Is Digital Branding A Necessity for Businesses?

The field of digital marketing is closely linked to the concept of performance marketing. Performance-oriented marketing, i.e. the constant monitoring of the success of marketing measures, is now indispensable in the online sector. Whether SEO, SEA or affiliate marketing, the constant tracking of measures and their constant optimization are an integral part of today’s marketing activities.

Due to the focus on performance optimization, however, one topic is neglected in many companies — digital branding. After all, positioning a strong brand on the Internet is more important today than ever.

Success factors for digital brands

As a success factor, the digital brand is moving into the centre of online marketing and thus supplements performance marketing with an important reference point for measuring success in digital marketing. While performance marketing concentrates primarily on measurable data — e.g. campaign reach and conversation rates — the digital brand is increasingly focusing on the usability of online stores, websites and apps. Customer satisfaction and the associated customer loyalty moves to the forefront of digital marketing. Clicks and measurable traffic alone cannot guarantee the long-term success of a digital brand or a company. Further key figures for measuring success and targeted analysis of visitor flows and customer needs are required to fully evaluate the benefits of digital brands.

Why is it worth building a digital brand?

The importance of the digital brand for the future can easily be seen from the changes in our buying and consumption behavior — customers are looking online for a quick and optimal solution for their needs. Customer loyalty based on tradition and pure brand loyalty is declining; instead, interest in innovative solutions is high.

Emotional brands ensure better customer loyalty

The wide range of products on the market in almost every industry makes it increasingly difficult for customers to make purchasing decisions. Especially with everyday consumer goods, decisions are usually made quickly and intuitively. However, if a company can emotionally differentiate its brand from the competition and anchor it in the consciousness of the target group or customers, this can be the decisive point in the purchase decision.

Along with building trust, branding can help build a connection with customers. Branding includes not only the visuals for the business but their message as well. It is what customers tend to connect with. When they understand the business mission or history, they end up with an emotional connection to the business.

Digital marketing only works with brands focused on digital channels

If one understands the digital brand as a brand strategy that relies on digital marketing from the outset, its central strength compared to the analog brand also becomes apparent:

Adding a digital strategy to an existing, established brand without further action rarely works well. This is why many classic brands find it so difficult to implement and establish intelligent digital strategies. A successful diversification strategy is only one way to increase sales.

The digital market environment shapes the demands on digital brands

In a digital environment, the framework conditions for a digital brand are constantly changing. When building a brand, companies therefore face the particular challenge of maintaining a stable brand core, while the potential communication and advertising channels are constantly changing. The brand vision — i.e. the central promise that the customer contains with regard to the brand — represents the core of the brand. Brand positioning, on the other hand, must be able to adapt flexibly to the various customer needs and communication channels.

Sustainable effect of digital branding

The advantages of performance marketing are, among other things, its rapid success. If you start as a company with a broadly based SEA campaign, the first successes will usually be seen quickly. Website accesses will increase as well as valuable leads. However, if the ads are paused or even stopped completely, these successes will quickly collapse.

If, on the other hand, a company also actively pursues digital brand management, success will not collapse directly even if ads etc. are paused. Brand awareness, through successful digital branding, ensures that customers actively search for the brand and continue to buy the products or services.