Branding for the Search Engines, Why and how to do it

effectively

Weather you have owned your business for years or are just starting to develop your enterprise you probably already know how important a brand for your company can be. A brand is something that will stick in the heads of your clients and helps make you a household name! When initiating a marketing or advertising campaign there is always one MAIN thing that you try to convey to your potential clients which is your BRAND. So how can branding play an integral role in marketing your business?

 

The definition of branding:

Rob Frankel, who is referred to as "the best branding expert on the planet" by many people, including Fortune 1000 companies stated that:

"Branding is not about getting your prospect to choose you over your competition; it's about getting your prospect to see you as the only solution."

Rob’s definition really makes a strong point don’t you think?

I’m sure you are wondering by now how this is tied in with search engines when it seems like all I am doing is talking about outside marketing and brands. Let me connect the dots. What would you do if the internet was gone tomorrow? Would your business crumble to pieces? Hopefully all of your business isn’t done online because then you would go bankrupt! Its important to focus your attentions on offline marketing just as much as online marketing and just like the experts like nike you can see that there brand the swoosh has become a household name offline just as much as online!
Branding in relation to search engines is practically the same thing with a few miner variations. When you brand yourself online you are reaching a huge population that you might be missing by doing offline advertising. According to the latest Harris Poll,  two-thirds (66%) of all adults, or 137 million people, are now online. Within these 137 million, we know that search engines are utilized roughly 80% of the time to search for products, services, or information.

2001 NPD Group research report states that "consumers are five times more likely to purchase products after seeing search listings versus banners. This means that branding yourself online is key to a successful marketing strategy.

How do I do this?

You start with designing your brand logo then the implementation phase will begin. There are many companies out there who can design a logo for you and not just a logo but also company letter head, business cards etc. When branding you need to implement the branding on all pages of your site, usually somewhere first visible on every page. You want to continuously remind your web visitor where they are and who you are. Brand any product that you may give out on your site for instance some very commonly overlooked branding opportunities are Newsletters! High Rankings advisor is a leading SEO company who offers a newsletter but formats it in complete text with absolutely NO branding what so ever. This is a huge mistake! Other branding opportunities can be your link campaign. When you initiate a link campaign you can provide html code for an image most of the time. You can brand many office supplies as well like pencils, cups, sticky note pads and even shirts.  White Papers, free downloads, articles, online quotes etc. should all contain your branding and if you add an alt tag to each image then you are going to be optimizing your Branding.

Remember that branding isn’t just online but also an offline concern. You need to balance these two marketing venues equally. In doing so you will become a household name and your customers will see you as the ONLY choice!