How & Why Is It Important to Develop Brand Authenticity

Created by Roberto De Leon -

Talking about the rise of the digital era and how everything goes digital, people are starting to get swarmed with varying information. From public, private to business information is cramping in the digital media. It includes brand authenticity and identity. But is it only a matter of having an online presence? The answer is no. 

In this digital era, honesty, authenticity, quality, and credibility are what people are trying to. It is especially true when trying to develop a certain product presence in the online market. You will need to do a lot to ensure the quality, genuine, transparency, and everything you want for your product to associate. 

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With all of the consideration, there is always a reason behind why you need to develop brand authenticity. It is not only about being available but also to grant the best from the product. At some point, develop authenticity and quality are starting to be the most vital factor in product choice for the younger generation, millennial, baby boomer, or even generation X.

What Is Brand Authenticity?

Before going further about brand authenticity, it is better to learn about the term beforehand. There is a thing that makes the term considered as necessary even for either online or offline business. One of them is how it reflects the product or the way the brand develops a certain feeling for the target audience. 

In this case, you might again ask, what is it? To make it brief, you can say that the term refers to an act in which the brand owner develops a scale of reviewed research to date and to cut through loose ambiguity, thinking, and make a clear or simplistic definition. In other words, it is a way to make a great explanation about the brand itself. 

As a developer, you need to underline the term of creating a clear and uncomplicated definition through cut loose thinking and ambiguity. Those details put a red string of being a genuine product. Either the brand equity is one you develop or buy for, the idea is pretty much creating a sense of honesty about the values and mission. 

This kind of impression envelops every aspect, with a tad bit of hidden or private information inside the company. So, the idea is you give enough information that helps ensure the company or the brand authenticity. You will use the policies of being transparent. However, at the same time, you also still hold some confidential detail in your hand.  

So, how transparent is it to make a good or develop authenticity? In this case, a brand needs to make an emotional connection with the clients. It means a lot, especially with high competition in the online business. You can also underline and tell the authenticity by always aligning to what you say. 

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It means that you need to hold your saying to be true and make it real. As a brand, how you behave and share the perception of others can affect your reputation or impression. The idea of developing brand authenticity will help bridge the gap between the audience's expectations and experiences. Thus, they will develop trust in your product. 

Definition of Brand Authenticity:
“The extent to which consumers perceive a brand to be faithful toward itself, true to its consumers, motivated by caring and responsibility, and able to support consumers in being true to themselves"

If you imagine the effect as a picture, the expectation and the experience are sandwiched between the brand and reputation. To develop a great product and reputation, one needs to nail the idea of audience expectations and the real experience. That is where your brand authenticity engagement is located. 

You will need to maintain the alignment between the brand and reputation. Thus, you got the chance to be active and develop a successful business. So, the idea is to stay true to your product and behave with your brand. At the same time, you also need to take care of your authenticity by maintaining what others say about your product based on shared perception (reputation).  

To make it work hand in hand, you need to consider four key components of brand authenticity. To develop brand authenticity, you will need to ensure the Continuity or how the product is itself and faithful. There is also Integrity which underlines caring and responsibility when running the company. 

There is also a need for Integrity that helps develop the sense of being true to the consumer. And lastly, the Symbolism aspect underlines the need to be a supportive product. So, your consumer can always be true to themselves. Those four key elements capture that the idea of developing brand authenticity is not simple. It is far more complicated to nail. 

The objective attribute of authenticity itself includes and grasps some other senses, such as the consumer and the product psychological, symbolic, subjectivity, and many more. The primary key is to stay true to our personality, help us to be true, and stand for what we stand for. That is what it means for brand authenticity that every company needs to develop. 

Created by ECH Creative Agency

Why Is It Important?

Nowadays, brand authenticity has become one of the vital portions of the business. It is especially true with the rise of online business with high competition and products. Being a commodity with high authenticity can boost business benefits and success. In many cases, it is not only affecting your customers. But also your company standing in the market. 

When trying to develop authenticity, one might think that it is not an easy task to do. It seems like a challenge when you are starting to develop one, but the result is worth all the effort. Nowadays, it was not only about sales but also about saving the customer and making it a loyal buyer. It makes one output feel more related than other meaningless businesses. 

So, there is the idea that putting your heart into what you do will make everything much easier. Specifically when it is talking about your company mission, purpose, marketing, and sales campaign. Giving true and real information about your brand to our audience will help your business to develop even better and rise above the competition. 

Another point why you should develop brand authenticity is its ability to gain a loyal audience. The idea of stating the truth and being real makes people know and able to believe whatever information you give. It can be another positive point in earning a good reputation and becoming a successful business. 

There is also a point that states how the audiences believe and want will shape up their brand preferences. You can say that the younger audience prefers authenticity for every business and product they need. The feeling of using a product that is out of necessity starts to get more attention. One of the reasons is it is one of the ways millennials can express themselves. 

What makes brand authenticity even more vital is the way it accentuates values. The best example is how younger audiences choose a particular brand due to extravagance or trend rather than necessity. It helps them become true to their intentions and develop a sense of personality. That is one of the purposes of being a business with great authenticity. 

At some point in the modern and digitalized era, you can underline that personal authenticity matters the most. A company should develop products according to what the market needs. However, they also need to develop a certain consistency. Thus, people can also be loyal to the product and understate the fact that it helps them by talking about their authenticity.  

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How To Develop Brand Authenticity?

