You may not know this, but regardless of what you believe your brand messaging is, ultimately, it’s the public’s perceptions of your brand that matter, and those perceptions are not owned by you. They are owned by your customers and clients, which means that the people who buy your products and services perceive your brand a certain way based on how you present yourself and serve them.
And yes, while you can do all the things to position yourself, market yourself, and create a positive brand image… the reality is how you believe people perceive your brand won’t always match the perceptions your customers actually have of your brand. That’s one of the primary reasons social listening is so important when developing your brand strategy.
What’s Brand Perception?
If you Google that question, you’ll get a range of different answers. Each one tries to explain in different ways things like the customer experience and product feedback.
We’re fans of keeping it simple, so ultimately, brand perception is the collective conglomeration of your customer’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences about your brand. However, remember that the sum total of what they think, feel, and believe your brand represents is not necessarily what you say your brand represents.
Though brand perceptions are very much a mental thing, perceptions also trigger emotional connections that are important to recognize and understand. For instance, if someone has a better perception about your competitor’s brand than yours, most likely, they will not buy from you.
For some customers, brand perception is everything, and they will never do business with a brand that isn’t aligned with their own values. They will read things like reviews, ask their close friends for referrals, and perhaps even sign up for free trials and chat with your customer service to help get a better gauge of your business and how your products and services are presented… all before ever making a purchase.
It should go without saying that if a customer thinks highly of your brand, they will be insanely loyal. So creating strong, positive brand perceptions is a key goal for every business.
The good news is that even if you are worried that your brand’s perceptions may be somewhat negative, it’s never too late for a fresh start. You can start working now to better understand how people perceive your brand and make moves to point your image back in a positive direction.
Can Brand Perceptions Be Measured?
Brand perceptions can absolutely be measured in one of several different ways.
You Can Use Social Listening
Social listening is a great way to track online mentions of your brand. You can monitor things like hashtags, forums, news mentions, online reviews, and social media comments. The bigger your brand, the larger your pool of data will be. It’s a good idea to come up with a plan early in the game on how you will handle negative mentions. Hint: address them swiftly and decisively.
You Can Use Surveys
Surveys can be helpful in evaluating brand perceptions and discovering what your customers think of your business versus your competition. Qualtrics offers some good example questions you can draw inspiration from, such as:
- How would you describe (brand name) to a friend?
- What are some of the feelings you have when you think of (brand name)?
- Which of the following words best describes (brand name)?
- How likely are you to recommend (brand name) to a friend using a scale of 1 to 10?
You Can Use Brand Audits
Another way to measure brand perception is to use a brand audit to compare your brand against your competition. Evaluate things like brand positioning, your products/services, your communications strategies, and your primary and secondary target audiences.
You Can Use Data Collection
Data from your customers at every point of the buyer’s journey can also be helpful in measuring brand perceptions. You can evaluate using questions like:
- How do they evaluate products or services?
- How do they make comparisons with competitors?
- How do they interact with customer service and support?
- How do they make purchase decisions and interact after their purchase?
If, after measuring all that data, you discover your customers’ perceptions are not aligned with your brand’s identity, it may be time to work on changing your trajectory.
Can You Change Brand Perceptions?
You can, actually! Often, brand perceptions change over time, whether you mean for them to or not. The longer your brand is in business, the more it can change and evolve.
Hands down, one of the best and easiest ways to change brand perceptions is to continuously monitor and track how your brand is perceived by the public using social media and immediately address negative feedback or negative experiences. In fact, Olgivy did a study to confirm that! It could be the word-of-mouth vibes that social media has that contribute to this phenomenon.
Nutshell? Yes, you can change perceptions of your brand, but it requires active social listening and being willing to immediately address issues that arise in a positive way. Your customer’s behavior and their perceptions of your brand are irrevocably intertwined, so why not work on fostering those strong, positive brand perceptions right out of the gate?
Want to learn more? Talk to StellaPop!
