Networking through co-branding
You can choose to fight alone, fearless, heroic (and often knocked down) or working in a network with others, something of which I have already spoken in other forms and in other places.
On the contrary (I’m a pacifist), we do not fight but just try to seize opportunity.
Co-branding, a very American word to say sharing brands, may be the easiest way to obtain significant results for companies that do not already enjoy of a huge visibility.
Ooops … those who have read the above sentence are definitely already starting to prepare an adequate response to kill me! I meant that if big brands brilliant operations (for example those conducted by Google Android with Nestlè) can become real war machines, for lesser-known companies this may be a phenomenal anti-crisis step.
For what I want to talk to, also inspired by examples made by overseas colleagues, the intention is to start from Web Marketing actions to get far, far away.
Imagine, you can!* elsewhere would say … Think of what is the practice, taking into account information that I provided in my last post about the active presence of Italian SMEs on the Net:
1) You decide to build an online site (Hallelujah)
2) You work or leave the design and implementation of the site to a WebMaster
And here we take a break. We saw previously that if you got to this point then you rise above the mass of those who still ignore the possibilities offered by Internet. But is it enough? No… go on.
Here the paths diverge:
3a) “Ok, I have a website online. END”
3b) I keep my site alive
Deeeeeeng. The third option is WRONG.
Consider the choice of 3b. You are on the right track. The problem now is how to keep alive the website.
I’m not the first who writes about these things, and I’ll talk about it yet, anyway mostly we try to:
4) Place an e-commerce supplying it with changes and promotions
5) Add a News section or better a Blog in order to use storytelling
Another break. If you got this far you are beginning to inhabit the Net with a certain grace. Great!
Assuming you have internal forces or time to keep alive in a bold and interesting way your blog now there would be one more step to do, as we have often pointed out:
6) Take Web Marketing actions on Social Media to promote your content, your site and through these, your identity.
Step 5 and step 6 are often overlooked or entrusted to specialists, content manager or copywriter (I speak of these things as if it wasn’t my job, I’m really LOL).
A website that is in compliance with paragraphs 1 to 6 has already reached a good point. We have seen, however, that during these steps is very likely that you have paid a Webmaster and a Content Manager. As a minimum.
Remember that all of the above mentioned work needs time to accomplish perceptible results on a significant way, assuming that you have chosen the right people compared to what you wanted to represent your online image.
Co-branding is a step further. It is easy to see that if the company A supplies its online presence by connecting to company B and maybe even further more, will succeed much more quickly to intercept people who can really be interested in the services and products it offers. We call all this step 7.
The question and proposal that I do at this point _ to develop Step 7 is: If all the above process could take place by joining with a group that takes you by hand from the first design of a website (or its adjustment if it already exists), from its constant growth, its communication and resharing on the most important existing social network?
It would definitely be more organic and organized but all of this too is already being done by many.
The next step is to become part of a network of different identities from yours that, overseen by the same group of communication, may allow the realization of the matching of brands, not only on the Web but in real life too.
What I’m working on with some friends, and in full harmony with the clients for whom I work, is the creation of two new portals:
– On the first one are collected all the brands, their communication and identities that we are going to promote through content and websites (be careful, we do not replace individual online presences, but we represent their visibility in a different way in another virtual location)
– Through the second we want to lull a growing and open group of creative guys who will work tirelessly on businesses present in the first portal for the creation of co-branding situations, whether they are live events, campaigns, branding, plot twists and cotillion.
Through the interactive crowdsourcing the second portal will offer these people to come up with ideas, web and beyond, in order to promote the highest possible visibility. Proposals, based on this basket gradually more and more full of different identities on the first portal, will then be examined by the group of main communication in accordance with companies that are supposed to be involved. The events will be at this point managed by those whose project has been accepted that in its turn will draw economic benefits and visibility. Registration to the portal, for creative people who will want to be inspired by the different identities in order to create events, will be absolutely free. A creative then invest himself in the hope of becoming an actor of his insights.
As a practical example: A clothing store that manufactures its own products will launch the models designed for the new season by integrating with an artist who makes installations using recycled materials, with a local musical band that wants to be known beyond the boundaries in which they normally play, with a food and wine company that wants to introduce its wines to a wider audience.
Fashion, art, music, food and wine. What more?
“Creativity is the ability to see where none exist” – Thomas Disch
“Creativity is the ability to see where none exist” – Thomas Disch
*(an italian well known advertising claim)
post © by Leonardo Vannucci (lioklingo@gmail.com)
Previous Post
Next Post
