CMOs have a lot of irons in the fire. Driving demand, launching products and promotions, gathering market requirements, monitoring the competitive landscape, and optimizing the marketing mix may seem like plenty -- but overlaying each of these responsibilities is our role as guardian of the brand.
The advent and growth of the online world has permanently altered these functions, and none quite so much as brand stewardship. In fact, the online world brought a new dimension to traditional brand stewardship, namely brand protection.
Why? Scammers, fraudsters, and outright criminals realize, as we do, that the best way to draw web traffic is with a well-known brand. They've mastered the art and science of web design, SEO, search advertising, and web promotion. They've built professional-appearing websites and applied best practices in ecommerce. Adept at optimizing their own online marketing mix, they use ecommerce and online auctions to reach individual buyers, and B2B exchange sites to reach those looking for bulk purchases.
Why be content with the local street corner when the whole world can be your marketplace on the internet?
Couple the reach of the internet with its anonymity and there is an irresistible money-making lure for scammers. All they need is your brand to pull in the traffic, and they're in business. Your business. Your traffic is diverted, your ecommerce revenue is affected, your customers are disappointed, your reputation suffers, and your brand bears the brunt.
Taking an active role in protecting your brand online has never been more important for the CMO. It's a big topic, and an important one. Here are five areas you can (and should) address right now.
No. 1: Fighting traffic diversion
Traffic diversion is at the heart of online brand abuse. Scammers and fraudsters use online marketing toolkits that look similar to that of a legitimate marketer. Much of their work focuses on search, with their methods falling into two broad categories: Boosting search results by combining SEO and cybersquatting, and the practice of using trademarked terms to which the squatter has no rights in a domain name. The second category is taking advantage of search advertising, especially now that some of the major search engines have loosened restrictions on use of branded terms in ad copy and keywords.
Traffic diversion dilutes your marketing investments, cuts your response rates, and steals conversions right from under your nose. Your shopping carts are lighter than they should be, and the power of your own brand to drive traffic and build business online is being used against you.
The numbers are sobering. Industry-wide, $13 billion is spent on search marketing. HitWise found that 14 percent of branded searches go somewhere other than the brand owner's site. Put these facts together, and we find that up to $1.8 billion of the industry's search budget is being diverted.
Do the math on your search marketing budget and see the effect that traffic diversion is having on your marketing dollars. Factor in the conversions to buyers or sales leads that you would have seen on that traffic, and you'll see the amount of revenue that is being lost. Traffic, customers, and revenue that by rights should be yours are being diverted.
With increasing demands for accountability and marketing ROI, it's essential to address the problem of traffic diversion. It may be the single most important thing you do this year.
No. 2: Keeping ecommerce channels clean and compliant
Sales of counterfeit and grey market goods are growing online. Our estimates peg the size of the counterfeit market online at $137 billion. This hurts more than a brand holder's bottom line -- it damages consumer confidence as well as brand loyalty and may even open the door to product liability issues. How much is your brand (and your revenue) at risk? To find out, try thinking like today's price-conscious shopper. Go online and search for "cheap brand X," or "deals on brand X" where brand X is your very own.
You'll likely see results from online auction sites, B2B exchanges, and individual ecommerce sites. How many of these are legitimate outlets for the sale of your brand? How many are actually selling your brand rather than a knock-off or a competitor's brand? If you have an affiliate program, are those sites obeying the rules? Are they compliant about using your logo or representing their relationship with your brand?
Counterfeits are nothing new; manufacturers of quality products have always sought to protect their good name and value. But before the internet's rise, scammers had only the local street corner, the sleazy section of town, or a flea market to sell their fake wares. Advertising, if any, was limited to word-of-mouth or an ambiguously worded ad in a local paper. But online is different. Scammers have the world as a marketplace. Just as legitimate businesses use the internet to expand markets and realize economies of scale, so do the scammers.
This widespread abuse can seem overwhelming, but it's a problem borne of technology that can in turn be solved by technology. Technology can locate the offenders, prioritize the most egregious cases, and even help you automate and track enforcement actions. Visibly defended brands become less desirable targets for scammers and counterfeiters. Make fighting ecommerce abuse a priority.
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