6 Marketing Tactics to Improve Your Brand Perception

How your target audience perceives your brand is vital in the online world. More likely than not, your brand needs to compete with many others offering the same services or products. If your audience perceives them as more trustworthy, authoritative, or dependable, chances are you will keep chasing their results. 

Luckily, there are numerous marketing tactics that you can implement in your overall strategy to help improve your brand’s perception. Remember that there is no endgame you are trying to achieve, nor will there ever come a point when you can stop investing in your online presence. Consider it more of a marathon than a sprint. 

Let’s take a look at six brand-boosting tactics to consider in 2022 and beyond. 

Feature Third-Party Reviews 

Social proof is incredibly important for improving your brand’s perception. It testifies to the quality of your services and products, sending an unequivocal signal to your website’s visitors that you are a business they can trust. 

The most trustworthy type of social proof you can use are third-party reviews. And, you want these reviews to come from large, established websites that your visitors trust and respect.

Source: https://www.reviewtrackers.com/reports/online-reviews-survey/ 

The four top websites to consider are Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Facebook. However, you can also consider implementing plugins from Trustpilot or G2, as well as any review website that is specific to your niche and audience, if there is one. 

Take a look at this page from Mixam. They have their latest Trustpilot reviews incorporated in the page, which ensures visitors see the most relevant and recent information. Plus, they are lucky enough to boast an excellent score based on a large number of reviews.

Image source: Mixam.com

To ensure you get the same volume of reviews, ask your customers for a review via email after their purchase has arrived or once your service has come to an end. While there are certainly people who leave reviews of their own accord, most will still need a friendly nudge. 

Don’t expect to get positive reviews alone, and be prepared to react when someone isn’t satisfied with your brand. Get in touch with them and iron out any issues, and do your best to alleviate any negative experiences. 

Showcase Your Staff’s Expertise 

Your website visitors will also want to know that the people who work for you and whom they will be working and communicating with are experts in their own field and that their knowledge can be trusted. 

Think of it this way: whatever you want to outsource to someone, whether it’s getting your teeth cleaned or manufacturing a pair of sneakers, you want to know they are good at their job. You want to be assured that your investment will be worth it. 

To further inspire trust, showcase your staff’s unique experience as it pertains to your business, but also try to make them as human as possible. 

Customers don’t like to feel they are working with a faceless brand. They want to know the people they are in business with. That’s why putting a face (or a bunch of faces) on the website will be of huge help.

Lush, for instance, put a sticker on all of their products, showing customers who made them. This simple tactic certainly helps provide more of a connection between the brand and shoppers. 

This can be especially important in a more complex niche. Spores did an excellent job of showcasing their foundation team’s experience, letting their audience know they are in safe hands. 

Image source: Spores.app

A similar section on your website can have a fantastic effect. Just make it personable and honest, and highlight the key competencies of each team member.

Create a Community 

Community building is another effective way to enhance the way your target audience perceives your brand. It lets you: 

• communicate with your audience more directly
• impart updates and interesting information
• get to know your audience better and work on that human connection

76% of internet users are a part of at least one online community. The key reason people join them is to have meaningful conversations about a topic that interests them. If you can create a community centering around your brand, you can truly foster something amazing.

Image Source: Globalwebindex.com

With nearly (or perhaps even over) 3 billion monthly active users worldwide, Facebook happens to be the best platform for brand community building. Your main efforts should center around conversation and information sharing, as opposed to merely promoting your brand. 

Get active yourself, but also allow your community members to have their own conversations, go off on their own tangents, and learn from each other.

Aura has a vibrant Facebook group that testifies to the effectiveness of this tactic. They advertise it on their homepage, and they’ve been doing an amazing job at connecting Amazon sellers in a casual yet powerful way.

Image source: Goura.com

This should be your aim too, so take a look at their community dynamics to get a good idea of how to structure yours.

Have an Active Social Media Presence

Being active on social media in other ways will also help boost the way you are perceived as a business. Social networks are where people hang out casually and where they also want to interact with brands in a more casual way. It’s the place where people can find access to the kind of content that isn’t available on a brand’s website. 

This gives you the chance to offer support as well as chat with your target audience. You can again foster the same kind of community spirit but in a slightly different format. 

Your main aim should be to offer something of value. That might be a useful guide, new information about using your product, the results customers can expect from your services, or simply a laugh. 

Starbucks does a great job of staying super active on Twitter. The brand is known for sharing tips and info on its blends and products. But more remarkably, they’re also known for simply replying to tweets they’ve been tagged in with a kind word or a bit of support. 

Image source: Twitter.com

Consider this point: when an individual gets some engagement from a brand they really like, it has the potential to make their entire day. And while it only takes the brand’s social media manager a couple of minutes, it can have a significant impact for a very long time to come. 

Make an Emotional Connection with Your Audience 

Connecting with your audience on an emotional level is also important, and not just for fostering a superb brand perception. It will help you make more sales and develop much deeper relationships, turning customers into brand advocates. 

When your brand’s values overlap with the values of your target audience, this connection will evolve on its own. Your goal is then to identify what your target market is passionate about and see where your driving forces match. 

Don’t try to fake an interest in something you are not actually invested in. People will sense you are not being sincere.

Dove is a brand that has been very vocal about its values over the decades. Natural beauty, body positivity, and self-esteem are all high on their list of priorities, and they reflect them all across all of their online touchpoints.

Image source: Dove.com

While you may not be able to have as wide a reach, you can certainly start small, highlight your passions, and watch as your effort snowballs into something much bigger. 

Publish High-Quality User-Generated Content 

Finally, you’ll definitely want to consider publishing user-generated content on your website. UGC will help you communicate your message more clearly, showcasing your satisfied customers and their experience with your brand.

User-generated content is trusted more than traditional media, which gives it an incredible edge. Simply by involving users in your marketing in different ways, you will be able to capitalize on content that you didn’t have to make yourself and that is at the same time seen as more honest. 

Image source: Business2community.com

Content that elevates your brand is of particular importance. Whether it comes in the form of reviews, testimonials, or user-generated images, it can speak much more impactfully than any visual or copy you produce as a brand. 

Glossier does this well, including images of their products IRL (in real life). The brand is committed to showcasing real beauty, and when a shopper can see their product on someone who has a similar skin tone to them and is also a satisfied customer, the image is much more impactful.

Image source: Glossier.com

Final Thoughts 

Improving the way your brand is perceived online takes both time and effort. You might even need to rethink some key elements of your overall marketing strategy and website design. 

But don’t fret, because none of the tactics suggested here are either too complex or too difficult to implement. They will take some practice and a fair bit of time to take off, but remember: the longer you keep investing in marketing, the higher dividends it will pay.