Do consumers fully understand a firm’s brand values?

By William Hutchinson

June 24, 2019

The way your market your company’s brand involves far more than an increase of customers and sales. A company’s marketing strategy is one mechanism to present a positive image of your brand for your audience. The values your company chooses are permanent even when logos, strategies and products are evolving. Taking the time to focus on brand values gives a company the ability to communicate more clearly through their strategic marketing plans.

Brand Values. What are they?

Brand values are the core of every business and these values help influence the brand’s look, feel, message, and ultimately the relationships with its customers (Emarketed, 2018). Customers need to understand a company’s brand values because they are “constantly interacting with brands online and through social media. They need to understand your brand image and see more than just a picture of a product in order to become loyal followers” (Emarketed, para. 3).

When considering brand values, it is important to understand how people view brands. Kervyn, Fiske, and Malone (2012) suggest that people look at brands similar to how they view people. Brands can improve the relationship with their customers by combining or inspiring the brand with human values (Kervyn et al., 2012). So with this concept, brand values can be looked at as human values and the brand appears to function similar to humans (Torelli, Monga, and Kaikati, 2012).

Brand Values contained within a Company’s Advertising

After a company determines their brand values and how the company wants the audience to view their brand, it’s time to start communicating the message. Consistently representing the company’s values in every possible way so that people can immediately recognize a company and what the company is all about is key to a successful strategy. Being consistent about company values can help keep a brand more trustworthy and reliable to its customers (Emarketed, 2018). Consistency does not mean the look and feel of all ads need to be identical but they should be reflected in the core message of the ads across platforms.

When designing ads, consideration should be given to how a company can incorporate their brand values into their messaging and how any new idea being used in an ad can be related to the brand values as well. Emarketed (2018) suggests finding a way to incorporate brand values in taglines, messaging on the company website, and any other messaging strategies utilized, so that the values are reflected in what is being said. The goal is for people to remember your brand and to associate positive elements with it.

Consumer Understanding

A company’s image is more than just the external exposure it gets from posting pictures or the voice the consumer hears. Consumers pay attention to company values and are more likely to pay more for those brands that align with their values (Emarketed, 2018). A company that makes a stand, and not only portrays values but lives by those values are more likely to win over customers and attract a larger customer base.

References

Emarketed (2018). How Important are Brand Values in Your Marketing Strategy [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://www.emarketed.com/blog/important-brand-values-marketing-strategy/

Kervyn, N., Fiske, S.T., Malone, C. (2012). Brands as intentional agents framework: How perceived intentions and ability can map brand perception. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22 (2) (2012), pp. 166-176

Torelli, C.J., Monga, A.b., . Kaikati, A.m. (2012). Doing poorly by doing good: Corporate social responsibility and brand concepts. Journal of Consumer Research, 38 (5) (2012), pp. 948-963