Your brand dictates how you present your business to the world. By having your business online, you have the potential to reach anyone that is connected. It is therefore important that you create a brand that is memorable and identifiable and cements your reputation as the travel expert.

Here are some key steps you can take to effectively building your brand online:

1. RESEARCH YOUR TARGET MARKET

It’s important to remember that customers online have different expectations than those that are offline.

By taking the time to listen to what’s important to them, what they are searching for and what their likes and dislikes are, you can really understand the things that matter to your online customers, you can build your brand around their expectations and create an online presence that satisfies their needs.

The research should be on-going. Review on a regular basis so that you can identify new ways to engage your online audience and grow your brand.

2. KNOW AND COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND

Once you’ve researched your online customers, you can use your findings to develop strong branding guidelines that appeal to them.

Your brand guidelines should carve out an offline and online identity for your business that differentiates it from the competition. It should include a company mission statement and consider the style and use of corporate colors, logos, images and typefaces as well as your tone of voice – particularly important if you are creating content such as blogs and getting involved in conversations online.

3. APPLY YOUR BRANDING CONSISTENTLY

Any successful brand applies their branding consistently across every touch point of their business – from their physical shops to their website to their social media channels. This helps them to be more memorable and credible.

Consistent branding is reassuring and helps to build trust in your service. As your brand grows, it can have an increasingly positive effect on the number of casual browsers who convert into buyers.

To ensure this consistency, your brand guidelines should be applied to every aspect and to everyone in your business.

4. KEEP IT FRESH

To become a respected brand, you need to constantly demonstrate that you know the travel industry. Create a constant flow of new content that shows your understanding of evolving clients’ needs and requirements.

It doesn’t always have to be written media, mix it up with videos, photos and graphics. Think of more imaginative ways you can advertise any promotions.

Regularly update blogs and promotional offers and make it easy for your customers to share your posts, content and promotions across their own social media channels.

5. INTERACT

You can also use social media to proactively engage with your customers and build brand awareness.  You can enjoy an explosion of free advertising thanks to something imaginative that goes viral.

Social media should be used carefully though. For many, this might be the first interaction with your company, so first impressions of your brand are important.

While social media is the perfect platform for putting a human face on your brand, it’s important to keep it professional.

Advocacy is the holy grail of social media so continually monitor your social media channels and if someone has left bad feedback about your service, make sure you take the time to respond to enquiries and comments in an understanding and thoughtful manner.

Branding is about the positive association to your company and is likely to fail if it’s not backed by quality. This especially applies to engagement online, get this right and you are well on the way to digital success.