Why Brand Authority Matters for Business

Brand authority measures the level of trust and credibility that a brand has established within its industry or niche. It consists of key components, such as expertise, reputation, and influence, all of which contribute to the brand's perceived leadership and reliability.

A brand with high authority is seen as an industry leader and a trusted source of information, products, or services. It is often sought out by consumers and industry peers for guidance and advice.

Why is brand authority important?

Brand authority directly impacts a business's reputation, credibility, and, ultimately, its bottom line. Here are some key reasons why brand authority in marketing is important:

• Builds trust and credibility: A strong brand authority instills trust and confidence in potential customers. When consumers perceive a brand as authoritative and knowledgeable in its field, they are more likely to trust its products or services, optimizing lead generation and leading to increased brand loyalty and repeat business.
• Influences search engine results: While you can build authority with paid traffic, brand authority also brings organic traffic to your website. Search engines tend to favor authoritative brands, which can earn you higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Establishes brand identity: Brand authority helps businesses establish a distinct brand identity. By consistently demonstrating expertise and leadership in their industry, brands can carve out a position in their industry.

Guides consumer purchasing choices: Consumers often turn to authoritative brands for guidance when making purchasing decisions. Brands with a strong reputation are perceived as subject matter experts and influencers in their niche, making their recommendations more compelling and persuasive to consumers.

Establishing brand authority helps businesses strengthen their presence and earn consumer trust. Brand authority builds a robust brand identity that resonates deeply with potential customers.

Beyond traditional marketing strategies, brand authority hinges on becoming a trusted voice and influencer within your field. Through organic search and engaging social media interactions, brands can solidify their authority by consistently delivering valuable, targeted content. By investing marketing dollars in content marketing and crafting informative, quality content, businesses can position themselves as go-to resources, driving increased traffic and influencing purchasing decisions.

Here's how you can earn brand authority:

Understand your audience

Take the time to understand your audience. This process involves thorough market research, analyzing demographic data, and leveraging consumer insights. Understanding your audience's motivations and challenges helps you create content that makes consumers trust you.

Create valuable content

Quality content is essential for building brand authority. Whether it's blog posts, videos, or infographics, focus on delivering valuable insights and practical solutions that demonstrate your expertise. Invest in creating well-researched, well-written content that educates and engages your audience.

Be consistent

Brand consistency means maintaining a regular publishing schedule across various channels, such as your website, blog, and social media platforms. You reinforce your brand's expertise and reliability by consistently delivering valuable content to your audience. Whether it's daily blog posts or weekly newsletters, maintaining a consistent presence helps keep your brand top of mind and reinforces your authority in your industry.

Optimize for SEO

Focusing on your on-page SEO improves visibility and attracts organic traffic. Optimize content by conducting keyword research and incorporating them strategically into your web pages and blogs. Additionally, focus on creating high-quality, informative content that encourages engagement and sharing.

Build backlinks

Earning backlinks from reputable websites and industry influencers is another effective way to boost brand authority. Consider guest posting on other websites, collaborating with influencers, and participating in industry events to increase your brand's visibility and attract backlinks from authoritative sources.

Engage on social media

Be active, responsive, and authentic in your interactions to foster trust and credibility with your followers. Share thought leadership articles and other content on various social media platforms, participate in conversations, and provide value to your audience.

Monitoring and measuring

Monitor and track the performance of your content and brand mentions to gauge your brand's authority and reputation. Use analytics tools to track cross-platform engagement, website traffic, and social media metrics. Monitor brand mentions and sentiment to assess how your brand is perceived.

Tracking brand authority helps you understand how existing and potential customers view your brand and how effectively you establish trust and credibility with your target audience. By implementing effective tracking strategies, you can gain valuable insights into your brand's reputation, influence, and impact on your audience. 

Here are some tips for tracking brand authority:

Monitor brand mentions

Monitor online platforms, including social media, forums, review sites, and news websites, regularly for mentions of your brand. Pay attention to positive and negative mentions, as they can provide valuable insights into audience perception.

Use social listening tools to automate this process and track brand mentions in real time. Analyze the sentiment and context of each mention to gauge overall brand sentiment and identify areas for improvement.

Analyze customer feedback and testimonials

Client testimonials and feedback are powerful indicators of your brand's authority and reputation. Collect and analyze customer reviews, testimonials, and feedback to understand what your target audience thinks or feels about your brand.

Look for common themes and sentiments in customer feedback to identify areas where your brand excels and where there may be room for improvement. Use positive feedback to reinforce your brand's strengths and proactively address any negative feedback or concerns.

Track brand influence metrics

Track key influence metrics to measure the impact of your brand's marketing efforts and initiatives. These may include organic and paid website traffic, social media engagement, brand mentions, and brand sentiment.

Use website analytics platforms to track website traffic, user behavior, and traffic source. Leverage social media tools to see engagement metrics, such as likes, shares, and comments.

By tracking these metrics regularly and reviewing the results over time, you can determine how effective your brand-building efforts are and identify areas for improvement. For instance, if you see a dip in engagement metrics, you might uncover new ways to re-engage your target audience on social media with various types of content.

Conduct brand surveys and polls

Use brand surveys and polls to gather feedback directly from your customers and target audience. Use survey tools to collect feedback on various aspects of your brand, including brand perception, awareness, and loyalty.

Ask questions about your audience's perception of your brand's authority, credibility, and expertise. Use the insights gathered from these surveys to identify strengths and weaknesses in your brand's authority and reputation and inform your brand-building strategies.

Measure brand loyalty and advocacy

Brand loyalty and advocacy are strong indicators of brand authority and influence. Track customer lifetime values, customer retention rates, repeat purchases, and referral rates to measure your audience's loyalty and advocacy.

Continue to track social media mentions and conversations about your brand and its products or services to find brand advocates and influencers within your audience. Encourage and incentivize brand advocacy through referral programs, loyalty rewards, and exclusive offers to strengthen your brand's authority and influence.

Use brand monitoring tools

Invest in brand monitoring tools and software to automate the tracking process and gain deeper insights into your brand's authority and reputation. These listening tools can help you track brand mentions, sentiment, and influence across various online channels and platforms.

Look for brand monitoring platforms with advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. These features can help you track key metrics and identify trends and patterns in your brand's performance over time.

Boost your brand's authority and reputation

Building and maintaining brand authority is a continuous process that requires dedication, effort, and a strategy. By delivering value with your content, engaging with your audience on and offline, and monitoring your brand's performance, you can strengthen your brand's authority and reputation and position yourself as a trusted leader in your industry.

With Mailchimp's suite of marketing automation tools, you can streamline your brand-building efforts and effectively reach and engage your loyal customers, driving growth and success for your business. Use Mailchimp to create authoritative content, post it to your website, and share it across channels. Then, track your results from one simple dashboard. Sign up for Mailchimp today.