A branding strategy is of key importance, as it is a process, which among other things, defines what a product is about, its essence and mission. When developing the branding strategy of your WordPress site you can opt for a Branding professional to advise you on the issue and/or choose from a plethora of WordPress Themes and Plugins. We will take a look at those in the future. For the moment, let us focus on the steps essential to developing an efficient WordPress branding strategy and why it is important to have one.
1. Target Audience
Assuming you wish to build a WordPress project, a blog, an e-shop or a service and you wish to put your product out there. The first thing you need to define is who your customer is. Depending on the product, the business, and the market, the target audience might not be that clear and it might be segmented. Begin by conducting a thorough research on your potential customers and spend time defining their characteristics, by breaking them down to the very detail. This will give you a clearer idea of the people you will be addressing.
Tip: Create personas representing your target audience, mapping out possible segmentations and then start thinking of ways your product can interact with that audience.
2. Mission Statement
Short, specific and powerful, your brand’s mission statement should describe your product’s goals and values. It shouldn’t be more than three lines long and it should be summing up everything you stand for. Ideally include information regarding your purpose, the product itself, the niche you are interested in and what is your product’s aspirations.
Tip: Be honest and true about what your mission is. Do not be afraid to be open about your dream.
3. Niche Research
Before you embark on placing your product out there, you should take a scrutinising look at the relevant niche. Research and study the competition. Notice what they do well, how they approach their customers. Then estimate where your product fits into the equation. Can you find a spot for your product in the niche?
Tip: Be unique, don’t copy your competitors. Instead, make sure you locate the qualities that make your product distinct and point out the benefits it brings to the customers.
4. Logo
Your brand’s logo is your brand’s main center piece. For this, it is better to consult a professional and take advantage of their expertise. Through communicating your vision to them, they will be able to present you with suggestions, iterations of how they envision a representation of your product.
Tip: Things to consider are the colours, the fonts, the style that will represent your product visually.
5. Tagline
Both the logo and the tagline are significant. As they are paired together and they are the two elements by which you will be identified. Thus, the tagline should be a catchy phrase of a few words conveying your brand’s identity clearly. Short and easy to remember, helping your product stand out from the rest of the products available out there.
Tip: Things to consider is the tone of voice, the wording, the style you wish to represent your product with.
6. The Brand’s Voice
What you need to do next is to come up with the way your brand’s voice should be formed. Mapping out the” wording strategy” of your brand is of great importance. As you will be following this strategy when writing about your product or communicating with your audience. It should be carefully figured out keeping in mind factors such as your target audience, your product, and your niche. Your tone can have some of these characteristics, for example, witty, smart, funny, relaxed, professional, strict, firm and even inspirational but it can not have all them. It all depends on whom you aim at addressing.
Tip: When having mapped out your brand’s voice you have a linguistic roadmap that keeps everyone on track and in connection with the product. This is a handy source of reference keeping everyone on board.
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7. Create a Brand Message
This is by far the trickiest part when developing a branding strategy because it is often confused with the mission statement or the tagline. The brand message should be a carefully-worded text connecting all parts of your brand together. It should be longer than a slogan and more in-depth than the mission statement. Ideally, it should be a more elaborate mission statement focusing on your customer, addressing their troubles and worries, highlighting how your product caters to their needs. You can include what you aspire to achieve in the long-run and where do you stand in the market.
Tip: Avoid buzzwords! As these will turn your text into becoming quite generic, blending in with the noise of your niche. Instead, take the time to portray in your own words what your product brings. Find that one, unique feature that differentiates you and elaborate on it.
Final Thoughts
Completing the WordPress branding process means that you have taken a product and you have developed it, scaling it into a brand. Your WordPress blog will no longer be just another recipe, fashion or travel blog like the gazillion blogs of the same sort out there. It will stand out as having a unique character, supporting a vision and establishing a presence. With the backbone of your brand ready, you can begin implementing it on all aspects of your product’s ecosystem. And this you must! From your WordPress website designing and wording to blog posts, newsletters, publications, Social Media posts, and all interactions. It’s a holistic approach governed by consistency. When performed and executed correctly it earns your product a recognised spot in the marketplace, establishing its identity and its authority.
What is more, you must keep in mind that your brand is an ecosystem that changes and progresses with time. Thus, a branding strategy should not be set in stone for the next 100 years. As your business grows and the marketplace changes, your branding strategy should be adjusted too. What you should have in mind is that at certain intervals in time you should be analysing the data collected and you should be fine-tuning all your strategies (branding strategy included). This will help you stay afloat of the challenges occurring by repositioning your place in the market and reaffirming your authority.
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