Week Seven- Branding & Online Reputation
Branding is a priority for any and every business that wants to be seen by the public. The way you package a company, product, or service, has a lot to do with its potential success. From the color of the logo to the word font on your business cards, the delivery of a company is just as important as the products and services it offers. Oftentimes, many companies are judged by their branding and/or lack of branding. Most people only deal with companies that are willing to invest in themselves and reflect positive and professional images. Having a website or not having a website is important. Deciding whether or not to have a mobile app is very important in this climate. These are just two branding choices a business owner has to make to properly brand themselves. Businesses have a lot of decisions to make in regards to their branding and one bad mistake could have a negative impact on the company's future. There is no set way to brand but there are some principles that are clear across the board for all companies, being accessible is one.
A brand is not a name, logo, a slogan, nor an advertising or public relations campaign. While these initiatives are all important in their own way and are part of a comprehensive brand building and management process, they are tactical and not strategic. Brands have been defined by many authors and experts in various ways, but all tend to agree that brands are a complex mixture of tangible and intangible elements. On the tangible side are products, services, communications and other “hard” aspects, while on the intangible side are “soft” aspects such as feelings, mental associations, perceptions and emotions. It is the intangible side of brands that makes them so valuable and desirable (Temporal, 2014). All of this has the power to drive customers in the direction of a business or far away from the business. Time and dedication is necessary to properly brand anything. While you may cross every “t" and dot every “i", the results of branding will always vary and be based solely on the consumer. People play a major role in the branding process because this is where businesses identify what the people are saying about their company or services. Bad reviews or a negative conversation about a brand can be very harmful for a company aiming to paint a positive picture. These reviews can be true or the result of someone else’s bad day but they have power. Branding is what you say about your company and product but the feedback you receive let’s you know how your message is being received by others.
Controlling The Narrative
Anything released to the public is subject to criticism and scrutiny. Especially when the service or company deals with consumers heavily. In some cases, people are able to create their own story about a company after they’ve interacted with them personally or heard from others about them. In other cases, people use popular search engines to gather information on specific companies or products. Businesses have to put in effort to try to control the conversation about them. This is a huge task with the explosion of citizens journalism, social media, and internet access . Topics are no longer just in this break room, they are discussed online, on the phone, on television, on radio and so on and so on. This must produce a lot of pressure for companies that just want to make money and be loved but it introduces the importance of preserving the brand and protecting its reputation. Business owners are often taken off-guard by online reputation issues. Many don’t even realize they need to be concerned about their reputation online. Executives can spend long years developing a strong brand. It can be beyond unsettling to wake up one day and see defamatory remarks appearing online, particularly when the items move beyond constructive criticism to include outrageous accusations and even slanderous or libelous remarks. Even worse, the negative reviews are often on websites that rank high in search engines, so anyone doing a search on the company name will probably see them. Whether the comments are true or not, these negative search results jeopardize the company’s online reputation (Conner, 2015). There’s a narrative for negative conversations that company’s must employ when faced with these challenges. This changes the fight from teaching the public what the company wanted them to know to teaching them what they need to know in order to change the content of the conversation.
Benefits of Branding
Branding within itself is a conversation. It’s intentional and informative. It speaks about how the company views itself and how they want others to view them. As mentioned above, some things are out of a company’s control, like how they make people feel or a person's reaction to a company’s branding. In a sense, branding is nearly 50/50 in its results but necessary for a company to grow and reach new people. I say 50/50 because one can work daily to present a positive image and all it takes is one bad review or article to change the tone of the conversation. All in all, the benefits of branding still outweighs the risks that comes with anyone being apart of the public sector. Branding at a national level has led to various benefits such as:
These benefits show the power of branding on a global level and beyond the local reach of a company. With expectations like the ones listed above, companies would have to start their branding process with international intentions. With a global mind frame, a company can sit in a office in the United States and brand a company that impacts the world. Branding is powerful.
