If you want to make a big impact on the web, then it’s simply not enough to have a social account and a blog. You also need to make sure that there is a brand behind that social media account and blog – something that ties all of your posts and comments together under a instantly recognisable single banner and something that people will feel is more than the sum of its parts.
And you need to realise that a brand doesn’t just mean a logo. In order to have a real brand that has a base of raving fans, you need to know what it is that makes something like this work and the best way to approach building yourself an image and then gaining exposure for that image.
So What is a Brand?
So if a brand isn’t just a logo, then what is it?
Well, one obvious thing that a brand also needs is a catchy name. Your business/company needs a name and in all likelihood, this name will also be the name of your website. Having a brand like this for your website is one of the best things you can do right away to start getting attention for your business as it is easy for someone to search for your brand name and land on your website.
Google has actually stated that brands are far more successful at search engine optimization these days (although this is always subject to the ever changing algorithm!), while from a user’s perspective brands are also a lot more memorable and professional sounding. In other words, calling your website ‘FitLand’ will work much better than ‘FitnessAndHealthArticles’ as this is far too generic and not recognisable.
You also need a visual language. Once you’ve created your logo, you’ll have a basic color palette and maybe some images that will relate to your business and that will form the basis of these logos. Now you need to take those colors and shapes and work them into everything else you do. If your logo is red, your website and your social media pages need red accents. This consistency increases your brand recognition so don’t miss this step out!
Your Mission Statement
Another crucial component is creating a mission statement for your brand. Ideally this should be done first as it should underpin all your branding so it is probably the most important step.
So what is a mission statement? Basically it is a short paragraph or line that states what your business is about, what you do and why you do it. This is your goal, your vision and your commitment.
From here, you then have a more inspiring vision that you can use in order to inform your other choices – such as your choice of logo and name.
Now your logo and brand actually stands for something and when that’s the case, people can buy into it and really get behind you.