Evaluate how branding

can be applied in the

context of e-marketing?
The Four Pillars
Jack Thomson, Mellissa Withey, Farah El Fassi, Huw Wallace & Jakeha
Yesmin

Introduction
It is believed that brands hold the identity of a business. They show the
personality of the company, the fusion of the perceptions and
associations about everything the company stands for (Neelotpaul,
2010).
The Internet has permanently revolutionized the entire business
environment. The free flow of information and communication has
connected the world in a dynamic and powerful new way that has
transformed the way we talk, think, conduct ourselves, find out
information and communicate.
In the digital world of information overload, brands become even more
important due to the lack of physical interaction and inability to guarantee
a websites reliability on the internet.
This essay will address how branding can be successfully communicated
on the World Wide Web by applying Geoffrey Simmonss theory of The
Four Pillars of i-Branding to real business cases.
Understanding Customers
Understanding customers is essential for successful marketing and this is
even more vital when trying to understand online customers due to the
wider geographic and cultural spread. There is a lot more diversity in the
characteristics and attitudes towards the information presented and to
buying online (SmallBizConnect, n.d).
Consumer segmenting and micro-segmenting is a complex yet essential
way to deliver outstanding value propositions and understand the
customer (Humfries, n.d). This enables marketers to understand
consumers as well as the structure of the market (Goldsmith, 1999, cited
in Simmons, 2007). It looks at more than creating awareness for a brand,
but developing trust and creating relationships (Court et al., 2006, cited in
Simmons, 2007).
IBM states that a new, smarter type of consumer has emerged. They are
more cautious about spending their money and resistant to marketing due
to the variety of information available, they want to be servednot sold
to. (Humfries, n.d).
The more known about the expectations of a websites online presence,
the easier it is to satisfy those needs and expectations (SmallBizConnect,

n.d). It is this understanding that ensures success not merely

effectiveness (OMalley, 1991; De Chernatony and McDonald, 1992, cited
in Simmons, 2007).
In order to successfully brand online there must be an understanding of
what customers want and need (Kierzkowski et al. 1996, cited in
Simmons, 2007) from the brand and website, only then can a brand
experience can be created. These experiences engage the audience on a
regular basis and continue to build the brand online as an authority in the
related industry. The main aim of this is to create loyalty online and
become a brand in the customers perspective (Patel, 2013) hereby
creating a long term positive interaction that meets the wants and needs
of its target market (Lin et al., 2004, cited in Simmons, 2007).
Customers must be centre to the online branding model, the major factors
surrounding understanding customers is what content they would prefer,
where they would discover the information and the keywords they would
use to find it. There also needs to be an understanding of the product or
service they would want to spend their time and money on and factors
that drive them to make purchase decisions and how to engage them
(Patel, 2013).
To build a better understanding there must be an insight into their mindset, attitudes, aspirations, fears and motivations, in other words, what
motivates them to stay or buy online. Its also important to understand
their fears and concerns of buying online and how to manage these issues
(SmallBizConnect, n.d).
Among the factors mentioned there are several other tools that can be
utilized. Client-side data capture is a cookie mechanism that considers the
web habits of particular users. Google uses this mechanism, its main
purposes are to remember safe search preferences, make the ads viewed
more relevant and count the amount of visitors a page receives (Google,
n.d).
Online surveys help understand a customers global reach, flexibility,
technological innovations and the websites convenience. A large portion
of websites currently use surveys, one example is SONY, this is to
measure customer experience. The surveys are often conducted by an
independent company, in this example ForeSee. (SONY, n.d).
In conclusion, the positive outcome from understanding customers to an
online brand is that it creates trust, forms loyalty and a long term positive
interaction between customers and the online brand.

Marketing Communications
Marketing Communications is an integrated activity responsible for
promoting an offer to the target market using co-ordinated messages
through one or more communication channels.
An important collective yet simultaneously individual element within the
marketing mix, marketing communications helps clearly define the
relationship between the organisation and their customers through the
nature of the message, the chosen method of communication and
environment in which the message is conveyed (Finne, 2009).
Communication often ultimately determines the quality of a relationship,
therefore is required to be effectively managed and continuously
improved.
The internet provides unstructured and unconstrained exchanges of
information, subsequently permitting the personalisation of two-way
communication between the organisation and customer. Relationships can
be used as a method for creating an attractive brand, attracting
customers and increasing customer retention through repeated exposure
and reducing perceived risk (Romaniuk, J, 2009).
Furthermore, tailoring information to the customers specific wants and
needs can positively alter customer perceptions. Customer service,
feedback, user registration and cookie data collection are a few ways in
which customer behaviour can be further understood, and therefore
responsive strategic solutions can be formulated (Neelotpaul, 2011).
Satorisan (Satorisan.com, 2013) is a website selling footwear that reflects
the interactivity customers desire in order to feel in control and ultimately
create a positive experience of their time on the website.
Visual effects stream across the page leading to stages of choices,
interactive pictures are embedded throughout and when viewing products,
it offers an interactive scrolling system. Following or communicating with
the brand through numerous social media networks requires little effort
and hosting regular online competitions, the brand has received rising
interest whilst consistently keeping the public up to date with via their
Satorisan live link. These elements of gamification communicate certain
positive attributes to the brand.

