Perform a search for “Download Themes” and you’ll find a host of offerings for personalizing your digital experiences.

Sites like Customize.org offers a central destination for Themes, Skins, Wallpapers and Icons. Zedge.net offers themes for your mobile phone. You’ll find options for Windows 7 themes, XP themes and WordPress themes. What’s conspicuous by its absence is the option to find browser theme downloads. Especially with the meteoric rise of the Google Chrome browser and its emphasis on enhancements via its Chrome Webstore.

That’s why a few months back, Brand Thunder updated its browser theme gallery.

We wanted to create the leading destination to download themes for Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. If you haven’t been, please give it a visit. You’ll find official themes from some of the world’s most recognized sports teams, artists, entertainers and more. Plus, an eclectic mix you get when you open up to user generated content.

Here are a few of the highlights you’ll discover.

Chrome Themes

The fastest growing browser also offers some of the hottest themes to download. There are all free, and be sure to search for Brand Thunder so you can much of what themes for Chrome you can download.

Kelly Clarkson Chrome Theme

The first Idol who has really lived up to the word, image and expectations. Now see what Kelly Clarkson brings to a Chrome browser theme.

Kelly Clarkson Chrome Theme

St. Patrick’s Day Chrome Theme

You may decide to bring some of the luck of the Irish to your Internet with this St. Patrick’s Day theme.

St. Patrick's Day Chrome Theme

Phoenix Suns Chrome Theme

If sports are more your game, you can choose from a range of professional sports teams to college athletics. Brand Thunder builds the official themes for NBA, NFL, MLS teams and many more.

NBA Phoenix Suns Chrome Theme

Firefox Themes

Firefox is where Brand Thunder got its start building browser themes and where you’ll find some of the themes that really show off the interaction of our interactive browser themes.

Weather Theme

The only browser theme that changes with the weather. Powered by WeatherBug, this theme changes based on your current local weather conditions, offers a 3-day forecast in the theme and much more.

Weather Firefox 9 Theme

Bob Marley Theme

The global appeal and timeless message of Bob Marley is represented in this browser theme. It offers a theme switcher so you can easily cycle through the different looks whenever you want a change of look.

Bob Marley Firefox Theme

Neon Lights Theme

The Neon Lights theme offers a colorful but simple theme with a subtle glowing to the lights that make this a continually popular theme to download.

Neon Lights Firefox Theme

Internet Explorer Themes

Internet Explorer remains the world’s most popular browser, but was left without much of the add-on sizzle Chrome and Firefox offered – until Brand Thunder gave it some browser theme attention. Now many of our themes have IE skins as well.

Euro Football Theme

The world’s football theme is a great way to enhance IE.

Euro Football IE Theme

Chivas USA Theme

Even if you like your football with helmets and pads, you can still get Major League Soccer themes through Brand Thunder’s Gallery.

MLS Chivas USA IE Theme

University of Kentucky Theme

You’ll also find themes you can download for many of the elite teams in NCAA Men’s Basketball. These themes are from the school’s athletics departments, so if your a fan of NCAA Women’s Basketball or other sports – you’re covered.

Kentucky IE Theme

UGC Themes

And since we offer a tool to build your own themes, we also give you a chance to share your themes with the world.

Kuomintang Theme

Taiwanese political parties have found their voice with browser themes.

Kuomintang Theme

Hello Kitty Bubbles

The Hello Kitty contingency will find much to like in the User-Submitted theme section.

Hello Kitty Theme

Age II Conquerors

Gamers and game community members are also taking their clans, fighting units and parties into browser themes.

Age of Empires II Conqueroros Theme

There’s much to enjoy when you download themes so get started now!

Related articles

• Brand Thunder Acquires BrowserNation Clients, Expands Global Reach of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer Themes (brandthunder.com)
• New Theme Gallery Features User Submitted Themes (brandthunder.com)

Image via CrunchBase

BrowserNation Browser Themes Come to Brand Thunder

You may have read earlier in the week how Brand Thunder and BrowserNation were coming together to bring the full host of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer browser themes to more professional teams, artists, entertainers and more.

