Home > Blog > Traffic Tuesdays > Words Blog 23: Blogging to Build Your Brand
Blog

Traffic Tuesdays


Published by: Judy Cobb 05-14-2013  |  POSTED IN: Traffic Tuesdays

Words Blog 23: Blogging to Build Your Brand

 
Your company's brand is the image and identity you create that distinguishes your business from your competitors in the minds of your customers. A powerful brand can be more valuable to a company than any other asset. A successful brand, targeted at the right customer base, can assure successful sales results for many years.
 
The classic example of this brand success is Coca Cola. Experts say that Coke could lose all its manufacturing facilities worldwide and remain in business because of the power of its brand.
 
The development of the Internet as a vast medium for marketing and sales has revolutionized our business models and created a challenge for every business on the Web:  How do you build and maintain your brand in this new arena?
 
Until the introduction of the Internet, building a brand, for most companies, involved using two types of strategies:
 
1. One-way communication via television, radio, the print media or direct mail and
 
2. Personal contact in a store, at other sales venues or by telephone.
 
The overall brand image usually came from the accumulated impression created by the use of media for advertising and public relations, the product packaging, other tangible features of the product and the store or sales venue. The internet has transformed this model because customers do not just find information about the company and its products or services on the Web. They can also interact with a company by asking questions, requesting information or buying a product.
 
These interactions are often completed without the customer ever dealing directly with a person. Until the introduction of the Internet, the only business model that allowed this kind of remote contact between business and customer was direct mail marketing and sales.
 
The Internet has also changed how customers gather information and make buying decisions. People shopping on the Internet can find an extraordinary amount of information on any topic in seconds. That means they can locate your business and your competitors almost instantly.
 
They are impatient when they get to your website, because they expect to immediately find the information they are looking for. Your website has about seven seconds to get their attention. If it doesn't, they move on to the next "hit" in their search.
 
If they find useful information on your website, they will remember the site and may come back in the future. The return visit might be to buy a product or service, to get contact information so they can discuss your product or service with you or to locate useful information they believe they will find there.
 
Your website must immediately establish your brand and tell your brand's story quickly and clearly. Each element of the website must build that brand picture, beginning with the visual elements a person sees as he or she lands on the website.
 
A blog is one particularly effective tool for building and maintaining a company's brand. There are several reasons why this is true.
 
1. A blog provides a venue for maintaining the currency and immediacy of your website. Blogs are posted on a regular schedule and can take advantage of current news or trends with new postings.
2. A blog aimed at people in a specific demographic can be an effective tool for reaching out to people in that demographic and building your potential customer base.
3. The content of the blog can build an image of credibility with accurate, well written information.
4. A blog can be a means of interacting with customers or experts, either by allowing them to post to the blog or by responding to customer questions via the blog.
 
In a sense, writing about a blog as a tool in creating and maintaining a company's brand on the Internet is bypassing several critical steps in the online branding process:
 
- Defining the brand
- Creating a website that supports the brand image and
- Developing web content that facilitates the brand and its sales.
 
A blog is one powerful tool for building and maintaining the brand. It is certainly not the only one. Stay tuned to this blog for more chats about branding and blogging.
 
 
As always, you can help us assure that every blog post in this series provides you with tangible suggestions and ideas for building or improving your website. Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions with us. Feel free to leave comments below or email Judy at [email protected].
 
Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Thanks for reading. Jason.
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe below to this blog.
 
About Jason Ciment
Formerly an attorney and CPA, Jason has been working online since 1997. His columns on affiliate marketing can still be found on www.Clickz.com and his book on search engine optimization can be found at www.seotimetable.com.

This blog is published 4x per week and covers website design and SEO tips as well as a wide range of tips and advice for working and living online more efficiently and enjoyably.
 

SUBSCRIBE TO THE LADEZIGN BLOG
Enter your email address below:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 
 

Value entered for e-mail is invalid
 Passwords don't match
 Please fill up missing fields below
Comment:
 
Enter validation code
Or click here if you can't see the code clearly.

Comments
 
 

no comments found


Let's connect.       Request a free consultation/quote for your next website design or search marketing project.           

x