Poor brand perception? Here’s how to turn it around

Brand perception is vital to your business success. It refers to how consumers see and perceive your brand, products and services, and it can have a significant impact on your sales.

Brand perception is very different from what your marketing messages are telling consumers you do; instead, it is the vision that they have of you in their minds. It comes from customer experiences of using your products and dealing with your business, as well as online reputation and recommendations.

Having a poor brand perception can be very detrimental to your business. When customers think poorly of your brand, it will put them off buying from you and can result in them spreading the word about their poor experiences. If you have discovered that you’re suffering from poor brand perception, you might be wondering what you can do to fix it. Don’t panic, turning it around is perfectly possible with a bit of dedication and effort.

What is brand perception?

Every time a customer buys one of your products, uses your services, reads a review online or contacts your team, they will be judging your brand. Your brand perception is what consumers think about your products or services, as opposed to what you say they do. A business can create a brand personality and use this to control how customers perceive them. Things like a business mission, vision or company culture can all play a part in brand perception. How customers view your brand can stick for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to change it. If you have a positive brand perception, it can give customers the confidence to purchase from you. On the other hand, poor brand perception can be very detrimental to your business.

Measuring brand perception

Keeping track of how your customers perceive your brand can be challenging, but it is crucial for improving your business. Not knowing if your brand perceived in a positive or negative light can be problematic and could mean you are missing out on potential business. There are a few ways you can measure your brand perception:

• Focus groups: Focus groups have been around forever and are still very effective for gauging how people view your brand. Get a small group from your target audience together, either remotely or in person. Use this opportunity to hear both positives and negatives about your brand.
• Surveys: Sending out surveys to existing customers can help you to understand what they are thinking about your business.
• Social media: Monitoring channels such as Facebook and Twitter can provide you with a good understanding of your brand perception. Track your mentions and the reactions customers have to your brand online.

How to improve

Once you have measured your brand perception, you might discover that consumers don’t think too highly of your company. Luckily, brand perception is everchanging, and it isn’t set in stone. There are ways you can improve how consumers view your business:

• Determine what needs to change: When you measure your brand with the above methods, you should also get some ideas of what it is about your business that consumers don’t like. Once you know why your brand is being poorly perceived, you can work to make changes to fix it. It could be your brand image is dated, and a simple refresh of branding will resolve the problem.
• Have the right team: It is essential that the team you have in place are committed and passionate about changing your brand perception. The people within your business play a crucial role in representing your brand, and if they are not aligned with your vision, it can be detrimental. Make sure everyone in your team, from senior leadership to customer service representatives, are on board with how your brand needs to be perceived going forward.
• Create consistent content: The messaging you are sending out to your target audience plays a part in how your brand is seen. Check that every communication channel you use is appropriately reflecting your brand message. Creating consistent content for your website, blog, social media, and advertising will help to improve your brand.
• Showcase happy customers: Your brand perception can be improved by showcasing the customers who are satisfied with your products or services. Shouting positive reviews and sharing them on your website and other channels will show your audience all the positive things about your brand, including great customer experiences.

Changing the way customers see your brand is a considerable task, and it takes time to begin to see the results. Putting a strategy in place to improve brand perception can help your business to stay relevant and reach new audiences while helping you set yourself apart from your competition.