Branding is part of marketing.
SEO is part of marketing.
But branding and SEO aren't the same thing.
A common issue I see—at all levels, in companies of all sizes—is a resistance to trying new SEO techniques and keywords because it doesn't match the existing brand language.
I 100% understand where this hesitation and fear is coming from. As a business owner or company marketer, you're married to your brand. Sometimes the brand is you. The idea of using terminology other than what's in your brand guidelines can feel jarring.
The thing is, though, you have to think about the words you use in your SEO strategy differently than the words you use to describe their brand. They're cousins, not identical twins.
How SEO and branding work together
There's a good chance that your brand terminology involves:
- Unique product and service names that you came up with to differentiate what you sell
- In-the-know or technical terms that someone already familiar with your industry would use
- Proprietary or copyrighted phrases and terms
All of these things are important. Having a strong brand, right down to the tone of voice and terms you use, is an essential part of standing out from the competition. But if someone isn't in your industry already, or they've never encountered your products and services before, they don't know to use your brand terms.
There was a period of time ten or so years ago where companies really liked giving their employees "unique" job titles. Internally, they'd call someone whose job was, say, sales, a "relationship regenerating rockstar." And then they'd put this exact job title on a public job post and wonder why the right people weren't applying.
The reason was because experience salespeople didn't search for "relationship regenerating rockstar" jobs. They were searching for things like "sales account management midwest."
The same thing is happening these days with SEO and brands. Companies will want to:
- Only use branded product names because using more generic descriptive terms feels boring or off brand
- Use a complex term that they feel signals their employees' deep understanding of an industry
The issue, though, is that the potential customers searching for the products and services these companies are selling don't know what the preferred company terms are. They're using more generic phrases.
Just as how salespeople weren't searching for "relationship regenerating rockstar" jobs, business owners aren't searching for "weaver of heartfelt communications" (i.e. email copywriting) or "visual facelifts for code" (i.e. web design). They're searching for the basic thing they need: email, writing, website, design.
You can think of your SEO as the terms and phrases that bring people in the door. And once they're inside that door, you offer them more information about where they are—via your brand. Using our slightly silly examples above, this could look like:
The email copywriter:
- Publishes blog posts about common email copy mistakes using terms like "messaging," "brand", and "poor delivery."
- Enhances those posts with statements about (and links to landing pages featuring) their heartfelt approach to email storytelling that aligns with brand messaging and encourages better open rates.
The web designer:
- Clearly states across their landing pages that they do web design on Squarespace and WordPress.
- Labels their downloadable, DIY website themes as, well, "Squarespace themes" and "WordPress themes."
- Writes an about page and blog posts that talk about their "visual facelift" approach to updating websites for cosmetics brands—while still working in terms like Squarespace, WordPress, and web development.
If you only use your brand terms, you miss out on the chance to bring in new visitors to your website. And if you never use brand terms, you won't stand out from the competition. It's a real balancing act. But it doesn't have to be hard. You just need to have a good process in place.
ABS: Audience, Brand, SEO
To do digital marketing correctly, and effectively, you need ABS: audience, brand, and SEO. In that order.
Audience
The first step in both effective SEO and building brand awareness is the same: know your audience. You have to know not just what you're selling, but who you're selling it to—and why this target audience wants what you've got to offer.
If you don't know who your audience is, or you're just guessing at what your audience might want, you're going to miss the mark on SEO and brand. And therefore all of your marketing, more or less.
Brand
The next step is to determine what you want people to associate with your brand. What kind of brand recognition do you have right now, and what would you like it to be?
Of course, you'll want people to know your company name. But what kinds of facts, feelings, or promises are you going to draw on in order to convince someone to buy your product or service? You're going to want to have a set of guidelines—including how you'll speak about or as your brand—that everyone on your team can follow. This will keep your brand consistent whether you're appearing in a Google search or on social media.
SEO
A lot of people stop after "brand." They know their audience and how they, the company, speak about products and services. But you need to go one step further and evaluate how your target audience is talking about—and searching for help with—specific needs or problems.
Eventually, as your brand grows in popularity, you'll get traffic to your website through branded searches. These are searches and keywords that directly use your brand or product name. But until that point (and, to be honest, even beyond it) you need to:
- Know what your audience needs
- Understand how people searching describe their needs
- Recognize what terms and phrases your target audience tends to use
It's okay if the terms that your audience is using aren't one-to-one the same with your brand, product, or service. This just means you have a chance to enter a new segment of the market and educate them further.
Flipping a keyword to create opportunity
If you find that your customers are searching for the wrong thing—as in, they think they want ABC, but actually XYZ is the solution, the best thing you can do for SEO and increasing brand awareness is to "flip" the keyword.
Let's say you have a list of five terms related to your brand that you'd like to create content on. But when you check the search volume on those terms, it's all rather low. After doing some research, you discover that your target audience is largely searching for an older version of the technology or solution you offer...because they don't know you have a better product.
What you'll do in this case is to create high quality content about those older terms and topics. But instead of actually selling that older thing, or talking about it at length, you'll use the content as a chance to educate your audience on why the newer option, your option, is best. Here's a rough example:
- You sell a product that clings to iPads and is easily removable, but nobody is searching for removable iPad screen protector (yet).
- You find that your target buyer is searching for "stick on iPad screen protector" or even "[competitor name] iPad protector."
- You then create content with titles like "7 [competitor] alternatives for your new iPad" or "How stick on iPad screen protectors damage your device."
- You provide exactly what is promised in the title, but also use the content as a chance to position your product as the better alternative.
This process applies to all kinds of businesses, including B2B services. People don't know what they don't know—you need to use their language to meet them where they are in search. Then bring in your brand to educate your audience and grow your conversion rates.