Branding & Marketing | TRW Interns

What the Most Successful Business People Know About Brand Reputation

January 18, 2024 by Rodiat Ajuwon

Brands like Apple are known to create products that make life easier for people. This is why they keep on releasing different products and making good sales on them. People know that these newer products would have updated features that would benefit them. That is what it means to have a good brand reputation. Brand reputation is such an important aspect of business, and the most successful organisations employ it to gain competitive advantage. This article will give you an overview of what brand reputation is and how to make the most of it. WHAT IS BRAND REPUTATION? A brand includes all the factors that help identify a product, service, or company, distinguishing it from others. It goes beyond the name. It also involves the perception or feeling evoked from its target audience regarding the brand. When we hear Nike, we think of fitness, exercise, drive, and healthy living. The brand encompasses all the problems that are solved for its audience and the people who experience them. Reputation is the esteem in which people or organizations are placed based on past experiences. It is the opinion people have conceived. As a result, it holds deep meaning, and is usually tricky to turn around when it is bad. A bad reputation will certainly soil the image of the brand and affect its sales. Damaging reputation can happen very fast and with little action, while building it can be a daunting task. Still, it is important to take cognizance of the kind of reputation one has, whether brand or personal. Brand reputation is the perception that has been developed over time about a brand and its operations. It is based on the image built by a brand over a long period of time, and it is a great determinant to brand turnover and acceptance by the target market. A brand with a good reputation usually has a good brand positioning. Nowadays, it is easy for a brand to have a bad reputation based on consumer displeasure that may easily spread in the media. This makes it very important for brands to work actively on building and sustaining a good reputation. WHY BRAND REPUTATION IS IMPORTANT The perceived notion people have about a brand can make or mar the brand. A brand reputation is important for many reasons, some of which include: 1. It enables marketing from users Word of mouth from people on their perception of a brand is crucial. While a brand may run ads and market its product, the reception of people is important to push the brand forward as most people will likely listen to others’ experience of the brand before going ahead to make a purchase. Word of mouth is an effective form of marketing a brand or a person. This means people determine the extent to which a brand is successful. 2. Proper brand reputation helps brands build trust in the mind of consumers When a brand has been known to deliver optimally, consumers are able to vouch for whatever comes from that brand. People are more likely to purchase from a brand that is reputable than one that doesn’t have a good rep on the market. 3. A good reputation breeds loyalty When a brand has a good reputation, people want to stick with that brand. And it almost feels like a disservice when they don’t purchase products from that brand or employ its services. 4. It helps to increase sales A brand with good standing in the eyes of people will have better sales turnover due to the belief people have in them. This belief typically converts to sales. The ultimate purpose of any brand is to make sales, and also to become widely known. This is mostly achieved through its representation in people’s minds. Ultimately, a good reputation gives a brand an edge over its competitors. HOW TO BUILD BRAND REPUTATION Knowing the importance of having a good reputation is not enough. You equally need to put in active effort towards building, creating, and sustaining this reputation. Since a brand’s reputation directly affects its growth, it is necessary to know how to build a good one. These steps, if implemented, will help the brand form a good evaluation in the minds of the consumers. Create a good brand identity. Deliver on your brand promise. Build authenticity. People generally love brands that are original and they can relate with. Authenticity helps infuse life into a brand. Allow criticism. Respond to consumers’ feedback. Improve consumer involvement. Promote inclusivity. Build a great online experience/presence. CONCLUSION Having a great brand reputation is important as it helps turn your brand into one that gets community support and that people can speak for when the need arises. It gives the brand great competitive advantage and ultimately helps it increase its sales turnover. Ignore it at your peril. Rodiat Ajuwon is a Human Capital Development Enthusiast.

