- Utilizing effective branding,
- Obtaining good publicity, including links to your site from popular pages,
- Obtaining an effective search engine presence,
- Utilizing and maintaining flow in the placement of your Internet ads, and
- Maintaining an effective social media presence.
In this lesson, we will discuss the first goal, "utilizing
effective branding." We will explain what "branding" means. You will
learn the process that allows you to discover the qualities that set you
apart from your competition. You will learn that your brand must appeal
to your target audience. You will learn that a brand consists of a
name, a slogan, a logo, a color scheme, and a style. You will be guided
in creating a name, slogan, and logo that expresses your good qualities
and your style.
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HOW TO APPROACH CREATING A BRAND
Your "Brand" identifies you. It sets you apart from others. Your
brand is the first opportunity to tell your customers who you are. Your
brand tells the public what to expect from you. For example, for one
person, the value he or she has to offer may come from age and
experience. From another, the value may come from their youthful energy
and willingness to take risks. There are many either/or characteristics
that give people or companies value in the eyes of certain potential
customers. In each case, It is highly unlikely that one person or one
company would have both of these qualities at the same time. Your brand
can identify which of these qualities gives you value. One company may
offer high quality items that cost a bit more. Another company may offer
items of acceptable quality, but at much lower cost. Your brand can
indicate which to expect from you. You may have a proven success record
or you may instead have a great new idea that, although not yet proven,
has garnered much attention from those in the know. You may have a great
deal of education or you may have a great deal of life experience
instead. Your brand is a way to offer information about yourself or your
company in a short-hand way.
In designing your brand, think of questions that people may have
about you and your venture and then try to answer these questions by the
way you brand yourself. You, of course, want to make people aware of
your strong points. You want to make people aware of the qualities that
set you apart from your competition. (For example, one of your strong
points may be that you are multilingual. Another may be that you have
had training from a well-known expert.) You cannot create an effective
brand until you have asked yourself the hard questions about what you
really have to offer. If your brand does not set you apart from the
others, it will not be an effective brand.
Your brand not only identifies you, but it identifies the product
or service you have to offer. You have to ask and answer the hard
questions about your product or service as well as the hard questions
about yourself. What sets your product or service apart? What are its
strong qualities? What makes it appealing?
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HOW DIFFERENT DO YOU HAVE TO BE?
It would be wonderful (to me) if I were the only person in the
world with extensive knowledge of Internet Marketing and enough writing
ability to explain how it works. If that were the case, I could simply
brand myself as 'the only guy who can teach you Internet Marketing!" If I
were the only one, people would flock in droves to read everything I
wrote. I would soon become quite famous and tremendously successful. I
would soon be able to retire completely, but would be compelled by a
sense of obligation to keep studying and keep writing because the world
depended upon me for it--because no one else could do it. That would be
nice. I would feel very good about myself. That is not the case,
however.
There are quite a few intelligent people around the world with
extensive knowledge of Internet Marketing and good writing abilities.
Some know a great deal more than I do. Some write much better than I do.
I feel good about myself anyway. But, I know that in branding myself, I
have to find something that makes me different, perhaps makes be
better, than many of the others. Whether for better or worse, I know
people want to know as much about me and my writing as possible before
investing time in reading the things I write. Maybe I'm not what they
are looking for. Maybe I am. Maybe they are looking for someone really
young, comfortably proficient with all the latest urban slang, with time
enough to memorize all the latest acronyms. Perhaps they want someone
who follows every new market release before it is released to the public
and memorizes all the hype accompanying each of these new releases. If
so, they are probably not looking for me.
These readers likely do not want to invest their time in reading
what I have written. Perhaps they should. I might have a lot to teach
them. But, that is not what they are seeking.
I'm not so young anymore. I don't bother to keep up with all the
latest 'urban slang' (although I do look things up when I encounter them
in something important that I want to understand). I don't memorize
acronyms until they become truly important to the field of knowledge. I
follow many new product and software releases, but certainly not all of
them--not even the majority of them. (Most of them I just recognize
right away, given my experience, as a future bust that is not worth the
time and trouble to become familiar with them.) I rarely pay attention
to what I consider to be hype. I look more at what successful people are
doing than what the buzz is hyping on a given day. So, on the scale of
experience and wisdom versus youth and energy, I have to admit that I do
not fall on the youth and energy side. I can legitimately claim to
fall on the experience and wisdom side, however. Given this fact, how
should I approach my branding?
I am also not the only one with wisdom and experience who writes
about Internet Marketing. It narrows the numbers somewhat, but I am
still not unique. I began to study the Internet extensively just as the
Internet was breaking into the public consciousness--right at the time
the very first Web browser was created. I was not a young man even back
then. I had already been to college, worked as a computer programmer,
gone back to law school and then practiced law for several years.
