The Competitive Edge
Creating a competitive edge is another important aspect of branding your business and brand equity.
Today, the online world has many methods of branding. The most popular method of branding and gaining the competitive edge is through the use of Blogs. Blogs allow a site to increase traffic, improve rank through search engine results, and even helps with credibility building also.
About Blogs and Branding Your Business
Blogs are websites that use Web 2.0 technology which allows visitors to a site to post their own comments, articles, and more. Giving a user the access to post things to your site allows them to feel a sense of ownership to the business.
They work in many ways which may include forums, discussion boards, or even look like a daily diary in a sense. They keep the visitors up to date on current events and allow for discussion to take place.
Reasons to Use Blogs
There are many reasons to use blogs for a business. A business may want to provide a discussion board that allows other customers to discuss troubleshooting tips and tricks.
A company may post useful information about how to get the most longevity out of products, how to repair or fix things, and even how to prevent problems from occurring.
Using a Blog to Your Benefit
If you do decide to add a blog to your company site then there are many things to consider so you get the most out of it. Some companies allow people to post their own content while others cannot. Consider things like keywords and phrases, links, useful information, and even contact information.
The primary purpose of blog writing for branding your business is to gain more exposure to a business and get the word out to people that the company exists. Blogs are an excellent way to create hype and exposure because the web has millions of businesses and customers.
When using a blog it is important to make sure that you use important keywords that are relevant to the products and services offered by your business. These keywords and phrases should be the words that will be typed into the search engines when a user is looking for what you offer.
The keywords should be used naturally throughout the content of the blog. They will work by allowing your blog to be pulled up in the search engine results when users type in the specific keywords and phrases you used in the blog.
Adding links to blogs is a very important thing for two reasons. They provide an easy method to get back to your site and provide an inbound link. Users always appreciate an easy way to get to your company.
If you are talking about products and services offered in a blog without links to where the customers can find them then it will do no good. Customers will only search for a business for a very short period if they search at all.
You have a better chance of a customer when a link is right there in the blog so they can easily click and find out more about the company.
URLs are also beneficial for a business because they provide inbound links. One of the ways that search engines work is that one of the ways they rank a business is through popularity.
Popularity can be built up by links integrated within blogs. The more inbound links you provide inside of a blog the more popularity a search engine thinks you have. Never forget to place inbound links inside of blogs and content you place on your blog.
A blog needs to provide beneficial information for the visitors and readers. When there is something useful to the reader they will come back for more.
Blogs give you the opportunity to give the free advice and useful information that will benefit the users and cause you to gain credibility for being knowledgeable about the products and services offered.
Reinforcement of Your Brand
The most important thing about branding is that you need to constantly reinforce the promises you make to the targeted audience. A branding program can be reinforced by being consistent.
Consistency is the most important factor when you reinforce. It shows that you are serious about your brand and your product. It is important to be consistent to show credibility with the customers and the public eye. When a company is not consistent it looks bad for a company as if they are disorganized or have problems.
Reinforcing your brand needs to be done on a regular basis. You should practice constant branding your business techniques that work for your company. Schedule them weekly or monthly if you have to.
For example, try to send out at least two press releases a month to numerous media contacts. Let them know how you are doing and what is going on with the company. Make announcements about ways you better the community and people who use your products.
Reinforcement works for a business with the media also. When you are continuously in contact with the media it will benefit you when something bad happens.
Having the media on your side is very important. They will help you with damage control when a customer makes an accusation or if you need assistance with a bad situation.
Reinforcing your brand means that you back what you say you are going to do. You need to prove to the customers that what you say you will do is true and continuously reinforcing this will brand the idea into their minds.
Branding Your Business
Branding your business is something that every business needs to practice on a daily basis or whenever the opportunity arises. You must work hard to ensure that you make an impact on the way customers think about the products or services offered to the communities.
Making a strong impact on prospects is the way to create brand equity and turn prospects into clients.
When you practice branding you need to ensure you are targeting the right audience demographics. Logos are important but they are not your selling point. They just make a statement. Use a tagline along with a logo or with an advertisement only when you think it will grab the attention of customers in a positive way.
Branding requires you to use media outlets to your benefit. You must be proactive in your methods of branding.
You can hire someone to do the branding for you. A business has complete control over their brand and their image.
The goal of branding is to get into the minds of customers in a positive way and help them realize your business offers a beneficial product to them. You have something that they need.
Branding your business requires you to separate yourself from the competition proving why the business is the best option to purchase from. There needs to be a clear picture what makes you different, unique, and why a customer should choose you over the competition.
The thing to remember about branding is that it helps produce an image about a business.
Consistency is very important. You cannot perform branding by creating a logo on a website and walking away. Branding requires proactive approaches of exposure through article writing, press release distribution, public appearances, products with logos, and much more.
Trust and credibility must be built through the branding process. By using these techniques you can be off to an amazing start of building a trustworthy brand that customers can rely on. Brand equity is on the horizon.
Also, always follow through with promises you make to customers through a mission or any statements.

Branding Your Business Posts
Branding Your Business
Build Recognition with Your Brand
The Competition and Your Brand
Establishing Company Identity
Branding Your Business for the Competitive Edge
Leave a Reply