Branding TheLocoMono Website
I entered “how to brand” in a popular search engine and started reading the first result that came up. Right away, the contributing author shared 3 lessons he learned about branding here.
- Branding is psychological.
- Branding will make or break your blog.
- Repeated brand exposure is an ingredient for a successful brand.
That said, he goes on to provide 8 proven strategies for branding.
- Repetition
- Newsletter/Ezine
- Domain Name
- Signature File
- Thank you pages
- Ebooks
- Publish free articles
- Autoresponders
This article certainly gave TheLocoMono and I some bananas to munch on. Right away, we discovered that we agreed with the finer points of this article despite the fact we had no clue who the author was nor bothered to follow the link to his own website.
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Repetition or replication is certainly a proven formula for success. In this case, the author explains that your website should be consistent from page to page and exhibit your logo on the top of the page and throughout the website. I was wondering whether having a motto or a tagline should be important as well. After all, the world famous sportswear manufacturer spawned millions of customers with the famous “Just Do It” tagline that accompanied their logo.
Think about it, when you hear that tagline, did the name of the brand or the logo come to mind right away?
Our Logo
TheLocoMono and I knew having a logo was crucial to the success of our website. We wanted to build an image that our readers will picture in their mind right away when they think of where they want to go on the Internet. While we are still struggling to develop our content, we are quite satisfied with our image.
Once we finish deciding on how to fine-tune our gravatar, we will be on our way.
Our Tagline
While it took a while to come up with a tagline we were satisfied with, we began to realize we were onto something when we were able to instantly identify with “On the road to GREATNESS“.
We don’t know all the exact details yet but we do understand that greatness is more than a path we are seeking. It is a path that is shared by others who want to leave the world a better place than they came in. Certainly an admirable cause, is it not?
Pick up a Magazine
Not too long ago, a light bulb came on when we were looking for a professional WordPress theme and came across WP-Magazine 1.0 which provided everything we were looking for in a WordPress theme.
We realize it was perfect because of the natural tendency for readers to pick up a magazine and start browsing through it. If there was an article that caught the reader’s attention, then the reader will read it. How often will you read every single article within a magazine?
We knew not every single post we make will be read because we were following the trend set by thousand of bloggers already which was to post daily no matter what. The logic behind this is to keep writing so that you find your writer’s groove.
While we certainly agree with this, we began to feel awkward with the quality of our content and started modifying our strategy. As a result of that, we noticed our content was getting better and better.
Our Sub-Domains
Our strategy was to divide up the 4 cornerstones of our website into sub-domains where we could streamline our articles in the various topics relating to that sub-domain. As a result of that, we still write daily but no longer felt compelled to post daily.
After all, you are not going to read the same magazine issue every day of the year. You might save some articles for future reference but you are more than willing to wait a month before the next article comes out.
If that is true, then why not combine both of these two basic principles into the same format for TheLocoMono Website and its’ sub-domains?
As a result of this and realizing our good-fortune with WP-Magazine 1.0, we began to start looking more and more consistent across our website. While we are still working on a color theme to separate each sub-domain, we have a strong feeling this “blog” model will succeed.
Hey, it’s TheLocoMono Website
After reading all the “advices” about choosing a domain name, I sat back and started thinking about several things at once.
- Keep it short and simple.
- Include the website.
- Make it identifiable.
Hence, TheLocoMono who also happens to be the mascot of my website as well as my alter-ego was born. Soon enough, we knew that by combining TheLocoMono and the website into one domain name, our branding power went up.
So now our promotional materials all say “TheLocoMono Website” which should answers your question, “What’s your website? What’s the address?” If the answer is not obvious enough, it will be imprinted in your memory soon enough.
Of course, you could always enter it in any search engine, and we will come up.
TheLocoMono Signs Off
TheLocoMono is the mascot of this website and its’ sub-domain. I am merely its’ supporter. It is my job to spread the word, support the team, and carry the website forward into GREATNESS.
As a result of that, I began combining my name and TheLocoMono into one signature, Mark @ TheLocoMono which you may find here and there throughout the blogosphere in the comment section.
I also began using it for my email signature. This also allowed for easy branding as well as a thin layer of security without revealing my full name as I do with professional emails.
Not only that, as you can see on every single post on this website and its’ sub-domains, you can see read a short biography of the author and see the gravatar used to identify the author.
See, branding power exist everywhere.
And that’s that for now…
As you can see, we have come up with a strong branding strategy using the 4 of the 8 proven strategies listed. There are currently plans in the works for the remaining 4 strategies but it will take time to perfect them.
What additional strategies do you use to brand your business?
