CONSUMERS today are spoilt for choice.

Hoh says that integration between offline and online channels is key to a complete brand experience.

There are many products and services from various industries in the market and what differentiates them is their brand.

How a brand is perceived can be gauged by what people feel, say and think about it. So far, this can be controlled through effective investment in branding and promotional campaigns that cover print and broadcast (TV and radio) media.

But digital platforms comprising mobile and other interactive channels are opening up a new playing fields.

Cross-influence According to public relations firm Edelman, a successful brand online and offline, represents an entire customer experience with the brand.

“A brand is a living, dynamic entity. It represents different things to different people. A brand creates an emotional connection, builds loyalty, and helps acquire new customers. Branding also sparks the desire in the first place. For these reasons, traditional branding still has a big role to play,” says Karen Hoh, managing director of Edelman in Kuala Lumpur.

But she highlights that traditional methods of marketing and branding are not enough today. The democratisation of media means that every company can be a media company, or an aggregator of news and other information, or a hub for other online communities that share common values and interests. And the high penetration rate of smart mobile devices in Malaysia means that the vast majority of Malaysians are connected to the Web.

“Integration between offline (or traditional) and online channels, including mobile, is now key to a complete brand experience. It also ensures that companies and brands are leveraging the sphere of cross- Top 10 channels in Malaysia Rank Channel No. of Mentions 1 Lowyatnet.forum – Kopitiam 6,218 2 Twitter – Malaysia 6,061 3 Lowyatnet.forum – Hardware 3,691 4 Lowyatnet.forum – Playstation 2,273 5 Lowyatnet.forum – The Fast & the Furious 1,360 6 My Tech News 1,150 7 kcarlife Forum – Trading Center (Bodyparts and wheels) 944 8 Mis Asia – News 878 9 Cari Forum – Isu Semasa (Current Issues) 784 10 Lowyatnet.forum – Apple Byte 738 Average no. of mentions per channel in Malaysia 80 influence – targeting the people they want to reach,” Hoh says.

Hoh’s statement is backed by findings in the Digital Brand Index, an Asia-wide survey by Edelman to determine the most discussed brands online, the most active channels, and the most interesting subject areas.

The Malaysia Digital Brand Index is derived from the region-wide survey results.

“The index provides a basis for comparison, locally and regionally, on the volume of conversations generated about 50 large technology brands. This is important because it allows brands to know how they rank in comparison to peers or competitors locally, and which brands and products generate the most conversations online. Most importantly, it should spark the question: “What should we be doing to improve our ranking in the index? “While the findings may be interesting from a voyeuristic perspective for companies – Who is the most talked about? Who did a good job engaging online? – it is a wake-up call for brands not in the Top 10 that they have missed opportunity to engage their stakeholders online,” she said.

Online is important The Malaysia Digital Brand Index has four key findings: n 37,246 online conversations for 52 large technology brands contained in 467 influential channels, monitored between July and Sept 2009, of which 67 per cent of volume revolves around top 10 brands n Of the 10 most-talked about brands online, Google is ahead in the volume of conversations at 18 per cent, followed by Blackberry at 9.7 per cent.

n With 2.9 brand mentions for every person, Sony led Microsoft (2.6) in terms of individual engagement across the 50 brands surveyed.

n With 1.6 posts per channel across all brands, Lowyat.

net – Kopitiam forum, an online discussion site and community resource, is the centre of gravity for mentions of technology brands – with 6,218 found.

“What we deduced from the study is that online conversations remain the ‘elephant in the room’ for most firms – all marketers know these conversations are important, but few actually track or have proactively engaged (with customers) online,” Hoh says.

The Index emphasises on the importance of measuring traditional marketing impact online.

“When managed well, brands can produce bigger spikes of conversation for major product launches, events or promotions – delivering greater returns on investment (ROI) for campaigns.

The Digital Brand Index can show a direct link between traditional marketing efforts and online conversations – or not,” Hoh says.

The Index also highlights the need to target the right channels and people. Often, many companies discover, in the course of their marketing and branding campaigns, that their selected online channels do not reach their target consumers.

Search Engine Marketing is also something that needs to be looked into.

“The Digital Brand Index provides insight on the language and words used by key communities and ‘influencers’. Technology brands can take these words and add to existing keyword buys. These keywords can also direct what is written into PR and marketing material, which leads to better search results,” Hoh explains.

Relevance is also important.

“Taking branded content from other parts of the world and re-purposing it for communities or social media sites often works well. This delivers more costeffectiveness for companies by leveraging existing resources better.

“With a tool like the Index, we can analyse the volume of conversations a brand generates across markets, as well as competitors on a one-to-one basis, whether these were aligned to external and offline events or triggers, and deep-dive into the nature of these conversations.” By analysing the return on their marketing investment – both online and offline, brands can make their online engagement strategy more targeted and outcomes more predictable.