The brand hub-and-spoke coming together
Although many people have talked about the branded hub, or microsite being dead, I think it’s moving in a new, more valuable space as curator of the many spokes that a company must have out there to reach out on the Web and mobile devices.
The brands that are reaching out now need a place to curate this effort. I liken it to sewing: where putting the needle through the fabric one way (social and distributed channels) is one part of the stitch.
But now you have to come back through, integrate these technologies and complete the stitch — the information they represent about the brand, the people who interact with the brand (both internally and externally) — back into a context that is owned by the brand.
Ken Burnaby did a great job collecting (along with the readers) a number of large brand sites that are already making headway in actively, programmatically, making the brand site a hub of all their online activity.
No, this still isn’t a place where troves of people are going to visit, though I think you’d be surprised at how many do. But strategically it can be incredibly important and valuable for the brand.
Proof
Both brand proof “look at what we’re doing” and social proof “look at the people at our company and among our customers who are taking part in the cause of our brand.” Now the brand site can really be a living reflection of the work.
What’s next
A big problem in many campaigns is that they only allow for so much interaction. With a hub, you can give a user in any social or distributed network an easy “next step” into discovering (and you can’t underestimate the power of discovery), what other content you have to offer, and where else they can have access to it.
Acknowledging the brand as software developer
It’s all really about the fact that the old addage of “We’re not in the [enter technology here] business.” Which continues to linger in brands that need to start really taking on and developing software solutions, online or on the desktop. But that’s like saying that coke isn’t in the vending machine business, or the trucking business.
Software design and development is a logistical expense for communicating effectively and evocatively with an audience. It’s not going away, and I don’t think it’s an expense that can be carried forever from marketing or PR: two industries not known for taking on these deeper kinds of endeavors.
More to come on this, just wanted to get these initial thoughts down.
3 months ago