Brand Marketing

Does your brand stand out for what it stands for?

The rise and rise of on line spend and the counterbalancing decline in offline ‘traditional’ media creates as much of a dilemma as it does an opportunity.So many things are changing can you be sure…that your brand stands out for what it stands for?

The IAB says that in the first half of 2009 UK internet advertising accounted for 24% of ALL ad spending ( up from 18.7 % in 2008) whilst TV was 22%  Press – 18.5% and Direct Mail -  11.5%. This is the first time digital ad spend has overtaken the other channels anywhere in the world. And off that online spend paid for search (PPC) accounts for 60%.

Now this is being driven by a number of factors accountability, apparent ease and accessibility to the process and that ever growing usage of online by a broadband enhanced populous.

Just look at the chart to see how much it has grown across the country and through all strata of the population.

Yet many still  adhere to the ‘menu across the top –  fill every space’ format for their web site and a time when we  are being shown that in reality online TV is here with BBC iPlayer making the unmissable unmissable ( I just love the slogan as near perfect as you can be). Indeed this very weekend the ENGLAND v UKRAINE football match is ONLY available on line.

So time to really evaluate what your web site is! No longer should it be what you do when you have done everything else!

In fact it is time to really re-appraise all of marketing activity

So two major questions are raised how to plan and what happens to the brand. Let’s look at them individually in a little more detail.  (This is a big subject that I will return to, I’m sure.)

No 1 What is the optimum mix of spending to be most cost effective?

This fast evolution of  fast  online speeds coupled with faster  computers means brilliant images, greater capacity and quick access.

So time to see everything as starting digitally because now in effect it does anyway and that the web site now becomes Marketing Central and that everything emanates from it. The web site  must now become MARKETING CENTRAL. Then time to re-evaluate you marketing messages, target customers and appropriate media. Only by fully understanding this will you be able to plan YOUR marketing most effectively. A simple example search advertising only works well when the thing being searched for is known, axiomatic you might say but problematic if you want to launch a new product.

No 2 How do I maintain my Brand and it’s effectiveness on line?

All the attributes of a brand with its appearance and logo but more importantly the values that support and build it come under pressure on line. Google is the only brand it allows on its search pages and then it constrains even further by making all adds conform to the

same number of digits.

Whilst web developers everywhere insist on basically the same type faces and using old fashioned static  logos design for print ( although if you would believe Kellogg each one is handwritten but then you would have to ask at least Ford and Coke too!

I highlight these as world famous iconic brands with so much behind them yet each in their own way recognise that the brand itself needs substantiating and supporting.  Just how much do you understand your brand, what it stands for… what is actually behind the logo itself? Because the logo maybe all that will be there to differentiate and substantiate your offering. Even then it will be reduced to its smallest form – the icon.

So it is time to look more closely and thoroughly at your brand;-

As the more it appears on line the more its will be starved of all the things it needs to grow. Reduced to series of images and logical copy the brand is in danger of just becoming simply a symbol in and off  itself.

So what does your brand stand for? Make sure you know and that your customers know. Then work harder, much harder….

Making your brand stand out for what it stands for….