The Strength Of Research In Public Relations.
It may sound cliché to talk about building a strong perception for your brand. Scott Cooke, co-founder of Intuit aptly described a brand as what consumers tell each other. Having this mindset is the first prerequisite for building a strong perception for your brand. This should lead you to asking the million Dollar question – “what does it take to build a strong brand perception”?
First, let’s understand what a strong brand is. A strong brand is that brand that has successfully etched its brand elements (name, logo, speak etc.) in the mind of its audience to the point they internalize and personalize the brand. And the perception is the sum of all the experiences the customer has about a brand.
Your journey to achieving ‘strong brand perception’ for your brand begins and rests with building trust among your audience. So let’s kick off from there and delve into the other four elements required for building a strong brand perception.
Build and Nurture Trust
Trust is the new currency for selling. Selling isn’t only about cash exchange, selling now involves having the right reputation, visibility and top of mind awareness – which trickle down into the actual exchange of cash. Trust motivates customers to make purchase, make return visits, give referrals and become loyalist. Strong brands know the value of trust. Trust building begins by keeping to a brand promise. Do you have a brand promise, are you keeping to it? These are the questions to ask yourself.
Give Your Brand the Right Presence
Visibility and branding are like five and six. Any attempt at brand building without a commensurate look at visibility is akin to setting the foundation and not laying more blocks to build the edifice. The problem with visibility is that it has to be right. For your brand to have the right talks and perception, you need to locate, decide and showcase the brand where its consumers are most likely to see it. Would your presence need a social media presence, does it need to be big on newspaper, television or radio? Let’s these questions guide your thoughts.
Connect On an Emotional Level
Humans are by nature emotional beings. Happiness, love, sadness and the likes is wired into the very fabric of our existence. Any brand that wants to evoke positive appeal must find a way to strike an emotional connection with its audience. This may sound difficult, but a PR campaign that ties the brand element to an emotion will serve a good purpose. An example is how MTN Foundation connects its yellow brand colour to maternal care through the #Yellow Heart initiative campaign. Motherhood is a big issue in Nigeria and MTN has struck a gold in emotively connecting their brand colour to an emotional theme. An important aspect of being emotional is to apologize or accept blame when needed.
Consistency is Key
Nothing pays off like consistency. It is easier getting to the top than maintaining the top spot. The moment you commence the brand building journey, you are not allowed to lay low. A little sleep, and you may end up forgotten. Don’t forget the goals you set in defining your brand. If change is necessary, then it should be communicated and thoroughly followed up.
Communicate
Brands will do better if they talk more, if they tell more stories. It can be a story about the brand, its use or how far it has gone. Testimonials can also be a good source of a story; they help the consumers to sum up well in keeping a good perception about the brand. When you communicate with the consumers, the brand gets a reshape either from the mistakes the consumers have noticed or the positive things that should keep on. There should be a point-of-contact with the brand and its owners. Communication is very key in every business endeavor. When a brand communicates well, the consumers are ready to speak their needs and also get interested in the brand.
If you combine all six elements mentioned in this article and consistently use them across all brand touch points like print, television ads, social media communications, or any other means of publicizing the brand, it is guaranteed that the brand will receive favourable views from its audience and thereby grow overtime into a strong, or even super brand.
