Your Brand: Being Online and Brand Equity

by Kate Brodock on 30 September 2008

Posted in: Modern Business

Above is a depiction, provided by Brand Channel of the factors that go into a brand’s equity.  I could have inserted any number of images, but the general concepts are the same.

I want to talk about brand equity because I don’t feel there has been enough straight forward conversation about what this means in new and social media.  We all know that most brand images are effected by their presence online, but I wonder how much real discussion there is with colleagues and, more importantly, with clients about what this means to the bottom line (sidenote: there are still many spaces that aren’t highly visible online, so, for now, we’re talking about industries for which the Web 2.0 space is highly important).

I’ll use just a few of the above factors as examples:

  • Image and Personality: Several months ago, Chris Brogan had a webinar that was called “Who Really Owns Your Brand?” (I discussed it in-depth here).  He and the discussants talked about the changes that occur to your brand image in social media: that customers now have more influence over your brand, and that the amount of control a company has over their image is shifting away from them.  A company can decide to either enter this space and influence to some extent where their brand is going, or they can remain in a traditional mindset and “push” brand image on customers. We know where that’s headed…..
  • Awareness: There are a ton of possible consumer touch points available to companies in the new media space.  There are also very attractive opportunities for Word-of-Mouth (WOM).  There’s the possibility that customers can bring either positive or negative brand awareness to the table in a high-profile manner.  A major way that people become aware of a brand nowadays is online, through friends and in communities. With an increased positive brand awareness comes an increase in brand equity.
  • Loyalty: Discussion and conversation with your customers (when done properly) breeds loyalty.  I don’t need to beat this one to death.  Online is where this is taking place. You wouldn’t want to be left out of the conversation of your own brand would you, or left out of the opportunity to develop a relationship with your customers?

These are just some examples, I could break down all of the above further if I wanted to but I think you get where I’m headed.

The main point is that, while we all know these things, I wonder how many of us directly correlate it to brand equity in the monetary sense, especially with clients. This is important, so let me repeat.  New/social media and the Web 2.0 space have important effects on the monetary value of your company.

We recently had a potential client who was wondering what the point was of using new media in his marketing program if they were looking to enter IPO stages in less than five years.  The company was absolutely a candidate for new media marketing, and its brand image was already being affected positively and negatively in this space.

My argument to him was (not only that the space is moving incredibly fast and five years could make a huge difference), but, almost more importantly:  Your brand image IS online right now, and it IS being affected.  And that DOES and WILL matter when determining the value of your company.  In some cases, it’s not even a matter of going where it’s hot (although that has its advantages!).  Your brand is there, you should be there too.

What’s more, the Web 2.0 world is completely visible to anyone who chooses to look, including potential funders or buyers of your company.  That information matters.  I’ll not deny that measurement of that value in dollar terms is difficult, but many traditional aspects of brand equity are the same. It still applies.

Most funders and buyers are looking to social media to figure out at least part of the value of brands (and if they’re not, they probably should be, because it’s often one of the best indicators of how consumers feel about your brand).  It should be considered right along side of sales figures or profitability.

So I encourage people to talk to clients directly not just about the benefits of new media marketing, but also about the necessity to be in the space from a brand management perspective.

Have you discussed this with clients?  Do you consider it important?  Is it too vague at this stage to be put into monetary terms?  Any thoughts are welcome.  Below are a few of Zemanta‘s thoughts on the issue, as well as a couple of posts I came across.

Some thoughts from Web Marketing Strategies, Trends and Tips.
Customer Think has some advice.

  • http://chelpixie.com chelpixie

    What's hard is convincing businesses without ROI and numbers that it will matter in 5 years. We can explain the details till blue in the face but unless they see value in investing now it's harder to get them to commit to managing.

    I wonder what case studies will come in the next few years of brands that ignored their presence online only to find that they have a mess to clean up when they decide to get started.

  • http://www.othersidegroup.com/adcomments Kate Brodock

    Chel - completely agreed. It's difficult to talk about without the numbers. But at the very least, it should be emphasized qualitatively. And if I were someone concerned about an IPO, I need both quantitative and qualitative data. VCs sometimes (often) pay more attention to things like your management team that the numbers you've come up with in your financial section. We don't have standard measurements in the space as a whole right now, but we're nailing this down, and it hasn't stopped very many people from entering into it or considering it in their marketing plan. With that mentality, the same would go for funders/buyers. The same struggle we're having to convince people to use new media in their marketing, we'll have with this concept, but it's still very important.

