Brand Image
Every brand follower has a unique bundle of perspectives in his mind about his/her brand. These associations leads to certain level of expectations and perceptions about the brand. A brand image is an audience’s perception of the brand, which can comprise both emotional value and materialistic value of a brand. It throughs light to the brand’s placement in the target market segment. It doesn’t completely depend on the brand. In addition to what the brand supplies, a user can determine the character of an organizations through his experience and observation. The brand image should clearly convey the mission and vision of the company.
Brand Identity vs Brand Image
Most often, people fail to have a clear demarcation between brand identity and brand image. The following table will enable you to have a clear understanding of the two.
| | Brand Identity | Brand Image |
| 1 | Brand identity develops from the source or the company. | Brand image is perceived by the receiver or the consumer. |
| 2 | Brand message is tied together in terms of brand identity. | Brand message is untied by the consumer in the form of brand image. |
| 3 | The general meaning of brand identity is “who you really are?” | The general meaning of brand image is “How market perceives you?” |
| 4 | It’s nature is that it is substance oriented or strategic. | It’s nature is that it is appearance oriented or tactical. |
| 5 | Brand identity symbolizes firms’ reality. | Brand image symbolizes perception of consumers |
| 6 | Brand identity represents “your desire”. | Brand image represents “others view” |
| 7 | It is enduring. | It is superficial. |
| 8 | Identity is looking ahead. | Image is looking back. |
| 9 | Identity is active. | Image is passive. |
| 10 | It signifies “where you want to be”. | It signifies “what you have got”. |
| 11 | It is total promise that a company makes to consumers. | It is total consumers’ perception about the brand. |
Importance of brand image
Brand image plays a pivotal role for fulfilling business objectives. Imagine you are about to buy a new pair of clothing apparels. You are immediately confronted with some of the juggernaut brands like Levis, Pepe Jeans, Lee, Wrangler etc. As an informed user, you are aware of the brand image, which has made you believe the brand and products. There are several advantages for having proper brand image. Here it all from the best SEO company Kerala.
- Generates more ROI as new customers are attracted to the brand
- Easy to introduce and market new products and services
- Boosts the loyalty and confidence of the existing customers
- Develops better business to customer relationships
Advantages of building strong brand image
- The perception of a consumer towards a particular brand is in direct relation to the image of the brand.
- Having a positive brand image directly impacts the consumer buyer behaviour, and hence brands have to target building a strong and positive image of the brand.
- A strong brand image can augment the decision making process, thereby promoting a lot of repeat purchases as well as primary purchases.
- A promising brand image conveys the success of the product and gives results with increased sales and revenues.
- A positive image gives confidence to the customers as they feel that the brand is sincere and clear in its vision to create and deliver the best in the segment.
- A strong unbiased brand image will increase the success of paid promotions like celebrity endorsements and enhance the brand publicity.
