Four bonus ConfluenceCon takeaways from Danica Jones

ConfluenceCon was incredible. With every speaker, I found myself blown away by the intelligence and insights being shared; even the attendees were full of ideas and each confluence made me want to do more and be better as a marketer. Still, my 20 minutes left me thinking: what else could I have said? A few key points stood out, and this should be a relatively quick read, in the spirit of ConfluenceCon.

25% of your brand’s market value hinges on reputation

Deloitte’s recent survey on reputation risk sparked powerful conversations around the ConsumerAffairs office. With a quarter of market value coming directly from reputation, failing to be proactive about fostering a culture of transparency and quality customer experience could be the difference between success and failure. Every day, I ask myself two questions: “What can I do to share the impact of reputation marketing with other businesses? How can I contribute to improving on our own reputation marketing and honoring our company culture?”

All businesses should strive for 100%, but often don’t. Reactive brands hang onto 75%, and miss out on additional untapped revenue. Why? It’s difficult to change, and the fear of being unable to truly recover from past reputation issues drives a continued focus on the suppression of negative sentiment. Every day, my team watches our partnered brands turn brand detractors into brand advocates. We’re here to tell you change is possible. The jump in lead generation when a brand gets proactive is significant – as much as 40% based on our own site data.

Visibility will continue to be a challenge as more competitors climb the SERPs

More competition and smarter marketing means brands will face an increasingly difficult battle for quality real estate in the SERPs. To add to the challenge, mobile reduces visibility across organic and PPC channels. Two things will serve brands well going into 2016: leveraging the customer voice and finding third-party opportunities for brand placement appealing to target audiences.

Customer voices back up the message you send to consumers

Google reported PPC click-through rates increase as much as 17% when organic search results align with the marketing message shared in paid ads. Negative sentiment in organic search decreases the likelihood of conversions, and a competitor with high-ranking organic results and positive sentiment is more likely to earn new customers. It’s not enough to just wait for customers to share their experiences; satisfied customers are often the silent majority, so reaching out is a must.

Think about how often being satisfied led you to spend 5-10 minutes writing a quality review. The more friction involved in leaving feedback, the less likely those satisfied customers will take the time to share. Taking advantage of unbiased, proactive review collection practices helps your team generate quality content consumers rely on to make smart choices, and gives you a competitive advantage by building trust with consumers.

SERP real estate isn’t just about brand-owned media anymore

Third party resources like buyer’s guides and review sites are valuable resources for customer engagement opportunities and brand visibility. The best part about these sites? They’re often already highly ranked for consumer-related queries. It’s less likely a brand’s own media will show up first as consumers seek out a variety of top brands to initiate research or seek out reviews and complaints to dig deeper and make a final decision.

Everything you learned at ConfluenceCon is actionable, regardless of business size. Initiate discovery sessions and explore opportunities for your team to increase online visibility and create a stronger brand reputation. Develop and maintain your reputation, and your marketing team will create the most valuable confluence between the brand and customer voice.