Toolkit Addition

Toolkit: Branding Tools

Branding Tools

Nike. Citibank. Coca-Cola. IBN.

Brand names we've heard and used. And the more we say them, the longer they stay around. Are you branded?

Branding communicates the essence, purpose, and character of a company. It's done intentionally and involves achieving specific outcomes. Branding accompanies all forms of communications. It declares who you are, what you believe, and what makes you unique.

Branding on the Web is a tad different from what it is in the print or broadcast media. You don't go to the people-they come to you. If they want to visit your site or receive your email, they do. If not....

Double Click says there are 4 essentials to online effectiveness-Creativity, Targeting, Frequency, and Content. The Market-L discussion group from the Advertising Media Internet Center suggests there are 5 "I" words leading to success. According to them, attention to Information, International, Immediate, Interactive, and Individual are what helps brand you.

Do you make use of them all? If not, perhaps you're not achieving the presence you need to attract candidates.

Establish a strong brand presence on the Internet. Try the following:

• Determine the image you want to communicate. Reflect this image in your sig file. Attach your sig file to every piece of email you send. Be creative, but bear in mind that short, simple, and memorable work.
• Publicize your URL widely. List it on all your communications, both traditional and online. Work on creating reciprocal links with those sites that complement yours.
• Know your audience. Who will they be and where are they? Go to their haunts, be they in cyberspace or real life organizations.
• Participate widely. There are thousands of mailing lists covering almost every subject. Choose a few that reflect your interests. When subjects arise that you know about, offer answers and information-not as a way to impress people with your knowledge, bur rather as a way to demonstrate that you know how the Internet works. It's an exchange of ideas and communication.
• Offer immediacy. Internet users have expectations for the level of service and response from online sources. If you accept resumes via email, set up an autoresponder to acknowledge receipt.
• Offer information. Most people use the Internet to find something. What can you offer for them to find-besides jobs? Consider creating a newsletter.
• Create interactivity. Think about message boards, chat rooms, even simple forms to accept feedback.
• Think international. Not all Internet users are from the US. If you want to attract a diverse following, think about cultural differences in your presentations.
• Consider time frames. How often do you communicate with your sources? Is it just when you need someone? Consider a periodic update you can send to them to keep your name in front of others.

Search Tips

Search Tip: Websitez

Domain Name Searching

Digging the details out of a company's web strategy is getting more complex. As web sophistication increases, the number of domain names owned by a company increases as well. Key players always have a number of domain names that are used for different purposes. Often, the domains paralell the company's divisions and functions.

All domain names are currently kept and tracked by an outfit called Internic. While they control the issuance of domain names, they don't make their registries easy to search. (They do offer a valuable list of other directories.)

If you want to find the domain names owned by your customer (or a company you're recruiting from), you'll want to avail yourself of the services of Websitez. Websitez organizes the Internic database into a searchable database. You can search by company or domain name.

Why is this useful? Take a look at the results of a search of IBM's domain names. At the top level, over 200 domains reference the IBM name. When you look at the IBM section of the results, you'll find over 90 domain names owned by the company. Using the Hotbot domain limiter (available in their "Super Search"), you might look for phone numbers or key skills in each of the domains.

Another use for the tool is to unearth the plans of a competitor or customer. Websitez checks to see whether or not a given domain name has an actual website. If the green check mark doesn't appear next to the domain name, you know that the company has purchased the name for one of two reasons: to protect a trademark or for further expansion. By carefully reviewing the unused domain names, you can get a very solid sense of the competitive direction of the company. Ferreting out key candidates gets "simpler" using Websitez. You'll notice that we said "simpler". Obviously, your search will take more time. But, you will be more certain that you've turned over every possible rock.

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