As you read this, I am sitting in the Seattle airport, waiting to board a plane. On my way to WordCamp San Francisco, where everyone from casual WordPress users to those brilliant developer geeks will be hanging out together, sharing ideas.
But you know what I'm really excited about? On Sunday, the day after WordCamp ends, I'm going to have a person-to-dog meeting—a tweetup—with a special friend I met on Twitter.
His name is @winecountrydog.
Actually, they are two dogs. They take turns tweeting under one name. One brand, two distinct voices. So distinct that you can tell which one is tweeting without even looking at the avatar.
As a marketing consultant, when my clients ask for advice on blogging, I tell them that their goal should be this: their readers should be able to tell who has written the post without looking at their name. That's a good test to see how well have branded yourself.
If you are doing a guest post and one of your regular readers stumbles upon it, there should be no question who the author is before they read your name.
@winecountrydog has this down. He always tweets in character. Always with the same unique voice.
This is what branding is all about.
On Sunday I get to meet my two friends (and their human). They have promised to help Bob and I figure out some of the best wineries to visit in Sonoma County.
Will meeting Tilin, the offical wine country dog and Jack, known as "Li'l Corgi Bro," spoil the magic?
I think not.
One week from now, we'll be back to our tweeting. @winecountrydog will be sending me nosetaps and paw hugs. And commenting on life. Like the other day when he tweeted that he was shedding and saw little birds swooping down to pick up bits of fur for their nests.
He'll be talking about the latest PBS show, animal and wildlife rescue groups, wine news and how much he hates spammers and scammers. And I'll be laughing with him. Connecting with him.
3 Things @winecountrydog Can Teach Us About Branding
1. Be the real you.
The Irish writer Oscar Wilde once said, "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." @winecountrydog is a master at this. He is compassionate and clever. And he likes to laugh—I mean bark—out loud. Whether he's having fun with the word "sexy" trending on Twitter by announcing that he's "too sexy fur his doghouse, " or sending a worried tweet to someone who lives near the volcano that recently erupted, you know he's the real thing.
The lesson for us: Branding yourself, whether in a brochure, on your website or through social media, is all about showing the authentic, multi-dimensional you. I like to call it leaving the 'cardboard person' at the doorstep. The more you come across as a real person, the more your readers and customers will want to connect with you.
2. Stay 'in character.'
It's what some marketers call your brand personality. It helps you develop trust with your customers. I wouldn't expect to see a tweet from @winecountrydog on why puppy mills are a good thing. It would be completely out of character. It would confuse me.
The lesson for us: Be consistent. Who you are should not change. Because your customers are paying attention. And if you do change, then, well, which person are you? In every marketing piece, in every online article, every forum post or newsletter issue, every comment on Twitter, stay true to yourself.
3. Know that not everyone will love you. And be okay with that.
If @winecountrydog tweets about animals needing homes and someone tweets back, "I think it's more important to find homes for people," that's a good thing. Because it just helps him find his true audience: the people who do care about homeless pets and shelter animals.
The lesson for us: Showing up as yourself means that some people will not necessarily be your biggest fans. That's okay because you want to attract the right people—the customers who love who you are, what you do, what you sell. Your target market.
I'll let you know what happened when I met the two Welsh Corgis that together make up @winecountrydog. In the meantime, you can follow them on Twitter and read more of their canine musings over at their blog.
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