In this article, I would like to share on the importance of branding in doing your selling on eBay.

I’ve found a lot of sellers on eBay are only focused on selling and do not have any emphasis on the importance of branding in their online business.

Why is branding important?

Branding is important because you want to differentiate yourself from other regular sellers so that you can easily capture your visitor’s interest in purchasing from you. A seller with his or her own style and way will help their visitors to remember them and will indirectly increase the visitor’s confidence in purchasing from that particular seller compared to other regular sellers that are selling the same item.

Branding will directly give the impression to your visitors that you are an expert in your field and will give the feeling that you are a seller who knows his or her market very well.

The question is what are the ways that you can do to increase the branding for your business on eBay?

Here is the list of a few simple things that you can do to improve the branding for your business:

1. User ID – If you are just starting out on eBay, the best thing to do is to choose a User ID that is relevan and appropriate to what you will be selling. As an example, if you will be selling sports shoes, you can choose the User ID SportShoes4U. Your visitors will easily remember you if you are using a User ID that is related to what you are selling.

2. Header – If you have your own eBay Store on eBay, you will have the opportunity to upload your own Header for your store. The header that you use should be something that gives a clear picture of what you are selling and not something that has absolutely no relation to what you are selling. For my earlier example, if you are selling sports shoes, your header should have attractive images of sport shoes. By using an appropriate header, you will give the impression that your online store is an elite store with high quality items. This will definitely encourage visitors to purchase from you compared to other sellers.

3. Color – Another simple branding strategy is by using a consistent color for your whole business. If you want to use the color red as the main color for your business, then you should use the color in all your display and promotion. You should use the color red in your header, in your online store and also in all other promotion strategies that you have for your customers.

There are various other branding strategies that you can do. However, what I have shared here is among the simplest things that you can do to increase your branding.

Do ensure that you use branding strategies for your business in order to increase your reputation and to distance yourself from other regular sellers. You will definitely reap the rewards from it in the long run.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

When I was coming up as a young corporate manager in the 1980s, my colleagues and I heard a lot about “dressing for success” and the importance of professional image. Creating a power persona, we were told, was crucial to a successful career (especially for women), and so we read books and magazine articles, we watched Oprah guests, listened to image consultants, and learned some valuable guidelines on how to look professional and powerful.

But twenty years later, image has evolved into a broader, more strategic concept known as personal branding. Where image was primarily about the outer shell, brand goes to the core of who we are — our competence, talent, character, and personality.

“And why should I be concerned about brand?” you ask. “I’m one employee in a big company, I don’t even have a brand.”

Ah, but you do! Think about people you know and work with. I’ll bet that in five seconds you can name someone who is grouchy, friendly, helpful, funny, flakey, or sloppy. (The Seven Dwarfs were well branded come to think of it!) And you can be sure people have some adjectives to describe you as well. Such words create your distinct brand, and more often than not you have no idea what your real brand is.

What makes your brand important, is that it can have a tremendous influence on where you go in your life… if you meet your goals… even if your dreams come true.

– Will your Real Brand Please Stand Up

Like it or not – each of us already has a brand. It may, or may not be positive; it may, or may not paint the perception we want others to have of us, it may or may not be accurate… but it is there none the less. It is the top-of-mind impression others have when our name is mentioned, and if we haven’t been carefully designing and maintaining it, it has possibly evolved into something that doesn’t represent us well.

The poet Robert Burns said, “O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.” Accurately seeing ourselves as others see us is one of life’s big challenges. And we often manufacture a picture of who we think we are, and frequently miss the mark. Like the children’s story, the Emperor’s New Clothes, it’s obvious to everyone but us.

So we try to be real, but often “put on” a personality in order to be accepted into a particular social or professional group. We make an attempt to fit in through external wrappers (wardrobe, jewelry, style), social behaviors (outlandish, reticent, cynical, etc).

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com