Hitwise: Brand searches aren't leading to branded websites

This statistic is staggering for brands; think about it, if a consumer look up your business name in the phone book and the phone book pointed them to a competitor's store instead you could lose business. This is happening online daily and yet brand marketers are not protecting their brands online.

What can brand marketers do to better protect their brands - and get consumers to the right website? It begins with the right search campaign. In the travel industry, for instance, airline brands have found that not allowing resellers and travel agencies to use their brand name (Southwest Airlines) in campaigns has allowed their brand to remain intact because only they can use their branded search terms.

Brands also need to keep an eye on how their brand fares; knowing what consumers are saying about your specific brand - the good and the bad - is key. Brands can't stop bloggers from using their brand name on a blog; but knowing when a brand is used fraudulently and being able to stop those abuses will cull the number of extraneous uses of your brand.

Tags: brand advocacy, brand marketing, brand monitoring, Hitwise