CROWD CONTROL: Branding on the Internet.

BRAND IS KING ON THE INTERNET, PUNDITS INSIST. BUT CAN YOU BUILD A BREAK-OUT BRAND WHILE DROVES OF DOT-COMS ARE ALL VYING FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS' ATTENTION?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG IS DOING IT. WILLIAM Shatner is, too. And don't forget Sophia Loren and Joyce Brothers. * With a slew of celebrities touting Web sites and more than $1 billion spent by dot-coms in off-line advertising last year, Internet branding these days is a lot like shouting into a hurricane. It takes a lot of effort...but will anybody hear you?

An E-Conference panel of experts identified four key steps to creating an Internet brand that will ring out loud and clear over the clamor. Moderator David Webster, group director of interactive media at Siegel & Gale, explored these steps with Marleen McDaniel, chairperson, president, and chief executive of Women.com, and Allen Kay, chairman and chief creative officer of Korey Kay & Partners.

STEP 1:

MAKING THE PROMISE

"Fundamentally, a brand isn't your advertising, and it's not your positioning. Fundamentally, a brand is a promise between you and the consumer," McDaniel said.

But too many Internet companies neglect that promise in the rush to offline media.

"These young companies raise a lot of money, and the first thing they do is spend a lot on television. That's not the way to build a brand. It doesn't build loyalty," she said.

Webster agreed that the first priority in brand building is creating real value for the user.

"If you create a really well-differentiated product that everyone loves, if you deliver a better mousetrap, the customers build the brand for you," he said.

To build the Women.com brand, McDaniel started by researching the needs of her audience and developing a site to fulfill them.

"The number one need was information. Number two was productivity, so we built tools and services to help them get things done faster. The third need was convenience, which is where we think e-commerce is going to come," she said.

STEP 2:

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Selecting a name is a key strategic step in building any brand, but it's especially crucial on the Web, where the name needs to convey site benefits which may be difficult for new users to understand. And if an established company is launching the site, the name also needs to define the site's relationship to the parent brand.

CONSIDER THESE CASE STUDIES:

"Women.com": "Prevention magazine is one of the important brands within our network. We went through a phase of calling that content 'Prevention's Healthy Ideas'," McDaniel said. "But we went back to Prevention.com because we didn't want to have to support many, many new sub-brands within the Women.com network. Now we promote the Women.com brand and Prevention magazine promotes the Prevention.com URL. And we all win, because it's all part of our network."

"LycoShop": "The question was, should we create a sub-brand for Lycos for its network of Internet shopping companies, or promote the shopping service through Lycos itself?" Webster said. "For budgetary reasons, Lycos picked the name LycoShop as a way to leverage the dollars that were already being spent around the master brand."

STEP 3:

ALERTING THE MASSES

"Putting up a Web site is like having a lemonade stand in outer space unless you drive traffic there," McDaniel said.

But driving users to your site doesn't necessarily require an ad on the Super Bowl--where this year, dot-coms snapped up about a third of the available spots, paying $2-3 million apiece.

"If I had only one dollar to spend on marketing, I'd spend it on public relations. It's always very effective to see the brand get that contextual endorsement," McDaniel said.

Women.com, for example, drew terrific media attention for an interactive feature for Cosmopolitan called "Undress Your Date."

Webster agreed that word of mouth can be the most effective way to boost traffic. An on-line postcard feature, similar to an on-line greeting card, on Kodak's site boosted traffic from 100,000 visitors a day to more than 2 million in the span of two weeks, he said.

"If I send you a postcard, you have to go to the site to pick it up, and then you're going to send a few, and it spreads like a virus."

The second marketing dollar spent by an Internet brand should go to Internet advertising, McDaniel advised. "The Internet's a very valuable advertising medium for actually getting people to your site."

While the sheer reach of television can't be beat for mass exposure, many companies aren't exercising simple common sense in their media buying, according to Kay.

"A lot of dot-com companies are very foolish. Last November and December, I saw things like real estate and home-buying sites on TV. Where were their heads? They bought the most expensive periods of time to advertise in months when nobody buys a home. If they were smart, they'd have waited until January when rates fall but viewership stays the same and there's much less clutter."

STEP 4:

KEEPING THE PROMISE

The most important step in branding, though, isn't just getting your name out there, or even attracting people to your site. The key step is making them stay once they're there--and making sure they return.

"The fundamental problem is to create a site that works and gives users a compelling reason to come back," McDaniel said.

Reserving dollars to improve site functionality may be more important in the long run than pouring money into advertising, Webster said.

"I truly believe companies should try to earmark a paltry percentage of their ad budget for really improving the product. If you invest in superb customer service, in loyalty programs, in understanding your consumer behavior, then the marketplace will spread the word for you," he said.

Ultimately, strategic branding means sticking to your company's core values, Kay said.

"One thing traditional companies have to remember: They've all been successful building companies founded on basic principles. Just don't forget your principles."

VALUE AMERICA: AVOIDING THE CROWDS

On-line commerce site Value America pioneered the use of print and television to promote Internet ventures, said founder Craig Winn in his E-Conference keynote speech. But now he's giving it up.

"In February a year ago, we had the radical concept of using off-line advertising to drive on-line revenue. This idea to use radio, television, and newspapers was so unique, that if you opened a USA Today or a Wall Street Journal, you only saw one dot-com. It was us. And it was us for many, many, many months," he said.

Value America spent $46.5 million in off-line brand advertising during the first three quarters of 1998, according to Competitive Media Reporting. Indeed, Winn's company was second only to E-Trade Group in off-line media spending during that time, the group reported.

Not anymore, Winn said.

"We've recognized that the noise in that space, the amount of venture capital dollars, the money thrown at television, radio, and newspapers now is so tremendous, that to break through and get value for your advertising dollar isn't workable. So although we really invented this approach and became the leader, we've chosen to obsolete that part of our strategy."