Need branding ideas? Don’t overlook the obvious!

by Neil Patel on August 6, 2007

branding

Some of the most creative ways you can brand yourself are obvious ones and sometimes they get overlooked because of that. Many of us are forgetting them (including me) because we’re constantly looking for and thinking of other ways to brand however sometimes the tactics that are right in front of us are the best ones.

One of these dead simple methods of personal branding comes from Noah Kagan’s playbook where he emails every single person that leaves a comment on his blog. It’s not an easy thing to do which is why you probably don’t do it, but the benefits of it are tremendous:

  1. You create a personal relationship with your readers.
  2. Your readers will be pleased that you took the time to thank them so the chances are they will be coming back.
  3. Emailing each commenter will create more buzz about you, which means more people will know your name and what you do.

If you want to take it one step further when emailing these individuals or anyone for that matter, you should take a page out of Guy Kawasaki’s playbook by creating a snazzy email signature such as this one:

Neil Patel (Internet marketing consultant)
acsseo.com (my boss)
quicksprout.com (my blog)

(562) 292-3834 home (best way to reach me)
neil@pronetadvertising.com (I get way too many emails)
(888) 227-3913 office (you’ll never reach me here)
(714) 516-8286 fax (what’s a fax?)

Email signatures are pretty common which is why most people end up ignoring them. However, if you can make your signature a bit humorous as well as represent what you do then you can make it stand out. All you have to do is come up with a creative signature that represents you well and if you can’t come up with one, just steal mine.

If you have a blog and some spare time you may want to consider emailing every person that leaves a comment on your blog. It’s simple, easy, obvious, and it will help you build your personal brand one straw at a time.

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

noah kagan August 6, 2007 at 11:01 AM

Noah = flattered

Don’t forget commenting any/every post that says nice things about you:)

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Tanner Chrisetnsen August 6, 2007 at 11:39 AM

Great advice Neil. I would even dare to take it a step further and e-mail everyone who says something about me period.

For anyone who’s interested in finding out what people are saying, try Serph, a project Neil’s company runs that allows you to find the latest “buzz” about something on the web.

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Neil Patel August 6, 2007 at 12:23 PM

Thanks for the plug. ;)

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Michael Martine August 6, 2007 at 12:28 PM

I have been emailing commentators somewhat sporadically, so the idea of emailing ALL of them is a great kick in the pants to boost contact. As you say, simple. Great idea, I’m off to write some emails…

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Glen Allsopp August 6, 2007 at 12:43 PM

Theres a plugin to do this for wordpress ;)

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Neil Patel August 6, 2007 at 1:05 PM

Do you mind sharing the plugin… :)

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Ken Savage August 7, 2007 at 5:36 AM

I don’t mind… it’s the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin:

http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do/

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ram August 19, 2007 at 9:43 AM

This plugin will send an email to the first time commentator of your blog. you can customize the message.

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ram August 19, 2007 at 9:43 AM
Paul Bradish August 22, 2007 at 4:41 AM

Comment Relish is an excellent plugin that is certainly part of my “must use” folder when setting up new blogs.

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Sushant Shankar August 6, 2007 at 1:42 PM

Great idea and great post!

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Dan Schawbel August 6, 2007 at 4:47 PM

It is always the little things that matter most and that people remember. I like the tactic of emailing your commentors, but as your site scales it’s quite hard to manage.

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Neil Patel August 6, 2007 at 7:52 PM

That’s why I love the idea of a plugin that can email each first time commenter. The only problem is, I would want each email to be personal and not a generic.

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Mark Mathson August 6, 2007 at 10:47 PM

A valid point indeed. The idea of emailing a commenter or reader is great! What a way to increase participation and encourage future visits back to the site and future commenting.

It could, of course be overwhelming for someone to email every commenter, especially sites with much traffic. A system could be devised, such as emailing randomly to various commenters. If a post has 25 comments, consider emailing 5 people. (Assuming the 25 comments come from at least 5 different people).

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Andre Nosalsky August 6, 2007 at 11:38 PM

Nice post!!! Check out this plugin also:
http://www.u-g-h.com/?page_id=320

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Vikram Rajan August 7, 2007 at 5:01 AM

I have picked up this habit from others e-mailing me based on my comments!

~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com

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Scot Smith August 8, 2007 at 8:07 PM

I use Comment Relish plugin by Justin Shattuck. Seems to be the best plugin for e-mailing first time commentors that I have ever used. Loads of variables that cover everything you can imagine.

– Scot

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ravi karandeekar August 9, 2007 at 10:08 AM

Yes! It feels great when you receive a email from the blogger. Generally, i visit him often.

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Online Community Building August 12, 2007 at 9:10 AM

I am also a fan of the Comment Relish plugin – you can include variables such as the author’s name to make it a little more personal.

Of course, nothing beats a hand-written email but this is just so much easier!

- Martin Reed

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farida September 4, 2007 at 12:40 PM

fantastic and well written post. I agree branding is key to having a successful blog.

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Heartburn Home Remedy April 15, 2009 at 4:02 AM

If you want to hear a reader’s feedback :) , I rate this article for 4/5. Decent info, but I have to go to that damn yahoo to find the missed parts. Thanks, anyway!

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Neil Patel April 15, 2009 at 12:09 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, the article could have been much more detailed.

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ZQ | Travel Blog August 9, 2009 at 7:35 AM

Hi Neil

Thanks for this article! I was trying to figure out a good way on how to leverage a wordpress plugin that sends emails to all those who comment on my blog – now i can use your witty email signature ideas.

ZQ

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