[Disclaimer] If a brand is sh*t offline, it will probably be sh*t online.
Posted in Brand Communications, Brand Thinking, Digital, Marketing, Social Media on 11. Jun, 2010
Reading back over my last couple of posts with a mixture of pride and recoil, I realised that my perspective so far on the relationship between brands and digital media has been a little bit rosy. Inspired in part by a brilliant post from @Tom_Messett, I concluded that if I’m going to be blogging about the role digital media can play in brand building, I’m going to have to throw in a big DISCLAIMER. This could well be my pillar of truth from here on; that’s right, you guessed it – if a brand is sh*t offline, it will be probably be sh*t online.
There it is, I said it.
I’m sure many of you have also had a recent flood of clients asking to ‘go social’, and while I largely approve of the intention, I strongly believe there are a number of basic things a brand needs to get right offline before a social media presence becomes worthwhile.
1. Is the customer experience right? Can the promises made online be delivered offline?
2. Do the owners/employees know their brand well enough to distill its promise into the simplest possible terms? The central problem of brand-building is getting a complex organisation to execute a simple idea.
3. What are the core values? The transparent nature of social media makes it vital that a brand stands for an enduring set of principles.
4. Is the brand positioning right? Differentiation is a critical step in building a brand.
The list could go on, but as a general guiding principle, I think business/brand owners should be able to answer three simple questions with one sentence answers before they begin to represent their brand with online conversations. 1) Who are you? 2) What do you do? 3) Why does it matter?
Social media is a fantastic strategic tool, but it’s definitely not magic.
Great post Richard and thanks for the shout out! I think the most important point is point 1 “is the customer experience right?” All the social engagement and outreach you like will not make up for a first class experience of the product when I buy it (be that in store, online, via customer support or any other medium).
A great example here is Apple, they create loads of positive WOM, have a viciously loyal community of fans and they do nothing to engage online… This is because they get all their offline right, everything from their in-store experience to their customer support to great products and UI!
Thanks for sharing :-)
Thanks for your comment Tom. Couldn’t agree more – the customer experience is key. I suppose the main and simple message here is to get the offline basics right first. If the brand and customer experience is flaky – then it is likely that the return on any time/money/effort spent online will be the same. Apple is a perfect example of how to get this right, thanks for chipping in :)
Rich