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Bhopu / Tags /
Online Branding
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Posted On
Jun 26, 2008
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Day before yesterday while watching TV, I noticed the LG Scarlet ad that was broadcast in between the Euro 2008 Quarter final match. It was wonderfully done and left me gaping at it. Next morning when I was checking my mails on I saw the same ad in a banner presentation on the website. I couldn’t stop myself from clicking it. After watching it few times I started thinking - is the period of TV and Print ads over? Or aren’t they enough that corporate houses are looking for new media?
Recall Paul Legutko's discussion:
"......, but simply the fact that someone is staring at your company logo and creative for a certain period of time. This has an inherent branding value, and "branding" is something both marketers and management understand......high-volume sites can have significant brand-equity."
The advent of Web 2.0 has changed the norms the way business was done few years back. The competition now has become more intense and the battlefield spans over from offline to online marketing, from television ads to banners and buttons, from hoardings to pop-outs and so on.
Not adapting to these changes implies that your organization is losing a valuable share of prospective customers. Hindustan Unilever Limited (India) which was quick to catch the bus and started “Gang of Girls” to brand and promote its shampoo “Sunsilk” .Now it boasts of an impressive 40219 gangs with 668815 registrations (till 21st June 2008). Read More 
Building brand marketing online is somewhat similar when compared with offline marketing, but Internet provides special opportunities and challenges to build up brand Internet marketing online. So let’s begin with the work of making your brand talk or simply strengthening the presence of your brand online.
What and Why
Brand in simple terms is like an identity of a company/organization/product. It can be a punch line, music, logo or design. In other words it is symbolic embodiment of the information related to a company/product/organization/service. The brand name has to be simple and easy to remember. When you look at three stripes in white placed in a triangular pattern, you are quick to identify it with ADIDAS. This is what branding is all about. You see you recognize. Online branding requires more attention and detailing as even small companies and firms are there to establish themselves. Brand online marketing will help you to make a distinction between leaders and other larger basket of brands. The top 100 advertisers in the U.S., who represent 41 percent of total advertising spending, shifted about $1 billion last year from TV and newspapers to the Web. An analysis from Ad Age shows that overall media spending in “measured” categories (TV, print, radio, Web) by the top 100 advertisers was flat in 2007, with 0.3 percent growth to $61.3 billion. But spending on Web display ads rose 33 percent to $4.2 billion. [Source: CrunchBase/Ad Age]
Where The medium is certainly an important issue to be considered in brand Internet marketing online. Domain name, E-Commerce storefront, logo, etc are some of the best branding medium online. Of late new dimensions have been added that are not only very user friendly but also are drawing more number of surfers- Social media Websites, Wikis, Blogs etc.
How After the primary duties have been performed, everything now boils down to how. So your strategy and execution has to be on target, or else nothing commendable would be achieved even after moving heaven and earth.
- Showcase your Brand
Don’t use flashy graphics and loud slogans. Instead try to convey the public what your brand is all about. Check it if your brand stands to its promises really or not. View it through the eyes of a new customer.
- Visual Elements
The visual elements should be in sync with your brand identity and easily recognizable. Words are critical but the importance of your online brand’s site is more. Therefore the web design and layout should be coherent with the product identity. Take for example, the appearance of a site dealing with paintings will have artistic fonts and borders, while a site promoting sportswear will be flashy with bold fonts as it targets the youth.
- Voice and Image
It has been medically proven that audio visual presentations have greater impact on our behaviour with better retentivity. With YouTube and podcasting, it’s become easier than ever to promote your company with multimedia. Do some research into your target audience and find out what kind of audio and video perform will work well. Once you have an idea of what could work for you, start creating and distributing your own content. You'd be surprised at how a few entertaining videos on YouTube or another video-sharing site can boost your publicity.
- One Stop Shop
Just posting some profiles and catalogs of your brand products will not help you much unless you assure your prospective customer as a major player with ample resources in the respective field. Further you need to ascertain that yours is a one stop destination and the customer will not have to wander here and there in case he is dissatisfied with the service/brand product.
- Performance
The website should be easily navigable and should lead the visitors to what your online brands perform rather than to what it is. Use hyperlinks to help the visitors.
- Message consistency
Whether you're going online or offline for your marketing and advertising, the message you send should be consistent across all your materials and platforms. If you have mixed messages, you'll risk alienating the customers you have and won't be able to convert potential clients.
- Information
Help the visitors with some useful brand related information and speak to your customers in a conversational tone. Do make use of two scrolling screens if needed to deliver the exact information. The words you use play a major role in your Internet brand enhancement. Handle the texts or words in a proper way in your brand identity online.
- Information Dissemination.
Having a brand centered website is a great thing for the business but since you would be requiring a lot of public support, it is advisable to keep them informed about new developments in your company thorough emails and other means.
- Social media
Sites like Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace are few of the numerous social media websites featuring discussion forums, communities etc. Try involving them by joining these and writing relevant articles and replying to various posts as often as you can. Don't just join all these media sites, participate proactively, start thought-provoking discussions in forums. Find a good niche and stick with it. Become a member of the community, and the community will see you that way. If people are intrigued by what you have to say, then they'll be searching your profile for more information.
- Use your website URL on all your marketing materials
Your offline marketing efforts should include your website URL information on brochures, banner ads, business cards, stationery etc. URLs should be easy to remember and easy to visit. If somebody wants to get a better idea of what your company's about, they should be able to tell with a five-second visit to your site.
- Keep your website updated
Keeping your website updated is one of the most important factors that will determine the success of your branding exercise. If the site hasn’t been updated, it will create an impression of a company that is running out of steam or it’s even out of the business.
- Press Releases
Press releases can even show up in Google News or Yahoo News if you use the right distribution service. Contact local or industry reporters to expand the reach of your news through traditional and online media outlets as well. Include the name of your URL in all such activities.
So everything is over? Wait. Last but not the least- just take this simple question. How does it feel when a sales person approaches you in the middle of something? If I am not wrong then you must be annoyed. In the same way while projecting your brand online prevent yourself from raising the sales pitch. The internet presents a plethora of opportunities if used creatively and in an innovative manner. Hope the above tips will help you in creating an indelible image for your brand and garnering more revenues for you. |
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