Can you beat the competition in the blogosphere?
It’s easy to say, “YES I CAN,” but the reality is that 85% of bloggers and internet marketers are struggling to raise their heads.
Blogging as a business needs extra attention. You can’t succeed by joining one of those “average” blogs.
Differentiating your publishing house may not be easy, but it’s mandatory.
According to recent studies, more than 100,000 blogs are being hosted on daily basis – and when you consider this, it could be a source of FEAR in your marketing endeavors. Potential clients are in a state of dilemma, because they can’t find the right solutions for them.
So, what’s left for a serious blogger/entrepreneur?
Build a strong brand – that’s the secret of professional blogging – it will make you great!
What Is A Brand?
We all know what a brand is. In the context of internet marketing, a brand is the uniqueness, an identity that sets you apart from millions of others. It’s true that internet marketing niches are crowded; but notwithstanding, some savvy bloggers are making great impact and cashing-in – why aren’t you?
Do you think you’re making mistakes in your marketing activities? I don’t think so. Maybe you didn’t get it right like the professionals, but if you had a unique style, then every other benefit would fall naturally.
Ironically, you don’t have to get it right in the beginning; it takes time to craft and master a particular vocation. If you’re willing to give all it takes, here are proven strategies to help enhance your brand.
1. Define Your Objective
Every business operates under the umbrella of “objective.” But having a generic objective isn’t going to produce visible results anytime soon, you need to define clearer and more concise objective.
Branding can be influenced by external forces, like economic changes, web developments, hot trends, taste and culture of a certain group of people.
Even online consumers have a definite culture and an attitude to your brand. If you must carve a crystal presence online, that can enhance self-confidence and business-generosity, defining your objective is paramount.
What do you want to achieve with your blog? Do you want more comments, fresh readers, buyer leads or sales? All these would determine the channel of brand you take.
There are several ways to build a strong brand that stays, but without a clear objective of things you want to see, the journey would be slow.
2. Trigger Curiosity In Prospect’s Mind
Curiosity is a great motivator in sales and marketing fields. I’ve used it on my niche blogs, to command great attention. What do people stand to gain by getting connected with your brand?
If you can answer this question in one or two sentences, then you’re on the right track. I If not, it means your objective is still questionable, and you’re not clear yet. The easiest way to trigger curiosity is to have a valuable back-end product or information. If you’re familiar with inbound marketing strategy and use it, your brand would grow quicker and easily.
It’s actually wrong to provoke curiosity when there is nothing at the other end. It can destroy business-reputation and adulterate goodwill. But when you’re prepared, curiosity can help tape your brand image on prospect’s mind.
We know that online consumers have crowded minds. A lot is being exposed to them every day – TV commercials, internet infomercials, banner ads, press release campaigns, video clips, blog posts etc. And let’s not forget the incessant product reviews which often seem promotional, instead of educational.
Ensure the call-to-action button or action links makes a promise. You may not ask for email address in the call to action, but as soon as they get to the referred landing page, capture email addresses and start building relationships.
3. Get Optimized Online & Offline
Search engine optimization seems to be the fastest way to build and enhance a brand image. A lot of people struggle to attract prospects on their blog, because the foundation of their marketing is weak.
If you spend time to optimize your web pages, with the right keywords (long-tail keyphrases), you’ll get more targeted traffic in the future without biting your fingers or working hard. I’ve used the long-tail optimization techniques in my niche blog that features vistaprint.com coupon and ps print discount codes. It’s proven to work for you.
But you can’t optimize for search engines and fold your arms. Offline optimization also matters. This is where business card falls in. This is where branded T-Shirts, Vehicle Branding and other print media catalysts come in. Having both online and offline optimization is important, because, your potential prospects are on both realms.
A lot of consumers can’t use the internet to make purchases. They still prefer to shop offline. They would rather board a Taxi to Wal-Mart Store. While others prefer to buy from Amazon online – that’s why you should target both ends – it’s the best marketing strategy.
Time to build your brand…
Why must I read your blog posts, and leave a comment? If you’ve a unique personality, and a writing voice, it can contribute to your brand.
