Brand Awareness
Brand Marketing and Reputation Management
Brand Management is the function of marketing that uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a product line or brand over time.
Effective management of a brand enables the price of products to go up and builds loyal customers through positive associations and images or a strong awareness.
Why Brand Management for your Business?
When Coca-Cola, unquestionably one of the most iconic brands of our time, suffers an identity crisis with the news of its all-time low ranking in the annual BrandZ report, the value of how your brand is managed and reputation handled becomes an even higher priority.
If Coca-Cola, the $80.3bn valued company that spends over $3bn in advertising a year, can still be at the mercy of Brand Identity problems, then what hope for the rest of us?
The emergence and impact of social media over the past 10 years has seen a dramatic rise in the way that brands are identified, reviewed and ultimately hurt by consumer behaviour. The Coffee giant Starbucks now famously hire a huge social response team tasked with the reputation management of its stores on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
Social customer service is now seen as the new telephone when it comes to airing our displeasures at a product or service that has not met expectations. 10% of all social posts are now believed to be complaints in some order and related to a company's image and reputation.
Essential to your business, brand identity and reputation management start with understanding what is the strategy of your product or service and how that needs to be managed in the digital age.
Creating a fully responsive website and a brand identity that stands the test of time and delivers in the digital world is now a priority. With over 78% of internet searches now conducted on mobile platforms, the need to bring your brand inline with the consumer demand is ever more apparent
Brand management starts with your website and how it reacts and responds to users.
Understanding the data you receive, the impact you make and the awareness you create is key to the development of any business.
My Brand Management and MArketing Strategy
Set the Brand Vision
Create the Brand Personality
Define the Brand Values
Your brand vision is the story of your business that outlines where you come from, and where you want to go. It involves asking the following questions: What is your business about; how do you help people; what goals are you trying to achieve, and how will you achieve them.
Define the Brand Values
Create the Brand Personality
Define the Brand Values
For a new brand or startup, its values form the basis of your culture, your service, your product and your communications and need to be defined in parallel to building your business, product or service. For established organisations, brand values are the uncompromising truths and guiding principles that articulate what you stand for.
Create the Brand Personality
Create the Brand Personality
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
The brand personality you develop for your product or service will become the human characteristics you give to your identity and will become the driving force behind the overall brand experience. Establishing a brand personality is a key aspect of the brand management process as it is a unique element that will bring your brand to life.
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
Your brand name is your story distilled to its shortest form. It must stand for something, be able to grab people’s attention, be timeless, tireless, easy to say and remember and facilitate brand extensions, a tagline and slogans. Your logo design is the core element of your brand identity and when being developed, must stay true to the company’s values and ideas.
Launch your Brand to Market
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
Launch your Brand to Market
When it comes to creating awareness, brand advertising will encapsulate the essence, values and personality of your brand, and is used to establish a connection and bonding with its intended audience over time. Direct response advertising is used to initiate an immediate response to compelling prospects to take action.
Monitor your Brand Success
Build the Name and Design the Brand Image
Launch your Brand to Market
Whether you are launching a new brand, or in the middle of a rollout of a promotional campaign, tracking its performance should be key and integral part of the brand management process. Social Listening on Brand Performance is now a key driver for most businesses looking to measure brand exposure and performance.
Brand and Reputation Management
No matter how strong your brand, it is only as good as your buyers say it is.
Reputation and feedback from past, current and future customers can make or break a business in a social media first world.
Managing your business brand reputation is now a prime responsibility. Let us show you how.
online reputation management
The Need to Control our Online Reputation
In today’s world, online reputation management is essential. The Internet, and more specifically what people say about you online, is perhaps the single biggest influence on your success and that of your business and brand. This is true for businesses and brands of all sizes and sectors around the world.
When people Google you, everything they see in the search results influences their perception of you. Their perception is your online reputation.
Our steps to guide you through the process of managing what is said and researched about your brand, start with our 4 core strategy points to identify:
- Credibility – positive links, comments and high visibility online makes you credible in the eyes of customers, stakeholders, employees, influencers and peers.
- Trust – people trust a company, brand or person with a good reputation.
- Profit – companies with higher star-ratings, reviews and positive content and PR get more business.
- Talent – brands with a positive reputation earn better employees.
Negative press, content, reviews, and trolls can really harm businesses. 75% of businesses say that online reviews, comments, press and forum posts are important to the financial and reputational status of their business.
It is time to take the Brand Management and Reputation of your Business seriously.
Managing your Brand Reputation
Monitor
Monitor
Monitor
Monitoring your brand reputation can be difficult. Thankfully, there are social listening and brand performance tools that can help understand who, and more importantly why, someone is talking about your brand.
Response
Monitor
Monitor
Every business that works or engages directly with end-user customers, must have a response plan of action to social feedback that is positive and negative. Social platforms score your business on your response and your SEO will appreciate positive links.
Handle
Monitor
Handle
Learn how to handle negative responses that are based on engaging a solution to a problem, not redirecting blame or arguing a case. Your customer wants a quick resolution - so have responses ready and a clear plan of action in place.
Build
Use the right Tools
Handle
Focus and build on the positive feedback - this is how you will grow your business organically via customer referral that you nurture and use to increase the awareness of your brand.
