Amazon.com
"Brandwidth," according to Sergio Zyman and Scott Miller, is a steeping brew of "brand awareness," "brand meaning," and "brand power" designed specifically for just one thing: making the sale in cyberspace. In
Building Brandwidth, former Coca-Cola marketing chief Zyman and political and corporate strategist Miller present simple but solid rules for harnessing this mixture to really move merchandise online. As in Zyman's well-received previous book
The End of Marketing As We Know It, this volume considers as marketing virtually every step in the branding process up to the eventual sale--without which, the authors note logically, the entire effort fails. "You may be doing a $2 million ad on the Super Bowl," they explain, "but you're not doing e-marketing if you're not doing e-selling." And it is for the current phase of e-marketing--which Zyman and Miller believe opened in spring 2000, when even the most promising dot-coms were suddenly expected to begin turning profits or kiss their investment dollars goodbye--that this advice is aimed. There's a good deal of go-go inspirational prose here, but also much practical advice for explaining a product or service, enhancing its value, distinguishing it from its competitors, and connecting it with the appropriate consumers. --
Howard Rothman
From Publishers Weekly
The purpose of marketing is to sell productD"'selling stuff is what sells stuff'"Dand that doesn't change if you are in a traditional company or a dot-com, reminds Zyman (The End of Marketing As We Know It), a former chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola who now runs a consulting company he founded with Miller. What Zyman preachesDwith gusto and solid advice based on long experienceDis going back to the basics of building a brand. Readers should not dismiss his revved-up, disarmingly hip tone (aimed at dot-com entrepreneurs under 35); his book is solid gold. The five key elements of building "brandwidth" (and, therefore, intrinsic value, which will attract investors) are, he says, brand presence (which rests on activating a brand in the marketplace); relevance ("Fixate on the customer, not on the product or the competition"); "owning the position of relevant differentiation in your marketplace"; credibility ("you can't deliver on customer satisfaction unless you clearly define the customer benefit in advance") and imagery ("Your brand is defined in your customer's perceptions"). Zyman is confident that "gazillions" of dollars are still to be made on the Web but that the "easy money" days are long over. For companies willing to do the critical work of marketing, he maintains, the sky's the limit. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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