Customer allegiance is a valuable resource, but it is hard won in the current economic climate. Consumers place great stock in brand authenticity and are beginning to experiment with alternate options where they see their favorites lacking. 

Reaching and retaining the customer is the name of the game for Sales and Marketing teams now and an effective omnichannel approach is the means of achieving that. Since the outset of the pandemic we’ve seen a broad business adoption of omnichannel systems as they simply can’t afford not to. 

Establishing brand authenticity has never been quite as difficult as it is currently. Consumer loyalty is harder to earn, their purchasing habits are more erratic and ultimately, their priorities in the day-to-day have altered, potentially irreversibly. To win these customers back, a business must enhance its brand image across all channels to reach out to their audience wherever they may be and reengage them. 

Time to Fine Tune Your Brand: How to Develop Bold Brand Strategy and Channel Authenticity 

Based on research gained by Stackla, 90% of consumers have stated that brand authenticity is important when choosing what they like and support. During this period of crisis, it is vital that organizations establish a strong digital presence that promotes their business’s core values & creates a genuine connection with consumers. Authenticity is about staying true to a brand’s identity. 

Target Audience 

Identifying your target audience is an integral part of forging a more impactful brand identity and in order to reach out to the right people, businesses should consider the following. 

• Conduct market research to determine demographics, psychographics, and other insights 
• Make efforts to recognize customer pain points 

• Use data and analytics to help you to better understand your customer 
• Don’t go too broad with your search, focus on evangelists and build out 
• Employ a multi-segment approach to gain customers from different market segments 

Authentic and Consistent Messaging 

As Forbes discovered in July, 79% of CMOs believe customers are focusing more on ‘trusting relationships’ with brands and paying closer attention to the social activism, outreach and investments of companies than on low price, despite the economic downturn. Authentic and consistent messaging are critical to how a brand positions itself for the pandemic and both should be approached cautiously if you wish to activate or reactivate consumers at this time. 

Digitalwellbeing.org defines brand authenticity as “the extent to which consumers perceive a brand to be faithful toward itself, true to its consumers, motivated by caring and responsibility, and able to support consumers in being true to themselves”. Shoppers do not want pushiness at this time and are looking for brands which have their safety and wellbeing in mind. A failure to signpost this is damning. 

Consistent representation of your brand via its messaging is also essential. According to Lucidpress, consistent presentation of a brand has seen revenue in certain companies increase by as much as 33% year-on-year. Consistent and authenticity of your message will prove pivotal in retaining and activating customers, a revenue increase of 33% at this time could be the difference between success and closure. 

Measuring Success 

Effectively measuring success is essential in activating the benefits of the prior points. By studying your website traffic, looking at your search volume data, engaging in social listening and undertaking surveys, you can effectively quantify your impact and use that to fine tune your brand for the future. 

To learn more, download the full report here or continue the debate at the Omnichannel Insight Summit NA, a GDS Summit, where we bring together senior Sales & Marketing executives who are actively seeking to share, learn, engage, and find the best technology solutions. 

GDS Group hosts experts to help experts. We strive to provide an atmosphere for our attendees that enables them to confidently lead their companies through major transformation projects. For information on upcoming events, view our  Digital Summits. To remain current on our activities, visit GDS Group on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter.