The difference between brand equity and brand value

A brand is a valuable asset

What is the difference between brand equity and brand value? This guide will distill these concepts.

The power of a brand

The value of a company is largely attributable to its brand.

A brand’s perception by customers is directly related to the profitability of a company and the value of its shares. Simply put, if customers like your brand, they will buy your products.

Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine making purchase decisions without a brand coming into play. A brand is not just a name and a logo – it is how a customer recognizes a quality they wish to pay for, a community they want to be a part of, a personality they connect with. A brand offers a reliable experience and promise to consumers. A logo may be how a person recognizes a company, but a brand embodies a company’s behaviors.

Brand value v brand equity

Brand value is a market-based calculation of a company’s value – its monetary worth. In basic economic terms, a company’s value is what a buyer is prepared to pay and the amount the seller is willing to accept.

Brand equity is customers’ perception of the brand and therefore contributes to the brand value. A brand can have value before it has any equity. For example, a company may have invested in research and development before potential customers have come across it.

The value of brand equity is harder to measure. Brand equity needs to be a driver of business and marketing strategy in order to increase brand value. Awareness, relevant differentiation, perceived value, accessibility and emotional connection are all factors that add to a brand’s equity.

The four elements of online brand equity

Online brand equity is primarily determined by four key elements, each providing value in numerous ways.

1. Brand awareness is the extent to which people are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of your particular brand of services

2. Brand attribution assumes that people draw upon their past experiences with your brand and that their prior experiences will influence future purchasing decisions

3. Perceived quality is your customers’ opinions of your services and ability to fulfill expectations. Elevating this perceived value will enhance the perceived experience while increasing sales

4. Brand loyalty results from brand awareness, brand attribution, perceived quality and previous experiences. Loyal customers will purchase services from preferred brands, regardless of convenience or price

How to build online brand equity

There are many ways to build online brand equity, but it requires extensive work and research to achieve and maintain it.

To ensure that your customers see you the way you wish to be seen, it is essential to develop a brand story and personality. These elements will form the basis of your brand kit and help you direct future marketing decisions.

When building your brand awareness, consider the elements of your business that customers like interacting with and how you can get them in front of potential customers.

Whether it is enlisting a team of customer service representatives, sending out automated feedback forms or activating a dedicated email address for feedback, keeping the lines of communication open is one of the most effective ways you can build trust in your brand.

Finally, make sure to build a strong relationship with your customers and clients in order to encourage repeat purchases and loyalty. This can include a weekly newsletter, Facebook Live, Instagram Stories or even a pop-up event.

How to measure online brand equity

In order to know if your marketing efforts have been effective, it is important to understand how to measure the growth or decline of your online brand equity.

Surveying your clients and customers is one way to assess where your brand sits on the online brand equity scale. Dividing your questions into two main categories – functional association and emotional association – is the most effective way to do this. Functional association is how your brand stands out compared to other brands in practical, everyday settings, whereas emotional association is how your brand makes people feel.

Alternatively, analyze the return on investment and the growth you may have achieved to better understand how brand awareness activities have helped.

Conclusion

Aside from potential growth, taking time to invest in your online brand equity also allows you to better understand the needs of your customers in order to include them at every stage of the sales funnel.

Contact Relevance’s team of specialists for advice on how to develop online brand equity.