Why should you protect your brands online reputation?
Posted by Elyse Neumann on Tue, Aug 11, 2009
The question should really be why
WOULDN'T you do everything you can to protect your brands online reputation? I have spent the last six years watching the many ways a brand can be eroded on the Internet. From the misuse of a logo or company name, to links with your brand name resolving on competitors or third party sites, to personal sites created in your organizations image, to domains being created with your registered trademark to more sever issues such as malware, phishing, pornography and child pornography. No matter how ruthless or benign the infringement is, your organization's brand is being affected and each instance is wearing away at the foundation of the Brand you have worked so hard to create.
You may look at the use of your logo on a third party site as nothing to worry about, or be happy when a link to your home page brings traffic to your site. In many cases these are fine uses and will not erode the brand but what about the instance when that logo is on a white supremacy site or that link is from pornography or gambling sites? How is that viewed by the public? What is the association being made to your organization? How will this affect your customers, employees and other stake holders?
Companies spend millions of dollars a year creating, maintaining and marketing their brands to ensure the public view them in a specific way but one negative mention or association and all that time and money could be for nothing. A proactive stance on protecting your Brand will work toward ensuring a long lasting positive association between the public and your Brand.
So again I ask why WOULDN'T you do everything you can to protect your brands online reputation?