a new way of thinking about brandsConneCtedness

what’s happening in marketing?

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Traditional marketing is no longer as effective as it used to be. Developing and launching an ad campaign, then waiting for the results to see if the campaign made any difference at all, as if we were Mad Men…well that whole approach is nostalgia now. We still watch TV, but less so, and in a much more fragmented way than we used to. Today it takes more than 120 primetime ads to reach most Americans. In 1965 it took only three. And every other traditional media (radio, print, newspaper, etc) has declined even more.

old media wanes

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today it takes more than 120 primetime ads to reach most americans.

new media Comes into its ownWhat works are the interactions that support our desire to connect with each other and the brands we care about — and today, many of those connections happen in digital spaces. Why? Because digital channels enable us to effectively find what we’re looking for, interact with content and functionality we care about, and participate in conversations that matter to us. For marketers, digital works because it’s where their customers are, it is more trackable and customizable than traditional media, and it can drive directly to measurable transactions.

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The problem with digital marketing has been the lack of a cohesive approach. How do you make sense of your investments in the space? How do you know if, on the whole, your website, banner ads, emails, search programs and other digital programs are working together for maximum benefit? How do you connect the digital dots, then integrate them with all the offline marketing you are still doing? How do you know if the competition is beating you?

Most importantly, how do you know who your customer is, where your customer is, and what your customer wants? What do they search for when they are shopping? Do they use comparison-shopping engines? Do they want to be your Facebook fans? Do they respond to behaviorally-targeted ads or do they feel like it’s an invasion of privacy? Do they read user reviews? Do they expect to buy online and return in the store? Do they expect customer service through Twitter?

These are the questions marketers face every day. And, they are radically different than the questions from a few years ago, let alone decades ago. As a result, we have no choice: our approach must change.

marketers need help

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we have no choice: our approach must

change.

Few brands fully leverage the digital networks where customers participate to benefit their business. Few have captured the amount of visibility they deserve. Few have figured out how to be as useful as customers want. Few have made themselves easier to do business with, or wowed customers to want to return. And very few have figured out how to participate in honest, two-way dialogue with customers who want to engage the brand. The brands that will win in this space are the brands that choose to lead. Will you lead?

opportunity exists for brands to lead

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brands that will win in this space are the brands that choose to lead.

the ConneCted brands story

Connectedness is marketing philosophy. It is a framework for, and a measure of how intimate a brand is with its audiences. It’s a characteristic of a brand, a ‘state of being.’ Think of it as a Zen stage in brand evolution. After all, a brand needs to be a living organism in today’s marketing world, not an object, not a loudspeaker yelling at people. Connectedness is a way of thinking about how successful brands do marketing: focusing on audiences, not targets; engaging in dialogue, not shouting; and developing trust that is meaningful and lasting.

what is ConneCtedness?

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Connectedness is a way of thinking

about how successful brands

do marketing.

We know a brand has reached a state of connectedness when it demonstrates a better awareness of its audiences, agility in its customer-facing infrastructure, and real activity and interaction with its customers. We see connectedness and measure it by looking at a brand’s visibility to its audiences, its usefulness to those audiences, its usability (the ease of doing business with the brand), the brand’s ability to create desire, and finally, its level of engagement with its customers.

how do we know when a brand has it?

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A connected brand is simply a brand that exhibits a high degree of connectedness. It is a brand that knows its audiences extremely well (aware), is nimble in its ability to market to them (agile), and creates products and services they actually want while participating in conversations with those customers (active). We measure the brand by how visible, useful, usable, desirable and engaged it is. Brands that score high againstthese categories are considered connected brands.

what is a ConneCted brand?

the Connectedness framework

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useful desirableusable engagedVisible

aware

agile

aCtiVe

Connected marketing is what we do. It’s the practice of helping build connected brands. It’s using iCrossing’s Connected Brands framework to organize, execute, integrate and optimize marketing programs for brands.

It means helping brands increase their visibility in networks through search marketing, display advertising, social media and other media formats. It means helping brands improve the digital experiences they provide to their customers by creating better content and functionality, improving way-finding and navigation, and building emotional connections with those customers. It means striking up digital conversations with customers, to educate them on products and services, to listen to what they have to say about their experiences, to provide them with useful customer service, and to motivate them to be a positive multiplier of your marketing force. It means making these tactics work hand-in-hand to provide seamless journeys for our clients’ customers.

what is ConneCted marketing?

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Connected marketing is what we do.

building a ConneCted brand

how do we measure a brand’s leVel of ConneCtedness?iCrossing has developed a diagnostic tool called the Connected Brands Scorecard. The Scorecard measures brands across five key categories (visible, useful, usable, desirable and engaged) by capturing data across at least 65 data points. All data points are calculated into a score for each of the five categories, as well as into an overall score. These scores are then indexed against other brands to provide measurement benchmarks. The higher the score, the more connected a brand is, and ultimately the higher its level of intimacy with its audiences. The more intimate the brand is with its audiences, the more opportunity it has for success.

