Introduction
Brand reputation is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of brand reputation and provide you with some tips for building and managing your brand reputation.
Ready, Set, Go!
What is brand reputation?
Brand reputation is the sum total of all the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that people have with your brand.
It’s what makes them choose your brand over the competition.
A strong brand reputation is like a good reputation in real life. It’s something that people respect and admire. It’s something that makes people want to do business with you!
Benefits of having a strong brand reputation
Building a strong brand reputation takes time and effort, but it’s worth it!
A strong brand reputation can help you attract new customers, boost sales, and increase profits.
Here’s a fun analogy that might help you understand brand reputation and its importance a little better:
Imagine that you’re a new student at school. You don’t know anyone, and you’re trying to make a good impression. You want people to think you’re smart, funny, and kind.
So, you start by being friendly and helpful to everyone you meet. You make an effort to get to know people, and you’re always willing to lend a helping hand.
After a while, people start to notice you. They start to see that you’re a good person, and they start to like you. You’ve built a good reputation, and people are starting to talk about you in a positive way.
This is exactly what happens with brand reputation. When you provide excellent customer service, be honest and transparent, and be socially responsible, you build a good reputation. And when you have a good reputation, people will talk about you in a positive way.
5 ways to build and manage your brand reputation
1. Build your brand identity
Before you can even think about your reputation, think of creating a brand worth managing.
Developing a strong and cohesive brand identity ensures that you have a clear understanding of what your company stands for, helps guide how to act in certain situations and enables you to grow your company with brand extensions without sacrificing integrity.
For example, Apple’s brand identity is built around simplicity and elegance. Their logo for example, a simple apple silhouette, is instantly recognizable and communicates a sense of sophistication and refinement.
Your brand identity should include:
- A well-defined and clear company mission, vision, and values
- A cohesive visual language, featuring branding elements like your logo, colors and imagery
- A consistent brand voice
2. Deliver consistent brand messaging across all channels
When you deliver consistent messages, it releases content that regularly represents your brand’s purpose, mission and core values, which builds a cohesive brand identity and lets customers interact with and relate to you on a personal level.
Use these tips to maintain consistent messaging:
-
Develop a brand style guide
This should include your brand’s logo, colors, fonts, tone of voice, tagline, and key messaging. Make this guide accessible to all employees.
-
Align your website content
Ensure all the information on your website, including about us, product descriptions, and blog posts are consistent with your brand story and values.
-
Use the same visual elements
Use the same logo, fonts, colors, and imagery consistently on all channels like website, social media, ads, and collateral.
-
Audit all channels regularly
Periodically review your brand presence across all channels to identify and fix any inconsistencies in messaging, content, or visuals.
-
Train your employees
Educate all employees about your brand guidelines and messaging so they represent your brand accurately when interacting with customers.
3. Monitor your online presence and reputation
By monitoring your online presence, you can quickly identify and address any negative comments or reviews and respond promptly and professionally.
Check out these three key strategies for monitoring your online presence and reputation:
-
Keep an eye on social media
Social media is an excellent platform for monitoring what people are saying about your brand in real-time. Track mentions of your brand on social media and address any issues or concerns that arise.
-
Monitor your online reviews
Monitoring your online reviews can help you identify issues and respond promptly to any negative reviews to mitigate any reputation damage.
-
Respond to feedback promptly
It’s important to respond to customer feedback quickly and effectively, whether it’s positive or negative. This shows that you value your customers and are committed to providing excellent customer service.
4. Improve the customer experience
According to Esteban Kolsky, 72% of customers will share a positive experience with 6 or more people. On the other hand, if a customer is not happy, 13% of them will share their experience with 15 or even more.
But, remember that in most cases, customers don’t tell you they’re unhappy. And for more companies, the absence of negative feedback is a sign of satisfaction.
But that’s not the case!
Let’s take a look at ways to create a great customer experience strategy to help you improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and improve your brand reputation:
-
Understand who your customers are
One way to do this is to segment your customers and create personas (or customer profiles). Try to give each persona a name and personality.
-
Create a clear customer experience vision
The easiest way to define this vision is to create a set of statements that act as guiding principles.
-
Create an emotional connection with your customers
Remember the saying: “It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it”? Customers become loyal because they are emotionally attached and they remember how they feel when they use a product or service.
-
Capture customer feedback in real time
You can use live chat tools to have real time conversations and when done, send a follow up email to every customer using customer experience tools.
-
Optimize the customer journey
You need a clear understanding of the end-to-end experiences with customers and how interactions at each point are received.
5. Shape a good company culture
Even if your team isn’t totally customer-facing, the work they do and the way they act will eventually impact your customers one way or another.
Of course, there’s a reason why companies who are named as a Best Place to Work see so much success.
Note that… Good things happen when companies promote a healthy and positive internal environment.
You can use the following tips to help build a positive culture at your workplace:
-
Listen
Listen to your people, and make sure they feel their voices are heard and valued.
-
Encourage positivity
Leaders should lead by example by expressing gratitude, smiling often and remaining optimistic during difficult situations.
-
Empower culture champions
Culture champions are employees that are excited to promote a company’s aspirations and encourage others to do the same.
-
Emphasis on employee wellness
In order to contribute to a positive culture, employees need to feel their best physically, mentally and emotionally.
Conclusion
By following these tips, you can build and manage a strong brand reputation that will help you succeed in business.
Don’t let a poor brand reputation hold you back – take action now to build and manage your brand with confidence.
