It became apparent to me that much of copywriting was about listening and observing. A brand position, a tagline, a unique selling proposition had to resonate with the target audience. It had to be believable. It had to address some real -- not imagined -- need. What good is a USP if no one cares?

What also amazes me is how little consideration goes into branding efforts nowadays. Most campaigns ring hollow. "Yeah, right" is something I often say to the TV when I actually hear the commercials in between the programs.

If branding efforts were more realistic, many more people would find commercial messaging much more appealing, because they would receive value in knowing about products or services which they might find useful. But "Hot Air Branding" only serves to make audiences more skeptical and intolerant. It's not likely to change. In fact, given the dynamics of how commercial messaging is created, it's quite likely to get worse. Therein is a big opportunity. If your messages resonate and stand out from the pack for the right reasons, they will give you an edge over your competition.

Hereunder are my Top 10 Online Branding Tips:

1. Do You Believe Your Own Message? I hope so. Because chances are your audience is as intelligent as you are. At the very least, they're probably as skeptical as you are, and maybe more so. Getting beyond that skepticism is your first job.

2. Resonance: Does your tagline, copy or positioning really mean anything? Be honest with yourself. Is it a bunch of "hogwash"? Because if it is, it will simply melt into the other few thousand commercial messages that everyone is deluged with daily. And if that's the case, your branding campaign budget will be wasted.

3. Does Your Marketing Look Like Everyone Else's? Don't get lost in the "Sea of Sameness." Marvin Honig (celebrated Creative Director who created classic ads for Volkswagen) once took the soundtrack from one soft drink ad and put it over the visuals of another soft drink ad. The sound and pictures synched up perfectly. It made his point that you need to "pop" out of your category. Focus groups later proved that people couldn't tell the difference between one soft drink ad of that period and another.

4. No Stupid Taglines: It's better to have no tagline than a stupid one. Your tagline should capture the essence of your product or service, or the benefit it provides, or address the problem it solves. It shouldn't just be a "Hi, I'm a tagline" type of tagline.

5. The Branding Is In the Doing: Nowadays, everyone is from Missouri. You have to show them. Just telling them you're better than sliced bread doesn't cut the mustard. With a website, you can show them how well thought out you are. Show them how well you've anticipated the needs of prospects and customers by good interface design. Thoughtful design, be it information design or graphic design and site navigation, telegraphs to the visitor who you really are. If your site sucks and your tagline promises that you are obsessed with customer service, it isn't going to ring true.

6. Find Your Voice: If your website or print ad were a person, who would it be? How would that person talk? What sort of language would he or she use?

7. When In Doubt, Tell the Truth: Speak about things not usually seen in commercial messaging that won't necessarily affect the possibility of making a sale later on. It's so refreshing to see plain talk in messages. It's surprising to me that it doesn't happen more often. Seems sort of obvious, doesn't it?

8. Don't Try to Please Everybody: Due to investor relations and for PR reasons, most ads from public firms try not to exclude anyone for fear of offending someone. But people love and respect focused communications, because such messages help push back the everyday chaos and lend clarity of purpose.

9. Ask a Critic: Show your worst critic your website, copy or position and ask he or she to try to tear it apart. If even your worst critic can't, you could have a winner. (Just don't away any trade secrets in the process.)

10. Put It In Context: So many ads, websites and so on are presented to upper management or clients out of context. They're mounted neatly on boards, or shown out of the environment in which they will ultimately exist. Better to put them into that environment so they can be seen and judged in context. If it's a print ad, paste it into the magazine in which it will appear and see how it stands up when someone is quickly thumbing through that publication. Does it at least stop them? Do they linger? Or do they blow right by it?

Bonus Tip

11. Get an Outsider's Opinion: Set aside some budget to buy an outsider's opinion. Ask an expert outside of your company, outside of your agency and outside of your sphere of influence. See what that expert thinks. Since that expert has no political agenda, he can speak his mind freely with your best interests top of mind. When my publishing schedule permits, I perform this function for firms. If I don't have the time to do the right job for you, I will refer you to someone who does. LC

Go Here For > Reviews of Best Online Branding Sites

Go Here For > More on Online Marketing Consultant Larry Chase

Return To > Larry Chase's Search Engine For Marketers Home Page