Building Brands Online
Now that is something, I see very few digital marketers doing – Building Brands Online. Digital Advertising (Mobile + Internet) is mostly being used as a sales channel, with ROI driven media and search campaigns. I do understand that we get the most extensive tracking and targeting available with digital marketing, but using it 90% of the time to deliver a lead or sale is something that’s beyond me.
We all pass billboards, watch tv, read the paper or listen to radio. The communication on these mediums does create recall and also places some promotions into our head. But when it comes to internet or mobile advertising we only talk the sales language or define success in terms of ctr.
Do advertisers or marketers ask, hey how many people bought the product after seeing that television commercial or hoarding? - NO. But when it comes to online, its all about driving sales and leads.
Leads, Sale, CTR, Clicks… etc. These are the heavy duty words used by most digital marketers at the client as well as agency side, without bothering to understand the medium. They do not understand the push that a brand receives by campaigning online. The user experience it can create and how engaging it can be to it’s audiences.
Many of my clients would like to use it just for driving up sales, and spend their branding monies with offline/mainline advertising. But I do have two wonderful clients who truly understand the leverage and opportunity online campaigns provide, they realize the push a brand receives by engaging their audiences and connecting with them.
So what do you think about advertising on mobile and internet? Is it only about leads and sales?
2:48 pm on September 5th, 2008
It does makes sense :)
Can I slightly contradict here: how many brands have been positioned using Internet only (don’t click and mortar companies.)
Are there many companies which have been very successful in branding themselves or their products using the Internet?
What are the consumer paradigms when it comes to branding? and then ask branding online?
In the number driven cut throat economy branding is nothing more than a buzzword. Let’s face it: branding is a means to establish a sales channel later.
Paris Hilton brands herself to sell herself. I and you brand ourselves to sell ourselves via blogs.
Once we’ve these answers I think you and me probably have the smarts enough to figure out an effective branding strategy and sell it to our respective clients. Even then branding will continue to be driven by several success metrics which quite frankly is sales/ ROI :)