Steps to Creating a Brand for your Blog

Although planned for a couple of weeks, I hesitated to write this post, as the topic has been extensively covered just recently by some top bloggers like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Seth Godin and David Risley.

Two things convinced me to go ahead and do it:

1. I can add to what they have all talked about, and for me some of them missed the key elements to creating a brand.
2. I am an expert in branding. I was part of the team that engineered Volkswagen Group’s rebranding across Europe in the 1990’s. When we started “VAG” was a horrible mishmash of Volkswagen and Audi, and when we finished, each brand was clearly defined in it’s segment, and we were able then to do the same for Seat, Lamborghini and Bentley.

There are two key elements to creating a brand, one I like to describe as overt, and the other, covert:

Overt Branding

These are the things that people tend to focus on when they are thinking about brands – the logo, the tagline, the design, the business cards. And yes they are important, but in a contributory way. The design of these is vital, and they should be consistently used in exactly the same way, in every publication. But, you cannot begin the design process until you understand what the brand is. It is the overt branding that enables people to recognize your brand instantly in a stream of information. If you use Twitter, you do this everyday – you scan the little photos for people you recognize.

The question is, why do you recognize them? Because of their:

Covert Branding

Covert branding is what really builds a brand. Essentially it is about changing your behavior to the point that every word and deed you put out consistently reflects your brand. But before you can “be” your brand, you need to understand exactly what your brand is. You need to carry out a brand audit.

Start with a blank sheet of paper and write or type all the things that your brand should mean. Assuming your brand is you, here are some questions you should answer:

• What type of person are you? For example are you a thrusting young executive, or a wise and wily middle aged marketer?
• What are your main characteristics? Serious, formal, funny, helpful, informative, crazy?
• What are your main interests?
• Which elements of those characteristics and interests are you going to use as part of your online brand?
• If you were able to eavesdrop on a conversation between two people who were subscribed to your website, what would you like to hear them say about you?
• If you met someone in a bar and wanted to persuade them to read your blog, what would you tell them?

You should now have a sheet of paper with a load of disjointed words and phrases on it. What you need to do is create a few sentences which use the key words, and describe the brand you want to create. Here’s mine:

“Mike’s a helpful, informative guy, who’s normally quite serious, but sometimes really funny. He loves the outdoor lifestyle, he’s been around the block and is pretty successful. He hates bullshit, can be quite passionate and is totally honest.”

When you’ve written your equivalent, what you will have is a description of your brand.

Now you can create the overt branding, because it will flow easily for you. If your brand is serious and formal, then you don’t want a comedy cartoon logo, for example.

A Platform for Every Word and Deed

What you have now is a platform on which to base your words and deeds. Initially, you’ll have to think about each communication you’re about to make, to make sure it fits in with the brand, but in time it will become second nature.

The Key is Consistency

By staying faithful to your brand’s platform, every communication you make reinforces that brand. But when you get it wrong, you can damage it immensely. For example, if I were to spend a whole day Tweeting links to funny You Tube videos, it might provide some fun for my followers, but it would damage my brand image as a “helpful, informative guy who’s normally quite serious.”

The Brand can Evolve

Don’t worry that you will be forever stuck with your original brand. Although you can’t change it overnight, it can evolve. For example, in time my brand will move from being “pretty successful” to become “a very successful and well known blogger and internet marketer.”

Please share your brand message in comments. If you do, I’ll have a look at your site (and I’m sure others will as well!) to see how your current branding reflects the message.

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