Branding in the Digital Age
We've been meaning to mention a great article in the Harvard Business Review from December entitled, "Branding in the Digital Age -- You're Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places." As our clients and regular readers know, we believe that brand management is the root of CRM.
So, we think this HBR article is a must read (subscription required for full version), and here are the three main ideas:
- Today, consumers are connecting with brands in fundamentally new ways, often through (media or distribution) channels that are beyond manufacturers’ (and in the case of media) the retailers’ control. That means traditional marketing strategies must be redesigned to calibrate with how brand relationships are changing.
- There was a time when a shopper would narrow her brand choices to make a final selection and complete her engagement through a purchase. No more. Today, relying nearly exclusively on digital interactions, the consumer can consider a shifting array of options and still remain engaged with the brand through social media, post purchase.
- Smart marketers need to carefully consider this evolving “consumer decision journey” for their products and use the insights they gain to revise strategy, media spend, and organizational roles.
This has some important impact on your CRM (brand management) strategy. To that point, we'll consider the consumer decision journey in an upcoming post or two. Stay tuned.
