Brand Identity vs Brand Perception – Understanding the Difference

The real success of your business doesn’t depend on how great of a product you put together but rather on how customers feel about it and how consistently you maintain that feeling. 

Customers put their faith in brands with a trustworthy image. If your product is great in quality & performance but does not have anything valuable for them, it will soon be forgotten. 

You want your business to become memorable. 

In order to do that, you might want to invest religiously in building your brand reputation. 

This is not a day’s work, but requires time, patience & years of perception building. 

When we discuss brands, the two terms we often hear interchangeably with brand building are brand identity and brand perception. But are they the same thing? Or do they hold different meanings? 

In this article, we are going to discuss both the concepts. 

Let’s explore how these two concepts are different. 

Brand Identity vs Brand Perception – What’s the Major Difference? 

What is Brand Identity? 

Brand identity is what you create and control. It’s the internal expression of your brand. 

Brand identity is all about what type of logo you wish to design, what colors you want to choose, what type of typography you will use, what will your website design look like, how you will package your products, what messaging you will put on your web copies and social channels, what will be the tone of voice, the visual style and how you will be consistent with branding across marketing material.  

Think of brand identity as the answer to: “Hey! How do we want people to actually see our business?” 

Now, people often confuse brand identity with brand image. 

Brand image is a different thing. 

What is Brand Image (Brand Perception)? 

Brand image is what your customers think and feel about your business. 

It’s the overall impression, beliefs, feeling and opinions that people hold about your specific brand. 

For example, 

“Tesla is innovative.”

“Volvo is safe.”

“Rolex is prestigious.”

These are perceptions built by people about such companies based on their interactions. The mental picture which developed based on experiences, exposure & word of mouth. 

Brand image is built over years. 

A Useful Way to Remember: 

Identity → Image → Reputation

Brand Identity is What you create. 

Brand Image is What people think. 

Brand Reputation is What people collectively believe over time.

For example, if you design a coworking brand with a modern logo, blue-and-gold colors, premium photography, and professional messaging, that is your brand identity. 

However, If people start describing your business as “professional, modern, and trustworthy,” that is your brand image. If that perception remains positive for years, it becomes your brand reputation.

Things You Need to Ask Before Building Your Brand Identity

Brand identity goes beyond just designing a logo or setting up your business’s visual design. 

A strong brand identity is about creating a sure-fire strategy. 

It’s about creating the perfect messaging you will be placing on your website and marketing material. 

And it’s about designing the visual expression to perfectly complement it. 

But before you begin, here are a few things you need to answer first. 

What is Your Brand Purpose?

When setting up a brand, you need to initially define the purpose behind your brand. 

Ask yourself, besides making money, what does my brand truly stand for? 

At Branex branding & marketing, while onboarding clients, this is the first question we often ask ourselves: 

“If this company disappeared tomorrow, what positive impact would be missing from the world?” 

It’s ingrained in our concepts that a strong brand must have a promising purpose. This way, our employees can better understand what they are working towards. 

It keeps them in the clear about the brand values they need to uphold. 

In our opinion, a company that’s clear on a brand’s purpose can create better emotional connections.

Here’s the thing about brand purpose, it’s a two way street. If a company claims to care about a cause, but its behavior suggests otherwise… It fails to win customers and their trust. 

What is Your Brand Vision? 

The next question you need to ask is what future is your brand trying to create? 

And the answer is in setting up your brand vision. A vision is a statement, one where you envision what the company aspires to be in the future & the impact it will create on the world. 

While purpose explains why a brand exists, vision explains where it wants to go. 

A strong vision provides direction for growth, innovation, and decision-making. For example, a coworking space in Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to stay just limited to renting out shared workspace. 

It may want to build the perfect environment where leading businesses can connect & collaborate; a place where startups, investors, freelancers & industry experts can come together. 

An effective brand vision can be ambitious, but it has to be realistic so people can work on it. 

What is Your Brand Mission? 

Brand mission tells what a company needs to achieve on an everyday basis. 

If your brand vision is the destination, the mission is the ongoing effort you’re going to put to help your brand reach there. For example, if a coworking space envisions becoming the leading place for entrepreneurs to connect and collaborate, its mission statement will be to:

“Provide flexible workspaces and business support services for startups and SMEs.” 

This mission is clear and is focused on a future outcome based on present actions which create true value, such as offering a decent enough office space for organizing networking events. 

It creates a responsible setup for meetings and supports the overall business growth. 

Your brand mission defines what the company does, who it serves, and how it delivers value in pursuit of its long-term vision. 

What are Your Brand Values? 

Brand values are the core beliefs a company holds about their product or service.

It explains how a company behaves, what decisions they make and how it treats people. 

If your brand has a strong set of values, it will show up in the actions you’re going to perform.

Some decent examples of good brand values are environmental responsibility, long-term sustainability, green digital practices, customer-first mindset, result-oriented projections, etc.

Brand values help answer questions like:

• What will we never compromise on?
• What kind of behavior is acceptable? 
• How do we treat customers and employees?

Consistency is key here. 

