Websites and Internet Marketing: Developing a Model for Measuring a Website’s Contribution to the Brand

Online Brand Presence

In recent years, the offline and online spheres of strategic brand management are becoming more and more inter-connected. This is not only because offline companies sell their products over the internet as an alternative distribution channel (Levin et al., 2003), or that firms more frequently run integrated brand communication campaigns both offline and online (Bartel-Sheehan & Doherty, 2001; Srisuwan & Barnes, 2008). The connection goes beyond these links, as companies that commercialize their products offline, now seems to cross over the offline borders and offer new products and services online. Apple is an example with the iPhone and the iTunes shop on the internet. Another example is Nokia with its Ovi web portal. The reverse is also possible, and online companies may benefit from launching products that are available in the offline market. For instance, Google has made its Google Docs useable without an internet connection (Martin, 2008). Recently, this company has just launched a new mobile phone that uses its own operating system. This new launch created expectations among consumers who waited patiently for the new product (Ricker, 2008).