Most small business owners realize the importance to branding their company, but they lack the skill to branding themselves on the internet. Most small business owners are too confused with all the fancy tools and words, like blogs, podcasts, rss, opt-in and auto responder. Others just don't think the internet is important. To prevent overwhelm, I have included a complete list of steps to take your brand online.
1. Know your brand and create a brand statement. I find that most of my clients know their niche, but they don't know their brand. Here are a couple of questions that will help you get clear on your brand. Why is your company in business? What set you apart from the competition? If you are the company owner, look inside yourself and state your clearest vision for your company. Now write your brand statement down in one sentence.
2. Create a hook impression. Find words that can easily explain what your company does. Don't go into your "story". Just state enough information to get your buyer's mouth watering and take the bait.
3. Generate "schools of fish" with website involvement. Build a subscriber base or "schools of fish caught by your hook". Get your fish or subscribers involved in your business by creating online questionnaires, polls and forums.
4. Build your keywords. Go back to your brand statement and decide on fifteen keywords that are directly associated with your brand. Use these keywords in your web copy, in you're ad campaigns and in your literature when available.
5. Write copy that identifies your brand. When you write copy for your website, include your brand's warm friendly elements. The internet is a very cold and impersonal place, write copy as if you are writing to one of your friends. Everyone has their own voice, so why not let your brand have its own voice.
6. Create a tagline and marketing statement. Now you are ready to create a complete user experience. Here are a few questions to help you along with this process. How is my brand being represented in my all my client interactions? If you have print literature, are you representing your business the same as you are online? Does your copy talk to the same target audience in all areas of your business?
7. Be available for your fish. Let your subscribers be able to reach you and swim with you. But most importantly when they do, be sure, you are representing your brand as clearly as possible.
Remember Rome wasn't built overnight. These steps will take time. Continue to ask yourself, "Will this ________ represent my brand?" If you stay in tune with what you are trying to accomplish you can't go wrong.
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Follow a 70 Day Diary Of A Start Up - iBrandweb.com
Online entreprenuer, Jen Blackert, is starting an internet branding, marketing & customer loyalty business. She has set an ambitious goal of going from launch to thriving practice in just 10 weeks (Starting April 6, 2006).
What makes Jen's story so fascinating other than the whole adventure is being recorded online at ibrandweb.com, is that she is demonstrating all her marketing strategies which is introduced on her blog at ibrandweb.com.
If you'd like to see a step-by-step log of how an online business is launched by an internet marketing expert, this is your chance.
www.ibrandweb.com
