Brand development is an area that too many companies neglect. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t understand the impact a little time and attention can have on their online presence.
They may even think that investing in online branding measures is wasteful and ineffective. However, that is far from the truth.
There are several ways to improve a brand and get your company progressing quickly and it starts with fixing the mistakes you are currently making.
Keep reading to identify ten ways your business is failing online, and what you can do to fix it.
1. You Neglect Your Online Presence
It is not enough to create a website, it must be cultivated and developed. This takes time and a commitment to growth at a consistent rate. This can involve different things depending on your brand’s unique characteristics.
As a result, it is best that you pay attention and cultivate followers of your online presence in the same way you would cultivate a garden – with care and attention. Prune the items that are unnecessary from your website and nurse suffering areas until they bloom.
It is also great to get your satisfied customers to start posting reviews on your website. This can be done by adding a feed to one of the popular review websites, or by featuring reviews from customers you have approached individually.
Today, most people need reviews to decide to do, see, or buy anything. Good or bad, they just want to know something more about your business than what you have told them yourself.
2. Not Monitoring Your Presence Online
Your business does not exist in a vacuum. It is important to know what is going on in the digital space of your industry and see how you are stacking up next to everyone else.
You can’t just post content and respond to general details. Instead, you have to put your ear to the ground and look to see what people are saying about your brand around the web. You must fully engage in this way with your brand in order to know what it needs.
When you do make changed, remember not to copy what other brands are doing. You want to stand out from the crowd and pull away from the pact, not help plant yourself in the middle of the road. Make sure that your brand’s voice is unique, warm, friendly, and engaging.
3. You Aren’t Using Influencers
Working with an influencer is a way to add credibility to your brand and to help it grow by leaps and bounds. The right person can get your product flying off the shelf almost instantly.
In order to find an influencer, you should build an outreach program. There is so much to be gained by cultivating this kind of relationship.
4. Don’t Follow Their Word
Your brand needs to be sure to communicate important information to your customers and treat them well. If you want to make a difference as a company, you will treat both your customers and employees with respect and care, showing them that they have value to you.
If you make a statement as a brand, you need to be prepared to back it up. Being inconsistent with your brand message is a surefire way to lose customers.
5. Ignoring the Competition
You need to be able to see how your brand fits into the big picture of the world around you. You aren’t competing against yourself, so comparing last years financial records to this years will only take you so far.
Find out what other companies are doing, and what your company is doing better. Stay ahead of the competition by analyzing their brand development strategies and online presence in the same way that you evaluate your own. That is the kind of vital information that you need to stay on the map.
6. Weak Social Media Presence
One of the first places someone will go to look for your business is on Facebook. They may look elsewhere to verify the information they find, but their search will most likely start on social media.
That is why it is so important that your brand development has an active social media presence and that you are engaging with your customers in this way. You need to show potential buyers what makes your brand desirable.
7. Trying to Be Everything to Everyone
Your brand does not need to meet the needs of everyone on the internet. It is important that you identify a customer profile that you want to target and direct your efforts towards getting their attention.
By choosing a niche audience you can tailor your brand development to feel very personal. Don’t try to be everything to everyone, or your brand will be drowned out by all the middle of the road competitors you have.
8. Broken Links
If you don’t regularly check the links on your website, you are making a huge mistake. The second a potential customer clicks on a broken link they will start to see your website as outdated and unprofessional.
People want to know that the website they are using has someone monitoring it on the other side and keeping up with every part of it. Don’t let negligence scare your buyers into inaction.
9. Not Relating to Your Customer
Businesses can’t just shout whatever message they want and hope someone will listen. You need to investigate to find out the needs and wants of your customers and use your brand development to show them how you can meet their needs.
10. Not Seeking New Ways to Grow
Allowing your online brand development to become stagnant is the first nail in to coffin of your business. Just like you don’t want broken links on your website, you also don’t want your website to look like it was made in 1997.
Brand Development Guidelines
When you stick to your word and create a consistent online image backed by the words of reviewers and influencers alike, you will be standing on a firm brand footing.
That is your ultimate goal as a business – to relate to your customers and find new ways to grow. Make it happen, read more today.
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