Can you use the web effectively for branding? I touched on this question in my thesis, but a couple of recent events got me thinking about it again.
Having dinner with some Computer Science PhD students at the Cambridge Brewing Company the other night, our conversation about business models for social media turned to the value of online advertising, specifically, how it is different than TV and why online display advertising still doesn’t bring in big money.
And, a couple of days before that, AdWeek reported results of a Forbes.com study that found that most marketers are still using direct response metrics for online advertising, based on clickthrough and conversion rates. The article points out that search and email marketing are considered the best performers held up to that yardstick, while display and video ads are at the bottom.
On one hand, this makes complete sense, but in a medium where you can target precisely and leverage social networks and word of mouth, not using the internet for branding seems like a missed opportunity. How could we use the web effectively as a branding vehicle, in a way that makes sense from a measurement perspective?
Direct marketing is about facilitating transactions, but branding is about facilitating relationships. Here are some thoughts on how to build a brand relationship – and measure it – on the web.
