Attention is the hottest commodity any company can acquire today. How can you capture attention in an increasingly competitive market where individuals have more information and access than ever before? By crafting a thoughtfully curated brand, you offer more than just a product or service—you deliver a positive experience that resonates with individuals’ values and interests.
In the evolution of modern-day technology, branding, a commodity once considered secondary, has emerged as the most powerful asset in business, surpassing even money. A brand is no longer just a logo or a slogan; it has become a crucial component that make or break a business, even one offering best-in-class products or services to the consuming public. In an increasingly competitive marketplace where consumer perception is critical – especially in the age of cancel culture – branding has become a crucial tool that can help shape consumer perception, influence purchasing decisions, and build brand loyalty that lasts.
The Shift from Products to Experiences
In the past, a product’s quality, price, and availability were the driving forces behind its success. Today, however, offering the consuming public a great product or service is not enough. Consumers are looking for experiences that resonate with their values and lifestyles, placing trust in brands that they perceive to reflect those ideals. That is why celebrity or influence-backed brands thrive over other brands that may be just as good of quality, if not better than the popular product of the day. The popular product is often not the best product, but the one the connects with the largest audience who identify with the brand’s reputation and values. This shift has put the emphasis squarely on the brand. Companies can no longer simply buy their way into consumer’s purchasing decisions – at least not for the long term.
The best example is Apple. This company has revolutionized the way people think about technology. It’s not just about the phone or the computer—it’s about the feeling that comes with owning an Apple product. People are willing to pay a premium, not just for the functionality of the device but for the identity and lifestyle it represents. Apple has built a powerful brand that promises quality, innovation, and a sense of belonging. Ask anyone with an Android. They are all pressured to convert to the Apple universe. This is branding at its finest—fostering an emotional connection with consumers that extends far beyond a simple transaction.
Monitoring False Reviews and Fake Reviews Is Essential to Maintain the Brand Reputation and Values.
The shift in brand experience has further emphasized the necessity for companies to acquire positive reviews for consumer experiences. Brands often use surveys posted to their website, reviews on product listings, Google reviews, and even encourages consumers to post their brand experience to their social media following. This simultaneously leaves brands vulnerable to false reviews and fake reviews from promoting a competing brand. Monitoring the reviews to ensure reviews are published from actual consumers of one’s products or services is essential to 1) understanding how the consumer experience diverted from the brand’s carefully curated reputation and values to provide a positive consumer experience, and 2) ensuring any reviews published are from legitimate customers, not competitors trying to divert consumer attention away from your brand, or competitors attempting to tarnish your brand’s reputation to the consuming public.
Brands must know the potential remedies available with internet platforms and the law. Fake reviews and false reviews are strictly prohibited and violate the terms and conditions of every internet platform – whether it be a comment on an influencer’s Instagram post, a Google review on a brand’s website, or review on a product listing of an e-commerce platform. False reviews and fake reviews may further give rise to a number of legal claims such as defamation, unfair competition claims, and tortious interference claims.
The shift from the quality of the product to consumer experience requires brands to carefully monitor and swiftly attend to any reviews that reflect the consumer experience is inconsistent with the brand’s intended consumer experience. Especially in today’s highly competitive market for consumer attention, a competitor could likely be the culprit of a negative review a genuinely good product that is standing out in the market over other competing products. A brand must carefully review and evaluate the merits of the review. When a competitor is suspected to be enacting a campaign to tarnish your competing brand, you must hire a lawyer to immediately resolve and remedy the situation before the reviews negatively influence the consumer perception of your brand.
The Power of Brand Recognition Through Carefully Selected Trademarks.
A strong brand is critical to standing out in an overcrowded market. With so many businesses and products vying for attention, consumers often rely on brand recognition as a shortcut for decision-making. Businesses must form a powerful branding strategy comprised of strong, carefully curated intellectual property that can stand the test of time against competing brands and unauthorized users of the intellectual property a company builds its brand on.
