How to build a quality brand for your business

Online branding is more about telling your prospects what it is that you do, who you are and your background, and how you go about offering your expertise on the Internet. Online branding is less about your logo, website design, and other physical elements that usually define a business. Online branding is a very effective way to create an authentic identity for your business which will help you to grow your business and make an impact on your online audience.

 Online Branding: A Panacea to Your Business

In today’s world, the internet has made it imperative for businesses to thrive beyond boundaries, this has exponentially boosted the profit base of small businesses and conglomerates. Define Your Brand: If you can define your brand right from the moment a person arrives at your Web page, your brand will have more impact on the visitor because they immediately know what you are about. On average, you have about 8 seconds to capture the visitor's attention before they decide to stay or leave your website. If you make the most of these 8 seconds people will remember your brand and be more likely to return to your website in the future. When you define your brand, make it personal by providing the benefits right on the home page.

The following are more ways to engage your visitors and potential clients with your brand:

Develop a Fan Club: Developing a list of followers is a great way to spread your brand across the Internet. You can do this through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as through list building efforts that generate opt-ins for your newsletter or other useful online content.

Create Visibility: Create visibility for your brand by engaging in viral marketing. You can identify your brand by creating videos and free information such as ebooks that others will share with their friends.

Keep in mind that if you want this branding strategy to be successful, you must offer high-quality content that is useful and helpful to your audience, otherwise, they will not be motivated to share it with others. Also, make sure that all of the content you create has your website URL included or some other resource where people can return to you for more information.

It should be About What You Do: Online branding is more about what you do and how you do it because these are the two criteria that add value to your online audience. People always want to know what is in it for them, so online branding means establishing yourself as an expert in your field. If you do this effectively people will associate your brand with quality and you will retain a lot more customers.

Website and Logos: Although online branding is more about the business and less about website design and logos, it still is important to brand yourself with a website that is easy to use, professional-looking, and simple to understand.

Build your unique brand identity without spending a lot of money?

Brand marketing seems so complicated. No wonder big businesses pay millions of dollars to have marketing companies build their brands for them.

No matter how great your search engine ranking is... no matter how huge your traffic is from your online and offline marketing activities... you're putting your small business at risk, if you do not set yourself apart from your competitors.

How Do You Build a Unique Brand Identity That Can Set You Apart From Your Competitors?

Your small business has to be better than or at least different from your competitors in order for your prospective customers to choose you over them. If you don't see a difference, create one; so, you can set yourself apart from your competitors.

You can set yourself apart by having better quality, price, service, integrity, reputation or a combination of different factors. You can set yourself apart from the others by being remarkable.

If you haven't started your business, you still have a lot of flexibility for setting yourself apart from your competitors. You can learn a lot from their mistakes and whatever is working for them.

Your unique brand identity can set you apart from other contemporary services. If you provide good service, you can have a good chance of having customers loyal to your brand. With a unique brand identity, it will also be easier for your customers to remember you and refer your business to others.

Make a decision about your brand-building goals before you start marketing your brand. You want to be clear as to what it is that you want to accomplish with your brand... what "image" you want for your brand. Once you have a unique brand identity, you will have to communicate your brand in all your marketing strategies consistently and repeatedly.

Select the best marketing strategies that can create increased awareness of your brand in your target customers. Communicate what is unique about your brand as often as you can. As your customers' awareness of your brand goes up, your sales should also go up.

Having a powerful brand is essential to having a successful and profitable small business.

A powerful brand can influence your customers to buy your product or service over your competitors... even if they have to pay more for it. A powerful brand can influence your customers to think that no one else, but you or your company, can deliver the quality or the benefits that they want.

Branding helps your small business succeed by simplifying your customers' decision -- when they need your product or service... they need only to think of you.