Brand image is a consumer’s representation of a product, brand, or company.
It’s an essentially psychological element, referring to a person’s judgment based on a whole host of tangible and intangible things.
In other words, brand image is based on both objective and subjective criteria.
Moreover, it’s not always in line with what the brand would like to convey. In this sense, it needs to be worked on and analyzed in order to be as positive and favorable as possible.
There are several strategies for building a strong, positive brand image:
- Reproduce or draw inspiration from the key elements of the brand image of one of the most influential companies in the same sector, with a strong reputation. Of course, it’s important to keep an eye on the competition, but you still need to know how to stand out from your rivals.
- Choose a message to convey and ensure that it’s well perceived and interpreted by consumers.This should be aligned with the 4 Ps of marketing—product, price, place, and promotion—to ensure consistency across all aspects of the brand strategy.
- Listen to the public and ask for their feedback, to ensure that the brand image actually perceived corresponds to the company’s values. Encouraging word of mouth can be particularly powerful here, as positive recommendations from satisfied customers can significantly enhance your brand reputation.
- Keep a constant watch to ensure that the brand’s image is not tarnished by customers or competitors.
- Ensure that the message corresponds to the intended target and is correctly addressed to the right type of customer with effective storytelling. This can be achieved through inbound marketing strategies, attracting and engaging potential customers by providing valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs.
- Make your brand instantly recognizable by offering a strong, instantly identifiable identity (logo, colors, text font, etc.).
- Take advantage of every opportunity to increase the visibility of your business’s products.
- Highlight real expertise and know-how through branded content, which showcases the brand’s values and authority while engaging the audience with meaningful stories and information.
- Analyze your target audience’s habits to appear in the most opportune places and at the most opportune times.
Of course, branding is a multi-channel process (social networks, website, emails, in-store implementation, etc.) and involves a multitude of marketing operations.
For this purpose, some companies call on external services, while others work on their brand strategy in-house, in a specific department.
There are several ways to measure the effectiveness of your brand image:
- by conducting surveys;
- by studying the traffic on your pages and the volume of searches associated with your website, via tools such as Google Analytics; and
- considering customer reviews.
Sometimes, to enhance a brand image, certain changes are necessary. In any case, know that it’s better to make the modifications gradually and limit transformations that are too brutal.
