As a business, your brand image is everything. It tells your audience who you are, what your purpose is, and why you are a company they should want to shop with. Forming a strong brand image isn’t simple, though, as there are multiple actions you must take to ensure your brand is both well-known and regarded in a positive light.
Whether you run an eCommerce site, a local bakery, or you’re just starting a software development company, here’s a guide to strengthening your brand image.
Join a Trusted Marketplace
If you have products to sell, one way to gain trust from potential customers is to join an already trusted marketplace. By doing this, you tell people that your brand is just as trustworthy as the marketplace itself. Nuanced Media is a marketing agency specializing in Walmart marketplace that has millions of products listed by sellers on their website. By selling there, not only will you boost your brand image, but you will also gain access to a marketplace with minimal competition, more customers, and zero monthly fees.
Focus on Your Web Design
When a potential customer clicks on your website, they instantly judge you by what they see. Bad web design, such as slow loading times and difficult-to-find links, will only increase your bounce rate, as well as ruin your brand’s reputation. Think about it – when you click on a hard-to-use website, do you stick around to see if the company is worth it?
To ensure that you come across as professional, focus on building a user-friendly website. With so much of your brand’s image resting on your website, it’s always better to take your time rather than rush it.
Showcase Your Purpose
When showcasing your brand, you also want to let people know what your purpose is, and the best way to do this is in the form of storytelling. Is there a reason you began your company? Why does your company work better than others? Create a page on your website explaining your journey and the goals of your company so that interested customers know exactly what you are about.
Create Engaging Content
Another way to attract more attention and improve your brand’s image is to create engaging content. This can be displayed on your website and then shared on your business’s social media accounts for best results. Try to keep the content as relevant to your brand as possible; for example, if you sell clothes, talk about the latest developments in the fashion industry or how fashion can be more eco-friendly. By doing this, customers will see you as a brand that produces helpful information as well as great products/services.
Partner with Social Media Influencers
In recent years, many brands have turned to influencers with large followings to promote their products. It makes a lot of sense – by gaining the approval of someone who has many followers, you not only increase your brand awareness, but you also instantly increase your sales. So, have a look for influencers whose messages coincide with your brand’s and then contact them for a promotion. You will have to pay an up-front cost in most situations (or send them a freebie), but the amount of engagement you’ll get out of it will be worth it.
Go Green
Strengthening your brand image isn’t just about making yourself well known – it’s about making your brand well known for the right reasons. This is where going green comes in. Many people only shop at companies with ethical practices, so evaluate your own and see where you can improve. Some ways businesses can be more eco-friendly include:
. Going Paperless
Going paperless as a business isn’t as hard as you would think, especially with the amount of technology available. If it seems like a giant leap, you can always take it a step at a time; for example, start doing the payroll completely online.
. Using Ethical Suppliers
You need to pay attention to the suppliers you buy from. By opting for greener suppliers, your company instantly becomes greener, too.
. Reducing Plastic Waste in Packaging
Nobody wants a package full of plastic – especially as everyone knows how much harm that causes the planet. Choose alternative, recyclable materials to wrap your packages, such as cardboard, and your carbon footprint will instantly reduce.
. Cutting Down on Energy Use
Whether you have an office, warehouse, shop, or café, you should think about how much energy you use. One of the easiest ways to cut down on your energy use is to use more energy-efficient lights, which won’t only make your company greener but will also save you some money.
Remember – when implementing greener practices, be sure to let your customers know about it.
Rank Higher on Search Engines
Customers are more likely to trust a company that ranks higher in their search engine search, so use effective SEO techniques for your website. A couple of ways to do this include using internal links, using the right keywords, and making your website as user-friendly as possible. It might take some time to see your website appear at the top, but the results are more than worth it.
Reply to Customer Reviews
If you receive reviews on your website, google, or social media accounts, take the time to reply to every single one. By doing this, you show customers that you genuinely care about their opinion. Plus, it allows you to sort out a miscommunication or error if someone isn’t completely happy with your services. Remember to listen to feedback, too, as it will help guide your business in the right direction.
Keep a Certain Aesthetic
To strengthen your brand image, one of your goals is to become more memorable, and a great way to do this is by choosing a fixed aesthetic for your brand. That could include images, colors, fonts – anything that people will see when looking at your business. Remember to keep the look in line with your business, too. For example, if you sell children’s clothes, you probably want to avoid neutral colors with a professional-looking logo worthy of a software company.
Be Active on Social Media Sites
Social media is one of the easiest ways to strengthen your brand image, as you have full control over how you want to come across. Plus, social media sites are great places to connect with your loyal customers. To make the most out of your business’s social media sites, make sure you post content daily and use a mixture of text, images, and videos.
Understand Who You’re Marketing To
When coming up with marketing strategies, it helps to know exactly who you are marketing to, so do plenty of research about your audience in advance. Think about what other services they are likely to use, what they expect from your company, and what sort of content appeals to them the most. This kind of research must be ongoing – as your business grows, so does your customer. What people want is constantly evolving.
Ryan Flannagan is the Founder & CEO of NuancedMedia, an international eCommerce marketing agency specializing in Amazon. Nuanced has sold $100s of millions online and Ryan has built a client base representing a total revenue of over 1.5 billion dollars. Ryan is a published author and has been quoted by a number of media sources such as BuzzFeed and Modern Retail. To connect with Ryan, check out @Ryanflannagan on Twitter or via LinkedIn.
