If you’re a professional marketer, it’s likely that you’ve heard the terms brand recognition, equity, and loyalty repeatedly as they play a crucial role in creating a strong, meaningful relationship with your customers that drives loyalty, advocacy, and purchase behavior.

You may even use all these terms synonymously. But in reality, they’re different and each one of them contributes to the end goal, which is brand resonance.

This article will look at what brand resonance is, why it’s important, and Keller’s brand resonance model.

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What is brand resonance?

Brand resonance refers to the emotional and psychological connection that consumers have with a particular brand. It’s the degree to which a brand is deeply embedded in a consumer's identity, values, and beliefs. Utilizing a robust workflow management software tool for streamlined collaboration and project organization enhances the brand resonance process.

It’s important for a brand because it helps differentiate itself from competitors and build a sustainable competitive advantage. 

Strong brand resonance can also help organizations weather market disruptions and maintain consumer trust in the face of change.

Purpose of brand resonance

Let’s look at why brand resonance is important in detail. 

1. Creates an emotional connection with the target audience

Brand resonance aligns the values, beliefs, and emotions of the brand with those of its target audience. 

It makes consumers feel like they share common values with the brand, fostering a sense of belonging and brand compliance, which in turn creates increased trust toward the brand. This heightened trust contributes to the amplification of brand equity, positively influencing purchase behavior, and fostering brand advocacy.

The best brand resonance example that has formed an emotional connection with consumers is Netflix. 

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The streaming platform uses data and algorithms to recommend content that’s tailored to each individual's interests and viewing habits. 

As a result, it consistently delivers a personalized viewing experience to its subscribers and ends up becoming an integral part of their daily lives.

Another reason Netflix creates an emotional connection with its audience is through binge-watching. It provides entire seasons of original content all at once, which allows viewers to watch at their own pace. 

This approach has resonated with audiences and has established a strong emotional connection with its customers, resulting in high levels of brand loyalty and advocacy.

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2. Establishes trust and loyalty 

Brand resonance improves the trust, credibility, and reputation of a brand, which positively impacts the consumer’s purchase behavior and compels them to buy from you. 

This is because brand resonance creates a sense of familiarity with customers and leads to the brand becoming a trusted partner rather than just a product or service provider. 

It also leads to increased brand loyalty, as consumers are more likely to choose the brand over its competitors, even if it is not the cheapest option. Moreover, it enhances workflow automation, making processes more efficient and streamlined.

Overall, brand resonance has a direct impact on purchase behavior, driving sales and revenue for the brand.

One of the key examples of brands effectively leveraging trust and loyalty to establish itself as a leading e-commerce platform is Amazon. 

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For starters, it has a user-friendly website, which is easy to navigate and provides customers with a wealth of information about the products they are interested in. Customers can also view reviews, photographs, dimensions, etc., to get a fair idea of what the product would look like. 

So, customers use it as a search engine for shopping products online which drives more purchases. 

In addition to its website, Amazon has invested heavily in fast delivery options, including its Prime program, which offers one-day or same-day delivery and other benefits to members. 

Plus, its customer service and return policy is next to none and makes it the preferred destination for online shopping.

Furthermore, Amazon has embraced personalization, using data and algorithms to recommend products to customers based on their past purchases and browsing history. For example, a customer who frequently purchases personal care products sees more of it on their home page. 

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But a new parent gets a completely different set of recommendations:

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This highly tailored experience has helped Amazon become an integral part of the customer’s life, establish brand resonance and increase sales. 

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Keller’s brand resonance model 

Keller's brand resonance pyramid is a framework that aims to explain how brand equity is created and maintained over time. It was developed by Kevin Lane Keller, a leading marketing professor, and it explains how a brand creates an emotional and psychological connection with its customers.

Image source: Mindtools

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#1. Brand salience

Brand salience lies at the bottom of the brand pyramid. And it refers to the brand's presence in the consumer's mind, including awareness and recall of the brand, as well as the frequency with which the brand is considered. It’s also an indicator of how easily and readily a brand comes to mind in a particular situation or category. 

In other words, it's a measure of the brand's prominence and familiarity in the consumer's mind.

So, high brand salience means that the brand is top-of-mind and easily recognized by consumers. 

Some questions that can help measure brand salience:

• What brands can you think of in <your product/service category>?
• Have you ever heard of these brands?
• How frequently do you think of <your brand>?

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#2. Brand performance

Brand performance measures how well the brand delivers on its promises of product quality, reliability, and performance, and fulfills the functional needs and expectations of its customers.

A strong brand performance helps differentiate a brand from its competitors and builds consumer trust and confidence in the brand. 

Some questions that can help measure brand performance:

• How reliable is this brand?
• How durable is this brand?
• How is its customer service experience?
• Does it completely satisfy your requirements?

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#3. Brand imagery 

Brand imagery refers to the symbolic and intangible attributes associated with the brand. This includes the brand’s personality, its values, and the cultural and emotional associations it evokes. 

In other words, brand imagery goes beyond tangible attributes and focuses on how customers perceive a brand. Here are some questions you can ask to measure brand imagery:

• To what extent do the people you admire and respect use this brand?
• How much do you like the people using this brand?
• Do you feel like you grew up with this brand?

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#4. Brand judgment

This includes the consumer's holistic assessment of the brand based on its functional attributes, as well as its symbolic and intangible attributes. Here are some questions that help you measure brand judgment:

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• How did this product perform?
• What is your overall opinion of this brand?
• What is your assessment of the product quality of this brand?
• How much do you like this brand?
• How unique is this brand?

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#5. Brand feelings

Brand feelings, as the name suggests simply refer to how your customers feel about your brand. These feelings can be positive or negative or mild and intense. 

Here are some questions that will help you measure brand feelings:

• Does this brand bring you positive feelings like joy, excitement, happiness, or security?
• Did you feel emotionally connected with this brand’s advertising campaign? 

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Wrapping up 

In today's increasingly competitive and complex business environment, only brands that are able to connect with consumers on an emotional and psychological level will be the ones that stand out and succeed in the long run. 

This is why understanding the principles of brand resonance and creating a resonant brand is more important than ever.  

The examples given above and Keller’s brand resonance model should help you build a resonant brand. 

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About Artwork Flow

Artwork Flow is an end-to-end project management tool that manages your workflow and simplifies creative collaboration and brand asset management. 

It helps you create templates, workflows, and checklists to collaborate with team members and go to market on time. 

For more information on how Artwork Flow can help your team, contact us now for a quick demo or get started with a free trial today.

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