19 Branding Statistics Small Businesses Need to Know

A brand is more than a color scheme and logo, although these elements do play a factor. It’s a representation of every part of the relationship between a company and its customers or clients, which plays a role in how a business is perceived in the marketplace. In this article, discover 19 intriguing branding statistics that will convince you to pay attention to your brand and invest in managing your reputation.

1. Shared Values Account for 64% of Brand Relationships

According to the Harvard Business Review, shared values drive brand relationships. Your brand must resonate with the target audience’s values and convey them in a way that forms connections between your company and customers.

Branding is introduced through experiences and interactions. For instance, when it comes to technology, speed, coolness, and wow factor—that’s Apple. When you think of faith, family, great service, and tasty food—it’s Chick-fil-A.

This branding statistic shows that every single experience and interaction counts—from the time a customer touches your brand to the time they move on to other things.

2. 59% of Consumers Prefer to Purchase From Familiar Brands

Here’s another reason why it pays to boost your brand awareness: 59% of customers tend to buy from familiar brands. The more people recognize, appreciate, and believe in your brand, the more they buy from you. In addition to brand familiarity, customers also want brand consistency to reinforce that familiarity.

Approximately 90% of customers expect brands to be consistent across all platforms and channels of interacting with the brand. Think about how major fast-food chains succeed: there are places with better food everywhere you go, but people go to the restaurants they know because of the consistency. They aren’t going to be surprised at what the food tastes like. They would prefer to have lower-quality food that is consistent than go somewhere new where they may or may not like the food they get.

This branding statistic shows that with brand familiarity and consistency in service, you can compete with bigger industry players.

3. It Takes 5 to 7 Impressions to Produce Brand Awareness

Customers won’t remember a brand after just seeing it a couple of times. People have to be exposed to a brand five to seven times to start recognizing it. It takes consistent further exposure over time for the brand to become familiar enough and remember it by name. This is why commercials and ads are so important. Even if people don’t buy because they saw one specific commercial, they are being exposed to the brand.

4. You Have 7 Seconds to Make Your First Impression

Human beings scan their environment and form instant impressions. This is true whether you’re meeting someone for the first time or meeting a brand for the first time. It takes 7 seconds for customers to make an instant decision whether they like and trust your brand. This brand stat shows that you need to make those 7 seconds count by investing in quality branding, especially visual branding, which accounts for a good deal of first impressions.

5. A ‘Signature Color’ for Your Brand Boosts Recognition By 80%

Visual branding includes choosing the color, logotype, and other aspects of the design of your brand. Among these attributes, it’s the “color” that boosts brand recognition by a whopping 80%.

Among brand colors, blue and shades of blue are the most popular. About 30% of brands include some shade of blue in their logo. Color denotes different things according to culture but, in Western culture, blue represents security, trustworthiness, and seriousness.

That’s one reason why firms, such as IBM and Chase bank, use blue in their logos. This branding statistic shows why you need to take care deciding what colors to use in your branding.

Source: Reboot.

6. Content Marketing Drives 3x Higher Brand Engagement

Content marketing gets three times as many leads as ads. It encourages engagement with a brand, and engagement leads to brand awareness, recognition, and recall. Investing in quality content and especially personalized content connects people to the brand’s voice and builds relationships. It costs less than pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and it gets customers to trust the brand by providing useful information about topics within the brand’s niche.

7. 48% of Customers Want Targeted Ads

Many customers, especially younger ones, have accepted that their data is going to get sold, whether they like it or not. It is the price we pay for being online. As long as their information is getting collected and sold, they want companies to advertise to them, targeting their individual interests and lifestyles and bringing them products that will make their lives better.

They don’t want to be bombarded with constant ads and information, especially about things that are irrelevant and uninteresting. They want companies to advertise when they want to be advertised to, with products they want to see, in ways that are useful and not annoying.

8. Too Much Self-promotion Can Lose You Followers

Approximately 45% of customers say they would unfollow a brand on social media if it spends too much time promoting itself. Remember that people are tuned into one radio station: “WIIFM.” It’s an acronym that stands for “What’s in it for me?”

Create a customer persona, or an ideal customer, and think about how your brand solves problems for that ideal customer. Then, target your social media marketing efforts around that narrative and you’ll build a winning formula.

Branding statistics say that 72% of customers who follow a company on social media are more likely to buy from that company in the future, so getting and keeping social media followers is key. Instead of only promoting your products, offer information and engagement that will help your customers within your niche. Focus on making their lives better, and you will gain loyalty.

9. Most People Follow Fewer Than 5 Brands

It takes effort to win customers on social media. About 50% of customers only follow one to four brands on social media, with another 26% following fewer than 10 brands. Getting into the coveted spot where customers are willing to have you show up on their feed is a competitive task. Again, it’s all about relationships.