We’re thrilled and can’t wait to get all the themes built and delivered to our new clients and their fans. The news of the event went out across the Twittersphere based on coverage from CNET and tech blogs, including:

• Columbus Business Journals
• DMXZone
• CyberSharQ
• FiveFreeApps

It’s not everyday we have such exciting news to share, so forgive us our moment to enjoy it.

BrowserNation has a beautiful product for the Firefox browser. The look and feel of these themes will change to fit Brand Thunder’s layout for Firefox. While the Firefox fan base will have an adjustment to a slightly new design, the upside is Chrome and IE users will also get to enjoy the theme experience.

More Official Sports Themes

Brand Thunder’s rich history of sports browser themes will be complemented with a host of themes across professional sports and from around the globe. BrowserNation clients that will be getting the full Chrome, Firefox and IE skin experience include the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, football clubs from Barclays Premier League Football like Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, plus other club teams like the Wycombe Wanderers, Moscow Spartak FC and Paris Saint-Germain.

Minor league sports team will be getting major league theme treatment. Indianapolis Indians, Toledo Mudhens, Toledo Walleye and Durham Bulls are some of the fans that will enjoy the new themes.

Sports fans will also have a choice of rugby teams from Bath, London, Munster and Saracens, ICC Cricket World Cup, Indy Car racing, the Red Bull Racing team, sailing and more.

More Official Music Themes

The range of music browser themes available are ramping up quickly. Brand Thunder recently released themes for artists like Kelly Clarkson, Greyson Chance, Mindless Behavior and more. Now, fans of many other genres will have a theme they can love.

BrowserNation clients include Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Radio, a host of Latin artists including Enrique Iglesias, Selena Gomez, Shakira, Nelly Furtado, Chayanne, Diego Torres, Juanes and Marc Anthony.

Fans of a more global music scene may find upcoming themes for India’s legendary singers Mohd Rafi and Asha Bhosle more to their liking. Or the indie fans of Cheryl Cole, The Saturdays, The Wanted, DeadMau5, Danger Mouse and Everything Everything will find their own theme choices.

What’s the Theme of Your Internet?

There’s never been a better time to find the official browser themes for your favorite teams, sports or music. You can enjoy these immersive experience if you’re on Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer.

And with all this choice, if you still can’t find something you like… build your own browser theme.

Related articles

• Brand Thunder Acquires BrowserNation Clients, Expands Global Reach of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer Themes (brandthunder.com)
• Browser theme creator Brand Thunder acquires rival (news.cnet.com)

If you’re going to be celebrating the Chinese New Year, Tet, Losar or any other lunar calendar celebration that I’m not aware of – you need to check out Brand Thunder’s dragon browser themes. It’s the Year of the Dragon and we have the browser skin for you.

3D Dragon Browser Theme

3D Dragon Browser Theme It started as a joke to release a 3D browser theme, but it has it’s fans. Sorry, we don’t have the red and blue glasses that really make this theme pop. You’ll enjoy it regardless with the classic style Chinese dragon. A great way to start off a very auspicious year.

Dragon Browser Theme

Dragon Browser Theme You may decide that a more fantasy-oriented dragon is more to your liking. This theme may have you thinking more about World of Warcraft than the Three Gorges, but like either of those destinations you’ll be transported to another place and time.

Blue Dragon Browser Theme

Blue Dragon Browser Theme is a browser theme created by one of the folks in the Brand Thunder community using BT:Engage, Brand Thunder’s browser theme creator. It’s a ethereal image of a Chinese dragon. More understated on the dragon front, but more forward on the design front.

Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

We hope you find something to like, or if you don’t, head over and create your own at BT:Engage. It’s as easy as dragging and dropping your own images into the theme creator. And it’ll be a fun way to kick off this New Year of the Dragon!

Sorry, Chrome users. These themes are for Firefox and Internet Explorer only. We’re upset about it too and are working hard to bring all our great themes to Chrome.

