3 Ways to Increase Brand Awareness and Improve Online Reputation

There are so many marketing strategies you could use to convince potential customers to buy from you. You could write appealing content to make them desire your products and services. You can develop a strong value proposition to differentiate your products from the competition. However, regardless of how lucrative and useful you make your products look, most potential customers will still conduct online research to assess if your products are living up to your promises. Here are some statistics:

• According to MineWhat, nearly 81 percent of potential customers conduct online research before buying a product.
• BrightLocal’s research revealed that 88 percent of customers read online reviews to determine the credibility of the business.

Needless to say, whatever information customers discover during the online research influences their buying decisions.

Dimensional Research has confirmed that positive online reviews affect 90 percent of buying decisions. Reevo, a third-party review website, has verified that positive reviews typically result in an 18 percent increase in sales. In addition, how businesses react and respond to online mentions impacts their brand image. A positive tone is critical when responding to online brand mentions in order to maintain a healthy online reputation.

When you engage with existing and potential customers on public platforms, you not only demonstrate your care for them, but you also attract their attention to your brand. If you want to grow your business, you must make customer attention your number-one priority. If you are successful in gaining customers’ attention and generating brand awareness, you have a chance at earning their business and enhancing your online reputation.

The best way to get customers’ attention is by being helpful and delivering extraordinary service. Though it requires more effort, it is far more cost-effective and can help you enhance your online reputation and build a loyal customer base. There are three common ways to provide real value to your consumers: Educate them, entertain them and deliver ‘wow’ experiences.

1. Educate your customers: Let us say you are in the business of selling tie – skinny ties, novelty ties, bow ties. How can you provide increased value to your customers? By learning about their choices in ties and taking the time to answer their questions in a helpful manner. A quick look at Google’s Keyword Planner will tell you what your customers want to know and what their preferences are. Based on this information, you can build a comprehensive tutorial that answers your customers’ questions with the help of animated videos, descriptions and graphics. This content will be ten times better than anything else available online with knot-tying instructions. Remember, if you are trying to provide value, be sure to not get lost in the noise.
2. Entertain your customers: Depending on the industry and the nature of your business, your target audience may not want to be educated with blog content. If people come to you to escape their realities, entertainment may be the most effective way to provide value. However, it takes work to maintain a strong customer relationship by providing increased value on a regular basis. By entertaining your target customers, you get attention and keep yourself top-of-mind when the time comes to make a buying decision.
3. Deliver outstanding customer experience: Delivering an outstanding customer experience is the lifeblood of any business. This is because great service will result in a delighted customer, which helps enhance online reputation. An improved online reputation is the best part about delivering excellent customer experiences. The more you delight your customers, the less you have to market your business because your customers will do the word-of-mouth marketing for you.

Whether you are educating your customers or entertaining them, consistency is key. One random blog may do the trick, but you will get lost in the noise if you do not consistently deliver value. If you answer your customers’ questions and comments once, you gain a happy customer. However, if you consistently answer customer queries, you become a trusted source of information. Therefore, instead of shoving your product down customers’ throats, try to provide so much value that they cannot resist coming back to your business.