Purchasing is personal. People prefer to buy products that reflect their values and identities, so they want to understand who a brand is and what they’re about before
they open their wallets.Building brand authenticity is the practice of making your brand look and feel genuine and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience. Establishing authenticity lets you tell more vivid stories, and helps build customer loyalty.Key factors that people use to gauge your brand’s authenticity are your commitment to quality, sincerity, and heritage.Being authentic and having heritage doesn’t mean you need to have been around for decades, but it does mean you should tell your brand’s story in ways that demonstrate your values and your passion for your products.Doing this lets customers feel like they’re buying into those same values, not just buying a product or service. This feeling of authenticity can give you an edge over other brands and help create a loyal customer base.Using your vision statement as a guide, begin building your brand’s authenticity in your marketing by focusing on the key aspects of your business.

You don’t always need to talk about your business to help it. If you have expertise in other areas your audience is interested in, create content around that. It helps you
reach people who’d never normally discover you – or your business.Good news: It’s fine to have a website with info on what you do and what your expertise is, a short
bio, and links to your social profiles. Your website is a great way to get exposure through SEO. Along with getting your personal site into shape, you should spend some time prepping all your social media accounts for success and also try to connect with other people in your field online. Start conversations with them and repost their content. After all, if you promote their brand, they’re more likely to
promote yours.

Brand creative guidelines set up rules as to how your brand identity should be expressed creatively, no matter what scenario it’s in.This keeps your brand identity
powerful and true no matter where it appears, whether you’re doing online ads, in-store displays, social ads, or other public-facing initiatives.To align your brand with
the 5 senses, go through each one (sight, touch, smell, sound, taste) and ask yourself how your brand uniquely embodies them.

For sight , list color schemes, photos, and illustrations that represent your brand. Basically, you’re setting up visual guardrails to show what’s on brand, like: Casual,
unposed photos are on brand, but staged stock photography is not.

For touch , describe your brand’s shape and texture. How should product packaging feel? If you built a pop-up store, what tactile materials would you use? Hypothetically,
is your brand heavy, light, smooth, or abrasive?.

Describing your brand’s signature smell is hugely important because it’s the most subconscious sense and the one most tied to memory. Would your brand have a
musky, flowery, or sweet scent?

Creating a signature sound for your brand helps your writer's craft copy that’s in the right tone of voice. Ask yourself, if I used a voiceover actor, what type of voice would
she or he have? What music complements my brand?

Lastly, explore the sense of taste. If your brand was a food, how would it taste? Would it be sour, sweet, or spicy? Are there certain foods you’d associate with your
brand? What kind of food would you cater for your brand event.

Now that you’ve learnt about brand creative guidelines and authenticity, we’ll help you do a quick business-evaluation to see whether you’re ready to set them up.We
just took you through a lot of personal branding info quickly, but it’s easy to get started building yours. We’ll help you build your brand or rebrand it.