Web Branding Matters -- Part One
There is a new concept in branding: online branding. If you want to know exactly what that means, you only have to take the traditional definitions of branding and adapt them to the Web. Then you’ll get a simple definition: online branding makes your visitors believe that you are the only answer to their problems. Every business has a brand; so don’t go around saying “I don’t need a brand”. You have a business, the business has a name, and you’ve created a website, so… welcome: you are in the world of the online brands. It’s nice here: brands evolve, brands decline… it’s a tough world, but if you can manage to create a powerful trademark you are in for a great treat. Why Is Online Branding Important? An online brand is the experience a consumer has with you and your products. You have to make your clients feel good about their choice. Online branding is not about placing your company logo on the upper left corner of a web page. Your slogan could sound all mighty for you, but slogans are made to be spoken: it’s hard to do that online without annoying your visitors. Writing your slogan in bold letters may work, or it may not. So how do you succeed if two of the most important branding elements are doomed? They are not. They just don’t work online as fast as other tools. Brands should trigger emotional feelings that will determine consumers to buy. A good slogan could work, but it is not enough to have a slogan if the contents of your websites are not supporting its message. So what is your message? What should your potential clients really know about your brand? Is it reliable? All brands assert the same. Is it the best on the market? When it comes to an online brand people just need to know the real advantages and benefits. At Burger King you “feel the fire”, Coca-Cola... you “love it!” Philips is about “sense and simplicity” and Panasonic gives you “ideas for life”… All these global brands have something in common: they back-up their slogans with powerful online and offline branding efforts. If you look at their websites you’ll notice they are all incredibly designed, user friendly and rich in valuable information. For example customers landing on a Philips page understand right away what the “sense and simplicity” motto defines. So when you build up your online brand make your values stand out. Creating an Online Brand Online branding is a science because the Web is evolving faster than brands. It is hard to build up an online brand, but not impossible. What do your customers first think of when they see the name of your company online? If your answer is “nothing” you are on the wrong path. When you build a brand online you have to force it and reinforce it. Force your customers to grasp it and once they do, remind them of their choice: newsletters, articles, press releases, emails, free giveaways and so on. You cannot create an online brand if you disregard a few important aspects such as understanding your market and the reflection of business values through your brand. Success comes in little steps – branding is still a time-consuming and costly process. Yet online, there are some free opportunities. However, unless you are a branding expert yourself, you need professionals to take care of your branding campaigns. Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest do-it-yourself website builder on the web. No programming or design skill required. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com |
Other Articles
Logo Design: Things To Remember A powerful logo goes a long way in enhancing the visibility of a company. A logo can be termed as an iconic representation of a brand, designed in a way that creates an immediate recognition. A good logo design not only enhances the visibility of the company but also, by virtue of its unique design, gradually becomes a brand identifier. Logos es ...The Positioning of Success Many businesses of today are often driven to compete striclty on price, quality, and features of their products and services. Companies who prosper over the long term don't simply offer the best deals, the best quality, or the most impressive bells and whistles. If you want to win big in today’s cutting edge world of business, you have to begi ...Developing A Brand Many businesses are taking for granted that consumers be acquainted with what their products are all about. But how could it is possible? How can a consumer identify without a bit of experience about your business? It is your task to inform them both visually (in the form of logo) and verbally (with a short communication and meaning of your prod ...What is the Flavor of Your Website? When I mention, “flavor”, I mean the appeal of the products or services, a company offers, to your basic senses, ( taste, touch, feel, sight, etc.). But, allow me to extend this even further and talk about company appeal as well, for example company “culture”. Let’s get less broad and bring this to you and me. What is our “appeal” ...The Importance of Branding - Can It Really Make a Difference? 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. But the impact of a name reinforces the importance of branding when we promote our business. Think about one of the world's most popular athletic shoe companies, Nike. The im ...How To Set Yourself Apart In The Sea Of Online Marketers Do you feel odd when you write marketing material to publish online? Do you read over old marketing items and wonder why in the world it says what it does? Do you think, “I can’t believe I published that!”