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Branding is all about creating awareness for your business. It also refers to a set of strategies which influence the value of a brand and the behaviour of a customer.

A company whose brand has a high value, a strong corporate identity, and a good market position will have a competitive advantage in their niche market.

Online branding is a technique that uses the web as a medium for positioning a brand in the marketplace. If a company doesn't have an online presence, then the company doesn’t really exist.

The objective of online branding is to highlight the qualities of a brand, enabling companies to differentiate themselves from others and have a positive impact on the marketplace.

In this post, we will give you 7 awesome tips for building your online brand.

1. Define Your Objectives

What are the objectives that you hope to achieve with your brand? Be sure to be S.M.A.R.T. when choosing your objectives in order to set realistic goals. Your objectives must always be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed.

2. Research your Target Audience

Researching your target audience helps you identify the real prospects for your organization. It also helps you better understand your customers and what their needs are. In addition to that, it helps you target your marketing campaigns more precisely. When researching your audience, always keep in mind demographics, gender, age, interests, etc.

3. Give Your Brand Voice and Personality

Your brand must have a personality which people can identify. Not having a tone of communication that is close to your target audience will get your message rejected. While brands found a great opportunity to gain exposure and position in social networks, we can not forget that in a certain way we are invading users’ personal space and they are the ones who decide who enters their preferences and who leaves. That is why brands should be friendly and get people to think and talk about the brand’s concept.

4. Create Compelling Content

Companies have realized that a big door opens when they create a blog for their website. Blogging builds trust and credibility with consumers. When potential customers enter your blog and are attracted by its design and content, in most cases they will seek to connect with you.
Creating good content on your site is also a way to improve ranking in search engines, increase traffic and create exposure. Therefore, make sure that your content is original, relevant, useful and easy to share. Remember to always inspire, entertain, inform, and teach.

5. Make the First Impression Count

Branding is all about image or how people see you. The first impression you give is very important because it will attract new clients and keep them coming back. Therefore, your website is a very influential part of your online branding. Make sure that this online space represents your brand’s personality, is attractive, and easy to view and navigate. Social Media is another very important part of your brand’s exposure. Once you have chosen your social platforms, create content and a calendar with days and hours of when to post.

6. Build Connections to Grow Your Network (Expand Your Reach)

The more fans and followers you have in social networks, the more opportunity you’ll have to reach more prospects. Promote your presence on multiple pages of your website and your blog. The social platforms have "follow" buttons that you can include on your website and blog. If not, you can create your own button and link it to your social networking account. Twitter, for example, offers a "follow" button that allows visitors to visit your site with just one click.

Look for, follow and build relationships with people within your industry. Identify and follow influencers within your industry, and engage with them by retweeting their content. Most importantly, interact with fans and followers. Just as you should regularly share content, you must also control your presence and interact with you community. Ask questions and engage with your audience whate

7. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be described as the practice of optimizing the content of your websites using strategies and tactics to naturally boost search engine listings and achieving a higher ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Optimizing your page for SEO will make your website visible in search engines and will also be easy to find (read SEM Guide to SEO).

Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is for big names. Businesses of all types and sizes can be brands. A brand cannot be built in a day. However, over time, any business can achieve brand status in their own niche and/or location. Contact Create the Bridge for more information on building your own brand online.