The Essence of Tracking Engagement on Social Media

January 17, 2024 by Luqman 'Dayo Babatunde

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The initial motive of social media engagement was for interaction between acquaintances. But it was adopted by businesses that wanted to take advantage of a popular new communication trend to reach out to clients/customers. The power of social media is the ability to connect and share information with anyone – and with many people at the same time. Social media is an internet-facilitated technology. It enhances sharing of ideas, thoughts and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is internet enabled and it gives users quick electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, instant messaging, documents, videos and photos. Users engage with social media via computers, tablets or smartphones with web-based software or web applications. Tools for Tracking Engagement for Business on Social Media There are a number of social media dashboards and tools that can be used to manage multiple accounts. With these tools you also get the ability to share the same update across multiple platforms simultaneously. These platforms can help in managing campaigns with simple, comprehensive interfaces that even social media novices can easily use. Below is a brief description of some of the social media management application tools for engagements analytics: Hootsuite: One of the most popular tools is Hootsuite. It is venerated because it fulfils all that successful social media management is about: speed and efficiency. It automates and schedules posts, while also giving you analysis and social media monitoring tools. Buffer: Similar to Hootsuite is Buffer. It is compatible with a broad range of social networks and allows for easy cross-posting. What is especially useful about it is that can be used to post on schedule and to space out updates automatically too. CoSchedule: When a new message is scheduled on CoSchedule, the administrator can select the social media profiles where he or she would like them to be published. The application manual offers an extensive guide on how to do this. Sprout Social: This tool is geared toward businesses that want to have more advanced analytics and insights for their social media efforts. Sprout Social provides a “single-stream inbox” for seeing content across multiple channels in one place. Similarly, one can use this tool to post to all social media profiles at once too. Some extra processes that can be run for customer engagement include: Social Media Optimization (SMO): This is the use of various social media network settings to manage and grow an organization or business’ message and online presence. Social Networking: Social networking is the use of internet-based social media applications to make connections with friends, family, classmates, high net worth individuals, colleagues, customers and clients. Bulk Short Message Service (SMS) or Mobile Marketing: Sending bulk online SMS or utilizing multiple distribution channels to promote products and services with technology devices such as computers, tablets and smartphones are helpful ways to reach out to prospective customers/clients. Campaigning for Targeted Business Objectives on Social Media Gaining Clients/Customers: If a business is in start-up or is struggling, the objective will be attaining growth. Therefore, the target metric is to gain more followers. Measuring the number of retweets and shares on content posted on the business’s social media timelines will help create awareness of the business and determine action. Sustaining Clients/Customers: You can turn customers into business advocates by engaging them through mentions with ‘#hashtag’ or ‘@copy’. Also, liking or reacting to their comments with appropriate ‘emoji’ and responding to necessary comments as and when due will help. These strategies will bring vibrant activities to your business’s social media page and show how your customers and clients are interacting with the content posted. Maintaining Clients/Customers: If the aim of a business is to drive leads and sales, conversion metrics by way of tracking numbers of pay-per-click is invaluable. Tracking the number of views and duration of time spent interacting with content is also crucial. Email sign-up on websites will be a good measure. Website clicks will be helpful as well. All these will demonstrate the effectiveness of social engagement. Retaining Clients/Customers: If improving client/customer retention is the objective of a business, testimonials by people (with their consent) who have used the products should be posted as content on the business’s social media timeline. Furthermore, sending birthday or wedding anniversary messages to your loyal customers/clients and driving other sentiments like visibly harping on the business’ Unique Selling Points (USP) will go a long way. Winning Clients/Customers: If a business’s target is to rebrand or launch new products and services into the market in order to reposition itself and have an edge over the competition, posting campaigns or challenges that will go viral will go a long way. Influencers, superstars, and celebrities can equally be nudged to post these on their social media statuses at little or no cost if the campaigns are hilarious and popular. Also, endorsement by professionals and professional bodies regulating the business sector will do the magic for more engagement. The above-mentioned metrics could be measured and converted. However, vanity metrics like ‘likes’ are also easy to track, but it is hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus should be on targets such as leads generated, web referrals and conversion rates. Be SMART In Order to Be Engaging on Social Media For a campaign to succeed, clear goals and objectives should be set as part of strategy. This is how marketing on social media could prove invaluable. Therefore, there is a need to be SMART. This is an acronym for: Specific: Have specific objectives set out before mounting a marketing campaign. Measurable: Make sure there are available metrics to determine success. Attainable: Your objectives must be realizable and achievable. Relevant: Make sure the marketing campaign will address common needs and solve problems. Time-bound: A marketing campaign should be introduced at an appropriate time and must have a sustained span. The SMART goal framework will guide actions and ensure they lead to real business results. Temidayo Babatunde is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of … Read more

How to Create a Good Service Experience for Client and Customer Satisfaction

January 16, 2024 by Luqman 'Dayo Babatunde

Efficient customer/client service forms the basis of the customer experience. Most customers’ main interaction with a business is through interacting with a business’s employee, either by visiting an office as a client or a store as a customer. Interaction could also be through virtual means like email, phone call, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and so on. The company representative has the opportunity to deliver excellent customer/client service, thus creating a great experience so as to remain in business. Customer service is the reason a client comes to us while customer satisfaction is the impactful experience we give them which makes them to return and become loyal. Key Points to Note about Providing Customer/Client Service Satisfaction Some customers/clients often make requests in inappropriate and impolite ways. If you can resolve their needs without blaming yourself or them, you will reduce stress and everyone will feel better. You will be on your way to customer satisfaction. Customers are often difficult for their own reasons and not necessarily because of you. Key points to note in delivering an excellent customer/client service satisfaction are: It sustains you in business It sets you apart from competition It takes little or no extra time It costs little or nothing It is usually pleasing because it is not usually expected Your attitude toward customers’ behavior influences your gross sales output. Though it is usually hard to suppress curt actions because you cannot always feint how you feel, your attitude determines the level of job satisfaction, because: It affects everyone who comes in contact with you. Hence, there is a need for you to always be calm, empathic and positive. Your tone and body language reflect your attitude. Remember attitude is caught and not taught. Your attitude is not fixed. The attitude you choose to display is up to you, hence the need to always be deliberate and intentional about acknowledging, apologizing, listening, explaining action, thanking and following-up. Your emotion is a reflection of your life mutation. Approach customers/clients professionally and not personally. Listen for the signals that you are taking things personally. Focus on the problem and not the person. Strategy for Delivering a Great Customer/Client Experience Aim for customer satisfaction, not just service delivery. Create a clear customer experience vision. Quickly study and understand the emotional state of your customer/client. Create an emotional connection with your customers/clients. Capture customer feedback in real-time. Use a quality framework for development of your team. Act upon regular employee feedback. Temidayo Babatunde is a public relations professional and can be reached through [email protected]

Positioning Your Brand to Attract the Right Audience

January 15, 2024 by Rodiat Ajuwon

Ever noticed how you ask for a biro when you need a pen, ask for coke when you want soda, speak of a jacuzzi when you want to refer to hot tubs, and Jeep when you talk about compact cars? These are names branded and popularised by these companies and they have become generic over time due to proper brand positioning. By positioning themselves well through advertisements, these brands shape the perception of users, which helps create a successful business. Branding Overview When introducing your business to the public, it is important to do it in a strategic manner, hence the need for branding. Branding is the process of expressing a unique selling proposition, and promoting a good perception of products and services of a company in the consumer’s mind. It incorporates components like design, logo, theme, and feel that agree throughout the brand’s promotion in order to boost sales, and promote brand trust and loyalty. Branding includes the process of product production, packaging, acceptance, and product consumption. It also involves creating a brand promise, building a perception based on this promise, constantly letting the promise known through your brand message and doing it repeatedly towards your target audience. What is Brand Positioning? According to Kotler, “Brand positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market’’. Positioning sets your brand aside from competitors and its place in consumers’ minds. A positioning strategy involves highlighting the brand with its tone, colour, and message in a way that the brand wants it to be perceived by the customers. This helps the customer think about the brand when they need that service and improves their trust, loyalty and need for your brand. The most important thing about brand positioning is the target audience. The target audience is the end user of the product/service. A brand’s positioning has to involve the needs of the user and the understanding of the market/industry the business is in. Importance of Brand Positioning To position your brand is to set your brand up for success. While this list is inexhaustive, the functions of brand positioning include: Control of brand reputation and perception: Your brand sends a message through its feel and look. Taking charge or control of that perception by placing the right strategies in place is a must for brand success. Positioning helps brands see you as the blueprint for other brands to follow. This difference leads to consumer attraction. Apple, for instance, created the first sleek laptop designs in 1991 and everyone followed. It improves brand visibility, customer loyalty and a need for consumers to stick with the brand. It also makes the brand to be perceived as credible, distinct and reliable. It creates clarity for users, expresses the unique selling point and shows the brand’s vision. It helps you know your stance in the industry and also the public perception of the brand. How to Position Your Brand to Attract Your Target Audience Effective brand positioning is the perception of the brand as better, special, and reliable to its target audience. To properly position your brand for better perception and the target market, you need to put the following options in place: 1. Know your current status Analyzing the brand stance is important so as to be able to figure out what to do better. Even if nothing has been done with the brand positioning yet, a positioning already exists, and in order to create a better one, there is a need to figure out where the brand is through its users’ perception, audience, market strength, consumer needs, brand value, promise and identity. 2. Identify your Unique Selling Proposition The unique selling proposition of a brand is what sets it apart from competitors. It also highlights the problem your brand is solving for its users. What makes your brand better? Why choose you instead of your competitors? This selling point answers these questions that reflect in customers’ treatment, product packaging, brand tone or feel. The USP will communicate your brand, and help attract those who are in need of your service. 3. Identify your audience’s needs A brand needs to listen to consumers’ needs to thrive. This helps the brand tailor products specifically to consumer needs thereby increasing visibility and attracting the proper audience. While positioning your brand, the needs of your audience should be included in your plan and in everything your brand expresses in the market. 4. Create your positioning statement Your statement gives an overview of your brand stance, services, target and market. This statement also expresses the vision behind the brand. However, it is different from a mission/vision statement. A vivid positioning statement helps you focus and streamline all your marketing to align with your brand needs. Writing a proper statement involves: Knowing the history of your industry and what you are there to fix, add or change. Knowing your target audience: This includes the demography, age, sex, location, habits, and preferences. This helps you know your users’ expectations. This is done using buyer personas. Using words that send a clear message: This helps people relate to the brand more and easily grasp the message. Analyze your brand’s perception: This is how others see the brand and the beliefs held about the brand so you know if you want to strengthen or change the beliefs. Proofreading: It is important to be careful about putting the message blandly. Constantly proofread your statement to check for conciseness and clarity. Brand positioning statements have a popular format: “For (target audience) who want to (needs been met), (business name), provide (brands unique selling point) because (specific thing business does to provide the needs)” A great brand positioning statement is that of Apple which says: “For individuals who want the best personal computer or mobile device, Apple leads the technology industry with the most innovative products. Apple emphasizes technological research and advancement and takes an innovative approach to business … Read more

Why You Should Maintain Online Digital Etiquette

January 15, 2024 by Luqman 'Dayo Babatunde

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Maintaining online digital etiquette is crucial in this day and age. TRW Consult writer tells us exactly why we should – and how we can do so. Understanding Digital Interaction The connective power of digital technology provides a guide for people to effectively navigate globally interconnected digital spaces in ethical and respectful ways. Digital technologies offer wonderful possibilities for people who can navigate online efficiently, communicate with people respectfully and access information responsibly. In a global digital age, members are expected to act according to norms and rules of interaction online in order to have a civil interaction. Ethics of Messaging and Commenting When you are interacting with others online, there are some commonly accepted rules for respectful communication known as digital etiquette. Digital etiquette is about remembering to humanize the person behind the keyboard and across the screen. It’s about being socially responsible and showing empathy and kindness. While this may sound obvious, it is not uncommon for people to forget that there is a human behind every comment or post on the web when they communicate. In order to maintain civil etiquette, ensure to reply as quickly as you can to sincere messages that are meant for your attention and which require your response. Give every message the required attention regardless of who sends them and irrespective of how it is coined. You need to respond with civility. You can use necessary and respectful ‘emojis’ if you cannot type a response immediately. Cultivating a wholesome habit of responding to messages as and when due says a lot about your person. If you didn’t need reactions in the first place, you probably wouldn’t have sent out the message. Also, the comments section on a video, post or blog is a space for people to exchange information, resources, ideas and feelings. It is a place for them to ask and respond to questions. If not for the comment section, the web would not have been a vibrant space. Guides to Writing a Quality Comment Add new factual information with little fun Make a connection with the writer Proofread your comment by dotting the I’s and crossing your T’s Compliment the writer in a specific way End with a relevant question; this will give your comment a better chance of getting attention and reactions. Digital Footprints and Digital Identity You should be professional and respectful online because every time you connect to the Internet, you leave a trail of data referred to as ‘Digital Footprint’. A passive digital footprint is a data trail you unintentionally left online, for example your browsing history. An ‘active digital footprint’ includes data that is intentionally submitted online for posts and uploads. The collection of our active footprints, including writings, audio, video content, messages, comments and sign-in details, are searchable. The reflection of this data as it appears to others is called ‘Digital Identity’. Therefore, digital identity is also your digital reputation as it influences how you are perceived based on your online activities. It is important to create a positive digital identity because it: assists in the exchange of ideas and resources positively influences recruitment and admission creates fruitful personal and professional relationships makes an impact on a cause provides powerful learning opportunities While we aim to be 21st-century global citizens, we should always have it at the back of our mind that interaction in the digital space at any point in time is searchable. A digital footprint is searchable in the sense that anyone can search and still gets the information we posted even if it has been deleted at the backend of a website. Therefore, always think before you contribute or share sensitive and personal information online. Need help with maintaining a positive online reputation? Let us help you. Temidayo Babatunde is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Information and Strategy Management (CIISM) and can be reached via [email protected].

