The 11 brand principles you need to win over trust and grow revenue
Trust and revenue growth are two critical factors that determine the success of any brand.
In today’s competitive business landscape, establishing trust with customers is key to loyalty. And with loyalty, your brand can stand out from your competitors and grow revenue.
But trust and high performance don’t happen overnight. You need to create the right foundations to build a strong brand that resonates with people. Do it right and the rest becomes much easier.
What does ‘doing it right’ look like? We’ve listed 11 essential brand principles for building your brand and winning over loyal customers. With them, you can focus on driving revenue growth and opening opportunities.
Let’s delve into the principles!
Consistency
It’s vital to always present your brand in the same way. Doing so makes it easier for people to build familiarity and set accurate expectations. This is crucial to gaining trust and loyalty.
The data backs it too. Research have proven consistency can increase revenue by as much as 20%. What’s more, 60% of millennial consumers expect consistency from brands.
By being consistent, your customers are more likely to recognise you, for better brand awareness. You’ll also prove yourself to be reliable, which will win over their trust.
Authenticity
Customers will quickly uncover a brand that’s fake. If you do anything that goes against your stated values, you’ll lose trust and customers. That’s why authenticity is a must.
Start by building a brand that is true to who you are and what your organisation represents. Ideally, this should align with the products and services you offer, while also resonating with your target audience.
Authenticity matters on a granular level. Think about how you visually represent your values. It’s why we often see eco-friendly brands using green colours or floral images in their marketing.
But it’s also tied up into the choices your brand takes. You need to practice what you preach, always. Make sure every message and actions fits your values or risk alienating your audience.
Customer centricity
You need to build a brand that caters to your target audience. Without them, you’ll have no revenue.
Think about what they need and adapt accordingly. This doesn’t just mean offering them relevant products and services (though it is important!). You’ll need to align your brand visuals, messages, tone of voice, marketing activity and everything else to your customers.
By doing so, you’re more likely to resonate with the right people. This will help you build a strong base of loyal customers, which translates to improved revenue.
Quality
You want your brand to be associated with quality. By providing quality, you’re more likely to meet (and exceed!) customer expectations. As a result, they’ll spend more and have a more favourable relationship with you.
Firstly, quality applies to the products and services you offer. They should address your customer’s challenges and be long-lasting.
But it also relates to the whole experience you offer. Your customer service and sales process should be equally high-quality.
By offering quality, your brand reputation will rise, leading to trust and growth.
Visibility
For your brand to succeed, you need to stand out. Which means being visible.
Visibility connects to things like your logo, colours, fonts and imagery. Your aim is to differentiate yourself from the crowd, so people are drawn to you. But you also need to visually represent your values and align with your customers.
When you’ve got your brand look pinned down, remember to use it consistently. Consistent presentation can boost brand visibility by 3.5 times. So, people are more likely to see you, increasing your chances of reaching the right customers.
Inclusivity
In today’s world, inclusivity matters. You need to make sure your brand doesn’t shut anyone out.
Now, it’s impossible to target everyone. Brands often have to be selective about who they reach out to, so they can focus on connecting with the most relevant audience.
But there’s a fine line between tailoring to your target audience and excluding people. Especially if people are excluded based on ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, health or other personal demographics.
Your brand should be personalised to your target market, while remaining accessible.
This commonly boils down to tone of voice. Make sure your brand uses inclusive language that benefits everyone.
For example, rather than ‘merry Christmas’ many brands now use more neutral terms, like ‘happy holidays’. It’s a small change, but it can make a larger group of people feel welcomed.
By having an inclusive tone of voice, you’ll stand a better chance of winning people over rather than alienating them. It’ll also help you to avoid any negative press stemming from a lack of inclusivity.
Remember to make sure your brand visuals are equally inclusive, too!
Data suggests that customers are more conscious of what they buy. Especially when it comes to the environmental and societal issues. So, your brand’s social responsibility matters more than ever.
Make sure your brand has clear environmental and social goals that demonstrate how you’re doing good. Examples include partnering with a charity or reducing your carbon footprint.
Once you have them, communicate these goals to your customers. It’ll make them feel good about their decision to support you and improve your brand reputation.
You also need to make sure you don’t do anything to undermine those goals as it could undermine your authenticity and turn customers against you. Plus it’s a reputation nightmare that any brand would struggle to recover from.
Innovation
Brands need to keep up with the evolving landscape to stay relevant and competitive. Embracing innovation is a must, particularly in areas that are relevant to your audience.
There are many benefits to innovation. It boosts efficiencies, increases productivity and gives you new ways to reach your audience. All of this can improve performance and help your brand grow.
So, don’t be afraid of technology – especially if it complements the hard work of your team. By leveraging technology as a tool, brands can focus on higher-value activities that drive performance.
Clear communication
It’s crucial for brands to communicate clearly and set expectations. Clear messages will tell your customers exactly who your brand is, how you can help them and what they should do next.
Consistency is also key. By repeating the same messages across your channels, customers are more likely to listen and believe them. This helps them to build trust while ensuring an aligned experience.
Every message must match your brand values. Your brand values act as guiding principles, reflecting what you stand for. By aligning messages to these values, you’ll be truly authentic. And your customers are more likely to engage.
Versatility
The world is ever-changing. Your customers’ priorities will shift over time – and your brand needs to adapt too.
By being versatile as a brand and reacting to the changing world, you’ll improve your chances of success. It’ll allow you to adapt your messages and experience to suit your audience’s new needs, meaning you continue to win over their trust.
It’ll also enable you to weather different storms. The result is a long-lasting brand with a strong legacy, which people are more likely to gravitate to.
Advocacy
Creating a culture where people want to advocate for your brand with others is a powerful way to amplify your reach. This culture stems from providing exceptional experiences that delight people.
But it goes beyond just providing a good experience. Building a brand that people are proud to use is equally important.
Aligning your brand values with your target audience is a great start. You’ll also need to actively engage with your community. By staying true to your brand identity and purpose, you’ll create a connection with your customers that goes beyond transactions.
Once you get to the point of advocacy, there are big benefits. Your customers will share you with others, influencing them to join the ranks. It’s the cheapest, most impactful form of marketing you can get.
How RightMarket helps
Growing trust is crucial to revenue and performance. Abiding to the principles above will give you great foundations for a strong brand that people engage with, support and share.
And RightMarket can help. With purpose-built templates, everyone in your organisation can follow your brand principles. It’ll ensure the consistent presentation of your brand that boosts trust and visibility.
RightMarket also provides tone of voice guidance that keeps everyone using brand-friendly terms. Part of this includes eradicating any non-inclusive phrases that might pop up. So, all your customers get better experiences and you’ll build positive relationships.
With tone of voice and consistency nailed, you can focus on reaching people and growing your brand.
Book a demo today
To uncover how RightMarket can help you achieve brand consistency and trust, so you can focus on maximising performance.
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