Branding: 3 Easy Ways to Start (Part 1)
I don’t disagree that it can be argued the topic of branding has been overworked.
Still, if this were true, then the topic would be closed and we’d see content on branding diminish and disappear altogether. And that is not the case.
In my real world experience, especially as a customer, it’s evident that there remains plenty of room for improvement and help for many in this area.
And helping is what I love to do.
Business vs. Personal
Let me start by recognizing there is a difference between business and personal branding. Although, in many cases throughout the gig economy today, there’s going to be some overlap, or even uniformity when the individual and company are the same brand.
I will write more on the importance of creating a personal brand (as in a resumé or website) in a separate post. But for now, I’m of the opinion that these ideas apply to either situation.
A Definition
There are many great definitions of what branding is. But here’s a simple definition from Investopedia that I thought was more along my own thoughtlines:
A name, symbol, or other marker that businesses use to distinguish their products from competitors’ and foster a public identity
– Candra huff, Investopedia
From the definition above, I’ve extracted some key words that I’ll use as the points of focus for this post:
- Name
- Symbol
- Identity
1. Business Name Strategy
Choosing a business name might seem insignificant in relation to marketing. But even in the analog days of phone books, many upstarts like AAMCO, chose their business names based on priority placement in the listings, which were alphabetical. I remember a lot of companies using Aardvark in their name!
In the digitally connected internet age, the majority of people searching for businesses are doing this online.
Without going into the nuts and bolts of search engine optimization (SEO), the primary point of consideration here is to position yourself to be found online by your customers, in the best way possible.
This means doing a little research to find out what words your customers are using to find businesses like yours. Then register a domain name using some of those terms, before registering your business name.
In short, secure a domain name first, before naming your business.
Then name your business tied to your domain name
If you are already well past this point, there are still some steps you can take.
“What if I’m already stuck with a name?”
Registering domains are still relatively inexpensive. That being the case, it’s actually a good idea to register more than 1 domain name that include solid search terms that might help your website to rank well in search results.
From there, you have a couple of options.
Redirect / Forward
Depending on how mature your existing website is (assuming you have one), it wouldn’t hurt to register 2 more domains. Those domains can then be forwarded or redirected to your main website.
It is worth keeping in mind what the SEO impact might be on your website if you go a bit overboard with redirects. So approach this strategy with caution.
Migrate (Rebrand)
Some companies have opted to migrate their websites over to a new domain name in the process of rebranding or upgrading. But even experienced businesses have run across issues when going this route.
So approach domain migration with careful consideration and a judicious amount of research.
Hopefully, this short intro on how to strategically integrate your business name into your branding efforts was helpful.
Up next, in the second part of this series, we’ll take a look at how symbols – or logos – are one of the most recognizable aspects of any brand.