Your Brand In the Eye of the Beholder

They’re watching you.

Photo by edosbornphotography courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

They: your right people, the clients you’d love to work with, the peer whose eye you want to catch for that great JV idea of yours, that bigger blogger to whom you’re submitting a guest post this week.

They’re watching you. And they’re thinking something about your brand, right this minute. {It’s common — they’re thinking something about my brand, too.}

Want to know what they’re thinking?

I hope you do. Training yourself to see your online brand through your right people’s eyes is great for your savvy muscle.

So let’s get inside their heads and see what they see when they’re looking at you.

The first 5 things a beholder thinks about your brand when she lands on your site — remember, this is happening right now:

1.} What’s the big idea here?

Think about how we use the web. We’ve got short digital attention spans until we absolutely fall in love with a site or its maker. All of the signals on your site have to align with your point of view, your guiding message, and the particular flair that makes your brand you. Are you a copywriter for small brick and mortar businesses? We’ve got to know that within ten seconds of landing on your site. Do you teach yoga to pregnant women? Can your prospects see that from your landing page, whether it’s content-driven or not? Brand Editor’s Tip: Put your big idea in your site header. It’s that important.

2.} Do I dig what’s going on here?

Immediately after ascertaining what your site’s about, people will ask themselves Is this for me? Is this site worth the one minute more of exploration I’m willing to give it right now? How do you keep from freaking out over this knowledge? Don’t worry about the people who will click away in disinterest. They’re not your right people, yo. If you focus on creating for the ones you want to work with, they’ll pick up on that and hang around — especially when you’re at your best and most consistent.

3.} Who’s talking to me and do I like this person?

Nanoseconds after getting the gist of your site, they’re going to go looking for who is behind this content. They want to connect with a voice, a face, an individual psyche. That’s where you come into your brand! Remember, your right people don’t need to behold all of you in order to connect with your point of view and guiding message. They don’t need your whole life story, your deepest fears and insecurities, or even the color of your favorite socks. They do need to know your values, why your site exists in the first place, and an idiosyncracy or two to make you human. Shape an About Me page that reveals what they need to know to connect most deeply with your point of view and guiding message. You don’t have to give it all away to be known, liked, and trusted.

4.} Does this person get me?

So they see who you are. Then they want to know, do I believe that she gets me? Is she writing to someone with far less experience than me, which suggests that I don’t need what’s she teaching, or is she showing that she highly values some things that I could give a damn about? Or is there something in his voice and tone that tells me he is just the kind of person I want to hang out with and learn from? In case you’re wondering — YES. It’s out of your control whether people like you, online or anywhere else. All you can do is present yourself authentically {remembering that ‘authentically’ does NOT have to mean getting virtually naked} and consistently. And have fun doing it. :)

5.} What’s in it for me?

Back to point #1. We’re busy 21st century beings. We have limited bandwidth. Your readers are thinking, Even if I like it, why should I stick around? If you’re blogging for business, the question for you is, are you making good use of your site visitors’ attention? Show your right people that your brand is designed for them and for their predilections. Make it easy for them to find what you want them to see. Prove to them that your content archives are full of amazing learning/information/entertainment. Design the signals to point to your best and highest impact stuff. Speak in the voice they connect with.

Remember, your right people are watching you and wanting you to succeed {in their eyes}.

Don’t sell yourself short. You are a living hub of ideas, inspiration, and information that your people are waiting to tap into. Show them that you get that and you get them.

What do you think about my point of view in this post? Are we as site visitors as fickle and {righteously} self-centered as I’m describing?