Brand management and reputation management share many similarities. In certain cases, the two terms are used interchangeably since they both influence the way the target audience perceives a business. However, they’re not identical and have different levels of applications. Therefore, in this post, we’ll share the key differences between branding and online reputation management so you can devise an effective strategy to manage both.
What Is Branding?
Branding refers to how a company positions itself or its products to its target market and how it wishes to be perceived. Brand communication highlights a specific message, voice, value proposition, and other qualities that differentiate the business or its products from others. Therefore, branding is something companies can control.
What Is Online Reputation Management?
In contrast, online reputation management is the process of influencing, controlling, and managing information related to your brand to ensure positive public opinion and perception. It combines several tactics, such as SEO, social media monitoring, content development, and public relations initiatives, to monitor and boost reputation on search engines, sites, and social media.
Key Differences Between Branding vs. Online Reputation Management
1. Core Purpose
A brand is a sign of recognition. It shows the link between your business and the qualities your target audience loves. These qualities can include elegance, affordability, comfort, and versatility. Meanwhile, ORM is about managing public opinion and the company’s or individual’s identity.
2. Reputation Can’t Be Bought
You can invest millions of dollars and hire the best branding agency to build your brand. However, reputation is earned. Still, you can get help cultivating and maintaining a reputation by hiring an online reputation management agency to protect and enhance your reputation.
3. Credibility and Relevancy
Your online reputation management can significantly alter your brand perception. Branding makes your business relevant. Meanwhile, ORM builds credibility. For example, a brand may provide quality products and services. However, it could still have a bad reputation due to poor customer service.
4. Control
As mentioned above, you can control what you do with your brand but not your reputation. In this case, your audience holds most of the cards. So, you can influence them to say good things about you with your offers and quality of service. However, these tactics still don’t guarantee the desired results.
Bottom Line
So, there you have it – the key differences between branding vs. online reputation management. With this information, you can clarify any confusion and use their fundamental differences to strategize accordingly. You can also use them to look for the best branding or ORM agency. You can also opt for a company providing both solutions.
RMG Digital Solutions is a leader in branding and online reputation management. Therefore, you can rest assured we’ve got the tools and expertise to repair or build your brand from scratch.
Feel free to get in touch with us and let us devise a tailored solution for you.