Brand-Building has been paramount to business success for centuries now, and subconsciously we are all subjected to thousands of brand exposures every day (Story, 2007). But what is ‘brand-building’? It is a process of creating value to customers (Powell, 2016). It can be argued that brand-building can help a business establish itself in a sector. Goodson (2012) stated “No branding, no differentiation. No differentiation, no long-term profitability.”, and by communicating your business’ unique selling point – or what makes it different – through branding, then you can subsequently achieve establishment. Being unique and established is particularly crucial in a highly saturated market – like the restaurant industry.

“Branding is fundamental. Branding is basic. Branding is essential. Building brands builds incredible value for companies and corporations.” – Goodson

Why digital marketing can achieve brand-building

Keller (2009, p151) believes that digital marketing offers many ways of addressing brand-building, and in order to communicate effectively with consumers you have to go where they are, and that is online (p147). Keller also proposed the ‘Customer-Based Brand Equity Model’ (p144), which sets out the pyramid of stages, or “building blocks”. As you can see in the model blow, there are four levels of brand development, with corresponding branding objectives at each stage, and Keller suggests utilising the following digital marketing techniques to achieve these objectives: (1) Websites; (2) Microsites; (3) Search ads; (4) Display ads; (5) Interstitials; (6) Internet-specific ads and videos; (7) Sponsorships; (8) Alliances; (9) On-line communities; (10) E-mail; and (11) Mobile marketing.

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model (Keller, 2009)

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model (Keller, 2009)

Powell (2016) provides a useful guide to give a general overview of how to build a brand here. The five steps she suggests are:

  • Define your brand
  • Differentiate and position your brand
  • Build and expose your brand
  • Personalise your brand
  • Review your brand.

However, Wightman (2011) believes branding should be at the centre of digital marketing. Arguing that social media is a great environment to encourage a brand relationship for customers. He states that “a brand is brought to life online through content, copy, tone, user experience, fulfilment, how it engages with its audience through social media”. Wightman sets out the good practices in digital brand building here. However, a simple two-way dialogue with customers via twitter can provide the brand-building Wightman discusses, 36% of people had used a social media platform to contact a big company and 65% said it was a better way than call centres to get in touch with companies (Wallis, 2014). Due to the public space that Twitter provides, a complaint about a company can be seen by thousands of people, and hence it is important as a business to react quickly to these public complaints and decipher a solution to divert a bad reputation (Wallis, 2014).

Social Media Amplifies Everything

One of the many 'memes' that followed Dell's bad press

One of the many ‘memes’ that followed Dell’s bad press

This is more of a cautionary tale, but you can use this knowledge to your advantage. Barwise & Meehan (2010) highlight the internet-fuelled backlash against brands – like Dell’s flammable laptops.Their bad reputation was magnified due to the news of Dell batteries catching alight spreading across the internet, ironically like wildfire. That being said, companies which consistently deliver the value they promise will in turn benefit tremendously when social media amplifies their good reputation.

 

“It has always been risky for companies to disappoint customers, at least over the long term. But today, the scale and speed of social media can make falling short instantly painful.” – Barwise & Meehan

Wallis (2014) sets out examples of brands that have utilised their Twitter presence to overcome heavy criticism – often with quick wit. Argos achieved wide-recognition for their “legendary” response to a customer, taking away from the fact that they weren’t able to provide the service the customer actually wanted.

Argos "proper mugging him off"

Argos “proper mugging him off”

Useful Guides for Digital Brand-Building:

Andrew McCrea (2015) breaks down the major elements that make-up a brand proposition and describes how online considerations and experiences need to be central to how the brand delivers its promises.

Kristi Hines (2011) suggests how to use different social media platforms (namely, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to engage customers, as well as useful examples of good and consistent social media presences.

References

Barwise, P. & Meehan, S. (2010) ‘The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88. No. 12, p80-84

Goodson, S. (2012) ‘Why Brand-Building is Important’, Forbes, 27th May 2012 [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/05/27/why-brand-building-is-important/2/#4fc999e77519> [accessed 5 February 2016]

Hines, K. (2011) ‘The Ultimate Guide to Online Branding and Branding Authority Part II – Social Media’, Kissmetrics, 11th October 2011 [Online] <https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-online-branding-2/> [accessed 8 May 2016]

Keller, K. L. (2009) ‘Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment’, Journal of marketing communications, Vol. 15, No. 2-3, p139-155

McCrea, A. (2015) ‘Online branding: a digital centric approach to developing brands’, Smart Insights, 9th September 2015 [Online] <http://www.smartinsights.com/online-brand-strategy/brand-positioning/digital-brand-development/> [accessed 8 May 2016]

Powell, A. (2016) ‘5 Effective Brand Building Strategies to Attract Customers’, BLUE, 2016 [Online] < http://www.coxblue.com/5-effective-brand-building-strategies-to-attract-customers-2/> [accessed 8 May 2016]

Story, L. (2007) ‘Anywhere The Eye Can See, It’s Likely To See An Ad’, The New York Times, 15th January 2007 [Online] <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/media/15everywhere.html> [accessed 8 May 2016]

Wallis, L. (2014) ‘Why it pays to complain via Twitter’, BBC News, 21st May 2014 [Online] <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27381699> [accessed 8 May 2016]

Wightman, A. (2011) ‘Brand-building with Digital Media’, Smart Insight, 24th May 2011 [Online] <http://www.smartinsights.com/online-brand-strategy/brand-development/brand-building-with-digital-media/> [accessed 8 May 2016]