What motivates people to buy from your business? While you might spur a few one-off purchases on account of attractive pricing or reliable service, you ought to pay particular attention to brand image if you want to build a customer base that will stay loyal to you for the long term.
According to one recent survey, 87% of UK shoppers are attracted to brands whose values are akin to their own. With 42% of respondents having claimed to buy from a particular brand even when cheaper alternatives are available, you shouldn’t overlook the following reputation-boosting tips.
Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk
It can be damaging to customers’ trust if you keep making making pledges but later renegading on them. In a brand reputation poll recently held at the behest of US news website Axios, the eco-conscious retailer Patagonia took the top spot — and it’s not hard to speculate why.
In 2022, Patagonia committed to pour all of its profits into conservation — a great example of a company putting its money where its mouth is.
Don’t take a great reputation for granted
Even if your company has already built up a positive image, it remains important for you to continue fostering it. As the Axios poll also shows, once-reputable behemoths can come crashing down quickly.
This is a reference to FTX and Tesla, with the two having plummeted down the rankings after strong showings in previous years’ versions of the survey.
Avoid tying your brand’s image too closely to a single person
It can certainly bode well for your company to have ‘thought leaders’ who turn up in various places — such as at events, on podcasts and in the news — to share their views on what has been happening in their industry.
However, several big-name brands once strongly identified with one iconic leader — think the likes of Microsoft with Bill Gates and Amazon with Jeff Bezos — have shifted away from this.
Look after your employees
Potential customers of your company can judge it a lot from how you treat your workers. Just look at the example of Apple, which rose 11 spots in the Axios list to tenth position.
CNBC has implied that this could be largely due to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent decisions to slash his own pay by 20% and speak out against the prospect of heavy job losses at Apple — all while other tech titans have shed their workforces significantly.
“I view that as a last resort and, so, mass layoffs is not something that we’re talking about at this moment,” Cook told CNBC in May.
Endeavour to rebuild any trust you do lose
Though some well-known brands — like Volkswagen and Wells Fargo — have been embroiled in scandal, they have also started recovering lost ground on the reputation front in the time since.
For this reason, if your company is currently rocking from negative publicity, we can help you to begin restoring trust again. Just contact our digital marketing experts to learn more about what we could do for you.