? Do you hire a copywriter and just accept whatever they come up with? After all, they are professionals!If your online marketing m ...10 Steps to a Spider Friendly Website The 10 steps below will ensure that GoogleBot and other search engine spiders are able to crawl your site with little effort when they visit you. The search engines job is to index as many pages as possible from the web and they do this by trying to find the most efficient pages to process so that they may move on to the next. You can ensure the ...What The Holidays Teach Us About Branding When it comes to creating and building a brand name, most companies feel compelled to file trademarks and establish “guidelines” to protect their image. Yet some of the most well known brands in the world today are holidays – wide open to use and abuse in the public domain. Despite being public property they still retain a high degree of brand c ...Branding Mistakes - Brand Identity Guru 1. It “sells itself.” I don’t need to market.Okay, you might have a solid product or service. You might even routinely satisfy your customers. They might even send their friends and family to you. But wait. Is that your product or service selling itself? No (that is, unless your widgets have learned to speak). That’s one of your customers ...Build Brand Value BIG Time Ask your self this question, In which business are we really in? And stay far from the dark world of commodities...I am astonished!!! I just witness how in three days a clan of marketers – brand managers, advertisers, researchers - drove a brand into the huge world of commodities, these people approach the brand building process as a conj ...Crazy About Packaging “It’s the same old tissue, honey, it doesn’t make a difference, ok? It’s still going to work the same way”, my exasperated husband hissed into my ear as I grabbed cartons after cartons of some ‘designer’ tissue. DESIGNER TISSUE! Hah, can you even hear me say that? I can’t believe I actually wrote ‘designer tissue’. So, yes, for a graphic designe ...Intellectual Property – Trade Mark Infringement – Licensing – Passing Off In September 2006, Nike agreed to pay Hackney Council £300,000 for the unlawful use of the Council’s ‘H’ logo. Nike had not obtained Hackney Council’s permission to use the logo. The settlement figure was calculated by taking into account the total global sales of Nike merchandise, and an appropriate percentage was established.Logos, such ...Types of Logos There are three basic types of logos: text, symbol, and combination logos. The type of logo that will work best for your company depends on a number of considerations, such as the size of your company, the uniqueness of your name, and a variety of other factors.Text logoA text logo (also sometimes called a logotype or word mark) is ...Brand Awareness - Brand Identity About once a month a few of us at the office get together during lunch for what has become known as a SWAP meeting. We share thoughts, stories and sometimes play Pictionary. It’s a great way to relieve stress and learn interesting tidbits about the people we work with.One afternoon our conversation turned, as all conversations eventually ...Boston Brand Building - Brand Identity Guru "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir your blood... MAKE BIG PLANS. Aim high in hope and work." So wrote Daniel H. Burnham in the last century. The big plans are important. They capture your vision. The next step is to break them down into "do-able" chunks, chunks that can be done in even one day. That is what gives you a definite se ...Logo Design Tips for Effective Branding How memorable is your business? It might be your service, your products, or most importantly... your company branding.The elements that go into your company's logo has a significant effect on how successful your business will be in bringing customers in and keeping them coming back. Company branding is predefining everything you business is abou ...5 Easy Steps to Inexpensive Letterhead Stationary For Your Business Much new businesses start out needing to save costs and so they skimp on some of the perceived extras. They will often try to get away without spending for things like letterhead, stationary, and business cards. However these are very important and if you are serious about your business then it is important to go to the extra effort of putting ...Effective Public Relations Essential for Personal Branding Move over pop star "Posh Spice" Adams and English soccer hero David Beckham, the personal branding power of newly engaged Australian celebrity sports couple Lleyton Hewitt and Rebecca Cartwright could be worth up to $100 million dollars.In terms of public relations and effective public relations, their media performance this week in both ...Value Proposition Writing - Brand Identity Guru Your Value Proposition, or as I usually call it, your Core Marketing Message, is still misunderstood by most professionals. It's not just a tagline, sound bite or even an "Audio Logo." It goes way beyond that.It really is the expression of the essence of your business. It's the foundation of all your marketing messages. It's what makes y ...Effective Branding...What's in a Name! Ask any marketing executive and they will tell you that a company's name is golden. There are certain associations that people have with a name, one that invokes emotions -- good or bad. Let's examine three case studies of branding involving companies that have merged and where the buyer kept the name of the company they bought or are considerin ...You Are Your Own Brand Recently, I wrote an article discussing the Unique Selling Proposition: its definition, its use and its penultimate importance in all aspects of marketing, no matter what business you’re in. In another article, I told the story of Julie’s Mansion, a wonderful restaurant I was studying as a young hospitality school student. I mentioned ...Checklist For Your Website This checklist has been designed to help you understand what you need for a great website. Your website is a place that others see what you do and read the testimonials on how great your product or service is. The testimonials provide third party proof you are the expert. Your website echoes your branding and if you are not consistent with you p ...The 7C’s of Branding So, you want to attract more business, right? To stand out from the crowd and be seen as unique and special, start with the items listed below to assess your present circumstance and gauge your future ability to increase business while Building Your Brand.The purpose for the steps listed is to build a strong foundation for success. Simila ...Can A Website Help Grow Your Brand? - Part 3 In parts 1 and 2, We convinced you you’ve got to have a website, and we’ve shared some things to consider before having one designed, so now it’s time to think about how you can generate revenue 24 / 7.You’ve worked hard to build a business but let’s face it, you’re limited in how much you can make because your business can only be open a ...
|