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Digital and Social Media Marketing
and Advertising Collection
Victoria L. Crittenden, Editor

Digital
Branding
Fever

Athanasios Poulis
Ioannis Rizomyliotis
Kleopatra Konstantoulaki
Digital Branding Fever
Digital Branding Fever

Dr. Athanasios Poulis

Dr. Ioannis Rizomyliotis
Dr. Kleopatra Konstantoulaki
Digital Branding Fever
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2017.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for
brief quotations, not to exceed 250 words, without the prior permission
of the publisher.

First published in 2017 by

Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-94709-882-4 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-94709-883-1 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Digital and Social Media Marketing and Advertising
Collection

Collection ISSN: 2333-8822 (print)

Collection ISSN: 2333-8830 (electronic)

Cover and interior design by S4Carlisle Publishing Services

Private Ltd., Chennai, India

First edition: 2017

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

 Abstract
Your first step as a business is the most important one. When crafting a
digital branding strategy, you want longevity and that is why you must
appeal to your consumer demographics. That’s the only way to succeed!
It is extremely important to understand the meaning and the value of
the brand for each target audience in order to develop an effective digital
marketing mix. Of course, the value of the brand for a web-based com-
pany may have heightened importance because of the intangible nature
of the web. Bottom line is that you always need to keep it simple and give
a WOW experience!
The game is changing and you need to step up! Digital branding is
the creation and development of communications strategies, specifically
for brands to have a meaningful context on the web. Branding is not
what you say but what you do! As we learn more about branding and
its tie to growing a known product, the answer to whether we should
brand is simple. If we want to create a niche and dominate it, we need
to shape that niche, to define it, and to use several different approaches.
In this book, we will analyze those approaches and create together step
by step your digital branding strategy and give your consumers an
unforgettable experience.

Keywords
brand experience, digital branding, digital strategies, social media branding
 Contents
Chapter 1 The Digital Fever................................................................1
Chapter 2 Keep It Simple and Give a WOW Experience..................19
Chapter 3 Focus to Users..................................................................37
Chapter 4 How Can I Build My Digital Brand?................................57
Chapter 5 Become a New Top Digital Brand....................................81
Chapter 6 New Frontiers to a Digital Revolution............................101
Index..................................................................................................113
 CHAPTER 1

The Digital Fever

In this chapter, you will read:

1. It’s all digital

2. Who is watching you?
3. Basic rules of digital brand engagement
4. Can digital brand engagement replace advertising?
5. Popular brand-engagement misconceptions
6. Effective digital brand engagement

Introduction
The ideas associated with the way businesses used to market a service,
brand, or product, are today somehow not sufficient. Consumers enjoy
buying, but do not enjoy being “sold to,” which now means the overall
approach requires changes. The act of reaching consumers now involves
engaging with them as well as being able to show these consumers that
a company really cares about matching up with their requirements with
what it has to offer.
For many marketers, one of their largest learning curves is associated
with understanding the actual value and concept of a specific brand along
with the importance associated with brand building in regard to digital
marketing. Today, the industry in which businesses operate moves at a
lightning speed with technologies that are constantly evolving, viral vid-
eos, algorithm updates, the emergence of social-media platforms, streams
associated with memes, the increase in mobile adoption, and so much
more. With all these going on, it becomes easy for many businesses to
forget that one thing that remains a constant through all these changes
and this has to do with the brand. As companies continue to push new
2 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

boundaries in association to marketing activities with this fast-paced

digital environment, it is important to still maintain fundamentals in as-
sociation with brand building based on long-term success.
The digital landscape continues to grow in the form of an active and
living environment whereby consumers can be reached instantly, but the
way this will be achieved also needs to evolve. In some cases, ideas of
disrupting a person in order to display what a company is about can have
undesirable effects, which can drive these consumers away from digital
landscapes altogether. An example of this would be when video advertise-
ments based on something that is totally unrelated interrupts what the
person is watching on a medium such as YouTube in the middle of the
video. It is far better for businesses to gain an understanding of where and
who their audience is and then proceed in creating approaches that are
more organic in order to reach them, which won’t take the viewer out of
an experience, but rather add to it.
The principles associated with digital brand engagement explain the
approaches that augment or replace the traditional type of “one-way”
advertising messages that are aimed at an audience with the strategies that
are able to build up a connection in the way of two-way conversations
with audiences. These conversations should be aimed at truly engaging
with consumers as well as assist them in building up relationships with
that brand. The CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) will continue to re-
quire more sophisticated approaches in order to maintain the attentions
of audiences, which have become ever more demanding. Digital brand
engagement involves disciplined principles that when they are applied in
the correct manner are able to reinvent, grow, and connect brands with
audiences in an intimate way.
Basically put, digital brand engagement is based on redefining mar-
keting in association with the “modern” digital era, in the way of creat-
ing meaningful connections with audiences in the way of leveraging the
online tools and ecosystems. Tom Gallego from forbes.com states that the
use of apps monitoring social buzz as well as the creation and launching
of influence-based marketing campaigns, can form an important part of
brand-engagement strategies. The brand of a company has a service or
product that can assist consumers; how they are able to communicate this
with their audiences is what will result in the defining difference.
 The Digital Fever 3

It’s All Digital

The traditional-based marketing is associated with a one-to-many ap-
proach. This means that the business is able to reach larger audiences;
however, the message will be solely between a brand and a person who
views this advertising. In the social world, marketing is often labeled as a
one-to-many approach and is able to achieve that the initial responders
of this marketing can now have relationships with a brand as well as the
marketplace. This opens possibilities related to far richer experiences, in-
volving consumption between the digital networks that allows for a mass
participation that stretches across hours or day opposed to a few minutes.
These types of experiences are reliant on engagement which provides a
way for the brands to collect real-time and accurate information that are
associated with reactions of these fans.
Branding is the type of tool used to develop as well as maintain com-
petitive advantages. In the somewhat noisy digital media world, staying
competitive is even more challenging. There is a big difference between a
brand and the brand name. Brand names are tangible and consumers can
view them. The actual brand exists only in the minds of consumers in re-
gard to what they will be thinking when hearing this name. The building
of strong brands in this age of digital is crucial. Even though branding was
always of importance, when considering the current online environment
and the constant changing behaviors of users, here are some of the obvi-
ous benefits associated with branding:

• The online users have become more and more autonomous. With
instant information on demand, the users have become spoiled
for choice in regard to services and products. Brands that are well
defined are vital for a business to distinguish their services or prod-
ucts from their competitors.
• Brands now have a decreased control when it comes to what con-
sumers are saying about their business online. This is because the
users now have complete access to what other users have to say,
which makes heavy influences on their decisions on a purchase.
• Online customer relationships today rarely end after a sale. This
means that brand building within this digital environment must
4 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

take advantage of this in order to convert those “one-time custom-

ers” into a coveted brand loyalist.
• The funnel model is obsolete, and today there are a number of
touch points whereby users will engage with different brands.
However, branding guarantees the consolidated message.
• Over and above owned and paid media, strong digital branding
will have advantages over earned media such as brand advocates
and communities.
• It is important to know that branding will not only be about a
service or product, it is also about customer services, sales process,
social engagement, the companies’ employees, and everything else
in between.
• Branding was always based on connectedness, and digital is able to
heighten this connectedness of people, brands and things.

