Brand stories help focus and funnel social messaging

Artwork by Louise Campbell 

An effective online communications program requires more than a neat web network.  How a brand conceives and then conveys its sales pitch using Facebook, Twitter, email, and the like, matters far more.  A cohesive brand story, like an elevator pitch, is essential for connecting with true audiences - for whom the social web is increasingly very noisy. .

In the latest  Brand Week, Donald Friedman, principal at the branding and marketing consultancy Sequel, writes about messaging “dysfunction where everyone in an organization is working hard, but the brand is going nowhere." The root of the problem he says may be employees spinning their wheels in silos without a common communications goal or clear brand narrative.

This speaks to the absolute need for team integration and a disciplined approach to honing a  core message that can then be woven into a sticky brand story ... one that translates consistently across all channels.  

Will multi-channel marketing converge on Google TV?

Google TV, Apple TV and Roku make it possible to converge web-based content on the family television - a development that is sure to change the way people consume media – and commercial messages. Until now multi-channel marketing campaigns reached audiences via dispersed touch points. Converging multiple media channels on a single TV screen will be a whole lot better by making commercial content more dynamic and interactive. 

It'll take some time before Google TV and the like are mainstream. But it’s not too soon for marketers to start thinking about creative and strategic possibilities. Chances are television studios are already looking at ways to make transmedia programming appealing to advertisers.