Mastering Brand Authenticity

Your brand image is important, and authenticity is crucial to a positive brand image. In this article, we will discuss how to create, manage and protect your brand’s authenticity.

CREATION OF YOUR BRAND’S AUTHENTICITY

Before you can create your brand’s authenticity, you have to know what that even means. What is brand authenticity? According to a recent article in Forbes: “An authentic brand is one that decides to be transparent and consistent in its messaging and branding initiatives. It has business values it remains true to, and most essentially, it is honest.”

So, to begin with, a business owner needs to be consistent and transparent in its messaging and branding initiatives, and remain honest, to create an authentic brand that consumers and observers can trust.

How does a business owner be “transparent and consistent in its messaging”? You do that by making sure to align your messaging with “the reality of your products, values and actions.” (Frontify.com)

You also adopt a stance of “honesty” and “genuineness” in the way you communicate with your customers. What this means is that you ascertain that behaviors (both professional and personal) that potentially could be discovered by your customers and clients, are constantly monitored to make sure that they dovetail with your company’s stated values, mission and brand image.

Finally, you formulate business values that you stand for and abide by through your words and actions. Recall that business values are “concepts that guide your business.” Examples of business values are loyalty, philanthropy, dependability, and “do no harm.

MANAGEMENT OF YOUR BRAND’S AUTHENTICITY

Now that you have created your brand’s authenticity, it is important to manage your brand’s image so that its authenticity is never questioned by customers. The key word here, again, is “consistency.” The aim is to remain consistent in building a solid brand image using feedback, surveys and other protocols to regularly assess what customers and others think of your brand. Remember that your brand identity, image and authenticity are more than just the products and services you offer. It is also about what you stand for as a company, and how consistently you hold true to your stated values.

One protocol for managing your brand’s authenticity is the use of brand guidelines, and the creation of a brand style guide. Savvy business owners are now creating brand guidelines and brand style guides. What are brand guidelines? “Brand guidelines are the set of rules that define the overall look and feel of your brand. They help you build a brand identity that your audience can recognize across all platforms.” (Adobe.com).

If you are concerned about brand authenticity, you want to create a comprehensive brand style guide. “A comprehensive brand style guide outlines everything from your typography and color palette to your tone of voice and mission statement.” (Adobe.com).

The key with creating your brand style guide, once again, is consistency in the visual look and feel of your brand. This means paying attention to things like logo, color, fonts, among other elements. (Adobe.com).

Remember that managing your company’s brand image and authenticity will implicate everyone in your business or everyone who is associated with your business. They all have the potential to shape the reputation of your company, and therefore will have an impact on your brand’s image, and by extension your brand’s authenticity, for the better or for the worst. Thus, it may be necessary to offer relevant training regularly, to hold meetings and discussion/brainstorming group chats and to query employees as well as customers to analyze (on a regular basis) how your company is stacking up.

PROTECTION OF YOUR BRAND’S AUTHENTICITY

Brand infringement is a serious matter and these days, more than ever, protecting your brand image and by extension the authenticity of your brand is one of the most important things you need to do. Failure to address this issue of brand protection can lead to loss of reputation, trust and confidence in your business when infringements occur. Infringements on your brand can also lead to loss of sales, loss of partnerships and overall loss of brand appeal. Clearly, all of this will impact how potential customers view your brand’s authenticity.

One way to protect your brand’s authenticity is to engage a team to specifically deal with that issue—if the budget allows. This group can monitor your brand on different fronts to make sure that your brand image is protected. There are many ways to protect your brand’s image and authenticity. These include applying for legal protection such as copyright, trademark and trade secrets protection to cut down on infringements (and defending infringements as soon as you learn about them).

The takeaway with creating, managing and protecting your brand is that your brand image matters and so does your brand’s authenticity. You have to be willing to put in the time to not only creating your brand’s authenticity, but also to managing and protecting it.

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