Please read both of them. We can really use your help with the first point. The second point is a much more subjective one. I won’t say which way to throw your support, but it’s an issue worth your time to have an informed opinion.

Share Your Blackout Details

As a small company, we test for as many scenarios as we can. There’s no way to prep for what we saw yesterday, and no way for us to understand it’s full impact. That’s why I’m asking for your help. I’ll outline some of the “known” issues or expected ones from a downed server, but if you want to share your experiences – especially if they’re not listed below – please email me directly at kevin – at – brandthunder – dot – com (substitute ” – at – ” with @ and ” – dot – ” with .). You can also make a comment in the Brand Thunder support forum.

Some things we know about:

• Toolbar buttons missing from themes – Many of the buttons are images that are pulled from our server. With the server down, the buttons won’t load. This is different from the theme image, which always has a locally saved version.
• Internet Explorer down in some instances – There was an early identification of a bug in an update that just released that required a server check. Oversight on our part that we quickly rolled back, but there may have been some instances where this was noticed.
• Installs not completing - Some of our themes are fully hosted on other sites. Examples include the Chrome Webstore and Addons.Mozilla.org. I know on Chrome, themes went through the install process fine, but the theme never loaded because of the blackout. If it’s not working now, I’d suggest uninstalling the first attempt then reinstalling. It should pull it up fine.
• Sidebar content missing – This may have been an artifact of the reconfiguration. I saw the outage today and is now working in some themes I’ve checked.

If there are other oddities, or issues you’ve identified, please share.

SOPA – The Long-Term Blackout

Good intentions don’t always make good policy. I’ll admit I’m not versed enough to talk to all aspects of the Stop Online Piracy Act, but for a company that has created an engine allowing anyone to instantly build a Firefox and Internet Explorer browser theme, and publish it to Brand Thunder’s browser theme gallery – it scares the heck out of me.

Despite the legal protections we put in place, like the user agreement stating a user has ownership of all images used in their theme, I’m sure there’s exposure somewhere. Just like with freedom of expression, there are those that will say things you don’t like. With a tool that allows you to express yourself via a browser theme and then share it out, expressions that approach the line of appropriate use will undoubtedly occur. Artistic license, satire or parody, we simply could not afford the legal costs of defending a series of challenges that can come our way.

Whether we willingly or accidentally participated in the SOPA blackout, we all got a taste of what may happen if it comes to reality.

What’s different from year’s past is it’s no longer acceptable to have that blue E pull up a boring gray browser. Internet Explorer skins for your browser give you the ability to personalize your Internet experience and enjoy a little style when you’re online. Whether you enjoy professional sports, the hottest music artists, your college alma mater, the latest in news or just nice elements of style – the following is a sampling of some of the IE Skins you will find in Brand Thunder’s Theme Gallery.

Alabama Crimson Tide 2012 BCS National Champions Skin

Regardless of what you think of the BCS Bowl Championship Series, you can appreciate a classic theme from a storied college team that has returned to top form. When you surf the Net, you should also Roll Tide with an IE Skin.

Jacob Latimore Skin

No need to wait for his next appearance on 106 & Park, with Sony Music’s Jacob Latimore browser theme – he’s with you whenever you’re on the Internet. We asked Jacob for his thoughts on browser skins. No surprise that he “Like ‘Em All.”

NFL San Francisco 49ers Skin

The 2011 49ers team is full of surprises with first-year coach, Jim Harbaugh, and their first playoff appearance since 2002 – and their first official browser skin. Get your IE browser on the 49er bandwagon this NFL Playoff season.

NHL Western Central St. Louis Blues Skin

We’ve got a long way to go in the NHL season, but the Blues at the top the standings of their division. And they can sit on top of your IE browser when you get this theme.

Huffington Post Skin

With the election year finally upon us, we know the news and political spin is going to be flying fast. There’s no better place to keep up with the latest and to engage in the discussion than on The Huffington Post. If you’ve got skin in the political game, get this Internet Explorer skin.

Blue Nebula

The ever productive MaDonnas Personas will astonish you with her productivity and her consistently outstanding portfolio of work. Here’s a space inspired skin that will make your Internet Explorer look out of this world.