Perhaps there are very few people who brought that much experience to
bear on their study of the Internet--just as it emerged into the public
consciousness. Perhaps there are even fewer people who, having begun
studying the Internet and Internet Marketing that early in its
development--and with that experience--have continued to study it in
depth since. Perhaps most people who write about the Internet now grew
up with it, learning it as children or teenagers. Perhaps the fact that I
was already experienced in life when it came to being, yet learned it
in detail regardless... and continue to study it in detail, makes me
different. Perhaps this gives me a unique perspective. Given this fact,
how should I approach my branding?
Although I was lucky enough to get educated well, I am from a
poor family. My father was very smart, but he never had the opportunity
to go to college. Through hard work, he did very well for himself for
most of his life, despite his lack of education. Eventually, though,
the big company for which he had worked so hard turned its back on him.
He grew up believing in honestly and loyalty--and was honest and
loyal--but the company for which he worked all his life was neither
honest nor loyal in return. Due to my father's experience, I have never
worked for a big company. My heart always sides with independent
entrepreneurs. I love to see the 'common man' and the 'common woman'
succeed on their own, by taking charge of their own lives and creating
their own successful businesses. As a result, I saw the Internet, when
it first emerged, as potential for the working person to break out of
the rut and get ahead. I found this opportunity to write exclusively for
you in these courses and have focused my efforts on helping
you--helping those who seek to strike out on their own as independent
entrepreneurs. This is a passion for me. Given this fact, how should I
approach my branding?
I could tell you even more about myself and each piece of
additional information would spur more suggestions for how I should
approach my branding. The deeper you drill into the facts of someone's
experience, skills, education, passions, and life choices, the more each
person becomes unique. So, how deeply should you look into yourself
when planning your brand design? How different do you have to be? The
answer is that there is something, or some combination of things, that
makes everyone unique. You should take the time to examine yourself, to
drill into yourself, so to speak, until you find what makes you unique.
This is what your brand should demonstrate--whatever it is that makes
you unique--whatever it is that sets you apart from the others. Drill
deep enough until you find what this is for you.
The same goes for your product or service. Examine it closely and
honestly until you find what makes it unique. This is also what your
brand should demonstrate--what it is that makes your product or service
unique--whatever it is that sets it apart from the other products or
services available.
YOUR BRAND SHOULD APPEAL TO YOUR TARGET MARKET
You should also take into account your target market. You need to know who you are trying to reach
(and
we will have more on this later, in the meantime see the section on
"DEVELOPING YOUR KEYWORDS AND KEY PHRASES IN LIGHT OF YOUR TARGET
MARKET" in Lesson 18 of the original Internet Income Course).
If there are qualities about you, even if they make you unique, that
would not appeal to your target audience, it would be foolish to
incorporate them into your brand. Leave these out.
I certainly have no qualities that would be unappealing to the
readers of my Internet Income Courses (wink); but, if I did (wink
again), it would not be smart to incorporate those qualities into my
brand. Would that be dishonest of me? No, I don't think so. As long as
you find my lessons interesting and helpful and as long as they help you
succeed, you don't need to know about some of my less attractive
qualities (ahem, if I had any). It should make no difference.
You start with an honest examination of yourself, but then you
select (from what you discover about yourself) only those things that
will appeal most strongly to your target market. These are the things
you incorporate into your brand.
You also make an honest examination of your product or service.
Discover the qualities that appeal to your target market and emphasis
them in your brand. Leave out the qualities that might appeal to others,
but not necessarily appealing to your target market.
WHAT IS A BRAND?
We've talked a lot about creating a brand in this lesson, but we
haven't yet defined it. In its narrow sense, a "brand" (as defined by
the American Marketing Association), is a "name, term, design, symbol,
or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as
distinct from those of other sellers." In its broader sense, a "brand"
can represent any organization, project, campaign, or cause and can take
many forms; including a name, sign, symbol, color scheme, slogan or any
combination of a name, sign, symbol, color scheme or slogan.
Good marketing requires that you "brand" your business venture
and, preferably, each campaign you launch. An effective brand requires
an attention grabbing name, logo and color scheme. Your logo should
incorporate, or be accompanied by, a slogan--a short sentence or phrase
expressing the essence of what you have to offer.
Once you have gone through the exercises we discussed above and
have determined the qualities that both make you unique and appeal to
your target audience, you are now ready to:
- Choose a name that exemplifies these qualities,
- Create a concise slogan that conveys these qualities,
- Create a logo that best conveys these qualities, and
- Find a color scheme, font style, and format style that best conveys these qualities.
