How do You Make Your Amazing Blog Your Brand’s Core
We’ve all heard about Fiverr. The site which went viral for providing inexpensive logos, graphics, content, design and so much more. The vendors on Fiverr provide invaluable services to help provide more professional material to make average websites look more professional.
We should not assume that an inexpensive logo is somehow all you need to brand your blog. Having a logo does not make a brand. Logos are important, as part of a broader strategy. But it’s much more important to have a crystal clear brand promise for your customers.
This matters no matter what your business is. Blogging is a particularly difficult venue to develop your reader base. The competition for readers is brutal and securing a loyal readership is the only way to make your overnight success last more than a few days.
Your Brand Promise Should be Felt in Every Post You Make
The most important part of your brand is largely invisible—at least, at first. It’s the promise you make to every visitor the first time you meet.
It is more than just a half-hearted promise to try and be interesting and entertaining. It is a promise to deliver a specific and predictable result every time.
It doesn’t matter whether you commit to making your reader laugh out loud or go into deep thought. Do ou give your reader immediately actionable investment advice, or a gluten-free recipe that her children will like. Your brand is the one aspect of your blog or business that people can always trust that you will never compromise their trust.
In Today’s World, You Can’t do Everything Yourself
Let’s admit it. DIY brands rarely look as good, or work as well, as their owners think they do. We ask understand that 100% homemade brands often appear unprofessional and unreliable. Honestly, if you are trying to build your brand, there are lots of things you don’t know and skills you don’t have
Unless you’re an expert marketer, designer, copywriter, and web developer, you can’t expect your efforts to succeed as well as what a large corporation can do. You have to just admit that to yourself, and invest in some outside expertise. Your initial efforts don’t have to break the bank. You can select one area and start there, but please do make building your brand a priority.
It’s what sets you apart, helps your readers quickly understand what you are about, and creates loyal followers.
If You Really Only Have $5 to Spend
If you really don’t have more than $5 to spend on design, you’re better off spending your fiver at Starbucks. You’re not very likely to get a good logo and visual identity for that kind of money. So sit down with your grande latte and enjoy their free wifi. Be sure to take in your surroundings, because there aren’t many who execute their brand as well as Starbucks.
People don’t just go to Starbucks for the coffee. Starbucks brand promise is about community. You can feel that in every single touchpoint while sitting in their comfy chairs. Their brand promise extends beyond their stores, encompassing a vibrant online community.
Think about how your brand shows or tells what it stands for, like Starbucks does. Even if you exist only in the online world, the topics you choose, the products you offer, and the other blogs you link to all serve to create an impression of your brand.
You Need to Use Color, It Makes a Great Differentiator
Something that you quickly learn from Starbucks is the effective use of color. The use of their distinctive green can be seen from miles away. It helps you instantly recognize the store as a Starbucks.
Take a few minutes to pick a fresh color scheme for your brand. Something that really makes you stand out in your space. Your colors shouldn’t conflict with the promise you’ve made to your audience. If your site promises inner it should probably choose different colors than a site promising playfulness.
Most everything is allowed, and your bravery is usually rewarded. It’s best to start out with a single, strong color that you’d like to use. You can then use a tool like use a tool like Kuler to find complementary colors.
You should be able to put together a palette of colors that is uniquely yours. Your colors should be instantly recognizable to anyone who knows them. It’s important to find ways to use them on your blog, across your social media platforms, and in your product designs, both online and offline.
You Need to Temper Your Tone of Voice
It’s no coincidence that Starbucks has its own language. It includes words like barrista, grande, frappe, etc. Their vocabulary supports the brand’s promise that they are not your run-of-the-mill coffee shop.
Think about your blog’s tone of voice. Is your brand tone authentic, distinctive, and consistent? Are you falling into the trap of over-complicating things by using big, boring words, and complex jargon? Are you conveying your genuine personality and making it easy for people to understand what you are offering and why they should care?
There is a lot of brand power in the way we say things. It’s not just what we say. Have someone else look at each of your posts before it goes up and make sure you are choosing your words wisely. We all know how hard it is to edit our own work.
Invest in Your Brand – With Money, Time, and Creativity
Here are some quick tips. There’s more to learn about building your brand. The key message is that it’s always a good idea to invest in your brand. If you don’t have the money to invest, at least invest the time and energy to learn, and the thought and creativity to do a good job with what you have.
How does your brand look? Share your ideas for blog branding in the comments.
