumer traffic and revenues with prime locations on the new, digital “Main Street.” Online exposure in local markets is not only cost-effective, but it’s like having a brightly lit billboard front and center on every road in town.

How Shopping Malls Can Increase Brand Equity to Bring New Customers for Tenants

Since the beginning of time, cavemen would cook, trade, and conduct commerce in a center area of their camps (their “downtown”). Their residential housing (tents and huts) surrounded the center of commerce. Paths led to the next camp or village set up the same way.

This is how the world was built.

Over centuries, technology improved. Entrepreneurs developed trains, cars, and planes, which paved the way for new markets and opportunities. They expanded railways and built highways and airports. The local model didn’t change until the introduction of the mobile phone. The Mobile Phone is now the new Main Street.

Just look at NYC. Midtown is full of some of the most extraordinary skyscrapers worldwide, surrounded by residential housing in areas like the upper east and west side, Greenwich Village, and Gramercy Park. That’s the same model since the beginning of time, but that has been shattered like many business models. Likely you have seen retail vacancies, not just for prime locations in NYC but shopping malls nationwide.

As transportation grew and roads were built, mall entrepreneurs started developing shopping centers along the high traffic routes that connected one area to another area.

Retail and the shopping center/mall industry exploded starting in the 1940s. The value of a shopping mall was based on the price a retail tenant would pay for prime visibility in front of potential customers.

Shopping mall owners and retailers drove up prices and values for prime locations for a position in front of their target customers. They studied the local traffic counts, average income, attractive designs, signage, anything that could draw a customer and create brand equity.

Then the PC and Mobile Phone Changed the Shopping Center and Retail Industry

The advanced technology of personal computers and laptops led to the mobile phone. Suddenly, the caveman model changed. The internet opened unprecedented opportunities. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and many others became the new Main Street, the new highway, and shopping mall.

The Digital Solution to Increase Consumer Traffic for Shopping Centers and Retailers

Today, shopping center owners have a unique opportunity to increase brand equity and consumer traffic with a Branding and Publicity SEO strategy. The strategy includes:

1. News Articles and Press Releases – Getting local visibility online, developing trust, and building substantial brand equity for a shopping center via news sites such as Google News, Yahoo Finance, Associated Press, and local news sources.
2. Google Business Profile (GBP) and Maps for Shopping Centers are an essential part of a Branding and Publicity SEO strategy. You may also know this as Google My Business. This valuable tool is found via keyword searches, brand searches, and reviews. Many features include photo and video posting, social posting, directions, click to call, links to the main website, and search engine optimization.
3. Google Images for Shopping Malls – One of the most overlooked marketing opportunities is photo optimization in Google Images for shopping malls and retailers. Photos can be tagged with keywords to show in Google Images. People remember images. As a result, the more images a consumer sees about a shopping center or retail brand, the more memorable, increasing brand equity.
4. 10X Display Ads – Display ads like those you see here appear on news sites such as NY Post, Fox News, USA Today, Yahoo, People, Weather Channel, Newsweek, Bar Stool Sports, eBay. The 10X Display Ad system includes ten different ads that rotate. A shopping center or mall owner can feature another tenant for each ad. The ads rotate, staying fresh in the consumers’ minds. This is a powerful way for mall and shopping center owners to build a strong brand people remember.

Sample 10X Display Ad appearing on the New York Post for Servcorp Virtual Office in NYC

Features Of Display Ads

• • Retargeting – By placing a pixel on a website, the pixel will capture website visitors. Ads will regularly appear in front of those visitors. Retargeting is highly effective for maintaining contact with a warm audience. This is a location, location, and location strategy for everyone on mobile phones.
  • Cold Traffic – Display ads enable targeting specific audiences by geographic area and profile. Effectively, it’s the digital version of a prime, corner brick-and-mortar location.
  • Display Ad Sample Sites

Fox News                 northjersey.com             siliconinvestor.com
weather.com           NYPost.com                    therealdeal.com
yahoo.com              siliconinvestor.com        ebay.com
townhall.com          boston.com                     bostonglobe.com
fox32chicago          newsweek.com              mashed.com
rollingstone.com    news18.com                   huffpost.com
zerohedge.com      dailymail.co.uk                washingtonpost.com
cbsnews.com         perezhilton.com              startribune.com

Branding and Publicity SEO Strategy Ideas for Shopping Center Owners

Shopping mall owners have unlimited opportunities to build substantial brand equity in their market.

Keyword Topics and Display Ad Ideas

• Promote restaurant tenants by name – promote a new restaurant or something unique. We always look for angles to get ranked on Google.
• New Tenants – Promote new tenants, which is a wonderful way to get online exposure for your new tenants. It will build your shopping center exposure and bring in new customers for your existing tenants as well.
• Existing Tenants – Promoting your existing tenants is a valuable customer and good faith service. The reality is the more you promote your tenants, the higher the demand for space. The Niche Quest Branding and SEO strategies can add massive value with a higher Return on Marketing Investment.

