Brand equity refers to the value of your firm in the minds of the consumers. Global economic downfall affected both sellers and buyers irrespective of their nationality. Conditions pushed buyers into a ‘cautious purchasing mentality.’ It has become too challenging for a consumer to trust a product unless it is from a brand that has a good reputation. So, if you are an entrepreneur of an upcoming/developing business, it is essential for you to understand and acknowledge the importance of building brand equity. So, let us hop in!
What and why is Brand equity?
We all know that there are lakhs and lakhs of sellers selling millions of products on websites or big platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. So why exactly someone should buy a product from you is where the need for brand equity lies.
Brand equity is nothing but creating brand awareness and trust factors in the minds of the consumers. Many approaches can be used in building brand equity, but only clear and clever strategies work on a larger scale.
Three major factors that determine brand equity are brand awareness, Brand Loyalty, and Perceived Quality.
Brand awareness
Brand awareness is nothing but the rate of how aware people are of your brand. People are less likely to take risks, especially in situations like this, when the world economy itself is in a tragic place. This mentality pushes people to stick with the brands that are well known. People prefer buying from an average well-known brand to an unknown super quality brand. The boat is a perfect example. Within just five years, Boat has become the No. 1 Earwear brand in India. They made the market acknowledge their brand’s existence using celebrities like Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan in their advertisements.
Brand Loyalty
Brand Loyalty is when buyers become a fan of a brand and stick with the brand for their life, unless or until they receive really bad customer service from the brand. It is like a bond/attachment a buyer has with a certain brand. Even if the brand’s competitors announce attractive offers, loyal consumers will stick with the brand and its products. Loyal consumers only can be earned by satisfying consumers through quality. The best example is Apple. Earning loyal consumers is one of the primary strategies that helped Apple on an enormous success and helped them sustain itself in the market even now.
Perceived Quality
Perceived quality is just how consumers perceive your product when they receive it. Few factors determine perceived quality.
- Style
- Packaging
- Quality (varies from product to product)
- Services.
Reviews, ratings, feedback, and other methods are used to determine perceived quality. It’s critical for establishing brand equity by repairing what needs to be fixed.
How to increase brand equity?
Brand equity, as I said, is determined through three major factors. So, understanding the factors will eventually help us in increasing brand equity. So, You should build brand awareness, brand loyalty, and perceived quality.
Social media marketing is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness. Social media is the hub of all trends. Catching a trend and marketing your product with that trend can help to create awareness among people about your product and your brand.
When it comes to brand loyalty, it is solely dependent on service. The care you give to every single consumer will result in brand loyalty. The more you care about your consumers and the products they receive from you, the more loyal consumers you will get. In fact, loyal consumers can also impact brand awareness, as if consumers start to love your products, they will become ambassadors for your brand. Your brand awareness then will be grown through word of mouth.
Perceiving quality is the most vital factor if you ask me. The reason is that if you want to build a brand, consumers are everything you need. Perceiving quality is essential for building consumers. To increase perceiving quality, you have to focus on all the aspects of your business. You should learn the trends, people’s choices, develop a decent aesthetic sense, and so on, to adapt styles and designs that work and appeal to your target consumers.
Packages should be capable of safeguarding the product while shipping or delivering. Moreover, the Packages themselves should not have any damage. The packaging should appear decent, be hygienic, and protect the product at any time.
The product should deliver the quality it promised. If your product is clay, and if you mentioned it as soft and flexible clay anywhere, then it should be soft and flexible. You don’t have to do anything more than that when it comes to quality. You should deliver what you have promised, as they are purchasing your product because they are interested in your product. So, all you have to do is deliver what you have promised.
As for services, be ready to answer any query or complaint from your consumer. Be it a phone call, email, direct message, or just a review. Be connected with your consumers. Your answers should be clear, and your tone should be nice. And do not hesitate to refund or replace damaged products. Damaged products might disappoint your consumers. You should never pave the way for damages, but if you do, you have no choice but to replace the product with a new one or refund your money. Give a complimentary gift to calm them down.
Conclusion
Brand equity is essential for both today and tomorrow of your company, especially in the field of e-commerce which is fast growing. We have covered almost everything you need to know about brand equity. But do not worry if you feel confused about what to do, how to do it, where to start, and all. We can do that for you. All you have to do is, contact us through any media. We’ll take care of the rest.