Online Branding : Core Competencies

The term "brand" has been around for many years and can be used to refer to a company name, a product name, an advertising campaign or a logo. Branding is used to create an emotional attachment to a product or company. It can also create a sense of perceived higher quality or value.

In internet marketing, branding is more than logos and theme songs. Branding lets customers know who you are, what you do and how you do it. It's your promise of value. Effective an online branding will increase your potential customer base and more potential customers will always equal more sales opportunities.

In recent years, consumers have been spending more time and money on the internet. In addition to communicating with friends, they're comparison shopping and making more and more purchases online. It's imperative for a business to use the internet to make an impact.

Here are a few ways to define your online identity:

Describe Your Brand First - Start With What You Do
When they land on your website, your visitors should know immediately what your company does and how it can help them. Don't be ambiguous and don't try to be too cute. Build a unique shopping experience that a visitor will remember. With regard to graphics on your website, remember that images can convey more than words, and good ones can play a major part in online branding.

Find Your Target Market
The focus of an online marketing campaign is online consumers. Your goal is to reach a subset of the population who might be interested in your particular product - your target market.
The more you know about your target market, the more precisely you can develop a marketing strategy. Your branding efforts should focus on that target market. Your message should be clear and should appeal to your visitor and make them realize the benefits of visiting your website, your store and ultimately buying your products or services.

Humanize Your Website
What is your company's personality? The online world can be a cold and daunting place. Your branding efforts can be much more effective when you add a human element to your website. Brands are like people in that a strong one has personality, expresses opinions and elicits feelings. Your website and brand could and should do the same thing.

If you are the sole owner, put your name and photo on your site to take away the mystery and distrust of a cold, impersonal website. Take a good look at your site. Does your design scheme complement your identity? You should be working toward your site having its own identity, unique language and clear personality.

Take a look at some of the sites you enjoy visiting and see what makes them special and satisfying to you. Branding is not about making your site more corporate - it's about making it personal so that visitors want to come back.

Be Consistent
For effective branding on the web, you should be consistent in terms of your approach, your message and your language throughout your visitors' experience. Any gateway to your customers - website, blog, newsletter, emails - should have your consistent, unique personality.

Content, Content, Content
Just as location, location, location is crucial in real estate, having great content on your site is a major factor in getting customers to return. Useful, brand-related information coupled with your unique voice will help you gain fans and ultimately loyal customers.

With good content, your website becomes "sticky", that is, it's able to keep visitors on the site browsing and reading longer. When the content is what people are looking for, they are not only more likely to stay longer; they'll bookmark your site and maybe recommend it to others. They will learn that you are a reputable source of information and eventually go to your site for purchases.

Your branding goal should be to provide rich information on your site to build an expert reputation that will be recognized by both customers and search engines.

Customers are becoming savvy and more discriminating when it comes to online interactions, and retailers need to provide a consistent, positive marketing experience. Great websites put substance before flash and that's what branding is all about - your promise of value.

9 Ways to Communicate a Rock-Solid Identity: Online Branding

Branding has been a business buzzword for many years. But the term has implications far beyond corporate logos, mission statements and theme songs. Effective branding is all about telling customers who you are, what you do and how you do it.
Despite recent tragedies in the Global Market and the bad rap that the Internet has received over the past year, more people are spending time and money online than ever before. That's why it's vitally important for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs alike to use the Internet to make an impact.

Here are nine tips to help you carve a focused identity online.

1. Define your brand up front.
When visitors arrive at your web site, let them know immediately what you do and why they should care. Far too many web sites shroud their identity in flashy graphics and ambiguous slogans without telling people what the company or person actually does. View your Web site through the eyes of a new visitor. Does it spell out exactly what your brand stands for? If not, redesign it so your purpose and identity are unmistakable.

2. Lead with what you do, not who you are.
It may defy logic, but making your company name the most visible element on your home page may not be the most effective way to reinforce your brand. A Web-based or e-mail marketing message should state a benefit right off the bat.

3. Use a real person as a figure head.
The online world can be a cold, mechanical place. Your branding efforts are more effective when you add a recognizable, consistent human element. Think of the way Sanjeev Bilkchandani promoted Nukari.com. If your company has a CEO or spokesperson who is closely identified with the company offline, make sure that connection carries to the cyberworld. If you run a business by yourself, by all means, put your name, photo and personal message on your web site. Nothing creates mystery and distrust more than a site that is void of a human contact and asks visitors to send e-mail to the "webmaster."

4. Develop a fan-club mentality.
Most online marketers try to generate readers, visitors or users. I encourage you to switch gears and create fans. "Users" are people who visit your web site, subscribe to your newsletter or buy your products and services. "Fans," on the other hand, cheer you on, rave about you to their friends and eagerly follow everything you do. Which would you rather have?

5. Make good use of words.
Verbal content is not only king, it's the entire kingdom. Even though designers try to squeeze as much graphic impact as they can out of limited bandwidths, what matters most online are the words you use. I don't buy into the less-is-more, bullet-point mentality of writing for the web. To create fans online, you must deliver useful brand-related information and speak to readers in a conversational tone. If it takes more than one or two scrolling screens to do that, so be it.

6. Make sure visual elements reinforce your identity.
While words are important, the look of your Web site must also support your brand image. Is your brand best served by hard edges or softer, rounded shapes? Do primary colors capture your personality or would earth tones be a better match? Find the design scheme that best compliments your identity.

7. Become a one-stop destination.
Let's say your company sells unicorn-themed knick-knacks, posters and greeting cards. You might simply post an online catalog and a few profiles of your products. However, a far better approach would be to set up your site as a clearing house for all things unicorn-related -- articles on the history of unicorns, personal stories from customers who have been touched by their unicorn possessions, unicorn-related photo galleries and message boards, etc. Your online presence should establish you as the primary resource in your field.

8. Publish an e-mail newsletter.
Having a brand-centered web site is great, but you must rely on people taking it upon themselves to visit it. Offering a free e-mail newsletter allows you to build a database of subscribers who are specifically interested in what your brand represents. Best yet, being able to deliver your message by e-mail puts you in control of the frequency with which your audience is exposed to your brand. Repetition is crucial. To generate subscribers, place a newsletter sign-up form on every page of your site.

9. Be visible through online forums.
Small business owners should also regularly post to online forums, such as message boards and discussion lists widely read by people likely to be attracted to the brand. If your area of expertise caters to motorcycle enthusiasts, make sure you offer useful information -- not just a sales pitch -- in the places where motorcycle enthusiasts gather. Be sure to include a link to your web site in a signature file at the end of each message.

The Internet is still a gold mine of opportunity, especially for those who use it to create a recognizable brand identity. Use these tips to create your own indelible image online.