Corporate Branding in a New Media Era
By Gregory Smyth
Technology has become an integral part of the way we shop -- eBay and Amazon are now household names the world over. Before we buy anything, we Google it, and there are more shopping comparison websites on the net than you can poke a stick at. Technology must also become an integral part of how companies advertise to their customers, if companies are to survive and prosper in a new media era. You need to be able to recognize new ways to connect with your customers, use your creativity in your web marketing strategy and make sure your content works with your brand for search engine ranking optimization to obtain conversion rates. There also needs to be a focus on business to business partnerships and opportunities. We look at what it means to understand and build your brand in the new media era of internet marketing.
Building an online brand for web marketing strategies is impossible without going through all of the old, non-technological brand-building checkpoints. Your brand needs a vision -- a long-term goal that is realistic yet sets lofty aspirations, and puts you in enough of a niche market for success to be possible. You need to know your company's values so that you can use them in internet marketing campaigns, viral marketing campaigns and in your search engine ranking optimization efforts. You need to know both the benefits and drawbacks of your product -- not every product is suitable for everyone no matter how universal an internet marketing service can make it seem! You need to ensure those benefits have a positive effect on your customer's emotions -- in other words, directing your internet marketing efforts to health, wealth, relationships and sex.
However, one of the most essential brand building activities is to consider how you can deliver on your brand promises. If your internet marketing services push your customer service expertise as one of your brand's strong points, but customers consistently wait longer than 120 minutes on hold, only to find unhelpful staff, your organization will not only lose your customers, but destroy trust in your brand -- the sort of viral marketing you can certainly do without.
Affiliate marketing networks are a great way to build a brand, continue link building activities, enhance your search engine optimization services, and generally benefit your web marketing strategy. They are a much cheaper form of PPC advertising and also build goodwill with your affiliates. If your company doesn't already have a blog, you should start one. Either hire a blog writer that can express your voice naturally, or have a senior employee write it -- regular content is great for search engine ranking optimization and relevant, useful content helps you better connect with your customers.
Email is also a free and effective internet marketing and brand building tool. Ensuring your brand is present on your email signature (and, firstly, using an email signature) is one easy way to apply brand consistency. Email newsletters are another viral marketing and regular internet marketing technique that have the indirect benefit of brand building in addition to promoting services and products.