Online Branding

Direct reaction advertisers are fixated on creating leads and selling their product to such an extent that they frequently markdown the benefit of putting resources into web marking. Moreover, not investing in the brand even by a marketer who is exceptional is a huge mistake. Here are reasons why it is a bad idea.

The Significance of Online Branding

There are many direct response advertiser that are of the belief that investing in online branding is simply wastage of money. However, this could not have been more untrue. Investing in a brand online in today’s age helps the brand grow and appeal to its customers in a more personal way. It helps them come back for more despite the absence of any promotional deals or discounts. It also helps spread the message of the brand and acquiring more loyal clientele. This means that the brand is available anywhere, anytime at a click. Being more accessible makes loyal customers. Since a larger market can be reached through online branding, the probability of an increase in revenue escalates as well. Thus, in order to build your brand empire financially, the brand needs to go viral.

I had the experience of coming across an individual who had ventured into the electronic medium. The company was almost a year old with well-developed relations and a good customer base. They decided to launch a website and once they did, they were unable to get any leads. All traffic registered was coming from within its existing network. In a span of almost 3 weeks, there were no more than ten leads.

What do you think might the problem be? It was the fact that the company invested too much time developing the core business strategies that it completely ignored the online branding. They believed it was more important to generate leads rather than working on building a brand. So what happened was that without a brand and an identity, they could not generate any significant leads. It is easy to directly engage with people but building a reputation and maintaining a consistent presence is what spreads your brand message and helps improve business.

Although the company did eventually realise its mistake and began to invest in online branding, it took them a while to reach where they wanted to. They worked on a full-fledged social media campaign that includes the creative side, the strategies and everything else. It runs a successful website that generates a decent number of leads.

Mentioned below are 5 key elements that will help you in creating an effective online branding strategy.

Know Your Audience

Knowing you audience is key in any marketing campaign. You should know who you are trying to influence so you can decide on how you can go about it. There are scores of online tools available that can help you demarcate your market. They tell you in details the people you want to target including their age group, gender, income, etc.

Create a Consistent Brand Voice

Once you have finalised your audience, you will need to know what are the likes and dislikes of the group. What are the things they are passionate about and what they do not care about. Based on that create a strategy around things your audience is interesting in hearing about. While doing so, keep a few pointers in mind. Do not hesitate to think out of the box. Some ideas might be queer but could very positively work, for instance, Geico represented and voiced by a lizard. Secondly, when sending out brand messages, say it in an engaging manner, as if you are in direct conversation with the audience. Thirdly and lastly, you voice should not waver, over time or over different platforms. It should be uniform throughout.

Use Different Channels

If you really want to reach the full potential of your brand, do not stick to a single channel. Diversify. This does not mean that use all social media platforms available to you but rather those that can help you the best. Using around 3 should suffice but you can increase the number as per your business needs. Also, as much as organic reach is important, it is okay to get some inorganic help as well. Optimal repetition of key messages is recommended. Keep on reminding your existing and potential customers of your presence but in subtle ways that does not annoy them.

Find The Right Channels

As mentioned above already, you need to research on which channels would be ideal for your brand. This primarily depends on your audience and which channels your target audience is more likely to use. You also need to figure out what you want to use these platforms for. Do you want to spread awareness of your brand? Are you looking to find potential buyers? The best way to begin is by checking out people who are discussing your brand. If there is no one doing that it is time for you to begin. This does not mean putting up statuses, spreading brand awareness but finding a common ground where you can begin a conversation with your audience. If you are good with social interactions, handling social media should be no problem at all.

Work On Your Online Reputation

This means that you need to build a good reputation that is consistent. It is quite like a meal you catch with a potential customer but on social media, it takes a longer period of time. Once you have a strategy in hand, you need to delineate the technique you will be using to convey your message. Moreover, do not hesitate to ask friends, family and even acquaintances to spread the message on their social media. This should be able to provide you with some initial boost. Coming from a trusted friend and a person you know is more encouragement for other people to follow suit. So, the more your immediate social circle is able to market you, the more the probability of their immediate circle to believe in your brands and so forth. This is how you can build your online reputation successfully.