When you think about Apple, you think of its high-quality products, apps, and services. Over the years, the company has mastered creating an excellent customer experience and developing a loyal customer base and a positive reputation.
This is what brand equity entails. It’s a brand’s ability to provide value consistently by creating a positive experience and perception about its products or services.
That’s why brands with positive brand equity charge more for products or services without losing customers. Building brand equity is more than a one-day affair. It’s a process that requires consistency and resilience. Here’s how you do it:
What is Brand Equity?
Brand equity is the value a brand provides and is determined by the user’s perception of its quality.
It significantly influences a company’s success, influencing consumer decisions, potential partnerships, and marketing strategies.
That’s why customer loyalty, satisfaction, and recognition measure brand equity. When you have positive brand equity, your products are recognized easily because they make a great impression on consumers.
Why Brand Equity is Important
Brand equity has a profound effect on a company’s bottom line. It enables companies to leverage their power to earn more than their counterparts while spending the least amount of money.
When customers believe in a brand’s value and the quality of its products, they’re more willing to pay higher prices to purchase products or services from that brand.
Brand equity also helps companies sell new products faster. Since you’ve established trust with your customer base, your target market can use persuasion to purchase your new product or other offerings.
Take Apple, for example. Customers are willing to pay premium prices for the latest iPhone releases, and the company doesn’t need to do much advertising.
How Does Brand Equity Develop?
Developing brand equity is a slow process that begins with providing a great customer experience. To do this you want to:
- Develop brand awareness: Here, you introduce the brand to your target audience, e.g., through advertising
- Make your brand recognizable: Your marketing strategies make your brand recognizable in the market. This way, customers familiarize themselves with your brand, leading to the next step
- Perform a trial: Customers will then desire to try out your product or service
- Create brand perception: If the customer has a good or better experience with the product, they may prefer it to your competitors’
- Develop customer Loyalty: When customers enjoy the same experience with your brand, they become loyal to it because they think so highly of your products and brand in general
How to Build Brand Equity
So how do you go about building brand equity?
01. Define Your Why
Companies often focus on how to build equity rather than why. Overlooking this critical component leads to lost brand value, loyalty, and, ultimately, brand equity.
Your target audience should understand why you do what you do right away. Apple’s brand message, for example, is to build the best products while enriching customers’ lives.
Its advertising is also centered around this message, not the products it offers. The brand’s ability to live up to its promise has created a positive perception of it, leading to positive brand equity.
02. Curate and Test a Brand Message
Next, develop a brand message that resonates with your audience. You want to test it before making it the official brand message to determine your customer’s response.
Do they stop to engage with your brand? Does it address their pain points? The message should communicate the specific factors drawing customers to your brand.
03. Provide a Great Customer Experience
First impressions count. They can make the difference between having a loyal customer and a one-time customer. A Forbes study found that 84% of companies that focus on improving customer experience generate more revenue.
Simple things like responding to customers’ complaints and setting up a functional live chat platform or a customer review section improve customer experience.
An excellent example of a company with outstanding customer service is Amazon. The company developed a customer rating system and return policy based on consumer needs.
Although simple, these features are great value adds for customers as they improve their experience. Many customers read reviews before ordering a product from a seller.
04. Redefine Brand Perception Your Brand
Customers’ feelings and judgments determine how they respond to a brand. Its products’ quality, relevance, and credibility to customers’ needs significantly affect brand perception.
You build positive brand equity if your product helps them solve problems better than your competitors. The product should also exude positive feelings of fun, warmth, security, and self-respect.
05. Strengthen Your Bond with Customers
The goal is to ensure your customers connect powerfully with your brand. They trust your brand and show their loyalty by making repeat purchases.
You can achieve this by performing strategic targeted marketing, offering customers financial incentives and customized services or products, etc.
Such efforts make customers feel a sense of belonging and strengthen your bond with them.
06. Develop Partnerships with Reputable Brands
Strategic partnerships have a profound effect on brand equity. Beyond making collaborations, they enable brands to develop symbiotic relationships that benefit both parties.
As a result, brands enjoy better visibility and can leverage their strengths to bridge gaps and amplify the value they deliver to their customers.
An excellent example of a strategic partnership is the collaboration between McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. Their long-standing relationship makes it almost impossible for a customer to make an order without a Coke.
The partnership ensures that Coca-Cola products are available in McDonald’s outlets worldwide.
Conclusion
Building brand equity can’t be overstated. Positive brand equity increases customer loyalty and profitability and expands your market share. Although it’s a long and expensive process, these six steps can help you jumpstart your journey. Be sure to maintain your brand voice and meet your target audience’s needs throughout the process to avoid coming off as inconsistent. Also, it would help to enlist the help of a professional like SimPaul Designs. We’re well-versed in the subject and have helped many brands build impactful brand equity.
