The millennium era has made many businesses expand their marketing strategies in the digital realm. Brands not only sell products but also offer brand personality to build audience trust. Therefore, business owners create brand pillars to communicate brand identity to the audience. That way, the audience can feel connected, and loyalty increases. So, let’s cover everything you should know about brand pillars!
What are Brand Pillars?
Brand pillars combine values and characteristics that make up your brand. That way, you’ll know how you communicate your message to your audience. The brand pillar is also an aspect that defines the brand and how the audience perceives it.
These pillars can set you apart from your competitors. That is the reason why you need brand pillars in business development. When someone asks why your customers love your brand, your brand pillars might be the answer. So, you must strategically define these brand pillars to provide better customer service.
The 5 Brand Pillars You Need and How to Determine It
To make it easier to understand what brand pillars are, let’s discuss the five pillars below: purpose, perception, personality, positioning, and promotion, along with five examples.
1. Purpose
Think carefully about “why should you choose your brand?” and “What do you want to achieve?”. This pillar is the root of your strategy.
You have to connect with the brand’s purpose. Goals become the foundation of a business that must resonate with your vision and mission. Set goals strategically and clearly because this is why you are growing the company you are building and why your employees come to the office every morning.
You can share your goals transparently with your audience, such as the background story of the founding of the business, the challenges of launching a business, or how your business can grow over time.
For example, Nice to Meet You Studio is a fully remote agency that recruits great designers from anywhere. We empower designers throughout Indonesia to be able to create without having to work in big cities. In addition, small or large businesses in any part of Indonesia can use our design services.
Share your reasons for being, what motivates you, and how you use that motivation to serve your customers.
Defining pillar goals can start by asking yourself some of these questions:
Why build your business?
What do you want to achieve?
How do you want to serve your customers?
What value do you offer customers?
2. Perception
It is the customer’s eyes that shape the perception of your brand. It’s about how your customers perceive and define your brand daily. You can ask your audience directly how they perceive your brand. Is it challenging to match your audience’s business goals and their perception? That evaluation. If it doesn’t work, you can change your strategy. After all, it is the brand that guides audience perception.
An example of this brand pillar is Apple. They managed to create an innovative, high-quality, excellent perception of price, quality, and design.
Start with these questions to determine the pillars of perception:
How do you want people to see your brand?
How do other people describe you?
What role do you play in the minds of your customers?
What do they consider your value?
It is entirely in the hands of your audience as to how they interpret your brand.
3. Personality
Personality is more than just how you communicate with the public. It’s about who and how you view yourself as a brand. Personality can be a character, attitude, and overall vibe.
These pillars help create a connection between your brand and your audience. Remember, customers love to make purchases with emotional decisions. So make sure you present the right brand personality. Define these pillars before guiding interactions with customers.
For example, Starbucks has a brand personality such as relaxed, inviting, and down-to-earth.
Determine the brand pillar personality by answering the following questions:
What type of tone of voice do you use in communication?
What are the words that represent your brand?
4. Positioning
You can approach your target market with brand pillar positioning. The correct positioning can be why customers choose them over competitors regardless of price.
For example, Netflix used to be only a DVD rental business, but the digital world is growing. So Netflix transformed its business model into a streaming service that offers TV shows, movies, series, documentaries, and more.
By determining the proper positioning, brands can build loyalty and reach a larger market.
You can answer the questions below to determine your brand positioning:
Who is your ideal target market? And why did you pull them?
Who are your competitors? And what sets you apart from them?
Where do they spend their time online?
Where do they buy things online?
How do you deliver a great customer experience?
How do you interact with your customers and audience?
5. Promotion
These brand pillars are essential for getting your message out there for all to see. This pillar focuses on reaching your brand and understanding how to generate organic or paid promotions. Brand promotion refers to your company’s actions to attract new customers and develop loyalty from its existing audience. Consistent your advertising with brand guidelines so that customers can quickly identify the promotion, and it should fully reflect your brand image.
For example, Google’s promotion offers free front-end products and services.
To determine this brand pillar for your business, you can answer the following questions:
Where are your customers looking for you or your competitors?
What kind of experience would you like your customers to have?
What made them want to extend the experience?
How do customers and prospects communicate with you?
Where do they meet you online?
Who represents your brand?
Implement These Five Brand Pillars for Your Business Success!
Use it to build a brand identity that stands out from the rest of the market. Then, balance a strong strategy across all the brand pillars so your business can look convincing in customers’ eyes.
Brand pillars are also pillars of the success of a brand. Therefore, they are critical in establishing your messaging strategy, communication strategy, and business strategy. By defining your brand pillars, you can ensure that your brand can reach your target audience correctly.
