11 Branding Mistakes that Make You Look Like a Rookie & Lose Sales Get the FREE eBook here

The 5 Elements of an Effective Name

helloTag

How many times have you seen a business name like "Fort Street Inc," "Jones & Brown" or "Johnson Enterprises?" Sure you have. In fact, you've probably even wondered what they do. So do their customers. Having a poorly planned name for your business, blog, or product can cause you to lose sales, miss opportunities, and even cause customers to form the wrong opinions of your product and its value. The name you give your business, blog, or product is a key factor in the success of your brand. Creating an effective name is an important step in the development of your brand. An effective name will connect with your audience, convey what you do, and set your brand up for success. Names like the ones above are too vague to be effective. Sure they'd work great as a "front" for some super-secret spy headquarters, but not for your business. Names that are "nondescript," like the ones above, hide what you do from the very people you … [Read more...]

Continue Reading

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki (Review)

EnchantmentBadge

Many of you may remember my post on Copyblogger where I talked about 125 Ways to Build an Irresistible Brand, and have also seen me use the term "irresistible" frequently when talking about building your own brand. But what is it, exactly, that makes a brand irresistible? In a word? Enchantment. I was fortunate enough to be one of the few people to receive an advance copy of Guy Kawasaki's new book Enchantment (Amazon affiliate link), and let me tell you . . . this book should be required reading for anyone wanting to build an irresistible brand in my opinion. Below, I'm including a short video review of the book as well, but here are some of the things I loved the most... First of all, I love the way the book reads. Its organization and flow is well thought out and makes the book both an effective learning tool and a blueprint for action. Better still, Guy doesn't just talk about the "what" and "how" of enchanting people; he also gives you the … [Read more...]

Continue Reading

How to Inject Your Brand Into Your Writing

fountain-pen

How far do you take your branding? Do you settle on a nice logo, catchy color scheme, a cool design, and call it good? Or do you immerse yourself completely in your brand like a truffle that's coated in chocolate? The more you can immerse everything you do in your brand, the more effective it will be. But just how far can you take your branding, and is it even possible to brand more than just your marketing? Good question. Let's look at your writing; something most people wouldn't think about branding. Is it possible to brand your writing? Absolutely. Successful authors know that in order to make their writing interesting, they need to develop their own writing style or voice that is unique to them. And once they settle on a style, all of their writing uses it. To put it simply, what they're doing is building a brand for their writing. Carrying your brand over to your writing helps you in several ways. It keeps your writing focused and on topic. By branding your … [Read more...]

Continue Reading

Final Episode of the Blog Branding Project

This is the seventh and final video in the blog branding series. Today I talk about taglines and how to create them. I hope you've enjoyed this series and have found it helpful in creating your own unique brand. Signup to be notified when the new site goes live! The new site will be launching very soon so if you'd like to be notified when it goes online so you can see how I tied all the brand elements together, enter your name and e-mail address below. Related Posts: Blog Branding Project – Episode 6 Blog Branding Project – Episode 5 Blog Branding Project – Episode 4 Blog Branding Project – Episode 3 Blog Branding Project – Episode 2 Blog Branding Project – Episode 1 Want to Look Over My Shoulder as I Build a Brand? … [Read more...]

Continue Reading

Blog Branding Project – Episode 6

An often overlooked aspect of branding is typestyle selection. Just like color selection, the fonts you choose for your brand help create the visual style for your brand. Choosing the right fonts will enhance the look of your brand, while picking the wrong ones will conflict with your style in the same way poorly matched colors clash. In today's video I give you an overview of the different kinds of fonts, show you where you can preview and purchase them, and reveal the fonts I've chosen for the new blog and why. Signup for updates on this project To stay up to date with this project, and be notified when the new blog launches, enter your name and e-mail address below. Related Posts: Blog Branding Project – Final Episode Blog Branding Project – Episode 5 Blog Branding Project – Episode 4 Blog Branding Project – Episode 3 Blog Branding Project – Episode 2 Blog Branding Project – Episode 1 Want to Look Over My Shoulder … [Read more...]

Continue Reading