DBS 554

Branding in the Digital Age

By
Paul Olola:D65/68454/2013

Working definition of terms

Digital Branding
Digital channels and assets used to communicate the brands position or
purpose as part of multi-channel brand communications.

Owned Media
A media channel which the organization creates and controls.
E.g. websites, blogs, Facebook pages, tweeter accounts etc.

Earned Media
Publicity gained from promotional efforts other than advertising. E.g.
positive customer review and comments on an advert posted online

Paid Media
Publicity gained through advertising using websites, television, radio etc.

Introduction
In years to come, there will be more

brands vying for attention on them, clutter

will increase and consumers will continue to filter out more brands.
Brands will continue to be more important as consumers are offered more
choices, their preferences will become more important.
Kenya being the most developed nation in East and Central Africa has attracted
several brands eying on its market.
The new Constitution of Kenya promulgated in August 2010, is considered as a
major positive development in ensuring the free flow of information.
The Government of Kenya has also pledged to enhance Kenyas technological
infrastructure by working on digital villages to enable people in remote parts
of the country to access broadband internet.
Market forces are playing their part in allowing ordinary Kenyans to benefit
from the new possibilities offered by digitization.
Stiff competition in mobile phone market has lowered access costs. Young
people with little disposable income can easily access mobile news outlets.
(Internet Governance in Kenya Report, 2012)

Kenyas Online Consumer presence

The number of Internet users rose by 26.1 million in the last quarter of 2014. This
marked an increase of 4.8 million users compared to the same quarter of 2013.
(Sector report by the Communications Authority of Kenya in 2014)

Kenyas internet users spend at least an average 70 minutes online during each visit.

The growth of internet access and usage attributed to numerous data promotions
carried out by the various service providers during the quarter.
For example: One of the service providers offered free social media access by
post paid and pre paid subscribers on their network.
The report classified the main users of the internet as :

Users

Percentage

Searching for information

75%

Communication

64%

Downloading content

59%

Digital usage in Kenya

Why Digital Branding?

It is one of the many possible channels through which a brand can connect with its
customers.
It is an increasingly important touch points for brands.
It can be a driver of customer perceptions and experiences.
More than ever, the digital encounter is the first encounter with a brand.
As opposed to traditional methods whereby relations with customers end with the
sale, digital branding aims at sustaining relations, engaging the customer and spending
more time on the touch points.
Companies are resorting to crowd sourcing to get ideas on new products, advertising
campaigns and sales promotions.
Companies are moving to marketing automation whereby artificial intelligence is used
to carry out marketing activities that were formerly carried out by skilled marketers.
The Internet, social media and new communication technologies are major game
changers in marketing. A company cannot promote its brand by having a monopoly on
communications about its brands. It is the consumers and their peer-to-peer talk
that is shaping consumer images of brands, what to buy and how much to pay. No
Company can afford to deceive customers without being quickly exposed on the
Internet (Kotler, 2013).

Customer Decision Journey

David Court carried a study in 2009 on how brands engage with customers in the
customer decision making journey
His findings can be represented in form of a metaphor comparison of traditional and
modern customer decision journey.

Modern consumer decision journey

Implications

Instead of focusing on how to allocate spending across media, marketers should target
stages in the decision journey. (Advertising and Advocacy)

Marketers budgets are constructed to meet the needs of outdated strategies which
focuses on huge costs and one-way communication. Instead of paid media, marketers
should concentrate on owned media and earned media.

In the digital age more importance should be given to evaluate and advocate products
and services.

Forms of Digital Media

Owned Media

Paid media

Drives Traffic

Getting to know what customers want

To see how consumers navigate the
decision journey, the following are
considered:

What they SAY

What they DO :

Take ACTION

How do they describe the stages of

their journey online and offline?

Which resources were valuable and

which were disappointing?

How did brands enter and leave their

decision sets and what drove their
purchase decision at the end?

What they SEE

How was its appearance in search

engines?

How visible were they on retail sites?

How do consumers review the brand?

What do people comment online about

the brand?

Shift from paid media.

Insert your web links to retail, product

and service sites.

Develop a customer experience plan

depending on products, campaign
strategy, market segment and the media
mix.

Develop programs that include online

community initiatives, contests and
email promotions.

It will involve carrying out a market

research to find out how the brand is
performing based on customer feedback,
shares, likes, access, comments, reviews,
etc. across different media.

