Branding.com: Online Branding for Marketing Success [Hardcover]

On-line branding--brand marketing on the Internet--is now the biggest challenge facing most marketers. Branding.com reveals why branding is the most important element in any marketing plan and why it must be uniquely executed in each medium--including on the Internet--in order to be successful. For companies extending their branding efforts onto the Internet, as well as for web entrepreneurs who are looking to brand a product or service exclusively on-line, Branding.com explores the basics of on-line brand marketing and shows how to plan and execute a successful on-line branding strategy and how to develop a "next generation media mix" to leverage both on-line and off-line marketing media in promoting a brand.

Branding.com is your guide to developing an online branding strategy that fits seamlessly with your marketing plan while adapting to the unique conditions of the Web. You'll learn how to transform your brand from a "thing" to an "experience"--one that your customers will not only remember but actively seek online.

If marketing options such as rich media, interstitials, and virtual communities make your head spin, take heart. Branding.com goes far beyond website banner advertising to explain how many new technologies work and how some companies are using them to great advantage. You'll discover which methods boast the greatest potential for brand-linked recall, which are considered most annoying to consumers, and which might be right for your brand, in the context of your online branding strategy.

From the overnight marketing success (and sob) stories of the dot-corns to the triumphs and failures of traditional, offline brands, Branding.com reveals why certain companies made the choices they did when designing their websites, selecting their technologies, or reexamining their brand objectives in the context of the new medium.

Lessons from the front highlight the responsive, forward-thinking Web marketing tactics of companies such as:

• Volvo, which uses the Web to help its brand become hipper

• Avon, whose virtual beauty consultant stands in for the Avon Lady

• The Sharper Image, which relies on three dimensional product views to simulate the in-store experience customers have always valued

Like it or not, your website is affecting your brand at this very moment--and the impression may not be what you would wish. Branding.com explains what makes a website powerful, shows you how to take your site beyond stickiness to achieve magnet status, and reveals the biggest site killers (outdated information is number one).

You'll also learn more about:

• Click-through, and why it is only appropriate for measuring response, not brand awareness

• The surprising cost-effectiveness of Web advertising

• Why some marketers argue that the Web is best suited for brand preference rather than brand awareness--and how emerging formats such as rich media and interstitials are proving them wrong

For a thorough introduction to Web marketing and an engaging account of current and future technologies and their applications, Branding.com is the book you'll want at your fingertips as you prepare to meet the enormous challenge of taking your brand online.

Deborah Kania is a recognized Internet expert with more than ten years of experience in high-tech marketing--including online advertising, website marketing, and e-commerce. She is the director of marketing for Lens Express, the leading direct retailer of contact lenses, eyeglasses, sunglasses, and other vision-care products and services. Kania is the coauthor of Internet World Guide to One-to-One Web Marketing and The Web Catalog Cookbook. Additionally,she has written about Internet marketing for ClickZ.com, Iconoclast, and Business Marketing. She resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.