Part 3 – Style Points

Fri, Feb 27, 2009

Featured, Marketing

Part 3 – Style Points

Style matters in the media.  I’m not talking about animated logos dancing the Macarena – that’s not style.  And you don’t need the intense charisma of Howard Stern or his more humble Web 2.0 incarnation Gary Vaynerchuk to be heard.   But you must understand that new media demands attention to presentation.   So if you’re considering dipping your toe, think carefully about your brand.  How will you present your business?  How will you maximize each precious impression?

Pride and Personal Appearance

Each detail matters because, when your campaign works, you will be seen by many new eyes.  I’m not saying you have to reinvent your brand identity or spend a ton of cash, but you do need to take pride in your “personal” appearance.  Style is not a price tag.  It’s about details, simplicity, elegance and authenticity.

Great Expectations

Respect yourself, your brand and your audience.  Don’t settle. Don’t produce slop. Your audience has great expectations.  Stale content, cheesy images, bad design, sloppy emails, inconsistent treatments are not acceptable.  Would you buy a meal at a restaurant with soiled linens or a dirty bathroom?   What do you think is going on in the kitchen?

What Not to Wear

Oh, and the same goes for the back-end stuff.  Brand blog comments with a Gravatar account.  Make sure FeedBurner subscriptions look nice.  Wallpaper your Twitter page.  Attend to your LinkedIn profile.  And I’m not saying you have to be perfect. When you make a mistake, like my big typo in our inaugural email announcement, fix it and take responsibility – just like you do in your business.   Just don’t end-up on the web’s What Not to Wear List.

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This post was written by:

Mark Bradford - who has written 61 posts on ChirpUp.com.

Mark is a new media marketing consultant and ChirpUp co-founder. He helps your business be heard online with SEO, social media, content strategy and modern website development.

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7 Responses to “Part 3 – Style Points”

  1. Seth Frey Says:
    February 27th, 2009 at 8:04 am

    Comment from a customer of Big Frey:

    Just some props– the new site is really nicely done. You’ve put a lot of thought and hard work into pulling together some of the best elements of social media and it’s showing through. Good work.

    Kudos to CHIRPUP!

  2. Joseph Wohrer Says:
    March 5th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    That list of “What not to wear” has to be one of the funniest, yet most depressing things I have ever seen. Who can take pride in something like that? Regardless, presentation is key to a successful brand. Like you said, it doesn’t matter what market you are in or who your audience is, you can still gain style points. It’s about putting the thought into it and taking extra steps to ensure consistency and polish.

    Loved the post. Can’t wait for the next one.

  3. Mark Bradford Says:
    March 6th, 2009 at 8:19 am

    Thanks Joseph – the next one is tough. It’s about social etiquette.

  4. Scott Hamilton Says:
    March 30th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    I agree with you on all of these comments. Your going to have to work with me though while I fine tune my online brand. Just created my first Gravatar this afternoon so I might have some room for improvement there.

    Look forward to seeing the evolution of ChirpUp.
    Scott

  5. Mark Bradford Says:
    April 5th, 2009 at 9:21 am

    Very important advice about personal brand from Godin. Power of Tiny Picture. http://is.gd/qPbb

  6. Neil Crump Says:
    July 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Really great post and couldn’t agree more. Very nicely written as well.


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  1. Website Design Not Important | Interactive Marketing Agency Chicago | ChirpUp.com says:
    August 4, 2010 at 5:40 am

    [...] design is important – fine.  As interactive marketing agency in Chicago, we are all about Style!  But too many website redesign projects stall because of misguided notions about website design. [...]

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