• by Kendall Allen , November 9, 2009

We often affirm the necessity of thoughtful consumer brand marketing that conveys and sustains the brand. So, we can't just phone it in. Further, as mindful consumer marketers, we listen to customers' demand and interests, track their influence, and examine their decision-making as we plan. We understand that arrogant or haphazard marketing, lack of attention to consumer insights, can drive a brand totally off-track, or even destroy it.

Serious about all this, we spend our due time thinking about brand position, market opportunity, platform and chosen channels -- and skillfully deploying the appropriate supporting marketing approaches to grow our business and by extension, our brand. But wait, there's more.

Once we've done our diligence and designated revenue streams, do we really think about how the business model relates to the brand and strengthens it? Even if we model around streams A, B, and C -- say, advertising and sponsorships, commerce, and member services - and the market bears these out as sound choices, this is more than just checking off boxes. There are nuances within each choice that can impact the strength, integrity and livelihood of our brand; in a word, its velocity. I've been thinking about such nuances in three fairly typical considerations: ad models and customization; integrating commerce; and choosing your channel of business.

Keeping Your Arms Around Customization

While the same principle applies to building a new business in most any sector, let's focus on digital publishing for the sake of this little examination. How might your early model of advertising and sponsorship play into your brand debut in digital channels?

There are all kinds of things we can talk about, but I've been thinking recently about setting up monetization -- where to set the limits in the foundational period. This consideration partly relates to presenting your brand within the reflection of your sponsorships. As you set up your ad structure and packaging, out of the corner of your eye, there is the ever-appealing concept of customization with or for sponsors, when the dollars are right.

Most people who know their way around the block will tell you that the first period of business should involve zero customization of advertising and sponsorships. They will tell you to keep it as straightforward and turnkey as possible, for all kinds of reasons related to speed of getting to scale, tuning your operation, and so on. But, at the same time we know that strategic alignment is key to a brand's representation. You are the company you keep.

Think carefully when it comes to anything approximating custom publishing, sponsor prominence, co-creative and/or co-marketing engagement. In the zeal to align and create a robust presence for advertisers and sponsors, you'll find that keeping your arms around customization thematically, creatively and on execution greatly benefits your brand. It's a sort of brand self-discipline, in practice. Do the right things, to the right scale, with the right partners, and it's a little extra zoom for your brand.

Integrating Commerce into Your Model Without Brand Chaos

A friend and I were recently chatting about this in the context of a new online site where product sales seem a natural fit. On the surface, when wares are part of the mix, e-commerce seems like a no-brainer. If you really dig into potential approaches, though, you realize how quickly the brand's digital environment could get out of whack if a bad path is chosen.

When it comes to commerce, do you simply link to outside affinity vendors or affiliates and draw a revenue share? Do you make outright product recommendations and link to affiliate sites? Establish a marketplace where consumers can transact -- and take a cut?

In an effort to bring the commerce element to the consumer, the experience could quickly subsume the brand itself, especially if it's a brand in its early stages. Seems to me a good place to start is with the option of delivering value to the consumer within a brand-resonant place and generating a profitable return. If commerce is meant to be an adjacent and not a lead value, there's no need to relinquish too much control in the interest of revenue stream. This slows a brand way down, at a time when it should be gaining steam.

Channel Choices and the Warm, Well-lighted Place

In their desire to be progressive, businesses are more and more often speaking of staying "channel-agnostic" in marketing. Profile your consumer and then set your plan, mix and messaging accordingly, right?

But then there's the case of friends who launched a new beauty product business. Beginning in a channel-agnostic position, they opted to live and market entirely through digital channels from day one. It was certainly a bold move to orient entirely around a singular channel, especially as a totally new business within the very conventional beauty sector. There is clarity in using digital to stir buzz and mount a community even prior to product debut, then staying online only. But one has to wonder if this model is leveraged and heated enough to create critical early velocity for the brand.

Like all of us, I have spent many hours focusing on the role of deft consumer-led marketing in perpetuating brand. For the time-being, though, I'm intrigued by the comparable power of business modeling itself to impact brand. On self-examination, we realize it's astoundingly easy to hobble one's own brand, interrupt our own velocity, as we execute even the most tried and true models, if they are not exactly right for our brand.