Dragon

Arya Mathur used Brand Thunder’s BT:Engage to create this astral vision of a Dragon, and then kindly published it to the Brand Thunder Gallery to share with everyone.

And remember, if you don’t find what you want in the Gallery, you can always design and build your own browser skin with Brand Thunder’s BT:Engage. You can choose images from the catalog of images or upload, then drag and drop your own into the browser design. It’s 100%  free to build, share and download your own browser skin.

Related articles

• Internet Explorer 8 Themes (brandthunder.com)

The first desktop wallpaper, as used on the Xerox Star in 1975. -Image via Wikipedia

Community toolbars have been around for years helping online publishers build engagement with their fans and online community. The power of this tool has helped build Conduit, the leader in this space, into what some say is a billion dollar company. Engagement is a powerful tool.

For many years more, desktop wallpapers were the path to customization and personalization for the personal computer – from family photos to wonderful waterfalls – we’ve either seen or tried them. They are easy to install and change. There is no way to interact with the wallpaper, they exist simply for the visual enhancement they offer. The only real downside? Wallpapers spend the majority of time covered by the applications running on the computer. You get to enjoy that beautiful graphic when you start up and shut down your computer – hello and goodbye.

So, what’s it like to take two great ideas and merge them into one. It’s like asking the question, can you get two great tastes to taste great together?

Your Web Site on a Custom Community Toolbar

Conduit Platform gives all web publishers, regardless of size, the ability to create and publish a branded, customized Community Toolbar. Anything you can put on a website can also be deployed on a Community Toolbar including: applications, content, gadgets, feeds, social media tools, personal account data, games, services, links, and more.

With over 230 million publishers taking advantage of the Conduit platform, there’s no shortage of people that see the value of extending their web presence to the platform with the most Internet engagement – the Internet browser. There’s great upside to putting your content in the browser and creating a persistent presence whenever a user is online.

While toolbars are still core to their offering, Conduit has extended their approach of simplifying the build process of technical marketing tools and branching into the very hot category of mobile and browser apps.

Your Favorite Image on Your Computer

Your computer monitor is an elaborate picture frame. Picking the image is probably the hardest part of deciding how to customize your computer desktop. On my computer, I can literally right click on any image and “Set as Desktop Background.” It can be a bit overwhelming if you think about it. Every image you encounter is an option for you.

That’s where sites like Desktop Nexus come in. Between the site and their very active communities, they curate the visual selection for you. Landing on the web site gives you an immediate view into “Recently Popular Wallpapers – By Member Votes” so you can grasp what people like. They also offer Galleries, tags, sorting, creators and just about any other navigation method you may prefer. Really well done. And they’re well on their way to meeting their goal of the household brand-name to answer the endless demand for computer wallpapers.

Desktop Nexus provides a medium for members to share their desktop creations with the world. For designers, it’s a great showcase for their work and opportunity build their following. You’ll even find some designers using a site like this to cross-promote their work on other services. Like this 2012 Seasons wallpaper with links to browser theme options.

Toolbar + Wallpaper = Browser Theme

Whether you’re looking for the latest Chrome browser theme from Kelly Clarkson, the Firefox theme for BCS National Champion contender Alabama Crimson Tide, or an Internet Explorer theme featuring a favorite coupon and deals site like Presto Savings – Brand Thunder has been the place for online marketers to turn. What each one of these offers is a combination of community toolbar and desktop wallpaper.

While a browser theme can’t match the visual real estate of the desktop wallpaper, it is assured exposure whenever consumers are online – often hours a day. So no matter how many hours someone is spending on Facebook, they can be spending every minute of it in an experience you designed.

As for toolbars, there’s little in terms of functionality advantages that one product has over the other. Community toolbars and interactive browser themes each have the highly desired presence when someone is online, and enjoy the benefit of a persistent communication channel to the end user – and hence the ability to engage those users.

