Why Brand Authenticity Matters and How to Achieve It?
Being honest is the key to having good connections. Sounds too familiar? But only because it is true. This statement is just as true for business and marketing as for connections.
Want proof? Stackla reported in 2023 that 88% of customers (including 92% of Millennials) value authenticity when purchasing companies. A recent Sprout Social poll found that 90% of buyers prefer actual companies on social media.
Keep it honest if you want them to appreciate your brand.
What is Brand Authenticity?
Brand authenticity is how consumers see a company as trustworthy. The brand strategy relies on it to build trust, revenue, loyalty, and engagement.
Brand authenticity requires matching adverts with behaviors. It applies to your company’s culture, values, and products.
Why is Brand Authenticity Important?
Most marketing teams are rightly sales-focused. If you are not growing revenue, your marketing career may be short. However, focusing primarily on sales might neglect brand authenticity. That error might affect earnings more than your next sale. Let’s see what makes brand authenticity important:
Brand Authenticity Builds Trust:
After reading the definition of brand authenticity, honesty is apparent. Being honest about your products, beliefs, and actions develops consumer trust. Your brand’s credibility increases with client trust. If your name is more reliable than the others, you can guess which one a customer would choose to buy from. Hint: you.
It is a Bond Builder:
The idea that pricing drives all purchases is outdated. Customers increasingly desire to engage with companies. Forming that link when a consumer does not know your brand or business is difficult, and it is even more difficult if they do not trust your brand. Being authentic is important.
Your Brand’s Values Matter:
Brand values were formerly only pleasant bullet points in business presentations. They are more critical now than some people might think. Nearly half of the U.S. population, 150 million Millennials and Gen Z, have significant purchasing power. This group increasingly prefers companies that promote their causes. A DoSomethingStrategic poll found that 66% of Gen Z respondents liked businesses more because of a social reason. Customers could lose if you ignore this trend.
Authenticity Makes Your Brand Stand Out:
Everywhere people look, there are business ads all the time. Advertising is constant on TV, phones, social media, and digital platforms. Being seen as a faceless profit-driven company could overpower all that message. An authentic brand identity distinguishes your brand from unidentified competitors.
How to Build Brand Authenticity?
A business can set up brand authenticity in various ways. Companies can try these top approaches promptly.
1. Celebrate Failures and Accept Imperfections
Instead of pretending to be flawless, expose your brand’s struggles and shortcomings. Most businesses only highlight their successes, but sharing their problems can boost authenticity.
This might include sharing experiences about failed product launches, difficult but essential internal adjustments, or leadership comments on failures and lessons learned.
A startup can track its path from idea to launch, including finance and technological issues. Your brand seems personal, relatable, and open to growth. It builds trust by showing you are vulnerable and honest with your audience. This method connects your community to your brand’s growth and increases loyalty.
Example:
Social media management software Buffer is known for its extreme openness. They disclose their financial figures, wages, and losses. Buffer disclosed its 2013 security vulnerability. Instead, they directly told clients what occurred, how they fixed it, and how they would avoid future errors. It converted a catastrophe into a trust-building opportunity. Buffer shows its honesty and sincerity by acknowledging mistakes and discussing obstacles.
2. Co-create with Your Audience
Involving your audience in the creative process develops trust and ownership. Co-creating with customers shows that brands appreciate them as more than simply purchasers. Identify product features, package design, and content topics where your audience can participate.
Get client feedback with social media polls, surveys, and UGC initiatives. For instance, a fashion brand can encourage fans to vote on new colors or design aspects for future seasons. Participating in decision-making makes your audience feel part of your brand’s journey.
This strategy engages passive customers, strengthening emotional bonds and brand loyalty.
Example:
The LEGO Ideas platform exemplifies co-creation. Fans can use the site to share their ideas for new LEGO sets; the most popular ones are thought about for production. If a fan’s design wins, they get a cut.
The critical and commercially successful “Women of NASA” set was one of several products from this program. LEGO generates creativity and boosts consumer loyalty by incorporating its community in product creation, indicating that it cherishes and listens to its customers.
3. Cultivate a Distinct Brand Voice Rooted in Core Values
Your brand’s beliefs must underpin consistency, which is crucial to authenticity. Identify your brand’s core values and missions. Create a funny, serious, or empathetic brand voice that matches these ideals.
A sustainable brand might use an informative, passionate voice to emphasize eco-consciousness and transparency. Apply this voice consistently throughout social media, website text, and customer service.
Every communication should reflect your brand’s tone, creating an impression that builds trust. When your brand language does not shift with trends, your audience regards you as steady, trusted, and honest.
Example:
Patagonia relies on environmental action to market itself. From its website language to product labeling, its marketing emphasizes sustainability and ethics. Its ” Do Not Buy This Jacket” ad publicly pushed people to evaluate the environmental effect of their purchases, even if it meant purchasing less from Patagonia.
Patagonia’s consistent, value-driven voice across all channels reinforces its validity as a company that cares about environmental concerns, not just utilizes them for marketing.
4. Adopt a Slow Marketing Approach
In an era of quick pleasure and fast-paced digital information, slowed marketing can make your business seem authentic. Slow marketing prioritizes authentic connections over immediate victories and revenue spikes.
Instead of regular, surface-level content, create fewer, more profound items that provide value. This might be lengthy essays, manuals, or in-depth movies with valuable insights or fascinating anecdotes. A wellness company could provide client case studies to show how their products have helped them.
Prioritizing quality above quantity shows that you appreciate your audience’s time and want a long-term engagement. This strategy builds confidence by showing actual participation rather than superficial exchanges.
Example:
Sustainable and social justice non-profit Slow Factory Foundation prioritizes meaningful connection and education above high-frequency information in its slow marketing strategy. They do webinars, publish in-depth research, and generate instructional material on climate justice and human rights.
Instead of overwhelming their audience with updates, they provide meaningful, informative information that deepens comprehension of essential topics. This strategy has built a loyal, active group that values their thoughtfulness and authenticity.
5. Leverage Ethical Storytelling
Marketing using storytelling is common, but a few companies do it responsibly. Truthful, courteous, and varied stories are ethical storytelling. Ensure your stories are factual and respectful to the individuals and cultures depicted.
Avoid stereotypes, clichés, and story theft. When showcasing towns, persons, or organizations, give credit and consider sharing revenues or advantages.
Ethical storytelling also entails using your platform to raise awareness of important topics or empower less fortunate voices. This strategy shows that you value ethics above promotion, confirming your brand’s legitimacy.
Example:
Ben & Jerry’s promotes social justice and environmental problems via ethical storytelling. They tell values-based stories to market their ice cream.
Their campaign on criminal justice reform highlighted the topic, included community tales, cooperated with grassroots groups, and amplified lacking voices. Ben & Jerry’s also ensures that their narratives originate from the people involved, enabling authentic and respectful storytelling. This ethical narrative boosts the brand’s reputation.
WE ARE HERE TO HELP
Brand-authentic marketing strategies are challenging to create. Companies of any size might struggle to make authentic, compelling content. DMR handles both. Our in-house professionals can develop a multichannel marketing plan. Our creative team produces stunning YouTube, social media, and customer-focused content. We may also provide a turn-key marketing department at a lesser cost than recruiting professionals. Visit our website to see how we can establish your brand.
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