Five Key Takeaways From Protecting Brands in the Digital Age
By Andy Huang
Establishing a brand and maintaining its reputation is a herculean task – not just from product competitiveness but from industry point-of-view as well. There are always a lot waiting, a lot more at stake and there is always something that might goes wrong.
To brands, the emergence new technologies and insurgence of the ‘digital-population’ not only provide new platform for promotional and customer interaction, but also provides direct-to-business, real-time feedback channel.
Last week, Kellstadt Marketing Group (KMG) hosted a panel discussion about how brands are protecting themselves in the digital age. I wanted to share with you my five takeaways from the panel discussion last week.
1. Align with your customers and stay relevant – utilizing digital space
It is all about knowing what your customers want or expect you to deliver. First and foremost, brands have to understand what their customers are doing in the digital space. Then, think of how can you position your brand? What role is your brand playing in the marketplace? Aligning the position you are taking with the position of your products will support your business over time. Besides, creating personalized experience keeps the customer engaged. Additionally, the abilities to get to the market quickly and respond to your customers efficiently is critical.
Last but not least, staying relevant with your target customers' interests and interacting with your customers frequently helps build long-term relationship. From here, the key is to maintain clear conversations with your customers while stating your values. The question that all brands should think about is: How are we going to tailor our communication as a brand to stay relevant, especially in the digital age where things changed rapidly?
2. Delete is not an option
Setting up and managing a brand is never easy; issues happen all the time. The digital age brings in higher brand exposure, both positive and negative reviews travel fast among customers. If the later scenario is the case, deleting is not an option. Eliminating bad reviews or even your entire Facebook page will only make things worse. Brands need to keep in mind that once you put out the content, there is no going back. Brands should let the conversation happen, instead of trying to adjust the brand itself. Sending out the message that you are going to participate in social issues will be a good start. When things happen, think of how to fix the problems instead of deleting everything on social.
3. Influencer marketing
More and more brands are working with influencers to gain exposure for their brands. For a brand, collaborating with social media influencers may have several benefits, such as driving engagement, developing trust, or simply just increasing the reach to a broader audience. Influencer marketing could be a reliable tool, but only if used in the right way. When utilizing influencer marketing, think beyond just followers and engagement percentages. Rather, focus on analyzing the increased traffic and gaining cultural insights. Simply put, brands should focus on developing the actual content that they could produce – there are more than just new followers, waiting for you to explore.
4. Data
How could brands utilize data to protect themselves in the digital age? The answer is simply being in the right place at the right time. Data we collected from market research allows us to understand our target audiences better and reveal new opportunities.
More importantly, understanding different the content that customers consume on various social platforms is crucial; it allows brands to alter content on each platform to better target each customer base.
5. Keep asking "why"
Why is information traveling on this social platform compare to that one? Why do we do this? Why do we don't do this? Asking "why" is critical and keep finding answers for all these "why" is the way brands grow. How to answer "why" is forever the question that a brand should be asking.