It should be noted that although we are able to predict customer

behaviours to an extent using strategic communication models, customers
are ultimately autonomic and unpredictable. Brand communications within
an e-marketing context, due to the numerous elements and
considerations, is a complex and a consistently changing practise.
Interactivity
The interactivity feature of the internet is how a company conveys its
positive brand messages in a mechanized world. A successful branded site
is a good conversationalist; it makes queries and provides relevant
suggestions. Interactivity on the internet allows marketers to engage with
customers directly and create a unique and personal exchange with them
anywhere, anytime. The internet is more interactive and has greater
capabilities than traditional media to encourage one-on-one interaction.
Television, radio, or newspapers cannot engage into a conversation with
the audience. Hence, interactivity not only enables a two way
communication by allowing companies to engage in instant and unfiltered
dialogue with its customers, but also in the long run facilitates the
development and maintenance of company-customer relationship. The
impact of interactivity attribute of the internet is so profound that it plays
a major role in creating successful brands online with just a few clicks
(Neelotpaul, 2010).
The Pepsi website is a good example of the important role interactivity
plays in that relationship. Soda falls in a low involvement product
category, so consumers do not need to gather additional information nor
will they purchase it from the website. Therefore, it is interactivity that
attracts consumers to the Pepsi website. The site has interactive functions
that encourage repeat visits and viral marketing. Pepsi appreciates who
their target audience is, and fulfills their needs accordingly. The young
audience looks for entertainment, fun and excitement. On the Pepsi home
page, visitors can participate in sweepstakes, contests and promotions to
win products, music or sporting event tickets. They can download
interactive wallpapers and screensavers as well as play online games and
chat with other players or members. Furthermore, they can send e-cards,
get party recipes, read about the brand history and test themselves on
trivia. Pepsi has developed a consumer oriented interactive website to
build the brand (Neelotpaul, 2010).
Content
The fourth pillar that can be applied to e-marketing is content. Content
refers to a topic of information that is held to purse a need. (McGovern,

2000) If a site is to effectively market products or services to enhance its

brand, it needs to make the content concise and straight forward to
appeal to customers needs, thus encouraging them to trust the brand
and potentially buy. (Taylor and England, 2006)
Involvement theory can be applied to content. This implies that
consumers prefer content in which they have explicit involvement (Liang
All, 2007). For example, they can interact in purchase reviews which is
believed to address barriers of the e-market place. This is because it
helps online buyers handle the volume of content available as they can
share feedback of the product content with one another. An example of
this is Amazon and eBay. They allow customers to leave reviews on their
products. Furthermore the Guardian (Johnny Rose) adds to this. He says
we increasingly live in a world where content involvement is king, this is
how we steal and hold attention. An example of this is online news
services, most readers are only interested in certain types of news among
a large number of reports (The Guardian/Social Media). Some are
interested in stock movements whilst others like political news, so news
agencies now allow readers to be involved so they can subscribe and write
blogs to express their views to other readers on topics that appeal to
them. Such companies include crayon.net and Google news. (The
Guardian/Social Media)
However although content is essential to branding it can give a customer
cognitive dissonance because too much content can lead to information
over load (Provost 1999). The Missouri University of Science says it takes
two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of a
brand and it takes just another 2.6 seconds for the eye to concentrate in
a way that reinforces the first impression. So the University states if the
content is too heavy for the eye i.e. there is too much information
clustered on the homepage consumers will see it as a burden to interact
and purchase. This is because the modern day person is time conscious
and wants a quick fix experience (Lindsay Baker, BBC News).Therefore
they do not want to look through too much data, it has to be concise
whilst allowing the consumer to interact through personal involvement.
While individually, each of these pillars are important, the real value lies in
how they combine to create a positive brand experience for the customer.
They each rely upon each other, for example, Marketing Communications
will have a poor effect if one doesnt understand customers, likewise if the
content is not in line with these communications, then it can seem as if
the business is sending mixed messages. All four pillars must each be

explored to their potential in order to allow the brand to maximise upon its
position in the online world.
Word Count - 1,759
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