Most marketers are aware that integrated marketing is one of the fac-
tors related to success within digital environments. Strong brands will
support all these channels indirectly and directly so that both resources
and time will need to be set aside for brand building through the process
of digital marketing. Because of the fact that branding is based on the
development of emotional connections, strong brands always have in-
fluencers, advocates, followers, and fans who will actively promote these
brands. To achieve the most from integrated digital marketing, it is im-
portant that businesses do not overlook how important brand building
really is. Companies should define their brands and what they stand for,
give thought to what drives this brand, and focus on how consumers per-
ceive these brands in each aspect of a business.

Who Is Watching You?

Any relevant brand understands the importance of the customer in the
decision-making process. If that golden rule isn’t followed, there is always
the risk of getting low-quality leads that might not guarantee 100 percent
loyalty. It’s important to understand that customers go through various
stages with the brand. They might not be ready to purchase anything the
 The Digital Fever 5

first time round. The most important thing is providing relevant content
for the consumers at every purchasing stage. Thereafter, leveraging the
content properly moving the customers from one stage to the next should
be the logical next move. Understanding the customer life cycle and meet-
ing the needs of the customers, the brand should enjoy increased conver-
sions as well as engagement. It’s also a good way to develop brand loyalty
to allow viral sharing of the relevant information to potential customers.
The first step to successful online branding involves the business
owner understanding what the business stands for and the goals that
should be accomplished. The business owner needs to understand how
the consumers perceive the business as well as both the short and long-
term objectives. With these objectives, it’s easy to find a good foundation
to build the brand identity of any business. It’s ideal for any business to
have a branding team in place to handle the entire project. Such a team
should have the objectives and standards in existence. If they are not
available, they can always be developed to meet the company’s branding
needs. To achieve these strategies, there are some branding assets that
should already be in place. Basically, it is a branding checklist that con-
tains assets such as internal messages, core messages, targeted messages,
the look and feel, and also the identity of the business. With these assets,
it’s easy for the business owner to understand what the business needs to
reveal to the consumers.
Over the years, consumers have become incredibly complex, especially
with various advancements in technology and the Internet. Consumers
expect a certain level of treatment as well as relevant but controlled ex-
periences. A business owner needs to find a way to meet the consumer’s
expectations by delivering the right offers through the right channels and
in the right time frame. The first thought would be to find the existing
consumer information and throw everything at it until something comes
up. Of course, such data is necessary and excellent in the right situation;
it might not exactly address the problem the audience might be facing.
Consumers will definitely tune out if they are not getting what they want
from any business. Every business needs to know what the target audience
needs to hear. If possible, creating profiles that identify the needs of the
consumers can allow the business to find customized strategies that satisfy
6 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

these needs. Such profiles can be used over various platforms to achieve
the best results with regard to digital branding.
Because the business has already identified the audience as well as the
demographics, the next step is finding out the problems the audience
might be facing. Next, the business needs to identify the products or
services that solve the audience problems. Such solutions can be achieved
by using various tools. For instance, the business needs to find out the
specific keywords used by audience when searching for specific products.
With the right keywords, the business can optimize content on its sites,
allowing consumers to find the best content to satisfy their problems.
With such a direct approach, it’s easy for any business to cater to the needs
of the audience and satisfy them without fail.
Once the business owner understands the business brand and also
identifies the problems the audience might be facing, the next step is de-
termining the middle ground. In simple words, the business owner needs
to find the intersection that determines what he or she wants to reveal
about the business and what the audience need to hear. Here, it’s mostly
a discovery phase that should be based on information. One good thing
about this stage is the fact that there is no need for costly focus groups
or surveys to help the business owner identify the middle ground. Cur-
rently, there are numerous of social-media tools and search techniques
that can provide the relevant consumer behavioral information for the
best results.
If a proper analysis of the data is conducted, it’s easy to find out a few
important things about the business such as the following:

• Are the marketing and business goals currently in use by the busi-
ness still relevant?
• Compared to the competition, is the brand still relevant?
• Are there any available positioning opportunities in the current
marketplace?
• What’s the best way to prioritize services and products to serve the
audience better?
• Are there any gaps in the search engine optimization (SEO) tech-
niques that are not being utilized?
 The Digital Fever 7

Basic Rules of Digital Brand Engagement

Can Digital Brand Engagement Be an Alternative to Advertising?

The word “brand” is a unique identity that is given to a product line or

product, and “branding” is the process of creation for this unique identity
that creates impressions in the mind of the consumers. It is very impor-
tant to create brands because of the fact that every day more and even
more products are emerging onto the markets, and companies have to do
something that is distinctive in order to stand out opposed to getting lost
with the others. Good brands are the ones that are able to achieve distin-
guished impressions on consumers. In the age of digital, newer tools have
been created for the promotions of brands. Digital brand engagement is
one of those effective “new-age” tools for the development of successful
brands. This has to do with a presence of a brand on digital media and its
participation in an active way on the different online platforms. This tool
assists in making consumers aware of a brand as well as a way to com-
municate with consumers.
Once a brand has being created, the following step involves promot-
ing it as well as making consumers aware that it exists. Advertising hap-
pens to be one of these ways but also comes with its own set of demerits.
The marketers of today need to have an understanding that they can no
longer impose messages on consumers. Communication has drastically
evolved over the years and today communication that is regarded as ef-
fective is the type whereby both parties are able to actively participate.
For this reason “branding” requires conversation. Older business models
that involved pushing product and messages are outdated, and driving
the brand impression is just not enough. The establishment of connec-
tion and providing an experience is actually what attaches consumers to
brands, which is possible through the process of brand engagement.
What is known as the “digital revolution” has transformed everything
as we know it in the 21st century. This means that marketing scenarios
have changed drastically from previous years. Consumers are a lot more
informed today and this is all to do with the Internet. In addition, every-
one today will have their own online presence whether it be Instagram,
Twitter, Facebook, other social platforms or a combination of all. So,
8 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

this is by far one of the best mediums for companies to engage with cus-
tomers. Interaction is easily possible in just about every method possible
online, therefore, making digital brand engagement ideal.
Digital brand engagement is a very effective technique used to initi-
ate connections with various prospects. It also offers all the advantages of
two-way communication. In addition, it is able to account for personal-
ization with a brand. Advertising on the other hand is merely a technique
used to create awareness of a service or product existence. It is a type of
one-way communication whereby marketers are only able to convey a
message to prospects, but the end users are unable to talk back. Some of
the stronger aspects of digital brand engagement over advertising include
some of the following:

• Attracting Attention: Companies can continue to shout messages at

potential customers and will never receive a response. In contrast,
when a company is able to have active conversations with consum-
ers, they are able to achieve what they really are looking for and this
is their attention.
• Inspiration Compared to Interruption: Consumers are in search of
brands that will inspire them. Advertising is mainly viewed as a
type of interruption, which is usually the type of advertisements
that appear during commercial breaks when watching television
shows or advertisement videos that appear before just about all the
YouTube views. Therefore, engagement is often a mode based on
inspiration compared to that of interruption.
• The Investment Factor: It is well known that the mass-media adver-
tising campaigns are associated with excessive costs. Even though
digital advertising is a more affordable option, it can also result in
wastage of time and resources. On the other hand, brand engage-
ment is one of the more favorable options as it linked to compara-
tively lower costs.
• Building of Relationships: Brand engagement allows for brands to
build up a relationship with their customers. It is able to create an
emotional attachment with consumers for a brand. Advertising re-
ally lacks interaction, which means it is not a method that can be
utilized to build up relationships with consumers.
 The Digital Fever 9

• Enhancing Brand Reputation and Gaining Trust: The release of an

advertisement will not be a guarantee that customers will be re-
ceiving the best services or products, but being able to provide
experiences.
• Feedback: Brands can obtain suggestions on how to improve
through platforms such as social media. Customers can now share
in on their reasons as to why they are unhappy or dissatisfied with
a brand. In turn, the brand can then work on a way to remedy or
remove these grievances. Engagement is also an effective method to
retain customers once they have been attained.

