Have you ever thought about how your company’s brand image impacts your success? You know that the image of your brand is important, but have you ever really thought about whether you’re actively working to develop and maintain a positive brand image or if you’re just going with the flow? There’s a distinct difference between the two, and if you haven’t considered your approach, now’s a great time to start.
What Is Brand Image?
Your brand’s image is comprised of all the interactions it has with customers. Employee interactions with customers and prospects matter most, of course, but so do the less obvious factors like your visual identity, marketing and advertising, website, social media, and many other seemingly insignificant things. All these different elements play a role in building your brand image. Even one minor mishap can have significant consequences on the perception of your company.
Knowing this, it’s crucial to consider the impact of and regularly reevaluate your brand image strategy. It influences consumer perception, shapes customer expectations, and can be the deciding factor between a customer choosing your product over a competitor’s. A positive brand image can lead to customer loyalty, increased sales, and a solid reputation.
Brand Identity vs. Brand Image
While often used interchangeably, brand identity and brand image are distinct concepts. Brand identity is how you define and portray your brand, encompassing your logo, design, colors, and messaging. It’s the intentional representation of your brand. Brand image, on the other hand, is how the public perceives your brand. It’s the collective impression and associations people have about your company based on their interactions and experiences with it.
For example, Sagefrog’s brand identity includes its logo, the green color palette, and the professional yet approachable tone in its marketing materials. However, Sagefrog’s brand image is how clients and prospects perceive the company based on these elements and their personal experiences with the services provided.
How to Build a Positive Brand Image
When it comes to improving or enhancing your image, consistency is critical. A great way to cultivate a consistent brand image is to develop a brand strategy. Your brand image strategy defines vital components and important messages like your mission and vision, personality and tone, visual identity, editorial guidelines, and even buyer personas. Your brand image strategy is, in other words, a long-term plan for developing your brand in order to be successful and achieve your goals. And each of these components, working together, will help you achieve them.
Your image is comprised of many different factors and assets, but it doesn’t have to be complex. In fact, some of the most iconic brands are the simplest. Think Apple, Amazon, and FedEx. While their process to get there didn’t happen overnight, it’s possible to make strides fast when you’re crystal clear on the purpose and role of each branding component. Read more in Branding Made Simple from Sagefrog.
Brand Image Strategy
Building a positive brand image requires a strategic approach. Here are key steps to follow:
- Goals: Define clear, achievable goals for what you want your brand image to be. These goals should align with your overall business objectives and provide a roadmap for your brand development efforts. For instance, your goals might include increasing brand awareness, improving customer satisfaction, or enhancing brand loyalty.
- Assess:
- Gather feedback directly from your customers about their perceptions. This can provide valuable insights into how your brand is currently viewed and areas for improvement.
- Dive deeper into customer insights through more interactive methods like interviews and focus groups. These can help uncover detailed opinions and suggestions that might not surface in surveys.
- Monitor social media conversations about your company to understand public sentiment and engagement by tracking mentions and discussions about your brand across various social media platforms.
- Identify strengths and areas for improvement by regularly reviewing feedback on sites like Google, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms.
- Audience: Identify your target audience and understand their needs and preferences. Knowing your audience helps tailor your brand image to meet their expectations and create a more meaningful connection. This includes demographic information, psychographics, and behavioral patterns.
- Value Proposition: Clearly articulate what makes your brand unique and valuable to your audience. Your value proposition should communicate the benefits of your products or services and why customers should choose you over competitors. It’s the foundation of your brand promise.
- Visual Identity: Ensure your visual elements (logo, colors, typography) are consistent and reflective of your brand values. A visual brand identity helps create a recognizable and professional image. This includes everything from your website design to your marketing materials and packaging.
- Brand Archetype & Personality: Develop a brand personality that resonates with your audience and aligns with your values. This involves defining your brand archetype, such as the Hero, the Explorer, or the Caregiver, and ensuring your brand’s voice and tone are consistent across all communications.
- Marketing Campaign: Create campaigns that reinforce your brand values and resonate with your audience. Effective marketing campaigns should align with your brand strategy and be designed to achieve your specific goals. They should highlight your unique value proposition and communicate your brand story in a compelling way.
How Brand Image Impacts Marketing Success
Solid brands inherently build trust and credibility, significantly boosting the reach and effectiveness of marketing efforts. A positive brand image helps your marketing messages resonate with the right audience, encouraging people to choose your products over competitors and remain loyal to your brand.
Not sure where to start? Here are some ways your company’s existing and potentially tired brand image strategy is impacting marketing success, along with tips for making improvements.
Outdated Website
Your prospects come to your website for one of two things. They’re either looking for a solution to a problem or an answer to a question, and their first impression of your website will decide if they continue in their buyer’s journey or jump ship. If your website is outdated, it’s going to be challenging to make a good first impression on visitors and prospects. It’ll also be harder to appear credible or relevant, which can have a significant impact—especially on sales.
Outdated websites result when other areas of the business take priority, which happens. However, if you know that your website could use a fresh look or feel, move it up on the priority list.
Vague Messaging
Brand messaging is another aspect that can have a significant impact on your success. You should have a specific, defined mission and vision, and these statements should be crystal clear to website visitors, both new and old. If you don’t have a clear buyer persona (or personas) you’re targeting with your messaging, think about creating one you’ll actually use.
On top of messages like your mission and vision, it’s also important to ensure that your product and service pages are easy to understand and engaging and feature bold calls to action.
Lackluster “About Us” Page
How does the “About Us” page on your website look? Does it prominently feature your company’s leaders among other employees to give prospects a clear picture of what kind of people lead and work there? Is there a description of what your company does so visitors are encouraged to stick around and learn more?
Make sure you’re filling this critical page on your website with the information prospects and visitors want to know most. Who are you? What do you do? When (and why) did you start providing the products or services you do? Providing all of this information is a great way to inspire trust when new people visit your website.
Unoriginal Content
As the saying goes, Content is King. Good content, that is. And your prospects want to work with credible industry thought leaders. If your company’s content marketing efforts are unoriginal, you’ll give prospects little reason to trust your thought leadership efforts, even if you truly are an expert in your industry.
Even another blog post on a popular industry topic can be made original if you examine it from the right angle and provide a fresh take. If you haven’t evaluated your blog through a critical lens lately, it might be a good idea to do so.
Weak (or No) Social Media Presence
In today’s digital age, if you want to build a consistent online presence, it’s critical to be active on social media. Your prospects are active, and they’re looking for your brand. If you have a weak, inconsistent presence on social media (or worse—none at all), they’re going to be wary and understandably so. Conversely, having a carefully maintained social media presence that provides insight into your company’s authentic culture, values, and original thoughts will greatly increase your credibility.
Sagefrog & Brand Image Services
Your brand is the face of your company, representing your business 24/7, even when your employees can’t. Marketing success hinges on building and maintaining relationships, and careful management of positive brand image, transparency, and high-quality content can inspire the trust needed to foster those relationships.
If you’re looking to build a brand strategy or enhance your marketing efforts, Sagefrog can help. We specialize in creating compelling and relevant brand identities that resonate with your audience. Our services include brand strategy development, visual identity creation, and comprehensive marketing campaigns designed to build and maintain a positive brand image.