    And hopefully, in the next five years, we will have come up with some clear metrics that become industry standard :)

  • http://blog.vibemetrix.com/2008/09/30/vibemetrix-daily-vibe-september-30-2008-2/ Vibemetrix Daily Vibe | VibeMetrix Blog

    [...] tend to think some brands don’t care about talking with their customers, but Kate Brodock tells companies why they should care.  They are already being talked about online, good and bad, jumping in gives you a chance to [...]

  • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

    What's hard is convincing businesses without ROI and numbers that it will matter in 5 years. We can explain the details till blue in the face but unless they see value in investing now it's harder to get them to commit to managing.

    I wonder what case studies will come in the next few years of brands that ignored their presence online only to find that they have a mess to clean up when they decide to get started.

  • http://www.katebrodock.com Kate Brodock

    Chel - completely agreed. It's difficult to talk about without the numbers. But at the very least, it should be emphasized qualitatively. And if I were someone concerned about an IPO, I need both quantitative and qualitative data. VCs sometimes (often) pay more attention to things like your management team that the numbers you've come up with in your financial section. We don't have standard measurements in the space as a whole right now, but we're nailing this down, and it hasn't stopped very many people from entering into it or considering it in their marketing plan. With that mentality, the same would go for funders/buyers. The same struggle we're having to convince people to use new media in their marketing, we'll have with this concept, but it's still very important.

    And hopefully, in the next five years, we will have come up with some clear metrics that become industry standard :)

  • http://chelpixie.com chelpixie

    Well it's the shiny new, people can't help but want the shiny and new, even for their companies. That brand new marketing technique that all the cool kids are using. It's easy to get excited about something that looks very simple, but looks can be deceiving.

    Here's something pretty interesting, while we're talking about numbers, Cone came out with their study on Americans thoughts on social media. Part of that survey points toward the support of using social media. It's still the approach that the clients need to understand before diving in. At least we're finally getting somewhere with numbers.

    “According to the survey, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.”

    If you haven't seen it, the report is at http://www.coneinc.com/content1182.

  • http://chelpixie.com/ Chel Wolverton

    Well it's the shiny new, people can't help but want the shiny and new, even for their companies. That brand new marketing technique that all the cool kids are using. It's easy to get excited about something that looks very simple, but looks can be deceiving.

    Here's something pretty interesting, while we're talking about numbers, Cone came out with their study on Americans thoughts on social media. Part of that survey points toward the support of using social media. It's still the approach that the clients need to understand before diving in. At least we're finally getting somewhere with numbers.

    “According to the survey, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.”

    If you haven't seen it, the report is at http://www.coneinc.com/content1182.

  • gargouri2001

    really really useful info , Thanks for this post

    john
    http://xtupload.com

  • http://blog.vibemetrix.com/2008/10/13/noise-and-metrics/ Noise and Metrics | VibeMetrix Blog

    [...] Broderick and I were talking about this very thing.  Companies want to play with the shiny new toy but they need someone to teach them how.  [...]

  • http://www.othersidegroup.com/adcomments Kate Brodock

    No problem John, thanks for reading

  • gargouri2001

    really really useful info , Thanks for this post

    john
    http://xtupload.com

  • http://www.katebrodock.com Kate Brodock

    No problem John, thanks for reading

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    [...] And of course, there’s good ole’ brand management and brand equity. [...]

  • http://www.katebrodock.com/2009/06/brand-equity-is-effected-by-online-presence/ Today and Tomorrow » Brand Equity is Effected by Online Presence

    [...] argued before about the importance of, at the very least, monitoring your brand image in online channels.  I [...]

  • http://www.b2bvoices.com/2009/10/what-is-social-media-success-in-b2b-and-some-examples/ What is social media success in B2B… and some examples | B2B Voices

    [...] the entire concept of brand equity originated because there is inherent value in the amount of reach your brand has, and what [...]

  • http://xcv1001.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/reblog-from-othersidegroup-com-your-brand-being-online-and-brand-equity/ reBlog from othersidegroup.com: Your Brand: Being Online and Brand Equity « You, I & We will make a perfect WORLD//

    [...] could have inserted any number of images, but the general concepts are the same.othersidegroup.com, Your Brand: Being Online and Brand Equity, Sep [...]