Archive for Branding
What you should post to Twitter or Facebook
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If you’re a micro-business owner (where YOU are your business) it can be a challenge to figure out what to post to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
You don’t want to be sharing what you ate for lunch or when you went to the bathroom.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be too promotional either; that turns people off. You need to find a balance.
What’s your social media brand?
No, I don’t mean your logo or your photo – although that’s part of it.
It’s how do you want people to think of you. If you’re a micro business – providing a product or service where your expertise is what sets you apart – then you probably want to be seen as an expert. You want to be the “go-to” person in your field.
How do you do this?
Be a resource
Provide useful information that your customers – and potential customers – need and want. You don’t have to create all the content yourself. Provide links to articles and blog posts that provide useful information. Using Google Reader and RSS feeds can be a great way to quickly and easily find content to share.
Someone who does a great job of this Read More→
A Sustainable Identity: 5 Tips on How to Brand Yourself Green
Posted by: | CommentsThis post is written by guest blogger Brendan Cruickshank. And while he has written about how to find green jobs, his advice works equally well for business owners and freelancers who want to find green clients.
In an information age, one critical factor stands out – the likelihood that potential employers will investigate you anonymously is very high. The ease with which your
online presence can be pulled up and examined makes this the norm.
And potential employers believe what they find – for good or ill, this represents your brand. We’ve all heard stories of how a Facebook rant lost someone their job. What is less known is that sophisticated HR departments are using the Internet to ferret out information about possible new hires. The sophisticated job search now has to include an Internet presence that “brands” them as the right person for the job or career of interest. This branding can either help or hurt you.
With these considerations in mind, here are five ways to meet the challenge and brand yourself green:
- Start by creating two clues. The first will be your name. If you have a common name (or your name is already “polluted” by things on the net) consider using a middle initial or even your full middle name. You can invent one if you like. The second is a catch email address. You’d like something that “says green” like, SolarRocks@hotmail.com or GreenEngineer@yahoo.com. This will then appear as your reply-to email address and in your signature line for forum posts. You should also use it as the signon name for forums. The reason is that searches will be conducted on whatever your email nick happens to be. You want those searches to point to forums and blogs where you have made relevant comments. The same set of information should appear across the net – in LinkedIn, Facebook and wherever you have a footprint. Use the same spelling for your name and the same nick as your email. Read More→
Have you claimed your Google Profile?
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a nice short video from personal branding expert Lethia Owens about how to claim your Google profile. This is helpful if people are likely to search for you by name and there are others in the world who share your name. When you’re online for business, you can’t be in too many places. When someone searches for you, should should appear all over Google.
I’m Boring or How to market yourself without being controversial
Posted by: | CommentsThis past week I was on vacation at the in-laws cottage. My son brought a friend and the two of them spent much of the week listening to music by the Arrogant Worms. They listened so much that every time I woke in the middle of the night I’d have one of their songs running through my head.
One song has stuck with me, for a reason other than the sheer repetition. “I’m boring” is about a nerd who talks too much about boring topics so people run away from him.
While there was some joking around that this was about my husband who does like to talk about science a little too much, it does have a marketing connotation.
You may have noticed some online superstars – you know, the ones with thousands, if not millions of followers.
Many of them became popular because they are controversial. They say over-the-top things that get the online world buzzing. People reply, people argue about them, people visit their sites to see what all the fuss is about. They’re not boring!
One colleague of mine recently rebranded herself to be a little more “in-your-face”. She’s being more blunt and less polite all in an effort to be “more authentic”. This revamped version seems to be working for her.
And yes, being authentic online is essential, particularly if you’re using social media. And being controversial helps. If you can get people arguing about you and your ideas, well, as they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
But what if your authentic self is, well … boring? Read More→
Your brand is not for everyone
Posted by: | CommentsThe title of today’s blog post is actually a quote from Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation. He goes on to say:
“Just like in marketing, it takes a certain type of person to drive a BWM, and that may not be the same kind of person who likes retro country funk music. The point is not to try to be all things to all people.”
This is a hard concept for business owners – particularly new business owners. Your first instinct is to try to serve everyone. But while in most cases I think a person’s first instinct is usually right, in this case it’s dead wrong.
Not everyone is going to be your customer. Not everyone should be your customer. Even people who are about to purchase what you offer are not an ideal fit. Nor should they be. You have your own personality, your own style, your own brand. He might be a BMW while you are an off-road SUV. Nothing wrong with that. You just need to learn to attract other off-road SUVs.
Let me tell you a story that explains what I mean.
I know a woman who does consulting. She is also a Read More→
