Corporate Branding and Online Reputation Management
The mere foundation of marketing is making an impact in order to build perception. The underlying need for traditional public relations or publicity activities has always been to impress customers through various techniques so that they form a long-lasting and positive impression of the firm and its products.
As competition has expanded many-fold and customers have become sharper and more knowledgeable, the effects of impression and perception have become more crucial in the context of today’s business as well.
Our old school publicity has been redesigned as Image Building, which is more sophisticated and targeted at specific audience groups, to keep up with this heightened customer awareness. Not just this, according to experts, in today’s cutthroat business environment and 24/7 news and information cycle, your corporate image is very important because it serves as your company’s virtual security deposit. The more you collect, the more powerful your position will become. The difficulty is to establish and maintain a positive brand reputation.
Building a positive image in today’s corporate environment
It is an undeniable fact that marketing techniques evolve with time, becoming more and more comprehensive. Marketing is putting a greater emphasis on online reputation, diverging from its traditional sales-centric approach. The introduction of digital technology has sharpened it by introducing two new dimensions: branding and online reputation management (ORM). Positive branding and online reputation management, according to marketing experts, are more fruitful when they work in tandem.
Branding
The company’s good brand reputation is comparable to a high ranking on a merit list, indicating high standards and quality. To attract customers’ attention and outperform the competition, having a rock-solid and strong brand identity is critical.
In a company a customers’ trust and confidence are the most significant assets when embarking on a long trip. Brand building is a holistic and long-term effort to carve out a position in customers’ thoughts where they are very clear about the firm’s business, track record, capability, policy, and dedication, and will choose the company without hesitation anytime a need arises.
There are a variety of digital marketing techniques used in the brand-building process, but they all have the same goal in mind: to establish a strong connection with genuine customers and earn their loyalty. Some of the most prevalent approaches for improving brand reputation are listed below:
- Having an informative and engaging website
- Content marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing
Online Reputation Management
In this digital age, no organisation, much alone a corporation, can afford to be absent from the internet. By digitising corporate processes, they can increase turnover by attracting a larger client base at a reduced cost. However, along with the numerous advantages of having a cyber presence, there are certain drawbacks that might negatively impact a firm. One of them is reputational damage, which is a big source of concern for firms because it blemishes the image and reduces income.
Take into consideration for example: you’re putting out your best effort to build a strong brand. Old but unresolved concerns relating to your products/services or management, on the other hand, may become nasty over time and be utilised by your competitors to tarnish your brand image if you don’t address the pain and frustrations of your customers.
It’s natural for your day-to-day operations to result in some dissatisfied customers or events, but they must be addressed immediately. ORM, or Online Reputation Management, has thus, like branding, become an ongoing component of brand reputation.
In a sense, branding is about increasing sales, whereas online reputation management (ORM) is about creating an environment that aids branding and prevents loss due to a variety of factors such as negative publicity from competitors, negative feedback, negative product reviews, negative remarks, management, and business decisions, among others.
Creating a strategy for Online Reputation Management (ORM)
- Examining your website for defects, errors, and weaknesses- The most significant impediment to your reputation is a poor website.
- Developing a thorough web monitoring approach- This could include using Google Alerts to watch the web for bad remarks, reviews, or comments about you. Advanced filtering can also be done with the help of additional tools.
- Using social media engineering- Embarrassing/demeaning tweets on Twitter or negative press can be muted at the search engine level if necessary; otherwise, appropriate responses can be hurled. Measures can be implemented to ensure that your positive press suppresses the negative press on Google when your public statement is broadcast on the press channels.
- Engaging social listening experts- This entails using advanced technology (AI-based technologies) and social media specialists to scan every mention of your name across all social media platforms. This is critical since this method can determine the worth of your brand by separating the bad comments/reviews and treating them properly.
- Obtaining and managing online reviews- This business uses a variety of techniques to persuade consumers to leave favourable reviews for your products or services. Positive reviews are shared on numerous platforms, while bad ones are forwarded to you for further action.
- Taking action in response to direct or indirect attacks- The issue has been addressed with mature and professional responses. Many of these bad comments are made by ordinary individuals who have been influenced by your adversaries. The responses are geared at turning an adversary into a friend. Witty and modest responses backed up by facts can win people’s hearts.
- Competitor Benchmarking- Competitor benchmarking is tracking your competitors’ websites and social media activities to evaluate where you stand in terms of local searches, social media activities, online mentions, online presence, customer reviews, and so on.
