Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? (2024)

By Anna Ribas, on 5 October 2021

Brand association is what consumers think about when they see your brand–the thoughts, concepts, and opinions that your brand elicits in their minds. It can have a strong influence on whether a potential buyer makes a purchase from you, and strategies to encourage positive brand associations should form an integral part of your sales and marketing plan.

In fact, the brand association you develop with your audience can be influential enough to make or break your reputation. This is why it is so vital to understand how your brand is perceived and how each and every interaction can have an impact on your business.

In this post, we will discuss what brand association is and why it is so important. We will also look at how you can create positive brand association and build a solid reputation that helps you stand out from your competitors.

Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? (1)

Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? (2)

What Is Brand Association?

Brand association is defined as the qualities, traits, emotions, and concepts attached to your brand. In other words, it’s all about how your brand is perceived by your target audience and creating a positive impression. Coupled with brand awareness, it can hello you build solid brand equity.

Think of brand association as the subliminal feelings, thoughts, and ideas that your target market thinks about when they encounter your brand online. What emotional response does your brand elicit from customers? What makes you stand out from your competitors? What image pops into the minds of your target consumers when they think about your brand or see your logo? Ideally, you want to create and reinforce positive associations that encourage potential buyers to choose you over your competitors.

Common categories of brand association include:

  • Attribution Based Brand Association (pricing, packaging, quality, and appearance). For example, IKEA is good value for the money.

  • Attribute-Based Brand Association (dependent on consumer evaluations). For example, Charmin is soft.

  • Celebrity Based Brand Association (when celebrities endorse products and consumers associate them with the brand). A well-known example: Nike and Michael Jordan.

Why Brand Association Is Important

Here are a few of the many benefits of creating positive brand association:

  • Effective brand association stimulates a positive emotional response in consumers.

  • It can help you develop emotional and personal connections between your brand and consumers.

  • It reinforces your brand identity and gives consumers a reason to buy from you.

  • It can create positive feelings and attitudes about your brand.

  • It can make your brand more memorable, especially if your brand is associated with unique qualities that differentiate you from your competitors.

  • Fostering familiarity and reinforcing recognizable attributes can also encourage brand loyalty and long-term brand legacy.

  • Positive brand association can help reassure potential buyers so that they feel confident enough to make a purchase decision.

  • It can help you build a solid, positive reputation.

  • It can be a great way to launch new products or services and generate interest.

How to Create Positive Brand Association

Brand association can be influenced by the following:

  • Brand identity and messaging

  • Brand assets, such as logo and colors

  • Brand loyalty

  • Customer experience

  • Product and service quality

  • Pricing

  • Word of mouth

  • Reputation

  • Advertisements

  • Social media presence

  • Celebrity endorsements

  • Public relations

This is why it is vital to consider all business areas when you build your brand association strategy. Here are a few tips to help you create a positive brand association.

Know Your Target Audience

One of the most important factors when it comes to building a solid brand association is knowing your target audience. Without this information, it is impossible to know how best to communicate and connect with your potential customers. It’s also vital information for creating an effective marketing strategy that reinforces your positive brand association.

Think about the demographics of your typical customer. Research their educational background, their occupation, their concerns, their needs, the challenges they face, and the social media platforms they use. What are their pain points? What do they look for in a brand? Creating a buyer persona – a semi-fictional representation of your ideal or typical customer - can be a great way to better understand your target market.

Once you’ve done this, you should review all your customer touchpoints and think about how you currently interact with your target audience. How do you nurture your community? How do you address unsatisfied customers? How do you manage customer service and customer relationships? All this has an impact on your brand association.

Create a Strong Brand Identity

The next step is to create a strong brand identity. This means understanding your mission, values, brand personality, positioning, and voice. You also need to understand how your brand identity impacts your logo and narrative. What story are you telling consumers about your brand? Does the story elicit positive or negative associations? What about your messaging? Are you effectively communicating the value and unique qualities your brand has to offer? Are you using the right tone?

Generally speaking, if your corporate voice is friendly, warm, and reassuring then this will translate into the concepts, thoughts, and feelings elicited in the minds of consumers when they think about your brand.

Be Consistent

The final tip to keep in mind when you build your brand association is consistency.

Ideally, once you’ve put the work in, researched your target audience and created a strong brand identity that appeals to your potential consumers, you should leave things be. If you frequently make changes to your branding, identity, logo or style of messenger then all you will do is confuse your audience.

