Online Marketing: A User's Manual

Chapter 2

Digital Branding

“The intangible sum of a product’s attributes: its name, packaging, and price, its history, its reputation, and the way it’s advertised.”

David Ogilvy’s definition of “brand”

INTRODUCTION

Branding is increasingly important in the era of online marketing and social media. When we want to buy something we can choose from companies in a globally competitive market. In the days of Mad Men, companies stated their brand and consumers believed in the brand. Those days are gone. People still trust people but they no longer trust companies.

Now brand perceptions are increasingly made by you and me – the consumers. A large part of a brand is made up of the customer experience of it. Brands are made on the front line by the way in which company staff interact with their customers. Customers share their experiences – good or bad – with all the other potential and existing customers via social media. This being the case the personal brands of the individuals within/representing the company become important. Companies hire people with good personal brands and do not hire those with indecent photos on their Facebook walls.

A company’s brand is its essence. While the term “branding” is a buzzword that gets thrown around online to mean pretty much anything – from an employee’s tweet to a large advertising campaign – the key aspect of digital branding is that it is ...