The Power of Authentic Branding: Connecting with Customers on a Deeper Level

In today’s competitive marketplace, it is more important than ever to establish a connection with customers.

This connection is possible through authentic branding i.e. creating an identity that resonates with customers and communicates your company’s core values.

Branding allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and show how committed you are to your customers.

By going a step further and being authentic in your branding, you can create deeper relationships with people. Doing so leads to benefits like greater brand recognition and loyalty.

In this post, I’m going dive into the meaning and philosophy of brand authenticity. And we’ll also look at strategies to help you stand out in the market and build strong customer relationships.

What makes a brand authentic

An authentic brand is one that genuinely represents the values and personality of a business. It is not just about having a catchy slogan or a flashy logo. Instead, it’s about building a brand where how customers perceive you match the values that matter to you.

Ideally, you want your brand values to match your audience’s beliefs and values. But the best foundation is being true to your own values i.e. being authentic.

Let’s look at what makes a brand authentic or at least influences whether people see you as trustworthy and real.

1. Consistency: An authentic brand maintains a consistent image, messaging, and tone across all its marketing channels. Any drastic changes signal a lack of integrity and shifting values. Whether you’re consistent with your branding or not will impact whether customers see you as reliable and trustworthy.
2. Transparency: Authentic brands are open and transparent about their practices and operations. They don’t hide anything from their customers and are willing to address any concerns or issues openly and honestly.
3. Customer-focused: Authentic brands put their customers first. They listen to their feedback, engage with them, and make changes based on their needs and preferences.
4. Unique: Authentic brands have a unique personality and identity that sets them apart from competitors. They don’t try to copy or imitate others, but instead, they create their own distinctive voice and style.
5. Purpose-driven: Authentic brands have a clear purpose or mission that goes beyond making a profit. They have a higher cause or goal that drives their actions and decisions.

Overall, an authentic brand is one that customers can relate to and trust. It’s not just about selling a product or service but creating a meaningful relationship with customers based on shared values and beliefs.

Why is brand authenticity important

Brand authenticity is important for several reasons as laid out here.

Builds trust

An authentic brand builds trust with its customers by being transparent, consistent, and customer-focused. Customers are more likely to trust a brand that backs the same values all the time and invests in its image. You know you’re dealing with a company you can trust when their website is well designed. Or if they use expensive but high-quality customer service and communication tools. A company that has ‘skin in the game’ will be more likely to deliver on its promises.

Differentiates from competitors

In a crowded marketplace, an authentic brand can stand out from competitors by having a unique identity and personality.

This differentiation can attract new customers and help retain existing ones. Look at how The Dollar Shave company stands out in a sea of mens’ grooming products. It’s consistent and original marketing efforts make it a name that almost everyone is aware of while you may only be able to remember one or two of their competition.

Enhances brand reputation

An authentic brand that is true to its values and mission can enhance its reputation and credibility. Customers are more likely to respect and admire a brand that is genuine and purpose-driven.

This is possible when a brand cares about providing high quality products and services. Branding and good products are closely linked. And the higher a business’s standards about both, the better the brand’s reputation.

Not to mention, a good brand reputation will affect everything from your relationship with investors to your supplier partnerships. You’ll find that people will be kinder about payments and funding when you have a strong brand reputation.

Increases customer engagement

An authentic brand can foster a deeper connection with its customers by engaging with them in meaningful ways. This engagement can lead to positive word-of-mouth, social media sharing, and increased brand advocacy.

Reputable and carefully crafted brands look better on social media, have powerful communication channels, and great content. Naturally, such efforts lead to more social media follows, more comments, more forms filled, and so on.

Improves employee satisfaction

An authentic brand can also improve employee satisfaction and retention by creating a culture that aligns with its values and mission.

Employees are more likely to feel proud and passionate about their work when they believe in their company’s purpose and values.

And also benefit from the shared positive impression that comes from working with a good brand.

Overall, brand authenticity is important because it can lead to increased trust, differentiation, reputation, customer engagement, and employee satisfaction. These benefits can ultimately contribute to the long-term success of a business.

How to measure brand authenticity

Measuring brand authenticity can be challenging since it is a subjective concept. However, you can’t skip this.

