How to Brand Your Website - Why It’s So Important
Written by Pablo Palatnik on September 23, 2008
WE ALL know the importance of branding. Whether you’re trying to brand a product, service, your website, store, etc, there is great value in creating a brand. Clients (or people in general) as much as they know it is important (maybe they keep hearing it is) always ask why.
It comes down to a few things. The number one reason I think it is very important to establish a brand name is long-term value to your business. Creating a brand can pave the way for success if it is branded right. How many people purchase products or services just because they have heard of the brand before? How many cool things have you seen out there that you havent purchased because you’ve never heard of it before?
So, that brings about the next key point which of course is consumer confidence. You’ll never have the confidence of a consumer unless they’ve heard of you before or you’ve been reffered. That is why if you are trying to establish your unknown website online I can tell you (from experience,) customer service is CRUCIAL. The downfall of a new established company is bad customer service which will lead to too many problems you do not want to deal with and you’ll see a domino effect that comes along with it.
Of course, building a brand is truly important both on and offline. Here are some tips to develop your brand online:
- Press Releases: Write continous press releases on your brand and what is new with your company, products you are carrying, ANYTHING that may be of interest to a consumer or media outlet.
- eMail List: Make sure you capture all your customers emails and if you can, collect emails on your website to capture future customers and send weekly or monthly emails about offers, updates in your company, etc. Engage your customer or potential customer as much as you can.
- Post Cards: This is an offline strategy but it works well to get the customer or consumer back to your website. If you can send a post card with a coupon with a code or something to have that person coming back, now you’re ahead of the competition since they are probably not doing any offline tactics to engage the customer back.
- Standout Logo: A logo is a very important part of your marketing strategy but also of course of your branding strategy. Look at the big brands, they ALL have logos. Whether you like the logo or not, it is still a logo. One that will define your company and bring about brand recognition.
- Publish Free Articles/Blog Contributing: As the owner of a big site, you should be hiring someone to make sure they are out there promoting the brand whether it be from blogs to trade magazines, to mainstream media. Establishing a brand also means being an authority in your niche.
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One Response to “How to Brand Your Website - Why It’s So Important”
Pablo,
I think you are dead on about the importance of branding, something I try to explain to my clients as well, it changes the dynamic of a campaign and can have much greater value in the long run. People think short-term.
Great blog by the way, going back and enjoying a bunch of stuff.
By Craig on Sep 23, 2008