Branding is one of those terms that, with enough effort and creativity, can be applied to just about any kind of activity in which one tries to connect with another. But too often the methods and outcome are secondary to the process itself. It’s absolutely crucial that you know not only where your target is, but how you’re going to reach it.
Rick Mathieson gave me a copy of his book, The On-Demand Brand, and he has brought the worlds of engagement, channels, and effect all together.
It’s a must read for anyone who works in digital media, regardless of whether you think this is an industry or not, and it’s vital for anyone that considers marketing part of his or her professional function.
The book provides “10 rules for digital marketing success in an anytime, everywhere world.” Rick calls them rules, but they are more like 10 methods for digital marketing. He doesn’t tell you how to do it, instead he gives you understanding on why multiple channels of engagement are important for marketing in what he (rightfully) calls the “now media” culture – a smart way to approach this since technology makes things invented yesterday obsolete. If these were truly “how-to” rules, the book would be out of date before it hit the shelves. It’s not really a business book, but a series of observations on the various degrees of digital engagement, and how brands can better understand and harness the power of branding in a “pull vs. push” culture.
It’s not enough to just know that the other channels – online and mobile engagement to name a couple – exist, but to know how these channels work and affect one another in the ecosystem of consumer engagement. Each rule is valuable in gaining greater understanding of impact. Right off the bat, he starts with “Insight Comes Before Inspiration,” where he very clearly shows that, like all marketing efforts, you must know the customer, and that you can’t really move forward until you do (something I have been preaching forever). He continues by showing that every channel of engagement deserves its own contextual approach, meaning you can’t re-purpose content for another channel (AMEN).
The book contains several current and relevant case studies. I have heard of almost every one of them, and I saw most of them in a new way when reading how they were developed and deployed. The beautiful part is that if you are unaware of any of these, there’s a very good chance you can find them online.
A fabulous feature of the book are the interviews Rick conducts with some industry heavyweights, including Laura Klauberg, Senior Vice President of global media at Unilever (“So it’s really about being in tune with the culture, and then finding the points where there might be a great intersection of a brand and what’s important to customers.”) to Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky (“…the consumer – whether you embrace it or not – is involved in the creation of your brand.”) to Tom Nicholson, the CEO and founder of LBi IconNicholson and the ‘Father of Social Retailing’ (“The place where individual product brands can play [a role] is in creating experiences tied to the mobile device-services that consumers will want to access when they are in a physical store environment.”).
Klauberg, Bogusky, and Nicholson. The Engagement All-Stars
This book is loaded with practical and comprehensible insight, and belongs on every marketer’s list to read. Reading this before too long will even prepare marketers better for the coming holiday season, when consumers will hit the stores and websites even harder with greater demand on those brands that want to engage them at those levels. My copy of the book is completely dog-eared, post-it marked, and highlighted with several places where I can leverage his insight in teaching clients about digital media in a digital culture.
Rick provides a companion site to the the book: GENWOW, where you can read more about digital marketing and listen to interviews with other industry leaders. I suggest you subscribe to his RSS feed as well.
Go read this. Now. Before everyone else does and beats you to the customer.
You can buy the book here. Affiliate Link
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