As you understand the purpose and the need for brand authenticity, it is the right time to join the trope. So, Authenticity has become a grand marketing trend in the digital era. And you can tell that this trend is not going anywhere. You will need to develop one, or your product will lack and be left behind. It is something more than just a positive force, which includes following the trend. 

So, the idea that you should hold dear is your audience wants to know if you can be trusted or not. You need to develop a trusted image on top of everything. However, you also have to stay loyal to your brand for the sake of your audience. It will help develop a brand that stands for what they stand for. And so, help to create and help the audience to be true to themselves.  

1. Be Clear And Honest 

There are a lot of aspects that you need to consider when trying to develop brand authenticity. In this case, the sense of honesty is what you need to accentuate. It is easy to make in the beginning but getting more and more forgotten as time goes. To avoid this kind of condition, you can develop authenticity coming back to your roots. 

It is necessary to understand the root of your business, which are the values, purpose, and what you stand for. Jot them down, so you will not be losing track of every information. It is also pretty obvious that you need a very clear mission and purpose for your product. So, you can stay true and focus on brand authenticity. 

In this case, you can do and keep in step with time. Develop your authenticity little by little, or do it build up. The idea is actually to find the grounding of your brand goals. With that idea, you can develop or build personality on one basis and make it consistent. It also helps with underlining the business intention. So you can accentuate the authenticity. 

Another thing that is worth working with is understanding what matters to your business, audience, and target market. What you want and looking for from the brand? Are you going for a younger audience or a prestigious market? Are you looking to create a statement and develop a certain impression? Jot down everything, and it will help you in developing authenticity. 

You can take the example of a food brand. Each of them focuses on its market, audience, and business. Thus, they can develop brand authenticity, loyalty, trust, and stories. Some products even turn into staple product that is vital for a certain market, such as trending youngsters or even older audiences. 

Created by Ekaterina Knol

2. Become A Trusted Expert 

One of the reasons one needs to have authenticity is to develop trust. In this case, you have every insight and detail about your business grounding. It includes wisdom, practical or deep knowledge, and experience toward certain subjects. This kind of aspect can be a great helper to develop trust, authenticity and make a valuable point to your audiences.

To be a trusted expert, one needs to have the correct and reliable ability to run the business. Professional mechanics are way better or way more preferred than a rookie one. But if you are just starting a brand or business, you can gain trust by being open and sharing what you have with the audience or the world in general. 

While it is important to be open, you don't need to tell about your business secrets. You can do it by sharing what you have that no one else does. If you are working it out with the right method, people will eventually find your product. It will make a great authenticity as well. But how do you do it? One best answer is strengthening your media channels. 

It can be either your social media, blogs, websites, or communities. You need to brag or tell about your brand. So you can develop a certain authenticity. Using the channel even further will help you develop an early prospect and develop trust for them. At some point, you can even turn into an expert advisor, develop product awareness, and enhance repeat purchases.  

Created by Nick Barclay

3. Create A Story 

What do you need to share in the media channels? There is a lot to tell and to develop brand authenticity. It is not only about promotional and marketing uses but also a way to connect with your audience. In this case, the best way to touch their heart is by growing up together and sharing the related journey. In other words, you can connect through stories. 

Creating and sharing your business story helps connect with your audience on an emotional level. Many brands already use this idea by telling their roadmap and achievement details. Some even tell very compelling storytelling that helps the audience know more about the company. Thus, it helps improve trust and develop a certain sense of connection.  

Created by Ahmed ELSheikh

4. Develop A Clear Communication 

Nothing worth it if all your effort is hard to understand or digest. When you are ready to establish your voice, make sure to make comfortable communication. The idea of good communication goes around more than just news and release but also telling some brand approaches and solutions. All of them should be done together. 

In other words, you can develop brand authenticity by bringing discussion tables to talk about ideas or relevant points for both the company and the client. In this case, the key point to enhance authenticity is your customer service skills. Understand all you need about customer service. It is either how to reach you, how to give feedback, what to say to your audience, etc. 

Created by Universal Favourite

5. Keep Brand Consistency

Keeping consistency is another point that is needed for business. It will help develop your brand authenticity and presence. At some point, having the same or consistent aspect to pinpoint will make your product recognizable. However, it is not only about your product. You can do the same for all of your marketing and sales channels. 

This kind of idea can be done by mapping out all of the branding and design. The digital era and online presence force companies to be more creative about their marketing, from e-books, brochures, videos, websites, and many more. You can make everything with the same essence, thus creating a consistent detail and develop brand authenticity. 

There is more to note when talking about branding and design. You will need to consider the product details, including the same voice and tone. It is one of the vital points that showcase your brand authenticity. To help you with the idea, start by creating a style guide for your product design. It will help you a lot when creating the future model or consistency point. 

Created by Blank Design Studio

6. Create Innovation 

Most of the time, you will need to get back to your business grounding to develop trust and authenticity. But, don't forget about the future. Keep looking ahead to the future by keeping track of the trends. Millennials and online competitions come with a range of challenges. So, to develop brand authenticity, you can be open to everything new and stick to higher quality standards.  

Created by Midi Quinze

Final Words

Considering how brand authenticity takes a big part of online presence, it is right to make a red string between the product quality and marketing strategy. It is also pretty much easier to underline that the authenticity aspect has become one of the reasons for generations to choose the brand. And surprisingly enough, staying loyal to certain brands also resembles people or personal authenticity.