There are 4 steps to build an authentic brand:
- Focus on the customers
- Be consistent
- Identify and stick to your values
- Be honest
Focus on the Customers
Authentic brands meet customers where they are. Make decisions regarding colors, logos, and other components of the brand that reflect consumer sentiment and preferences. More specifically, make sure that your branding materials meet customers at touch points, which are the places that consumers shop, browse, and absorb marketing materials.
Be Consistent
Brands are like people: If somebody seems to have a different personality every day of the week, you think they are faking it. If a brand’s values and messaging changes every week, month, or year, they probably don’t have a strong sense of purpose and values.
Identify and Stick to Your Values
Successful brands pull from real emotions and values. Building an authentic brand requires identifying an overarching value and sticking with it across all of your products and the markets you sell in. For example, Nike’s overarching value is peak performance. All of Nike’s branding materials – the swoosh, especially – should represent the value of optimal performance.
Be Honest
To be relevant and authentic, brands must be honest. Keep your brand honest by providing behind the scenes looks at how your company decides on its values. This way, consumers won’t associate your brand with being calculated and inauthentic.
