Blog Branding Strategy

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Question: What is Branding?

Ask this question to 12 people and you’ll get 17 definitions of Branding. And all 17 of these definitions are total hogwash!

So, today, I’m about to give you my definition of branding. This definition might totally change your perspective and the way you think about your products.

Are you ready for it?

Ok, some prep work before you read the new branding definition… what branding is not:

• Branding is NOT designing fancy logos and spending hours coming up with catchy slogans.
• Branding is NOT a term, symbol, name, colour, or sign.
• Branding is NOT the messaging work a company does to encourage consumers to feel a certain way about their product.
• And branding is NOT some process by which you transform a commodity into a customer experience.

Marketers come up with such definitions of branding because they have no idea of what a BRAND is. They don’t know what makes a brand great. Do you know what makes a brand really great?

A great Brand does
all of your consumers
thinking for them!

Branding is not differentiating between your products and your competitors. No. Its making your consumers think that there is only one product in the market worth any money: YOURS!

Branding starts with your consumers brains and not with your product design. Branding is not how your product looks. Nor is it how your consumer feels and perceives your product. Nope. Branding is making your consumers think that there is no other product except yours!

How To Successfully Brand Your Blog

A whole fat book can be written on blog branding. But here are some of the high points:

1. Wireframing Your Blog
What kind of people visit your blog? What do these people really want? What do you actually provide?

Wireframing is the process by which you guide your audiences to want what you provide. You either match their wants with your current product portfolio. Or you create a desire within them to want what you sell. Or - you start providing what they want.
Wireframing is making sure that there are no leaks on your blog that turn people off. Its creating navigational pathways on your blog to guide people to take the action you want them to take.

The best time for wireframing is before you start blogging. But its never too late. Expect a more comprehensive and practical post on wireframing your blogs sometime later on.

2. Strategy of Pre-eminence
Master marketer Jay Abraham made the “theory of pre-eminence” famous. What do you mean by pre-eminence?

Pre-eminence is the perception that a person is the best or one of the best authoritative sources on a specific topic. You dona_Tt necessarily have to be the best, but people need to perceive you as the best.

i. Be the first. Be the first and you’ll automatically be perceived as the authority. If you missed being the first, then narrow your niche. You may not be able to be the first online bookstore. But you can become the first online business bookstore. Another idea is: be the first to coin new terms or showcase new angles. Jay Abraham is always mentioned whenever anyone talks about pre-eminence.

ii. Be everywhere. If you can’t be the first, be everywhere. McDonalds wasn’t the first burger chain. But yet, by being the first to expand with blitzkrieg speed, they created a pre-eminent position for themselves.

iii. Offer the best solution. Best is determined by three factors: your ability, your audiences expectation, and your competition.

3. Building a reputation
Get other leaders in your industry to endorse you. Meet your reader’s expectations every time. Exceed their expectations from time to time. Always do the right thing. Build a worthy reputation and people will flock to you.

Suggested Reading:

1. Better Blog Branding Series by Chris Garrett

2. Positioning: The battle for your mind by Al Ries & Jack Trout

3. Un-lock your Brand: How to build a magnetic Brand on a shoestring budget

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Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Stratagems on 02 Jul 2007

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