When considering the aspects that have been listed previously, digi-
tal brand engagement is recognized as a real winner, but advertising still
holds its place within the organizations in the process of creating aware-
ness. Ultimately, both these mediums should be utilized in collaboration
to each other and the core focus of a business should be based on associa-
tion with consumers. Digital advertising is useful in creating awareness on
the different social-media platforms. Once consumers are provided with
this knowledge, brands can now begin to exchange dialogues with these
consumers. For this reason, digital brand engagement is known as an ef-
ficacious tool that is beneficial to new-age marketers in order to offer their
customers as well as prospects a far better type of brand experience, which
translates into the creation of a brand that is successful.

Popular Misconceptions Associated with Brand Engagement

That Can Derail Digital Campaigns

A logo for a company is not its brand, and those attention-grabbing tac-
tics can actually result in turning consumers away. Branding is recognized
as a tricky and complex practice and happens to be all-encompassing and
multidisciplinary. This is why there are so many individuals who have mis-
interpreted what brand engagement is really all about. The majority of the
digital-marketing campaigns can run amok when they do not integrate cor-
rectly with their efforts associated with branding. Following are seven impor-
tant misconceptions that cause issues for the digital marketers in search of
a way to engage with consumers in regard to their specific brand strategies.
10 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

A Logo Is Sufficient

Big brands have become synonymous when it comes to their splashy and big
logos and since then, most of the laypeople are unable to differentiate brands
from what happens to be just packaging. In order to engage with the con-
sumers, branding has to be executed in the form of a full discipline. Value
proposition, messaging, organizational ethos, persona, and differentiation
are some of the important elements that a company’s branding should be
able to cohesively quantify. It is only when the consumers are able to clearly
identify these particular aspects of brands will they open up to engagement.

Social Media Is the Best Method to Increase Engagement

Certain individuals misunderstand that engagement means a direct type of

consumer-to-organization communication. However, this is just one of the
components that results in true engagement. The focus of this narrow defi-
nition can result in a failure in a digital-marketing campaign. Social media
happens to be just one of these channels for connection. Studies have gone
onto prove that the best methods to engage will involve multichannel efforts.

Go for Emotional, Evocative, and Loud

It has become an increasingly difficult task to break through noise present

on the global marketplace of today. The competition among the brands
is no longer just relegated to zip codes. This often leads to a conclusion
that is very poor that the best way for a brand to engage is to be bold and
splashy. In more cases than not, the successful digital-marketing cam-
paigns happen to be an antithesis of these ideas. They are actually reliant
on a carefully measured budget and sound metrics. They also place the
needs of the consumers above their own needs. Being loud and splashy
can risk these objectives in the way of making them appear that it is just
about a brand’s needs to gain attention.

No Sales Is Equal to No Engagement

Sales happen to be one of the important brand-engagement metrics. How-

ever, there are also other types of engagement factors that will contrib-
ute to the organization’s understanding in association to its positioning.
 The Digital Fever 11

A few of these factors cannot be quantified readily. An example, power-

ful and extraordinary word of mouth will increase page hits, which are a
marker of fantastic engagement.

Only the Costly and Extravagant Ads Will Drive Engagement

In many cases, some of the largest brand-engagement campaigns will

appear in Adweek. These are the types of brands that hired expensive
and fancy agencies, and these agencies achieved phenomenal digital
shares. Engagement should and can be the key factor on any aspect of a
digital-marketing campaign. Social-media activities and valuable content
can work together to entitle healthy engagement. This is also possible
through stimulating customer-to-customer activity, offering solutions to
issues, and hosting chats. Businesses need to develop the processes that
will guarantee outstanding customer service as well as invite the users to
share the success of a brand. Companies also have to be honest and real-
istic about the failures of a brand.

A Focus on Content Marketing Is the Ideal Way

to Increase Engagement

This is very similar to the misconceptions surrounding social media. Con-

tent marketing is unable to solve all problems. In some cases, one of the
better ways to engage with the consumers is to simply say “hello.” Con-
tent is a fantastic way to deliver value, but at the same time a circuitous
method to engage. It is also better for businesses to diverse their efforts
and not to solely rely on content to tell the story of their brand.

Brand Engagement Is Separate from the Rest

of the Digital-Marketing Campaign

At its very heart, this happens to be the central theme for all the previous
misconceptions. Brand engagement must involve every person within an
organization, which should include the operations-team members. The
reason for this is that engagement actually means that a brand willing
extends its reach to the consumers. True brand-engagement is always
an open-door policy. Whether these doors are opened to the brand’s
12 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

products, material, ideas, or people, they seek an interaction between not

only the consumers but also with their most “valuable” assets.

Effective Digital Brand Engagement

Successful digital branding or the use of digital networks to convey and

build a company’s position can become the deciding factors associated
with decline or growth. Nowadays, it is required to have a specific ap-
proach of marketing: in the form of a digital brand experience. Consum-
ers connect to the different social-media channels at all times of the day
or night, 365 days in the year. But what does this mean in regard to
digital marketing? People no longer want to be barraged with massive
amounts of information; they prefer to rather engage with materials by
their own choice. Businesses are now unable to push their brands, but
rather need to inspire an interaction through the process of conversing
and listening instead.
Nurturing relationships through communication is regarded as the
quickest methods to engage with customers. However, the management
of digital engagement and digital branding strategies is the sole way to
build a business. It is very important for businesses to know the differ-
ences between earned, owned, and paid media and to then tailor their
strategies to a current marketplace using these three important types
of marketing.
Earned Media refers to “free” promotions that are generated through
word of mouth and social media. By knowing what type of technologies
are available, it is easier to optimize and manage your strategies.
Paid Media refers to anything that has been paid for, which increases
the visibility of the brand. An example of this would be Facebook adver-
tising that allows companies to target an audience based on locations,
demographics, and a variety of other metric types. Other examples will
include pay per click (PPC) and search engine marketing (SEM). Ad
blocking will continue to increase; counteracting this will be the engage-
ment ads. These work in the method of expanding a “lightbox” into a big-
ger window when a user hovers over this box for more than two seconds.
The larger box will then display videos, purchasing along with other types
of brand interactions in order to attract the attention of customers.
 The Digital Fever 13

