What is brand power? How to improve your branding score

What is brand power? Is it just another term for brand equity, or a way to refer to powerful branding? Not Exactly. Your brand power score, or brand strength actually hinges on a number of factors that influence consumer perceptions, the loyalty of your target audience, and your revenue.

A strong brand allows companies to set premium prices for their products, foster trust among consumers, and differentiate themselves from market competitors. These brands become household names, forging strong emotional connections that constantly drive growth.

So, what does brand power really mean, and how can you cultivate it for your company?

This guide will tell you everything you need to know.

What is brand power? The power of a brand

Brand power is the ability of a brand to influence consumer perceptions, loyalty, and purchasing decisions. Power brands create strong emotional connections with their customers, build incredible reputations, and positively influence consumer behavior.

Your brand power score is influenced by various factors, from how memorable your brand image and voice is, to how you deliver exceptional customer experience, produce the best product for your target audience, and encourage repeat business.

Brand power isn’t just about building brand recognition or awareness. It’s about developing a brand that nurtures trust and loyalty. When a company delivers consistent quality, it develops a loyal customer base that helps it thrive and grow.

While developing brand power takes time, it can significantly elevate the value of a company, increasing revenue and profits, enhancing the ROI of marketing campaigns, and optimizing your market share.

What are the brand power models?

The brand power model is a method used to describe the concept of brand power. A lot of companies have their own thoughts when it comes to defining the power of a brand.

Some brand power models suggest brand strength relies on a combination of intangible assets, like the dependability, familiarity, and value a company offers. Others say that brand power is all about being able to attract and retain a specific share of the market.

Ask most market leaders, “What is brand power”, however, and they’ll tell you it’s the measure of a brand and its strength in an industry, influenced by numerous factors.

Brand strength: Brand power vs brand equity

One of the reasons so many companies struggle with the question: “What is brand power?” is that on the surface, it seems similar to “brand equity”.

However, there’s some difference between these concepts.

Brand power is the magnetic pull of your company that turns everyday people into advocates for your company. It’s a measure of how well you resonate with your target audience, gain their trust, and strengthen your position in your market.

Brand equity, on the other hand, is more commonly based on cold hard facts. It looks at how your strategic marketing campaigns, branding efforts and products increase your revenue and company’s value. Brand power effects brand equity, but there are various other factors at play.

How to measure brand power: Brand power metrics

Measuring brand power is tricky. A high revenue isn’t enough to indicate you have brand power. It just shows you’re making a profit right now. Power brands have the potential to maintain profits and grow because they have strong relationships with their customers.

To calculate your brand power score, you’ll need to look at the following things:

Brand recognition

One of the top things all of the best brands have in common is that they’re instantly recognizable. Everyone knows the Coca-Cola logo, Wendy’s unique tone of voice, and Apple’s innovative tech. Measuring brand recognition means figuring out how easy it is for people to identify your brand.

You can run surveys, focus groups, and interviews to find out how familiar people are with your product line, your values, and your brand name. You can also use social listening tools and search engine ranking tools to track brand mentions.

Brand loyalty

It’s one thing for your potential customers to easily recognize your brand and product name. It’s another thing for them to consistently choose your company over the competition. Measuring brand loyalty means looking at how often customers put your brand first.

It means evaluating your number of repeat customers, and their customer lifetime value, checking out how regularly customers recommend you to their friends, and how often they buy new products. It also means keeping a close eye on your customer churn rate.

Brand association

Brand association is crucial to measuring brand power, as it highlights how customers feel about your company and products. The most powerful brands use various strategies to generate positive brand associations, ensuring companies connect them with concepts of value, and reliability.

Measuring brand association means looking at a few things, such as how your customers describe your company (online, via social media, and to friends).

You’ll also need to examine perceived brand quality, by reading reviews, and using surveys to see how much customers are willing to pay for your products, compared to those offered by your competitors.

What is a power brand? Top examples

If you’re not sure whether you have a high level of brand power, it can help to look at some examples of global brands with significant strength. Power brands are everywhere. They’re distinguished not just by their consistent sales growth, but the loyalty of their customers.

Reddit is a power brand known for building the world’s largest online community. It reaches global markets, and constantly attracts both users, and companies looking for third-party advertising opportunities.

Other examples of power brands include:

• Salesforce: Salesforce is known as the world’s leading CRM company for a reason. Its commitment to building a strong company culture, an instantly recognizable brand image, and unique power products has elevated it above other industry leaders.
• Starbucks: Starbucks might not have the cheapest (or best) coffee in the world, according to some consumers, but it’s an instantly recognizable companies that consumers love. It has built a world-leading community around its commitment to customer experience.
• Disney: Disney is another power brand with an incredible identity. It has positioned itself not just as the leading family entertainment company, but as a source of inspiration and creativity, that appeals to consumers around the world, through strategic partnerships.
• Apple: The Apple Company has built brand power by investing in a wide range of products with unique features, and a commitment to ease of use. Its brand positioning situates it as an innovator, attracting ambitious tech enthusiasts everywhere.
• Coca-Cola: Even if you prefer Pepsi, you can’t deny the appeal of Coca-Cola as a brand. It has successfully manipulated consumer perception to position its self as the “OG” market leader in the soft drinks market.

