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Your digital brand is how your customers experience you in an online environment. Digital Brand Management is how you take control of your customer’s experience. It’s a combination of several key elements that determine your digital marketing success. Your effectiveness as a business increasingly relies on how you connect with customers online. Many of us believe that all we really need is a “good website”. Unfortunately, having a website, even an attractive one, is merely one cog in the machine of online success.

Here’s the toughest thing about being responsible for your company’s brand: you don’t even have control of it.

The brand is whatever comes into people’s minds when they think of your organization. It’s based on every experience and cooperation with your brand – those you control and those you don’t. Your brand represents a vital emotional bond. And that bond is vital when purchase decisions are made – yes, even B2B purchases. According to Forbes, 71% of buyers who see a private value during a B2B purchase will find themselves buying the merchandise or service. In actual fact, the personal value had twice the impact of business value. That means B2B buyers care twice as much about their personal connection to your brand as they do about how it will actually impact their business.

Brand may be impalpable, but it’s often what drives purchase decisions. And for a lot of firms, it’s the most valuable asset on the balance sheet. Many companies spend big money on brand strategy, brand management, promotion, and creative work that represent their brand. The Brand experiences are often managed by someone else: Any manufacturer that sells products through an online or brick and mortar retailer depends on that partner for a critical brand experience. Franchises rely on independent business people to represent their brand to consumers. Channel partners, event producers, distributors, brokers, agencies, and so on. With so much riding on the brand – then many of us representing it – it’s surprising that the essence of these brands often remains bottled up within the minds of a few strategists and creatives or tightly sealed in static PDF brand guidelines. At their best, brand guidelines are a roadmap of written and visual elements alongside standards to be used. They make sure that everyone who represents your brand has the knowledge they have to represent it right. But these days brand guidelines must also be dynamic, adaptable, and easily accessible – the anti-PDF. It’s the sole thanks to maintaining consistency and staying awake so far when your brand appears in an awesome sort of environment and relies on an extended network of specialists.

The secret is to gauge whether your brand guidelines can live up to those new conditions – and are helping you build a trustworthy brand – and if they aren’t, how to get them there.

Here are the actions you can take:

1. Set up your basic brand guidelines in one central location.
2. Position your brand to pull through in today’s digital world.
3. Make sure your guidelines are successful.

THE FIVE KEY ELEMENTS TO DIGITAL BRAND MANAGEMENT ARE:

1. WEBSITE

You absolutely must have a website! One that:

• Is easy to navigate and works properly on mobile devices
• Has clear sales pathways that show visitors how to become a customer- with ease!
• Has strong calls to action to turn visitors from prospects to customers.

 2. SEARCH ENGINES

When people are looking for your products or services, where do they begin? Google. Does your website appear on the first page (or two) of search results? If it doesn’t, you’re unnoticeable, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever have the opportunity to connect with these prospective buyers.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

Today’s Buyers are on social media apps every day, and they rely on social channels to discover new businesses and develop a trusting relationship with them. If you are not on social media, you are not where your customers are!

4. REVIEWS

The purchaser buying cycle means potential buyers look for reviews on businesses and products as part of their pre-purchase research. Having great reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook will sling you to the top of search results as prospects discover what others say about you.

 5. VIDEO

People will watch a one to two-minute video before they read a paragraph of text. Video is the best approach to showcase your business, develop your brand, establish your online personality, and build trust.

 All FIVE of these key elements work together to form your digital brand.

BENEFITS OF DIGITAL BRANDING 

• Many channels are available. Digital branding lets companies utilize a mess of online channels. Channels range from broad to specific, therefore the digital branding message can reach customers in personalized ways.
• Messages can go viral. The internet has allowed brands to be simply promoted, shared, and recommended. Consistency of branding is vital to putting together a robust online following.
• Customer interaction. Digital branding allows customers to interact with a brand in real-time, and create a unique customer experience. Concerns and problems are often addressed immediately.
• Sets the brand apart. Effective digital branding will distinguish a brand from its competition and can allow that brand to remain within the forefront of customer’s minds.
• Better connections. Digital branding allows companies to connect with their target customers, no matter what demographic.

Many have talked about the reach of the Internet, digital technology, and more importantly its power to disrupt the existing processes and procedures. But it is clear that the Internet can be a great facilitator for companies. By allowing companies the reach and tools to better serve their customers, the Internet and digital technology have ushered in an era of competition that allows both the companies and the customers to bring in benefits in the long run. As such, companies will benefit greatly if they choose to fine-tune their processes and procedures to respond to the ongoing changes caused by the Internet and start off changes that would be beneficial to their customers.

The era of customer empowerment and digital technology is factual. The sooner the companies learn to maneuver the changing lanes of business, the better it will be for their survival and success.