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Branding in an Online World

Written by: Kristin Marquet

Article Overview: Nowadays business competition is intense. Regardless of the product or service an organization is trying to sell, similar products or services are available. To become the first choice in this cluttered marketplace, branding online and offline is a must.

Branding in an Online World

Buildinga strong brand is one of the most important things an organization can do to increase visibility, create a good reputation, and become a trusted business. Consumers associate a brand with a certain identity. These identities communicate messages, buildcredibility, and motivate prospects to contact and purchase from an organization. When I create a branding plan for one of my businesses or clients, I follow these tips: Consistency is completely necessary to effective branding. All marketing material tones and messaging (websites, logos, slogans, mission statement, brochures, postcards, sales letters, newsletters, advertisements, etc) must be consistent. Unclear or conflicting messages cause confusion. A mission statement should tell who you are, what you do, and how you can add value to the marketplace. Sponsor a charity event. Attend fundraisers. Join the local Chamber of Commerce to network with other business owners in the community. Develop strategic alliances and cross promotions with non-competing companies. Whenever a company has a new product or service launch or a newsworthy event occurs, writing and distributing press releases online and to print media is a great way to increase visibility. Endorsements and testimonials add value to a company's brand because it creates credibility. Add a media page to the website showing where the company was featured. Become an expert in the industry by writing by-lined articles for industry blogs, websites, newsletters, newspapers, or magazines. Create an organizational blog and print or electronic newsletter for consumers. Social media is a great way to build a brand. I find Linkedinand Twitter very effective. For women business owners,Beauties on the Go is also a great inspirational resource and network. Become an industry leader by posting on messages boards and forums. Get involved in conversations, ask questions, give advice, attend workshops, tele-seminars, and network with like minded people. You'll be amazed at how quickly your network expands. Branding is vital since it not only defines an organization, but also creates a perception of value.

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Article Tags: cause confusion, cellpadding, charity event, consistency, credibility, cross promotions, electronic newsletter, endorsements, fundraisers, important things, launch, local chamber, mission statement, network with other business owners, newsworthy event, sales letters, slogans, strategic alliances, table border, twitter



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your Business? - We are running a Online Marketing Firm and we have some good clients to which we are offering a complete Digital Marketing strategy like Search, Mobile Marketing, Branding and Design. I think in Online Marketing company online presence can be a wining factor for the success of the company.
Re: Exotic Tea Shop Website for Review - Hi David, - Background is nice and fitting, but I don't like the header. The title completely blends in with the background? - About Us shouldn't be second from the left on the navigation bar. People read from left to right. The commercial intent is to buy, the online store should probably be second. - Online Tea Store... too many choices without supplementary information. No description of product choice. oz and pricing should be stylized separately from the name of the product. - Online Tea Store.... Visuals is definitely very important in raising commercial intent. Someone who comes to the site through SEO is searching for exotic teas and not particulars. Meaning they're browsing. Text is not enough for a browsing shopper. - World of Tea... the information can be organized a bit better. Again, visuals. Some of this info belongs to online tea store. I'm not too sure on the name. - Tea & Treasure... not sure on this name either... mainly because you have "World of Tea" next to it. Navigation should be transparent in conveying information to the users. Why not call it "Find Us" or "Visit Us"? - Email newseletter.... "occasional updates" containing what exactly? Again, my humble opinion. Hope you find it useful!
Name for website - Hmmmm Authors World Authors Network Authors World Wide Weblog World Wide Authors Arboretum (or some other alliterative word) WritertoWriter Writer to Reader WritersWorld WritersConnect AuthorsandtheirReadersBlog
Re: Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? - [quote:31qpen1j]This is just my opinion, but I consider the prospective categories, Online Marketing, Internet Marketing and Online Promotion, as being pretty much one and the same - just different words that different people use.[/quote:31qpen1j] I completely agree! Those are all just "internet marketing" as far as I am concerned. And I normally would have voted for internet marketing, however I chose social media marketing simply because there are more than enough IM forums out there already.
Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work...? - Last month, the BBC World Service programme, The Strand, featured 21 year-old Icelandic pianist/composer Olafur Arnalds. Arnalds achieved extraordinary success through his internet-led project to compose 7 tunes in 7 days, post them on his website and then post links to it via TWITTER. As a result his website got thousands of visitors eager to listen to his music, catapulting him to fame and bringing his music to the attention of the BBC, who featured an interview with him on the World Service programme, The Strand! So who says Twitter doesn't work? (HINT: It does help if you have something uniquely your own that other people want to get hold of...)


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