How to build brand power: Elements of brand power

Now you know the answer to: “What is brand power?” you’re probably wondering how you can build it yourself. Brand power doesn’t happen by chance. It’s something companies need to cultivate with a compelling brand identity, and commitment to customer experience.

Here’s what you’ll need to develop brand power…

1. A memorable brand identity

The first thing any power brand needs is a strong brand identity. We’re not just talking about a great logo here. Your brand identity is influenced by everything from your brand values to your personality, tone of voice, and unique selling propositions.

A great brand identity should encompass:

• Your brand essence: The vision, mission, and values behind your brand. Everything that defines your purpose, the promise you make to customers, and your industry focus.
• Brand image: All of the visual elements of your brand, from your logo and color palette to your brand photography, illustrations, graphics, and website design.
• Brand personality: Your tone of voice, how you interact with customers, the attributes you convey and even your brand name.
• Your brand strategy: Your brand positioning, the way you develop products, your approach to marketing and customer service, and your product architecture.
• Your USP: What you offer to differentiate you from your competition, such as unique product quality, or amazing customer service.

For an example of a comprehensive brand identity, look at Causeway. We worked with them to create a brand positioning strategy, visual identity, messaging strategy, product architecture and more, that resonates specifically with their target audience.

2. Brand consistency

Consistency is key to brand power. It’s hard to develop the strength of a brand and its identity with a specific audience if your company is always changing. While your product portfolio might evolve, alongside your marketing strategy, consistency is still key.

You’ll need to ensure the key factors of your brand identity remain the same over time, to build familiarity with your customers. This could mean retaining certain visible elements of a brand in all of your marketing materials (such as a specific logo or color palette).

It could mean creating brand guidelines for how you’re going to communicate with your target market through different channels, and what kind of language you’ll use.

It could even involve focusing on how you develop products throughout your brand development journey, to deliver a consistent level of quality.

3. Power products

All of the world’s most powerful brands have exceptional products. They deliver on their promises, by creating products that adhere to their customer’s expectations in terms of value, functionality, sustainability, longevity, and more.

When developing products, and deciding on your product’s features, invest in extensive research. Find ways to differentiate yourself from the competition by offering unique capabilities and experiences they can’t provide.

Learn as much as you can about your target audience, their pain points, and their goals, and use their feedback to spur product development and brand strategy. Set quality standards for everything you create, and invest in training your team members to deliver exceptional quality.

4. Audience engagement

As mentioned, one thing that differentiates power brands from brands that are simply profitable, is a strong relationship with their target audience. Power brands have engaged, supportive customers, who actively contribute to their growth with continued loyalty.

For example, MacMillan is a power brand in the nonprofit sector, because it shares content regularly with customers, invests in two-way conversations with its community, and delivers amazing service.

To enhance audience engagement, you’ll need to focus on:

• Customer experience: Delivering an exceptional experience is crucial to earning customer loyalty. Commit to rapidly responding to customer questions, helping them overcome their problems, and simplifying the purchasing experience.
• Marketing: The content you create and marketing campaigns you run have a direct impact on engagement. Experiment with everything from TV commercials to social media marketing strategies, augmented reality, and immersive experiences.
• Community: Power brands nurture their audience through community initiatives, from forums, to rewards programs, like Sephora’s Beauty Insider program. Leverage insights from your community, and use their feedback to guide growth.

5. Strategic partnerships

Brand association, one of the main factors of brand power, is often heavily influenced by partnerships and collaborations. Forging strategic partnerships with other reputable brands in your industry can make your company seem more credible.

Working with influencers or celebrities who can endorse your company has a similar effect. Studies have even shown that partnerships are one of the best way to build new audiences, build relationships, and boost revenue.

Find third-party groups who can contribute to a significant increase in the influence you have on your market, whether they’re thought leaders, other companies, or public relations companies. The right partners will help you develop a positive brand image.

6. Strong company culture

Building a great company culture isn’t just beneficial for your team. It can also help to establish brand power. Today’s customers make judgements about companies based on how they treat their people. If you commit to empowering and supporting your team, customers will support you in return.

Additionally, a strong company culture can have a significant influence on your brand’s growth. Team members can advocate for your company and help expand your reach. They can help you attract new investors and stakeholders for future development.

They can also bring a third-party voice to your business strategy, helping you to uncover new opportunities in your market, and new ways to increase your unique value proposition.

Boost your brand power score with Fabrik

So, what is brand power? Essentially, it’s the strategy you use to entice, captivate, and retain your customers. It’s a potent mix of everything you do to build brand recognition, loyalty, and positive associations for your brand.

Brand power combines the power of branding, with a commitment to customer experience, community engagement, and strategy, to give you the ability to thrive in your industry.

But harnessing brand power for your own company isn’t easy.

That’s why at Fabrik, we give companies the recipe they need to build brand strength, combining visual design, with messaging strategy, positioning, and more.

Reach out to our team to learn how we can help you create a powerful brand that engages customers, separates you from the competition, and increases revenue.

Become a brand power today.

Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.