Build a strong brand association between your core messages and values and the visual elements of your brand, then stick to it. This is the best way to stand out from the competition and build a solid customer base – a particularly valuable perk in highly competitive, saturated markets.

Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? (3)

Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? (2024)

FAQs

Brand Association: What Is It and Why Is It Important? ›

What is brand association? Brand association is a mental connection a customer makes between your brand and a concept, image, emotion, experience, person, interest, or activity. This association can be immediately positive or negative and it heavily influences purchase decisions.

Why is brand association important? ›

The power of brand associations can lead to brand consideration, and through word-of-mouth, your brand can definitely garner more footfall. Positive brand association not only influences a buyer's purchase decision but also ensures user satisfaction, thus making it a critical factor for building brand image.

What is the best example of a brand association? ›

Here are some popular brand association examples most people have:
  • Google – search, information, answers.
  • Apple – innovation, simplicity.
  • Nike – sports, athletes, performance.
  • Microsoft – windows, computers, software.
Jun 22, 2020

What is brand purpose and why is it important? ›

Brand purpose: The fundamental reason your business operates, emphasizing its commitment to creating a positive impact on society or its surrounding environment. It provides a deeper meaning to the company's existence, inspiring both employees and customers.

What is a brand and why is it important? ›

A brand is the identity and story of a company that makes it stand out from competitors that sell similar products or services. The goal of branding is to earn space in the minds of the target audience and become their preferred option for doing business.

Why is association important? ›

Most associations offer some tangible benefits—such as products, services, information, and discounts—as well as many intangible benefits, such as networking, a sense of community and common purpose, and even the opportunity to volunteer.

What is the key brand association? ›

the key brand association is. the extent to which the customer feels a personal connection to the brand. concrete features are. easiest to deliver and explain to customers, but are also relatively easily matched by competitors.

What is Nike's brand association? ›

Logos and Symbols: The visual identity of a brand, including logos, colors, and designs, which trigger associations. The swoosh of Nike, for instance, instantly brings to mind the brand's association with athleticism and performance.

How to build a positive brand association? ›

Start With A Brand Strategy

It helps you define the core aspects of your brand, including your unique value proposition (UVP), mission, vision and brand values. By investing time in your brand strategy, you can align your brand with those you aim to build a positive connection with — your target audience.

What is the purpose and benefit of branding? ›

It can help you build trust with customers, increase your market share, and drive sales. A strong brand can also improve your company's overall value, attract top talent, and create a sense of unity among your employees.

What are the three main purposes of branding of a product? ›

The 3 main goals of branding for a business are to influence people's associations and feelings about the brand, to create a distinct identity, and to build loyalty over time.

Does every brand need a purpose? ›

Developing purpose is an integral part of your brand strategy. As a reminder, brand strategy is a plan that focuses on the long-term development of your purpose and emotional impact so that you can grow your business. Every brand needs one.

What is the most important thing for a brand? ›

1. Logo. Every brand needs a logo design. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a brand that doesn't have a logo, which arguably makes it the most important element of branding.

What is the power of branding? ›

Brand power is the collective trust, loyalty and respect that customers have for a brand. This can come from years of customer feedback and/or recognition in the industry. When a business cultivates brand power, they enable a transformation.

What are the three stages of brand loyalty? ›

Now that you know how customers perceive brand loyalty, you should also better understand the three levels of brand loyalty: brand recognition, brand preference, and brand insistence.

Why is brand authority important? ›

Brand authority is vital for businesses, allowing them to build trust and credibility and establish a strong reputation. Learn more about its importance here. As a business, standing out isn't just about having a great product or service — it's about being seen as the go-to expert in your field.

Why is association membership important? ›

Membership Benefits

Access to Resources: Members often gain access to a wealth of resources, including industry-specific research, publications, best practices, and educational materials.

Why is brand collaboration important? ›

Brand collaborations offer a powerful avenue for audience expansion. Partnering with another brand enables companies to tap into each other's customer bases, reaching demographics that may not have been accessible otherwise or would require a lot of time and resources to go independently.

How do brand associations help build brand equity? ›

Brand associations help you stand out from competitors and attract customers who are open to the connections you elicit. They reinforce your brand identity, tying personal feelings to your product or service. At its best, a positive association improves brand loyalty by making a brand more recognizable and memorable.

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