What makes a brand like Supreme and Thrasher trendier than the clothes you get at the dollar store? Great brands live or die based on the perception surrounding them–how customers see them, their personality, and their expectations. There are five radical things you can do to improve brand perception right now–and some of them aren’t as hard as they may look.

1. Sell a style

The first thing your customers will notice about your brand is the presentation. Sleek, minimalist styles communicate wealth, luxury, or modern sensibilities. Cluttered and colorful scream boldness, youth, and individuality. Selling style is just as important as boasting substance.

But it’s not enough to have a good set of products or merch–good brands own the unique style they sell. Studies show that 60% of customers recognize a brand by visual style alone, so making a unique impression can easily improve brand perception. 

Look at it this way: you can spot the difference between a Gucci and a Gap from a mile away, and that’s great. There’s a reason both are incredibly successful in their respective market niches. 

If you’re having trouble with style, think: What is your brand’s personality? How does it reflect on your customers? What do you want your brand to be most well-known for?

2. Take professional images

Product presentation is also a part of your general style, but it goes deeper than that. Great style can’t save a blurry or unclear product. Your customer needs a good look at the goods, and they can’t get it without good pictures.

Over 67% of customers believe that the quality of images is essential when purchasing a product. Keeping that in mind, invest some time in a studio with nice lighting, and bring some handsome friends or professional models.

Focus on your product and the style you’re showing off–do you want people to be active while wearing your hoodies? Lounge with your handbags? Strut with your shoes? This is a great opportunity to showcase your brand while selling your products.

3. Design a clean website

You’ve established a set style, your photography is on point, but how will people purchase your products? While brands now have multiple options and distributors to choose from, hosting your products on a custom website is still seen as far more superior and prestigious.

A navigable website is the most ideal. You’ll need a proper header with clear titles that show where your customer can purchase objects. Other things, like blogs or customer feedback pages, can also create a sense of history and experience on your website.

4. Build a community

Here’s a fun fact: 88% of people trust a brand more if their friends recommend it. A great community does wonders to spread awareness and improve brand perception. If you show as much attention and care to your customers as you do your products, they’ll respond tenfold.

If you’re starting out small, building a community can be as easy as responding to Insta comments on your posts, putting up polls, or hosting online events. Just engaging positively on social media is enough to improve brand perception.

Once your brand gets larger, you can start building in benefits for your most loyal community members. What can you do to give back to your customers? You can host offline meet-ups and exhibitions, or create public forums and Discord servers where people can connect with what your brand creates better.

You want people to not only know your brand but also identify with it – and become a part of it, too. 

5. Use high-quality material

Great style is built from great substance. Once you get people invested in your identity and niche, the final and most important way to improve brand perception is to follow it up with high-quality products. 

There’s nothing more anticlimactic than getting a stunning gift and finding out there’s nothing inside.

When it comes to branded merchandise like shirts and patches, people want many things, from comfort to aesthetic to value. Shirtual meets all points in the range, whether it’s our cozy, oversized 305 GSM tees or our hip, washed-out 200 GSM shirts, all in a variety of colors.

Looking to reinforce style? We specialize in sewing and design to suit all your brand product needs. All of the other tasks needed to improve brand perception take time and effort, but making great, premium merch can be as simple as hitting up our number.