Bibliography:
1. Temporal, P. (2014). Branding for the public sector : creating, building and managing brands people will value. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
2. Conner, C. (2015, August 17). Top Online Reputation Management Tips for Brand Marketers. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2014/03/04/top-online-reputation-management-tips-for-brand-marketers/#33e7efb213e3
A brand is not a name, logo, a slogan, nor an advertising or public relations campaign. While these initiatives are all important in their own way and are part of a comprehensive brand building and management process, they are tactical and not strategic. Brands have been defined by many authors and experts in various ways, but all tend to agree that brands are a complex mixture of tangible and intangible elements. On the tangible side are products, services, communications and other “hard” aspects, while on the intangible side are “soft” aspects such as feelings, mental associations, perceptions and emotions. It is the intangible side of brands that makes them so valuable and desirable (Temporal, 2014). All of this has the power to drive customers in the direction of a business or far away from the business. Time and dedication is necessary to properly brand anything. While you may cross every “t" and dot every “i", the results of branding will always vary and be based solely on the consumer. People play a major role in the branding process because this is where businesses identify what the people are saying about their company or services. Bad reviews or a negative conversation about a brand can be very harmful for a company aiming to paint a positive picture. These reviews can be true or the result of someone else’s bad day but they have power. Branding is what you say about your company and product but the feedback you receive let’s you know how your message is being received by others.
Controlling The Narrative
Anything released to the public is subject to criticism and scrutiny. Especially when the service or company deals with consumers heavily. In some cases, people are able to create their own story about a company after they’ve interacted with them personally or heard from others about them. In other cases, people use popular search engines to gather information on specific companies or products. Businesses have to put in effort to try to control the conversation about them. This is a huge task with the explosion of citizens journalism, social media, and internet access . Topics are no longer just in this break room, they are discussed online, on the phone, on television, on radio and so on and so on. This must produce a lot of pressure for companies that just want to make money and be loved but it introduces the importance of preserving the brand and protecting its reputation. Business owners are often taken off-guard by online reputation issues. Many don’t even realize they need to be concerned about their reputation online. Executives can spend long years developing a strong brand. It can be beyond unsettling to wake up one day and see defamatory remarks appearing online, particularly when the items move beyond constructive criticism to include outrageous accusations and even slanderous or libelous remarks. Even worse, the negative reviews are often on websites that rank high in search engines, so anyone doing a search on the company name will probably see them. Whether the comments are true or not, these negative search results jeopardize the company’s online reputation (Conner, 2015). There’s a narrative for negative conversations that company’s must employ when faced with these challenges. This changes the fight from teaching the public what the company wanted them to know to teaching them what they need to know in order to change the content of the conversation.
Benefits of Branding
Branding within itself is a conversation. It’s intentional and informative. It speaks about how the company views itself and how they want others to view them. As mentioned above, some things are out of a company’s control, like how they make people feel or a person's reaction to a company’s branding. In a sense, branding is nearly 50/50 in its results but necessary for a company to grow and reach new people. I say 50/50 because one can work daily to present a positive image and all it takes is one bad review or article to change the tone of the conversation. All in all, the benefits of branding still outweighs the risks that comes with anyone being apart of the public sector. Branding at a national level has led to various benefits such as:
- Increases in currency stability.
- Attraction of global capital.
- Increases in international political influence.
- Growth in the export of products and services.
- Increases in tourism and investment – internal and external.
- Development of stronger international partnerships.
- Attraction and retention of talent.
- Greater access to global markets.
- Reversal of negative thoughts about environmental, human rights, and other matters of importance to global audiences. (Temporal, 2014)
These benefits show the power of branding on a global level and beyond the local reach of a company. With expectations like the ones listed above, companies would have to start their branding process with international intentions. With a global mind frame, a company can sit in a office in the United States and brand a company that impacts the world. Branding is powerful.
Bibliography:
1. Temporal, P. (2014). Branding for the public sector : creating, building and managing brands people will value. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
2. Conner, C. (2015, August 17). Top Online Reputation Management Tips for Brand Marketers. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2014/03/04/top-online-reputation-management-tips-for-brand-marketers/#33e7efb213e3
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