Branding - Don't?
Don't get caught up in the Branding Hysteria!!!
Was actually strolling through some web marketing advice the other day and came across some discussion on brands and how you should build them.
I thought it was a pretty good article (not great), but, pretty good. Why?
Because they said "Your web name is your brand". Which I kind of disagree with. Your brand better be bigger then your web. Yes, you may have only enough money right now to have a website and not do advertising or promotions, etc., but, the brand better be strategized to be bigger then this.
What do I mean....hmm...Okay, I have a client. She has a website, called www.kittykatgraphics.com. (Long name, huh?) If you were to go to this site, you would see beautiful artwork - typical wall mounted pictures, but, also those same pictures put on unique items (like tops of boxes, tables, etc.). When I spoke with her about the name - and how hard it may be for someone to remember it, she said "I don't care about the website name, the brand that I want to build is my name".
That's great - so, why not put your name all over the website - instead of in the area of "About the Artist". Why not put the name front and center (the name was already taken by another individual).
She did.
Why? Because she knew, after discussions with her, that she needed to start building her brand/name. That eventually, if she were to move into a gallery, or a retail store, that her name would be used, not the website name.
Okay, so, back to my point. Sometimes, the website can't be the brand, OR, the website limits the growth of the brand. The brand has to be bigger then the product, the website, the marketing, etc.
In other words, when you are thinking about building your brand - remember something, THE BRAND TIES EVERYTHING TOGETHER - or - it is the glue that holds everything together.