CHOOSING A NAME
If you are acting entirely as an individual, you can just use
your own name--or, you could choose a "DBA" name. ("DBA" is an acronym
for "Doing Business As.") If you choose a DBA, you will need to pay
attention to your local laws regarding business registrations. Also, you
will need to be aware of Intellectual Property issues and be careful
not to use a name for which someone else holds the exclusive legal
rights. If you choose to form a company, you need to carefully choose
the company name. You should check for available domain names as part of
the process of choosing your name. It would be frustrating to choose a
name and then discover that the corresponding domain name was already
registered by someone else.
Your name is an essential part of your brand. Choose it
carefully. From available choices, choose a name that conveys the
positive qualities that make you unique and appeal to your target
market. Register your domain name as soon as you decide on your name.
That it is available today is no guarantee that it will still be
available tomorrow.
CREATING A SLOGAN
A slogan is a short, striking, and memorable phrase that conveys
an identity. A slogan is made of words, not graphics or photos (those
are logos). The slogan, made of words, can be included in your logo,
however.
To create the best slogan, you first have to know what you want
to convey (discussed above) and then you have to give much thought to
which words you want to use and how you want to use them to convey your
qualities. Please allocate a great deal of time to this. Creating a
slogan to be incorporated into your brand is not something that should
be undertaken lightly or done in a hurry. From my experience, the best
way to approach this is to first write several paragraphs describing
your qualities. Use the suggestions we made above and find those
qualities that truly make you unique. Then, look for shorter and shorter
ways to express your qualities. Cull your several paragraphs down into a
short phrase or sentence. Let the mind of the person viewing your
brand do the work, you don't have to do it for them. Just give them the
key words and key clues and let them draw the picture in their mind of
your best qualities.
This approach works well for more than one reason. As stated
above, it is a way to shorten what you have to say down to just a few
words, but, more importantly, it is good to let your potential customers
draw the picture in their own minds. That way, they have less to be
nit-picky about. They have less opportunity to challenge or be skeptical
of what you are saying. By letting the potential customers create their
own description from a few short words, they feel as though they have
decided what your qualities are on their own. Psychologically, they feel
that they have decided you have these good qualities, rather than that
you have convinced them through debate that you have these qualities.
Since this is their own decision, they will give it much more credence
than if you had told them the same thing in detail. Thus, brevity is the
key!
Another advantage to this approach is that you will have much of
the work done for the "About" page of your Website. The many words
culled out of your slogan can be used on the Web page itself on the
"About" page. You need to know what you will be saying about yourself or
your company on your "About" page before you design your brand. By
starting with your "About" information in detail, you have the best
starting point for your slogan. This is not to say that you should use
your initial paragraphs verbatim on your "About" page. You will need to
rewrite them a bit for the purpose they will serve in that context. But,
you will have a good starting point.
In narrowing down your words, you should study the concept of
"Power words." "Power words" are words that evoke strong emotional
reactions from people. If there is a power word with the same meaning as
some other word you are using, you should consider using the power word
instead. If there is a way to say things with power words rather than
lesser impacting words, the power words may get more attention and
provide better results.
Let me give you one quick example and then we will come back to this subject later. Suppose I said:
I can give independent entrepreneurs information usually only available to the marketing elite.
Now, contrast that with,
I defy the powerful marketing elite by revealing their covert, concealed information to deserving independent entrepreneurs.
The latter phrasing contains more power words. Can you tell the
difference? More importantly, can you feel the difference? Be careful
though. There is a danger in using power words. Too many power words
signal that you are using emotional manipulation. Overuse of power words
can make your brand sound cheap and manipulative. There is usually not
too much danger of this in your slogan as your slogan will be very
brief. In your "About" information, though, balance the use of power
words so that it does not seem overdone.
There is no single list of power words. You can Google the phrase
and find some examples. For the most part, "power words" is a concept
that reminds you to look for powerful, emotionally evoking words rather
than drab, ordinary words.
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CREATING A LOGO
A logo is a graphic, a symbol of other design, used to express
the identity of a business. Unless you are a graphic designer, or can
afford to hire one, this may not come so easy. But, not to worry. A
photo or a simple drawing can be used as well, if it is your original
creation and does not copy the work of others and conveys your identity.
For independent entrepreneurs, a photo or drawing (which can easily be
made from a photo) of yourself is often used. Take a photo of yourself
in a situation that demonstrates your strong qualities. If you then put a
caption on the photo to express your qualities in some artful way, you
will be good to go. If you do not feel that a photo of you truly
expresses your best qualities (and many people feel that way), an
original photo of some animal or natural object may serve even better.
(For example, if you want to convey strength, a photo of a large
powerful animal would work. If you want to convey speed and loftiness, a
photo of a flying bird might work.) The important thing is that your
logo convey what you want it to convey--your attractive qualities that
will appeal to your target audience.
There are many free or very inexpensive Websites that can help
you create your own logo. Just Google the phrase "free logo creator" and
you will find several. There are also several graphic software programs
available, many for free. The important thing to remember is that you
do not just want "a professional looking logo," you want a logo that
professionally and dramatically conveys your unique qualities. The free
sites and software often use stock graphics that are in the public
domain. They may or may not have one that works best for you. Do not
settle for something just because it looks professional. If it looks
professional for anyone who might use it, it may be too generic to
convey your uniqueness. Slight modifications or the addition of your
unique slogan, however, may do the trick.
FINDING YOUR STYLE
Everyone has a unique style. There is little I can say here to
help you find your particular style other than to remind you to find
it...and be true to it. Your choice of color scheme, font style, and
formatting will display your style. Regardless of what your particular
style may be, it is important to be consistent with it. Do not have a
logo in one style, a Website with another, and business cards and
stationary with yet another. This would only convey inconsistency and
self-doubt about who you really are. Find the right style for you and be
consistent with it throughout your marketing.
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TEACHER SHOP SERBIA
1. Put your website on notepads, pens, newsletters, bumper stickers, coffee cups. 2. Flyers. When you buy your morning paper, slip some flyers in with the rest of the newspapers. 3. Business cards (You can make up your own or get them free through VistaPrint) 4. Article marketing is one of my favorite method of advertising. If you write articles and then use a service to publish them, your articles become viral.Your articles will spread like a virus and could have the potential to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. 5. Participating in online discussion forums is an excellent way to get the word out about your business, and it is free. Build relationships first and use your signature file to let everyone know what you do and who you are. 6. Free classifieds. Online classifieds as well as your local newspaper. 7. Targeted ezine advertising is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise your business. 8. Solo ads. Test, test, test. Your success depends on your ad and your heading! 9. Mail out postcards. 10. Purchase leads that are targeted and related to your business. If possible get their phone number and followup. 11. Bookmarks for libraries, do not forget to talk to your librarian first. 12. Purchase cheap seed packets, put a tag on them with your website as well as a saying like, I am in the business of helping people grow. 13. Use your knowledge and publish a newsletter or ezine. One your build up your list you can offer paid subscriptions or ads. 14. Word of mouth (friends and family). 15. Forwarded emails or replying back to unsolicited email. Add your testimony to your signature line. 16. Buttons. 17. Pens to hand out with a short advertisement and your URL. 18. Welcome baby cards for hospitals. 19. If your domain name is a string words, try capitalizing each. This helps people who just take a quick glance remember it. 20. Create an information type handout that briefly explains your business. 21. When you go to a garage or yard sale, ask if you can leave a few of your flyers there. 22. Community Colleges. Every student needs a part time job. 23. Put a business card in all outgoing mail including anything that has a postage paid envelope. 24. Visit establishments you do business with (doctor offices, health food stores, karate/dance studios, etc) and ask if you can leave flyers. 25. Car magnets. You can put magnets all over your car. 26. Promote your business for free in local magazines, newspapers, community newsletters, etc. Many rely on voluntary writing contributions. Translate your knowledge into an article. It is free advertising and an effective way to establish yourself as an expert in your field. 27. Leave your business card in restrooms at restaurants or on cork boards around grocery stores. 28. Get a booth at school events and share what you offer. 29. Look into putting an ad in school sponsored publications (directories, PTA booklets, etc). Usually not to expensive. 30. Set up a free giveaway box in any store that will give you permission. 31. Post flyers at apartment complexes if they will allow it. 32. Place flyers under windshield wipers of cars. 33. Newspaper classified ads are cheap and effective. Ask about having your ad appear with a color background to make it stand out even more. 34. Buy a personalized stamp and put your ad on it. Stamp the back of any envelopes that you mail. 35. When it comes to advertising and marketing, repetition plays an important part in your campaigns success. 36. We all get junk mail with the postage paid envelopes. Just send a flyer back to the company and use their return envelope. 37. Personalized Tshirts. 38. Make up Gift basket raffles for Church bazaars, concerts held during summer, at your local community hall, or any town function. Do not forget to put your business card or some other advertisement in the basket. 39. Put flyers on car windshields at your kids sporting events. 40. Leave a business card with your tip for your waiter/waitress.
