Brand Identity – You, Your Customers, and Internet Marketing
Brand identity is a pillar of modern marketing. A brand defines what a company is, and acts as a connection point between a company and its customers.
- Think “Apple” and you know not just the company, but the type of people who want to “be” Apple.
- Think “BMW” and you know the type of people who want to “be” BMW.
Powerful brands – Apple, BMW, Mad Men, the Tea Party – define not just the company or organization, but also a lifestyle of the consumers around them. Marketer Seth Godin uses the notion of “Tribes” to define brands and customers.
As part of Search Social Media, we stayed in Biloxi, Mississippi. Now, Biloxi, Mississippi, is not a powerful brand,
but it does have brand characteristics. To a Northerner, it may conjure up the movie of some years back, Biloxi Blues. To anyone who saw the movie Forest Gump, or knows about hurricane Katrina, it may conjure up images of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, the Gulf Coast, Oysters, and the terrible destructive force of hurricanes. It is also known for gambling and fun, on the Gulf Coast. But it is not – yet – a powerful brand like, Las Vegas or New Orleans.
- Problem: Biloxi is not a powerful brand.
- Problem: Biloxi does not project a niche marketing / brand identity
Like many communities, Biloxi, Mississippi could market itself as a niche brand – if (and only if), it can identify something unique about it as a community. It will never outcompete New Orleans as a center of Jazz, big-city culture and events. Nor can it outcompete Pensacola for clean clear beaches. It has gambling, it has Southern culture… But what is unique about Biloxi? The first step towards a great brand is conducting an “information inventory.” What does the city have? What niche could it occupy yet be true to itself?
Micro Brands – Defining a Company or Organization for Niche Marketing
A theme in our marketing blog is the idea of “niche marketing.” Related to that concept is one of “micro brands.” These are very narrow brand experiences that define very niche consumers. An example would be eco-friendly baby blankets – eco-friendly product catering to the very narrow niche of young parents who care about their babies and the environment. That is never gone to be an enormous brand, but since “riches are in the niches” in SEO marketing, finding a niche like eco-friendly baby blankeets can be quite lucrative.
Some cities have microbrands, powerful SEO strategies, and powerful SMM (Social Media Marketing) strategies. Las Vegas is Sin City. Orlando is theme parks. Washington, DC, is government and free museums. Even small cities can have brand identities. Austin, TX, is the live music capital of the world. Berkeley, CA, is the people’s republic of Berkeley. Santa Fe is known as an artist community in New Mexico.
- Biloxi? What is Biloxi?
Biloxi? Biloxi is home to Jefferson Davis’s last stand – president of the Confederacy. Patron saint of lost causes. Davis wrote his memoirs in Biloxi at Beauvoir (http://www.beauvoir.org/), a mansion along the sea. The mansion today is a living museum to Jefferson Davis and the site of major reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.
An Information Audit for Beauvoir – SEO and Social Media Marketing Opportunities
We attempted to get an interview with the folks at Beauvoir, but were unable to get a response. Sadly, that’s the first mistake many marketers make – neglecting to keep their eyes and ears open for marketing opportunities. The organization has a rudimentary website, and apparently no social media presence. So we are at Square One: the information audit. An information audit is when you, as an organization, sit down and figure out who you are and how that “identify” connects with your customer or target audience. Search your soul, and search their interests.
What does Beauvoir have (and Biloxi by extension) that could be the foundation of micro-branding, of niche marketing?
- History of the South
- Life / fun on the Gulf Coast
- Jefferson Davis
- Presidents of the Union vs. Presidents of the Confederacy vs. Former Secretaries of War
- Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders
- Hurricane Katrina – its devastation and the Spirit of the Gulf Coast
Beyond just SEO / search optimization issues, the organization and its website could encourage a powerful social media marketing effort. Many people are history buffs, many are Confederacy / Civil War buffs. The Gulf Coast and the Old South are of course full of historical landmarks. What about a historical virtual tour of the South? A Facebook page sharing hidden insights, events, and places about the South? Ways for visitors to one museum / site (e.g., Vicksburg) to find out about another (Beauvoir)?
Perhaps a Katrina tour – the devastation of Katrina vs. the efforts to rebuild? Or science buffs – the science of hurricanes? Global warming?
In just a few minutes, one can easily see how a simple Southern muesum, Beavoir, crosses into many keyword and social media communities – the South, the Civil War, the Presidency, Katrina, Hurricanes, and even Global Warming.
Sadly, none of these are exploited today, and this gem of a museum waits passively for history buffs to look it up. Beauvoir, like all marketing organizations, needs a pro-active “Information Audit” and SEO / Social Media Marketing outreach strategy to boost the museum’s brand identity and thereby its attendance.
