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Consider Online Branding and Your Online Presence
By admin | March 29, 2010
Whether you have an online business or just a monetized website, you likely devote a lot of time, energy, and thought to marketing your online presence. However, an important part of your marketing plan should be careful attention to your brand and image online. While you might not think of it as often as you think of marketing, you are developing a reputation and an image online – and you may not even be aware of it. Comments made by customers and others online can shape public opinion about you and can even impact your marketing efforts.
What are people saying about you online? There are reputation management services that can help you find out, but you can also do your own research. Join some social networking sites and search for references to your business or website. Google your company name and see what others are saying.
If a few unhappy customers are saying unpleasant things about you, even with a good marketing campaign you could be losing business. People have lost their jobs over information posted about them online. People filing US immigration forms (formerly INS forms) for green card replacement or citizenship have had their applications denied or delayed due to information available about them online. It pays to be very careful with your online reputation – it is a valuable asset.
If you do find that you have some negative comments about your business online, consider how to improve your reputation or brand before you start marketing again. Throwing more money at marketing will not always get the results you want. Consider the brand or reputation you have online. Are people expressing generally unhappy views about your business online or are a few people unhappy with specific complaints? Do any of the complaints have merit? On search engine results, how high are the complaints and problem comments? Evaluating your reputation is the first step to developing an effective plan.
If you are getting generally negative comments but these comments do not fare very well in search engines, consider a marketing effort that adds more positive comments about your business online. The idea is that these good comments will “drown out” the bad. If some comments are ranked very high in search engines, you will need a reputation management company or an SEO company to craft positive content for you that will knock the negative comments deeper in search engine results. If there are a few specific negative comments about you online, consider contacting the authors and offering a free replacement product or something else that will satisfy the complainer. Often, this sort of attention can turn an unhappy customer into a loyal one. If you find many of the same complaints being made over and over again, consider whether these complaints have merit. Perhaps you can make changes in your business to make customers happier.
Topics: marketing |
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