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Build Your Online Brand in 7 Easy Steps

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Ignoring or not actively managing your brand online doesn’t mean you won’t have one. It’s worse – it means that your brand will be defined by others. You may not like the results!
Here are the steps to take to actively manage your brand online:

Google yourself.

Find out where you are online and assess what your brand looks like already. What do you like? What needs to be changed? Make an assessment of the current landscape so you can factor your research in as you move forward.

Define your goal.

What do you want to achieve? How do you want to be perceived? Take time to answer these questions before you proceed.

Flesh out your brand.

Write about who you are and what you do. Note what makes you different from others in the same field or industry. Define the things that people want to know about you.

Make your website a worthy home base.

Create a website or edit your current site to reflect your brand. Pay attention to words and images. Have others look at your website and tell you who you are and what differentiates you. If the responses match the brand you have defined, great! If not, work on your website some more.

Expand your brand.

Optimize your social media profiles and other profiles online so they are consistent with your brand and goals. Use consistent words and images. Make it easy for people to connect the dots from one online location to another. Your consistent brand across multiple locations strengthens your brand and your visibility online.

Connect with your target audience.

Once you have a solid foundation for your brand online, you are ready to start connecting with others. Create and post content. Invite people to follow you. Follow people who matter to you. Comment on posts from people and about subjects that are relevant to your goals and brand.

Tell your brand story.

You are never done telling your brand story. Tell it in posts, in images, in videos. Share your story many ways and on many platforms. Whether you have connected with someone long ago or just now, no one has your brand memorized. Make it easy for them to know you and what you do. Stay relevant.

This effort isn’t done when you get to step 7. Your brand needs constant tending. You are only relevant online if you keep everything fresh and current.

Pace yourself. Develop a plan of activities that you can live with for the long-term. Success is found over months and years of consistent presentation of your brand. You are worth the investment.

What Exactly is Branding?

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Guest Post by Julie Young, Young Design

People can get confused about the term “branding”. A brand is just another term for identity in the marketplace. For companies, it’s corporate branding – the things that convey your company’s personality and that set it apart from the competition.

Designers and marketers create the basics of a company’s brand through the development of logos, tag lines, colors, fonts, images, the tone of any written content, and through interactivity on the Web. These elements trigger emotional reactions that govern how the market interacts with a product or service. This great article from Smashing discusses cool examples of “emotional design.”

Four Ways to Define and Maintain Your Company’s Unique Brand

  1. Be clear. Don’t muddy the waters with confused messages. How do you want to be seen? Be as clear as you can about who your market is, what you do, how you do it, your particular strengths and your voice. Get comfortable with how your company will communicate with your market.You may change your strategy or your product, but the brand should stand firm. Some companies find themselves wanting to change their name to reflect changes in their product or service – instead, they should ask themselves, “Is this a whole other company?” Maybe it can be an offshoot of the parent company.
  2. Don’t sell your brand short. Spend your dollars on high-quality web, digital and print collateral. Your brand should reflect the value of your company – why go cheap on branding when you offer a superlative service and product? How can the market recognize your quality, if not mostly due to branding? Having sub-par branding reflects badly on your company and your message.
  3. Consistently apply your brand across all mediums. Style guides and templates are the tools typically used to keep the brand on track, with strict guidelines for logo size, color palettes, fonts, and how to treat any variations. These approved guidelines for web, email blasts, and print collateral act as barriers to any rogue efforts that might dilute or cheapen the brand.It’s also wise to have corporate brand guidelines for social media, particularly tone. Getting your market to interact with you is part of building your brand – if they have a positive experience, they’ll spread the word to others. Your corporate “voice” should be consistent with the company’s style, whether formal or conversational. It can be jarring to read jokey or questionable tweets and posts from a company whose brand is conservative and well-respected.
  4. Consider corporate vs. individual brand. If you’re a blogger, commenter, or have a profile on any social media app, you’re a marketer of your own personal brand. In today’s world of immediate access, anyone can (conceivably) build an audience.The same points above apply to the individual: Be aware of how you want to be perceived, control that perception, and be consistent. Maintaining brand integrity keeps your market comfortable with you – and loyal.

About the Author

Julie Young is a print and web designer at Young Design. For over 20 years, she has been creating quality branding, websites, print collateral and email marketing to help companies communicate with their customers in order to raise profiles and profits.