Book review: CREATING BRAND COOL
Brand Distinction in the Online Marketplace
Genres:
- E-commerce
- Branding
Review posted on:
26.02.2023
The number of pages:
109 pages
Book rating:
3/5
Year the book was published:
First edition published 2021
Who should read this book:
- Anyone starting out in E-commerce and has basic or no knowledge of online marketing.
- Anyone who is already doing retail online marketing but is just not getting the results that they want and is looking for what is it that they are missing.
Why did I pick up this book and what did I expect to get out of it:
One of the reasons for picking up this book is Joan Abrahams 26 years of experience in online marketing and that she was a professor at a private colleague named Parsons School of Design for 25 years teaching about Ecommerce marketing. She is doing this for almost as long as online marketing exists so, yeah, I was intrigued to see what she has to share with us in a book that has less than a hundred pages. Also when going through the table of content the chapters seemed interesting and on topic, covering everything from your website as the “brand central”, to sensory appeals, strategic partnerships, merchandizing, customization, localization, globalization, and more.
If you are an online marketer, do you have everything of this covered?
My thoughts about the book:
The author has strong arguments about how to create the near perfect if not the perfect online customer experience, but what I am missing in the book is more in-depth case studies, explanations based on psychology, or some data to back up the author’s claims. The style of writing is easy to read and you could probably read the book in one sitting as it has almost no industry-specific phrases and no scientific research on why you should do what and what not.
Overall if you are looking for a light read that get’s you into a brainstorming mood on what to do to connect more with your customers then this is the book you should pick up. On the other hand, if you are looking for something that packs more of a data and science “punch” then you might want to skip this book.
A short summary of the book:
Joan Abraham starts out by talking about the impact that the internet has on businesses and how Jeff Bezos successfully created and expanded his company by doing what most companies at that time when Amazon was started had not been doing. And that is providing the best possible customer experience online. She continues pointing out what it takes to build brand awareness online through strategic partnerships, customer support, and online advertising, and how all of that needs to point to your one true point of contact/sales which is your website. In the next chapters, she continues on elaborating how emotional appeal, product placement in different media, and lifestyle branding helps you connect with your target group and what to keep in mind when doing research for marketing decisions (data, methodology, and more). One great point she makes is, do you know how to test your website if it is user friendly and in how many steps does the customer find their desired product? No? Find a person that is not accustomed to online shopping and have her or him try to buy something on your site. Did they find the product they wanted with ease or did they struggle? If they struggled you have found something you have to improve.
Then she continues with the importance of creating original online content, constantly updating and improving your website as well as online and offline events and promotions. The reason behind promotions and events is of course to keep your customers and potential customers engaged on social media so that they spread the word about your brand and most importantly so that they start feeling like part of the brand or the brand as part of them. If you do that you have brand ambassadors who do half of your work or even more. Joan points out a great way to connect customers with your brand and that is by customization and localization even though you might be on the other side of the world. Also, cause-related marketing is becoming ever more important where you provide means for your customers to feel better for buying from you. Many people connect more with their chosen brands because those brands donate part of their income to the causes the customers endorse. For a final, though Joan talks about virtual reality and what kind of an impact that will have on online shopping. Just think about how you could combine virtual reality with merchandising, product placement, and more.
My notes from the book:
- In the online world, branding is about using today's technology and creatively engaging the consumer. Today's retail is all about the experience, about creating an environment that makes the consumer forget about day-to-day reality and escape in some form to a more pleasant "daydream".
- The ultimate goal is to make the brand so magnetic that the consumer craves the product or service as part of their self-identification.
- More people have access to your online presence than any other avenue of exposure. Therefore, one's social channels need to constantly reinforce the same feelings, messages, and experiences that the brand has created through its stores, promotions, and other media expenditures.
- Everyone is a brand ambassador today and it starts with all those working for the company.
- Social media is the voice of the public responding to today's brands. If a company responds and continues to communicate with its constituency during a crisis, people will continue to trust the brand. Social media can be used to read the audience and respond very quickly to problems affecting public perception.
- Online marketing is all about capturing specified data and how that information is used to make the next message even better. Understanding what is possible in measuring in ad words and keywords opens up all kinds of opportunities for learning more and more about your consumers.
- One of the best ways to test the consumer experience on your site is to have someone over 60 years old test the site's functionalities.
- The advertising industry no longer has full control of the brand perception. Now it is being molded and influenced by the public at large. The customer now has an integral role to play in shaping the brand's essence.
- With so many choices in the marketplace, the job of marketers is to determine which media channels reach the customer best during their daily routine.
- Strategic partnerships involving product placement in the entertainment of all kinds are the most successful branding tools for lifestyle marketing.
- Entertainment with merchandising embedded into the content, whether for television, the Internet, movies, gaming, and even print is going to be the future of advertising.
- In a world of mass consumption, consumers love individuality. So keep in mind that customized products enhance the brand image.
- If you are an entrepreneur developing your own product, your lifestyle becomes part of the brand heritage. What you read, listen to, watch, and more becomes part of the brand even though you do that in your "own time".
- Cause-related marketing is an essential tool for branding in our times. Supporting a cause or a charity reflects what a brand stands for. By donating a certain amount of the sale to a specific cause, makes customers feel better about spending their money with you / the brand.
- Thinking about how you are going to create engagement is as essential as the purchase. Content creation is going to be big business over the next couple of years. The more variety and original content you put into the mix, the more responsive and engaged your audience becomes.
- Promotions give you something to talk about! Your objective should be to create promotions that sway the consumer to identify with the brand emotionally. The activities don't have to be related to just selling merchandise. It's about keeping the customer engaged and building a community of like-minded individuals to share information and experiences.
- Whenever going into a new market the first issue is understanding the culture you are interested in interacting with. What are the local customs and traditions, and how does your product interact with those customs?
