Quick! Think of a brand and picture their logo in your mind. What was it? Was it Apple? Nike? Starbucks? A great majority of people would say YES, and it’s no wonder. These brands are masters of building brand equity.
Brand equity is a delicate balance that revolves around a brand’s reputation with their consumers. There’s a variety of factors that go into brand equity from social to economic to environmental responsibility. What your company does matters to your consumers and it can impact your business. Here’s everything you should know about building brand equity.
What is brand equity?
In short, brand equity is the value of a brand as it is perceived by customers. Brand equity is described as either positive or negative. Positive brand equity means that customers think highly of the brand. Negative brand equity think that a brand fails to deliver, and thus it has a poor reputation.
If you’re interested in marketing, you may wonder how brand equity and brand (corporate) image relate. Brand image is the current view that a customer has about a brand. It’s what the brand stands for in the customer’s mind – perhaps resulting from the logo, slogan, values project by the company, etc. Brand equity, however, is the value that the customer places on the brand in comparison with other brands in the market. The customer may take the brand’s image and assign it this value based on their own individual perception and loyalty. Thus, brand equity is, in a way, built and earned by a company whereas the image is merely projected.
What impacts an organization’s brand equity?
If an organization’s brand equity is built and earned, you may be wondering how a company goes about doing so. Here are some factors that are crucial if you want to work towards building brand equity for your company.
- Corporate social responsibility. Social responsibility is the effort that a company makes to do good in society. They use their own resources to make an impact on the world around them – including their customers and employees. Having a strong corporate social responsibility at the core of their values can help build brand equity.
- Environmental sustainability initiatives. Customers are constantly evaluating even their favorite companies. They ask questions like what sort of an impact do they make on the environment? Are they helping or hurting the Earth? Do they make business decisions that are purely self-serving? Are they committed to protecting the environment? When these answers are positive, it is building up the brand equity. When they’re negative, it can have a disastrous effect.
- Economic responsibility. Companies make decisions every single day. Maintaining ethical business practices and having a deep focus on economic responsibility can help a company prioritize to keep their customers and their mission at the forefront of what they’re doing. Ultimately, companies who don’t always have the bottom line at the top of their priority list often have better brand equity.
- Small actions, big impact. Not everything has to be about a company’s large overarching values. Remember, your organization’s image and brand are impacted by some of your smallest actions. And thanks to social media, these actions can easily be amplified if you’re not careful. For example, “water shaming” has come to the forefront of customer attention. If your organization is one that blatantly wastes water, you could seriously damage your brand equity.
As a company, there comes a point where you have to make a choice where to invest. Putting resources into building brand equity is one of the smartest investments you can make, and you can do that with smart water management. Investing in solutions that manage water use is a multi-faceted way to ensure that you benefit as a business while also benefitting from a reputation boost with your customers. This investment allows you to…
- Save water
Achieve your sustainability goals and shout about your savings from the mountaintop! Smart water management solutions first and foremost save water.
- Reduce your carbon footprint
A lot of companies are now demonstrating their environmental efforts by displaying their carbon footprint to their customer. The goal is always to reduce your carbon footprint, and since saving water also saves energy, by using less water you’ll be one step closer in reducing carbon footprint!
- Have remote control and management
Perhaps the most convenient part about many smart water management technology is that it can be controlled remotely from any mobile device or laptop that has internet access. Fewer site visits to address a water leak – manage things while you are away. Don’t worry about your water management while you run your business.
- Avoid unnecessary water use
Don’t ever get bad press for watering the landscape in a rainstorm or never fixing those leaky faucets in the bathrooms customers use. Implementing smart water management means you won’t ever be using water in unnecessary times. You’ll save water and avoid bad press.
Smart irrigation solutions from HydroPoint provides outdoor water management which helps build brand equity for any organization, big or small. Just check out how Oracle did it. With smart irrigation technology, Oracle reduced their irrigation by nearly 29 percent. This saved 10 million gallons of water and nearly $100,000. Their switch not only saved them money and water, but it also won them an award. Talk about building brand equity!
And if you’re not convinced, read Lowe’s Reduces Water Use and Carbon Footprint with Smart Irrigation Across 939 Stores. The results are clear – less water, more profit, better brand equity. It’s a win-win-win.
Conclusion
Ensure you are conscious of business investments and decisions because they may impact your company’s brand or image without your even realizing it. Building brand equity may not be easy, but it’s worth it when you reap the benefits of customer loyalty, better margins, and a competitive advantage against your competition.