What is a Brand?

A brand is a perception of a consumer. It is a unique product, service, idea, or person that a company or an individual uses to differentiate itself from the market and can easily communicate with its target audience. A brand not only focuses on the visual aspects of a product, service, idea, or person, but it extends its reach to the overall perception and reputation of the entity as well.

Branding is simply the process of creating and publicizing the brand name, its qualities, and its personality. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individuals, products, services, and ideas. To simplify the process of branding, we can define it as a way that helps consumers differentiate one product or service from another, which eventually creates a connection and loyalty between the brand and its target audience.

How Do You Define Brand Authority?

Brand authority is the level of trust a customer has in your brand. It is the reputation you earn from your audience and those who exist within your niche. Therefore, brand authority is something that is not given to the brand, but is earned by the brand.

A brand that has authority in the industry holds the power to start conversations, contribute ideas and solutions, and make decisions that ultimately other brands have to invest in, with their time, money, and other resources. This kind of power makes the brand authority the brand influence of the industry.
When a brand earns brand authority, it receives several perks, such as:

• Perceived as an industry thought leader
• Earning clients’ and customers’ trust
• Envied or imitated by competitors
• Earning more perceived value, which eventually leads to higher brand equity

Distinction Between Brand Authority and Brand Awareness

If we distinguish between brand authority and brand awareness in a nutshell, we can define brand awareness as a stage where people know the brand, and brand authority as a stage where people trust the brand.

Brand awareness is simply about creating a buzz in the market. As the name suggests, it is a stage where the brand engages in certain marketing activities to make the public aware that they exist. Every new brand works on brand awareness to make its target audience aware of its existence.

On the other hand, brand authority refers to an organization’s ability to shine as a leader amongst other competitors in the industry. Every industry has a brand authority, and all the other brands usually follow every action of that particular brand. There are several examples of brand authority, some include Walmart, Samsung, Lays, Coca-Cola, and Disney.

Core Concepts of Brand Authority

Brand authority is one of the crucial elements that help attain a renowned brand identity and achieve business growth. It involves several core concepts, and some of these are:

Trust and Credibility

Trust is the foundation that makes a brand successful. Establishing trust with customers requires open communication with them, addressing their concerns promptly, and being honest about the brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, building credibility involves delivering promises, being honest, and maintaining ethical business practices.

To attain this core element of brand authority, a brand has to be consistent across all brand touchpoints, including communication, customer service, and product or service delivery. All of these aspects together contribute to building trust over time.

Proof of Quality

Providing the proof of quality of a brand’s product or service can act as a stepping stone for building brand authority. This can be accomplished by showing tangible evidence to customers. This evidence could be in the form of certifications, awards, customer reviews, and case studies. In addition, offering other benefits, such as guarantees, warranties, or free trials can also act as proof of confidence in the brand’s quality.

Recommendations by Existing Authorities

One of the crucial elements of enhancing brand authority is also to receive reputable endorsements or recommendations from industry experts, influencers, or well-known figures from the industry.

Positive reviews or testimonials of happy customers can also act as social proof, which can eventually influence potential customers to use the brand. Collaboration with established brands or individuals can provide further validation and credibility to the brand.

Benefits of Establishing Brand Authority

Establishing brand authority has multiple benefits for a business that also contributes to its overall success. Some of the key benefits that are associated with building brand authority are:

Increased Sales & Revenues

Consumers mostly purchase products or services from a brand whom they trust and perceive as an authority in its industry. Therefore, a brand having brand authority leads to increased customer confidence, which eventually translates into increased sales and revenues. Positive associations with an authoritative and renowned brand often influence customers’ purchase decisions.

Enhanced Customer Loyalty

As said earlier, trust and credibility are the pillars of brand authority, therefore, they lead to stronger relationships with customers. Once a customer starts trusting a brand, they automatically become the brand’s loyal advocates or brand ambassadors who repeatedly choose and recommend the particular brand to the people around them. If a brand wants to turn their regular customer into a loyal customer, they will have to provide them positive experiences, consistent quality, and meet their expectations and needs.

Increased Competitive Advantage

Brand authority differentiates a brand from its competitors, especially the ones in saturated markets. Customers usually prefer brands that they perceive as authoritative or well-established over the ones that are less reputable in the industry. Due to the competitive advantage, the major benefit brand authority gets is to charge premium prices and attract a larger share of the market.