Brand stats tell us that customers want to feel they have a relationship with the brand. They’ll spend time with your brand, but only if you prove yourself worthy by offering content that is valuable to your customers.

10. Great Customer Service Wins Over 73% of Customers

Many small business owners complain that they can’t spend as much on branding as their larger competitors. This may be true, but it’s not always what you spend on a fancy new logo or an ad campaign that matters. Providing exemplary customer service and insisting upon excellent customer service throughout your company, for example, costs little or nothing. However, it yields extraordinary results when it comes to positive brand impressions.

A study by Harris Interactive proves that focusing on your customers’ experiences with your company and finding new and better ways to build positive experiences is worth the time and the effort.

11. Customers Make Decisions Based on Customer Service Reviews

Customer service is a massive driving factor in customers’ decisions to buy again or not. Customers are also very likely to share their customer service experiences online, whether the experience was good or bad. Those reviews matter: 90% of customers who read a good review of a brand’s customer service said that the review impacted their buying decisions while 86% of those who read negative customer service reviews said that the reviews helped them make a buying decision.

12. A Loyal Customer Is Worth 10 Single-purchase Customers

Brand loyalty can be worth quite a lot. In fact, a loyal customer may be your best advocate, sharing your company’s information with many friends over time. Brand loyalty yields 10 times more than the profits you make on a single purchase. Word of mouth is the best kind of advertisement, and loyal customers can give you that. This brand stat shows that cultivating, improving, and encouraging brand loyalty provides great benefits over time.

13. 2% More Customer Retention Can Lower Costs By 10%

Customer retention, or keeping customers coming back to your business, lowers costs by 10% because you spend less on acquisition advertising. The better your brand, the more recognition your business receives, and the easier it is to keep it top of mind among your customers.

Better branding leads to improved recognition and sales. In turn, reduces the amount of money you must spend on advertising. It’s a virtuous cycle that starts with creating a great customer experience and welcomes customers with consistent values, products, and services.

14. Customers See Private Label Brands as a Good Value

Private label brands are products manufactured by a third party and labeled with the brand of another. Many small businesses use private label brands to boost brand image and give customers a reason to shop at their stores. These “exclusive” products rely more upon brand image than product differentiation for sales. Small business owners can benefit from the positive impression that consumers have of private labels to build their own branded products.

In 2020, customers bought more private label brands than ever before. For example, 58% of buyers said that they switched because their preferred brand wasn’t available, 40% of those said they will continue to buy the private label brand that they switched to, and 48% of those who will continue to buy the private label brand said that they will do so because of the lower price.

15. Customers Will Pay More if You’re Making a Positive Impact

Price isn’t always the bottom line. Many customers are willing to pay more to companies that are in alignment with their values. About 13% of customers are willing to pay 31% to 50% more to companies that they view as making a positive impact in the world. This is an important branding statistic because many people assume cheaper is always more competitive, but that’s not always the case.

16. Transparency Can Gain Loyalty in 94% of Customers

Customers want to buy from brands they can trust. They have various ethical issues that are important to them, and they want to support companies that have the same values as them. No one wants to give money to sleazy companies that are ripping people off.

A survey of 2,000 customers found that 94% of them would be loyal to a completely transparent brand. In addition, transparency was at the very top of the list of factors that would influence brand loyalty. This brand stat shows that honesty really is the best policy.

17. 62% of Customers Share Deals With Their Friends

Word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising, and social media is an incredibly effective venue for word-of-mouth sharing about brands. Running deals on social media and asking customers to share your offer is an effective way to generate some word-of-mouth buzz and to get new followers and leads online. Make the most of this brand stat by offering deals and giveaways that require customers to like and share to get the deal.

18. Social Media Can Get You 32% More Sales

Stores that have a social media presence make an average of 32% more sales than stores that don’t. It is well worth the investment in hiring a good social media person. From engaging posts to real-time customer service, which makes you look trustworthy to potential customers, your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts can win you customers and generate more revenue.

19. 73% of Marketers Think Social Media Marketing Is Effective

Social media is the place to advertise. Customers look to social media to see how companies handle customer service and whether they are responsive to customer feedback. Social media users share deals and reviews with each other. For example, 68% of adults use Facebook, making it the most-used social media platform. As a result, 73% of marketers believe that social media is either somewhat effective or very effective for their business.

These branding statistics show just how important it is to invest in a winning social media strategy.

Bottom Line

Small business owners would be wise to invest time and effort into their branding. A strong brand with wide recognition can be worth millions, if not billions, of dollars.

To build such a brand, begin with excellent service, which costs nothing except time and training to implement. A recognizable brand image, consistently deployed across all marketing channels, helps increase brand awareness. With the insights from these branding statistics, you can build a great brand that helps you retain more customers and reduce marketing costs.