When talking about brand success, it’s easy to bring up brands like Nike or Apple to demonstrate the power of branding on market positioning. Sure, they are great examples. But they are also some of the biggest brands in the world. 

But most brands are not Fortune 500 companies. 

For smaller brands, growth is one of the most important considerations. Without awareness and recognition, these brands cannot leverage their identity to add value to products in the customers’ minds. Unknown brands have to fight an uphill battle against more powerful competition.

In this article, we’ll dive into some of the best methods you can use to grow your brand. 

You’ll learn how you can:

1. Improve your brand perception
2. Use your ads to drive brand growth
3. Know when to consider a rebranding strategy

Let’s dive in!

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1. How to Improve Brand Perception

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Growth without a positive brand image is hard to come by. This is why improving your brand perception can do wonders for your brand growth.

According to Edelman’s research, over 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before considering a purchase. And trust is just one factor. Familiarity, credibility, and brand likability are also crucial elements that shape brand perception. These factors influence whether customers will try your products, stay loyal, or abandon your brand altogether.

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Brand Perception is a Dynamic Process

Every interaction with a brand affects customer relationships. Maintaining a strong brand image requires attention to detail. Our study with the Mobile Marketing Association found that even something as simple as a slow-loading website can significantly harm brand perception.

And that can be fatal for your brand. Customer research shows that a shocking 32% of customers will abandon brands they love after just one negative customer experience.

One small mistake can be costly for large brands—and devastating for smaller ones.

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Strategic Celebrity Endorsements Boost Positive Brand Associations

Michael Cera’s CeraVe endorsement has won the Social and Influencer Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Find out why it worked so well here.

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Celebrity partnerships are a commonly used strategy to reinforce positive associations with your audience. Faces, particularly the faces of celebrities, are attention magnets.

A friendly face can make your brand seem more approachable and trustworthy. There are many theories as to why this may be, and while there isn’t one dominating explanation, we have overwhelming evidence to support the efficacy of this strategy. 

Although A-list celebrities may be reserved for brands that are already successful, smaller brands can still tap into the power of this strategy by embracing influencer marketing on social media. Influencers are more approachable for most brands, and getting relevant influencers to endorse your brand can do wonders for your brand perception. You can read more about this phenomenon in this article.

2. How to Use Ads for Brand Growth

Advertising is an essential part of brand building and growth.

When it comes to branding in your ads, there are several considerations that can make or break your efforts. As discussed in this article, brands are webs of thoughts and associations. These associations can be strategically targeted with your ad campaigns.

For example, displaying your brand in social media posts that your audience finds “creative” and “likable” boosts brand appeal, familiarity, and trust. These associations are implicit. There are no quick fixes to get your audience to make these connections, but you can strategically aim to build positive associations that can strengthen your brand image and drive growth over time.

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Put Your Brand at the Center of Attention

Attention to your brand is essential to initiate growth with your ads. 

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It should come as no surprise that your ads should prominently display your brand elements if you want to drive brand growth and recognition. Yet, we often see brands hide their branding elements and focus too much on abstract concepts during the ads. It’s a common mistake.

A popular example is hiding your brand logo in the  “Corner of Death”—the bottom right corner of your ads. 

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Research has repeatedly shown that this spot receives little to no attention. This can be a major mistake. Even if the audience finds your ads entertaining, without attention to the brand, they will not be able to build those positive brand associations you’re after.

Your brand will not grow in the subconscious mind of your customers because they simply won’t associate that positive experience with your brand. If you’re guilty of doing this, consider displaying your brand more prominently at the center of attention. You should see an immediate uplift in brand recognition and recall.

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Platform Selection Influences Brand Growth

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Not all platforms are created equal.

Our research study with Forebrain and Warner Bros Discovery found that running ads on streaming platforms, television, and social media creates completely different effects on how viewers see your brand.

The study highlights that running your ads on social media may hinder your brand’s credibility, while running those same ads on TV and streaming services boosts it. Interestingly, for well-known brands, running ads on HBO’s streaming service boosted brand liking, while running those on TV did the exact opposite.

You can find more insights like this in our annual advertising report, the State of Advertising 2024. These insights are just a fraction of the considerations you can make when choosing the appropriate platforms for growing your brand with ads.

Once you have the platform dialed in, you still have to decide on the real estate you want to occupy:

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How Ad Size & Format Impacts Your Brand

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Even with the right platform, you can still optimize your emotional impact by paying attention to where exactly your ads will be displayed. While in-stream centralized ads are great at driving attention, they are also often seen as annoying, which can create negative impressions. The intrusive nature of these ads can result in a decrease in brand liking among your target audience.

Side banners, on the other hand, can be more difficult to draw attention to, but they provide higher recall among users and are seen as less intrusive than in-stream ads. Once again, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for choosing your ad placement, but you can selectively boost certain brand associations with the right material in the right place.

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3. How to Successfully Rebrand for Brand Growth

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As mentioned before, every interaction with your brand boosts or hinders your brand perception. This, in turn, impacts your potential for growth. In some cases, your brand values or mission may not match your current brand identity. In other cases, you might pivot to explore new industries and markets.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, it might be a sign to consider a rebranding strategy.

Your brand is never stagnant. Change was never optional—it's a necessity. Those who are not willing to change are left behind. But those who change too much become hard to recognize. It’s a delicate balance.

Brands are often reluctant to change their identity. This may be because of the sunk-cost fallacy.

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The sunk-cost fallacy is a psychological phenomenon whereby you’re reluctant to abandon a strategy because you’ve invested heavily in it. The flip side is that abandoning your old strategy may be painful, but it can pay dividends in the long run.

Just because you have already spent years promoting a certain brand identity, it doesn’t mean you should stick with it forever. Even big players can sometimes benefit from a rebranding strategy.

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How Burger King Boosted Brand Growth With a New Brand Identity 

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The fast-food giant, Burger King, recently underwent a massive rebranding campaign to reinforce its commitment to sustainability, transparency, and natural ingredients.

In June 2021, just a year after its famous Moldy Whopper campaign, Burger King changed its entire brand identity. This included a new logo, colors, and fonts. All of this was done to reconstruct the brand in our collective subconscious and emphasize what makes them different from the competition.

A rebrand for a company at Burger King’s scale is not just costly but time-consuming and requires a lot of coordination. And still, the company chose to go through with it. This shows how important it is to iterate on your brand to boost brand growth by reestablishing yourself with new associations that are more worthy of drawing attention to.

Burger King’s visual identity didn’t match its aspirations of becoming a healthier fast-food company. So they changed it. Changing your brand story and identity may be a strategy to overcome plateaus and initiate further growth.

A strategic rebrand might be a catalyst for reaching new customers, reestablishing yourself, and ultimately boosting your brand growth.

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Summary & Key Takeaways

In this article, we've explored key strategies for brand growth. Here are the main points:

1. Improving Brand Perception Leads to Growth

Brand perception is dynamic. Trust, familiarity, and likability are crucial to brand success. Every interaction affects how customers see your brand, positively or negatively impacting your image.

2. Ads Can Be a Great Platform to Initiate Brand Growth

Attractive ads can boost brand appeal, familiarity, and trust if your brand is prominently displayed. Put your brand at the center of attention in your ads for growth. Choosing the right platforms also significantly impacts how your brand is perceived.

3. Be Open to Change

Sometimes, the best way forward is through change. While branding relies on recognizability and associations, a few changes to your brand identity can help you overcome plateaus when you find yourself stuck—especially when your vision doesn’t match your brand perception.

By focusing on these strategies, you can improve your brand perception, use ads effectively, and adapt your brand to drive growth.

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Did you know?

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