Web branding - Whats your web brand?

A brand for a website, is like a reputation for a specific person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well, and your users are aware of that. Are your visitors using your website for something beyond technical service it provides? Defining the core values of your websites existance, is a very good way to justify its existance. Creating a positive emotional attachment to a web brand which creates a response in your target audience is the key of establishing a win-win situation and position your web brand in the mind of your visitors.

How much time are you dedicating to your web brands? What's your brand?

 

I thought branding advertising was for the companies with big bucks? Coca Cola, McDonalds, companies that can handle dumping millions of dollars on ads that do nothing more than remind you that they are there. Won't be dumping my petty cash into that.

 

I believe a brand name to be very important. People buy a Mercedes and pay premium for the name. People buy from Amazon.com instead some other cheaper retailer.
For those companies the brand name is worth billions.
People trust cnn.com more than somerandomnewssite.com
I feel that the OP made a very valid point.
Just not sure how to go about creating a brand name, except massive advertisement, which is not in my budget.

 

Branding isn't just for the big boys any more, it's called microbranding, see: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/001976.html

 

I completely agree with Toivo. Sure, we are not talking about new Cokes and BMWs, we are rather discussing the issue of a web brands over here.

 

"srdjan" Is correct.

 

Being associated with a particular medium-level brand, I can tell you that branding defines you whether you want it to or not. If people love the brand, they love you. If they hate it or the company behind it, they either hate you or treat you with indifference. Work with those that love you and ask questions about those that don't like you. Maybe there are areas for improvement...maybe they will never like you.

As far as what you can do with a brand...use it to introduce related products.

The hardest part of branding isn't so much branding as the simple fact that the more time you put towards your product, the better product you will have and hopefully the more people who use it.

 

Interesting discussion...branding doesn't have to be on a global level like the MNCs someone mentioned.

Branding can be to a targeted audience. For example, vbulletin has achieved branding success in the forum software market.

I have a few different brands, my most general one is "fad".

 

Good post Tiger, I agree both with you and with Fahd.

Behind most of the great brands out there, you will find a great product. Thats the same with web brands, behind which you will find a great online service.

 

The biggest "brand" you'll ever develop is the brand called "you" (see Tom Peters 1997 book http://www.fastcompany.com/online/10/brandyou.html)

Everyday each of us is building the 'perception' of ourselves online. Its akin to your 'reputation' -- and something more and more individuals are becoming more aware of especially since the advent of social networking. For example, when someone talks about all their partying, the wild sex their having in college -- then they go and apply for an internship at a nice conservative business -- the results are they don't get the job because of their online repurtation they've built in these social networking sites.

This isn't fiction, this has in fact happened -- so 'branding' is extending to the personal level -- and is an extension of our online properties some of us are building.

Other links of interest:
http://www.themanager.org/Marketing/Brand_Called_You.htm
http://www.allaboutbranding.com/index.lasso?article=348

 

It takes about $20 Million dollars to build a a "strong" brand (i.e. starbucks, coca cola, HP, Nike) that has international benefits.

However, you can build an online brand within niche segments or verticals. For example, we have all seen Vonage ads all over the place; they started building thier brand in segments when they first laudnhed their business. Before they started doing tv and radio, their montly run-rate for online media (search, banners, etc) was roughly 10 million a month.

 

That's old school thinking. How much did Google spend on marketing before it became a household name? What about MySpace?

We'll be seeing more and more companies who become strong international brands without spending money on "marketing".

 

great examples but I think those are exceptions to the rule. Name 5 more.

 

also, this depends how you define marketing. PR, viral (word of mouth)marketing, and essentially any communication from a company to the target consumer group is "marketing".

 

One of the most important shifts in building an brand online versus traditional activities are the items you've pointed out.

Here are a couple great resources I would recommend

- http://www.ithinkmedia.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Paperback)
by Malcolm Gladwell (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316346624)

 

Ha! If you can build a strong international brand like coke, nike etc for $20 million odd, let me know. I could refer a few businesses your way.

These companies have spent billions over the years to earn the market position they have! And besides, money alone will not give you market dominance. You need a great business, not just great marketing!

Google may not have spent millions on ad campaigns but they've spent those millions on infrastructure development, product planning and launch, and customer/user acquisition which all leads to brand growth. Similarly with myspace and any other similar examples you may have.

Oh and vonage's online marketing budget has been over $20 million a month for the past 6 months or more. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3603121

 

fahd - thanks for the clarification on vonage and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I was just making the point that you can't spend 20 a month and expect to build a brand.

 

A great brand can be created extremely cheaply.

Craiglist is a great brand. Cost nothing, probably. MySpace is a great brand. MySpace grew viraly, probably spent very little on "brand marketing". Same with YouTube, another great brand on the cheap (relatively cheap, I believe they had a fair bit of VC money behind them, with the intent to take it public).

Combine a nice name with a website that offers real value to users, and attracts repeat users. Voila, a brand is born.

All our websites have brands whether we consider them to be brands or not. For most, probably 90%, the url is your brand. Or site title.

It's just that most of our brands suck. Compared to the "big brands".

 

Branding is important. If you notice yahoo overture searches for keywords, you will find many website names are searched too.

 

I think it's time for a few of quotes from the Cluetrain Manifesto:

The point is that the examples of the new companies that get it, Google, MySpace, CraigsList, etc, don't worry about tradional marketing or "brand awareness", they build a killer service and it spreads by word of mouth.