How Branding Can Drive Traffic To Your Site

In last weeks post I talked about The Importance of Business Branding and how branding can help you to get more business and higher paying jobs. This week I wanted to follow up on that and show you ways in which your branding efforts can help to send traffic to your site/blog.

The obvious, most expensive option of traffic generation is to pay for advertising. Ads are commonly used for advertising purposes as we all know. Just think back on what I briefly touched on last week in regards to those annoying ads we often see on TV, or hear on the radio.

Generally small business owners shy away from spending top dollar for an advertising campaign, simply because they don’t have the funds.

So what can we do to get that coveted flow of traffic happening and how in the world is branding going to help with this?

Position yourself as the expert

This is actually easier said than done because first of all you will need some experience to pull this off. On the other hand I personally do not peddle products of which I don’t have a clue about. I used to, back in my online greenhorn days, but since then I have learned my lessons and stay true to myself and my experience.

It simply isn’t worth being a hypocrite.

But let’s assume that you are indeed an expert in your field. You have plenty of hands on experience and know your way around the topic. You’ve gone through failures and hardship and you know exactly what others think who first come into contact with your field of expertise, since you have been there before.

If that is the case, play it with all your might. Once you have the expertise you can do away with the humble hat and step into the limelight.

Now is your time to shine.

Just like in showbiz, much of the initial marketing message is lost on your readers. This is mainly due to the fact that most of us have an extreme short attention span. So play it up, garnish your “expertise” with colorful streamers, balloons and music.

Doing this will guarantee to bring you traffic!

It is in our nature to be associated with fame, success and the limelight. Why else are we so enthralled with soaps, Oscar nominations and what not?

After all, it is recognition we crave and what better way to be recognized than to be picked up by any media because of our association with ….(insert your favorite celebrity here).

Use your alternate ego

I bet most of us have an alternate ego within. You know, the voice that says no, when we say yes and the other way round. Since most of us are civilized people, our alternate ego is often “not so MR. nice guy”.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: my alternate ego is a mixture between Jennifer Garner in Alias and Buddha. Kind of like Ninja meeting eternal bliss. LOL

Recently we have seen an increased amount of bloggers who tell it like it is. They are sick of seeing blogging noobies get hurt and have made it their mission to change our views about Internet marketing and the whole make money online industry.

I tell you what. It works. This is branding in its rawest form and although some people are offended by this whole approach, I think it is simply brilliant.

Creating controversy amongst yes sayers always works. While we might be offended to start with, these controversies actually prompt us to think outside the box. If you are an entrepreneur, then you will agree that doing this can only broaden our vision and our knowledge.

I think it is suffice to say that this approach will not only get you noticed, but also funnel a ton of traffic to your site.

A word of warning: you will need a strong resolve to stay the course against all the onslaught of opposition that will no doubt come your way. After all, you will be swimming against the current pretty much alone. Especially when you first start out.

Branding works – get ready for action!

Branding in all its various forms will always bring traffic and business to you if done correctly. You can’t afford to be chopping and changing your brand after you are getting known around “town”. Yes, every now and then we all crave a make over, but before you take this step, ask yourself whether this will be beneficial to your brand or not.

Soft or hard, both work in their own ways

Whether you have a lot of money to burn and feel fine with paying thousands of dollars for advertising every month, to establish your brand, or whether you want to go the soft approach that takes more time but hardly any money is entirely up to you.

If you do take the soft approach, expect to spend a good portion of your time to network with others in your field. Whether this is via social networks, forums, clubs, membership sites or blogs, is irrelevant.

What matters most is that you dedicate yourself to your brand and build it block by block until the foundation is rock solid.

Have you got anything else to add? Please feel free to share your views and thoughts on this post.