Here are some metrics that businesses can use to assess their brand’s authenticity:

• Conducting customer satisfaction surveys can provide valuable feedback on whether customers perceive the brand to be authentic (or not). Questions related to values and phrases they associate the brand with will help you figure out your business’s online standing.
• Monitoring social media engagement can also provide insights into brand authenticity. Do people leave comments, or share your posts, and like them? A person stake’s their reputation when they make a recommendation and this is true even when it comes to sharing about a business on social media.
• Employees can provide valuable feedback on the level of brand authenticity within the organization. Employee feedback forms and surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews can help identify how workers view a brand and whether they trust it.
• onitoring the brand’s reputation through online reviews, ratings, and feedback can also provide insights into brand authenticity. Higher star ratings, glowing reviews on third party sites, awards, and so on are powerful indicators of a brand doing things right.

While these metrics may not provide an exact measure of brand authenticity, they can provide insights into how customers, employees, and the broader public perceive the brand.

Regularly monitoring these metrics and making adjustments based on the feedback will help you boost your company image over time.

How to build brand authenticity

Building brand authenticity requires a deliberate and consistent effort. Here are some steps businesses can take to build an authentic brand:

Start With Why

If you haven’t read it already, I recommend Simon Sinek’s Start With Why and it’s follow up Find Your Why.

These books emphasize the importance of establishing your fundamentals values or the big Why of the things you do.

Reading these books will help define your brand’s values and purpose which is the foundation of building an authentic brand.

Be transparent

Being transparent about the business’s practices and operations can help build trust with customers. Sharing information about product sourcing, manufacturing, and pricing can demonstrate the brand’s commitment to transparency.

Think of how the cosmetics company The Body Shop focuses on fair trade materials and sustainability. They share their sourcing and manufacturing activities on product labels, on their website, and everywhere. And these efforts at transparency play a big role in its appearance as a truly authentic cosmetics and beauty brand.

Be consistent

Your brand’s messaging and branding should be consistent across all marketing channels, from the website to social media to packaging and product design.

The more consistent you are, the more you affirm that you mean what you say and this will affect how consumers view your content, product branding, and more.

Engage with customers

A truly authentic brand is not afraid to connect directly with customers. This means responding to customer feedback and addressing concerns publicly. Or it could mean offering multiple ways to reach out to company, offering no-questions asked refunds, fair pricing methods, and so on.

You can also engage customers by responding to social media and blog comments and using user-generated online content on your own marketing materials.

Focus on the customer experience

Focusing on the customer experience can help build an authentic brand. After all, a customer’s dollar and their support is all that keeps a business running.

You can showcase your brand’s authenticity by committing to giving your audience the absolute best that you can.

This means providing exceptional customer service, delivering high-quality products, and engaging with customers. This also means ensuring that your website is optimized for easy interactions. Whether they’re reading your blog for information or checking out a product, you need to offer a seamless experience that shows you’re serious and professional.

Originality Vs Authenticity

So far, I’ve shared a great deal about the importance of brand authenticity and how to achieve it.

But it’s worth understanding the difference between authenticity and originality.

Very often, leaders, business owners, and marketers confuse the two.

The short story is that you do not need to be original to be authentic.

While originality and authenticity share some similarities, they are not the same thing.

Originality refers to the uniqueness and novelty of an idea, product, or service. An original idea is one that has not been seen or done before, while an original product or service is one that is innovative and different from existing offerings in the market.

Authenticity, on the other hand, refers to the genuineness and sincerity of a brand or individual. An authentic brand is one that stays true to its values and has all the features we expanded on earlier. It’s about being true to oneself and one’s values, rather than copying or imitating others.

While an original idea or product can contribute to the authenticity of a brand, authenticity is about much more than just being original. A brand can be authentic even if it is not the first to create or do something. What matters is that it sticks to its Why and stays consistent across content, communication, marketing, operations, manufacturing, human resource management and more.

Over to You

Overall, building an authentic brand requires a commitment to transparency, consistency, and a focus on the customer experience. It takes time and effort, but the rewards of building an authentic brand can include increased customer loyalty, better brand recognition, and improved reputation.