Building your brand online

By Tink Taylor

Many marketers continue to see the Internet as little more than a cheap way to generate leads, without taking account of brand building and support. But by investing in online brand-building now, marketers can engage with prospects and build long term market share.

The issue for many is that in today's climate it is increasingly hard for companies to gain the trust of customers online. Here’s why:

• Consumers are wary, thanks to years of spam, phishing threats and media coverage. This issue is likely to become more pressing with Microsoft’s upcoming browser, Internet Explorer 8. This contains a new feature called InPrivate, which allows surfers to keep their data and browsing activity secret.
• Monitoring your brand online is more important and complicated than offline. The Internet creates an echo-chamber for potentially dissatisfied visitors to voice their opinions and thereby damage brand reputation.
• Unifying all messaging and outward-facing contact is harder to control, because there are so many online channels and different methods of communication, such as search, advertising and email.

A few years ago, Facebook was an unknown brand with very little awareness. Now it is one of the most recognised brands in the world - all through online activity. So how do companies establish Facebook-levels of online trust and brand loyalty? Begin by following these 3 key steps:

Step one. All successful marketing campaigns depend on saying the right thing to the right person in the right way at the right time. Mass marketing tactics just won’t work online. Formulating a clear message and value proposition will help you promote an effective brand identity.

Step two. Address the concerns of wary users. As Google famously says: “Don’t be evil”. You must to be transparent and clearly set out privacy policies and ensure you comply with data protection and best practice. Don’t hide unsubscribe links. Frame your privacy policy in easy to understand language.

Step three. Monitor what people say about you online. The beauty of digital activity is that it is so easy to measure. There are several free tools you can use - Google Alerts, Omgili and Technorati to name a few. I talk much more about this, and unifying your brand and messaging online, on my DMA Email Marketing blog post.