Who Owns the Brand, You, Your Customers or Both?
I recently downloaded a whitepaper from social media monitoring service Radian6 which made a bold statement: “A brand is now defined as the sum of all conversations.”
It goes without saying the prevalence of social media has forever changed the game when it comes to branding. “Brand ownership is no longer solely the domain of the institution,” says the whitepaper.
In today’s marketplace, the strength of the brand is determined by the amount of conversation taking place around it. Little conversation equates to weak branding. Much conversation equals a strong brand. (I guess a caveat to that mantra would be that the conversation is largely positive.)
So, what’s a marketer to do? In my view, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. If corporate or agency marketing/PR departments can no longer control the brand, they can certainly influence it.
One outstanding example of how this can be done is Dell’s use of crowdsourcing via it’s IdeaStorm site. It’s an online community containing blogs, forum, video, and, best of all, an Digg-like application which allows users to submit ideas, vote on them, comment about them and see which of them Dell is instituting. The customer becomes co-creator.
While Dell may not become the Threadless of computer manufacturing, it is paying attention to its customer-base. Considering the maelstrom of negative attention the brand received only two years ago at the hands of blogger Jeff Jarvis, it seems to me they’ve come out shining like the golden child of new media marketing. I guess you could say Dell went from a “firestorm” of customer criticism to an “ideastorm” of customer participation. (”Brilliant!” the Guinness guys trumpet.)
If you ask Radian6, they would tell you building (or re-building as the case may be) your brand begins with listening (monitoring, a service they provide). Beyond that, responding to the conversation that’s going on, especially if it’s negative in tone, via comments on blogs, user-groups and forums is an appropriate step to take. The absolute best thing you can do, imo, is to be as proactive as possible. Start your own blog, podcast, or even social network. Whatever it takes, get involved in the conversation taking place around your brand and you’ll be the better for it.
That’s my take. What’s yours? Is it possible in this day and age for a company to truly “own” its brand?
Filed under: Branding, Marketing Trends, Personal Opinions, Social Media Marketing, Strategy
I doubt that it is possible for a company to control its own brand. The companies have the benefit of money and resources while the consumer simply maintains the numbers. Still, the numbers game can (and even more so in the past couple of years) be frightening for them.
This is all fine and dandy speak for companies who have tangible products like Dell, but what about those who offer services?
I’m the co-owner of a graphic design firm and we’re in the process of bettering our brand by redoing our website. The interesting trend with most agencies is that often there is little branding and much more of a “showing off of skills.” So our logos rest in a specific spot but the designerly nature of our site does the talking for our services.
How does all of this tie in with getting customer feedback other than grabbing testimonials when we can?
Stacey, since I equate branding with conversations, I don’t see the design as being the critical factor. Certainly, building in faculty for customers to give feedback is critical, but even more so is the medium through which that’s done. I believe having a blog on your site is a great first step toward engendering conversations around your brand. Anything that will allow you and the customer to interact more dynamically is a good thing.
I know graphic design agencies put great emphasis on having an eye-dazzling site, though I have to admit, many I’ve visited (and our company works with a lot of such agencies/firms) fall way short in terms of usability. While you should not sacrifice the quality of design, be sure and build in some element(s) that foster a sense of community along with it. Get people talking about your brand. To me, that’s the real key.