Consumers have more choices than ever before regarding what they can buy and who they can buy from. As a result, you must always be conscious of how your clients perceive your brand for your business to stay competitive and grow.
But how? You’ll need to know what
brand perception is, how to measure brand perception, and how it impacts your brand.
What Is Brand Perception?
Brand perception is what consumers believe a brand represents. It is the overall sentiment of your customers based on their use and experience with your brand’s products and services.
Now, if you’re wondering what consumer perception is, you’re not alone; “consumer perception” and “brand perception” are synonymous and frequently used interchangeably. In other words, both influence how many customers you can attract and what they say or perceive about your brand.
Why Is Brand Perception Important?
Brand perception can make or break your business. Even if you use
conscious advertising to appeal to issues your target audience cares about, they won’t choose your brand if they don’t get the message or connect to it.
A positive brand perception leads to increased confidence towards your products—consumers are more likely to purchase your offerings, buy repeatedly, and encourage others to do so as well.
How Do You Improve Brand Perception?
Once you are clear on what brand perception is, you’ll need to improve yours to ensure it doesn’t turn negative, which could hurt the bottom line. So start changing how your customers perceive your business with the following strategies.
1. Monitor Brand Perception Metrics
Know where you should improve by understanding where you currently stand. Have a firm grasp on brand perception through regular surveys, focus groups, online forums, and social media monitoring.
Keeping watch on brand perception metrics helps you stay relevant and up-to-date. By tracking what your customers say about your brand, you can better gauge your next actionable steps. Remember that sentiment towards your brand is in constant flux because of external factors such as changing trends and events, so be on the lookout for opportunities.
2. Create A Brand Experience Around Your Audience
Gaining insights on brand perception should clue you in on whether a brand works or not. If it doesn’t, your only option is to refresh it.
One way to improve your brand perception is by performing a brand refresh. Start your brand’s makeover by understanding who your target customers are. Besides knowing your audience’s age, gender, demographics, and basic information, you must analyze their behaviors and motivations for choosing your brand.
Once you’ve narrowed down the characteristics you want your brand to be identified with, incorporate these in your branding assets,
marketing efforts, and every customer interaction. If you want your customers to see you as “reliable and prompt,” be sure to fulfill that promise by delivering every time.
3. Generate the Right Content
After identifying your brand’s target audience, send the right message by tailoring content for them. Create content they want to consume and ensure it’s in your social media platforms and website to reach as many customers as possible.
Be consistent with your messaging—your improved brand perception sticks better if it resonates with your customers repeatedly.
4. Be Open to Feedback
If you want to strengthen perception, you have to be aware of your customer’s experience with your brand. To do that, you must welcome all forms of feedback, not just positive, glowing ones. Changing brand perception means actively seeking customer feedback.
Customer reviews, especially bad ones, give you an idea of your products or services’ underlying issues or pain points. They offer better insights based on what your customers saw and experienced on their end. Encourage consumers to provide feedback after every interaction to identify areas for improvement and immediate resolution.
Don’t avoid the bitter truth. If you fail to listen to what your customers are telling you now, you stand to lose more in the long run.
5. Establish a Positive Connection with Customers
Influence how people perceive your brand with positive interactions at every touch-point. Since most customers are on social media, consistently interact with them by posting engaging content or replying to their comments. Even a simple “thank you” is enough to make your customers feel connected to your brand because they’re talking to a real person, not a bot.
Delivering a personalized, humanized interaction entices people to choose your brand over others.
Changing Brand Perception with Channel Factory
Ready to level up your brand perception to stand out from the rest? Work with Channel Factory to know your next steps in creating focused content to change how your customers perceive you and leave a good impression.
Contact us today, and learn how to change perspectives about your brand.
