Jan
15
As a blogger, what are you known for? Can people say, “Oh, him? He’s the ______ guy.”
The word trademark has a specific legal definition, where a company’s phrase and/or image is legally protected from being used by others, but it also means something that identifies you in a more general sense. Here are some examples:
- Seth Godin‘s blogging trademark is his frequent, short, pithy posts
- Tom Peter‘s blogging trademark is his long, involved, passionate rants against sloppy and ineffective business practices
- Naomi Dunford‘s blogging trademark is her sharp wit, sharper tongue, and dirty mouth
- Maki‘s blogging trademark is the cute anime pictures he uses in his posts
- Shoemoney‘s blogging trademark is his “regular guy” keepin’-it-real writing style
Those examples are just a few, but here’s how powerful this is: I was able to think up that list in only a couple minutes with almost no “digging” or effort to identify each one’s blogging trademark.
I know, I know: you’ve heard this before. Unique selling proposition, unique value proposition, personal brand, whatever. Fine. So… what’s your answer?
You know why I’m writing about this? Because I personally feel haunted by this. When I ask myself this question… I don’t have much of an answer. I’m not putting myself on a pedestal, here, and acting like I know everything. I need to work on this myself. But I think we all do, so I’m “blogging out loud” about it.
It’s hard to be known for one thing that really sticks in people’s minds. For example, Maki’s writing is very in-depth and informative. If the anime pictures weren’t such a strong and unique differentiator, his trademark might be more about his writing style (and maybe he wishes it was).
And sometimes, I think we’re too close to ourselves to see ourselves objectively enough. We often can’t see in ourselves what other people easily see in us.
So, for the millionth time, because if we still don’t know we’d better keep trying: what’s your blogging trademark?
photo by greefus groinks under CC license
Popularity: 9% [?]
Maki sure has the ‘anime in each blog post’ trademark down for sure
I’m not exactly sure what mine would be, but “making fun of everyone” or “anti-guru guru” or just “internet marketing sucks” would fit pretty well.
eerrr….um…good question…hmmm…I guess only my readers could answer that one
Branding is extremely important to me and, as such, I’ve asked myself such questions before launching and the answers are an important part of the business model. Having a blog which stands out is definitely a must:
He’s the guy who never hides affiliate links
He’s the guy who has hit the Digg frontpage on the very day of the launch
He’s the guy who has been averaging over 1k daily unique visits right from the start
He’s the guy with the free 200-page ebook
He’s the guy with the “123 ways to” article series
He’s the guy with the “10 days to building a profitable website” series
He’s the guy with the podcasts which complement each other: one where he provides moneymaking tips and one where he answers his reader’s questions
He’s the guy with the great podcast intro songs
As time passes, the list will grow even more and, all in all, it all boils down to answering the following question: “Ok, I’ve visited your blog, why should I come back?”
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
Trademark is important if you want to get better promotion. If you have unique topics, I’m sure your blog will stick in the mind of your readers. more readers will watch for your blog everyday.
Good point! The way you described trademark for a blog is like its writer’s writing style, with words or with images or videos. I guess with some writing experience, the writer’s default style emerges. Then is the time to give some personality to the writing and to the blog. I need to think in this direction as well.
I’m the “sharp wit, sharper tongue, and dirty mouth” guy. Oh, wait. That one’s taken. Never mind.
Thanks Michael. You rock the kasbah. (Does anyone even really know what a kasbah is? And can you really rock it?)
I don’t know what others might think of me, for example what is the tone of my writings or the style of my blog. However, I have my own aim in becoming what I want others to say about me. Knowing what “trademark” that I should have surely will help my readers define me the way I want.
However, I guess we should sometimes ask some of our close readers what they think of us and our blogs (honest opinions) since something that is good in our eyes might not be good in the eyes of our blog readers.
He’s the guy who’s always “extracting the urine”
(oh, and using euphemisms like extracting the urine)
db
Branding is really important in blogging so people in a second can recognise your blog.
i’m likewise stumped by what my blog’s trademark is… i guess i’m like jamaipanese… i’ll just let my readers answer that question
but if i were to choose what my trademark is, i would definitely want it to be related to my content and not be remembered because of my blog’s design or writing style (i’m not saying that those are bad things)
i want to be remembered as “hey, that’s the blog where i first read about this news, he’s always updated”… or “that’s the blog where i first learned about this topic, he knows a lot about that subject”
great post… really made me pause and think… thanks!