Does your brand actually matter anymore?

In a world of free flowing information, is your brand still relevant?

Ashish Braganza,  director of global business intelligence at Lenovo, thinks that developing a brand is key. With  a minor presence in North America, they have seen the struggles of pushing into the market, but their development in has paid off.

With the longer gestation period,  the ROI can be difficult to show, but Braganza knows of the power of a brand. He states, “Paid social media we see a lower conversion rate as opposed to organic social media, so how do we foster those organic interactions and actually drive the brand thorough those organic interactions?”

Brian Gress, Vice president of CRM at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, believes that your brand tells the story of who you are. It is through the brand they formed at the Cosmopolitan that has kept it going so well, helping it’s rating as the best hotel by Gogobot, keeping customers coming back and attracting new fans- which you can do inclusively.

So what has changed in brand marketing over the years?  Data. With all of this data flowing in, companies are able to customize the focus on their customer modeling groups and target them directly for whatever stage of the buying process they are in. Data is important in understanding the customers, what they like, and who they are. It allows the companies to evolve their product, their brand and their communication, making them stronger.

With a large increase of data coming in, companies are able to tailor the customer experiences to fit the customers. It is with this understanding that these companies are tuning their brands to fit the needs and expectations of their customer base, but the data doesn’t have all the answers.

In the era of online buying and selling, it’s increasingly difficult for companies to be able to offer the personal one on one service that they have been able to offer in store, this data is essential in forming the customers experience and help them to feel a connection even when not seeing them in person.

The ultimate goal is “Can we make the experience a little better?” says Ryan Bonifacino, Vice President of Digital Strategy for Alex and Ani.

Businesses must make sure to use the available resources to optimize the experience for the user. The key is the integration of the knowledge that is gathered through data into the the way the company is run.

By identifying the needs of their customers and asking the right questions, companies are able to tailor the individual experiences for the customers and in time turn those customers into brand advocates, spreading their passion for the brand and helping to continue to grow the brand through a more powerful organic reach.