What is a Brand Image?

29 Mar What is a Brand Image?

You aren’t who you say you are. Instead, you are who your customers believe you to be. That is brand imaging.

A brand differentiates you from others in your industry, builds trust with your client base, and makes an impression on prospective or repeat customers.

Getting your brand image right is key to succeeding in online marketing.

What is a brand image?

Put simply, a brand image is the idea that pops into your customers’ minds when they think of your brand. It’s visual, yes. For instance, you can probably spot a can of Coke from a long way off thanks to its distinctive logo and colour scheme. But brand imaging is also the full range of a client’s perceived experiences with your business. When they call you to mind, do they think of a clean store? Friendly staff? Quick service? Affordable prices?

You know the old saying about not getting a second chance to make a good first impression? That impression is your brand image. Make sure it’s a good one.

Why is a brand image important?

A brand image creates recognition, builds credibility, and lets you show your stuff. It’s your chance to create an emotional snapshot of your business in the public’s mind. Recognition gives customers a feeling of security and reduces their risk aversion behaviours. Credibility means customers believe they can expect a consistent experience from you. It’s evidence – social proof – that you follow through on your promises. And showing your stuff? Well, what business doesn’t want a chance to do that?

What are the components of brand image marketing?

A brand image consists of five parts – a positioning statement, a promise, differentiators, personality, and story.

• A brand positioning statement is your company’s branding roadmap. It tells you where you are and where you want to go. To write a statement, ask yourself what your brand does, whom you target, and what benefits they receive from your company. An outside agency like Better Mousetrap Marketing can bring objectivity and clarity to a positioning statement process.
• A brand promise is what makes your product desirable. What good things will happen in your customer’s life because they use your brand’s merchandise?
• Brand differentiators sometimes get called unique selling propositions (USPs). These USPs are specific, concrete, and actionable. They’re cognizant of customer problems and rooted in the reality of what your company can do to solve them.
• Brand personality is the set of a company’s human characteristics that make it relatable to real people.
• A brand story is the overarching flow of the facts and feelings your customer knows and experiences about your company.

Give me an example of a brand image.

A Vancouver Island dentist offers a fun, zany experience for kids but with medical care adults trust in the Courtenay, Nanaimo, and Parksville areas.  That’s a great image because it’s specific, focused on problems and solutions, and is geo-targeted.

How can a branding company or marketing agency help me create branding, logo, and identity?

Contact us at Better Mousetrap Marketing. We’ll talk with you about the processes we go through to make sure your brand, logo, and identity are fully aligned with each other and accurately represent you to your customers.