by Chef Keem
What's YOUR Brand? The Power of Recommendation.
April 5, 2009 in Editorial, Making Money by Chef Keem
Lensmaster Drifter0658 wrote the following remark in an email from this morning:
“Sometimes, I think people have a misconception about ‘branding’…I prefer my soulfelt definition. Branding is not the product, it’s not even the company or logo. Branding is the person. Everything else is a product of our brand.”
Maybe we want to re-evaluate our approach to branding ourselves online.
Because, “branding” is what we try to do on a daily basis, right? Through lenses, blogs and websites…we introduce ourselves to the world and hope that someone listens to our recommendations. (And, maybe buys a thing or two.)
We know that folks like to buy from real people who offer products that made them happy.
Why would we choose an ID like “Great Stuff Cheap!“, then introduce ourselves in the bio with “Hi, I’m Great Stuff Cheap!”, and use an avatar showing a frog on a lily pad?
What are we really branding here?
We’re asking our visitors to trust someone they know nothing about.
The power of recommendation – but who’s recommendation?
- A guy selling lacy underwear…?
- A young lady offering the manliest power tools…?
- A cannibal listing his favorite vegetarian cook books…?
- A pedophile praising the best literature for children…?
- How should we know…?
You get my drift, and Drifter’s got a good point: “Branding” is the person.
The power of recommendation has two components: Who says what.
So, who are you and why should I trust you? – That’s YOUR brand!
- If I trust and like you, I don’t care what you sell – I probably want it!
- If I can identify with you, I’ll listen carefully to your experiences!
- If you’re like me and you know something interesting – I want to hear about it!
- If you’ve made something with your own hands and you tell me how you did it – I find this very attractive!
- If you let me look into your face – literally and emotionally – while you share your honest experience with that Clickbank product, I might believe you!
That’s powerful, isn’t it?
Here’s a suggested “branding” check list for the smart online marketer:
- My name, my photo (me), my state/town/area (choose one, or three), my business/job/hobby/expertise, my mission statement (why am I doing this), my general family background, why I understand your problem (I had or have the same difficulties), my sense of humor, my not-so-successful life events, my personal victories, my friends, my heroes, my ethics, my questions about how I can help you…not all of these may apply all of the time, but most of them probably will.
- My gift to you.
- My product.
Just imagine – a stranger enters your life and asks you to trust her.
What would you need to know about him before you could agree to that?
As always, your comments are deeply appreciated.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful image with us, Heather Katsoulis!
[ratings]
Overheard on twitter...
Thank you for this post chefkeem. I recently started promoting my first and only clickbank product after deciding to do a series of lenses about one of my favorite activities. While doing keyword research I came across a product and bought it because I wanted the recipes. This turned out to be a great product so I decided it would be the first clickbank product I would promote. I had recently purchased One Week Marketing and so everything seemed to fall into place. I made a decision to only have one squidoo account and only promote products I own, have used, and believe in. I think my name is more important than anything else and I want others to trust me. It is so refreshing to see my beliefs laid out in this blog post. I may never be rich, but I will have a good name. Hats off to you!
I liked this post so much that I have quoted it and linked to it in my new “angel” lens – I hope that is OK with you dear Chef!
I agree with you! It is nice to see what the person really looks like. But have you ever been turned off the person and product after you saw the person? Sometimes a person does look like a dork – would that turn people off? Sometimes a person looks too good – would that turn people off? Or would just having a good professional picture handle all problems. I’ve seen some very attractive avatars on Squidoo – the person gave me the impression that they were honest and serious. Would having an attractive avatar (not a frog unless you are a frog) every work?
Great post, Chef Keem! I really liked your branding checklist – an exercise that maybe all Squidoo lensmasters should go through for their profiles.
.-= kimmanleyort´s last blog ..Wendell Berry? =-.
AOK, AJ. Thank you, dear.