What is Digital Branding? 

The centre of building a reputable online presence is digital branding. Digital branding is how you build, design, and maintain your brand reputation online via apps, commercial videos, websites, and social media. It is a combo of internet branding and digital marketing. 

Why is digital branding important to your brand? The answer is not far-fetched.  A large number of people are constantly on their mobile devices or gadgets. Most of us connect to the world through the use of the internet, as such, it serves as a fertile ground for businesses to reach out to target audiences and convert them into loyal customers. 

Branding encompasses what your brand is all about, what you do and how well you do it. It embodies it into a memorable essence that rings in the mind of people whenever they think about your brand. For instance, what comes to mind when you think about the Olympics? We are sure the multicolour rings on the Olympics insignia don't slip your mind.  A simple symbol has the potential of conveying meaningful thoughts and ideas that can be relatable to people all over the world.

              What are the components of digital branding?

We thought you might ask so we listed them below!

• Logo: It is safe to say that your Logo is one of the first points of contact customers will have with your brand. It is a single image that is peculiar to your brand. You cannot ignore the presence of an illuminated fruit when the brand apple comes to mind. What about Disney? The mouse ears are forever impressed in our minds. Your Logo is a key part of your digital brand, as such that it must match the value and personality of your business. Although you shouldn’t go overboard with the design, you should still create a logo that sticks to the mind of people. Also, note that your logo should be able to look good in all sizes (letterheads, billboards, business cards, and flyers).  

• Website: Your logo is the sign of your business/brand. Your website is the digital location of your business. When potential customers need detailed information about your website, they most likely google your website, where they expect to find all necessary information. Your website like a house should be appealing and easy to navigate. Select themes and colour schemes that compliment your Logo. 

The fastest way to lose the interest of site visitors is to bombard them with irrelevant information that does not cater to the reason why they came to your website in the first place.  So, keep each page concise and straight to the point. Also, make sure to crosscheck every link, image, content, and button. You need your website to look its best at all times.

• Search Engine Optimization: This is the pointer to your brand on search engines. It makes sure that your brand is easily found by potential customers online. So ensure that you have a well-mapped-out SEO strategy when building your website. Utilize keyword search tools like keywordtool, Ahrefs, and Ubersuggest to frequent words or phrases searched and infuse them into your copy. Ensure that you include active links in the course of writing your content- both external links and links to your own internal pages. Be rest assured, Google takes all these into account. 

• Social Media: Almost everyone has a social media account. The likes of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media platforms have people glued to their mobile devices and laptops. Well, since your potential customers are there, your brand should too!

Each platform has its own unique audience so ensure that you create content tailored to suit each of these audiences. When using social media as a form of digital branding and digital marketing, think like an influencer: schedule posts, engage with your audience by responding to comments, and most importantly respond to direct messages. Hootsuite can help you track engagement, Shopify can link potential customers to a shopping cart on your website, while Google Analytics helps you track which page is doing well and which is not. 

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• Email Marketing: Without a doubt, there are a lot of great tools out there to digitally market your brand. But, how about we go the old-fashioned way! Emails are great ways to reach customers, both the ones on social media and the ones that are not.  Before you send bulk emails make sure you identify the purpose of the email. Is it to boost sales, engagement, or to advertise a new product.

Send emails to targeted customers and construct the mail in an engaging tone that positively represents your brand. Don’t forget to add pictures and videos where necessary to buttress your point. Carefully schedule mails as sending too much may land you in the junk mail pile. 

• Content Marketing: We can’t talk about what digital branding entails without content. It is not enough to market your brand but, creating a local customer base is important. You want customers to keep coming back because they are satisfied with your services.  This is where content marketing plays a big role. It focuses on engagements through blog posts, videos, and photos. 

A good content marketing strategy should instigate the interest of potential customers in your brand and get them excited about what you have to offer. It builds trust and confidence between your brand and end-users and seeks to foster a long-lasting relationship. When digital marketing helps magnet people to your brand, it is the duty of content marketing to keep them interested in your offer and transform them into long-term clients.

                                 Recommendations

That being said, we strongly advise that you take all these into consideration when mapping out your next marketing strategy. Good branding is key to building a successful online business. Customers are naturally attracted to value. This is why you should design your products or services around key human needs.