Whatever it takes to stand-out and profit online, you’ve to do it. One of such is to offer valuable contents consistently –Remember, prospects are watching your back. See you ahead!
Image Credit: inblurbs
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Michael,
Hold your objective. This idea is your compass, the purpose you need to focus on, to build a powerful brand.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan Biddulph
Michael Chibuzor
Yes Ryan, I quite appreciate your comment. You’ve discovered my compass for building a strong brand. You ride with me.
Adam
Many people online don’t seem to take into account that they can build and promote their brand offline as well.
With the right resources and the proper audience you can promote yourself or your brand through PR Releases, newspapers, local television, or advertising on your own vehicle with car banners and magnets.
Marketing yourself shouldn’t stop as soon as you step away from the digital world. If you are truly wanting build your name and brand than you need to explore every avenue out there to make it happen.
Michael Chibuzor
That’s so true Adam. Offline promotion also works to make your brand standout. Thank you very much for stopping by to read my post.
JamesW
Great post Michael, SEO is one of the best ways for creating brand image and really one of the most used in today life of a blogger.
thank you for sharing
Peter Lawlor
It also helps a great deal to narrow down the topic of your blog if you want to build an audience. It’s better to have a tight group of readers/audience than a broad group that isn’t cohesive.
The thing is it’s not that hard to build up a readership if you create fantastic content. Publish it and promote it and do it again. In time you’ll attract readers and subscribers. Hold nothing back and blog about what you have actual experience doing. When you can write content based on actual experience, it resonates much more acutely.
Michael Chibuzor
“Narrow your niche down, that’s the best way to discover amazing audience and disciple them.”
Steven Papas
Many people try too hard to do too many things at once, or simply have an objective in mind that is too general and all-encompassing (“I want to be a better/bigger blogger”). It’s best to focus on one specific objective at a time. First focus on better SEO, then try to achieve that comment number goal, etc.
Successful blogging is entrepreneurship. It’s tough, but those who are good at strategy often come out on top.
Michael Chibuzor
Well explained Steven, you’ve made a great point. One step at a time is the ultimate step to take.
Aasma
Hi Michael,
Nice points, Specially the first one unless you’re clear about your objective you can’t achieve it and you can’t even think about building your brand. Be clear about your objective only then you can market yourself and build brand.
Anton Koekemoer
Great tips – Thanks for sharing them. When it comes to brand exposure one has to be clear on the target market and the primary area’s of focus – Once you’ve determined that its all go for your campaigns launch – Though I have to add , with geographical issues, differences in size and budget of all Businesses along with the different Channels of marketing and area’s of target market will play a big role in any Brand exposure/Marketing Campaigns. But overall the tips that you’ve feature is viable to ANY brand exposure. Great post , thanks for sharing.
Michael Chibuzor
I welcome your comment with open mind. Being clear about the objective is the easiest way to make a unique brand. Thanks for pointing it out!
(@BasicBlogTips) (@BasicBlogTips)
Build A Strong Brand: 3 Effective Strategies That Works! http://t.co/gwin9v1E via @DiTesco
Devon Artis
Thanks Michael for the great post, I really appreciate this post about branding, for so long as a marketer I did not understand the value of branding always thought it was for the big guys with lots of money.
Now that I have started blogging more regularly I could definitely see how branded would benefit me and my blog.
Michael Chibuzor
You make my day Devon with your cool comment. I’m so happy I was able to help you understand branding. Please visit again!
Turnberry Towers Condos
100,000 blogs appearing on internet daily? This is lot of competition for young bloggers. I am much more interested in the figure that reflects how many blogs survives one year in blogosphere in this tough competition. You are right; you need to have a strong brand before jumping into blogging business. Today, for running a successful blog, you need to give proper time for writing content, strong branding, use of social media sites for diverting traffic to your blog, etc. You need multiple skills to run a successful blog that can also earn you some money.
Michael Chibuzor
You need SEO, social media, networking, writing, commenting and branding skills to build a profitable blog. Don’t be scared of 100,000 blogs appearing on the internet daily. You can still cash-in, if you identity the ‘stuffs’ you’re made of. Thank you for reading!