3 Ways to Build Brand Authenticity

Brand authenticity is when your customers, and potential customers, believe that your business is being genuine about its products, services, actions, and promises and that every part is in alignment with who you claim to be. But why has being an “authentic brand” become the holy grail for a modern business?

The simple answer is, that customers are losing faith in brands. For decades, businesses have got away with “talking the talk” – in other words, just saying they believe in something, support a cause, or generally do something positive. Now, the power of the internet makes it hard for brands to hide anything from their customers, so talking just isn’t going to cut it! 

In general, people are more sceptical and devote a lot of time and energy to researching brands, products, and services online. If you are perceived as untrustworthy, they will simply find a different brand that they do trust. To be authentic you need to “walk the walk” as well. For instance, if you say your customers are at the heart of everything you do, you better make sure every question or concern is answered on your social media channels!

What makes a Brand Authentic?

There are three elements to Brand Authenticity:

Continuity

A brand is consistent with its beliefs, values, and goals in all that it does.

Credibility 

A brand is rooted in reality rather than aspirational marketing, in other words, they walk the walk!

Integrity

A brand that is honest, and motivated by its responsibility to its customers, and often the wider community and environment.

How to Increase Your Brand Authority 

Start with your customers

When planning a marketing strategy with Brand Authenticity at its heart, don’t start with “how do we sell this?”. Instead, identify who you are marketing to and what they want, and then speak to them about their needs and how you solve them. A customer-first approach is the best first step.

Be consistent

Whatever your values, story, and message are, you need to make sure that this is consistent across all of your marketing. This helps your audience to see you as reliable and perceive your message as honest.

Get Involved

 Finally, you need to speak to your customers. Listen to them and engage with them. Deliver great service, be transparent, and be approachable. Whatever your values are, whatever you are selling, by humanising your brand and engaging with customers you will go a long way to improving your brand authenticity.

Brand Authenticity helps you stand out from your competition. While your competitors suffer at the hands of spam filters and ad blockers, your customers will be your advocates, sharing your message with others. By building stronger connections with your customers, you can generate long term brand loyalty, and that is always the goal of good marketing. So put the effort in and your authentic brand will reap the benefits.

If you’re interested in talking to our team about how we could help you build brand authenticity, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here for more information or call us on 01600 730490.