Transcript Branding in the Digital Age - Welcome To Flexo & Partners

Branding in the Digital Age:
HBR Article by D. Edelman
Scott W. Flexo, Ph.D
MKTG 473
Digital Marketing:
Changed Consumer Brand Engagement
1. Consumers are not as brand
loyal – they are more
promiscuous in their brand
relationships, having the
desire and ability to easily
connect with a many different
brands during their search.
Digital Marketing:
Changed Consumer Brand Engagement
2. Consumers are multimedia
driven and connected – they
connect with brands though
many different media
channels often not under the
control of manufacturers or
retailers.
Digital Marketing:
Changed Consumer Brand Engagement
3. Consumers remain
aggressively engaged during
and after the sale – they will
publicly promoting or assailing
or challenging products and
brands during the search
process and after purchase.
Result of Shifting Consumer –
Brand Relationships
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AIDA – Awareness, Image, Desire, Action
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Is this traditional model still relevant?
Adding New Steps at Desire
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Consider
Evaluate
Buy
Enjoy, advocate, bond
The New Journey
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Consideration
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Brand awareness and images produce
desire to purchase
Desire involves a set of brands that
consumer would consider buying– we call
this the consideration set.
These are the products and brands
"assembled from exposure to advertising
or other stimuli" that consumer would
consider purchasing.
The New Journey
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Evaluate
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But today, consideration is not the end of the
shopping processes – it's just the beginning.
Consumers will take steps to search sources of
information about the brands in their consideration
set
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Seeking input from Web sources not always under the
control of the marketer – peers, reviewers, etc.
This independent, consumer controlled evaluation
processes may change and at times, actually increase
the number of brands in the consideration set.
The New Journey
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Buy
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The author argues that consumers will
search the Internet, but will typically put
off a purchase until they are in the store.
This makes point of purchase more critical
– placement, packaging, pricing and sales
interactions become ever more important
"touch points."
The New Journey
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Enjoy, Advocate and Bond
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Marketing does not stop at purchase!
Consumers today interact with products and the post
their experiences and opinions for others in the
evaluation stage to read and use them in their
journey.
This could create a "loyalty loop" of buying, enjoying,
advocating.
Thus post-purchase advocacy and bonding become
critical marketing functions.
The New Journey:
Importance for Marketers
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The author argues that in this age of
digital branding, marketers are still playing
with the old rules.
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Marketers overemphasize building awareness
and brand images though traditional media
advertising and offering sales promotions and
incentives to stimulate purchases at the retail
store.
The New Journey:
Importance to Marketers
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Instead Digital Branding is about investing in
evaluation and advocacy stages of the purchase
process.
Thus "digital media" marketers need to focus more
on...
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Helping consumers navigate the evaluation process –
effectively using owned media and earned media.
Offering and effectively management a multitude of media
channels to help consumers spread positive word of mouth
Providing consumers with the means for creating a strong
and enduring digital "bond" with a brand.
The CDJ-Journey
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The author calls this the CDJ-Driven
Journey (Consumer Driven Journey)
because it is the consumer's access and
use of the Internet that is driving the
evaluation, buying, advocating and
bonding steps in the purchase process.
Marketers must therefore adopt a CDJDriven Marketing Strategy to be successful
in the digital age.
Elements of the CDJ-Driven
Marketing Strategy
1. Understand the Consumer Journey.
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What do they do? How do consumers
search?
What are the stages in the search?
Which online resources are most valuable
and which most biased/disappointing.
How do brands enter and leave their
consideration set during this process?
Elements of the CDJ-Driven
Marketing Strategy
2. Determine /Leverage "Touch Points"
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What Do They See?
What is the consumer experience?
What are consumer drivers?
Is the experience connected to key drivers
across all media touch points?
Is the consumer/brand experience
consistent and integrated or fractured.
Elements of the CDJ-Driven
Marketing Strategy
3. Manage After Purchase Activity
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What Do They Say?
What is happening in social media?
What key words do consumers use when
discussing the brand?
What is being said in discussion groups?
Will the "LIKE" us?
Can quickly responds and engage the
consumer "bond" using social media?
A Well-Brand Digital Brand Strategy
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The author argues that a wellplanned digital brand strategy will:
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"(I)include everything from discussions in
social media to the in-store shopping
experience to continued interactions (after
purchase) with the company or retailer."
All marketing activity should "ensure absolute
consistency, accuracy and integration across"
all media assuring a consistent consumer
experience.
New Roles for Marketers
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"Orchestrator" : Controlling and
managing all "owned" media channels
rather than parceling them out to
different elements of the organization
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i.e. Web sites built by marketers, not in the
IT department.
New Roles for Marketers
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"Publisher" : Generating more and more
content, publishing this content online, and
managing the content supply chain.
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Creating videos, books, articles for earned media
channels and free media channels (i.e. YouTube)
Creating and disseminating promotions though social
media channels (i.e.. Living Social)
Developing decision support tools to help consumers
build and buy products online (i.e. Web sites)
Facilitating after purchase bonding (i.e. Face book)
New Roles for Marketers
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"Information Gatherer" : Called
Marketplace Intelligence, exploiting the
opportunities that are offered for collecting and
using consumer information to understand
consumer behavior and create better marketing
and consumer purchase experiences.
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The marketer will take the lead role in analyzing and
decimating consumer information throughout the
organization into the general public.
Conclusion
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"(The) phenomenal reach, speed,
and interactivity of digital media
makes close attention to the entire
digital brand experience essential
today.
Our course is about understanding
the elements of this digital
marketing experience and putting
them into practice.
End of Section #1
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Introduction to Digital Marketing
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Old Rules vs New Rules
Content of Digital Marketing
Introduction to E-Commerce
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Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0
Effects on the Purchase Cycle
Effects on Brand Experience
Next: Digital Marketing and Strategic Planning