Intellectual property is comprised of trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Most brands will build its brand around its company name that should be trademarked to ensure intellectual property protection from all competitors and unauthorized users. These actors in the marketplace often will use your own brand name, without authorization, to drive consumer attention away from your sales channels to their competing sales channels on the internet.
Trademarks are symbols, words, or phrases that are strongly associated and legally registered for a company to use. Most brands use trademarks to represent the face of the brand to help the brand sell, not just the product or service, but the idea, the emotion, the lifestyle, the consumer experience the brand strives to represent. For example, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Nike are all brands that don’t just sell products; they sell an idea, an emotion, a lifestyle. Consumers trust these brands because they have consistently delivered a positive customer experience that encourages its consumers to share the positive experience with family, friends, and even coworkers. Such carefully curated branding experiences has created a long-lasting relationship with the consuming public that is invaluable to any brand seeking volumes of single transaction relationships with the consuming public.
When a brand becomes synonymous with a category (such as Starbucks with coffee or Google with search engines), it solidifies its position in the consumer’s mind. Given recent years, this is crucial for a company to withstand the test of times such as the swift change in consumer’s mindsets. Think: Chick-Fil-A’s prominent stance in the market despite maintaining its outspoken Christian values and business practices (being closed on Sundays) and opposition to same-sex marriage. This level of recognition allows companies to control the market over competing brands on their own terms and build a business through a brand that can withstand the test of time.
Building Trust: Personal and Company Branding in the Consumer Landscape
In the age of social media, the concept of branding has expanded beyond companies to individuals. Influencers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders now understand that their personal brand is their currency. Social platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok have turned individuals into global brands, capable of leveraging their influence to create wealth and opportunities. Companies commonly select and use influencers whose personal brand aligns with and promotes the brand’s values and desired consumer experience. Brands can now further use influencers to reach a greater volume of people through the influencer’s promotion of the brand to their social media community.
Influencers and companies alike acquire consumer trust through authenticity and transparency. Since the rise of consumer protection laws, influencers and companies must ensure all statements made about a brand, a personal brand or advertising for others, are true and comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards. For example, any influencer endorsing or promoting a product for any amount of compensation must indicate that the post is an advertisement for the company. 16 C.F.R. Part 255. For a company, any product labeled as “organic” or “made in America” must meet the FTC standards for making such claims.
It is crucial to comply with all advertising and promotion regulations for companies and influencers alike. Compliance with all federal regulations will help grow consumer trust in the brand. More importantly, failing to comply with such regulations subjects brands to cancel culture and tarnishes consumer trust in the brand, especially now where compliance is common knowledge and now creates doubt about a brand when the brand fails to comply.
In today’s world, the right branding strategy can attract investment, build partnerships, and open doors to the consuming public that money alone cannot. Compliance with basic advertising and promotion regulations is essential to building consumer trust but can simultaneously cause brands to fall victim to cancel culture. When in doubt, hire a lawyer to ensure all advertising and promotion regulations are met before it’s too late.
Brand Loyalty: The Ultimate Currency.
In the modern business landscape, branding is more than just a strategy – it is a lifestyle. It has surpassed money as the most valuable commodity, driving growth, fostering loyalty, and creating opportunities that money alone cannot buy. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and competitive, the ability to build a strong, recognizable, and emotionally resonant brand will continue to be the key differentiator between success and failure. For businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals alike, branding is the hottest commodity in the market today—and its value will only continue to grow.
Hiring a lawyer to navigate the legal landscape to protect your brand through intellectual property rights, ensuring compliance with federal regulations for advertisement and promotions, implementing effective business practices to protect the brand and its intellectual property, and effectively removing threats to brands can save a brand from falling into the modern day’s traps that run rampant in the highly competitive online marketplace. For more information, contact Hannah Albion (HRA@kjk.com; 216.736.7268).