What is your brand? It’s more than just your logo, your unique selling proposition, or the visual style associated with the business. It’s what your market thinks of your business, the kind of lasting impact you leave, and the reputation that follows you around. As such, if you’re aiming to market conquest, you always need to be concerned with that rep.
Ensure it’s visible enough
Well, first of all, you’re not going to have much of a reputation at all, if your market isn’t even aware of your existence. If you’re having trouble finding a name for yourself, then it may be time to enlist the help of a digital marketing agency. Beyond designing websites and advertisements, their expertise in organic marketing methods such as search engine optimisation can help you get the kind of brand visibility and recognition that you need online. From there, it’s going to be much easier to build a reputation that actually makes some waves through the market.
Show values that your customers can get behind
Every brand says that they have “values”, and often they’re designed to fit with both company objectives as well as what the customers expect from the products and services they provide. However, customers can just as easily get behind demonstrations of values that aren’t inherently tied to their own satisfaction or success. Supporting charities is good for business for that reason. People like to see brands fulfilling their corporate social responsibility, contributing back to the environment and community that it is a part of. Aligning your company values with some worthwhile causes likely to be supported by your community will bolster your rep and help you earn some real loyalty.
Handle feedback like a boss
Not everyone is going to have the same sunny reaction to your products and services. You should anticipate that you’re going to have some rough criticism at some point. However, an easy way to harm your reputation is not to simply let stand, but to challenge it in the worst way possible. Unless there are clear falsehoods you can contradict, it’s always better to address customer complaints with humility and with a sincere offer to help rectify or learn from the problem. The market can forgive mistakes, so long as we’re willing to take them to heart.
Don’t let slander stand
Unfortunately, there are bad actors out there who are very willing to leave false reviews and to otherwise try and damage the reputation of the brand. Online reputation management tools can help you stay on top of these efforts and to have them removed or challenged when they need to be. It could be disgruntled employees, rivals within the market, or others, but you can make sure that they’re not left lingering in sight of your genuine customers.
You can’t fully control the reputation that your business earns. That’s largely decided by how your customers feel about your products and services. You can help bolster it and protect it, however, with the tips above, so don’t leave it all up to chance.
- This post has been provided by an outside source – Please see Disclosure Policy
