Make your landing page your hardest-working brand tool

Long, long ago, in a time before landing pages, I used to build brand bibles for my clients. These ‘bibles’ were repositories of everything great and good about their brand, including:

  • The brand essence – A short, pithy statement that captured their unique selling proposition in an elegant, imaginative way,
  • The brand story –  A summary of the sad state of the world prior to their brand, the ‘a-ha’ moment that led to their brand, and the markedly better state of the world now that their brand is in it,
  • The brand word – If possible, a single word that captured the essence of their brand. If not a word, a few words. This was the clever phrase that most often became a tagline,
  • The consumer – The psychographic of the person who loves the brand,
  • The brand visual – A picture that captured the essence of what the brand did better.
  • Brand fans – Testimonials asserting that the brand really was all that and a bag of chips, too.
  • The mission, vision, values – Don’t really have to explain these, do I?

This was all good. But then, I discovered something better for my clients.

The best of your brand on your landing page

Today, having created quite a few landing pages, I’ve discovered they’re more than great tools for converting leads into buyers: they’re beautifully formatted mini-brand bibles.

Now, I know landing pages are terrifically diverse and multi-faceted, but there seems to be a general alignment with brand bibles that is indisputable. So bear with me.

Consider what you see as you scroll down a standard landing page:

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  • Introduce your unique selling proposition in a simple headline,
  • Extrapolate with a few benefit points,
  • Tell the brand, or founder story – preferably in video form,
  • Offer up support points in a downloadable,
  • Testimonials,
  • A few lines on the consumer who will benefit from this product the most,
  • Buy now offer, contact, etc etc.

Hold this template over my brand bible template, and you see the broad strokes similarities.

So let’s cut to the big benefit.

Landing pages: the best brand bibles because…

For a start, they’re quicker to create. Yes, both brand bibles and landing pages require research, brainstorming and craft to ensure they’re strategically on point. But a landing page can be written in a fraction of the time.

Second, they invite improvement. Brand bibles, even the best brand bibles, tended to be static. Landing pages are anything but. We can see exactly where our targets clicked, stuck around, and clicked some more. We can tell if they’re getting the brand message and – more important – if they’re buying it. Landing pages are terrific for turning brand-building into a true team sport, with consumers as your teammates.

Finally, they force you to distil. I personally love the brevity of a landing page. So do consumers. Being fenced in spurs my creativity.

Does your landing page measure up?

If you’re building a landing page to sell your product or service, give it a hard look.

Does it express your brand, or simply churn out generic sales talk? Does it differentiate your offering? Can you close your eyes and visualize the person making the pitch? Does it speak to you as as person?

If not, I’d suggest taking a step back, and adding some of that brand bible magic.

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