Who Else Wants To Know About Online Branding?
Branding simply means the process of building a positive image for your product or service
. Its all about telling customers who you are, what you do, your promise to your customers about what they can expect from you, and it also differentiates your identity from your competitors. Branding is all about originality and being creative, and it is considered the most valuable asset that a company may have.Effective branding has the emotional element that creates product loyalty. Just look at Burger King because you can Have It Your Way or Just Do It like Nike. The main purpose is to ensure that the name of your product, service or website will be remembered by your customers for many years to come. How can you achieve this? Here are the tips to get you started.
i) To establish a solid brand presence, your message needs to be global. Use simple language to communicate easily with your readers. Avoid scientific terminologies or jargons just to impress them. People have enough complexity in their lives and theyre surely not looking for more.
Create your own message in your own words. Write whatever feels right to you. Just write as if youre talking to a close friend. By doing this, you will build a rapport with your target audience.
ii) Consistency is one of the keys to successful online branding. You need to consistently repeat your message to your target audience. The Internet is a marketers powerful tool in any branding practice since it has the potential to expand the reach to your customers, and also to strengthen your relationship with them.
You need to make sure everything from the font on your website to the background colour on your email newsletters stays consistent. Find the right message, and keep repeating it to your target market until it is synonymous with your brand.
iii) Choose a catchy domain name. Visitors recognize you by this name, therefore you must choose a unique name that is easy to spell, remember, pronounce, and type. If your company has a long name, try to keep it three words at a maximum. For example, many successful companies have three-letter acronyms such as IBM, CNN and BBC.
When registering your domain name, always choose a .com first. The reason is simple everyone remembers .com before .net, .org., or .biz. If you are using other than .com, you are losing potential customers.
Dont forget that a branded domain name can reassure your visitors that your online business is trustworthy and reliable. This saves them time because they know what to expect and need not seek your competitors or other online alternatives.
iv) Develop your own unique selling proposition (USP). If you want to differentiate your business from your competitors, you need to ask yourself these questions. Why would customers buy from me? How does my product perform better than the competitions? Does it cost less, lasts longer, or more attractive than my competitors? Does it come with special features? What makes my product or service unique?
v) Develop your website that is user-friendly and easily understood. Before you start building a site, its a good idea to sketch it out with a pencil and some paper. Use appropriate number of images. Carefully plan and build a website that shows the products image together with the descriptions and benefits. Your web site visitors are more likely to recognize your product if they see pictures.
You should also try to minimize the number of clicks on your website, as this will make it faster and easier for your web site visitors to find what theyre looking for. Be careful with banners and use them in moderation. Cluttered banners have weak branding impact than less cluttered banners.
vi) Design an impressive logo. Just look at eBay, Google, Yahoo, Apple, and Windows Operating System. All of us are familiar with these logos before everything else. These big companies have unique logos which we can remember and recognize easily when we see their logos somewhere else.
Many successful online businesses use attractive logos to create a lifetime impression in the minds of their consumers and bring global recognition. Create a simple and catchy brand name that comes with a simple logo. Display your logo at all important locations on your site to increase brand identification.
vii) Participate in newsgroups. These are called online forums where people who share common interests come together in a virtual meeting room to ask questions and exchange information.
This is the social side of online brand building, where you can develop your reputation as an industry expert at no cost. At any time you find forum members discussing your brand online, explain further and dont forget to thank them. This proves theres a real person behind the business.
viii) Set up a feedback process, as this enables your visitors to inform you if something goes wrong. By providing good customer service, such as answering phone calls and replying emails quickly and politely, will spread the good word about your business and keeps it going.
Remember that online branding is just one part of your overall marketing plan and it cannot be successful overnight. Brands are normally built over long haul and through persistent and consistent actions. It is therefore an essential skill for any marketer, both online and off.
by: Saiful Azim Muhd. Halimi Safe Online Mortgage Loan Finance Application Contractors - How To Improve Your Personal Brand Online How To Succeed In Online Consulting How To Get Diabetic Neuropathy Treatment Online Online Bingo Site Bonuses Online Training - Project Management Professional Training Course, Supply Chain Management Training iMMAAC Training vs The University of San Francisco Online Training Things To Contemplate While You Make An Online Purchase And Save Your Time Make money online tips and tricks How To Make Money Fast Online Without Spending A Dime Online Degree In Finance Offer Cpa, Cma And Cfa Job Opportunities Cheap Tires Are Available Online Feeling Secure Using Online Faxing