Here are the 11 rules for building a web brand

Author: Al Ries et al. (U.S.) and translated by Mei Qinghao et al.
Translator: Mei Qinghao, Zhou Anzhu
Country of Origin:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-06-01
Features: As we step into the 21st century, a very common question arises: What can we do with the Internet? This book introduces you to 11 laws for building a network brand. Through unique counter-cultural observations and meaningful marketing research, the authors bring practical experience in internet branding and analyze the challenges of the internet in today's global market. A unique name is designed for a specific thing, like Mercedes-Benz is a unique name. Traditionally, brand names should be unique. (If you are a language scholar or work for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you would call brand names unique adjectives, like the cars of Mercedes-Benz. However, most people treat brand names as nouns. They say, "I drive a Mercedes-Benz," not "I drive a car of Mercedes-Benz.") It is well-known that most valuable brand names use unique nouns, not generic names. There are 60 famous brand names worldwide valued at over $1 billion. None of them are generic names. Among these 60, typical examples include Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Ford, Disney, Intel, McDonald's, Marlboro, Nokia, Nestlé, HP, Gillette, Kodak, and Sony. (In total, according to the "International Brand" magazine, the total value of these 60 brands is astonishingly $729.4 billion.) In the coming years, you may find their websites and discover that these have also become valuable names. For example: Cola.com, Software.com, Cars.com, Kids.com, Chips.com, Hamburgers.com, Cigarettes.com, Cell-phones.com, Coffee.com, Computers.com, Razors.com, Photos.com, Electronics.com, and so on. We don't think so. CEOs of internet management companies in their 30s are shouting, "The internet is different." You don't need to wear a uniform, a tie, or leather shoes. You don't need to go to work to earn money. You can get millions of stock options and even name your website after your existing brand. Is that true? When it comes to brand names, is the internet really different? At least so far, it doesn't seem that way.
● The main internet service provider is not ISP.com, but AOL.
● The main internet search engine is not SearchEngine.com, but Yahoo!.
● The main online book retailer is not Net, but Amazon.com.
● The main job search website is not Job.com, but Monster.com.
● The main auction website is not Auction.com, but eBay.
● An important flight booking website is not FlightQuotes.com, but Priceline.com.
● An important travel website is not Travel.com, but Expedia.com.
● An important e-card website is not GreetingCards.com, but BlueMountain.com.
Among the 60 most valuable brand names, there are two internet websites: AOL, valued at $4.3 billion, and Yahoo!, valued at $1.8 billion. You'll notice that both AOL and Yahoo! are unique nouns, not generic names. Don't believe such predictions. The internet will become an emerging media not dominated by advertising. Let me repeat, the internet will become an emerging media not dominated by advertising. The reason is not complicated. The internet is interactive. Here, it is users who are in control, not the media owners. Users have the right to decide where to go, what to see, and what to buy. On many websites, users can also decide how to access and arrange information that meets their needs. Advertising is not what people expect to see. They tend to express subtle complaints about it. They see it as an illegal invasion of their space and an infringement on their privacy. "Spam" is a common term for direct mail advertising. (If magazines could be interactive, readers would first put all editorial content on the front pages and put all advertisements on the back pages.) Of course, at first, people were curious about this new media. They would happily click on banner ads to see what they had to say. But things are changing. The adjustment rate of people clicking on internet ads has dropped sharply. According to Nielsen/NetRatings' report on tracking the effectiveness of internet advertising, the click-through rate has fallen from 1.35% to just half in a year. The share of internet advertising has also been declining, and it no longer has the characteristics of a healthy media. According to a research firm's report, advertising spending has dropped from $20 per thousand dollars in 1999 to about $10 per thousand dollars in 2000. In 1999, the largest online advertiser was General Motors, spending only 0.5% of its total $21.2 billion advertising budget—$12.7 million (but these ad expenditures did almost nothing for General Motors. In 1999, its domestic car market share fell to 29.2%, the lowest point since the 1930s). One explicit attitude of internet users toward online advertising is the emergence of numerous ad-blocking software, such as AtGuard, JunKbusterProxy, Intermute, and WebWasher, which can block ads before they appear on the screen. They usually accelerate execution speed, skipping files containing image ads and significantly speeding up page downloads. Even the current $2 billion in internet advertising revenue is questionable, as it includes commissions paid to some companies, such as DoubleClick, one of the largest online ad sales agencies. DoubleClick's name is quite clever. Unlike traditional advertising agencies that take a 15% commission, it takes a 35% to 50% commission on the ads it sells. A name like TripleClick (Triple Click) might be even more appropriate. Not all internet advertising revenue is worth that much in cash. Some websites trade ads with other websites but only allow each website to register ad revenue. (A child sells a $50,000 dog and trades it for two $25,000 cats, but he doesn't actually receive $50,000.) Don't be deceived by the surface similarities between the internet and print and broadcast media. The internet is not just another media. If it is, it is also a revolutionary media that many people, including myself, believe it will become. In my opinion, the internet is a revolutionary new media. With this in mind, you should expect to see a revolution, not a repetition of the past. However, everyone wants to grow, and you can't blame them. So, what should internet brands like Amazon do? Here are five basic brand strategies that can be used in any industry.
(1) Maintain your brand focus. There are already over 5 million registered websites on the internet. Do you want your website to represent everything? Amazon should focus on books and music CDs. After all, it only accounts for 4% of the $24.6 billion U.S. book market.
(2) Increase your market share. Only when you dominate your current market should you consider entering other industries. Before Amazon reaches at least 25% of the book market, it should continue its current business.
(3) Expand your market. Leaders should understand how to expand their markets and recognize the many benefits that larger markets will bring to them. Think about book clubs, chat rooms with authors, and other book-building activities, including the seminars organized by Amazon with famous writers. How about these measures?
(4) Globalize. Of course, the internet is already a global network of information and communication, but Amazon's share of the book market outside the U.S. is very small. (Currently, the company only sells 22% of its books overseas, while the overseas population accounts for 95%.) Amazon should focus most of its efforts on overseas consumers. English has become the business language of the world, and the market for English books should also grow rapidly. Why stop at English? Amazon should shift its internet business to all major languages in the world. Ideas often get stuck at the edges. Successful companies see the world as their entire market.
(5) Dominate your product category. For a leading brand, 25% market share is a conservative goal. With a 25% share of the U.S. book market, Amazon's sales would reach $6.6 billion, enough to make it a Fortune 500 company. It ranks ahead of many companies, such as General Dynamics, General Mills, Rockwell Systems, Norton Sound, Osage Grain, Black & Decker, and Hershey Foods. In branding, nothing is more important than market dominance. Coke in cola, Hertz in car rentals, Budweiser in beer, Goodyear in tires, Microsoft in personal computer operating systems, Intel in microprocessors, Cisco in path planning, Oracle in database software, and Intuit in personal financial software. Amazon has only one chance in its lifetime to dominate the global book business. Why discard this opportunity to pursue many other markets where it cannot possibly dominate them. Vanity will still find you, and it is hard to resist. "We can enter other markets. We have products, we have employees, we have systems, we have momentum, and we have teamwork. Why not?" Why not? You might do anything for anything—products, employees, and systems—but you lack one thing. You lack insight. The problem is that whether it's branding, the internet, or anything else, it always boils down to the same thing: product recognition.