Back in early December, I posted a link to MPlanet. http://www.mplanet2009.com/marketingblog/ If you aren’t aware of the event AMA is putting on in Orlando, please visit www.mplanet2009.com because I highly recommend it.
Well, this week, MPlanet has asked bloggers across the country to talk about one of their 4 themes for 2009!
Brand building in a digital world
Connecting with empowered consumers
Marketing mix in a fragmented world
Global marketing on a borderless planet
So, I started thinking about Brand building in a digtial world. I thought, “Scott, what is your brand?”
We all know the importance “Brand” plays in the success of a company. We also know how difficult it can be to change a Brand image, once established. In fact, many would say our company Brand is the most important thing we have. So if Brand is so important to a business’s success, couldn’t we also argue that it is equally important to our own success, as employees? Do you think about what YOUR “Brand” is? Are you creating the “Brand U”? Well you are, whether you know it or not. Here’s some good news. Brand building in a digital world is not as challenging as you might think.
As a Xerox Graphic Communication Sales Growth Consultant, I spend a lot of time creating “my Brand”. For example, I started using ConstantConstant.com to help me put out a monthly Graphic Communication industry enewsletter. I started my own industry blog at
http://titus.blogs.xerox.com, featuring a section called “customer corner” where I ask my customers to leave feedback about me and my team. I also began attending seminars and industry events that were more relevant to my customers’ business than my own business. In fact, I began presenting at some of those seminars, including customer seminars, major franchise meetings, Printing Industries of the Carolina events and NAQP sessions. I even put together my own industry events, bringing in Industry consultants and other Xerox resources in to present on topics related to business and sales growth vs. my Xerox Digital Solutions. An interesting thing began to happen. My network and brand started to grow. Suddenly, my customers began to talk about the value I was bringing as part of the business partnership. One customer was featured in a recent magazine saying, “I bought a relationship – the equipment was free.”
I read a book several years ago by Seth Godin called “The Purple Cow”. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do. My goal was to become a “Purple Cow”. That is, I wanted to be so unique, so spectacular that people would have to stop and take notice!
So, think about “Brand U”. As a marketing person, what is your brand? What sets you apart from your peers, your competitors? Most important, do your customers agree with what you think your brand is?
Let me stress again, building a company’s brand in today’s digital world is easier than you think. Why? People can spread messages faster and more efficiently than ever before. It’s no longer just print, TV, radio, phone and word of mouth. You can use email. You can text. You can use a blackberry. You can use twitter. You can use facebook. You can blog. You can “internet search”. You can join networks on sites like linkedin.com. And I could go on and on.
Basically, you can communicate to millions and millions of people in seconds in today’s digital world. Equally as important, so can your customers! And what if they communicated “Your Brand”?
Go ahead. Take a minute and write a comment about what you think of when I say, “Brand Building in a Digital World.” And let’s make it a goal in 2009 to expand OUR brand.