People build brands like birds build nests, from the scraps they come across – Jeremy Bullmore

Customers can come across a brand you promote anywhere.

It might turn up in search for them, they might hear about it on social media or find a link you placed for it somewhere.

But you know all this already.

What you might not realize though is to what degree your work affects the customers perception of the brand.

I am amazed by the complexity of a brand. In spite of a common belief it’s not just a logo or a bunch of corporate colors put together but every single interaction customers have with it. Starting with their own experiences with a product or the company’s customer service department, through advertising, promotion to brands online activities, mentions, reviews, recommendations, other customers rants and a lot more, customers slowly put together what they feel about it.

But what’s important is that a brand has very little control over this process.

Not only the old, two way conversation between companies and customers has given away to new, three way communication, with customers exchanging information between themselves, but with a lot of the online branding activity being handed over to 3rd parties, SEO agencies included. And no matter what you say, links, mentions, social media updates and many more contribute to the overall brand image.

There is, I feel, very little focus on that aspect of our work though.

Have you ever wondered what might happen if a customer comes across a link you built for a brand?

Most of the time, they ignore it, you think. But what about that low quality guest post you placed for a quick link? Or a fake profile with dummy info? Do a brands customers tell them apart from original content it creates? Can they differentiate poor content from MK advice?

I don’t think so.

Naturally, any low quality association are less likely to affect a larger brand, since it has a strength and resources to magnify its message and cover those up. But what about that small business you work with? To them, any association weights more than gold. And a bad one can hurt them badly.

With that in mind, should it not be imperative for an SEO Agency to only take actions which will result in solid mention a brand would stand by too?

I have recently been wondering about it and how to achieve a better performance of SEO in spreading a brand awareness. From what I concluded, the most effective way would be by developing and incorporating 3 elements into a typical campaign:

• A personality – it is in fact a must for a brand to have – a face that starts to symbolise a brand and what it wishes to stand for. It quite often is the person at the helm but it doesn’t necessarily be. It could be anyone but he or she has to have certain quantities,be someone who can capture a crowd, spread their passion or ideas and must be believable. Again, quite an easy task when it comes to a large brand but in a case of a smaller company trying to build their perception online, it can be a challenge.
• Online Relationships – To exist online brands must be able to amplify their message. From blogs, influencers to journalists, they need to develop online relationships to ensure their message is spread across.
• Authoritative Associations – The last element is authority, built not only through a personality, social proof (very often through relationships) but also authoritative associations. These could be with other brands, influencers, celebrities or professional organizations.

What Does This Mean for SEO Agencies

Quite recently I asked a number of SEO experts about their opinion on the value of SEO and its role in the marketing mix. From the responses I got, it came evident that SEO is no longer perceived as an autonomous discipline but rather an integral part of a brands overall marketing strategy.

But personally I think it goes further than that. SEO has been merged into branding tools, helping to leave scraps of information based on which customers build their image of a brand.

Agencies need to develop a completely new approach to working with clients. Gone are the days of offering just technical recommendations and expertise. These days an agency should become a partner in brand building. Its scope of recommendations has expanded to not only website and content but also building and maintaining a personality, relationships and associations.

Moreover, the quality of an agency should be measured not only by their list of clients or portfolio but also by the relationships it maintains itself – it’s own connections with influencers, bloggers and journalists which it can quickly utilize on clients projects.

Closing Thoughts

Given all the recent changes in marketing, I believe that the approach to working with online rankings should change. SEO is no longer solely a sales channel but a powerful brand awareness tool. In my view it should be used accordingly to yield the best results for clients.