Brand Marketing: How To Reach
Customers In The Digital Age
Angela Stringfellow
Brand marketing can create value for your audience-when done
correctly. Stand out from your competitors with these tips.
Brand marketing and reputation building used to be a
combination of print advertising and word-of-mouth. Radio
and TV advertising entered the mix along the way, but
within the past decade or so, brand marketing has shifted
dramatically from the tried-and-true, taking on a whole new
form in the digital realm.
Today’s consumers are savvy, technologically advanced and,
quite frankly, tired of being treated like an advertising target.
That’s why digital media plays such an integral role in brand
marketing today—it’s a marketing channel that makes it
possible to establish and enhance your brand by creating
value, not by selling.
New Brand Marketing Challenges
Digital media has opened a whole new world of opportunity
for brand marketing, but it has also introduced a few
challenges. “The biggest branding challenges that I see
come up over and over again in my work with clients are in
the areas of differentiation, consistency, transparency and
audience,” says Danielle Miller, a brand strategist for women
entrepreneurs. “It’s a challenge to cut through the noise,
stand out and be heard.”
The vast number of social media outlets and other digital
marketing channels leaves many small businesses confused
about where to spend their efforts. Instead of focusing on a
core strategic plan, they spread their efforts across as many
channels as possible. The result? A diluted message and no
clear target, Miller says. Transparency is also a common
issue, particularly for entrepreneurs and solo professionals,
as they struggle to hit the delicate balance between sharing
enough to be trusted and sharing too much, which alienates
audiences.
Finding The Digital Media Balance
Julie Cottineau, founder and CEO of brand consultancy
BrandTwist, says small businesses get caught up in using
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and everything else—yet they’re
not really sure how they should be using it, or for what.
“Don’t tweet just because everyone else is if you are not clear
on what you want to say and how it can build your business,”
Cottineau advises.
Rhonda Page, chief differentiation officer at marketing
consultancy Know Your Difference, concurs, noting that
there’s a lot of noise in the digital realm and there’s a strong
tendency to copycat strategies. “Something works for one
person and every else copies and then it’s no longer different,”
she explains. What small businesses should do instead:
• Focus on your strategic goals.
• Define your audience.
• Choose one social platform to start with if you’re just
getting in on the game; get comfortable with it and make it
work for you.
• Expand and experiment from there, slowly building out
your marketing platform and scaling it up as you find what
resonates with your audience.
• Be willing to modify your strategy, approach and channels
based on what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to
ditch a strategy or channel that just doesn’t produce results.
The Power Of Digital Media In Brand
Marketing
You can’t ignore digital media if you want to keep pace
with your competition. But that doesn’t mean you should do
whatever your competitors are doing with a blind eye to how
it will actually impact your bottom line.
“Consumers are finally able to have that two-way conversation
tha t we’ve been talking about for years with branding,”
Cottineau says. She points out that small businesses actually
have a strong advantage when it comes to brand marketing
in the digital age, “because they have authentic, engaging
stories that capture consumers’ attention—and often their
share of wallet.”
There’s really a simple formula behind successful brand
marketing in the digital age: Define your audience, find out
where they spend their time and craft powerful stories that
resonate and build connections. Once you’ve discovered the
right combination, you’ve struck brand marketing gold.