Earn Customers by Building Brand Authenticity
What is brand authenticity?
Why is it important for my business?
How can I develop my brand’s authenticity?
Imagine there’s a new independent footwear company called Bryan Boots that makes all of its products by hand in Bryan, Texas.
To attract new business, Bryan Boots has purchased online ads for the first time, but they’re not quite sure how to present the brand to their target audience.
Bryan Boots knows they make high quality boots and shoes, but now they need to figure out how to stand out in an overcrowded footwear marketplace. Which aspects of Bryan Boots should they highlight to sell more products?
Customers are constantly bombarded with ads, and most people are wary of being told what they want or being tricked into buying something.
Purchasing is personal. People prefer to buy products that reflect their values and identities, so they want to understand who the brand is and what they’re about before they open their wallets.
Building brand authenticity is the practice of making your brand look and feel genuine and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience. Establishing authenticity lets you tell more vivid stories, and helps build customer loyalty.
Key factors that people use to gauge your brand’s authenticity are your commitment to quality, sincerity, and heritage.
Being authentic and having heritage doesn’t mean you need to have been around for decades, but it does mean you should tell your brand’s story in ways that demonstrate your values and your passion for your products.
Doing this lets customers feel like they’re buying into those same values, not just buying a product or service. This feeling of authenticity can give you an edge over other brands and help create a loyal customer base.
You can start building brand authenticity by crafting a vision statement that guides your marketing. You can start by answering four core questions.
First, why you do what you do? Think of what you’re passionate about and what inspires you to do quality work beyond just making money.
Second, how are your products or services developed and produced? Consider what’s special about the process and how it’s different and perhaps better than what similar companies do.
Third, what does your brand strive to be and do? What is your brand’s ultimate goal? How do you want to affect the world?
Fourth, what does your brand stand against? Do you have any ethical objections that impact your work? What do other brands do that you never would? Are there any products you would never sell? Why not?
Use your answers to form a single, inspiring vision statement that captures what your brand is about and what it strives to be. Make sure this vision is present in all your marketing and reference it when you create new campaigns.
LISTEN UP
Google’s vision statement is: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” This simple sentence gets at the heart of what the company is about and why it exists.
Using your vision statement as a guide, begin building your brand’s authenticity in your marketing by focusing on four key aspects of your business.
First is your narrative. This is the central story of where your brand comes from and what it stands for. It should include how your company was founded, why you’re about more than just profit, and what your unique traditions are.
Second, highlight the benefits of your products. Explain what your audience gains when they decide to make a purchase.
Reminder
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In addition to the benefits of your products and/or services, you want to highlight their differentiators, or the factors that set them apart from your competitors’ products.
Finally, you want to convey your passion for your work. Showing how invested you are in your brand and its products encourages customers to be passionate about them too.
Cultivate and maintain your brand’s authenticity by continuously featuring these four attributes across all your marketing channels, including your website, social media, paid ads, and anywhere else your brand is visible to your audience.
DO THIS NOW
It takes time and effort to develop brand authenticity, but let’s get started by creating an example of a simple vision statement for your brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Brand authenticity is the practice of making your brand look and feel genuine and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience.
Establishing brands authenticity lets your business tell a vivid sorry about itself and helps build loyalty among your customers.
To develop your brand's authenticity start by making a vision statement and use that to guide the marketing of your narrative, benefits, differentiators, and passion.
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