Merge

I was meeting with someone at Caviar and Bananas in Charleston a couple of weeks back, and afterward took a quick stroll through the wine section.  I stumbled upon something I had never seen on the back of a wine bottle before, a phone number.  I'm sure this is not a rarity, but it prompted an experiment involving 15 more wines.  Of the 15, no other had a phone number, and only two had a web address.&nb

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The NCAA men's basketball tournament is now over and I'm sad; it's my favorite three week period of the year.  It is arguably the greatest sporting event every year, but even more, it may be one of the most well branded entities around.  In fact, the word of mouth revolving around the tournament is mind boggling.  For the last three weeks, how many conversations did you have about your Final Four.  How many times did you hear the words March Madness uttered at your office?  Did anyone show up at your office the first Thursday of the tournament? 

How they created this kind of buzz would be another blog altogether. The fact is it is there.  CBS has stepped up their game in the online world as well.  The creation of March Madness on Demand has increased online ad revenue more than eightfold since 2006, but this only equates to about 5% of total revenue (source: Kantar Media, CBS, Business Insider).  While this is growing rapidly, don't expect TV and Online ad revenue to get close in the coming years, and the reason is word of mouth. 

CBS knows its strength lies in conversations of the offline variety.  Sports bars and Final Four get-togethers will  continue to flourish because of our desire to compare brackets with friends and experience the games with others. 

Bottom Line:  The online trends and apps will continue to grow, but this will be a business dominated by good ole word of mouth. 

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We've met with a good number of companies over the last few months. Two weeks ago was the first I had heard anyone say that a major reason for the decision to revamp their web efforts was because it would do a lot for company morale.  They were coming out of what was not their best year, like most, and they really wanted to turn the corner and reinvigorate the company.  They went so far as to say the new website launch would be a major part of the upcoming annual meeting.

Looking back, this was a recurring theme for many companies, just no one ever said exactly what this company said.  Makes sense, it is the first thing anyone looks at when they are making a decision to work with you.  I've heard a lot of employees, from sales reps to CEO's to IT folks, say they are embarrassed to send potential clients to their website.  The important thing here is that the web is, at the very least, an extension of your brand.   I'm also a firm believer that your brand starts with your people, and if they feel like their branding and marketing efforts are not being supported by the website, then you actually do have a morale problem.  The bigger problem begins when this sentiment leaks to outsiders and potential clients. 

Bottom Line:    Company morale has long been about relationships between people; colleague to colleague, boss to employee, etc...  Don't neglect the relationship between employees and your web presence, it is becoming more important than ever.

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Generally, companies make the branding mistake of wanting to be all things to all people; however, the essence of a brand is just the opposite--focus.

Whether you are creating a new brand or reevaluating your current brand, there are four brand requirements that you should consider. These are the same provisions Merge utilizes when creating online branding strategies for our clients:

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When we ask companies what sets them apart, almost all of them who don't have clear positioning say its because they're nice people.

NEWS FLASH: Being nice isn't a differentiating attribute. Being nice is expected. Sure, it helps. But is it truly why you are better than 20 of your closest competitors?

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