Eric Ritter Account Associate

 What is branding? Simply put, it is the relationship and experiences that consumers develop with brands. It is all about loyalty.  A brand is an identity, it is what makes a company, product or service recognizable and distinguishes it from its competitors. But a brand is more than a logo, a color palette or a font. A brand has a personality built upon emotional values and associations.

The term Brand originated in the 19th Century when production companies would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels that left the factories.

James Walter Thompson was the first to develop the idea of advertising for brands in the early 1900s.  Now more than 100 years later in the age of media fragmentation, social media and user generated content, the need for consistent and managed branding is greater than ever.

Branding is the reason a Lacoste™ polo shirt costs $80 and a Tommy Hilfiger™ costs $35. It’s the reason that a cup of Starbucks™ coffee costs $5 and a cup of Folger’s™ coffee is 35 ¢.  Starbucks understands the fundamental concept that if they get consumers to buy into their brand and create a high perceived value or emotional connection for that brand, they will not have to compete on price. Their product or service will offer enough value for the consumer to justify the cost. 

This fundamental concept is even more applicable online. Online branding is the process of migrating the offline brand personality to the Web. If done right, your Web site can be the most (cost) effective brand-building tool for your business.

 A Web site and engaging online presence can do a much better job of building relationships than any other form of marketing communication. But what’s effective on the Web?

Here are five tips that help bring success when building your efforts with online branding- taking your customer relationships to new levels:

1) Be True to Your Brand

Don’t use some sort of gimmick to attract visitors, fans on Facebook™, or followers on Twitter™. Don’t develop irrelevant giveaways, games, or desktop backgrounds that have no connection to what your company does or its style. These gimmicks are the same as sales promotions like coupons or discounts: They might cause a spike in traffic but they don’t deepen customer loyalty.

2) Be Engaging and Relevant

Remember that Interactive experiences build relationships. Establish and follow a Brand-Customer Relationship model: a consistent experience with the brand across all touch points.  If you provide a positive experience for users, they’ll do business with you.

Identify and clearly present the information prospects and customers are looking for.  Provide prospects and customers with an experience that rewards them for the time they spend interacting with you online. In addition, make sure your online presence represents the style or personality of your company.

Does your Web site, Facebook page, or Twitter Account reflect this? What makes your company unique? Make sure that you find out and stick to it with the tone you choose and the actions you take.

3) Provide Brand Value through Content

An engaging and relevant Web site along with a social media presence creates branded value for consumers.  Visitors to your Web site and to your social networking profiles want to know how you are going to add value to their professional or personal lives. Does your Web site answer all your visitors’ potential questions? Are you posting relevant original content, information, and links for consumers through your social media presence?

4) Branch out and add Brand-Relevant Sponsored Content

Sponsored content offers something of value that is not directly related to your product or service. Sponsored content creates positive associations with your brand through classic conditioning and gives the opportunity to build brand awareness.

 A classic example is Miller Brewing Company that turned its long-term Super Bowl sponsorship into a sponsored-content relationship by creating a site in conjunction with ESPN, called Superbowl.com. While the site featured information on the Super Bowl, it is full of Miller’s brand imagery. The result was 8 million unique visitors in a single month vs. the fewer than 250,000 visitors Miller received at its own Web site.

This tip can also work on a small scale by creating display ads on Web site or content channel related to your brand. Search Engine Marketing falls under this category.  Best practices include ensuring that your site pops up at the top when someone searches for your brand name or for related keywords.  You don’t want competitors poaching potential clicks to your website by appearing above you in search results by placing ads in the sponsored links above you.  Additionally you want to make sure that your brand pops up when a search related to your products and services takes place.

5) Use the Real World to Enhance Your Online Brand

As simple as it sounds, offline & online branding use the real world to build online brands. Companies too often forget to include a simple call –to-action to offline communication to drive traffic to its online properties. Beauty product multi-channel marketer Burt’s Bee recently reported that it is generating more sales through its Web site than retail stores. Still, a major driver of online sales was the inclusion of its Web site URL on its products.

Offline & online branding does not require a huge ad budget. Consider adding links to your site or social media profiles to your email signature, business cards, or any traditional advertising efforts. Or use a low-cost guerrilla advertising tactics to point people to your site and enhance their understanding of your brand.

Effective online branding does not require big budgets, just an understanding of what online brand best practices are. By making every Web interaction brand-relevant and providing your customers with brand-based value, you will increase the depth and loyalty of your customers in the long run.

Let our Bayshore Solutions’ team show you how to get a ROI in the short-term while building a strong and consistent brand for the long-term.