Owned Media is any type of channel that a company has full control
over, which includes online profiles and websites. The foundation to using
websites fully is based on keeping it up to date, relevant, and continuously
providing high-quality and new content. The content should never remain
static on websites, but rather be distributed through other channels. One
of the best methods to raise good content is the use of infographics. Com-
bined with video, popularity associated with infographics is in fact growing.
Currently, this visual data type is shared more frequently by the Twitter
users compared to any other type of content. One of the advantages of
infographics is the method in which it is able to clearly lay out research and
statistics. The audiences respond well when information is interesting and
relevant, as well as conceptually or factually derived from customer com-
ments and social media. It is also able to provide researchers with potential
blog topics that are new. These charts can easily be divided or broken down
into more-in-depth and smaller posts and articles that can be distributed to
a target audience and then utilized on the company’s website.
On the other hand, real time does translate to real profits. The in-
clusion of live broadcasts, virtual reality (VR) clips and video segments
is guaranteed to attract bigger audiences. The companies that make use
of real-time posts that provide relevant coverage in regard to affairs and
events, which appeal to fans and consumers, is able to grow audiences in
a more effective way compared to those that only focus on the product-
centric narratives.
The banner advertisements were and still are a widely used method
associated with direct-response campaigns in order to urge consumers
to take advantage of time-restricted deals. But when it comes to digital
marketing and, more specifically, the display advertising can be far more
than only generating those immediate clicks. Marketers are now offered
opportunities in developing campaigns with the purposes of branding.
The digital-branding-based campaigns have become increasingly effective
in the abilities to understand and track the browsing behavior of user.
Marketers are now able to focus their efforts on the building of brand
awareness and brand recall (as a long term goal) rather than focusing on
short-term conversions. Data associated with past-purchase information,
search history, and demographics can be utilized to create branding cam-
paigns that are extremely effective.
14 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

Brands take a lot of hard work. However, those successful brands are
the types that work smarter. Here are some tips on how to achieve digital
branding success.

• Push versus Pull Marketing: When social media first began, many of
the experts were convinced about the “push verses pull” marketing
strategies. However, today consumers refused to be “force-fed” but
have chosen to rather be led to tables if they have made the deci-
sion to “eat.” This resulted in tables packed with irresistible treats
for consumers to enjoy. This is when a brand is able to turn from
sinking into swimming. Today, consumers only want the service,
products, and content from the companies or brands that they
trust, like, and know. However, the building of these relationships
takes some time and it is definitely not sufficient to just join these
conversations in the way of flooding these gates. Currently, success
can be found when a company is able to stand out in the form of
an “authority leader” as well as a connected brand.
• Brand Restrictions within Digital Marketing: The more that the
brands try to push, the faster the targeted markets set up boundar-
ies. Humans suffer from what is known as “information overload”
and the continuous reminders, offers, articles, messages, and so
on, have the targeted markets feeling confused and overwhelmed.
This has resulted in consumers who have built-in filters that funnel
out junk and they only keep what fulfills a professional or personal
need. When a company is unable to provide solutions or the con-
tent is unable to answer the “why” behind services or products, the
target market usually will not give this business any of its attention.
• Maintaining Consistency in Online Activities: The goal of any busi-
ness online is to standout to achieve results. To achieve this goal,
companies need to grow their authority and brand organically.
Communication needs to be concise and engagement needs to be
continuous: This includes SEO strategies, editorial calendars, and
the best practices for “social-media” digital marketing. This is done
in the way of conveying content in such a way that it can assist
the target market in solving issues as well as a way to engage the
target audience in a solution. Engagement is important with the
 The Digital Fever 15

online communities that provide a way for consumers to feel safer

in regard to what they can expect from a brand or business. Today
companies should rather focus on developing their brands over a
period of time and avoid rushing in and bombarding consumers
with a brand. The successful brands engage with purpose that will
be driven naturally.

Summary
Engagement happens to be the word commonly used by the different
brands that describe actions taken on the social-media platforms. How-
ever, this particular term has been overused and taken for granted in the
way that just about any of the social-media posts is able to engage with
audiences. In reality, regardless of the amount of followers that can be
viewed on a post or even interact with this post, only the people who take
a further action are the ones who are really engaging with a brand or busi-
ness. Fans happen to be central to any of the brands in the way of driving
forces to achieve long-term growth. But how do brands clearly define the
way in which they should progress in engaging with these fans and what
is the purpose behind this engagement?
The definition of true engagement is when consumers deeply con-
nect with a brand, category, or topic and form part of a type of topical
microcommunity. These types of “connected activity” are divided into
four subcategories:

• Contribution, this is when audiences create their very own content,

which is commonly referred to as user generated content (UGC)
• Influence, where an audience is influential over the other consumers
• Collaboration, where an audience participated in the content cre-
ation with the actual brand or other consumers
• Advocacy, where audiences adopt the sense of affinity and
ownership

It is with the engagement strategies that companies are able to ad-

vance practices in association to marketing, which is awareness based
on a place that the fans actually grow with brands and form a real part
16 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

of activities opposed to just recipients. Business objectives that can be

enforced through these processes are able to drive a variety of action-
able outcomes that include purchases, downloads, transactions, signups,
and more along with a long-term goal of achieving a retained and loyal
user base. It is important to know that engagement will not be achieved
from singular posts. The single-post “interactions” are misunderstood as
a type of true engagement. However, actual true engagement is achieved
through a process of a far longer journey.

Bibliography

Bowden, J. L. H. (2009). The process of customer engagement: A con-

ceptual framework. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 17(1),
63-74.
Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer en-
gagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis.
Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 105-114.
Gummerus, J., Liljander, V., Weman, E., & Pihlström, M. (2012).
Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community. Management
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Hollebeek, L. D. (2011). Demystifying customer brand engagement: Ex-
ploring the loyalty nexus. Journal of marketing management, 27(7-8),
785-807.
Kabadayi, S., & Price, K. (2014). Consumer–brand engagement on Face-
book: liking and commenting behaviors. Journal of Research in Inter-
active Marketing, 8(3), 203-223.
Malthouse, E. C., Calder, B. J., & Vandenbosch, M. (2016). Creating
brand engagement on digital, social and mobile media (pp. 85-101).
In R. J. Brodie, L. D. Hollebeek, & J. Conduit (Eds.). Customer En-
gagement. New York: Routledge.
Martí, J., Bigné, E., & Hyder, A. (2014). Brand engagement. In
L. Moutinho, E. Bigné, & A. K. Manrai (Eds.). The Routledge Com-
panion to the Future of Marketing (pp. 250-257). London: Routledge.
Tiago, M. T. P. M. B., & Veríssimo, J. M. C. (2014). Digital marketing
and social media: Why bother? Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.
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Uzunoğlu, E., & Kip, S. M. (2014). Brand communication through digi-

tal influencers: Leveraging blogger engagement. International Journal
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Vadivu, V. M., & Neelamalar, M. (2015, May). Digital brand manage-
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Van Doorn, J., Lemon, K. N., Mittal, V., Nass, S., Pick, D., Pirner, P., &
Verhoef, P. C. (2010). Customer engagement behavior: Theoretical
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Vivek, S. D., Beatty, S. E., & Morgan, R. M. (2012). Customer engage-
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Marketing Theory and Practice, 20(2), 122-146.
 CHAPTER 2

Keep It Simple and

Give a WOW Experience

In this chapter, you will read:

1. Who are we talking to?

2. Are the customers finding you?
3. The users’ journey
4. Keep it simple and give a WOW experience
5. Turn increased value in cold hard cash

Introduction
To guarantee future sales, numerous businesses rely on consistent brand-
ing over time. However, such results have been somersaulted by social
media and search engines. Therefore, brands that understand the need
for visibility, going viral, and finding potential customers, always win
over their competitors. Currently, brand relevance has become more
recognizable than differentiation with the competitors. Brand relevance
refers to the proper alignment of the identity and strategy to illuminate
a benefit, which addresses the needs, wants, or desires of any consumer.
Thanks to brand relevance there is an increased focus on the needs of the
consumer thereby enhancing the consumer’s experience. As a result, the
consumer can count on a consistent experience from any media outlet
online or otherwise.
Well, the need for branding for any business can’t be underestimated.
Digital branding has become more prevalent in the last few years with
more consumers turning online for their shopping preferences. If a busi-
ness is properly branded, consumers can find it effortlessly online. On
20 DIGITAL BRANDING FEVER

the other hand, consumers can recommend the business to their friends
and numerous other connections thereby improving the brand’s identity.
As already explained, unlike traditional marketing, digital brand-
ing combines various techniques, such as digital marketing and Internet
branding, to develop a strong brand identity over various online venues.
Whether social media or third-party listing sites, a properly branded busi-
ness has more visibility online. Basically, if a customer performs an online
search of the business, the results will prove to be authoritative, especially
if the website is leading in the search engine results.
There are some notable differences between traditional and digital brand-
ing. Here are some of the notable ones that every business should know.
Easy Comprehension: Currently, millennials are leading most of the
consumer markets. That’s partly the reason why online markets have be-
come more prevalent than traditional brick and mortar shops. Everything
can be accessed online from any smart device. Therefore, millennials un-
derstand everything there is to do online. When it comes to traditional
branding methods, it might be tough to teach the millennials the old
ways. On the other hand, digital branding is easy, fast, and very compre-
hensible by everyone. It seems simple enough especially everything has
become paperless.
Cost-Effective: Traditional methods include print media (magazine ads,
newspaper ads, newsletters, or brochures), direct mail (catalogues, flyers,
or post cards), broadcast media (radio and television ads), and also tele-
marketing. With these traditional branding methods, the business needs
to actively go out and find the customers. Previously, these techniques
have a high success rate but they are very costly. On the other hand, it’s
tough to measure the consumer response. Of course, there are numerous
companies that rely on traditional branding methods. However, digital
branding has become popular for many reasons. For instance, it is less
costly. Some of the common digital branding methods commonly in use
include search engine optimization, social-media marketing, Google ads,
websites, and also banner ads. Here, the customers are already in place
waiting for the business to contact them.
In comparison, digital branding is considered less costly than tra-
ditional branding for all the reasons named previously. Of course, to
achieve the best results, most companies rely on both methods. It’s
Another random document with
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 "For heaven's sake, ma tante, tell me what the Duc de Tremont thinks!"

Her aunt laughed softly. The intrigue and romance of it all entertained
her. She had the sense of having made a very pretty concession to her niece,
of having accomplished a very agreeable pleasure trip for herself. As for
young Sabron, he would be sure to be discovered at the right moment, to be
lionized, decorated and advanced. The reason that she had no wrinkles on
her handsome cheek was because she went lightly through life.

"He thinks, my dearest girl, that you are like all your countrywomen: a
little eccentric and that you have a strong mind. He thinks you one of the
most tender-hearted and benevolent of girls."

"Ma tante, ma tante!"

"He thinks you are making a little mission into Algiers among the sick
and the wounded. He thinks you are going to sing in the hospitals."

"But," exclaimed the girl, "he must think me mad."

"Young men don't care how mildly mad a beautiful young woman is,
my dear Julia."

"But, he will find out ... he will know."

"No," said the marquise, "that he will not. I have attended to that. He
will not leave his boat during the excursion, Julia. He remains, and we go
on shore with our people."

"How splendid!" sighed Julia Redmond, relieved.

"I'm glad you think so," said her aunt rather shortly. "Now I have a
favor to ask of you, my child."

Julia trembled.

"Ma tante?"

"While we are on board the yacht you will treat Robert charmingly."
 "I am always polite to him, am I not?"

"You are like an irritated sphinx to him, my dear. You must be

different."

"I thought," said the girl in a subdued voice, "that it would be like this.
Oh, I wish I had sailed on any vessel, even a cargo vessel."

Looking at her gently, her aunt said: "Don't be ridiculous. I only wish to
protect you, my child. I think I have proved my friendship. Remember,
before the world you are nothing to Charles de Sabron. A woman's heart,
my dear, has delusions as well as passions."

The girl crimsoned and bowed her charming head. "You are not called
upon to tell Robert de Tremont that you are in love with a man who has not
asked you to marry him, but you are his guest, and all I ask of you is that
you make the voyage as agreeable to him as you can, my dear."

Tremont was coming toward them. Julia raised her head and murmured:

"I thank you for everything. I shall do what I can." And to herself she
said: "That is, as far as my honor will let me."

CHAPTER XVI

THE DUKE IN DOUBT

The short journey to Africa—over a calm and perfect sea, whose waters
were voices at her port to solace her, and where the stars alone glowed
down like friends upon her and seemed to understand—was a torture to
Julia Redmond. To herself she called her aunt cruel, over and over again,
and felt a prisoner, a caged creature.
 Tremont found her charming, though in this role of Florence
Nightingale, she puzzled and perplexed him. She was nevertheless
adorable. The young man had the good sense to make a discreet courtship
and understood she would not be easily won. Until they reached Algiers,
indeed, until the night before they disembarked, he had not said one word to
her which might not have been shared by her aunt. In accordance with the
French custom, they never were alone. The marquise shut her eyes and
napped considerably and gave them every opportunity she could, but she
was always present.

The Duc de Tremont had been often in love during his short life. He
was a Latin and thought that women are made to be loved. It was part of his
education to think this and to tell them this, and he also believed it a proof
of his good taste to tell them this as soon as possible.

He was a thoroughly fine fellow. Some of his forefathers had fought and
fallen in Agincourt. They had been dukes ever since. There was something
distinctly noble in the blond young man, and Julia discovered it. Possibly
she had felt it from the first. Some women are keen to feel. Perhaps if she
had not felt it she might even have hesitated to go to Algiers as his guest.

From the moment that the old duchess had said to Robert de Tremont:

"Julia Redmond is a great catch, my dear boy. I should like to have you
marry her," her son answered:

"Bien, ma mère," with cheerful acquiescence, and immediately

considered it and went to Tarascon, to the Château d'Esclignac. When his
mother had suggested the visit, he told her that he intended making up a
party for the Mediterranean.

"Why don't you take your godmother and the American girl? Miss
Redmond has an income of nearly a million francs and they say she is well-
bred."

"Very good, ma mère."

