Branding, love it or hate it, try to ignore it, or embrace it, it’s there and we have to deal with it. Every part of our blogging, professional and personal lives is impacted by what we do, what people say about us, the brand we create.
Below are some of the best links I was sent after my call for blog posts on the subject of branding. As you will see, they are diverse and interesting all. I hope you enjoy!
The Brand You
I believe the brand process should start with you, so it is quite appropriate to start with Roger Andersons post about your personal brand
A big part of your business is the personal brand that you build. You actually have several brands. Your professional brand is related to your work. Your private brand is how your family sees you. Your community brand is how friends and neighbors view you. These probably overlap significantly. There may be parts that are reserved for each but the key components are hard to separate. Like it or not, what you do builds your brand, one or more of them at the same time.
But it’s not just how you appear and what you tell people, as Jason Alba says, you have to Substantiate Yourself
This was the most significant thing that I did in my job search. How can you substantiate who you are? I know you are busy looking for a job, but if what you are doing isn’t working, can you take some time to substantiate yourself? If you are a web designer or graphics artist do you have a portfolio that is easy for people to see? Take the Seth Godin route and combine this substantiation with service, which will allow you to market your substantiation (subtly) to an elite group of others that would otherwise be impossible to meet with.
If you need a comprehensive guide to all things “brand you”, Alexander Becker has written a whole series on the topic of personal branding, lots of good stuff in there!
The ultimate goal and success, when it comes to making you look good, is to create your very own, personal brand — provided you can deliver substance and value for your audience. Some foundations eventually enable and reinforce a strong and sustainable personal brand.
Before you dismiss personal brandng, Vivienne Quek reminds us that you and your company can often be seen as one
As a business owner or key personnel, what kind of values, beliefs,
perception, image you want to show the world? Don’t think that you are
just a small town provision shop owner, you will still need a personal
brand.
Blog Branding
If you are wondering how to get started with your own blog branding, check out these Five Questions To Ask Yourself when branding your blog from Jacqueline Zenn.
George Manty has his own take on choosing the right name for your blog
You can choose a domain name for SEO purposes, for branding purposes, or both. This isn’t always an easy decision. Most experts these days recommend you choose a domain name for branding purposes. However, some experts disagree and think you should focus on SEO when choosing your domain name. Ideally, you would choose a domain name for both branding and SEO purposes
Christine OKelly reminds us to find a short and snappy name
It can be difficult to find short and sweet company names today with so many great domains already taken. But from a writer’s perspective, I promise you won’t regret a shorter name once you have to try to work it into a title or into body copy repeatedly.
More thoughts on how to brand your blog from Ankesh Kothari
Get other leaders in your industry to endorse you. Meet your reader’s expectations every time. Exceed their expectations from time to time. Always do the right thing. Build a worthy reputation and people will flock to you.
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Branding and Logos
Ever considered the what makes a good logo? Mark Angeletti has the scoop.
Your Brand Promise
It’s helpful to know what you are aiming to do, what are you here for, what value do you provide? Connect your benefit to your core values, create your brand mantra and tell people about it, use it as your slogan and tagline. Rajesh shares his thoughts along with some company taglines.
Of course as Robert Gorell reminds me, brands also lie …
Jeffrey likes to say “marketers are too often forced to make promises that the business has no intentions to deliver on.” That’s also known as a lie. Verizon may well have the most “reliable” telecom network. All those folks they show in their commercials as being part of “the most reliable network” aren’t. The ads lie!
Brand Advertising
Brent Hodgson told me about a research report from an Israeli esearch team who discovered six ad templates that outperform others in their ability to create brand recognition.
Ideally your advertising should both deliver bottom line profits and long-term brand improvement, as Bryan Eisenberg advises in his article about Integrating Brand With Direct Marketing
Because of the participatory nature of the medium, the only way to achieve maximum effectiveness for your marketing efforts is if brand building (generating awareness and making emotional connections) and persuasive direct marketing (tactics designed to elicit a specific response) are used wisely and in concert
Anti-Branding and the Hughtrain
The image at the top of this post by Hugh MacLeod was taken from John Dumbrilles post on green brands and I just loved it. Hugh can’t decide if he is against branding, (in fact he thinks people who use the word are as__les) or if he is in favour of it (I suspect linkbait to be honest), but either way he still writes some good stuff on the topic!
Customers First
Rajesh Shakya says Repeat customers are your brand ambassadors
I love this diagram from Chris Arlen in their “Leaning Tower” series.
Still Need More?
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That’s it!
Phew, a lot of reading there, thanks for your submissions, I found them very interesting – I hope you find this branding roundup useful!
