3 Keys to Strengthen Brand Equity

Your brand is an asset to your company and over time will deliver increased financial value. The more people place trust in the promise of your brand and what it stands for, the more your brand builds equity. Higher equity yields increase pricing elasticity, improved customer retention and increased sales.

Here are 3 Keys to Strengthen Your Brand Equity:

Key #1: Brand Consistency

Who are you and what do you stand for as a company? Why should people choose you? What makes your company different? Establishing a solid brand identity through consistent messaging, artwork, brand voice, and so forth is crucial in driving your business forward. Consistency builds trust and creates a bond between prospects / customers and your business.

This step is not just having a set of adhered to logo guidelines – though that is important, also. It’s about creating and managing your brand, its voice, it promise across all your marketing communications. This is particularly tricky in larger organizations with multiple marketing teams dispersed globally. It a key reason why larger global marketers need to establish a Brand Center of Excellence that can help institutionalize your brand voice all your customer and public facing teams.

Key #2: Brand Your User Experience

Every touch point that interacts with your customer needs to deliver against your brand promise. One way to operationalize this effectively is to brand all your user experiences. I don’t mean slapping your logo on the top left of every web page. But creating a brand ethos through design, copywriting, iconography, etc. in places that connects your users to your brand.

A great example is, of course, Apple. Simplicity is part of Apple user experience – whether going to Apple Store or using your iPhone. You see that brand promise in almost every interaction with the Apple brand. Not every thing Apple does achieves this brand promise, but most do. And as a result Apple has branded part of its user experience as simplicity.

Key #3: Measure Your Brand Holistically

Many of us use NPS (Net Promoter Scores) to measure brand. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Keller’s brand equity model, for example, uses 6 positive brand responses that generate trust: Warmth, Fun, Excitement, Security, Approval, and Self-Respect. Quantify from customer feedback these positive responses to understand the nuance of your Brand’s ability to convey its promise.

Tactically, check these type of brand health metrics monthly. You should be running rolling NPS surveys for customers across multiple segments. Map out NPS trend reports to identify areas of improvement by segment. Also, use Keller’s or other brand equity models quarterly to understand how trustworthy your brand is perceived by prospects, customers, etc. Use NLP systems to check against brand sentiment in real time in the market. All these measurement practices combined will provide you with a good sense of how healthy your brand is.

What do you do regularly to strengthen your brand? Share your reactions in our community on Slack.