Digital Marketing and Branding: how to work a brand in the digital environment?

There is no news in telling that the Internet changed – and a lot – the way a consumer interacts with the brands. And also, there is no need to say that it is impossible to solve the topic of this post in only one text. With the almost daily Digital Marketing innovations, the strategies and plans need to be revisited and revised much more frequently. 

However, it is important to be careful not to downgrade a Digital Marketing strategy to the simple creation of social media profiles or keep your Instagram and Twitter updated with images and beautiful quotes, just for the sake of keeping an online presence. As well as in traditional and offline Marketing, the online strategies need to be fully discussed, defined, well planned and, more importantly, aligned to the communications and branding strategies as a whole. 

Beyond the brand itself (logo, colour palettes, collateral layout, website, physical offices etc), other aspects are also part of the branding, such as the way the company communicates with its target audience, the tone of voice, the channels its use, the frequency, the way how the company responds to customer interaction, and many other intangible aspects. 

For that reason, Content Marketing strategies have been largely adopted by the organizations and its main goal is to establish the interests, the value and the credibility of the brand through relevant content to its customers and to the industry in which it is inserted. The online universe is extremely competitive and, because of that, it´s crucial for a business to have new and innovative ways to stand out among millions of information and news that are constantly present in our digital world. 

A simple and relatively cheap way of starting your online presence is by blogging. And it’s essential to keep in mind that, in this phase, instead of focusing exclusively on generating revenue, the content must have personality, value and be oriented to solve the audience´s problems, answering the client´s or industry´s most common questions. By doing that, your blog can become a reference to people that want to learn a bit more about a certain industry and, without realizing, they will also start learning about how your company is inserted in this context.

Other than blogging, there are many ways to keep your brand present in your customer´s life thorough generating valuable content and, therefore, brand awareness. Some of these tools are publishing ebooks, papers and infographics with educational content, setting up webinars and online events, actively participating in LinkedIn communities (or other social networks that are relevant to your business), etc. 

It´s an ongoing challenge to be relevant to your consumer since the appealing of other brands and technologies is always on. A Content Marketing strategy well planned and executed can be a simple and cheap way of creating a coherent narrative highlighting your brand´s values, explaining how your business adapts to your client´s needs and realities.