Marketing Blog

Talk is cheap

It is indeed which is why it is a great way to market your business.

I'm sure you've done face-to-face networking for years, so now's the time to take those skills online.

My last post looked at the phenomenon that is Twitter. This time I want to address the subject of making yourself different, how you can stand out from the crowd and therefore build a strong personality for your business.

Adopting social media as part of your ongoing marketing strategy is great for raising your company's profile to your online audience. With more and more consumers turning to the internet to find local businesses, the web is definitely the place to be.

Whether you are using Facebook pages, Twitter or a blog (or all of them) engagement is the name of the game - engagement is what will build your brand.

As Eric Brown explains in his recent blog post Will 2010 Be The Year For Engagement?, branding isn't what it used to be. He quotes Seth Godin's recent definition of 'Brand':

• "A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it's a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn't pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.

• "A brand used to be something else. It used to be a logo or a design or a wrapper. Today, that's a shadow of the brand, something that might mark the brand's existence. But just as it takes more than a hat to be a cowboy, it takes more than a designer prattling on about texture to make a brand. If you've never heard of it, if you wouldn't choose it, if you don't recommend it, then there is no brand, at least not for you."

So for you and your brand to mean something, people need to be talking about you. The only way to generate that kind of interest is through interaction. Whether that is through your Facebook fan page, Twitter or through your blog you have to start a conversation before you can creat a buzz.

Be different

That's not as daunting as it might sound.

Being different is effectively being yourself. You are unique so use that to your advantage to forge relationships with your readers/fans/followers. Talk about your interests as well as what your business is doing to create a personal connection.

Don't forget everything you do creates your brand personality - you are your business, your customers are buying from you.

Be chatty, give great information, respond to people, above all be friendly and the rest will follow.

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