Life has become complicated. In the past we only had one brand to create and maintain.
The “physical brand” that is constrained by time and space.
Its maintenance is constant and it is something we all do and some are better at it than others. You rise from your sleep and perform activities that could include showering, preening and wrapping yourself with the latest fashion.
Check in the mirror and you’re done, you are ready for the world.
In today’s digital age we also have the online brand to maintain, nourish and polish to present to the world. This is not restricted to a geographical location but roams and communicates beyond the space, time continuum.
It is your virtual “digital brand”.
Digital Visibility
The challenge today is to become visible in a world of online noise, torrents of information and global web competition, whether you are a personal or business brand.
A Multi-channel cyber persona is now becoming mandatory. The brand digital persona needs to be spread across websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and that is just the start. The brand message needs to be consistent and constant on a variety of media. Visual channels are adding to the mix with Pintrest, Instagram and Fancy
It requires persistent and vigilant management as we check our emails, logon to our Facebook page and review Twitter updates. The blogger needs to check what blog posts are resonating, then review and approve the comments. Others will be checking how many hits have happened overnight to the YouTube channel. LinkedIn fans and users will want to know what connection invites are sitting in the inbox. If you are on Slideshare, you will be checking how many have downloaded or viewed your presentations.
Social media has pushed our lives further into the digital sphere as we check our friend requests on iPads and iPhones and often before leaving our beds.
The public and digital persona needs constant optimization to ensure that it has not been hijacked by spammers, scammers or trolls. It is an exercise in constant surveillance and management.
As they say “its complicated”.
The Rise of the Digital Assets
Business is now playing out online and thinking that your bricks and mortar presence is all that is needed is ignorance in a digital economy. If you are not found by search engines then you might as well be invisible. In some industries up to 90% of all buying decisions start with an online search. The holy grail is being ranked one on Google.
So what are the digital assets you need to create, market and manage?
- Websites (including blogs and e-Commerce stores)
- Social media channels and assets
- Multi-media content assets
- Mobile assets including apps and mobile sites
- Digital databases including email subscribers
The value of building and continuing to invest and build these assets cannot be underestimated. Most online stores have more traffic than physical stores.
Digital Marketing
Once created the next challenge is moving your online brand from “invisible to visible” so that prospects and customers can find you, read and view your content and then buy your goods and services. Digital asset creation should not be “set and forget” as it was in the past.
Successful campaigns require multi-channel digital marketing strategies and tactics. These include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Paid digital advertising (this includes banner ads and Google Adwords)
- Social media marketing
- Email Marketing
To be truly successful requires three types of “multi“, multiple digital assets, multi-media and multiple marketing channels.
Marketing can no longer rely on just one channel or even two channels as your target audience has splintered and dispersed across a digital matrix.
Managing and Monitoring the Digital Brand
Multi-channel marketing requires the right tools and platforms to measure success and failure of campaigns.
The marketing manager and brand police will want to know what is being said about the “Brand” to protect PR disasters from destroying a reputation in hours or even minutes as real time communication offers both opportunity and potential catastrophe at the speed of a tweet.
Community managers maintain and monitor “Tweet Stations” on Hootsuite or other Twitter platforms to see what is unfolding online. This maintenance can be in-house or outsourced.
Advertising agencies will want to know what are the click through rates on banner ads.
Many tools are needed to manage the process of brand protection and maintenance.
Written by Jeff Bullas. To read the full article, click here. MyDigiBrand is a boutique website development and digital marketing firm in San Diego, California. We help our clients create powerful and engaging online brands. For more information, please visit our website at www.mydigibrand.com.