Communicating Your Brand Values
Every brand agency has to face tough competition in order to build brand equity and strong emotional attachment with its audience. But once it is built it increases the brand value of the company.
Before I delve into why and how to communicate a brand’s value it is important to know what “brand value” is. A brand value is the extra money that a customer pays willingly to get the services of his or her favourite brand. A dress at an ordinary shop down Oxford street doesn’t cost as much as a similar dress from a well-known Ghanaian designer’s boutique. The extra money you pay for that brand is just because of the brand name and reputation it has.
Several times you will hear people complain about how expensive some Ghanaian brands are by comparing them to similar ones they could get at Makola Market at a cheaper price. Simple, it’s the brand! When you buy these designer’s dress you are very likely to wear and post a photo and proudly tag the designer whereas you can’t do same for those other dresses you buy along the road side.
Here are some ways to guide you in communicating value to your stakeholders:
Research and know your audience
Value can mean different things to different people. In order to communicate with any group of people, you need to first know who they are, what they do and their way of life. This is necessary in order to communicate effectively and influence behaviour towards your brand. Knowing and understanding who your audience are helps you to tailor your communications to your target audience. Study what they speak, what they like and how they understand their likes and dislikes to communicate the message effectively without any barrier.
Develop consistent Communications
Develop communications materials that align with the identified benefits of your stakeholders’ needs. Design messages that resonate with your audience and call them into action. Your messages should be simple and consistent, they should stick by telling a story, use visuals, and evoke emotion to inspire and make your story memorable.
Establish Mutual Relationship
Relationships are not one way. They must be mutual and benefit both parties. Establishing mutual lines of communication between your company and customers creates trust and strong bonds of understanding. This allows them to speak and express themselves and give objective feedback about their experience with your brand. In this era of social media, you can also leverage on such platforms to constantly stay connected and engaged with your customers. If they bought a dress from your shop, put in place mechanisms that will allow them to tell you if the dress fits, the fabric is quality and the finishing is top notch.
Monitor, measure and continuously improve
You can only know if your efforts at communicating value are yielding any result when you monitor your work. You need to monitor these reactions and which should guide your subsequent communication efforts. Once you have the results, build and implement improvements in your communications program; the development of messages, channels used, and the way you communicate to tell your story.
Communicating brand values is considered critical to a brand’s success and if done purposefully could yield a lot of positive results for your brand. If a customer is motivated to pay any amount for a dress, shoe or handbag without a doubt that product will serve his or her need and satisfies his or her status, then it confirms your credibility and shows that you have communicated the brand
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