You Never Owned Your Brand

There may be no faster growing profession than the social media marketing guru. These overly caffeinated, bleach-toothed, wireless-mic-weilding wizards bear a suspicious resemblence to their old-media predecessors in that what they purport to sell (helping you grow your business) doesn’t quite match what they’re actually selling (expensive speaking engagements and $24.99 hardcovers).

Business books typically reach the best-seller list by proclaiming a revolution and inciting mild panic. The line today’s social media marketing gurus are shilling: you no longer own your brand.

Newsflash: you never owned your brand.

Remember when FedEx was called Federal Express? The company rebranded in part to honor the shorthand their customers were already using. The customer has always had a hand on the controls. Your audience was influencing one another’s brand experiences long before Al Gore invented the Internet.

The rise of social media isn’t about losing anything. It’s about gaining — gaining new and more powerful channels to reach your audience, just as your audience gains new and more powerful channels to reach one another. Where “exchanges of influence” once occurred in person or over the phone, they now happen online, right in front of your eyes: transparent, measurable, and (buzzword alert!) actionable.

Time to panic? No way. It’s time to dive in, learn and evolve.

Whether your audience’s media of choice is print, a Twitter feed, or a laser beam, your core belief shouldn’t change: Give your customers the trusted experiences and authentic information they want — useful content to make better decisions — and you’ll get better business results in return.

[Disclosure: FedEx is a long-time and beloved client of Hanley Wood Marketing]