If you’re a brand claiming transparency, but you hide pricing or terms… the value breaks in the eyes of the customer and they may eventually choose your competitor. 

What is Your Brand Personality? 

Brand personality is giving your brand a persona. 

It’s setting the brand’s human traits so that it becomes easier for people to relate to it.

A brand can make people feel:

• Friendly and approachable
• Professional and serious
• Bold and energetic
• Luxury and refined
• Playful and casual

For example, Nike often shows up as bold, competitive and motivational. This personality of Nike often becomes visible in its campaigns, athlete partnerships and brand’s specific messaging style. 

A brand’s personality shapes how people emotionally experience the brand. 

What is Your Brand’s Voice & Tone? 

Lastly, you need to give your brand a voice, one that communicates. A brand’s voice is something that remains consistent and doesn’t change. It reflects the brand’s personality in clear wordings. 

Tone, however, is the voice that adapts depending on the situation. For example, a voice can be clear, direct, and helpful. But the tone can shift depending on the situation. In marketing, it needs to be confident and inspiring. In customer support, it needs to be calm & reassuring. While filing a complaint for a customer, the tone can adjust and become more empathetic & focused. 

At Branex, our objective is to maintain a clear brand voice. And therefore, we keep things simple and clear for our end customers to understand our true values and consider us for purchase. 

A practical way to explain this is:

• Voice means who you are when you speak. 
• Tone means how you adjust based on the situation.

What Are the Factors That Shape Brand Perception? 

Two companies may offer nearly identical products, but customers often choose the brand they trust more. Why? It’s because that brand has built a winning perception. 

Product or Service Quality

If you want to shape brand perception for your audience, you need to begin with improving the quality of your product or service. Customers often have strong opinions about certain brands based on what sort of experience they previously had with it. It’s normal for people to want to make sure a brand they associate themselves with can deliver on its promises. When a brand fails to meet those expectations, it ultimately loses the customers goodwill and they choose a different product, one that solves their problem. Brand perception gradually builds up with every positive interaction. The more positive interactions a brand has, more likely it becomes a trusted source for customers. 

Customer Experience

Like we said, every customer interaction contributes to building a brand’s positive perception. Maybe it’s a small navigation fix on the website which helps customers find what they are looking for. Or an interesting customer journey of a product purchase, or a support team member resolving a customer’s issue and winning an after-sale. All such little interactions cumulatively creates a positive customer experience, one which eventually translates into building a positive brand perception. It breeds customer loyalty instead of frustrating experiences which could possibly turn negative. 

“Brands who value convenience, responsiveness and customer care are often perceived as more trustworthy and customer-focused in comparison to other brands.”

Reviews and Testimonials

Another aspect of building a positive brand perception is to acquire positive customer reviews and place them as testimonials on your website. Positive reviews can be collected from social media, whatsapp messages, feedback forms, etc. You can directly ask customers about their experience with your product/service or you can have a feedback form sent to their email. The more positively stronger the reviews and testimonials, the greater will be your brand’s perception in the eyes of customers. Just make sure that your brand doesn’t start receiving negative reviews in good numbers, otherwise, even your green flags can turn into red ones. People trust peer recommendations more than advertising. 

Social Media Presence

A strong social media presence shows your brand is a happening one. Social noise creates the perfect opportunity for customers to understand your brand values, your vision, mission and goals. When companies invest in building their social media profiles, they attract a number of followers. They respond to their questions regarding the product/service, handle criticism and share valuable content which influences public perception. With consistent engagement & meaningful interactions, they often establish authenticity, which ultimately contributes to building a positive brand perception. Many look at social media presence as a real-time reflection of an organization’s digital standings.  

Public Relations and Media Coverage

Public relations and media coverage is also where you build your brand perception. When your brand is associated with positive news stories, features expert interviews, and carry forward successful partnerships, it all contributes towards increasing a brand’s credibility online. Whereas, if it’s the opposite such as negative press about your brand or controversies surrounding your product/services, it can eventually lead to damaging your brand image. Customer opinions heavily influence the image of your product or services and whether they are good enough or not. Media outlets become the fueling agents significantly shaping the very sentiment which the general public holds about a brand. 

Employee Advocacy

Your employees also play their part in influencing brand perception. Many employees represent companies through their actions, interactions and experiences. As far as customers are concerned, they form opinions about the company based on how the employee communicates. When they talk exuberantly about their companies, it shows what their internal culture feels like.  A motivated and proud employee will always lead a better brand advocacy and build positive perception. Whereas, when an employee is sad, unsatisfied or unfulfilled, they leave a negative impact on the customer. As a result, such employees damage the brand’s overall reputation leading to business loss.  

Conclusion

Brand identity is what you create. Brand perception is what your customers experience. The strongest brands succeed because these two stay aligned over time through consistent messaging, quality experiences, and promises that are kept.

If you want your business to build trust, stand out from competitors, and create a lasting reputation, investing in your brand is one of the smartest decisions you can make.

Ready to build a brand people remember? Get in touch with Branex and let’s create a brand strategy that drives long-term business growth.