Launching an e-business on the internet is now just a question of spending some money and a little time with a facilitator who will take care of all the finer details.  But, often, the e-business, launched with much fan fare and high expectations, fails to make even a superficial ripple in the vast ocean of e-commerce in which millions of ventures vie with one another for catching the attention of potential customers.  Very few are able to build a really striking and positive brand image that will keep consumers glued to their proposals and offers, in a long-term and mutually satisfying relationship.

Branding in the online world is far more than just transferring your print brand identity to the Web. Web-based communication has its own presentation-peculiarities which are basically different from what you have in the print media. It is more than adding some graphic design images.  It is the interactive experience you provide your users.

Of course, everybody knows that the Web allows you to build one-to-one relationships with your customers.  But what is more important is the quality of those relationships.  The key to success is engaging your customers and facilitating an ongoing relationship with them for a really long time, winning their complete confidence and enjoying it without any break for as long as they need your services/products.

We all have, at one time or another, been affected by both successful and unsuccessful Web-branding efforts. In short, if it isn't done correctly, it hurts a company's ability to gain and retain business through this channel and it disappoints the potential customer who may have to continue his search for a more satisfying proposal.

Here are a few points to keep in mind when thinking about the proper way to establish a strong brand identity on the Web:

• Know your target audience. It is critical that a Web business conducts the right up-front assessments to determine who their best prospects are. For example, a toy company or business-to-business parts supplier may have conducted tracking studies or customer analyses for their brick-and-mortar business, but this does not mean that their best offline prospects are their best online candidates.

• Make your online brand usable, or they won't come (back). Creating an online brand isn't just about the design, overall look and feel, and a pretty logo. It is very much connected to and enhanced by a positive user experience and an intuitive navigation scheme. In most circumstances, users want to get in, find what they want (information, items to buy, informal chats and community-related interaction) and then get out, on their terms, whether that means two minutes or two hours. E-businesses need to assess users' impressions of how easy it is to navigate a site and find what they want. And, when a site is redesigned, continue to evaluate and validate whether the job has been done correctly. We call this "Advancing the User Experience."

• Deploy technology that creates a strong, unique brand definition. There is an ever increasing array of Web applications that e-businesses can buy (or build, depending on your needs) to add "critical" functionality to a site. However, just because someone else may offer a "hot" service or feature on a site doesn't mean that you should do the same. Always relate your technology purchase decisions to your overall business drivers. For example, if you intend to differentiate your organisation based on personalised customer service, make sure the self-service applications and user interfaces that you put in place are designed to fit your users' unique needs and are integrated with back-end customer databases and "real-time" customer service channels.

The most important thing to understand is that a Web "brand" is multidimensional. It's more than just a messaging and identity effort; it's also the degree to which you ensure a positive user experience, optimize usability, and incorporate technology that addresses key user needs and leapfrogs the competition. By taking all of these dimensions into account, you'll cement long-term relationships with your users, and profit as a result.

• Models
• Blog
• Contact Us