One of the best ways to increase a company’s visibility and attract your target audience is to create a unique brand image that is different from many others in consumers’ minds. At some point, a brand image can be compared to a Hellspin login, which must be highly unique to be approved. A positive brand image will help change the audience’s attitude toward the product and influence their purchasing decisions.
What Is a Brand Image
Brand image is the perception of a brand by existing and potential customers, a set of beliefs, ideas and feelings associated with it. This image is created by the sum of all the experiences that customers have with the company: advertising, packaging, products, service and other touch points.
The Components of a Brand Image
Brand image can be represented as a set of two concepts: brand identity and brand personality.
Identity, or corporate identity, is the visual representation of the brand: the logo, colors, typography and other elements. Brand personality is the set of human characteristics that it embodies: values, attitudes, special features of its “personality.
Brand identity is created within the company. A company, when entering the market, presents a brand identity to potential customers, expecting it to help build a successful brand image.
Sometimes the internally created identity matches the brand image, and other times the public perceives the company differently. The task of marketers is to synchronize these perceptions as much as possible.
How the Brand Image is Created
To create a strong brand image, a company must first identify its brand and define its identity. The first step is market research: it helps know what the target audience values and what their expectations are. Based on the results, the company can create a unique brand identity and personality that resonates with consumers.
Brand identity provides brand recognition. It manifests itself in visual and verbal communication and should be consistent across all touchpoints – packaging, promotional products, and social media. Working with identity, marketers shape the tone of communication – tone of voice – and key messages that reinforce brand identity.
Once the identity and personality are defined, the company must communicate this to its target audience through marketing channels and advertising.
Creating a Sustainable Brand Image
- Study the target audience of the brand. Create a realistic picture of the ideal customer in order to tailor brand messaging. To do this, you may need to gather demographic information about your customers-gender, age, education, and geolocation-and create an empathy map.
- Identify the needs of the target audience. Market research will help understand their pain points and why existing competitive offerings aren’t closing them. The target brand image should show how the product or service can meet the needs left unaddressed.
- Formulate a brand value proposition. To do this, focus on the company’s key differentiator from its competitors: for example, affordability, product quality, novelty.
- Formulate brand identity on the basis of the value proposition. Organically chosen visual solutions – brand logo, fonts, packaging – can draw attention to the value proposition. If the company offers high-tech products, for example, the logo and fonts can reflect dynamism and futurism. A slogan can help the product be better remembered. This is usually a short but memorable phrase that can be used during marketing campaigns and cement its association with the brand image.
- Develop a marketing campaign that reflects the brand values. Most new customers learn about a brand through marketing campaigns. Regardless of the method – online advertising, influencers, referral programs – it’s important to be guided by the desired brand image in the promotion. For example, for budget brands, it will be natural to use bright hues and bold fonts in promotional materials to emphasize the affordability of products.
- Be consistent. The secret of brand recognition by the audience is in its commitment to the image created and consistency.
What a Brand Image Should Be
A strong brand image sets a product apart from nearly identical competitors in the same market. For example, customers associate branded products with higher quality than retailer-branded products, even if the differences between them are minimal. Properly communicated brand values can shape the customer experience as much as the products themselves. To that end, for example, high-tech brands create products that convey symbols of innovation and status along with practical value.
Brand image can be measured. Surveys can help: They can be distributed not only to regular and new customers, but also to competitors’ audiences. The results will help determine what is needed to launch a new product, dramatic changes in customer service or a new advertising campaign.