Brand association describes anything that has to do with how your customers and the general public perceive your brand. It includes emotions, traits, or anything else that customers think of when they hear about your brand. It is important to create a positive brand association to increase customer loyalty and your overall reputation. That directly impacts your sales, as well as operations.
Some key elements that can influence your brand association include:
- Your logo
- Dominant brand colors
- Customer service and experience
- Brand mission
- Service quality
- Product quality
- Marketing
- Advertising
- Company pages on social media
The good thing about brand association and all these elements we’ve mentioned above is that you can control it. While it may seem complicated because it’s more qualitative than quantitative, we promise that it’s not. Stay tuned for some excellent tips on how to create a positive brand association. But first, let’s discuss some good and well-known examples.
Brand Association Map
Here are some great examples that show precisely how brand association is influential when done correctly. The first and the most obvious example is Google. Google has become a synonym for the term ‘’search’’ so much so that it often replaces this term in everyday conversation, further proving how important it is to set up your brand correctly from the get-go.
If you’re confused about how to approach brand association or see which words, ideas, and concepts would be the most fitting, you can use the Brand Association Map to help you out. A brand association map is a visual representation of everything that can be associated with your brand.
If we use the image above as an example, you can see how you can dissect a brand into different categories of words, meaning, and concepts. You should do the same with your brand. Put the brand name in the middle, and create a couple of circles around it. The closer the circle is to the brand name, the closer and more accurate the brand association is.
Don’t be afraid to be creative and play around. Different customers will have different associations based on their previous experience with the product type, industry, and brand. You can reverse-engineer the brand association map by asking your customers to fill out a survey and enter the terms they associate with your brand. Once you gather enough actionable data, include it in your branding and marketing strategy and improve your overall business and operations.
Tips for Building a Positive Brand Association
Building and maintaining a positive brand association is a bit complex, but once you get the hang of it, it’s going to be very easy. We’ve compiled a list of the top four tips you should implement if you’d like to take your business to the next level.
Create a Comprehensive Crisis Management Plan
Being proactive is another key element in maintaining a positive brand association. Things often go wrong, and when you’re in the thick of it, the last thing you want to do is scramble for answers and walk on eggshells trying not to ruin your brand’s reputation. Devising a crisis management plan will solve all those issues. Try to predict everything that could potentially go wrong in the future and come up with solutions and remedies to help the situation.
Research Your Competition
Researching and keeping a close eye on your competition offers multiple benefits. First, you’ll learn and see what they’re doing right and include it in your strategy. Secondly, and more importantly, you’ll be able to learn from their mistakes and ensure that they never happen to you.
Be Smart With Branding
A comprehensive and robust branding strategy is a must if you’d like to maintain a stellar reputation. This is the foundation of every marketing activity, which is why you should ensure that your branding strategy covers all the bases. Also, think about the brand voice, how you’d like to communicate with your customers, which channels you’d like to use, highlight the value in your offer, and use colors that are coherent with the message and mission.
Use Appealing Language
Wording, phrasing, and vocabulary have a substantial impact on how your customers will perceive your brand. We recommend using strong, action-driven words that are motivational and inspiring. If you’re unsure how to go about it, choose a couple of models and do A/B tests on social media and similar platforms. Choose the best approach and implement it in your branding strategy.
Conclusion
As you can see, brand association plays a crucial role in your relationship with your customers. The goal here is to create a positive brand association that inspires customers to choose your product or service instead of competitors’. It will take some work to figure it out, but your business will bloom once you do.
