Branding? What is branding? Why is it important?
As consumers, we don't really think about the importance of branding. We just seem to go with the flow of brand names that have become synonymous with our daily living. I personally trust Dell/ Alienware/ Macintosh for my Desktop and my Laptops. I trust Tropicana for my juices, and I overlook cheap shoes to just get my Stacey Adams. It has been set in my mind that I enjoyed these brands of products, because I had a great experience with them.
Experience? The feel of the shoe, was it relaxed and comfortable? Did the restaurant provide tasteful entrees? Did your dress shirt shrink after the first wash?
These experiences provide us feedback about the situation, time of presence, the feel, and the information gathered. If we experience a poor variable with a specific brand we tend to ignore or provide bad feedback, we also will not recommend it to another person.
On the internet, branding is important because it represents who you are as an author or webmaster. It even represents what your content or business is about. How are you different? What can your provide readers that isn't out there already? How is your information unique to others? How will the gurus see you as?
Copy Blogger Says:
Business people have been writing articles for trade publications for decades in order to become niche experts. That’s why blogging for business is such a no-brainer, as long is you realize that the blog is a launch pad for other authority-building opportunities that build your personal brand.
Another aspect of the importance of branding is that your name must be different and unique. If your name is too close to another company's then people are likely to mix you up, which reduces revenue. Self Branding is also important; Tiger Woods does not help the Nike Brand but Tiger Wood as a perfect golfer.
Name branding to me is important, why do you think there are blogs out there such as JohnChow.com, ChrisG.com, etc. These authors are putting their name on the line to provide great and useful information! If the information readers are receiving is poor, the blog/website/business becomes poor and useless. Each author provides great information on their specific niche, creating loyalty among or within the internet.
In order to create a good brand Darren composes a great list of helpful tips for branding your business, in his case a blog:
- Build Trust
- Be Personal
- Use Story
- Establish Expertise
- Be Generous
- Establish Relationship in your Niche
- Be Consistent
All these are very important. I will explain each one with my own input.
Build Trust
Trust works both ways. Trust in yourself and among your readers. You need to build trust within your own self. You need to know that you can provide readers useful and great information! Do you trust the information you are posting? Are you getting quotes from trustworthy and reliable sources? Once you have trust in yourself, trust that your readers will return because of good information they have read. Make sure you provide trusting answers when questions are asked. Do not make up something just because it will sell. For example my blog is all about making mistakes and learning from them. I post case studies with positive information and pictures. I trust myself to put these types of information up and I put trust in my readers to believe that I too am a failure on the internet.
Be Personal
Who are you? What are you about? Make a deep connection with your readers, become personal with your readers. Share personal experiences of your failures, reader enjoy seeing that YOU as a person were once in their shoes. Now readers can connect with you, knowing you have struggled as they are currently.
Use Story
This is a combination of being personal, because telling a story of your own experience helps the reader relate. If readers can relate to YOUR situation they will interact with you and read more. Readers always want to feel they are part of something and want to feel they are feeling the same situation you are or were in.
Establish Expertise
Users will not give your blog a chance on the internet; they need to like your blog. So that means readers will not take you seriously until you have proven you can provide trusting and great information. It’s your readers that will say you are an expert not YOU. You are just an author.
Be Generous
What is generosity on a website? A blog? On my blog I provide useful information and free reports and cheap e-books. I provide free advice when it’s asked, but I let the reader learn as well. I will not give you the answer to success because success is learned. I respond to readers questions pretty fast and I give them the truth. I have had questions about ClickBank products and I gave my input on the readers’ specific question.
Establish a Relationship
This can be related to the prior, be generous. By being generous I generate a relationship, I build a bond of trust. Readers are asking me questions because they believe I have been where they are and can expect a serious answer from me. I provide them lengthy answers sometimes as well because their questions ask for it.
Be Consistent
Everyday I am always trying to optimize my blog, answer questions, update my blog everyday. I enjoy what I am doing and I can do it everyday with out saying, "ehh" or "maybe later", I look forward to it sometimes. I have ideas always moving in my head. I am also always reading the greater blogs trying to fit my knowledge with what they have to offer.
Conclusion
As you can see all of these interact with one another. These rules help the blogger author create a brand for themselves. Without one, (in my opinion) you can not do the other.
But the most Important Question to ask yourself is:
What makes you different than others, particularly others in your field? What qualities, experiences and skills make you special?
