Blogging is branding

"A blog is something you can hack away at in ten minutes a day - and at the end of four months you have something phenomenal". That is what J.D. Iles once said when commenting on the blog he set up for the Lincoln Sign Company, a small sign-painting shop located in New Hampshire in the USA.
Using the typepad hosting service, J.D. regularly presents the latest products along with some trivial chit chat. Ultimately, having this blog as an addition to the already existing website aims at attracting prospective customers who may later be encouraged to place an order.

And that brings us to another use of blogs for your business: global branding. Just to be clear what we are talking about, "branding" is the process of creating a brand, i.e. the visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image associated with a company or a product.
Now, global branding, or by marketing consultant Hugh McLeod referred to as global microbranding is nothing new and basically only implicates two characteristics:

• First, that you are a company or an individual involved in branding and
• Second, that you are doing so on a global scale

The prefix "micro" in this context simply emphasizes that were talking about a tiny brand potentially selling all over the world. Unless of course you're working for Coca-Cola ;-) But then you wouldn't be looking to build up a brand now, would you?

You will find that global microbranding has already been happening long before the internet was invented.
Whether it's a famous Italian impressionist selling his pictures to fans in Asia, a Swedish pop group publishing records in the States, or a fine Scottish Whisky distillery that has made a name for itself on the continent.

Now having said that, there has been a major development since the introduction of the WWW that is now being amplified further by the concept of blogs: branding has become a whole lot easier!

With blogs at hand, here are just some of the things you DON'T need to spread your message far and wide beyond your immediate client base and local market:

• High profile name
• Large marketing and PR budget
• Goodwill of mainstream media
• Profound marketing knowledge
  

That's what drives J.D. Iles with his sign painting blog, that's what Hugh McLeod (and his partner) found when creating the brand for their microbusiness of selling high price tailor made suits to international business men and I imagine that is also the reason why British entrepreneur Butler Sheetmetal Ltd. is still keeping up the posting on his corporate blog"the tinbasher".

Stay tuned if you'd like to know, exactly how simple it is to set up your first blog and why blogs more than any other website help you reach prospective customers!

Related Links:
Lincoln Sign Company
SignsNeverSleep - The Lincoln Sign Corporate Blog
Tinbasherblog - Butler SheetMetal blogs about business
Hugh McLeod on the issue of Microbranding
Free bloghosting with Typepad
How to use blogs in business (part 1)