Marketers know what a brand is in the physical world: the sum, in the consumer’s mind, of the personality, presence, and performance of a given product or service. These “3 Ps” are also essential on the World Wide Web. In addition, digital brand builders must manage the consumer’s on-line experience of the product, from the first encounter through purchase to delivery and beyond. Digital brand builders should care about the consumer’s on-line experiences for the simple reason that all of them — good, bad, or indifferent — influence consumer perceptions of a brand. To put it differently, on the Web, the “experience” is the brand.
Therefore, it is absolutely essential for the brand managers to enhance the online experience of the consumers as much as possible. With the internet space slowly moving from web 2.0 to 3.0 (which will be about semantic web or the meaning of data, personalization (e.g.
iGoogle), intelligent search and behavioral advertising among other things), this is going to be easier and harder at the same time. Let’s see how.In the ever expanding and interactive digital space, brands are no longer driven just by ideas or ideals, but by a series of exchanges between the brand and the consumer. A first person interaction with the brand is what the consumer experiences. In a way, it is very hard to regulate these experiences owing to the infinite digital space. At the same time, it appears not that hard after all if the marketers understand where to lay their focus upon and regulate them as per the branding objectives.
The three main points of focus of digital branding then should be:
- Design
- Technology
- Marketing
It is when the marketers are able to blend these three points successfully that the digital branding starts to show results. The chief aspects of digital brand building include a well chalked-out digital strategy, activating the brand on web and mobile with effective digital marketing (including social media), web listening, web monitoring and trends consulting. Fundamentally speaking, the starting points would have to be:
- A well designed website – this is the foundation of all things digital
- A mobile friendly version of the website – your company information must be available in various digital assets to increase the visibility of your brand
- Dedicated Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages – the perfect places to engage directly with your consumers
- Search Engine Optimization for the website and the social media pages – to ensure that they get the desired visibility
- A regular evaluation of all the four points mentioned above
The digital space has become an indispensible part of branding. In the coming years, it is going to be one of the biggest media for grabbing consumer attention and building credibility. It is always better for the marketers if they foresee the coming change and chalk-out a well defined digital branding strategy beforehand.
BUILDING BRANDS – DIGITALLY