Are You Building a Brand or Cash Grabbing?
Branding and making money go hand in hand, right? Well, yes, absolutely they do. BUT, there’s a huge difference between the two, and it’s this difference that business owners have to keep in mind if they hope to succeed in business and make things go as smoothly as possible.
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‘Cash Grabbing’ Businesses
We all want to make money, and with the way the economy has gone, the drive for cash seems to have intensified. The faster and easier we can make it the better. But, this isn’t always a good thing. You see, these techniques may work very well, but the results only last for a short time. They can also have serious, negative effects on your business.
Spamming is a great example. You know what? It works. As much as we all hate it, it works very well if you know what you’re doing and choose the right industry. Many people can make thousands in the day or two that the website is live and ranking in the search engines.
Unfortunately, the search engines try to get rid of these types of websites as quickly as possible, so you don’t have long to make money. It doesn’t help your reputation any and you can guarantee that you’re going to make a lot of people mad. In fact, an image of a large, angry mob with pitchforks and torches comes to mind.
Article marketing is another popular way to build links. While I won’t debate the value of the method in this post, I will mention that this portion of marketing is famous for being loaded full of…well…junk. Now, if I were to do this, I believe it would damage my business. How? Because I’m a copywriter and I make my money by providing quality. Have I done it? Yes, but after I learned a bit more, I stopped.
This is why I use a completely different form of article marketing. I create high-end quality pieces that people want to link to and place them on authoritative sites. This reflects my quality and improves my reach at the same time.
The same thing happens in real life. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I mean those marketing tactics that rival those of our biggest political figures. These are the tactics that aren’t necessarily illegal or wrong, but they still make you cringe just thinking about them.
Again, these business models make a quick turnaround and die. It doesn’t mean that you can’t make a living off them. It just means that you’d better not get attached to it. You’ll be starting numerous companies and websites simply to keep your income at a decent level.
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Building a Brand
When you build a brand, you rarely make large amounts of money at the start. It’s a long hard slog that can be downright disheartening, but the result is a legacy you will undoubtedly leave behind. These businesses also run completely different from the cash grabbing businesses mentioned previously.
Brand focused businesses rely heavy on word of mouth advertising, social media, and…well…advertising period. But, you need to be cautious. Every move you make will reflect back on your company and have either a positive or negative effect. This includes your marketing tactics, networking, charity, community events…everything.
If you are building a brand, quality is absolutely vital in everything you do. You need to look and act the part. You need a quality website, quality advertising materials, a quality marketing program, and a good connection with your target audience.
In addition to appearance, you don’t want to risk having something fall apart during one of the most critical moments in your business’ life either. And believe me, this happens. It’s Murphy’s Law. There’s no taking a short cut; everything you purchase and do has to match your image.
When I set up my new website, for example, absolutely everything from the architecture and keywords to the types of services I chose to offer and how I set up my business model were all chosen for specific reasons. The same can be said for my marketing strategy. I don’t want my clients to feel hunted or pressured. They can trust me to help them, and they know if I don’t know the answer, I can find it for them.
As for how far you’ll get by building a brand, it’s hard to say. You might become the next Richard Branson of Virgin Mobile, or you might only make enough to live out your life comfortably, but I’m a firm believer in the idea that it isn’t worth having if you don’t have to work for it.
So, knowing both sides, how will you choose to build your business? Do you prefer one method over the other?
September 20, 2009 at 4:06 pm | Business | No comment
