Brand building is the only route to business success in the present global market scenario. Sales alone cannot make a business successful since they do not increase until the brand becomes a forceful tool that will launch the business into the big league. Brand building is a tough task needing an investment of a lot of time and money, and every step needs to be done right. Even then, something may hold back the branding initiative.

In such a scenario blogging may prove to be savior in helping in the branding exercise and making it successful. Blogging can help in various ways, some of which are discussed below:

• Build an online image through blogs- Part of the branding initiative includes the addition of a jingle or a catch line that is so catchy that it stays in consumers’ minds. This is often to such an extent that the very mention of the brand first brings a very distinct image of the brand and then anything else. This has been termed as creation of a “franchise” in the mind by experts, and companies spend billions to create this mind franchising exercise. Another way to get your blog’s brand out there is to give-away free promotional products like stress balls with the blog’s name on them. One last effort can be to use blogging for increasing the branding endeavors, which will definitely help in creating an online presence for the brand and the products associated with it. Also, blogs are an open, free for all board where your brand stories can be narrated time and again, new thoughts added, and updates that help to keep the reading public in the loop. A blog is like a guided tour that continues over time. A personal perspective for a brand is possible only through blogs, and it makes people warm up to it.
• Blogs for initiating conversations- Blogs need not be a one way communication channel. It is a great way to initiate a conversation with consumers, get their views, feedback and recommendations. Often it is the end user who is able to point out flaws and drawbacks that can be rectified to improve the image of the brand and the products attached to it. Personal interaction helps to develop a personal rapport and with it comes faith and trust in the people behind the brand. A personal angle to a strictly professional or business relationship only adds to the advantages without any negative effects.
• Blogging helps in marketing by word-of-mouth- Blogs have a double effect. Besides opening a communication channel between brand owners and brand users, it also helps to create a network involving people connected to users, since all people talk to each other about good products and services. This can easily have a viral effect, since path breaking innovations will reach all the networks of the people you interact or communicate with. This word of mouth marketing is perhaps the best marketing tool there can be.
• Using connections for brand building- Blogging helps to build connections and these connections pay off in promoting brands. Blogging makes it easy to become powerful through knowledge and expertise in your field, and sharing this with others makes them see the extent of your knowledge. Once the target audience realizes this, they begin to accept your influence and warm up to the brand you promote. Connections are easy to make through this knowledge route. Being honest, letting your true self come out in your blogs, adds life to a few lines and the reading public loves that. Blogs thus become a perfect medium to showcase honesty, sincerity and expertise in your field, without any need for rhetoric or flowery writing styles. Connections will then naturally follow.
• Create communities on social networks through blogs- the impact of blogs can be extended to social networks like Facebook and Twitter as well. With shared interests the viral effect of a blog can do wonders for the brand a sword spreads, and so does the name and fame. Additional layers can be created through message boards, review sections, customer profiles and so on to form a whole community for a brand. This is assisted by social network platforms like Ning, CrowdVine and KickApps, which serve precisely this purpose.
• Using Cost effective brand building exercises- Brand building can be an expensive exercise and companies that have no dearth of resources go all out to spend on brand initiatives. However, this is neither warranted nor a necessary rule of thumb. Brands can be built on shoe string budgets, with little spending or none at all, as is the case with blogging. Many blog platform come free of cost and knowledge of blogging can improve over time to yield the best results.
• Partnerships help in reinforcing brands- Modern brands are based on the concept of distributed power. Brands are less an in-house brand expert’s forte and more can be gauged from the interactive consumer platforms where a true, unbiased picture emerges. Using these inputs to restructure and improve the brand and its image subsequently, are the way smart companies work. Partnership with meaningful participants helps. Blogging is one effective way to initiate partnerships that will help the brand.

According to Brian Solis, a famous media expert and business blogger, a humane blog with genuine and helpful advice combined with the ability to cultivate relationships and sustain them helps to form good connections, improve customer service, revise perceptions and improve the reach, resonance and loyalty of the brand in question.

About the Author

This is a guest post by Neil Jones, who Specializes in launching ecommerce sites, he is currently plying his trade as head of marketing for eMobileScan. With 18 websites based all around Europe they are on course to be one of Europe’s largest online retailers of Industrial handheld computers and label printers like the Motorola MC75 terminal or the Datalogic Memor. Neil has been an online marketer for the past 6 years and in that time he has owned and run a range of sites all built around the ecommerce platform.

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If you’re the kind of reader that’s constantly looking for information about blogging, blogging tips and how to build a better blog, then, most certainly, you’ve come across those articles that say: “Comment on other blogs! You will get a lot of traffic from them!”
Even I have suggested that commenting on other blogs in your niche will get you traffic, but let me explain what I think about it, how it works, when it works, DOs and DON’Ts when commenting.

Short-term Traffic vs. Long-term Awareness

Leaving blog comments is known to generate traffic. In some cases, even significant values. Most of the times, the traffic driven back is almost insignificant compared to my other main sources of traffic, like search results or referring blogs and websites. And guess what? I’m OK with that! Why? Because it generates valuable traffic! It’s enough to look at my stats and see that readers referred by my comments spend more time on my blog, read more posts and have a bounce-rate close to ZERO. These are the visitors that eventually subscribe to my RSS feed and come back to read more of my posts each day.

So, if you ask me, I’m not using comments to build traffic, but to increase Blogsessive’s awareness, in the long run. And since Blogsessive is a new blog, I like to call these comments baby steps.

What’s My Commenting Strategy?

When adding comments on other blogs, I take the following as my posting Bible:

1. Comment only when I really feel I have something to add to the topic. If the post is truly a great one, I’ll congratulate the blogger for the result, but never with a 2-3 word comment like “Great post, X”. A short comment like this makes a statement: “I have no clue what to say! I just want to get my comment here for exposure!”
2. I try to generate questions that can further add to the conversation. A smart question indicates that you’re a thinker. Readers love insightful posts, and some will click on your name to find out more about you.
3. I’m trying to be one of the first to comment, not necessarily the first. Trying to be the first can result in a low quality comment, since you’re fighting everyone else that uses this strategy, and time is short. Whenever I see a long list of comment I’m reading the first 4-5 comments and then jump to the end to see how the conversation evolved.

While the third point is not always easy to achieve due to factors like heavy commenting on the other blog, or even time zone differences, the first 2 points should go hand in hand whenever you want to add your comments.

Don’t Become a Blog Spammer

I hate spammers! Everyone does. So why would you want to be one? Do you care about your online image? Then, don’t do anything of the following:

1. Don’t fill you comments with links to your own posts. Add only one, and only when it’s really necessary.
2. Don’t struggle to be the first one to comment on each and every post on that blog.
3. Don’t be aggressive! Don’t start flames with other readers or the blogger.
4. Don’t confuse smart critique with misbehaving. My blog is my house. I’m not coming to your house and start cursing!
5. Don’t make excessive use of emoticons. Some blog have them active. Many users hate seeing a comment filled with smileys.

Final thoughts

Smart commenting is the key. While it probably won’t get you massive traffic, your image will only have to gain from it. Add value to all conversations you take part in and this value will be transferred upon your blog.
Now tell me, what’s your commenting strategy?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive