Advergirl has cited a few interesting facts on her blog about consumers online shopping behaviors from Comscore. According to Comscore, 89% of consumers shop online for product information before making a purchasing decision at a brick and mortar. This seems a bit high to me but still the fundamental idea behind it is very interesting.
These numbers seem to show a seismic shift in consumers behaviors and it only reinforces the notion that brand equity on the web is more important now than ever.
The new consumer model seems to reflect that purchase decisions start on the web and end as offline purchases in-store. What does this mean? Campaigns that are not integrated risk disconnecting the consumer from the brand’s equity and possibly losing the purchase. Integration and reinforcement of your core equities online and offline should become the basic building blocks of a great online marketing strategy.
How does a brand successfully keep its story consistent through all the various channels today? First, it should decide early on the narrative it wants to tell and make it compelling and integrated into your product. A compelling story/product will inspire buzz and reverberate into further social circles and that means increased market penetration. Second, it should assign the task of brand police to someone who has been on the team since the beginning and allow them to enforce equity. Its important that your policeman knows the narrative and can help to inform the rest of your company. There are many other steps and custom processes to branding yourself but these are a good start.
It may seem daunting but with proper planning and a little legwork and research your brand can translate its message into a great story and not risk losing the battle.
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