(Today I've been working on a few marketing and promotion things. I registered this blog with BlogCatalog, Jiglu, and BlogRush. I have to thank a fellow Associated Content producer for her help and the links to get me there, so "Thank you Momie Tullottes!" (Give her name a click to read her terrific work))
What exactly is branding? Do I have a brand? I'm not marketing anything aside from my content, can I call that a brand? When I first heard about this I thought, "what?" So I'm here to say I have read a lot about it. What I gather it's all about what you're selling. The better your brand (content) the better your sales (page views), as applied to my work at Associated Content.
From "Bringing Sexy Back: The Eight Steps to Content Marketing Bliss" by Joe Pulizzi I gathered a bit of information and applied it to my own version of branding. He lists 8 steps and from those I pulled out what I wanted to use.
While weeding though this article, I began to get discouraged because I don't target my AC articles to one group (niche). Then I thought, wait a minute, I may be targeting several audiences, some may consider that a pitfall, why not work it to my advantage. After all you are Eclectic Muse.
In step 7 Mr. Pulizzi says, "Start out with niche content and build from there." Well I can't very well do that since I don't necessarily have a niche. But I can concentrate on delivering "focused...valuable content."
There are several great ideas that can be drawn from this article. I took step 3 "invest in design" and personalized this blog to reflect the season, added personal information, and added widgets and links. I also took the strategy over to my eBay page and changed it to include links back to my articles, my blog, and a few other ventures I have taken on.
Do I understand branding? No. But I know it relates to marketing. Am I a brand? Well, I'm not yet. But I'm learning.
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I love your seasonal photograph! Branding and niche marketing do apply to those of us who market content.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good informative blog. I'm going to check out a lot of the places you cite.
I, too, have a problem with needing to focus my blog. What I decided to do is start another blog when I'm ready for another topic. That way the writing blog won't lose its focus. (Or as much focus as its ADHD author can give it!)
I agree with Kathy, Muse. You've got tons of great info in your blog entries. It makes for interesting reading...I'm visiting again. And again.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathy and Conda for stopping by! I'm beginning to think my focus is reference (or at least it's turning into that). Initially, I wanted this blog to be my personal inspirations. It's branching out to inspirational sources and references, among other things. That may be better in the long run, readers can find their own uses for what I'm finding through my research and discovery--a little something for everyone. Since I'm so new at this, who knows what it will turn into--I just want it to be useful!
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