Most companies want to build brand equity, but it’s not always easy to tell what’s working and what isn’t. Brand equity, which is the measure of how much value your brand brings to your customers, depends on how you position your product or service relative to your competitors as well as how you choose to communicate that positioning through marketing channels like social media and online advertising. As you develop your brand identity, make sure you follow these four steps to build brand equity with your target audience and drive more business through marketing efforts in the future.
Engage Your Audience
The best way to build brand equity is by engaging with your audience. This means finding ways to communicate with your customers and potential clients directly, in a consistent manner that benefits both you and them. At its most basic level, it means developing a voice for your brand.
Engaging with your audience to build equity can be as simple as giving yourself a bit of branding guidance (such as tone of voice) or as formalized as creating a detailed strategy for how you will interact with customers on social media or via email campaigns. When you begin communicating directly with your audience, they learn more about who you are and whether or not they can trust your brand.
Listen to Negative Feedback
It may sound counterintuitive, but positive feedback can be just as damaging for a brand as negative feedback. Instead of focusing on all of the positive things customers are saying about your company, be sure to include criticisms and complaints as you consider consumer insights. Use this constructive criticism as fuel for change. While customers don’t always know what they want or need until you give it to them, their complaints can help shape your business rather than define it.
Deliver on What You Promise
If you value long-term success, it’s important to make good on what you promise from day one.
When customers pay for your product or service, they expect you to deliver on what you’ve promised. If your business makes a habit of letting them down, word will spread and sales will start to decline. Once that happens, it can be tough to recover. Figure out how you plan on making good before getting into business and never compromise your integrity in pursuit of a quick profit. Even if customers don’t come back for more right away, they’ll still refer others who are impressed by how dedicated your company is to delivering great results over and over again.
Connect Online and Offline
Online and offline brand identity must be consistent if you want to build strong brand equity. Make sure that your logo, font, tagline, and so on are easily accessible across every platform you use. For example, if you have a Facebook page and a Twitter account, make sure your profile photo is easily accessible in both places. To set yourself apart from your competitors, identify unique selling points like special benefits or services you offer customers.
You might think that building brand equity would be an expensive undertaking, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep these four tips in mind to better build brand equity and improve your customers’ experiences.