Following the lead Conduit established for its toolbars, Brand Thunder launched BT:Engage and put the power of creating interactive browser themes into the hands of any online publisher. Now any web site, online community or individual can build their own custom browser theme by simply uploading any images they want into BT:Engage and then dragging and dropping them into the theme. It’s just as simple to add buttons and content feeds.

When you combine the two great ideas of community toolbars and desktop wallpapers – you get interactive browser themes, the Reese’s cup of the Internet.

Related articles

• Conduit Community Toolbar vs. Browser Theme (brandthunder.com)
• Using Browser Themes to Create Free Desktop Backgrounds (brandthunder.com)
• Theme Spotlight: Digital Blasphemy Wallpapers & Background Themes (brandthunder.com)

Image via Wikipedia

What’s it take to grow your user base and build awareness for a business partner? CBS College Sports and Fathead found using the browser theme for marketing promotions is a great way to convert users and deepen engagement.

CBSSports.com College Network is a leader in delivering web services, e-commerce, streaming and mobile services for college and university’s athletics websites. Fathead is a leader in sports and entertainment wall graphics. Nice set up for bringing companies together that serve similar audiences.

The results – SPECTACULAR!

KILLER CTR

Online banner advertising CTR (click through rates) run below a tenth of one percent. Email CTR will get you roughly five percent but you have to factor in the 23% open rate. And Electronic Arts was apparently thrilled with the 11% engagement they received with their first batch of Twitter ads. Marketing Magazine described EA’s Twitter ads as exceeding all expectations.

The results for the CBS and Fathead promotion were over 60%. Yes, almost six times better than the engagement that EA received with their Twitter ads.

STELLAR CONVERSION

Of course getting users to the front door of an offer is one thing, but can you convert? Depending on your method of marketing promotion and what you’re asking of the user whether it’s a registration or purchase will make your conversion rates vary widely. For Fathead, their goal of contest entry and email opt-in netted them 43% conversion. I’m proud to see marketers across the Internet are getting their expectations exceeded.

You can find out more about the promotion on the CBSSports.com website and their article: Contest grows CBS Sports user base and gains awareness for Fathead. You might find some of your own ideas for using a browser theme to engage your audience.

Image via CrunchBase

Patrick Murphy recently did a Brand Thunder interview with Shoestring Ventures, The Startup Bible Blog. One of their questions was “What other web-based products would you recommend to entrepreneurs, business owners or freelancers?” I realized the recommendations fell into categories discussed in our blog post about Sales Strategy: Browser Theme – Hunter vs. Farmer.

Given that start, here’s a short list of tools useful to that category of startup, small or medium business or freelancers. Tools to help you and your clients. Add your favorites in the comments.

Tools for Business Development

FREE LinkedIn.  Using LinkedIn has been a great tool to farm for contacts and actual names with targeted prospects

FREE Jigsaw for sure.  Jigsaw has been a great source for getting the contact information after you’ve identified who to contact, and sometimes even to identify who to contact.

CHEAP Less Annoying Software.  A great CRM to manage contacts and sales process.  Very simple, not overwhelming, and easy to use. Less Annoying is tailored for smaller businesses.

FREE Follow Up Then.  This is a unique email-reminder service.  When sending out emails, Bcc @followupthen.com and get an email reminder to follow up with that recipient.  Example, 2weeks@followupthen.com will send a reminder email two weeks after the original email.

VARIES Smart Phone.  This sounds silly, but making yourself available and reachable at all times throughout the day has been key.  Responsiveness to emails has been very beneficial as well.  When a desired brand emails me, I want to email them back within minutes while I have their attention.  If I am targeting West Coast and they want to chat at 4pm pacific, making the call at 7pm my time is essential.  I could be out of the office, some emails me back a day after I emailed them, they say they have a few minutes to chat now, you want to do it.  Having a smart phone makes all of that possible.

Tools for Relationship Management

FREE Facebook. Sure, this is an obvious choice, but ignore it at your own peril. This is where the time online is spent and the more easily and seamless your customers can interact here with you, the more they will.

FREE Hootsuite. This is a great tool for managing your social presence, especially for Twitter. The free product has served my needs well, having tried the Pro version it seemed to have enough inconsistencies and not enough value for me to stick with it.

FREE Google Alerts. An easy way to keep aware of discussions about you and your brand across the Interwebs. Set up your account to track your company name, your name, Twitter handles, top keywords and refine as you see what works for your business. You can also set up different time frames based on urgency of information, which can help manage information overload.

FREE Conduit. I went into this some in my last post. It’s incredibly valuable to extend your content beyond your web site and engage audiences where they are. Conduit does an excellent job at this by allowing you to easily drop your most compelling content or functionality into apps that you can extend across their ecosystem of mobile, browser add-ons and more.

FREE BT:Engage. The browser remains king of meaningful Internet engagement and an interactive browser theme provides a huge advantage of maintaining awareness and sparking engagement with your audience.

That’s the quick tour of my list. What’s on yours?

Here’s an overview of toolbars, browser themes and what each can do for your web site, business or community.

One point I’d emphasize, these products are not mutually exclusive. It’s never a question of which one to implement, but what each brins when you offer them to your audience.

Conduit.com Community Toolbars

Conduit.com is the leader in the community toolbar space, and they have an amazing product. In a matter of minutes, anyone can register at their site, upload a logo and start building a custom community toolbar that they can share with their online community. Additionally, the web publisher can choose from a host of web apps and tools to make the toolbar serve the wider needs of their audience.

The toolbar gives the web publisher a toehold into the online experience of the user by placing a small piece of branding, some icons and feeds for your site. Then it strives for retention (continued use) of the toolbar by adding icons to other products like email, Facebook, YouTube videos, MochiGames or whatever that publisher feels is best for their user.

It’s a proven strategy of rolling the attraction of brand affinity with personalization that gives the user the elements of the Internet they use on a daily basis. Conduit offers thousands of ways to personalize the toolbar experience. The web publisher defines the default experience for their community, but the user can adjust the toolbar to their own liking over time.

Browser Themes

Brand Thunder, long the leader in the interactive browser theme space, offers similar capability with its BT:Engage DIY browser theme creator. In a matter of minutes, a web publisher can build a unique browser theme full of visuals and interactive content.

Where the Conduit community toolbar goes wide, the Brand Thunder browser themes go deep. The brand and theme provide a visual immersion complemented by integrated content and functionality. It’s a rich experience between the web publisher and their online community. A suite of personalization features have been added like Facebook and Weatherbug, but not to the full extent offered by Conduit.

Core Value Proposition of Toolbars and Browser Themes

The basic promise of both the toolbar and the browser theme is a persistent connection to your online user, which has huge value. Think about the expense that goes into building and maintaining a web site, then add in cost of getting people there. Then consider that while people spend hours online, they spend seconds on a web page. And, unless you’re Facebook, you’re not likely getting a large percentage of that time.

With persistent placement in the browser, you capture awareness and interaction the entire time your user is online. That drives up exposure, engagement and return visits. Without that exposure, at best you’re one stop among many. At worst, you’re an afterthought.

Affinity Marketing – Visual Identity

Both toolbars and browser themes fall under the concept of affinity marketing tools. Visual identity plays a large role with affinity groups and both toolbar and theme play to that connection to varying degrees. Also, each of your users will have a level of comfort as to what they like.

You can put a toolbar on your computer, and like a bumper sticker, you eventually look past it. It’s present but doesn’t always capture your attention. If you trick out your car, you’re not going to miss it. I can no longer find the traffic increase data point for toolbars, but if my memory is correct, the contribution difference is similar to the difference in visual impact of these two images. And while I don’t have any data to compare, my gut tells me the toolbar has the edge in terms of lifespan of usage. I’ve seen the dips when our sports teams lose.

vs.

Pros & Cons – Shared

There are pros and cons to both approaches, and there are those shared by both.

Pros

• Free and easy to set up.
• Free tools for promoting and sharing.
• Increase site visits, commerce and engagement.
• Great for mainstream and passionate audiences.