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methodologyThe methodology used by iCrossing to evaluate brand connectedness is aligned with the visible, useful, usable, desirable and engaged framework. The methodology evaluates each brand using core metrics defined by iCrossing to evaluate competencies related to connectedness and each brand is given a score for each of the connectedness framework elements, and given an overall score. Sources for the evaluation included Compete.com, Yahoo! Site Explorer, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TweetStats, Twitalyzer, Reddit, Digg and Del.ic.ious.

sCoringScores for visible and engaged are created using a scale ranging from the minimum and maximum values for each brand and categorizing scores accordingly. For useful, usable and desirable, scoring metrics are determined based on the ideal state defined by iCrossing, starting with our standardized website review methodology as a basis and scores are assigned to brands according to these standards. Brands are given a score for each of the connectedness elements and scores are combined to create an overall Brand Connectedness Score.

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metriCs: VisibleVisible metrics represent two areas, offsite and onsite. These are used to measure the connectedness of a brand with offsite communities as well as how well those tactics work at bringing users to the site. In addition to client data, we used publicly-available metrics, which include:

offsite:• Official Flickr Account• Official YouTube Channel• Official Facebook Group• Official Twitter Group• Existence of company blog

onsite:• Number of Unique Visitors• Number of Referring URLs• Overall Reach• Number of Inbound Links

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metriCs: useful, usable, and desirableiCrossing has created a framework to measure each brand’s website for usefulness, usability and desirability based on standardized website review methodology. By defining user goals for each brand, iCrossing is able to evaluate each brand’s landing pages, content, functionality, privacy and security policies, performance, navigation, search functionality, legibility, formatting, site layout, brand positioning, and interaction between brands and consumer across each site.

Questions we ask each site reviewed include:

useful:• Does the landing page(s) provide

evidence that user goals can be com-pleted?

• Is essential content available where needed?

• Is essential function available where needed?

• Are essential content and function given priority in the display?

• Does the site present privacy and security policies in context?

• Do location cues orient the user? • Does site functionality provide clear

feedback in response to user actions? • Is contextual help available at key

points? • Does the site help users avoid and

recover from errors? • Does the site perform well?

desirable:• Does the site’s content support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other channels?• Does the site’s functionality support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other

channels?• Do the site’s language and tone support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other

channels?• Does the site’s imagery support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other channels?• Does the site’s typography support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other

channels?• Does the site’s layout support brand positioning in a manner that is consistent with other channels?• Does the site communicate brand attributes that are meaningful to target users in a manner that’s

relevant to target users?• Does the site have high-quality production values?• Does the site elicit an emotional response from the user - does it deliver a positive memorable

experience?• Are the uses of technologies both inspiring and pragmatic? • Is the site interactive and participatory, does it facilitate a dialogue between user and brand and

between user and user?• Does the site give the user a reason(s) to come back?

usable:• Are menu category and subcategory names clear and

mutually exclusive? • Do menu categories immediately expose or describe

their subcategories? • Are content and function classified logically? • Is the task flow efficient? • Is the wording in hyperlinks and controls clear and

informative? • Are keyword-based searches comprehensive and

precise? • Does site content use language that’s easy to

understand? • Does the site use graphics, icons and symbols that are

easy to understand? • Is text legible? • Does text formatting and layout support easy scanning? • Do layouts use space effectively? • Are form fields and interactive elements placed logically

in the display? • Do interactive elements behave as expected?

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metriCs: engagedEngagement metrics are also split into two categories of publicly-available data points. These categories are advocacy, used to determine how willing users are to promote the brand, and actions, a measure of how well the company uses offsite visibility to communicate with consumers. Metrics include:

advocacy:• Number of YouTube Friends• Number of Tweets about the brand• Number of shared/recommended content links on Reddit.com• Number of shared/recommended content links on Digg.com• Number of social bookmarks on Del.ic.ious

actions:• Visits per person• Average stay• Page views/visits• # of Flickr contacts• # of Flick discussions• # of Flickr posted items• # of Flickr photo search results• # of YouTube subscribers• # of YouTube channel views• # of Facebook fans/friends• # of Facebook discussions• # of Official Twitter accounts• # of Tweets per Day (average of all accounts)• # of Twitter followers• # of Twitter following• # of inbound links to blog

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get ConneCtedIf you would like to learn more about iCrossing’s approach to building Connected Brands, then join the conversation at www.icrossing.com, or contact us. Call us toll-free at 866.620.3780

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