Have you ever gone to the store to buy what you need, only to come out with a handful of things you didn’t need to buy? We often end up buying things that speak to us on a personal level even though we don’t really need them.
This revelation is how brands can influence consumer behavior. But to truly understand how this phenomenon works, we need to understand what consumer behavior is and how branding can successfully influence it.
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior allows marketers to decode how to sell their products and services to their target audiences.
The phrase “Eating with your eyes” perfectly explains how consumer behavior works. Whether or not you choose a particular product or service is determined by how it interacts with your likes or dislikes.
Three major factors can influence these likes and dislikes:
- Personal Factors: These are the factors that are determined by the individual’s particular opinions based on their age, race, gender, etc.
- Social Factors: These factors include the consumers’ family and friends, their level of education, their colleagues, etc.
- Psychological Factors: These factors are determined by the individual’s response to a marketing message that is based on their perceptions and attitudes.
Branding
Branding is the act of differentiating your company from the competition. It’s what sets you apart in the minds of your target audience and drives customer loyalty.A strong brand is built on a foundation of trust—trust that you will deliver on your promises and meet (or exceed) customer expectations.
A customer is likelier to purchase from a brand that reflects his self-image than the other available options. Once a brand can successfully crack the code of how to reach out to its customers using a tailored brand strategy that connects with the targeted audience on an emotional level, it can influence customer behavior to increase its sales.
Self-Congruity Theory
The self-congruity theory describes this phenomenon by stating that people are more likely to purchase a product that they see their values and beliefs reflected in. This concept of reflection of self-image in a particular product or service is how brands can successfully influence consumer behavior.
For instance, if you briefly analyze the current leading brands, you’ll see how they all have one way or the other to promote sustainability. This is because of the growing concern about global warming worldwide. Thus a successful way to promote and convince your customers to buy your product or service is to tell them about the sustainable measures you use to create your product and how environment-friendly it is.
Another example is how consumers feel about human and animal rights. Many brands now use online marketing to create content that allows their customers to see that their production process is not only environment-friendly and sustainably sourced but also doesn’t violate any human or animal rights.
How does Branding Influence Consumer Behavior?
Once the company has conducted successful analyses to study the consumer behavior of its target audiences, it becomes easier to create a brand for the products or services they offer that the consumer would be willing to buy.
A brand is a collection of carefully curated stories, relationships, messages and visual assets that provide your company with the opportunity to shape its customers’ expectations of the brand. You can view branding as crafting a unique bond between the company and the customer that is not limited to buying and selling relationships.
To create a brand that is successful in its goals of setting your product apart and cultivating a loyal customer following, you need to be well-rehearsed in consumer behavior and how your target audience perceives your brand.
Brand Perception
Once you’ve understood the consumer behavior of your target audience, you can use that to create a brand persona that will communicate to your customers on a personal level. This persona will be based on the information you’ll curate from conducting consumer behavior analyses, customer feedback, and other insights you gather about your target audience.
Your brand perception can measure how well your brand persona influences consumer behavior. Brand perception is “the overall experience, attitude, and feelings that people have with your product or service.” All your marketing strategies are targeted to create a positive brand perception.
How Does it Affect Consumer Behavior?
Brands affect consumer behavior in many ways, such as:
- How consumers perceive your product or service: Brands can influence how consumers view the product or services that you provide. This could be done with a clear statement that the brand plants in the minds of its customers. The statement would convey a message that would help the customers to connect with your brand and consider using your product. Positive brand perception will allow you to develop brand loyalty.
2. Customer Recommendations: Many people still value word of mouth when it comes to buying a product or getting the services they require. If your brand successfully connects to its target audience and holds their attention to the point that they use your products, there’s a great chance that they would also recommend it to their friends and family.
3. Builds Trust and Loyalty: A successful brand should let its customers know more about its product and development; this will help cultivate trust and build a loyal customer following.
4. Status and Prestige: Brand should communicate the status and prestige that comes with it. Customers tend to gravitate toward brands with a certain standing in the market due to the social perks that come with them. Yet the status and prestige of a good brand not only convey social popularity but also represent the brand’s quality, credibility, and satisfaction rate.
5. Purchasing Decisions: Well-established brands enjoy having a monopoly over the customer’s purchasing decisions. Their known credibility allows customers to blindly trust their popularity and prefer buying their product over a relatively new brand.
Companies such as Apple, Tesla, and Coca-Cola have one thing in common. They all have great branding strategies that not only appeal to their target audience aesthetically, but all three of them project a self-image that communicates to their customers how their product is not only credible but will add value to their lives. Apple does this by highlighting its product’s innovation and creativity, while Tesla accomplishes this by communicating to its customer the unique qualities of its cars.
A positive brand perception truly depends on the consumers rather than the company. A well-executed brand should be based on the consumer’s self-image and desires rather than communicating something that the consumers cannot relate to.