Online Reputation Management, and Why You Need to Own Your Brand

Posted by Craig Maloney | May 10, 2017 | Filed under: Marketing

A brand is not just your business name. It’s not just your logo, either, nor is it the colors and fonts and taglines you use in your marketing collateral. Ultimately, a brand is all about consumer perceptions: What do people associate with your business? What are the values and benefits (or in some cases, the drawbacks) that people have in mind when talking about your company, its products, and its services?

In a sense, branding happens in the consumer’s head—but there is much you can do to shape and define it. And there is great urgency to doing so, because if you don’t truly own your brand, you’re effectively leaving it up to chance—or worse, you’re allowing your competitors to define it for you.

That’s the central concept of online reputation management: Businesses must be proactive in establishing what their brand stands for, and online reputation management companies, such as Everything Online, provide the tools for making that happen.

Online Reputation Repair: Owning Your Online Identity

In today’s world, of course, consumers make up their minds about a brand largely based on what they read about it on the Web. That’s why the emphasis here is on online reputation management. You’ve got to be sure that you have control over everything online search engines reveal about your business and its core offerings.

This means owning your brand on the Google search results page, which is the hallmark of any online reputation management campaign. Imagine two scenarios here. In the first, a consumer searches for your brand name, and Google offers results that include your company website, your company Facebook page, your company LinkedIn profile, your company YouTube channel—all branded content that your business is in complete control of.

Now imagine a similar situation, only this time, Google reveals not just your company website, but also content produced by your competitors—content that utilizes your branded keywords but doesn’t necessarily reflect well on your brand, and certainly isn’t within your control. Imagine, further, that Google reveals online complaints, bad reviews, and other content that you have no way to modify or to manage.

The difference between these two outcomes could be huge for your brand, and for the way it is perceived by consumers. And what pushes you from one column into the other might be an investment in online reputation management.

Online Reputation Repair: Beyond Referrals

There is another component of this too, which involves not only owning your branded search terms, but also having those branded search terms show up for non-branded searches. For example, if you run an addiction recovery center in Orange County, you want your brand name to appear when anyone in Orange County does a Google search for addiction rehab.

This ensures that your business gets found by new customers, and that it doesn’t exist purely on recommendations and referrals. And it, too, is something that online reputation marketing services can offer—including through SEO and through PPC/AdWords campaigns, which help you cover a great deal of online real estate.

We’d love to talk with you more about the online reputation management services we offer here at Everything Online—and to describe our revenue-focused, results-oriented digital marketing solutions. Reach out to Everything Online to begin that conversation.