Branding in the Digital Era

Branding was once a long-term investment. It still is, in many ways, but today’s most well-known brands—Amazon, Apple or Google—have only become prominent in the past decade while many formerly dominant brands have faded from glory or disappeared altogether. The truth is, brand equity is now created and destroyed more rapidly in today’s digital-first world.

Engagement vs. Entanglement
The brands now falling are those which focus only on engagement, or brief but fleeting interactions. The brands on the rise, meanwhile, are those that practice entanglement, an ongoing process of sustaining a meaningful two-way relationship. These brands embrace technology to create deeper customer relationships.

Rethinking the post-digital brand
The digital age has already transformed the way business is conducted. Now, too, marketers are recognizing the need to change our approach branding. The way we create and build brand relationships must evolve.

• Brands must now signal to customers that they, not the company, are the priority
• Brands must invest less on impressions and clicks, and more on sustaining relationships
• The new unit of marketing measurement should be meaningful customer interactions

It’s time to evolve
We should continue to spend our marketing dollars on campaign development, brand promotion, and customer acquisition. However, we need to begin expanding and nurturing our relationships with customers. When customers take a chance on our brand, we should reward them. We should continually give them new reasons to include our brand in their lives.

Simply put, today’s leading brands learn about their customers, care about them, and invest in them. If you do the same, your current customers will become your brand’s greatest ambassadors who invite new customers to share in the experience.

Based on Branding In A Post-Digital World by Sebastian Jespersen.