by samIt takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad deed to lose it. In terms of online branding, this has never been truer. A staggering number of Britons perform online research before buying product, as much as 80{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} according to some research. Brand management services are therefore more important than ever. What makes a strong brand reputation? The consumer must be able to associate it with a quality product or service. As we all know, you can read 100 positive reviews of a restaurant or hotel but one negative review can really drag a reputation down. Mud really does stick. If the consumer is to trust the brand, it needs to be consistently associated with positive web results. This can be achieved through online reputation management (ORM) by suppressing websites with negative content and crucially pushing positive content up the search engine results pages.
As well as being trustworthy, the brand must also be instantly recognisable, stand out and most importantly, be consistent. The colours, logos, and taglines should remain the same across all the company’s web pages and PPC adverts to the extent that the consumer can identify the brand without being made explicitly evident. It is important to note that assuming a brand that’s working well offline can be applied to online platforms without any modification is potentially risky. For example, while it’s a good idea to maintain the same design features in terms of colouring and layout it may well be that a logo that looks slick on a television screen or advertising billboard suddenly comes across as garish on a web page.
It’s easy to get confused by some of the abstract jargon that gets knocked around when marketers talk about branding, especially when it involves creating a voice or personality for a brand. With the meteoric rise of social media, however, this once challenging task is now not only achievable, but also surprisingly easy. Your brand can cast opinions on relevant current affairs through tweets or status updates. It can project a sense of humour, open mindedness, friendliness, enthusiasm through videos and photos. A multinational company can become accessible and approachable virtually overnight. This forum provides an incredible opportunity to zero in on a target audience and communicate with them on an individual basis to become a real social animal. As many as 20{06e29518e582b1cc2da09f8f2ea316dadc41c520023bcca83a4deb5e6ad0a3c6} of UK consumers follow at least one brand on a social media site and this is only going to increase in the future.
A good online brand management strategy will target organic search results through SEO and ORM but also use blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. to bring the brand to life. Move with caution however as the potential for continuity errors are rife. As has already been mentioned, consistency is a vital trait of a brand and with so many different mediums available it can sometimes be difficult to make sure they all match up!