 When he saw Miss Redmond he found her lovely; not so lovely as the
Comtesse de la Maine, whose invitation to dinner he had refused on the day
his mother suggested the Château d'Esclignac. The comtesse was a widow.
It is not very, very comme il faut to marry a widow, in the Faubourg St.-
Germain. Miss Redmond's beauty was different. She was self-absorbed and
cold. He did not understand her at all, but that was the American of her.

One of his friends had married an American girl and found out
afterward that she chewed gum before breakfast. Pauvre Raymond! Miss
Redmond did not suggest such possibilities. Still she was very different to a
French jeune fille.

With his godmother he was entirely at ease. Ever since she had paid his
trifling debts when he was a young man, he had adored her. Tremont,
always discreet and almost in love with his godmother, kept her in a state of
great good humor always, and when she had suggested to him this little
party he had been delighted. In speaking over the telephone the Marquise
d'Esclignac had said very firmly:

"My dear Robert, you understand that this excursion engages you to
nothing."

"Oh, of course, marraine."

"We both need a change, and between ourselves, Julia has a little
mission on foot."

Tremont would be delighted to help Miss Redmond carry it out. Whom

else should he ask?

"By all means, any one you like," said his godmother diplomatically.
"We want to sail the day after to-morrow." She felt safe, knowing that no
worldly people would accept an invitation on twenty-four hours' notice.

"So," the Duc de Tremont reflected, as he hung up the receiver, "Miss

Redmond has a scheme, a mission! Young girls do not have schemes and
missions in good French society."
 "Mademoiselle," he said to her, as they walked up and down on the deck
in the pale sunset, in front of the chair of the Marquise d'Esclignac, "I never
saw an ornament more becoming to a woman than the one you wear."

"The ornament, Monsieur?"

"On your sleeve. It is so beautiful. A string of pearls would not be more

beautiful, although your pearls are lovely, too. Are all American girls Red
Cross members?"

"But of course not, Monsieur. Are all girls anywhere one thing?"

"Yes," said the Duc de Tremont, "they are all charming, but there are
gradations."

"Do you think that we shall reach Algiers to-morrow, Monsieur?"

"I hope not, Mademoiselle."

Miss Redmond turned her fine eyes on him.

"You hope not?"

"I should like this voyage to last forever, Mademoiselle."

"How ridiculous!"

Her look was so frank that he laughed in spite of himself, and instead of
following up the politeness, he asked:

"Why do you think of Algiers as a field for nursing the sick,

Mademoiselle?"

"There has been quite a deputation of the Red Cross women lately going
from Paris to the East."

"But," said the young man, "there are poor in Tarascon, and sick, too.
There is a great deal of poverty in Nice, and Paris is the nearest of all."
 "The American girls are very imaginative," said Julia Redmond. "We
must have some romance in all we do."

"I find the American girls very charming," said Tremont.

"Do you know many, Monsieur?"

"Only one," he said serenely.

Miss Redmond changed the subject quickly and cleverly, and before he
knew it, Tremont was telling her stories about his own military service,
which had been made in Africa. He talked well and entertained them both,
and Julia Redmond listened when he told her of the desert, of its charm and
its desolation, and of its dangers. An hour passed. The Marquise d'Esclignac
took an ante-prandial stroll, Mimi mincing at her heels.

"Ce pauvre Sabron!" said Tremont. "He has disappeared off the face of
the earth. What a horrible thing it was, Mademoiselle! I knew him in Paris;
I remember meeting him again the night before he left the Midi. He was a
fine fellow with a career before him, his friends say."

"What do you think has become of Monsieur de Sabron?"

Miss Redmond, so far, had only been able to ask this question of her
aunt and of the stars. None of them had been able to tell her. Tremont
shrugged his shoulders thoughtfully.

"He may have dragged himself away to die in some ambush that they
have not discovered, or likely he has been taken captive, le pauvre diable!"

"France will do all it can, Monsieur..."

"They will do all they can, which is to wait. An extraordinary measure,

if taken just now, would probably result in Sabron being put to death by his
captors. He may be found to-morrow—he may never be found."

A slight murmur from the young girl beside him made Tremont look at
her. He saw that her hands were clasped and that her face was quite white,
her eyes staring fixedly before her, out toward Africa. Tremont said:
 "You are compassion itself, Mademoiselle; you have a tender heart. No
wonder you wear the Red Cross. I am a soldier, Mademoiselle. I thank you
for all soldiers. I thank you for Sabron ... but, we must not talk of such
things."

He thought her very charming, both romantic and idealistic. She would
make a delightful friend. Would she not be too intense for a wife? However,
many women of fashion joined the Red Cross. Tremont was a
commonplace man, conventional in his heart and in his tastes.

"My children," said the marquise, coming up to them with Mimi in her
arms, "you are as serious as though we were on a boat bound for the North
Pole and expected to live on tinned things and salt fish. Aren't you hungry,
Julia? Robert, take Mimi to my maid, will you? Julia," said her aunt as
Tremont went away with the little dog, "you look dramatic, my dear, you're
pale as death in spite of this divine air and this enchanting sea." She linked
her arm through her niece's. "Take a brisk walk with me for five minutes
and whip up your blood. I believe you were on the point of making Tremont
some unwise confession."

"I assure you no, ma tante."

"Isn't Bob a darling, Julia?"

"Awfully," returned her niece absent-mindedly.

"He's the most eligible young man in Paris, Julia, and the most difficult
to please."

"Ma tante," said the girl in a low tone, "he tells me that France at
present can do practically nothing about finding Monsieur de Sabron. Fancy
a great army and a great nation helpless for the rescue of a single soldier,
and his life at stake!"

"Julia," said the marquise, taking the trembling hand in her own, "you
will make yourself ill, my darling, and you will be no use to any one, you
know."
 "You're right," returned the girl, "I will be silent and I will only pray."

She turned from her aunt to stand for a few moments quiet, looking out
at the sea, at the blue water through which the boat cut and flew. Along the
horizon was a mist, rosy and translucent, and out of it white Algiers would
shine before many hours.

When Tremont, at luncheon a little later, looked at his guests, he saw a

new Julia. She had left her coat with the Red Cross in her cabin with her
hat. In her pretty blouse, her pearls around her neck, the soft flush on her
cheeks, she was apparently only a light-hearted woman of the world. She
teased her aunt gently, she laughed very deliciously and lightly flirted with
the Duc de Tremont, who opened a bottle of champagne. The Marquise
d'Esclignac beamed upon her niece. Tremont found her more puzzling than
ever. "She suggests the chameleon," he thought, "she has moods. Before,
she was a tragic muse; at luncheon she is an adorable sybarite."

CHAPTER XVII

OUT OF THE DESERT

From a dreamy little villa, whose walls were streaming with

bougainvillea, Miss Redmond looked over Algiers, over the tumult and
hum of it, to the sea. Tremont, by her side, looked at her. From head to foot
the girl was in white. On one side the bougainvillea laid its scarlet flowers
against the stainless linen of her dress, and on her other arm was the Red
Cross.

The American girl and the Frenchman had become the best of friends.
She considered him a sincere companion and an unconscious confederate.
He had not yet decided what he thought of her, or how. His promise to
remain on the yacht had been broken and he paid his godmother and Miss
Redmond constant visits at their villa, which the marquise rented for the
season.

There were times when Tremont thought Miss Redmond's exile a

fanatical one, but he always found her fascinating and a lovely woman, and
he wondered what it was that kept him from laying his title and his fortune
at her feet. It had been understood between the godmother and himself that
he was to court Miss Redmond à l'americaine.

"She has been brought up in such a shocking fashion, Robert, that

nothing but American love-making will appeal to her. You will have to
make love to her, Robert. Can you do it?"

"But, marraine, I might as well make love to a sister of charity."

"There was la Belle Heloise, and no woman is immune."

"I think she is engaged to some American cowboy who will come and
claim her, marraine."

His godmother was offended.

"Rubbish!" she said. "She is engaged to no one, Bob. She is an idealist,

a Rosalind; but that will not prevent her from making an excellent wife."

"She is certainly very beautiful," said the Duc de Tremont, and he told
Julia so.

"You are very beautiful," said the Duc de Tremont to Miss Redmond, as
she leaned on the balcony of the villa. The bougainvillea leaned against her
breast. "When you stood in the hospital under the window and sang to the
poor devils, you looked like an angel."

"Poor things!" said Julia Redmond. "Do you think that they liked it?"

"Liked it!" exclaimed the young man enthusiastically, "couldn't you see
by their faces? One poor devil said to me: 'One can die better now,
Monsieur.' There was no hope for him, it seems."
 Tremont and the Marquise d'Esclignac had docilely gone with Julia
Redmond every day at a certain hour to the different hospitals, where Julia,
after rendering some slight services to the nurses—for she was not needed
—sang for the sick, standing in the outer hallway of the building open on
every side. She knew that Sabron was not among these sick. Where he was
or what sounds his ears might hear, she could not know; but she sang for
him, and the fact put a sweetness in her voice that touched the ears of the
suffering and uplifted those who were not too far down to be uplifted, and
as for the dying, it helped them, as the soldier said, to die.

She had done this for several days, but now she was restless. Sabron
was not in Algiers. No news had been brought of him. His regiment had
been ordered out farther into the desert that seemed to stretch away into
infinity, and the vast cruel sands knew, and the stars knew where Sabron
had fallen and what was his history, and they kept the secret.

The marquise made herself as much at home as possible in Algiers, put

up with the inefficiency of native servants, and her duty was done. Her first
romantic élan was over. Sabron had recalled to her the idyl of a love-affair
of a quarter of a century before, but she had been for too long the Marquise
d'Esclignac to go back to an ideal. She pined to have her niece a duchess,
and never spoke the unfortunate Sabron's name.

They were surrounded by fashionable life. As soon as their arrival had

been made known there had been a flutter of cards and a passing of
carriages and automobiles, and this worldly life added to the unhappiness
and restlessness of Julia, Among the guests had been one woman whom she
found sympathetic; the woman's eyes had drawn Julia to her. It was the
Comtesse de la Maine, a widow, young as herself and, as Julia said, vastly
better-looking. Turning to Tremont on the balcony, when he told her she
was beautiful, she said:

"Madame de la Maine is my ideal of loveliness."

The young man wrinkled his fair brow.

"Do you think so, Mademoiselle? Why?"

 "She has character as well as perfect lines. Her eyes look as though they
could weep and laugh. Her mouth looks as though it could say adorable
things."

Tremont laughed softly and said:

"Go on, you amuse me."

"And her hands look as though they could caress and comfort. I like her
awfully. I wish she were my friend."

Tremont said nothing, and she glanced at him suddenly.

"She says such lovely things about you, Monsieur."

"Really! She is too indulgent."

"Don't be worldly," said Miss Redmond gravely, "be human. I like you
best so. Don't you agree with me?"

"Madame de la Maine is a very charming woman," said the young man,

and the girl saw a change come over his features.

At this moment, as they stood so together, Tremont pulling his mustache

and looking out through the bougainvillea vines, a dark figure made its way
through the garden to the villa, came and took its position under the balcony
where the duke and Miss Redmond leaned. It was a native, a man in filthy
rags. He turned his face to Tremont and bowed low to the lady.

"Excellency," he said in broken French, "my name is Hammet Abou. I

was the ordonnance of Monsieur le Capitaine de Sabron."

"What!" exclaimed Tremont, "what did you say?"

"Ask him to come up here," said Julia Redmond, "or, no—let us go

down to the garden."

"It is damp," said Tremont, "let me get you a shawl."

 "No, no, I need nothing."

She had hurried before him down the little stairs leading into the garden
from the balcony, and she had begun to speak to the native before Tremont
appeared. In this recital he addressed his words to Julia alone.

"I am a very poor man, Excellency," he said in a mellifluous tone, "and

very sick."

"Have you any money, Monsieur?"

"Pray do not suggest it," said the duke sharply. "Let him tell what he
will; we will pay him later."

"I have been very sick," said the man. "I have left the army. I do not like
the French army," said the native simply.

"You are very frank," said Tremont brutally. "Why do you come here at
any rate?"

"Hush," said Julia Redmond imploringly. "Do not anger him, Monsieur,
he may have news." She asked: "Have you news?" and there was a note in
her voice that made Tremont glance at her.

"I have seen the excellency and her grandmother," said the native,
"many times going into the garrison."

"What news have you of Captain de Sabron?" asked the girl directly.
Without replying, the man said in a melancholy voice:

"I was his ordonnance, I saw him fall in the battle of Dirbal. I saw him
shot in the side. I was shot, too. See?"

He started to pull away his rags. Tremont clutched him.

"You beast," he muttered, and pushed him back. "If you have anything
to say, say it."

Looking at Julia Redmond's colorless face, the native asked meaningly:

 "Does the excellency wish any news?"

"Yes," said Tremont, shaking him. "And if you do not give it, it will be
the worse for you."

"Monsieur le Capitaine fell, and I fell, too; I saw no more."

Tremont said:

"You see the fellow is half lunatic and probably knows nothing about
Sabron. I shall put him out of the garden."

But Miss Redmond paid no attention to her companion. She controlled

her voice and asked the man:

"Was the Capitaine de Sabron alone?"

"Except," said the native steadily, with a glance of disgust at the duke,
"except for his little dog."

"Ah!" exclaimed Julia Redmond, with a catch in her voice, "do you hear
that? He must have been his servant. What was the dog's name?"

"My name," said the native, "is Hammet Abou."

To her at this moment Hammet Abou was the most important person in
North Africa.

"What was the little dog's name, Hammet Abou?"

The man raised his eyes and looked at the white woman with
admiration.

"Pitchouné," he said, and saw the effect.

Tremont saw the effect upon her, too.

"I have a wife and ten children," said the man, "and I live far away."
 "Heavens! I haven't my purse," said Julia Redmond. "Will you not give
him something, Monsieur?"

"Wait," said Tremont, "wait. What else do you know? If your

information is worth anything to us we will pay you, don't be afraid."

"Perhaps the excellency's grandmother would like to hear, too," said the
man naively.

Julia Redmond smiled: the youthful Marquise d'Esclignac!

Once more Tremont seized the man by the arm and shook him a little.

"If you don't tell what you have to say and be quick about it, my dear
fellow, I shall hand you over to the police."

"What for?" said the man, "what have I done?"

"Well, what have you got to tell, and how much do you want for it?"

"I want one hundred francs for this," and he pulled out from his dirty
rags a little packet and held it up cautiously.

It looked like a package of letters and a man's pocketbook.

"You take it," said the Duc de Tremont to Julia Redmond, "you take it,
Mademoiselle." She did so without hesitation; it was evidently Sabron's
pocketbook, a leather one with his initials upon it, together with a little
package of letters. On the top she saw her letter to him. Her hand trembled
so that she could scarcely hold the package. It seemed to be all that was left
to her. She heard Tremont ask:

"Where did you get this, you miserable dog?"

"After the battle," said the man coolly, with evident truthfulness, "I was
very sick. We were in camp several days at ——. Then I got better and
went along the dried river bank to look for Monsieur le Capitaine, and I
found this in the sands."
 "Do you believe him?" asked Julia Redmond.

"Hum," said Tremont. He did not wish to tell her he thought the man
capable of robbing the dead body of his master. He asked the native: "Have
you no other news?"

The man was silent. He clutched the rags at his breast and looked at
Julia Redmond.

"Please give him some money, Monsieur."

"The dog!" Tremont shook him again. "Not yet." And he said to the
man: "If this is all you have to tell we will give you one hundred francs for
this parcel. You can go and don't return here again."

"But it is not all," said the native quietly, looking at Julia.

Her heart began to beat like mad and she looked at the man. His keen
dark eyes seemed to pierce her.

"Monsieur," said the American girl boldly, "would you leave me a

moment with him? I think he wants to speak with me alone."

But the Duc de Tremont exclaimed in surprise:

"To speak with you alone, Mademoiselle! Why should he? Such a thing
is not possible!"

"Don't go far," she begged, "but leave us a moment, I pray."

When Tremont, with great hesitation, took a few steps away from them
and she stood face to face with the creature who had been with Sabron and
seen him fall, she said earnestly:

"Now speak without reserve. Tell me everything."

The face of the man was transformed. He became human, devoted,

ardent.
 "Excellency," he said swiftly in his halting French, "I loved Monsieur le
Capitaine. He was so kind and such a brave soldier. I want to go to find
Monsieur le Capitaine, but I am ill and too weak to walk. I believe I know
where he is hid—I want to go."

The girl breathed:

"Oh, can it be possible that what you say is true, Hammet Abou? Would
you really go if you could?"

The man made, with a graceful gesture of his hand, a map in the air.

"It was like this," he said; "I think he fell into the bed of an old river. I
think he drew himself up the bank. I followed the track of his blood. I was
too weak to go any farther, Excellency."

"And how could you go now?" she asked.

"By caravan, like a merchant, secretly. I would find him."

Julia Redmond put out a slim hand, white as a gardenia. The native
lifted it and touched his forehead with it.

"Hammet Abou," she said, "go away for to-night and come to-morrow
—we will see you." And without waiting to speak again to Monsieur de
Tremont, the native slid away out of the garden like a shadow, as though his
limbs were not weak with disease and his breast shattered by shot.

When Monsieur de Tremont had walked once around the garden,

keeping his eyes nevertheless on the group, he came back toward Julia
Redmond, but not quickly enough, for she ran up the stairs and into the
house with Sabron's packet in her hand.
 CHAPTER XVIII

TWO LOVELY WOMEN

There was music at the Villa des Bougainvilleas. Miss Redmond sang;
not Good-night, God Keep You Safe, but other things. Ever since her talk
with Hammet Abou she had been, if not gay, in good spirits, more like her
old self, and the Marquise d'Esclignac began to think that the image of
Charles de Sabron had not been cut too deeply upon her mind. The
marquise, from the lounge in the shadow of the room, enjoyed the picture
(Sabron would not have added it to his collection) of her niece at the piano
and the Duc de Tremont by her side. The Comtesse de la Maine sat in a
little shadow of her own, musing and enjoying the picture of the Duc de
Tremont and Miss Redmond very indifferently. She did not sing; she had no
parlor accomplishments. She was poor, a widow, and had a child. She was
not a brilliant match.

From where he stood, Tremont could see the Comtesse de la Maine in

her little shadow, the oriental decorations a background to her slight
Parisian figure, and a little out of the shadow, the bright aigret in her hair
danced, shaking its sparkles of fire. She looked infinitely sad and infinitely
appealing. One bare arm was along the back of her lounge. She leaned her
head upon her hand.

After a few moments the Duc de Tremont quietly left the piano and
Miss Redmond, and went and sat down beside the Comtesse de la Maine,
who, in order to make a place for him, moved out of the shadow.

Julia, one after another, played songs she loved, keeping her fingers
resolutely from the notes that wanted to run into a single song, the music,
the song that linked her to the man whose life had become a mystery. She
glanced at the Duc de Tremont and the Comtesse de la Maine. She glanced
at her aunt, patting Mimi, who, freshly washed, adorned by pale blue
ribbon, looked disdainful and princely, and with passion and feeling she
began to sing the song that seemed to reach beyond the tawdry room of the
villa in Algiers, and to go into the desert, trying in sweet intensity to speak
and to comfort, and as she sat so singing to one man, Sabron would have
adored adding that picture to his collection.

The servant came up to the marquise and gave her a message. The lady
rose, beckoned Tremont to follow her, and went out on the veranda,
followed by Mimi. Julia stopped playing and went over to the Comtesse de
la Maine.

"Where have my aunt and Monsieur de Tremont gone, Madame?"

"To see some one who has come to suggest a camel excursion, I
believe."

"He chooses a curious hour."

"Everything is curious in the East, Mademoiselle," returned the

comtesse. "I feel as though my own life were turned upside down."

"We are not far enough in the East for that," smiled Julia Redmond. She
regarded the comtesse with her frank girlish scrutiny. There was in it a fine
truthfulness and utter disregard of all the barriers that long epochs of
etiquette put between souls.

Julia Redmond knew nothing of French society and of the deference due
to the arts of the old world. She knew, perhaps, very little of anything. She
was young and unschooled. She knew, as some women know, how to feel,
and how to be, and how to love. She was as honest as her ancestors, among
whose traditions is the story that one of them could never tell a lie.

Julia Redmond sat beside the Comtesse de la Maine, whose elegance

she admired enormously, and taking one of the lady's hands, with a frank
liking she asked in her rich young voice:

"Why do you tolerate me, Madame?"

"Ma chère enfant," exclaimed the comtesse. "Why, you are adorable."

"It is terribly good of you to say so," murmured Julia Redmond. "It
shows how generous you are."
 "But you attribute qualities to me I do not deserve, Mademoiselle."

"You deserve them and much more, Madame. I loved you the first day I
saw you; no one could help loving you."

Julia Redmond was irresistible. The Comtesse de la Maine had

remarked her caprices, her moods, her sadness. She had seen that the good
spirits were false and, as keen women do, she had attributed it to a love-
affair with the Duc de Tremont. The girl's frankness was contagious. The
Comtesse de la Maine murmured:

"I think the same of you, ma chère, vous êtes charmante."

Comtesse de la Main and Julia Redmond