It’s interesting when I first came online and started learning, I had a friend of mine tell me that to make it online you have to learn to sell yourself, brand yourself and at the time I thought right – who is going to want to know about me. Well I learned fast that he was right and I have some examples today that I’d like to share and then you tell me – Branding – is it worth the time
You know it’s funny as actor/actress have been doing this for many years when you think about it and it don’t necessarily have to be your name – example when you hear these lines does an actor/actress come to mind
I’ll Be Back – right away you picture Arnold in the Terminator
May the Force Be With You – didn’t Star Wars pop in your mind
There’s No Place Like Home – didn’t Dorothy pop in your head from the Wizzard of Oz
Go Ahead, Make My Day – Can’t forget Clint Eastwood
Beam Me Up Scotty – can’t forget Star Trek
Well you can do the same thing online and I have been watching many people in the traffic exchange industry to the same
IT – now James has done excellent job with just this one word
Fred – Doug decided to use his dog – everyone on TEland knows Fred
Cows – everyone know that you don’t mess with Mo’s cows hehe
Flash – didn’t you think about Cathy and Jo right away and their name was not used
Horror – Bet Don popped in your head with that scary header he has
Frogs – didn’t Froggy just leap into your head
Krazy – Only one crazy enough to use Krazy – WTG Kaye
Splash – bet the dolphin popped in your head right away
Tezak – and bet you are a tezzer now
Now I could go on and on with examples – you don’t necessarily have to use your name to brand yourself – but you do need to have something that will make people think of your of your site right away.
I have one more example that I want to share as it’s kinda impressive what branding can do for a person – you all have heard of TimTech. Well they just launched a new PTC site and because everyone does know them, they know they have been around and will be around, and because they have branded themselves – I just happened to notice the stats on their main page today at Nerdbux
Members Earned: $4,683.87
Excellent post…. and all great examples. Branding works!
Thanks Marcy – I’m even to the point that when I think of Purple I think of you and TESS
Great Post
Good branding will get you more results with the same budget. its just that easy.
Thanks but to some they just can’t understand that it’s just that easy
Branding is oh so important, and you got some of the best examples both offline and online on this list. Nice work! 🙂
Thanks they were just ones that popped in my mind and probably dated myself with the offline ones hehehe
Hey that’s right you do have to brand yourself or nobody will know who you are.
Thanks for the comment Susan and you are so right
I love your cool examples, my favorite is ” make my day”. You are so right, you don’t need to use your own picture or your name if you brand yourself right.
Very nicely done Nancy.
Lady V
Thanks Lady V and yea that was my favorite also hehe
So true Nancy….branding builds trust an indispensable asset in business, whether online or off.
You are so right – thanks for the comment
I disagree. It might depend on what you do. Maybe it needs branding when you have TE site. I have been told the same: brand yourself, in all those ebooks and courses I spent time and money on. The problem was: what or how to brand myself. Nobody told me that and it kept me stuck. Until I decided I don’t need to brand myself. I just need to go out there. A brand can happen in time. My team members recognise my name even without “branding”.
My advice: don’t get hung up on your branding at the beginning. It’ll happen when you stick to it
But you did wind up branding – your name and yes it don’t happen right away but you also have to have something where people know you and learn to trust you and I personally like when a person brands themselves with their name – as that is the easiest to research by putting their name in Google
I agree with the branding advice you have given; though as Xarah points out it is sometimes difficult to decide how to brand onesself and for that person type I would suggest always use the same login name; you want people to recognize you when you are on the web; i recognize people online more from their login names than anything else so i would imagine so do many others; that is my two cents 🙂
Yes Dawn – most do use their name and their picture and to me I feel that is the best. But there are some out there that are just afraid to go public – so just giving some other options for them. Thanks for the comment.
Branding is okay, and I think it is a good idea. But remember if you have a good idea, or a good product or products, people are going to remember you. Also, people can watch your success, as you start out in the market place and watch your business grow.
Great point Gary and yes they will remember you if you back up what you are selling, and that don’t take long to find out these days with Google
Thanks again, Nancy. I always learn something from your thoughtful posts.
Thanks Rick and am glad to hear that as I try
I love this post and it goes to show what I have said for years. People get hung up on the picture – yet when you look at the branding both online and offline – what it is attached to is something that is proven and has stood the test of time. People can and do relate to things that they know and feel good about.
So establish yourself with something you feel good about and keep at it – people will recognize you and gain the following that stands the test of time.
Too many people want to promote 100’s of things and nothing sticks so how has that worked for your branding.
You won’t gain a following if you can’t remain stable enough in what or how you promote.
People see this and thats where “trust” begins.
I guess you will get the idea if you remain long enough in the industry.
If not then it wasn’t for you anyway.
Keep it fun and keep it REAL.
Thanks for the comment and you are right – keep it fun and keep it real – just that simple
Hi Nancy, The hardest part of branding, for me, was finding a picture I was comfortable to put out there for the world to see. So my picture is from 30 years ago, but I hope makes everybody feel like they would want to know me. If I make you feel welcome then you will want to stay, and I love having you with me 🙂
Funny you talk about a picture – you know I have gotten old enough that this is me – either you going to like me or not lololol And at this point this is how I look – I like me and it took many years for that to happen 🙂
I don’t have a picture of me i take awful pictures so I went with a chacater picture. Which isn’t me but that’s alright people are begining to know me .
So I guess that’s a form of branding I’m not sure. I like your blog on branding very much.
Thanks Barb
Thanks Barb and I hear that from lot of people and there are lot that are just camera shy – but when I see this picture now I know that it’s you and there is nothing wrong with that. I have even seen lot of people go to Fiverr and have a cartoon picture made of themselves.