Everyone is fighting for the customer. Either they shop at your shopping mall or someone else’s. Building your mall’s brand equity has the potential to create a memorable brand that gets the local community talking.

Contact Niche Quest About Branding and Publicity SEO for Your Shopping Center

Ed Winslow, the founder of Niche Quest Media, has extensive real estate and marketing experience. He started his career in investment property sales at CBRE and Sotheby’s International Realty in NYC, where he learned the value of brand equity.

He has invested in, owned, and managed numerous properties. He was also on the board of Sarakreek and Potomac Kreek Real Estate Investment Trust, which purchased, repositioned, and sold properties such as L’Enfant Plaza in Washington DC and 250 Broadway NYC, and many others.

Contact Ed Winslow via contact form or phone at the top of the page to discuss building brand equity for your shopping center or mall.

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.”
– Jeff Bezos

Recently, a Niche Quest multi-location health care client was acquired for $450 Million. The buyer’s head of digital marketing referenced one of the factors leading to the purchase was the strength of the “Brand Equity”.

What is brand equity, and how can you get a heaping plate full to grow your business and change your life as it did for our client?

You may be thinking brand equity only applies to big companies, celebrities, and politicians. Not true. Small to mid-sized businesses, real estate brokers and investors, Insurance agencies can build strong brand equity in their market with the right online strategies. The result turns your market into an influential, 24/7 salesforce whether you focus on a single town, multi-town, city, state, or region.

Let’s look at the power of positive brand equity and how branding and publicity SEO can help grow your business.

What is Brand Equity, and Why is it Important for Your Business?

Discovering the meaning and power of strong brand equity is like finding buried treasure when you’re down to your last dollar. No matter whether you’re a startup, a solopreneur, or a seasoned business looking for ways to grow, once you start to learn about brand equity, you’ll look at your business from a fresh, new perspective.

Let’s start with the definition of brand and equity.

Brand Definition

According to The Economic Times, “A brand is a name given to a product or service such that it takes on an identity by itself.”

Brand names you may recognize are Ferrari, Nike, Starbucks, and Sotheby’s.

Equity Definition

Equity is the value of an asset after removing all liabilities. For example, the equity in a home worth $1 million with a $250,000 mortgage is $750,000.

Brand equity then is the value of your brand name in your market. Brand Equity is the key to becoming a dominant business in any market, whether a local painting contractor or multi-location health care provider. The result of Brand Equity is a trustworthy, memorable business people talk about. The ultimate benefit is a steady flow of new business at higher profit margins.

What are Examples of Brand Equity?

Think about the brands I mentioned above: Ferrari, Nike, Starbucks, and Sotheby’s. You can picture what they look like when you see their name in print.

Ferrari – Just the mention of Ferrari creates a mental image of a sexy, red, exotic sports car. You can see a picture in your mind. The connection gets even more profound and emotional. You may think race cars, luxury, expensive, elite, unique, exclusive, or wildly successful. You may associate Ferrari with celebrities, professional athletes, fashion models, and elite locations such as Monte Carlo, Monaco, Beverly Hills, and Miami.

Nike – When you think of Nike, you may see a mental image of an elite athlete, a runner, a tennis player, or a basketball player. You may have a mental picture of not just an athlete, but Tiger Woods playing golf at Pebble Beach or Tom Brady throwing a touchdown at the Superbowl, both displaying the Nike Swoosh logo on their shoes, hats, and shirts.

Starbucks – With Starbucks, you may have a mental image of their store, location, and latte. You may be able to imagine the frothy milk and aroma of their fresh roasted coffee. Their coffee is just coffee, their frothy milk is just milk, and they cost about $5 per cup. When a business can sell a cup of coffee for $5 while their competitors sell for $2, they’ve built brand equity.

Sotheby’s – Sotheby’s is a company with valuable brand equity. They are world-renowned for getting premium, astonishing prices at their art auctions. They instill this identity of achieving premium prices for artworks for their clients in their real estate brokerage business. Sotheby’s is well known as one of the most elite real estate brokerages for selling ultra-expensive, multi-million-dollar luxury homes. Sotheby’s has built invaluable brand equity.

What are the Benefits of Building Brand Equity for Your Business?

Here are six benefits of building your business brand’s recognition:

1. Name Recognition – Familiarity is a crucial factor in sales. You may have read that it takes seven touches or interactions with a prospect before buying from you. I have read that the number has increased to twenty-one because the average person sees over 5,000 ads per day.
2. Trust – Zig Ziglar, author, and motivational speaker, said, “If people like you, they will talk to you, but if they trust you, they will do business with you.” The ultimate benefit of building brand equity is a growing business, increased revenue, and achieving your dreams. To get there, people need to trust you first.
3. Belief – Consumers go through five steps of awareness about your product or service. The lowest level is a lack of understanding about your business. Initially, they lack trust. As they go up the awareness ladder, they start to believe your product or service may be right for them. Level 5 is when they believe what you have is right for them. The only barrier left to purchase is the cost. “OK, I’m ready. How much?” Strong brand equity will move the consumer up through the five levels of consumer awareness.
4. Memorable – when a person remembers you, they will come back to you when they are ready. The critical factor to being extraordinary is a clear message and repeat exposure.
5. Word of Mouth – According to HubSpot, 90% of people trust referrals from family and friends. Building brand equity will build a memorable, trustworthy business. Social media grows word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations at an exponential rate.
6. Price Premiums – Many marketing agencies continually market their services as lead generators. Without a business strategy focused on building Brand Equity, a business has the uphill climb of becoming trusted. Companies concentrating only on lead generating will only compete on price. Trying to compete on price can be an exhausting, time-intensive process.

