(Synthetic) Authenticity: Build From Within
Lots of brands want to be authentic. One of the most authentic brands to me is Harley.
But what makes for an authentic brand? I would argue it is not the brand that makes claims that they are authentic. Here are some of the ways that brands can develop and render authenticity:
- Story-telling that reveals values or points of differentiation of and about the brand
- Sharing the roots or heritage of the brand
- Being involved and one with the community your brand lives in
- Having company culture that adopts the brand values like a cult!
The last point is vital: if people who work on the brand aren’t invested and don’t believe in the brand, the brand will be hurt in the long run. The idea from our recent branding class about authenticity: “build it inside out.”
The Most Interesting Creative Brief in the World
Target Audience: Anyone who is thirsty and isn’t offended by a fake Spanish accent.
Communication Objective: Use TV actor Jonathan Goldsmith to turn Dos Equis into a household name and into the brand consideration set of people across America.
Obstacles: Having a gray-haired, Don Draper lookalike convince people he chooses beer over scotch.
How Your Content Strategy Is Critical For Reputation Management
Online reputation management is the practice of both monitoring the online reputation of a person, brand, product or business, and of addressing negative mentions, either by eliminating or suppressing them, or by decreasing their visibility on search engine results pages by pushing them lower; for example, making the negative content appear on page 15 of a Google results page, rather than on page one or two.
Monitoring — and addressing — online reputation issues boils down to search engine optimization. Creating, disseminating and promoting strong, credible, positive content is pretty much the only weapon at a marketer’s disposal.
Online reputation management starts with having a content strategy and content marketing already in place.
Don’t be fooled that once content elements are in place, you can set it and forget it. Content marketing, like search engine optimization, is an ongoing process. You’ll always have to continue what journalists have long called “feeding the beast.”
It’s important to bear in mind that not all reviews will be positive, and 100 percent of customers will never be happy 100 percent of the time. Online reputation management isn’t about obliterating any negative mention or association made with your organization, rather by mitigating those negative results with strong, positive, visible, and consistent content.
Companies must be well-prepared with content, PR-savvy, and the ability to create the right kind of content and deliver it in the appropriate voice. Threatening to sue your customers is never a good strategy (just ask the RIAA). Nor is nitpicking over a logo or copyright issues when lives are — literally — at stake.
http://marketingland.com/how-your-content-strategy-is-critical-for-reputation-management-16073
Google Tells Congress: Users Can Opt-Out Of New Privacy Policy By Not Logging In
marketingland.comMatt McGee at Marketing Land:
Chavez also clarifies that the new privacy policy will “covers users signed into their Google Accounts on Android phones just as it does users signed into their Google Accounts from a desktop computer.”
Don’t be evil, much.
A Super Sized Strategy
Can you take the spirit of hospitality too far?
Back in 2001, while pursuing a diversification strategy in Switzerland, McDonald’s might have done just that when they opened two McHotels, actually branded as the “Golden Arch Hotels.”
While the strategical side of this brand extension (restaurant to hotel business) is questionable, the execution part likely contributed to this venture ultimately failing.
To start with, the hotels were positioned as four-star hotels, despite that people readily associate McDonald’s with affordability, and not at all with luxury. Instead of embracing that established brand equity, McDonald’s offered an all out four-star experience, along with a four-star price point and strict occupancy restrictions. For a consumer trying out the hotel, this was understandably a confusing experience.
Welcome AJ Kohn & Ginny Marvin To Search Engine Land, Marketing Land
It’s a pleasure to announce the two newest members of our Third Door Media editorial team: AJ Kohn and Ginny Marvin. Ginny joins us as a Contributing Writer and will focus primarily on covering paid advertising topics — paid search on Search Engine Land and paid social media/display…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
from Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing http://bit.ly/X8V3Ai
Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care
marketingland.comThis is a good piece by Danny Sullivan of Marketing Land about the lack of coverage Microsoft’s privacy policy consolidation got this week compared to what Google got on a similar move earlier this year.
Mr. Sullivan’s analysis is thorough and worth a look, but I noticed a broader issue here for Microsoft:
Google matters and Microsoft doesn’t.
I’ll elaborate. Google got hammered by voluminous coverage because, in the minds of the tech press and many consumers, what they do with data matters. Microsoft, on the other hand, is not seen as an important player in the consumer data space. That perception may be inaccurate, particularly with the generally positive reaction to, if not widespread adoption of, SkyDrive and the new Outlook.
But it’s there: when it comes to privacy, Google is search and email and Android. Microsoft is, well, not much. Windows 8 and Surface may change that, but no one is holding their breath. In short, this looks like a case in which Microsoft got let less critical press coverage than they may have wanted: people complain about the things that are important to them. The unimportant things get ignored.
