Online branding — possible or not?

I am coming to the conclusion that building a brand online — in any interactive medium — by buying awareness, is a fool’s errand. Sure, there are some online only campaigns that have established companies — Vonage is generally cited. The X10 Web Cam pop-under was inescapable … but I am eager to find a brand that primarily built online, or, at the very least, changed itself through an online brand campaign.

I think one can change demand through online buys, but brand is a function of:

  • Citizen marketing: users telling other users whether a product/company is worth doing business with.
  • Search: the game changed with Google when prospective customers can work the consideration process with total recall and accuracy
  • Buzz: whatever buzz is, it seems to be activated online via viral, YouTube is an enabler, but buzz seems to be ephemeral and something you find, not plan.

If I were to invest in brand building online I’d pour my money into the social media side, not impressions.

Author: David Churbuck

Cape Codder with an itch to write

0 thoughts on “Online branding — possible or not?”

  1. The same question has roamed around my head for the past couple of months; I still need to lurke in the dark and quiet before I can get to anything similar to a conclusion regarding online branding…

    That being said all examples of successful online branding strategies were for online services (google, for instance, wikipedia for a more modern example).

  2. “(actually wrote this on the erg, while cooling down my heart rate to 100 bpm, connected wirelessly from the garage. Thankfully the ThinkPad X60 has a spill resistant keyboard, as I am dripping dave-juice into it)”

    Perhaps not as spill resistant as originally thought…

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