How to Influence Brand Perception – The 5 Fundamentals to Master

In all honesty, you will never be able to have 100% control of your brand perception. However, you can learn to influence brand perception by applying the 5 key fundamentals of positively swaying your brand’s image. At its core, brand perception is built from how the consumer feels. Therefore, it is your customer who decides how they perceive your brand.

Among other factors, this perception is primarily influenced by:

• the feelings they have upon awareness to your brand
• what happens through every subsequent interaction

In this article, we are going to fill you in on the How to Influence Brand Perception – The 5 Fundamentals to Know. After reading these 5 fundamentals, you will be able to align how:

• a) you want your brand to be perceived with

• b) how people perceive it

Fundamental 1 – How to Influence Brand Perception By Getting to Know Your Target Audience Better

Brand perception is such a critical part of your marketing efforts. Therefore, you need to become obsessed with getting to know your target audience (TA) better to create effective marketing.

Questions to Get to Know Your TA Better

1. How does your product or service resonate with your target audience? 
2. Why does it matter to them? 
3. How do consumers feel about your brand as a whole? 
4. How can you measure these feelings?

It’s critical to answer these questions because once consumers perceive your brand a certain way, (whether positive, negative, or neutral) it’s very, very difficult to change their minds. 

How do you gather the information to confidently answer these questions? Fundamentals 2-5 will show you how!

Fundamental 2 – How to Influence Brand Perception By Connecting With Your Customers/Clients

Here’s a quick overview of 3 main avenues for influencing your brand perception by connecting with your customers.

First, make sure you provide exceptional customer service. Not only are customers who have a positive experience with your brand willing to spend 140% more money on your business, but they also feel more connected to you as the human behind the screen. 

Psst! Make sure to read our Insider Expert Info on What Makes the Best Customer Experience!

Second, take the time to connect emotionally with your audience. Building an emotional connection is a multi-layered process that revolves around your brand’s culture, brand voice, and creative direction. 

Check out the following resources to strengthen these aspects of your brand:

• 5 Things I’ve Learned About How to Build Brand Culture
• How to Develop Your Brand Voice Like a Pro (Plus Tips We Give Our Paid Clients)
• Creative Direction Process 101: All the Basics You Need to Know

Third, put your resources into engaging regularly on social media. Something as simple as checking in with your community or posting weekly content can help your brand build a personal relationship with your audience. 

Unsure if your social media presence is hitting the mark for engaging your audience? Check out our article on Your Social Media Presence – The 5 Mistakes You’re Making (and How to Fix Them) to clean up your social presence and confidently connect with your community!

Fundamental 3 – How to Influence Brand Perception By Asking for Feedback

Word to the wise: DO NOT shy away from negative feedback! Even if it feels like criticism, use your shortcomings to improve your brand from all fronts. 

From customer experience, visual brand communication, product/service efficacy, and beyond, your customer needs to know that you are interested in their feedback!

Even if they had a 10/10 experience, taking the time to inquire about what you can do better shows your audience that you are invested in their satisfaction.

Here are the top ways to ask for feedback:

• Polls on social media or through email
• Directly contacting your community through email or social
• Using surveys sent via email or offered in your social bios
• Starting conversations in your Facebook groups
• Holding exit surveys for clients (if service-based)

Fundamental 4 – How to Influence Brand Perception Through Social Listening

Essentially, social listening is a component of marketing analysis that allows you to track the health of your brand by: 

• Monitoring keywords associated with your niche
• Tracking mentions of your brand
• Gathering more information on your target audience
• Analyzing your industry and competitors 
• Discovering new places where leads could be hanging out
• Connecting with potential influencers, collaborators, and ambassadors
• Researching content trends and performance

Through social listening, you will be empowered to:

• create better content
• make strategic decisions
• understand your audience better
• stay ahead of the curve in your industry
• and identify gaps you can fill in the market.

When combined, these elements allow you to positively influence brand perception. In the grand scheme of things, this means that your audience will be more likely to invest in your business and stick around for the long haul.

Fundamental 5 – How to Influence Brand Perception By Tracking Metrics

Taking action on any of the above without tracking the outcome is a waste of your time. Why? Because taking action without tracking can lead you to invest in a strategy that does absolutely nothing to improve your brand perception.

At the end of the day, what works for some brands may not work for your brand.

To use your resources to their highest potential, you first need to establish the brand metrics you want to track, and then establish a system for consistently measuring your results.

Examples of brand metrics could include:

• Email subscribers
  • Click rate
  • Open rate
  • Conversion rate
• Social media engagement:
  • Followership
  • Likes and comments
  • Saves and shares
  • Social mentions
  • Bio click-throughs and conversions
• Sales
  • New clients/customers
  • Return clients/customers (retention rate)
  • Referrals 

Brand perception is a critical part of creating marketing that…

…accomplishes your goals of outreach, engagement, and conversion. The sooner you can put forth the effort to analyze, improve, and monitor your brand perception, the better.

If after reading about this article, you’re starting to think to yourself “well shit, where do I start?” We’re here to help! As an all-inclusive branding agency, the Wild Womn Haus team specializes in advanced marketing that helps you positively influence your brand perception.

Is developing a plan to improve your brand perception your next step? We invite you to book a Complimentary 30-minute Call with our founder and lead brand strategist, Tristan Thibodeau.

On this call, you’ll learn all about the best approach to positively impacting the way your target audience feels about your brand.

Ready to book a Complimentary 30-minute Call? Click here to schedule!

About the Author

Tristan Thibodeau is the founder of Wild Womn Haus and is a brand strategist for entrepreneurs in the wellness, beauty, and lifestyle brand industries. 

She specializes in helping companies create and maintain their image. She works with market research, industry analysis, and consumer trends to offer strategic insights for brands so that they can enhance their marketing efforts and grow their bottom line. 

Tristan also hosts The Wild Womn Hotline, which is a podcast that features expert-level conversations for growing your brand in bold and strategic ways. Follow her on Instagram @tristan.wildwomnhaus and follow the agency on Instagram @wildwomnhaus and TikTok @tristan.wildwomnhaus!