Branding For Dummies®

Chapter 12. Sending Your Brand into Cyberspace

In This Chapter

• Matching your bricks‐and‐mortar and online identities

• Building a great site and leading people to it

• Developing an online audience and user loyalty

Increasingly, the Internet is the primary avenue by which consumers access, evaluate, and consider products and services. Because of the pervasiveness of online searches and online business, organizations large and small put increasing importance on how their brands look and communicate on the Internet. Online, branding is essential for two very different reasons.

• If your business relies on the Web as a sales channel, you need to have a strong brand to pave the way for sales success. Unlike in a bricks‐and‐mortar outlet, online customers can't touch or try your product, and no one's there to personally explain and reinforce your promise. More than in any other distribution channel, online customers need to arrive confident in your brand's quality and promise. If you rely on online sales, you need your brand to do some pretty significant advance work so that customers arrive at your site confident and ready to make purchase decisions.

• If your business relies on the Web to provide information or customer service, you need to make sure that online encounters are a seamless extension of your overall brand experience. Whether customers meet up with your brand online or offline, they should receive an identical message, tone, look, character, and promise. This consistency leads to a ...