The heartbeat of success: understanding brand perception

Brand perception is how people perceive a brand’s positioning, strategy and purpose. The perception is created in every touchpoint: since the very first time a brand is encountered to after sale reviews.

Understanding brand image perception and keeping track of it is necessary to be successful in the long run. There are three main topics to keep in mind when assessing the relevance of branding:

1.?????Customer understanding and alignment: the perception provides valuable insights into how customers perceive and interact with the brand. By understanding customer preferences, opinions and emotions, businesses can align their strategies to cater to the target audience effectively. It helps in building a customer-centric approach, where decisions are guided by customer needs and expectations. When a brand resonates positively with its customers, it creates a strong emotional connection and fosters loyalty.

2.?????Market positioning and differentiation: the insights on third parties awarness can help businesses define their market positioning and stand out from the competition. Knowing how customers perceive the brand in comparison to its competitors allows companies to identify unique selling points and areas of differentiation. This information is crucial for crafting an effective value proposition that addresses customer pain points and highlights the brand's strengths. A well-defined market position helps attract the right audience and establishes the brand's distinct identity in the market.

3.?????Reputation management and crisis preparedness: oberving the brand perception enables companies to be proactive in managing their reputation. By identifying negative sentiment or potential issues early on, businesses can take swift action to address concerns and maintain a positive image. Being prepared for crises and having a robust reputation management strategy in place helps minimize the impact of negative publicity. A positive brand perception serves as a buffer during challenging times, as loyal customers are more likely to trust and support the brand

Although an extremely relevant KPI, this indicator can be tricky in many aspects, because of its non-objective nature. The difficulty lays into understanding and turning into numbers and metrics a subject that is characterized by feelings, perceptions and psychological traits, making it, by definition, subjective. As any subjective matter, measuring and tracking to compare is extremely difficult.

The tricky task is understanding how people truly feel about a brand. As everyone's perceptions are unique, shaped by their experiences, emotions and personal beliefs, trying to get an accurate and consistent picture of brand perception can be quite a challenge.

There is no single framework that is used to masure this KPI but to truly capture the essence of it, a mix of methods are usually mixed, like listening to people's stories, gathering numbers and interpreting their feelings.

The thing is, brand perception is not set in stone; it evolves over time. It's like a living entity that responds to marketing efforts, customer experiences and the world around it. So, a snapshot in time might not give us the full story; we need to follow the brand's journey.

When trying to understand how people perceive a brand, we face some mental tricks. People may not even be fully aware of why they feel a certain way. It's like those emotions are hiding in the corners of their minds, difficult to express in words. On top of that, external factors play a huge role in shaping brand perception. Things like what people hear from friends or read online can sway their opinions, making it even harder to isolate the brand's influence.

As we try to measure brand perception, we need to be mindful of the way we ask questions. People might have a tendency to give answers they think are expected or acceptable, rather than their true feelings. So, we have to tread carefully and create an environment where they feel comfortable being honest.

Another challenge is that building or changing brand perception is a long-term endeavour. It's like planting seeds and watching them grow over time. So, we need to be patient and see how the efforts we make today shape the brand's perception in the future.

Finally, we mustn't forget that people don't see brands in isolation. They compare them to others. Understanding how a brand stands in this colorful crowd adds another layer of complexity.