Strategy and Context
Strategic theories found in every brand manager's toolkit are listed in this chapter. As you read, add the ten key terms to your key terms glossary and organize them by strategy, execution, or collateral. Then look at the Brand Pyramid Template, start this analysis with the Brand Essence, then choose a brand you are loyal to and examine how each engages you in the loyalty loop. Next, choose a close competitor to your brand, and run the same examination. The Brand Pyramid Template strategy is often used for evaluating brand initiatives that align with the commitment to ethical practices. Use the work you started in the activity above and choose a brand that has been certified for its commitment to societal business practices (https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp). Again, look at the Brand Pyramid Template, and examine how the B Corp brand compares with a similar competitive B Corp brand. You can search the category to find the competitive brand. Use your notebook to create 2-3 sentence answers to the challenge questions for both exercises. This time, in this exercise, substitute the B Corp brand and focus on which ethical practices create the best strategic competitive advantage.
What is Digital Marketing?
How does digital marketing fit into this definition? There is, in fact, no difference between 'traditional' marketing and digital marketing. They are one and the same, apart from digital being specific to a medium.
Ultimately, the aim of any type of marketing is to keep and grow a customer base and stimulate sales in the future.
Digital communication tools contribute towards connecting and building long-term relationships with customers.
What is digital? Bud Caddell defines 'digital' as "A participatory layer of all media that allows users to self-select their own experiences and affords marketers the ability to bridge media, gain feedback, iterate their message and collect relationships". In other words, digital is a way of exploring content and ideas (for users) and connecting with and understanding customers (for marketers).
Digital marketing is powerful in two fundamental ways. First, the audience can be segmented very precisely, even down to factors like current location and recent brand interactions, which means that messages can (and must) be personalised and tailored specially for them.
Second, the digital sphere is almost completely measurable. Every minute and every click by a customer can be accounted for. In digital you can see exactly how various campaigns are performing, which channels bring the most benefit and where your efforts are best focused. Cumulatively, access to data that measures the whole customer experience should lead to data-driven decision making.
The complete scope of marketing is practised on the Internet. Products and services are positioned and promoted, purchased, distributed and serviced. The web provides consumers with more choice, more influence and more power. Brands constantly have new ways of selling, new products and services to sell and new markets to which they can sell Digital marketing helps to create consumer demand by using the power of the interconnected, interactive web. It enables the exchange of currency but more than that, it enables the exchange of attention for value.
An Exchange of Value
If marketing creates and satisfies demand, digital marketing drives the creation of demand using the power of the Internet and satisfies this demand in new and innovative ways.
A brand on the Internet can gain value in the form of time, attention and advocacy from the consumer. For the user value can be added in the form of entertainment, education and utility. Brands build loyalty among users who love their products or services and must align with users' values and aspirations. Users fall in love with products and services when their experience is tailored to their needs and not the needs of the brand.