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In some
respects, branding is an old-fashioned concept. It
hearkens back to the old days of advertising blitzes and
the war between Coca Cola and Pepsi. Branding became an
important craze back in the middle of the 1950s economic
boom, when competition for abundant consumer dollars
became fierce. Ad men like David Ogilvy came along and
revolutionized advertising, using television to build
big brands such as Barbie, Hershey's, American Express,
and Campbell's. Big-time branding reached a crescendo in
the 1980s with huge endorsement campaigns by the likes
of Michael Jordan, and ad wars that cost billions of
dollars.
Then came
the Internet. Many proclaimed the Internet to be the
ultimate marketplace democracy: It would be just as easy
to buy shoes from a small start-up as from a
mega-retailer. Entry costs were lower, so anyone could
start any business. Shoppers could vote with their
clicks for any publisher, any retailer, any service.
Geography and budget were no longer the great class
dividers among retailers. Branding would be an outdated
concept in this chaotic, frictionless marketplace. What
did that old 1950s invention have to do with New Media?
What did Ogilvy know about the Internet? This was the
end of Big Brands, right?
E-Commerce:
The End of Big Brands?
Wrong. As
the Internet has evolved, branding has become even more
important — for precisely the same reasons we thought
it would die. As the number of sites multiplied, it
became harder and harder to tell them apart. Consumers
became wary of Internet shopping and retreated to the
familiarity of brands they already knew. In a few short
years, the Internet moved from being the domain of the
small guys to being a heavily brand-reliant space.
Why does
branding matter in this new medium? There are so many
sites, and it is so easy to create a new site, that
consumers are uncertain about how to find new sites and
evaluate their trustworthiness.
For
example, when I am shopping for a red sweater, I can
perform an online search on "sweaters."
Hundreds of answers may come up. Then I have to search
through dozens of broken hyperlinks, using
nonstandardized navigation between sites; compare prices
and styles; then judge the security of the site I
choose, and the fairness and convenience of its return
policy. The entire experience is nerve-racking. It
becomes much simpler to just go to a site that I know
from my real-world experience: gap.com. I know the
sweaters, the sizing, and the return policy for that
company. Other sites may offer more selection or lower
prices, but I choose a brand I am comfortable and
familiar with, because the medium of e-commerce is
already uncomfortable enough.
If your
business is not already a household-name brand, you need
to overcome the no-name phobia that can prevail online.
Think through this consumer decision process as you
develop a new online brand, and reassure the customer
accordingly:
Trustworthiness
matters most. For a while there, everyone
thought that the Internet would be about price-based
competition. It's not anymore. Online consumers want
reassurance that your site will be around next week when
they need to return something, that your products will
be in stock when you say they are, and that you will not
sell their private information. Repeat these messages
often.
Retain
customers at all costs. Given the sweater
process described above, it can be extremely difficult
to get customers to find your site, find a product, then
make the leap of buying from you the first time. Once
they have made the leap, it's much easier to keep them
happy and coming back for more than it is to keep
acquiring more customers.
Stay
secure, stay private. One bad breach of your
server, or a bad decision to sell data ("just this
once, just to our partners ...") can become a PR
disaster. Once consumers decide that your site isn't
secure, it is nearly impossible to reverse the damage.
Leverage
your offline advantages. Maybe your company is
new to the Web, but was founded in 1950 as a retail
store. Perhaps you aren't a national name, but you have
15 locations in California. Or your business might be a
start-up, but you have key partnerships in place with
major manufacturers. These are all trust-building facts
that you should incorporate into your brand and promote
on your site.
Invest
in service. Online shopping is fast, open 24
hours per day, and can be personalized. But don't
mistake that for personal service. Always provide a
toll-free telephone number and e-mail address so you can
field questions and respond to complaints and requests
quickly. Go a step further and guarantee same-day
responses to customer questions.
Build
recognition. Big brands have an advantage:
everyone has heard of them. If people hear your
business's name from friends, or if they see your site
once and decide to come back later, will they remember
you? Domain names are hard to find these days, but be
sure to pick one that is easy to spell, easy to
remember, and easily associated with your business
category. Repeat your domain name and brand everywhere,
on every page — that way, no matter where customers
are on your site, they will see your brand.
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