online branding 04 by Article Announcement
Published Date: 15/05/08
Many people are skeptical about the limits of Internet marketing, but I personally think that online branding has barely been explored at all. Web-based business has not reached a peak. Web-based businesses at the beginning of the climate will reach massive heights. Concepts like brand loyalty and brand awareness are only just penetrating the Internet. It is true that people have been thinking about these things for a while, but they've done very little to succeed in implementing them.
The thing is that corporate branding has yet to figure out the correct metaphors for penetrating the Internet market. No one really knows what people respond to in online branding. Certain companies, such as Google, PayPal, and Amazon, have succeeded. By and large, however, the Internet has not fully matured as a marketplace. What is the official drink of Web users? What is the music of the Internet age? What snack food should you eat when you are staying up all night to program? These questions, the traditional domain of corporate branding strategies, have yet to be answered. Online branding is in its infancy.
The problem is that few businesses are willing to take the risks involved in coming up with an online branding niche. No one wants to market online exclusively. Yet it seems to me that this risk must be taken. Online branding represents a powerful message. In the beginning, few people were willing to buy products online. Nowadays, however, Internet commerce is truly massive. People buy all kinds of products over the Internet, but for the most part they are products that are marketed elsewhere. The Internet has its own loyal consumers, and those consumers can be marketed to as Internet consumers. Online branding strategies that are willing to take a risk can succeed, but they have to be willing to take that risk.
For me, online branding must be communicated through Internet culture. The best way to do this is with blogs. Product placement within weblogs could do wonders for any online brands. Just as Nike did with DIY culture, so the company of the future can do with online marketing. The great thing about this is that it costs so little money to start. Weblogs can be made for practically nothing other than the salary of the writer. Through the use of weblogs, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and other similar forums, online branding can have mass appeal.
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