Edward Boatman • May 9th
Building a strong brand is an essential part of succeeding as a business, and that means building a brand people recognize and associate with positively. When people see your brand in a positive light, they’re more likely to trust you and your products.
Creating a positive brand association is part of growing your brand and connecting with your customers. However, it’s not as simple as you might think. Here, you’ll learn more about brand associations, why they’re important, and what you can do to build positive brand associations that propel your brand.
A brand association is a connection people make with a brand. Whether people see your products or stumble across one of your social media posts, brand associations affect the way they view your brand, your content, and your products.
Think of brand association as the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a brand or see a particular logo. That’s what people are doing when they see your brand.
For example, a person might connect a particular brand with luxury or safety. When people make these positive connections with a brand, they’re more likely to put trust in that brand’s products. Forming positive brand associations is a key part of connecting with your customers and establishing your brand.
Source: Ads of the World
Brands, like Mercedes-Benz, capitalize on the brands association between safety and their brand of cars. Ads like this one convey a sense of peace knowing you're driving a safe vehicle and the vehicle itself has a protective coat to keep it in tip-top shape.
Brand association is important because it affects the way people view and interact with your brand. You can design and create an innovative product made with high-quality materials, but you’ll have a hard time establishing your brand and product if people don’t associate positive things with your brand.
You can probably think of a few brands that you immediately connect with negative thoughts. It might be a car make you’ve had trouble with or a particular fast food restaurant, but everyone has brands they view in a negative light. When you see a new product from a brand you associate with negatively, you’re probably not interested in that product.
As important as brand recognition is, you can’t build a strong brand without forming positive brand associations.
People form brand associations based on several factors. When you’re building a brand, it’s important to understand how the decisions you make can affect the way people perceive your brand and the qualities they associate with it. Let’s look at some of the key factors that help form brand associations.
Your brand identity encompasses many elements of your brand, including the visual elements and your brand voice. All these elements combine to create the external face of your brand. When you think of a brand like McDonald’s, you immediately recognize everything from the logo to the tagline and font.
Small details like shapes and colors can have a significant impact on the way people react to visual elements you use to represent your brand. For example, professionals often use blue because it’s associated with calmness and trust. When people have that immediate perception of your brand, it’s easier for them to form a positive brand association.
The personal experiences people have with your brand are perhaps the most impactful when it comes to forming brand associations. Like we mentioned earlier, you’ve probably had a negative experience with a brand that led to a negative brand association. Maybe you ate at a restaurant and felt sick the next day, and you can’t think about that restaurant without thinking about that experience.
For many people, negative brand associations are formed because of some negative experience — whether that’s a problem with a product or a customer service issue. Creating a positive customer experience is an essential part of building positive brand associations.
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools for brands of all sizes. You can research and read reviews to find out what the average person has to say about a product, but nothing beats an endorsement from somebody who people can trust. For most people, product and brand endorsements that come from friends and family are the most meaningful because those people have no incentive to promote a brand.
In some cases, endorsements come in the form of celebrity ambassadors or influencer endorsements. From fitness influencers to major celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, countless celebrity endorsements have led to the explosion of products and brands. For example, Mint Mobile was able to become one of the most successful affordable mobile providers thanks to an endorsement by Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds.
It can also be incredibly valuable to find professionals who vouch for your brand and its products. If a company makes tools that some of the best mechanics use on a daily basis, that can have a massive impact on the way people view their brand.
For example, Lingo customer Jason Feirman, the Executive Director of Creative Design and Photography for LSU Athletics, finds value in one of our more helpful file usage features.
“One of our favorite features of the Lingo software is the capability to upload one vector file and Lingo makes it available for the user in multiple file formats. This streamlined the process of creating and maintaining our asset library tremendously.”
Authenticity is key when it comes to endorsements and celebrity ambassadors. It can be tempting to connect with some of the most popular celebrities and influencers at the moment to promote your brand to a larger audience, but many consumers see right through that tactic. Ideally, brand endorsements should be relevant and natural.
How you market your company plays a key role in the first impression you make with people. There are so many approaches to marketing, and every approach affects different people in different ways. Effective marketing is about finding a strategy that connects your target audience with your brand in a positive way.
Let’s say you run a short video ad on YouTube. People who aren’t familiar with your brand will make assumptions based on that ad, from the visuals to the messaging and tone. Is what they take away from that video accurate, actionable, and helpful? If the answer is yes, they may be more apt to recalling your brand when they’re in need of your service. If the answer is no, then it might be time to review your messaging, targeting, or tone.
Apple is one of the best examples of brand association. As a brand, Apple is known for elegance and innovation. When the newest iPhone comes out, people buy it with complete confidence because they associate innovation and quality with the Apple brand.
Toyota is another example of positive brand association. Toyotas are constantly endorsed as reliable vehicles, people have good experiences with them, and the brand has excellent marketing. As a result, Toyota is the top-selling car brand in the United States.
Building a strong brand association starts with focusing on the key elements: visuals, language, and personification. Let’s take a deeper dive into what these elements involve and how they impact brand association.
Brand visuals are designed to make an impact on the people who see them. From your logo and the colors you use to the types of images you implement in your branding, everything affects the way people connect with your brand.
Even something as simple as the shape of your logo can change the way people connect with your brand. Circles and ovals generally convey a feeling of warmth, while square and rectangular shapes feel more professional and thus are more common in professional logos.
The language you use to represent your brand is one of the most critical aspects of your branding efforts. The way you communicate with your customers determines how much trust people put into your brand and whether they view you as an expert in your industry.
For example, the popular language learning app, Duolingo, aims for expressive, playful, embracing voices, focused on worldly views. And they do not disappoint with their often quick-witted humor throughout social media, like this tweet as Red Note took off during the TikTok freeze in the United States.
Language isn’t limited to your marketing and how you communicate with customers on social media. Customer service plays a huge role in how people associate with your brand, so the customer experience should be a key focus.
As brands grow and become a key part of people’s lives, they take on an identity of their own. That personification is something you create and something that greatly affects the way customers view your brand.
The “Get a Mac” campaign that began in 2006 is an excellent example of brand personification. These ads featured two people — one representing a Mac and one representing a (Microsoft) PC. The PC would use human characteristics — like sneezing to indicate a virus — to showcase the problems with PCs and the advantages of Macs.
Building positive brand associations is simple on the surface, but it’s all about how you execute the little details. Here are some things you can do to create positive connections with your brand:
As people start to associate positively with your brand, their endorsements will lead to others having a positive perception of your brand. In time, your brand can earn a spot as a trusted source within your industry.
Establishing your brand and creating an overall positive brand perception can be a difficult task — especially if you’re just starting out. Focusing on the key elements of a strong brand can help people connect with your brand in a positive way and understand the value you provide.
With Lingo, building better brand associations is simple. Lingo is a centralized digital asset management platform where you can build your brand, update and share your brand style guide, and empower teams to do more to propel your brand. Contact us to book a demo and find out how Lingo can help you connect with people in a positive way.