Easy Conversions

When customers start trusting a brand and identify it as an authority, the sales process automatically becomes smoother and more straightforward. When consumers have trust in the brand’s expertise and reliability, they are more willing to convert, make a purchase, and engage with the brand. The perceived authority of a brand reduces barriers to entry and significantly decreases resistance in the buying process.

Strategies for Building Online Brand Authority

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the online world has reached an entirely new level. In today’s technological era, reaching out to customers on digital platforms is given more consideration than reaching them via traditional platforms. Therefore, building online brand authority is highly essential in today’s world. Here are a few strategies that a brand can follow to build an online brand authority:

Media Engagement with Press Coverage

Some of the ways through which a brand can use traditional media platforms for building its online brand authority are:

Press Releases:

Frequently issuing press releases for major accomplishments, product launches, or noteworthy company announcements. The brand can distribute this sort of information through online channels and increase its visibility.

Media Pitches

Reaching out to journalists or media outlets with compelling story ideas that highlight the brand’s name. The brand can also develop and maintain strong relationships with important reporters and influencers in the industry.

Online Interviews and Features

Participating in online interviews, podcasts, or webinars to share expertise and important industry insights. The brand can even feature itself in reputable online publications and enhance its brand authority.

Industry Engagement with Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most integral parts of the online world. The brand could use content marketing and enhance its brand authority:

High-Quality Content

Creating and sharing well-researched, valuable, and informative content that aims to address the needs and interests of the target audience.

Blogging

Most of the companies have started their personal blogging pages where they share insights and ideas related to the particular industry. Therefore, to increase brand authority, maintaining an online blog can be an effective strategy, where the brand can showcase industry expertise, insights, and thought leadership content. The content posted on blogs can be shared on other online platforms as well.

Ebooks and Whitepapers

Producing in-depth, authoritative resources that reflect the brand’s knowledge and expertise. These materials can be distributed through the brand’s website and other relevant industry channels.

Customer Engagement with Social Media Presence

Since social media platforms are one of the most popular platforms for reaching relevant target groups, the brand can even use its social media presence to expand its reach and become a brand authority:

Consistent Branding

For an effective social media marketing approach, the brand has to maintain a consistent brand image across all social media platforms, which would include a cohesive profile, engaging posts, and coherent communication.

Engagement and Interaction

In addition to consistent branding, the brand also needs to actively engage with its target audience through comments, direct messages, and discussions. If the customer has any sort of inquiries or feedback, the brand needs to respond promptly and resolve the problem.

Content Sharing

Sharing a combination of content, which includes industry news, thought leadership articles, and user-generated content. To show itself as a brand authority, the brand needs to position itself as a valuable resource within a specific industry.

Partnerships with Industry Influencers

A brand can show its tangible and intangible benefits as much as it wants to its target audience, but it is mostly effective when an industry influencer is highlighting the product or service’s benefits. Therefore, a brand must join hands with key industry influencers to enhance their brand authority:

Identify Key Influencers

The foremost step is to identify and build relationships with influencers in the industry who align with the brand’s values. The brand should opt for those influencers who have a substantial online following of its target audience.

Co-Creation of Content

The brand can increase its visibility by collaborating with influencers for content creation, such as guest blog posts, co-hosted webinars, or joint social media campaigns.

Influencer Testimonials

The brand can request testimonials or endorsements from major influencers in the industry who influence its target audience. These testimonials can be shared on the brand’s website and other marketing materials.

Conclusion

Brand authority is crucial in today’s competitive world as it influences consumer choices and fosters loyalty. To cultivate and maintain this authority, brands can take the following actionable steps:

• Engaging with media to increase visibility and legitimacy.
• Using content marketing strategies to establish industry engagement and showcase expertise.
• Actively engaging with customers on social media platforms, building connections, and reinforcing a positive brand image.
• Creating and maintaining partnerships with industry influencers to add credibility and expand reach.
• Showcasing positive customer reviews or testimonials.
• Hosting webinars, participating in online events and optimizing content for search engines to reinforce online authority.

Brand authority is an ongoing process. By using the digital landscape, organizations can build robust and influential brands that could stand out from the competition!