At its core, brand perception is about how your customers view and feel about your brand. Through design, you can completely shape how your customers perceive your brand and interact with your business.
If your first impression doesn’t hit off with your customer right away, you could be losing out.
Fortunately, The Blondes are experts when it comes to designing your brand from existing elements to the ground up. In this post, we’ll explore how design shapes your customer’s perception and how you can boost your brand awareness.
Exploring how colour shapes perception
Colours have a direct tie to emotions as well as memories. When you match colours with a brand effectively, you develop a sort of recognition over time. People see the combination of your brand's colours and make a connection — pair that with thoughtful design, and you have something that people will recognize immediately.
While countries are certainly not brands, most of us can see a flag's iconic colours and make a connection. Paired with their unique designs, you're able to quickly point out Sweden's flag over Ukraine's, for example.
Brands need colours that reflect the emotions you want them to convey.
Here are some examples of colours and their corresponding emotions:
Red: Passion, energy, love, excitement
Blue: Calm, trust, serenity, sadness
Yellow: Happiness, optimism, warmth, caution
Green: Growth, balance, nature, envy
Orange: Enthusiasm, creativity, warmth, adventure
Purple: Luxury, mystery, spirituality, creativity
Pink: Compassion, femininity, tenderness, romance
Black: Power, elegance, mystery, mourning
White: Purity, simplicity, peace, innocence
Gray: Neutrality, calm, indecision, sophistication
Brown: Stability, reliability, comfort, earthiness
Gold: Wealth, success, luxury, achievement
Silver: Modernity, sophistication, elegance, balance
Turquoise: Tranquility, freshness, clarity, energy
Using colours that reflect your brand's personality will help build familiarity as your business evolves. Iconic businesses like Starbucks and IKEA are effortlessly recognizable in part thanks to their distinct colour palettes.
That familiarity, in turn, helps to build brand loyalty. Brand loyalty shapes consumer behaviour, and consumer behaviour enables repeat sales of products and services.
In the end, something as seemingly simple as choosing your brand’s colours can have a direct impact on how your customers feel about you and if they’re likely to remain loyal to your brand.
Of course, this can be more challenging when you're building a brand from the ground up as a small business. This is why it's important to work with brand development experts like The Blondes to craft and execute an effective brand identity.
Exploring the psychology of brand perception
Humans, by nature, are quick to make judgments, even with limited information. Research shows that it takes mere seconds for someone to form a meaningful opinion about a website, store, or product. How the brand looks, presents itself, and its messaging all have an impact on a consumer’s first impression.
The rapid decision-making process can be intimidating for brands, especially for smaller businesses. While things like reviews and word of mouth also impact the consumer's perception of credibility, professionalism, and trustworthiness, first impressions are all about appearance.
Your logo, colour scheme, and website layout all contribute to the overall perception of your brand. If all of them work together seamlessly, you're going to have a strong and positive first impression.
Working with experts ensures these elements are perfectly executed to maximize that sense of trust and industry authority. On the other hand, a frankly lackluster design can leave consumers with a sense of unease and doubt, even if your products and services are top-tier. A poor brand appearance suggests your business is sloppy or even lazy, which isn’t a great first impression when you need to make sales.
This is why The Blondes works with companies both big and small — to make sure you don’t miss reaching that loyal customer base. We have the skills and expertise to ensure your brand connects with customers who will support your brand.
Exploring the importance of brand identity
Your brand is a collection of visual elements that shape how your customers perceive you. It's a combination of your logo, colours, typography, and other design choices that create a cohesive customer experience. It's important to keep things consistent so your customers can recognize you and your brand easily.
When you have a consistent brand identity, your customers understand what to expect in terms of messaging and quality. This means that they're more likely to remember and engage with you.
Brand identity also intricately connects with emotions, along with personal values — which means that your brand's perception directly influences consumer decisions. Many people will avoid brands that they feel do not align with their personal values and will instead choose brands that they feel are close to their hearts.
This is why you need to do a heavy deal of market research to find your core audience. Your brand identity should be specially tailored towards your desired demographic. When a brand fails to do this, customers are going to experience either a complete disconnect or overlook the business entirely, especially in markets with similar competitors.
Oversaturation is just as much of a detriment as having no brand identity at all. This is why it's important to understand the power of brand identity and its impact on customer decision-making.
Exploring the importance of monitoring social media
How your customers interact with and speak of your brand on social media has a substantial impact on how your brand is received. We exist in a digital age where everyone is willing to share their experiences with brands — good or bad. This is not only a good reason to have a solid customer service team, but it’s also a good reason to make sure you market your brand on social media effectively.
Social media gives you a direct line to your customers. You can ask them questions, provide them with surveys, and take in their personal thoughts and concerns in near real-time.
The Internet and how quickly information is spread can also be scary. But that’s why you develop a stellar business with a solid brand; it assures that whatever trials you face, you’ll be prepared to handle them. Social media is no different.
Social media is one of the few free marketing tools at your disposal. But developing a brand identity through social media is no easy feat, and having experts backing you up may give you the edge you need over your competitors. After all, if you’ve never done something, having someone experienced guide you through it is sure to prepare you for success.
You need to do some research. See what your demographic is searching for; find their pain points; find their discussions and see how you can fill the gaps. These first impressions will prepare your brand to eliminate market gaps where they exist, making customers more likely to choose you over competitors.
Here are some general do’s and don'ts to consider when it comes to marketing a brand on social media:
DO's:
- Stay consistent with brand voice and tone.
- Engage with your audience.
- Use high-quality visuals.
- Share relevant content.
- Respond promptly to comments.
- Use appropriate hashtags.
- Post at the right time.
- Collaborate with influencers.
- Run contests or giveaways.
- Monitor and adjust strategy using analytics.
DON'T's:
- Ignore negative feedback.
- Over-promote or spam.
- Use excessive or irrelevant hashtags.
- Post off-brand content.
- Post inconsistently.
- Use copyrighted content without permission.
- Engage in controversial topics unless relevant.
- Automate responses.
- Ignore proofreading and grammar.
- Overuse stock images.
The Blondes are here for you
The Blondes is a studio of creative thinkers and artists who care about each other. We're not here to take over your brand — rather, we're here to act as an extension of your team, aligning with your goals to ensure you reach your targeted audience. We work alongside you to create a brand that resonates with the people most likely to stick with you for the long term.
Our solutions aren't temporary; they're built to ensure that you and your brand reach new heights and higher, so you can have a successful business for years to come. Don't gamble with developing a brand for your future — contact The Blondes today and embark on your brand identity journey.
