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Branding Yourself & Your Business

When you think of a brand the first thing that probably comes to mind is a big brand like Apple, Coca Cola, or Disney etc. When you have a successful brand, it sets your product apart from your competition. You want your brand to be able to expand your customer base and increase your market share. The larger your customer base and market share the more powerful your brand will become.

There are many factors that go into making a brand successful and there are even more that go into keeping your brand successful. By learning the basic steps, you will be able to put your brand on the best possible path to success. You will find that marketing and branding go hand in hand. A good brand will help your marketing and strong marketing will help build a strong brand. It is up to you to do your homework to ensure that you make the right decisions to help your company build a strong brand.

Your goal is to build a brand that is the recognized leader in a given category. This makes the consumer want to be aligned with your brand and will seek it out at the store. It will give them the satisfaction that they have made the correct decision for themselves and their family when they purchase your brand.

With the explosion of the Internet, now more than ever, companies have the chance to go global and increase their sales and profits. By following the steps that are outlined here, you will have the information that you need to make your brand successful and have the ability to go global both on the Internet and with a brick and mortar store.

Expand Your Brand

Do not limit your own brand. There are two ways to plan for branding:

1. Short Term Branding Marketing Strategy
   
   1. PPC (Pay-per-click) /AdWords – Successful PPC campaigns will drive targeted traffic in the short term to your landing pages. You want qualified leads in an advanced stage of the buyer’s journey. They might not be ready to buy today, but they are close.
      
   2. Events – Trade shows, customer appreciation, and other types of events need a short-term strategy that can help you easily execute the event, and establish the baseline for ‘success’.
      
   3. Social Media – It is arguable that social media in marketing needs both a long-term and short-term strategy. In regards to short-term strategy and social media, your social media promotions and giveaways are part of the ‘quick wins’.
      
2. Long Term Branding Marketing Strategy
   
   1. Branding – Establishing your brand, including digitally, is another long term task. Brand recognition, awareness, and reputation will all need to be managed on a large scale. When it comes to digital branding, you will more than likely need to constantly improve your website to keep user experience thriving.
      
   2. Social Media – When it comes to long-term marketing strategy and social media, you should think of the ‘big picture’ you’re trying to paint with your social media presence. Your “big-picture” brand strategy will be socially shared in your long term strategy.
      
   3. SEO – Search engine optimization is a long term process, so a long-term strategy will be needed for Increased search rankings or increased local SEO rankings. Google rankings don’t move overnight, so keeping an eye on the long term is important with SEO.
      
   4. Content Marketing – Blogging and email marketing are aspects of content marketing that need to have a long-term strategy to truly see ROI. Pillar page content needs to be at the core of this strategy with supporting blogs, and downloadable content providing important links to the pillar page.