by Meriah Kruse
If you want to establish an online presence that makes you that ‘Someone’ who your potential clients and followers can know, like, and trust — it’s important to create dynamic, memorable online presentations, to project a welcoming presence, and to do it all in a cohesive STYLE that is identifiably yours.
‘Brand’ is one of those words that befuddles non-marketers and may sound overly corporate or laced with greedy intent. However, by establishing a style of your own, you’re building your brand whether you’ve thought of it that way or not.
Despite its complexities, the “brand” can be boiled down to one simple idea:
Having a brand means you’re always teaching your audience what to expect from you.
The more that people know what to expect — if what you have to offer is something they need and want — the more likely they are to buy from you, to join your organization, to read your books, or take your suggestions seriously.
Let’s do a little exercise.
Take a moment now and think of a few brands you’re familiar with.
Have you followed them or purchased from them? Do you associate specific qualities or products with them?
Okay, now for Part Two.
Here are a few well-known brand examples. Notice what comes to mind when you think of each…
- Oprah Winfrey
- Black Lives Matter
- Trader Joe’s
- Yoga Journal
- ASEA Cellular Health
- Ben & Jerry’s
- National Public Radio
- The U.S. Post Office
- Goodwill
- FOX News
- And last, Bayer.
p.s. You may be surprised to learn that Bayer now owns Monsanto! Does that fit with your previous ideas about Bayer?
What about local brands?
What companies, organizations or businesses do you rely on in your local area? Restaurant, bank, grocery store, movie theater, pet groomer, massage therapist, health food store, bookstore, lawn service, bakery, real estate firm, home cleaning company, gynecologist, church, auto repair, community center, or something else?
Which ones do you trust?
More than likely, for those you trust, it’s in part because you know what to expect from them.
It’s easy to be confused about branding and think that it’s all about logos and tag lines, colors, signage, or menus, etc. It’s true that all of those things and many more contribute to our sense of the brand of both brick and mortar establishments and online enterprises. The ‘golden arches’ and the ‘apple’ logo are two of the most famous examples.
However, people don’t buy food at McDonald’s or computers at Apple because of their logos! They buy because they know what to expect from the products and services.
That’s branding.
How does this apply to branding your online presence?
Although you’re playing a much different game than McDonald’s, the realities of branding still apply when you’re working to establish yourself as a presence online.
When people know what to expect from you, when they become convinced you have something to offer that they want, when they are confident that your quality will be high and your products or services will be worth the money you charge — when they develop sufficient belief in your knowledge and integrity — the time may be right for them to buy from you or buy into your ideas.
Even in the smallest micro-enterprises, branding still matters.
In fact, maybe it matters even more because we don’t tend to have gi-normous advertising budgets for spreading our messages.
We need to communicate very clearly with every opportunity and have some consistency about the spirit, products or services, value, policies, processes, etc. that make up our businesses.
How else can we expect others to trust us and want to do business with us now and in the future?
It follows that, when you decide to teach a class on Zoom, talk about essential oils on Facebook Live, offer an online course on Thinkific, host a 3-day webinar on GoToWebinar or give a speech about human rights on YouTube — you have an opportunity to make a lasting impression.
Whether you like it or not, you’re branding yourself just by showing up for the public; therefore, you might as well approach your presentations by creating your brand ON PURPOSE rather than haphazardly.
So, the most important question to ask yourself is not “What are my colors, fonts, and my logo? (although those are important for identification purposes). The most important question to ask yourself is this:
What do I want people to say and remember about me?
If you’d like to have a chat about creating YOUR brand on purpose, contact me today for your Free Consultation.
