Chapter 1

1. Build a Better Brand

Let’s say you’ve opened a new bakery. You’ve recently finished setting up shop, and you couldn’t be happier with the fruits of all your hard work. You’ve got your name and your logo, the interior is masterfully decorated, your vendors and pricing system are set, your staff is in place, and you’ve got a line of dough recipes that is sure to win your customers over.

Speaking of customers, do they know about your new business yet? If not, how are you planning on getting the word out? Are you going to turn on the “open” sign and hope for some foot traffic, or are you going to go out there and start marketing your brand like there’s no tomorrow?

Whether you’re running a bakery or a digital business, these are the questions you should be asking yourself. Your first job is to grow leads and sales by building a credible brand. After all, not only is having a strong brand the best way to get customers, it’s also the best way to keep them.

In this chapter, we’re going to show you the ins and outs of building a better brand from the ground up. As you’ll see, there are plenty of ways to approach this—and plenty of ways to succeed on a small budget. But first, let’s talk about the keystone of any successful brand: credibility.

It’s All about Credibility

Pretend you’re observing two different talk shows running in two different studios, side by side. Both are discussing the same subject, and both have guest speakers who use near-identical talking points. The difference is that in Studio A, the speaker is introduced as Joe Blogs, while in Studio B, the speaker is introduced as Doctor Joe Blogs.

Once the two speakers are done talking, who do you think audiences are more inclined to believe?

Titles Matter

Not just anyone can run around calling themselves a doctor. It’s a licensed profession with standardized training, and most of us accept this. Therefore, when someone is introduced as a doctor, we’re more inclined to hear what that person has to say on topics related to their field.

That’s how social validation works, and that’s why most people are more comfortable choosing Doctor Joe over average Joe. All other information being equal, we look for secondary indicators to decide whether someone or something is credible. Usually we’re not aware we’re doing it, but it’s a necessary mental trick we all use in the process of forming opinions and making decisions.

Thousands and Thousands of Microjudgments

The process of social validation and credibility works the same for brands as it does for doctors. The second a prospective customer is exposed to your brand, whether they’re walking by the storefront of your bakery, checking out your business card, or clicking on your website, they’re using every available indicator to decide whether your company is worth their time.

Sure, every now and then our brains make connections that they shouldn’t, but most of the time, this process works. And it’s a good thing too, since our ability to make these microjudgments saves us hours of time each day.

We’ve certainly noticed the social validation process at work at Louder.Online. As soon as we began to establish some credibility in the marketing community, our brand started gaining traction. Before, visitors would depart our website as quickly as they had arrived. But once our name began to mean something, they started inquiring into our business, presenting themselves as leads rather than bouncing away from the site.

Credibility Can Be Exploited

Building credibility may be the bedrock of building your brand, but make no mistake, credibility can be exploited. Sadly, it happens all the time.

For instance, remember garcinia cambogia, the miracle supplement that was supposed to change dieting forever? When this wonder pill hit the scene, affiliate marketers were eager to boost their conversion rates and move more product.

So what did they do? They found a doctor who was willing to go along with their scheme and provide a few quotes touting the alleged benefits of garcinia cambogia, and they plastered this information all over their landing pages. Sure enough, it worked. Skeptical visitors put their faith in this unscrupulous doctor, and conversion rates skyrocketed.

Little schemes like this might work in the short term, but your audience will eventually wise up. Just remember, no one likes to be tricked. Preying on prospective customers’ assumptions may earn a short-term profit, but it’s the opposite of what credibility is all about.

The Three Different Kinds of Media

The story of our doctor is an example of earned media. It shows how credibility can be leveraged in order to build a trusted brand based on social validation.

In inbound marketing—a process of creating valuable content and distributing it to audiences around the web in order to attract visitors to your own website and organically grow a community of people interested in your brand—earned media is a valuable tool in a marketer’s toolkit, but it’s not the only tool. Marketers rely on a combination of three types of media—paid, owned, and earned—in order to build awareness of their brand, product, and service.

Paid Media

Anyone can buy their way into a paid media space. Instead of credibility, the currency of paid media is, well, currency. You’re probably familiar with certain types of paid media such as TV ads and billboards, but paid media can also include digital elements like Google Ads and Facebook ads.

Paid media may not carry the kind of authority or impartiality that earned media might, and it can be expensive. On the plus side, however, it gets your brand in front of your prospects’ eyes and can be very useful when trying to reach a specific target audience.

Owned Media

Any content you create for an asset you own, such as a blog post on your website, is an example of owned media. The immediate benefit of owned media is that you set the rules. You get to be seen the way you want to be seen—ideally in a way that rewards audience expectations.

The challenge with owned media is that it’s up to you to find and create your audience. Whereas with paid media, you show up and appeal directly to a large audience of prospective customers, with owned media, your audience has to come to you. For instance, if you’ve just created a website from scratch, you could have some great content, but no one’s going to see it unless you find a way to drive traffic to your site.

Earned Media

As we’ve discussed a little bit already, earned media comes in many forms, but at its foundation is credibility. If you have built a reputation as a thought leader in your industry—most likely through a combination of paid and owned media—then the earned media won’t be far behind.

Perhaps it’s an interview for TV, radio, or a podcast. Perhaps it’s a feature in a blog or magazine. Whatever the case, now that you’ve earned your way there, you have an engaged audience eager to hear your message. Even better, each appearance on an earned media channel brings more credibility for your brand and your message, and it provides an opportunity to leverage a new audience.

Taking a Balanced Approach

Like all good things in life, you need balance in your branding strategy. Each media type has its strengths and weaknesses, but the right blend can deliver some fantastic results.

To understand why, it’s important first to understand the online behavior of your users. It would be nice if you could find your audience all in one place, but in reality, they’re spread out across all three media types. Some users stick to earned media sites because they prefer content with demonstrable credibility. And while owned sites can become a great source for engagement over time, you need paid and earned opportunities to create loyal followers. Finally, while paid might be the easiest way to get in front of as many people as possible, those same people are also increasingly tired of being interrupted by yet another ad.

In other words, ignore even one of these media channels and you risk limiting or taking away a significant chunk of your target market. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what kind of market you want. Do you want to focus on one approach and gain one-third of the market, or do you want to take...