Seven Key Tips For Protecting Your Brand In The Internet Age

Retailers and manufacturers know that their brand is not only the identity they expressly communicate to their customers, but also what those customers think and say about them. The rise of social media means that what a single individual thinks or says about a retailer can impact its brand in profound ways that were unthinkable before the Internet. A single message or, sometimes worse, a single photo, can spread across the Internet and expose a retail reputation to real damage in a matter of hours that may take months to fix, if it can be fixed at all.

What does this mean for you as a retailer or manufacturer facing attacks on its reputation? The answer is to play good "defense" but also sharpen your plan of attack and learn to play "offense." Here are seven key tips for safeguarding what can be a retailer's most important asset— its brand: