Learning how to improve your brand is the work of a lifetime, not a moment. Fate-bestowed viral moments aside, building a brand requires long-term, deliberate effort. And keeping that brand in good condition can sometimes be even harder than building it to begin with.
Brand image improvement isn’t always easy. You’ll need to pivot and call in some help from time to time. But some things don’t require in-depth expertise or years of experience. A few careful changes can give your brand an instant facelift – and show where you still need to improve.
15 tried and true tips for brand image improvement
There are dozens of tips out there for how to improve your brand. And, as we said, branding is the work of a lifetime, but we’ll keep it brief. After years of proven success helping businesses brand and rebrand, these 15 things can make the biggest difference.
1. Develop and improve your brand identity
Brand image improvement will only get you so far if you don’t have a good base to work with. You might need a rebrand, which means learning how to rebrand your business. And even if you don’t need a full rebrand, your brand identity may need some attention before it can thrive.
2. Revisit your site’s navigation
You want your site to be easy to navigate on desktop and mobile, but websites aren’t “set it and forget it” brand assets. New technology, more sophisticated audiences, and increased competition demand that you return to your site often and make adjustments to ensure the best SEO ranking and customer experience.
3. Reply to your customers
Whether it be in emails, blog comments, on other people’s blogs, or in posts they make on their respective sites, website owners who respond to their followers grow their audience and build a strong, dedicated fan base.
Creating a strategy for how to improve your brand has to be customer-focused, and that means bringing them into the conversation.
4. Avoid the hard sell
Better yet, skip straight-up sales pitches altogether. Savvy (and not-so-savvy) visitors to your site tune out anything that even hints of being a pitch to sell them a service or product. They are tired of spiels, gimmicks, and online harangue.
Well-known Internet entrepreneur Corbett Barr from ThinkTraffic.net has said, “The best sales pitch ever is no sales pitch at all.” He’s right. There are vastly better ways to make conversions.
5. Use your customers’ names
There’s enormous power in the simple act of using a person’s name. It’s not a new trick, but it’s one of the best in the book. Using first names in customer interactions builds relationship capital – including customer trust and loyalty.
6. Always deliver more than you promise
Remember the last time you got an extra gift as a surprise or “thank you” from a brand? That “surprise and delight” feeling that comes when a brand over-delivers can’t be manufactured.
One of the best tips for how to improve your brand is to ensure you don’t just meet your customers’ expectations – you need to exceed them.
7. Content is king (kind of)
Yes, content is crucial in the modern economy. But you also can’t put up an AI-generated blog or Instagram post and expect to be an overnight success. When you’re using content as part of your plan for how to improve your brand, make sure it’s high-quality and aligns with your current brand identity and goals.
8. Be true — always
Nothing is more important than honesty and transparency. You don’t have to share the intimate details of your life, but you absolutely must be honest about who you are and what your business stands for.
9. Be consistent
On average, we see an estimated 5,000 ads a day. Consistency is what makes your brand stand out in that ever-changing sea of ads. And more importantly, it builds trust and keeps your customers coming back because they know they can expect a stellar experience every time.
10. Be a storyteller
Authentic brand storytelling can make or break you. Anyone can come up with a list of features and benefits. It takes a powerful brand to tell a story.
11. Gather and leverage brand intelligence
When it comes to how to improve your brand, nothing beats brand intelligence. Gather data from your real customers and use it to inform your branding. The positive response when your customers see how you’ve used their feedback can be precisely what your brand needs to grow.
12. Know thine enemy
Creating a strategy for how to improve your brand can’t focus on your brand alone. Your competitors are trying to get your customers’ attention, too. Listen. Learn. Use your competitors to fuel your brand’s improvement.
13. Define and improve your company culture
Your brand is more than just your customers. For your brand to be truly successful, you need to get your employees on board. Focusing some of your brand image improvement on your employees can turn them into your fiercest, most powerful advocates – even when they aren’t dealing directly with customers.
14. Don’t let yourself stagnate
Learning how to improve your brand isn’t the work of a single day, quarter, or even a single year. It’s a lifelong journey that requires regular stops for maintenance. You’ll need to refresh your brand every 3-5 years, and occasionally you’ll need a full-blown rebrand.
You don’t need to change your brand for the sake of changing it, but you do need to make sure your brand grows with your customers and industry, instead of being left in the dust.
Flux Branding at Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars
15. Work with a trusted brand image agency
Choose a rebranding agency that has a proven methodology and reach out to them. They live and breathe brands, and they’ll be able to provide tailored advice on how to improve your brand. Then, they’ll be able to guide you through the steps you need for a brand that resonates with your customers and pulls in new business.
How to improve your brand in 2024: best practices and industry secrets
General best practices for brand image improvement are simple, but improving a brand isn’t always easy. When best practices have taken you as far as they can go, it’s time to reach out for help.
As an experienced brand identity agency, Flux Branding understands what it means to develop a successful brand and to build a base of dedicated fans.
Reach out to learn more about how we can help you build your brand.