Cons

• Web development community tends to avoid products like these. If that’s your audience, may not be the best fit.
• Require ongoing promotion to grow audience – like most products.

Pros & Cons of Toolbars

Pros

• Toolbar apps for every conceivable use.
• Revenue sharing.
• Available for four major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari

Cons

• Limited visual presence.
• Added to bottom of browser chrome.

Pros & Cons of Browser Themes

Pros

• Entire browser chrome part of experience .
• New ad inventory including sponsorships within the browser chrome and sidebar ad inventory.
• Available for three major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer.

Cons

•  Apps limited to most popular.
• DIY product has limited feature set in its early stage of release.

Related articles

• Browser Toolbars & the Added Power of Branded Themes (brandthunder.com)
• BT:Engage How To: Make Money Online with Your Browser Theme (brandthunder.com)
• 4 Ways to Unlock the Traffic Driving Power of the Web Browser (kissmetrics.com)

Image by TerryJohnston via Flickr

Brand loyalty is nothing new, but we usually think of Coca-Cola or Nike. Huge global behemoths that consumers ask for by name and wear proudly on their heads, lips, body and feet.

But online marketing has changed the way brand loyalty is acquired and earned.  With the explosion of social media, businesses are making a solid attempt to be honest and open in their marketing communications. This plays to the strength of the small or medium business (SMB) since SMBs don’t have the deep pockets for huge marketing spends and agencies leading the social media charge. We do it ourselves and we’re the most knowledgeable and open about our products and companies.

When you’re open and honest with your consumer, the side effect can be the creation of trust, brand loyalty and even brand advocacy. And these non-transactional communication efforts are highly linked to purchase behaviors. So, whatever your business metrics, time spent on brand loyalty is time well spent.

Is Brand Loyalty Achievable?

If you abide by the American Marketing Association, brand loyalty is the situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category. To me, if you’ve got people tattooing your logo on their backside, you’ve got brand loyalty.

While you might think large companies own the domain of brand loyalty, it’s not true. This has been studied on a global level where multinational companies don’t necessarily rule in every market. There’s strength for the local brands – the home-field advantage. And local brands that market themselves successfully remain formidable adversaries in those markets. (For extra credit, read: The Myth of the Invincible Global Brand)

The Internet is like having that home-field advantage. As an SMB, you are an expert in your category. When it comes to your web site, your industry and your community – you have a powerful starting point to build your brand loyalty.

Trust as a Part of Brand Loyalty

Robert Passikoff, President, Brand Keys, Inc, makes a pitch that brand trust makes a high contribution to category engagement, loyalty, and profitability – even more than how good the product is. If a brand doesn’t really stand for anything beyond category efficacy, then the consumer is going to find alternatives.

Building trust is important, but once you’ve earned it, you need to make sure you keep it. The open communication you start, the transparency you exhibit and the trust you build are not a one-time thing. They’re an ongoing effort.

Browser Themes Build Loyalty and Trust Through Engagement

Consistent and open communication is a great target, but in the world offering torrents of information from social news feeds, mobile apps, TV, radio and more, what do you do? Engagement with the brand is your ultimate goal. It will ensure your brands survival and outreach of all kinds — conversations, experiences, advertising, and every touch point possible and imagined are required.

Among these channels, the browser theme ranks high in terms of presence, impact and length of exposure. Every hour spent on the Internet builds that connection between you and your consumer. It’s not seconds on a web page, or moments in an app that is soon forgotten and buried several menus deep on a three-inch screen. You gain a real footprint into daily activity and enjoy the benefits of that engagement.

With the growth of web-based social networks and a desire for transparency, trust and peace-of-mind messages, it shouldn’t be surprising that relationships now form a cornerstone of marketing efforts. When you leverage the browser theme to build relationships with consumers, you’re creating brand loyalists that drive word-of-mouth marketing, brand advocacy and brand guardianship.

Brand Thunder’s BT:Engage, a build your own browser theme wizard, will ensure your business has an easy to use tool for your ongoing brand loyalty efforts.