Survey: Marketers Increasing Investment in Online Reputation Management

To maintain good standing within a particular industry, it’s important for marketers to invest in online reputation management (ORM), but how many of their resources are going toward this initiative?

Clutch recently surveyed 224 digital marketers in the U.S. to gauge their approach to ORM. Their statistics found that 54 percent of marketers believe ORM is “very necessary” to the overall success of their company. The biggest achievement businesses experience from investing in ORM is a growth in sales, according to 25 percent of respondents.

Out of the marketers who monitor their ORM, 42 percent claim that they monitor their online reputation daily. About 46 percent of respondents said that they commonly use social media to monitor what’s being said about their company online.

This year, about 35 percent of businesses claim that they intend to allot more time and money to ORM in 2018.

“Online reputation management is critical for businesses to maintain a positive brand identity in the eyes of consumers,” says Jenna Seter, business analyst and marketer at Clutch. “As more digital marketers understand the value of ORM in growing their business, they choose to devote more time and energy toward monitoring their brand online.”

B2B Marketers and the Investment in Branding

Over time, marketers have come to realize the importance of branding in the eyes of their customers. Previous research shows that B2B marketers, in particular, have become more mindful of branding practices.

“The B2B Brand Strategy” white paper from Spencer Brenneman found that over the past five years, 86.7 percent of marketers have seen an increase in spending on brand investments at their company. Twelve percent said that their company’s financial investment in brand initiatives has been steady.

“We live in a data-driven world, even when you’re talking about the emotions and sentiments associated with a particular brand,” wrote the authors of the white paper. “That’s why so many organizations are investing in brand-related research activities.”