Digital branding is a term that can be difficult for you to wrap your head around. To get the clearest, most bare-bones definition, I want to take you back in time. Just a few years. Six, maybe seven thousand or so.
The term “branding” is derived from ancient crafters literally putting a “seal” or “brand” on their creations. This brand was essentially a promise of quality. It said, “Hey. You know me. I made this. It’s awesome.”
Fast forward to the modern day and not much has changed with the importance of branding. What has changed is how you do it.
Digital Branding in Modern Times
The terms ‘digital marketing’ and ‘digital branding’ go hand in hand, but are they different? And how?
To break it down, digital marketing is a part of digital branding. It’s all about your promise. It’s the strength of your business. And in the end, it’s why customers are going to keep coming back over and over again.
We’re now deep into the twenty-first century. Consumers are bombarded with ads, emails, and a half dozen other marketing strategies on a daily basis. So how do you get a firm hold on your customers? How do you bring new ones in and convince them to come back for return business? Digital branding.
It’s a simple idea, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You need a promise. You need an honest product or service that you can stand behind. And you need excellent customer service. And even then, it’s not going to be enough.
This is where we insert the “digital” into digital branding.
Search Engine Marketing
The first page of a Google search is paramount to your marketing and digital branding. If I’m going to build my brand, I need to understand Google rankings and how to get onto the first page. Why? Because that first page gets over 90% of the business.
Potential customers are going to naturally assume that businesses on the first page are going to be the most viable. So how do I get there? Search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising are keys.
SEO is the organic rankings of Google. There is a top secret algorithm that decides how each and every website is organically ranked. While no one knows the exact recipe or the secret ingredient, there is plenty of helpful information available that can get your site onto the first page.
Getting your business site SEO ready is not an easy task and thankfully there are some great services out there that can help. Bear Fox Marketing is a great example of a legitimate service that can help you get your website ranked higher, increase traffic, and ultimately help grow your business. Here are some reviews.
Why do use this very site as an example? Digital branding. Reviews help to ensure the quality of this company’s services.
Google is going to punish a website or company or brand that is dishonest. Their algorithm may be top notch but they still use good old fashioned human beings on occasion. And these people are good at their job.
But I’m a Little Fish!
Let’s say that your keywords are just too competitive. You’re a new business. You’re small. How can you realistically compete with other companies and their organic rankings? It’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond. This is where pay-per-click advertising can help to set up my business as an authority. As a name. A name that matters. Google Adwords.
The science behind it is so complex that Google offers an exam and free certification for people who pass it. PPC is so important that this free certification can help set digital marketers and PPC specialists apart from the competition when looking for a job. And it’s hard. Probably one of the hardest tests you will ever take.
Without a proper understanding of how Google Adwords works, you’re likely going to be either unsuccessful or spend an absurd amount of money trying to figure it out. This is a service that is best left to professionals. That being said, PPC and SEO are going to get people to your website if done well.
Interaction
Utilizing social media to help build your digital brand is vital. Not only does it help build your brand, it also amplifies it.
If you’re looking to expand awareness of your digital brand, you need to be creating content and sharing the viable content that’s created by others. This is going to show that you believe in your brand. It will show you’re honest and don’t mind sharing other people’s content because helping your customers is important to you. While creating and sharing this content, you also need to interact and engage with your customers and share their content.
Another fantastic way to utilize social media for digital branding is going to be through marketing campaigns. Contests, digital coupons, etc. As an example, let’s say I have a food truck. I get on Twitter and I say “For the next hour, my burgers are 50% off. Here’s my location.” Not only are people going to see it and retweet it, they’re going to tell their friends/co-workers about it. Continuing to do this kind of thing on a regular basis will increase the visibility of your brand as well as your conversation rates.
Bring them in. Keep them in.
If you need some help with digital branding, please contact us for a free consultation to see how we can help you.