Hi, today we’re talking brand authenticity.
This is a bit of buzzword over the last five or so years, but it’s a really a concept that’s been around for a very long time, and it’s really caught on because of this sort of Millennials and the Gen Ys effect and what they are looking for in companies and brands these days – versus the decades before with those caught more corporate style brands.
So what is it authenticity? Really it’s about how closely aligned the brands and the beliefs are of the company and how well they are communicated to the audience. That authenticity, if it’s true, to the company and true to the beliefs and their why, comes across very powerfully and really then starts to align with the beliefs and perceptions of those people out on the marketplace.
If done poorly, that’s when customers will say “hmmm, I don’t want to buy that because it just doesn’t real feel right”. They know there’s a mismatch, there’s a disconnect between what the company is saying and doing and that authenticity, in terms of failing to do it, is coming out their detriment.
Authenticity is trust.
To be authentic you need to do three things:
The first is really understand and know your heritage. What you believe, your why, your purpose and really have a really good understanding and clarity around that.
Part two is around distilling that down and packaging it up as a clear and concise and memorable position and communications out into the marketplace so that the audience can understand and resonate with that, or not.
Part three is then stick with it! Authenticity is singular. It is what you believe. It’s the fundamentals of the organization and brand so you need to continue to convey and make that stand out in the marketplace and make it clearly and don’t be distracted or change that over the years or if different people come into the organization and want to talk different things.
It aligns to strategy and it needs to be driven and thought about as such.
The benefits of authenticity
The benefits of authenticity and those companies that they have authenticity and to be honest the top two that come to mind are Dove, in terms of the beauty and healthcare products, and also the likes of a Patagonia in the outdoor apparel sort of adventure space – fabulous companies who have really got that honed in and communicated so clearly.
The benefits of a company that has strong and clear authenticity out in the marketplace are many. Firstly, they have an attraction to them, they attract the right staff who believe that what they believe and they attract the right customers who also believe what they believe. That means that their conversion of those and those sales leads and inquiry is much higher and it costs them less to do it. It also means they’ve got a better staff engagement and culture in those organizations because they fundamentally believe in the same thing. They also have better internal clarity and they have a better awareness and engagement and love effectively out of the marketplace towards those those brands. That increases word-of-mouth, increases social media engagement, increases everything across the board. So my challenge to you is goand think about why your authentic story and position is in the marketplace, distill it down, make it clear, put it out there and I guarantee you’ll have some success.
It’s been Tim Dove from Re:brand
