Internet Marketing Blog

Branding is extremely important to a business, yet it is so often left in the dust. When you hear the term “branding” you think of logos and slogans. While these are part of a company’s “brand” they do not define the brand. Think of every major brand and then think of what they would be like if they were a real person. Nike “Just do it”, what do you think of? Speed, youth and confidence? That’s exactly what it’s designed to make you think of. The logo is designed to make you more confident in yourself when you purchase that brand. That’s what branding is all about; it’s the embodiment of who and what a company is and most importantly, why it matters.

A good brand:
-Motivates customers
-Creates customer loyalty
-Envokes an emotional response from your customers
-Makes your credible
-Is clear and concise

How do I accomplish this?

1. Having a perspective
Like a person companies have perspectives and views on certain issues. A fast food company isn’t all about healthy food, they are all about convenience, cost and taste. This vastly differs from a company like Wild Oats that charges premiums for its organic products. To them health is worth a little extra time and money and usually their customers agree.

2. Who are you, what do you do (why does it matter!?!)
Many companies fail to define themselves and fly by the seat of their pants. Creating focus for a company will not only help your brand but it will help your employees identify with the company and understand why their work is important.

More importantly than who you are and what you do is why does it matter. This is also known as a USP or a unique selling proposition. Why should customers buy from you and not your competitors, what is that’s different or special about you? If there is nothing that differentiates you from your competitors than you are unlikely to have huge success,

3. Presentation
So much of branding is about perception and appearance. If you are a high end services company you need expensive offices and professional sounding receptionists. If you are a skateboard company it’s more about style and acting casual, a big office doesn’t suit you in this case. Keep presentation in your mind at all times, this is how your customers will perceive you.

4. Be consistent
The thing that makes a brand work is that it’s consistent; it doesn’t change. When you go to McDonalds’ you know that you’re going to get the same Big Mac no matter where you are or when you buy. A coke is always going to taste like you expect and theres no surprises. Sure in reality there are failures and burgers aren’t always delicious. But this is why consistency is so important. You must make every attempt to deliver on your promises every single time. Failing to do what you claim will damage your brand very quickly. If your company focuses on service and you have an unhelpful customer service department say goodbye to your business.

5. Don’t be afraid to change
This one sounds a little contradictory but it is ok to change certain elements of your brand to keep up with the market. If your brand focuses on being old fashioned taking on new logos and fancy designs isn’t a great idea. But in many cases brands need to be developed over time to become the Nikes and Pepsi’s of the world so don’t restrict yourself if it means improvement.

http://www.slideshare.net/perfectpixels/creating-a-brand-persona
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073790776

Your Personality Type can affect your purchasing decisions:
Did you know that your personality type can actually influence your buying decisions?  Effective copywriting can influence a non-believer to believe, persuade someone to do something, or it can do the exact opposite and repel a potential customer.  So why will your copywriting persuade some people to buy what you’re selling on a website and other’s to click right out of it?  Widespread knowledge within the sales and marketing world indicate that most people decide to purchase something at an emotional level.  If your copywriting does not appeal to them on a personal, emotional level, then chances are they won’t buy what it is you’re selling.  Each human is incredibly distinctive and the key is to try to cater your writing to appeal to 4 distinct personality types.

Over the years, there have been many behavioral scientists and psychologists that have categorized personality types.  The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) was developed by Carl Jung to identify 16 unique personality differences.  Another physician, named Hippocrates, observed 4 distinct personality types: Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric and Melancholic.  In more recent years they were labeled: Driver, Expressive, Analytical and Amiable.  These distinctions in personality can determine what kind of content speaks to you the most and what influences you to buy.

Driver types:  All about Results
“My way or the highway!” These people are impatient, practical, in control, assertive and concerned with the bottom line.  Driver types do not care about all the fluff; they just want to know what the product or service can do for them, how long it will take to get to them and how much it will cost.  Everything else is irrelevant.  Not overly emotional people.

Many Driver types are:
•    CEO’s
•    Managers
•    Sales Representatives
•    Businesspeople
•    Bankers

Analytical types: Detail-Oriented
These types don’t care too much about the results.  They are mostly interested in all the details about your product or service.  They are organized, deliberate and systematic. They thrive off even the tiniest detail about your product. What is the exact size?  Where was it made? What are all the features? What guarantees are offered?  What makes it work? The more details and statistics you can include in your content, the better.  They prefer solid information opposed to emotional stories.  Provide plenty of truthful details to back it up.

Many Analytical types are:
•    Mathematicians
•    Computer Programmers
•    Developers
•    Scientists
•    Doctors

Expressive types: care about Perceptions
Expressive types care a lot about approval and status.  These are the people that buy things just for the status of ownership, or to impress others.  They are very impulsive, undisciplined and self-centered and are very concerned with how others perceive them.  Tell these types of people how your product or service will make them look good, or how it will boost their status in the world.

Many Expressive types are:
•    Musicians
•    Teachers
•    Artists
•    Graphic Designers
•    Comedians
•    Actors
•    Directors

Amiable types:  involved with Feelings
These are the people that are emotional, humanistic and care deeply about their relationships with others.  The question they want answered the most is “why?” Try to cater your writing style around why your product or service will help others or why it will strengthen your relationship with them.  These people need constant reassurance.  Use a lot of testimonials, case studies and stories to highlight your product.

Many Amiable types are:
•    Social Workers
•    Human Resource
•    Entrepreneurs

How to Structure your copywriting to appeal to these Personality Types:
Your market will primarily consist of 1 predominant category, depending on the type of industry you’re appealing to and what product or service you’re selling.  Carefully structuring your content to appeal to that 1 type can persuade them to buy.  Yet if you try to cram 4 distinct writing styles into one marketing page, you may repel everyone involved.  If you know that there will be 2 major personality groups viewing your content, then it would be best to incorporate these unique styles into 2 different pieces of content.  Creating a couple of marketing pages can easily appeal to different personalities.  For example, you can focus one marketing page to appeal to the analytical types by including lots of details and statistics, and create a separate marketing page about the same product that appeals to the expressive type by including comments on how the product would make them look better or improve their status.

Focusing your copywriting efforts to appeal to all 4 distinct personality types by creating separate marketing pages can improve your chances of selling the same product to various personality types.  Remember that not everyone who reads your content will respond to your words the same way.  Different people respond to different things.  Conversions are important to any website.  By appealing to different personalities, you can greatly improve your conversion rate and attract a wide array of customers.