Why Brand Reputation Needs to Be Your Top Priority in 2024

Brand reputation has always been top of mind for any marketers or owners. Some of us think about it with Google reviews, some others with PR and crisis communication. Brand reputation can also be seen sometimes as an overall brand perception (for big brands).In 2024, many factors (economic, technological, behavioral ) are bringing back brand reputation at the top of many marketers' priorities. Conveniently, why and how to build a strong brand reputation are what we will talk about in this article.

Doing Marketing in 2024 aka “Do more with less”, with prospects more informed than ever.

Some sectors such as?AI, microprocessors, or weapon makers might not feel the same, but many of us now need to deal with the famous “Do more with Less” in 2024. The economy is less in favor of big rounds of funding than it was a couple of years ago, and marketing budgets are under tighter scrutiny than ever before. Organizations are being asked to focus at least as much on improving their ROI than boosting solely revenue growth.

It requires marketers to adopt innovative approaches and prioritize initiatives that offer the highest returns on investment.

It means improving paid campaigns' ROI but also increasing the weight of organic in our marketing mix (“Organic” means “free” or almost “free” when we talk about marketing spending).

The second aspect of the game is that customers or prospects are more and more informed. A good website or catchy ads are no longer enough to get a new lead or a demo booked. Prospects are empowered with a massive amount of information at their fingertips. From product reviews on G2 or Capterra, to social media discussions or comparison tools, they are increasingly well-informed and discerning in their purchasing decisions. They are also familiar with how business works, so quite often they will use the amount of competitors or pieces of information available to negotiate.

Last but not least, they will decide when they are ready to purchase, and advertisers are no longer in control of the timing and therefore need to put a lot of effort into qualitative nurturing.

How can a strong brand reputation assist marketers in navigating the challenges of 2024?

-Trust and credibility improve conversion rate, the volume of traffic,? retention, but also referrals. All of those are hard to get but cost nothing or almost nothing (vs PPC).

According to a G2 study, in 2023 92% of B2B buyers were more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review

- Organic traffic, increased via SEO and direct traffic, will boost overall ROI by increasing the weight of “free” traffic or conversions. It’s quite often a long game, but the quality of organic traffic is usually much higher than the paid one.

- Strengthen your marketing assets and content via more happy customers that are willing to collaborate on case studies or just quotes. Those case studies or quotes you will be able to leverage on your website or social assets and participate via a virtuous loop to a strengthened brand reputation. Heard about the social proof concept?

- Differentiation. A strong brand reputation will help differentiate from the competition. Brand reputation is not only to have “a good reputation”, it’s also being known for the “strongest product in the market” “the better value” or “the best, regarding security and privacy”

- Safeguarding against reputational risks. When you get 500 positive customer reviews, your brand is more protected against a series of bad ones than when you only have a few.?

How to build and maintain a solid brand reputation

First things first, a strong branding is a branding people can recognize easily. It means visual branding, but also brand messaging, and sometimes audio branding as well. You need to build consistent brand messaging and visual identity across all platforms so this becomes noticed, remembered, and recalled by your customers and prospects.

Strong brands are also linked to their leaders, who are trusted and listen. The best of them can attract hundreds of people to their talks. It’s important to build quickly a culture of industry experts and thought leaders in your company with “the face” of your company. It builds trust and gives a human touch to your business.

Employee advocacy and engagement are also critical when building a strong brand. Engaged and happy employees are more likely to embody your brand values, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and serve as brand ambassadors.

Engaging in corporate social responsibility initiatives that align with your brand values and resonate with your target audience is also participating in defining who you are. It doesn’t have to be huge, it can be helping a charity or participating in/sponsoring a sports event promoting a specific cause.

Be obsessed with your customer reviewsReviews are ruling today's world. They can make or kill brands. Algorithms and search engines are also putting more and more emphasis on them. Marketers that want to properly tackle this side of the game need strategic planning, consistent execution, and a deep understanding of customer perceptions

>>> BONUS: Key steps to nail your customer review engine.

#1 First of all: Identify your customer review platforms

Many of them are out there, but the main ones for saas, agencies, or tools are G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Google Reviews and Trustradius. Some verticals like tourism or food will focus more on Yelp or Tripadvisor for instance.

#2 Encourage and facilitate customer reviews

A large panel of options are available: - CTA’s on your website or product “ tell us what you think”,? “review us on…” - Email signature with “give us a review” links - Custom success team mentioning reviews website after a positive call - Social media posts - An automated thank you email triggered after a positive NPS is given (my favorite one) The best approach is to combine all of the above!

#3 Incentivize Review Submission

You might expect that happy customers would easily leave a positive review. That’s wrong. Angry customers are always more vocal than happy ones. That's why we need to put a lot of effort into getting happy customers to stand up as well. Here are two ways to incentivise review submission (and if possible good ones) :

Amazon Voucher: Offering a 10-20€ Amazon voucher for every good review. Some platforms will fund this for you as they also need reviews on their website. Win-Win!

- Monthly Raffle: Another efficient way to collect reviews. You tell your customers that each month you will pick one good review across all platforms and the winner wins X or Y (goodies or vouchers work well).? It’s an interesting approach because it helps you to incentivise GOOD and NON-ANONYMOUS reviews.

#4 Always respond promptly and professionally

You can have templates for good and bad reviews so you show that you care about reviews. When a review is really bad or dishonest, it also helps you showcase your own version. In that case, you need to sync with the customer success team to collect more insights and background. Always stay polite and keen to improve things when you got a bad review.

#5 Leverage positive reviews

Good reviews attract good reviews. It’s interesting to showcase on your website, ads, or sales collateral your best reviews. You can also reach out to good reviewers to deep dive on maybe a proper case study or a video testimonial.

#6 Monitor and analyze feedback

Reviews are not just a way to improve brand reputation and gain visibility. Monitoring closely the amount and the content of your reviews will help you produce valuable insights into customer sentiment, preferences, and pain points. You can use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and reach out to your product or support team. But also tweak your marketing strategies.?

Conclusion

So you understood that with 2024 marketing challenges, brand reputation now emerges as a pivotal focus for businesses. Customer reviews are the most urgent and “easy” way to tackle, but building a strong brand reputation requires a systemic approach. And you, what do you do to build your brand reputation?