A business that invests in building a strong brand identity will get more new clients with higher price margins and increased customer lifetime value.

Who Can Benefit from High Brand Equity?

Any business can benefit from building brand recognition and equity. We helped a Smith and Company Painting grow from $200,000 to $2,000,000 annually with dominant visibility on Google, Google Maps, Google News, and display ads.

We also helped a small health care company go from relative obscurity to a dominant brand in their target geography, being purchased for $450 million.

In both cases, we defined their geographic target and then broke their business down by niche. Both companies became the dominant trusted source in their market. New clients came from online searches, referrals, and social sharing.

Both companies implemented the Niche Quest Branding and Publicity SEO Formula and still are today. The common denominator is perseverance. We implemented the system; the clients never deviated.

Managing Brand Equity

When you look at the most successful businesses with positive brand equity, they continually reinvest in amplifying consumer perception and customer loyalty. Their strategic brand management enhances their perceived value with positive associations with other recognized businesses or significant points of interest.

For example, real estate broker Cogent Realty in NYC wrote a blog about office space costs at the World Trade Center. In this case, Cogent Realty, a small real estate agency, built valuable brand equity by associating their business with brand name buildings such as the World Trade Center, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building to name a few.

Association of your business with other brand names has the power to amplify your Brand Equity.

Sample Businesses and Real Estate Companies Who Can Benefit

• Real Estate Agencies, REITS, Investors, Developers
• Shopping Center Owners
• Office Building Owners
• Ski Resorts
• Caribbean Resorts
• Self-Storage Owners
• Mortgage Companies
• Breweries and Wineries
• Insurance Agencies
• Contractors
• Home Builders
• Home Service Businesses,
• Health Care companies
• Assisted Living facilities
• Cosmetic Surgeons
• Physical Therapists

How the Niche Quest Branding and Publicity SEO Formula Can Help Build Your Brand Loyalty

Most people think SEO is a tech strategy, especially SEO marketers. They are wrong. SEO is a sales strategy driven by content. The internet is built on content.

Content comes in the form of articles, images, and videos. What drives content is your content strategy.

Here’s an example of a content strategy.

An insurance agency may sell auto, home, and business insurance. So does every other insurance agency. To stand out from the crowd, to build brand equity, an insurance agency can target the deep niches within their business. Using the blog on their website, they can publish content about Tesla insurance, Ferrari insurance, fine art, and jewelry insurance, cyber insurance, and countless niche markets.

Each niche article on their site can be promoted with the Branding and Publicity SEO formula. This is a powerful strategy that builds trust. It makes an insurance agency memorable, turning existing clients into a 24/7 sales force.

There are ten elements to Branding and Publicity SEO that we have developed over years of testing and applied to hundreds of businesses, including our own.

1. News Campaigns – articles related to niche services or products for your business with links to your website. Google, Bing, and other search engines follow the links to your website, boosting the ranking results. Articles also rank on Google for expanded visibility. Yahoo and other high-value news sources can produce results for many years.
2. Guest Blog Posts – Additional articles submitted to sites such as Google Sites, Medium, Tumblr, and other high authority sites provide links to your website.
3. Podcasts – Guest blog posts are converted to podcasts appearing on Google Podcasts, Apple, Pod Bean, and other links to your website.
4. Slide-Sharing Websites – Articles are converted into slide shares on slide-sharing websites.
5. Infographics – Infographics are made and submitted to Pinterest and others
6. Videos – Content from the guest blog is converted to YouTube and Vimeo with links and other SEO triggers.
7. Blogs – It is beneficial to have your site filled with keyword-rich blogs like you read here.
8. Display Ads – Our proprietary 10x Display Ad program is a key element of building brand equity with Branding and Publicity SEO
9. Google Business and Maps Profile is another vital component of the Niche Quest Branding and Publicity SEO Formula. Many of our clients’ businesses receive 100,000 visitors monthly to their sites, and others have 2,000 mobile phone calls in a month. Most business owners are not aware of the untapped potential.
10. Fake Google Profile and Maps Removal – Many businesses knowingly or unknowingly have keyword-stuffed their GBP and Maps accounts. This keyword stuffing is a violation of Google Terms and Services. Our fake maps removal service will move businesses out of your way who steal your brand equity and clients.

Contact Niche Quest Media

Interested in building a profitable brand with the Niche Quest Branding and Publicity Formula? Fill out the contact form or give us a call at (203) 762-1366 to discuss your business or real estate.