Abstract:
ABSTRACT The suggested study examines the extent of customer engagement and brand performance as the StimulusOrganismResponse (SOR) model of digital branding. Using it as a case study on Marketo Edge Pvt. Ltd., a digital marketing agency, the paper explores how the external branding stimuli including the consistency of brand identity, authentic communication as well as aesthetic innovation contribute to the emergence of emotional and behavioral engagement among the clients, which, in turn, results in loyalty and advocacy. Qualitative research design was employed in the study to get in-depth information about the perceptions of clients and their experience. The semi-structured online interviews were done to collect data on Google Forms SME clients. The responses were thematically analyzed and helped in NVivo to identify the major themes and how they related to one another. The analysis revealed three dominant dimensions according to the S -O -R framework namely: (1) Digital Branding (Stimulus), which arouses trust and attention; (2) Customer Engagement (Organism), comprising of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement; and (3) Brand Performance (Response), as manifested by loyalty, advocacy, and perceived business growth. The findings reveal that the most prominent digital branding cues are natural communication and consistency of the brand, and the most important mediating process between branding stimuli and performance outcomes is emotional involvement. Based on the S-O-R model, the paper is used to apply the model to the B2B online branding, and emphasizes that the engagement is a psychological, as well as behavioral mediator between the perception and performance. The research contributes to the theory by adding the concept of emotional branding and engagement into the S-O-R model and offers viable recommendations that can assist the manager to develop a consistent, authentic, and co-creative branding approaches. In total, it can be noted that the effectiveness of digital branding in the paper is conditional upon the capacity to create emotional trust and engagement, and this will convert the awareness into the customer relationships and the measurable brand success in the long run. Keywords:
