Bonding brands with customers has always been about building relationships. It has always been about taking someone who knows little or nothing about a company or its products and transitioning them to become a loyal user. Although the tactics might sometimes be different on the Internet, many classic marketing principles still apply.

It's almost impossible to pick up a business publication without seeing some reference to the world of new media, especially the Internet and its role in marketing a product or service.

A substantial amount of this rhetoric, however, ignores one of the most important components of a marketing professional’s responsibility — building a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers. When it comes to building a brand on the Internet, never have so many talked so little of what may be the Internet’s most stunning capability — strengthening the bond with customers and prospects.

“Branding is redefined online,” says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi & Saatchi Rowland of Rochester, NY. “We are moving beyond representing a brand to experiencing it.”

In this new world of e-branding, the Internet has become more than a gimmick or a mere line item on the communications budget. It can now play a pivotal role in enhancing brand relationships and corporate reputations.

It offers a huge advantage over traditional mass media. The speed people can move from awareness to action on the Internet is a true differentiator and challenge for e-marketers. This requires a new way of thinking about how to design Web sites and related marketing communications.

However as the author of The End of Marketing As We Know It, Sergio Zyman says, there is no difference between building an Internet brand and a traditional brand. In effect, the steps to bond prospects to brands are essentially the same. The difference, however, will be the speed a brand can transition prospects to customers.