Web trends
Brand tracking and studies have been made easier and faster online via innovative traffic
auditing software like Web trends. It makes it possible to tell the time, dates, region or
country of visitors and the path taken by visitors through the website. It helps in
understanding the traffic a website generates by telling digital marketers who is visiting the
site, how long they are staying, which pages they are viewing and not viewing (Kumar &
Aaker,2002).

Benefits of using digital media

Organizations can respond to problems immediately.
In case of a problem with a product or service, with the feedback, comments and replies in
social media, primary knowledge of where issues are results into steps to resolve them
immediately. Studies have shown that consumers appreciate companies that respond to their
complaints promptly.

Building a brand and its reputation

A positive reputation enables marketers to differentiate their products/services in a highly
competitive market and successfully compete with big players. Making sure that
communication with customers through interactions with your company via website, e-mail,
Social Media aids in building a long-lasting relationship with your customers.

Profitability
Online brand marketing might have good return on investment (ROI) owing to a bigger
territory and expanded brand awareness leading to profitability.
People are receptive to your messages.
People view Twitter and Facebook as social networks, not marketing machines. As a result,
theyre less likely to see what you post as an advertisement and will be more likely to hear
what you have to say.

Ctd
It will get you more sales.
When you stay in front of your customer base, theyre more likely to buy from you when they
need the products you sell. Social media marketing helps keep your companys name in front of
potential buyers,

You will find customers you didnt know existed.

You can find people who are looking for the products you sell (and then direct them to your
site). Using Twitter for marketing is great that way telling people who want your products
how to get them from your company is just any sign away
Cost effective
If you handle your own social media management, running a social networking campaign is
as cheap as it gets. If you hire a social media management or online PR agency its still
cheaper as compared to the traditional methods of advertising
Level playing field.
You need to have millions of dollars to run traditional advertisement campaigns, here all
companies start off on pretty equal footing when it comes to social media marketing. The
people who thrive and go viral in cyberspace are the people with the most clever, attention
grabbing tactics and the most useful, link worthy content.

The challenge of the digital media

Cyber terrorism
The rise of Hackers
Hackers are people who exploit weaknesses in a
computer system or network. They may be
motivated by profit, protest, challenge,
enjoyment or to evaluate those weaknesses and
assist in removing them.

If motivated by negative objectives, they could

add, remove or steal content from websites,
social sites which can be catastrophic for
organizations seeking to create a positive brand
image.

The challenge of the digital media

The rise of the Cyber Caliphate

The Islamic States cyber Caliphate hacked
more than 54,000 twitter accounts in 2015
raising their flags over them. For a well
established brand enjoying favorable
customer reviews, activities of the
caliphate could be a holocaust to the
future of the brand if it raised its flag on
your website.
Furthermore, the caliphate commands a
huge online followers and dictates which
products are religious and which ones
considered for infidels

Cost saving Vs. Brand Equity

There is a danger in moving brands online because of possibility of reducing brand equity
in case the site happens to be poor in terms of performance, structure or information
content. (Chaffey, 2004) Bearing this in mind, it is likely that an establishing company
might be prone to meeting such risks as a result of looking for cheaper alternatives of
building an online brand, in an effort to save costs.

Complaint channel
Dissatisfied customers are increasingly using the social media as a complaint channel. They
channel their grievances on particular brands price, durability, safety and sustainability. If
not timely managed, can get viral over a short time period leading to negative attitudes
and perception on brands.

Integrating digital communications

Organizations need to make sure that they integrate all

communications in their digital platforms to meet the
overall organizational objective. They should bear in mind
that digitization falls within an overall business strategy.
If they fail in the integration, customers will be confused
about their products and services.

References

Consumer Insight Reja Workshop 2014.

Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.) Cerebellum Press.

Kruger, R., & Stumpf, A., (2013). Brand Growth Barriers : Identify, Understand &
Overcome them. Berlin : New York : Springer.

Kumar, V., Aaker, A., & Day, G., (2002). Essentials of Marketing Research (2nd ed.)
John Wiley and Sons, INC.: Pennsylvania.

Souter,D. & Kennets, M. (2012). Internet Governance in Kenya : An Assessment.

Keller, K.L. (2003). Strategic Brand Management : Building, measuring and managing
brand equity (2nd ed.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall International Inc.

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G.(2012). Principles of Marketing (14th ed.) New Jersey :
Prentice Hall International Inc.

(Just to mention but a few)

Change your marketing, Care about your business level, Go multichannel,

Be ready for future forward looking company with innovation technology
and avoid being URBERED
Maurice Levy,
C.E.O. Publicis
2014.

The End