Conveying Yourself Through the Web Layers

Posted by Hersh Bhardwaj in Web Business Branding | 7 comments

I am a big fan of business branding built around the image of founder, or, CEO. Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson are shining examples.

But it hasn’t been easy for even the most charismatic of CEOs and business founders to actually go and connect to their prospects and customers. Web branding didn’t exist. Blogs were’nt there. They couldn’t generate raves in forums and websites around the world. ( war-time propoganda has existed for centuries though!).

But it has changed with the advent of web 2.0. As my illustrationon the left depicts, that we are surrounded by certain layers of web. To convey your brand through these layers is the way forward. And logical.

Those who read Seth’s blog would know that this post is inspired by his latest post on personal branding . Seth knows that people have learnt to judge you on your web-face- value. So why not tighten up our acts and do a little image makeover.

I am not going to be suggesting drastic changes, such as, re-doing your corporate logo etc. Imagine if a hotel chain thought about re-doing their logo.Massive exercise.

I have this easy list, which you can implement and see the results roll out in an integrated manner over time.

• Website logo and banners- No need to re-think your logo, but may be you can find a way of explaining what a VW in your logo means, in line with your overall brand image.
• Web colours and font:- Again visual input is a powerful branding factor; Virgin’s and Ferrari’s red, Apple’s silver etc.
• About Us/Company Info page:- So powerful, so in-your-control, so underused. Craft your About Us page very carefully and give it some thought.
• Google/Yahoo search results on your brand/personal name:- Always know what the world thinks about you. Google yourself and find out. There are plenty of ways of gaming or architecting your Google image over time. So its good to know what it is in the outset.
• Blogs/Forums sig and comment branding:- This is the easiest bit but again so ignored. I dn’t know how many CEO’s actually read and participate in other people’s blogs and forums. But I certainly know that your company employee certainly do that. They do it on their aliases which are a no-good for anyone. Why not get them to carefully use your company’s branding and spread the word around? Or, if you dn’t trust your employees with your brand image, hand-pick a bunch of guys and set them free in the cyber world.
• Pics of you online:- I use a gothicy pic for me here in this blog, because I dn’t want to pose in a suit and give impressions of a super-serious marketer. But you have to understand and take feedback before you let your pic out on the net. It could be your About Us page, online press release, profile pic on foruns/blogs, or, Facebook/Myspace pic.
• People talking about you-generating reviews and positive news about you: