The degree to which a brand is trusted and believed in its marketplace is referred to as “brand authority.” Trust and belief exist when the consumer believes that the brand understands the consumer’s problem; has delivered consistent value over time; and has communicated clearly about their products or services. While building brand authority is an important goal for all organizations, especially those new to a market, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. In fact, the most successful organizations are able to build brand authority quickly and inexpensively because they are focused, provide the right type of proof, and communicate clearly and simply to the consumer.
1. Define a Clear Position and Target Audience
While there may be many different ways for an organization to create and sustain a high level of brand authority, there are four key areas where organizations can begin building this foundation quickly and affordably. First, organizations can define a clear position and target audience. Organizations that try to appeal to too broad of a base often come off sounding generic and unmemorable.
An organization’s early position will typically include:
- A specific audience: The segment(s) of consumers the organization best serves.
- A clear problem: The very specific pain point the organization is solving.
- A unique perspective: What the organization believes or does differently than others.
- A simple promise: What the organization believes it can deliver for the consumer.
By developing a strong early position, an organization is able to develop a consistent message for marketing across its website, social channels, and sales conversations.
2. Build and Share Proof
Second, organizations can build proof quickly and share it in places where consumers are making purchasing decisions. As noted earlier, consumers tend to trust what they can verify. Therefore, the first place to start is by collecting proof quickly, and then sharing it in places such as customer case studies, testimonials, and third party reviews (e.g., media mentions, partners).
There are several types of credibility signals that an organization can use to establish trust with its target audience.
Some examples of credibility signals include:
- Customer results: Documenting the measurable results customers achieve after using your product or service.
- Founder expertise: Highlighting the founder’s relevant experience, training, or track record.
- Third party validation: Highlighting third party reviews, media mentions, and/or partnerships.
- Transparent policies: Clearly documenting pricing, returns, and support policies.
When creating proof, it is essential to ensure the information is specific. For example, “helped reduce onboarding time by 30%” is a much better statement than “great service.”
3. Create Helpful, Problem-Solving Content
Third, organizations can create helpful content that solves real problems for its target audience. Creating helpful content is essential to establishing authority, as it educates the consumer in a way that establishes the brand as the expert in its field.
Content that creates authority is typically developed around the very specific questions that a consumer asks before making a purchase. There are several formats of content that are particularly effective for establishing authority.
These include:
- How-to guides: Developing step-by-step instructions that demonstrate how to accomplish something with the brand’s product or service.
- Comparison posts: Developing a comparison post that documents the advantages and disadvantages of the brand’s product or service compared to other similar products or services.
- Checklists and templates: Developing tools that help reduce effort for the consumer.
- Short explainers: Developing short, simple explanations of complex topics.
It is essential that each piece of content be directly related to the organization’s focus area. Creating random content can increase website traffic, but it can dilute the organization’s perceived expertise.
4. Deliver a Consistent Customer Experience
Finally, organizations must consistently deliver a great customer experience and communicate consistently across multiple channels. Customers evaluate whether a brand is authoritative through small signals such as the speed of response, tone of communication, design of materials, and follow-through on commitments.
Consistently delivering a great customer experience and communicating in a consistent manner can reduce doubt in the minds of consumers.
Several habits that organizations can adopt to create consistency include:
- Establishing brand voice guidelines: Developing a set of guidelines for the tone and word choice that should be used in communications.
- Repeating service standards: Providing the same quality of service to all customers across all channels.
- Providing rapid feedback loops: Continuously improving based on customer input, including questions and complaints.
- Using aligned visuals: Ensuring that visual identity across all platforms is clean and recognizable.
An organization does not have to appear “high-end” to establish itself as an authority in its marketplace. An organization only needs to appear intentional and reliable.
Conclusion
Establishing brand authority from the onset depends on focus, providing evidence-based proof, providing educational content that addresses the specific problems of the consumer, and delivering a consistent customer experience that reinforces the brand’s promise. Authority is not established by generating hype or increasing the number of people that see an advertisement. Rather, it is established by creating consistent, repeatable actions that make the brand believable, understandable, and difficult to ignore.