Measure
Use the right Tools
Use the right Tools
Brand reputation management should be a part of your marketing and press strategy - so measuring results is a clear sign of business progress in a digital-first market
Use the right Tools
Use the right Tools
Use the right Tools
As marketing professionals, we are blessed with a smorgasbord of application, software platforms and services that can support brand reputation and recognition. Selecting the best tools for the job is, indeed, our job.
My brand Marketing experience
The Wand Wizard
TSL into TES Global
TSL into TES Global
I created the Wand Wizard for Wand Education to represent the Brand value and appeal as a lighter character reference for the launched brand
TSL into TES Global
TSL into TES Global
TSL into TES Global
I promoted the new Brand name for the TSL education company to all customers and partners as a dedicated and uniformed business unit across all verticals
Launching ATAMA
TSL into TES Global
Launching ATAMA
I devised and created the name for the B2B part of the Academia Group that represented a shift in value and audience profiling - the Brand launch came with everything
Brand Awareness Case Study
Incisive Media
Case Study: Driving Brand Awareness at Incisive Media
Challenge: Incisive Media sought to increase brand awareness and establish itself as a leading financial publisher. The challenge was to leverage Brad Chuck's background in journalism and marketing expertise to drive engagement with national media and expand brand appeal.
Solution: Brad Chuck spearheaded a comprehensive brand awareness project at Incisive Media, drawing on his journalism background and marketing know-how. He implemented a multi-faceted strategy that focused on engaging with national media outlets and leveraging various marketing platforms to amplify the brand's presence.
Process:
- National Media Engagement: Brad cultivated relationships with key journalists and media outlets to secure coverage and feature articles about Incisive Media's offerings and industry insights.
- Content Marketing: He developed compelling content across multiple channels, including blogs, articles, and whitepapers, to showcase the brand's expertise and thought leadership in the financial sector.
- Social Media Promotion: Brad utilized social media platforms to disseminate brand messaging, share valuable content, and engage with the audience, driving increased visibility and engagement.
- Partnership Development: He forged strategic partnerships with industry organizations and stakeholders to expand the brand's reach and attract new customers.
- Event Participation: Brad represented Incisive Media at industry events, conferences, and seminars, networking with potential clients and showcasing the brand's offerings.
Outcome: Brad's brand awareness project yielded significant results for Incisive Media. The engagement with national media outlets elevated the brand's profile and credibility, attracting attention from industry professionals and potential customers. The strategic partnerships established during the project facilitated business growth and opened new avenues for collaboration.
Impact: Brad Chuck's integration of journalism expertise and marketing strategies proved instrumental in positioning Incisive Media as a reputable and influential player in the financial publishing sector. His efforts not only drove brand awareness but also laid the foundation for sustained growth and success in the competitive market landscape.
Online Reputation Case Study
Online Reputation Management Event
During my tenure at DXC, I led an engaging online reputation management marketing masterclass webinar, attended by 178 live participants. The recorded video garnered an impressive 3,912 downloads. This session empowered attendees with insights on managing their online presence while advocating for the DXC brand. By fostering brand awareness and equipping staff to be brand advocates, the session contributed to enhancing DXC's online reputation and positioning in the market.
Brand Reputation case study
Durkan Construction
A troublesome case, we helped outline a plan to combat a number of internet trolls who were creating damaging content and feedback against the Durkan brand. Our solution was a wider-reaching campaign to highlight the issues but to also reach out directly to the concerned users and formulate a meeting of minds.
Combating an Internet Troll
If you’ve been on the internet for any period of time, you’ve likely run into a troll at some point. An internet troll is someone who makes intentionally inflammatory, rude, or upsetting statements online to elicit strong emotional responses in people or to steer the conversation off-topic. They can come in many forms. Most trolls do this for their own amusement, but other forms of trolling are done to push a specific agenda.
With Durkan Construction, they had a sensitive case with a group of internet trolls that had a grievance against the business for non-justified reasons - but were a negative influence and serious threat to their brand and business dealings.
Ignoring them, especially in a B2B market like construction where reputation is everything, was not an option.
What we devised, was a simple, but structured and well-planned strategy that followed 5 key points:
1. Act Quickly
We recommended that an instant, direct response was needed because as well as keeping the person complaining happy, a quick response means leaving less time for the discussion to develop, with other online users pitching in and riling up the complainant.
2. Take Ownership and Apologise Publically
The actions of the trolls were harsh but did have valid points attached. It was critical to show that Durkan understands their frustration and that they were trying to be as helpful as possible in getting to a resolution.
3. Moving the Conversation to Somewhere Private
It was essential to get the trolls offline and out of the public eye - such grievances had a direct communication line that needed to be addressed, so being the central calming instigator was essential for this process.
4. Keep Calm and Carry On
A cliche, but essential. The troll situation was a hindrance, but the company message must carry on. We helped supplement the concern with a strong-willed social strategy that took the eyesight away from the issues, as well as highlighting the charity and sustainable work of the business.
5. Offer Compensation - based on an agreed resolution
Everyone has a point to prove - but not every point is proven. It was clear we needed to work with the trolls to outline their complaint, but to also highlight the own faults and public liabilities. We did this in a calm, collected and very public way that saw a positive end for all.
The message leant? Do not ignore complaints that can escalate and get out of hand. Out of mind is NOT always out of sight.
Durkan Construction
"Brad helped with our digital marketing context where he offered support on a number of challenges we were facing. I would certainly recommend Brad as he is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate - a great asset to have in your network"
Fiona Frost - Marketing Director