The Elements of a Blogging Brand

I covered why you need a brand and how to use your branding some time ago. What I didn’t talk about was the elements that make up a brand, and I deliberately left doing so, as people often spend ages over those elements, without first thinking through in detail what their brand actually means. To so many people, brand is about a logo or a style, and they spend many hours perfecting those things, without first establishing what their brand is in understandable terms.

So, let’s talk about some of those elements now:

Logo

Every brand should have a logo – a kind of instantly recognizable object that people will associate with you or your blog over time. It doesn’t have to be a graphic, it can be a photo – mine is, and it appears on this blog and everywhere you see stuff I do on the net. But you also need that brand to be reflected in any offline promotional materials, like business cards and stationery.

For most bloggers, I would advise that the brand is you, as so many web applications allow you to use a photo now. By all means have a logo as well, but Web 2.0 is a personal place, and people like talking to people rather than logos. Again stay consistent and use the same photo for recognition.

Color

Consistency in colors is also important. Imagine Ferrari’s prancing horse in blue (or even a different shade of yellow!) or Coke’s logo in green – it just jars, doesn’t it? Note the color codes on your logo and website, so you can reproduce them anywhere on the web and in print. My ads for this blog use the blog colors, so people see the consistency.

Style

This is the tough part, and the bit that only works if you really understand your brand and have though about it. The style of every post, of every comment you leave, or every Tweet should reflect what your brand is all about.

Let’s have some fun now, and a little competition. Here are ten brand logos below that have been mashed – can you name the brands the logos really belong to? Name them all in comments, and I’ll subscribe to your blog and put a Twitter shout out for you to my 5,000 followers. Don’t forget to leave your Twitter name in the comment!

With thanks to Mario Amaya for the brilliant work above

Here are some other posts you might enjoy:

1/ Why are some brands cool?

2/ How to get your partner on board with your blogging

3/ First steps for a rookie blogger