ChaosScenario

Branding is Character. What Does Your Character Show?

Stuff happens.

So does branding. This is true whether you call it "branding" or not. As it turns out, branding has less to do with cutesy creative and clever themes than it has to do with your ability to consistently keep promises of your company -- to build your company's reputation as a firm of good character.

Not all promises are created equal, and all people do not assign equal value to all promises. This is why it is so difficult -- and increasingly useless -- to build a brand that pleases all people, all of the time.

Before all else, know who you are and what you stand for. Only then can you focus on making extraordinary promises to an audience that places a high value on those promises -- and then over-deliver. - Cam Beck

Keep it simple

The transition from traditional media to digital media is a lot like going from a desert to a rain forest. Although there are quite a few ways to measure traditional media, many times it's not cost effective to pay firms to get the data. It's all a bit suspect too because you're forced to use sample groups that may or may not be representative of the rest of the population.

Online media is infinitely measurable. Geography, activity, technology and in some cases even behavior before and after the click is measured in a way that floods an analyst with data. Those of us who have built our careers within the digital space love to pour over the data and talk about all types of information. The problem is that not all of it is relevant.

I love this recent article from Mark Walsh from the OMMA conference on Avoid 'Data Diarrhea'. Although I wasn't at the conference, I can relate to what must have been said:

"Data is useless unless it becomes currency for making a decision," he said. To make sure online measurement is on track, he advised advertisers and analytics professionals to be sure they are asking the right questions, have the right expertise and the right mindset"

It's important to begin with the end in mind. Understanding what metrics are important should be done at the beginning. Dash boards for digital marketing should resemble car dashboards, not the dash board for the Space Shuttle.

An important reminder.

- Paul Herring

Marketing in a recession

Inside corporate America, marketing is often seen as just a sub set of sales or worse, as a bunch of liars. The Dilbert comic strip has expressed the feelings that a lot of people have toward marketing departments.  Given this perception, it's no wonder that I know so many great colleges who have been laid off, much more so than in other business disciplines.

The perception of marketing as just necessary when sales are booming or as a support function for sales misses the point. Marketing is about building brand, establishing a company's reputation and driving sales. It's not just a support for sales people but a strategic approach to guide customers through the purchasing funnel and deliver the right message through the right media at the right time.

The companies today that are cutting back their marketing budget are short sighted. There is tremendous opportunity to gain market share during a recession. Some of the greatest brands around, including Apple, we're built during recessions not too different from what we're experiencing now. Instead of just cost cutting across the board, companies that want to take advantage of the opportunity will look to make their marketing investments more efficient with a focus on market share. They'll also see the opportunity to snatch up some great talent that may not have been available to them during boom times.

Most companies however just cut across the board because they're too lazy to really develop a strategy and get into the detail of how they'll respond in these times. Look for new brands to be established and for companies and brands that are willing to go beyond just arbitrary cutting to rise above. Once the storm has passed, I'm looking forward to seeing which ones saw the opportunity.

- Paul Herring