How to Be An Effective Digital Citizen

January 13, 2024 by Luqman 'Dayo Babatunde

The digital space is a virtual community, but are you a good citizen of it? Citizenship confers special status on those that are qualified. It separates them from aliens, allowing them to fully associate with the aspirations and objectives of the community in question. A citizen enjoys the full privileges and benefits of their environment if they operate within the existing system as a bonafide member by abiding by the relationship standards. Some of the privileges you can enjoy as an effective citizen of a space include protection, security, rights and liberties that make it possible for you to fully express yourself. You will have the right to relate with other humans in the community and also fully utilise the opportunities of the space without putting yourself at risk. Old and young people today are growing up surrounded by technology but are often not very skilled at making good use of it. Although some people are comfortable using technology, they may use it inappropriately and may be unaware of how to harness the power and potential of technology to pursue their passions and contribute to their community. Based on this background, this write-up provides clues on how to build skills and the confidence to communicate with people respectively and responsibly in the digital space. Elements of Digital Citizenship A scholar of emerging media, Mike Ribble, in 2015 named three elements of a good digital citizen. He also provided nine sub-elements as key indicators of an effective player in the digital space. The elements are as below: Respect yourself and others by: Observing digital etiquette in conducting yourself with orderliness and appropriateness online while avoiding tardiness Observing digital laws against damaging, stealing, phishing, poking others in the digital space Observing digital access of equal chance to available technology, since accessible technology involves finding alternative means by way of individual skill Educate yourself and connect with others by: Observing digital literacy of knowing the capability of using digital technology and knowing when/how to use it Observing digital technology of selecting appropriate options for communication Observing digital commerce for effective and informed consumers in a digital economy Protect yourself and others by: Observing digital health and wellness of understanding physical and psychological health, balance between the online and real world Observing digital rights and responsibilities of knowing about privacy, freedom of speech, ethics and empathy in the digital space Observing digital security of protecting information and devices from malware, phishing, spam messages, keylogger, data or copyright theft Your digital footprint online is permanent and important. Permanent in the sense that it can be accessed. Your uploaded content might have been downloaded, screenshot, copied, or saved immediately you posted it by an end-user on a computer, phone, drive or cloud which could be recalled at any time. It also creates activities and forms your personality. So, while it is impulsive to want to break a news, it is also critical to restrain yourself by using the SIFT formular (Stop, Investigate, Find and Trace) method in order not to promote fear amongst your followers or other internet users by focusing only on the negative. Active and vibrant participation in the digital space opens up opportunities, connections and learning in the connected world. Being able to use digital technology has become an important function in our community and it is rapidly changing the way we interact. Digital technologies offer wonderful possibilities for people who can navigate online efficiently, communicate with people respectfully and access information responsibly. These online practices are part of what is known as Digital Citizenship. TemiDayo Babatunde is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Information and Strategy Management (CIISM). He can be reached via his LinkedIn ([email protected]).