The Zen of Low-Control Branding
The art and science of branding is undergoing a sea change. We’re moving from a system where your brand is what you tell people it is, to a system where your brand is what people tell you it is. The most intriguing part of this change is that no one really knows what the new system is going to look like. But there are clues.
First, let's deal with control. Absolute control of your brand is now out of your hands. Even if you aren’t aware of it, your brand is being discussed, praised, slammed or slandered online. In one way, that's no different from how it used to be. People always talked about your brand; the difference now is that when people talk amongst themselves, millions of of others are listening, ready to jump into the conversation, offer their opinions, and re-post the commentary.
To remain in the game and exercise some control is to participate. You can’t always drive the bus, but you can have a seat near the front. If you try to make everyone else shut up and listen to you, the bus will pull over and you will be kicked off. Then where are you?
The first step, then, is to find the bus. Be aware of what’s being said about you online. Have someone monitor the conversations on Facebook, and in the blogs, chat rooms, and other places where customers are congregating right now. You can lurk there silently, if you like. Or, better, join in the conversation and try to direct people to the information and online assets you have posted that present your point of view.
Don’t have any online assets or information that present your point of view? Oh, dear. Best get on that. And you’d best remember to sell the truth.
Truth as a touchstone has never been more important in the branding game. Every single decision you make – from R&D through to sales and marketing – needs to ring true. If it doesn’t, if you are trying to spin things, or present an angle that is covertly or overtly advantageous to your brand, you will be called out. The crowd loves to expose a charlatan. And even a seemingly small misstep, one that used to go unnoticed, can now cause an enormous flare-up of vitriolic verbiage.
Witness the country-western artist who wrote a song about United Airlines, wherein the musician, peeved about the airline luggage-handlers breaking of his guitar, saw his fortunes peak and the airline's crater as his music video went viral on YouTube. Almost six million people have now watched United Breaks Guitars.
And while this is a very public example, it’s not the only case. Every day consumers are ranking and rating your brand online. Woe unto the author who has one or two bad reviews on Amazon. Yelp is another popular rating program for restaurants, shopping, and entertainment that pulls great traffic on Google searches. Google’s new program called SideWiki is the ultimate in water-cooler chatter generators, with the opportunity for anyone to leave comments for others to find on any website – including yours.
It’s a brand new branding day here on Planet Marketing. The days of painstakingly crafting a brand image over time, each strategy and message building on past brand equity and leading to a glorious future as outlined in the brand platform – they're over. Realizing that is Step One. The real work begins after you push your brand messages out into the world, and the world pushes back.
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