Brand Authenticity and the Bottom Line: Why Having an Authentic Brand Impacts Your Success

In our modern world, competition is fierce and many brands are so similar it’s difficult to tell them apart. What makes your brand special? Why should customers choose you over the dozens of other options? One word: authenticity. Authenticity matters when you’re building your business, as it creates an atmosphere of trust with your customers and keeps those new leads coming.

1. Authenticity Generates Trust

If you pay someone to perform a service or for a certain product, you expect the service to be completed correctly, and the product to be of a certain standard of quality. This is exactly what customers have in mind when they make the decision to choose your brand.

Building trust with your customers ensures that they’ll become loyal to your brand because you have earned their respect as well as their trust. Trust is the foundation for an effective relationship, and customers are no different.

If your customers can’t trust your brand to deliver on simple promises, you can’t expect that they’ll want to remain loyal to your brand. That’s simply not a fair expectation to have, especially when customers are paying for something that doesn’t actually help solve their problem.

Focus on your brand’s honesty and consistency to generate trust in your customers. That trust will show in their buying decisions, and customers are much more likely to recommend their trusted brands, generating new leads and potential customers.

2. Higher Sales Numbers

With greater trust and authenticity, your brand will experience higher sales numbers with returning customers and new customers trying out your brand for the first time. These new customers are just as important as your loyal base, as they can become loyal customers and end up referring your brand to their friends and family members.

Once you’ve achieved the authentic brand status, your sales will increase as more people learn of your company’s integrity. Make sure you have a dedicated and professional customer service staff to back up your products and services. The sale doesn’t end once the product or service is paid for.

With higher sales, you’ll have more money to invest in the business or into marketing and creating better products. Who doesn’t like more money, right? Authenticity is the greatest money maker you can utilize in your business, and it’s relatively simple to maintain.

3. Respect of Competitors and Customers Alike

There is more to a brand’s success than simple sales numbers. While generating income is certainly important, if not essential to the success of your brand, there are other factors that come into play.

The respect of your competition and your customers is a part of your brand’s success. Businesses and customers alike will respect your brand’s image, noting its authenticity and reputation for honesty and quality.

People respect brand authenticity, even those that are in competition with you. An authentic brand stands out among the rabble of the dozens, if not hundreds, of other businesses in the market and makes your company a beacon of trust in a world of skepticism.

4. Price Isn’t The Only Factor For New Customers

Price isn’t the only deciding factor anymore for customers choosing a new brand. In fact, according to this study, 86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support.

Let’s examine that for a moment. 86% of consumers. That’s only 14% from being 100% of all consumers. If you never thought about brand authenticity before, this statistic should be an eye-opener for you.

The first thing consumers usually do when comparing brands is to check prices. They’ll compare competitor’s pricing either via price apps or simple research, but what comes next? What is the deciding factor?

You guessed it. Authenticity. The brand’s reputation. A product can have an excellent price, but if the company that stands behind it has a poor reputation, the customer is likely to move on and look for a brand that carries a better reputation for quality.

5. The Internet Provides Limitless Information

In the digital age, it’s pretty difficult to get away with anything other than honest behavior as a business. The internet is a place where customers have unlimited access to information on your business, including sales numbers, practices, employees, and even your brand’s reputation.

If you’re anything other than honest with customers, the incident is likely to be documented, uploaded, and shared before you can even blink. Consumers depend largely on the opinions of their peers, which is why review sites like Yelp! are so popular.

The bottom line here is that whatever you do as a business, your customers are going to know one way or another. That’s why it’s so important to maintain a standard of excellence so that when potential customers research your brand, they see a company that stands by its values and delivers on its promises.

Don’t forget to update your social media pages and keep track of any negative feedback you receive on these sites. Address the negative feedback promptly and accordingly, so that your customers know you care about their satisfaction and making things right.

Conclusion

As we saw from the study, brand authenticity is more important than ever, with almost 90% of consumers being concerned with a brand’s authenticity when they consider a purchase. Be sure to put your authenticity at the top of the list when building a successful company image. Honesty is always the best policy and will gain respect across the market.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.