Hey there, let’s cut to the chase. You know that feeling—when you’re scrolling through your feed, or grabbing a coffee, and that brand just feels… off? Like, maybe they used to make the kind of stuff you actually loved, but now they’re seen as just another corporate cash grab, or too out of touch with what people actually care about? I’ve been on both sides of this for years—first, as a brand supplier that’s worked with small local shops fighting to shake a “budget generic” label, then with big names that realized their once-beloved vibe got lost in the sauce. Changing brand perception isn’t some fancy marketing trick you pull out when sales dip. It’s messy, it takes time, and if you do it right, it means actually listening to the people who already write your checks. No shortcuts, I promise. Brand
Let me start with a real example from a client I worked with last year—they made sustainable skincare, but everyone wrote them off as “too expensive for what it is.” Their customers were mostly Gen Z and millennial women, but their Instagram felt like it was written for 50-year-old moms. I didn’t just tell them to post more Reels (though that helped). First, we went deep. We didn’t just look at survey numbers, we mined the comments, pulled 100 customer support tickets, and hopped on 2-hour Zoom calls with 15 people who’d raved about them 2 years prior but stopped buying. That’s the first rule: stop talking, start listening. Most brands try to rebrand before they even know what the problem is. They assume people think they’re lazy, or greedy, or whatever, but half the time, it’s something way more specific. Like, in that skincare case, everyone thought their “sustainable” angle was just greenwashing because they never showed how or why their ingredients were sourced. They had the receipts, they just never shared them like they mattered.
Wait, let’s break that down a little more. You can’t change perception if you don’t know what it actually is. I see brands make this mistake all the time—they ask “how do people feel about us?” and get generic answers like “they think we’re reliable” or “we’re too expensive.” Generic answers get generic fixes. You need specific data. Like, run a quick word association survey: pull up a list of 20 words (fast, expensive, sustainable, untrustworthy, boring, etc.) and ask customers to pick the first 3 that come to mind when they hear your name. Combine that with social listening—tools (I use Hootsuite and Mention, but even a simple hashtag search works) that track every time someone mentions your brand, good or bad. I once worked with a coffee roaster that thought people loved them for their “bold flavor,” but turns out, most people were complaining their bags were impossible to open. No wonder they were losing repeat customers—they fixed the bag seal, and suddenly the word association for “easy to use” jumped 40% in 6 months. That’s not a viral campaign, that’s just solving the actual small, annoying things that shape how people see you.
Once you know the problem, the next step is to stop yelling at people and start showing up as the person they already know you are. Wait, a lot of brands treat rebrand like a total do-over—they change their logo, their slogan, pretend their old customers don’t exist. That’s how you alienate everyone. Take that skincare client again—they didn’t scrap their whole mission of sustainable ingredients, they just stopped hiding it. They posted a 15-minute video of their farm partner picking lavender, not a polished ad. They answered every negative comment that called them greenwashing with a direct link to their third-party sustainability audit. And here’s the key: they didn’t only post this to new people. They made their existing customers the stars of their content. One of the reasons people wrote them off was they felt like the brand didn’t care about the people who actually bought their stuff. When they started featuring real customers talking about how their products cleared up eczema, instead of models, the vibe shifted. Perception isn’t just about what you say—it’s about who you let speak for you.
And let’s be real, trust is the backbone of good perception, and trust isn’t built overnight. I had a client that was a small outdoor gear brand that got called “out of touch” after they donated a ton of branded gear to a corporate gala instead of local youth hiking groups. They tried to fix it with a huge ad campaign saying “we’re here for the trails!” and it blew up worse—people called them hypocrites. So we didn’t run ads for 6 months. We showed up. We partnered with 3 local scout troops, let their kids test gear, posted the messy, unfiltered photos of them tripping over roots. We shared every receipt of our donations. We even started a monthly Q&A with the founder, no PR team, no script. When we finally did post something about the gala, we didn’t defend it—we said “yeah, that was a mistake, we should’ve given that gear to the troops. Next time, we are.” People don’t care about perfect brands. They care about honest ones. Admitting you messed up is way more powerful than pretending you never do.
Now, here’s something most brands skip: every touchpoint matters. Changing perception isn’t just about social media or ads. It’s the packaging, the email newsletters, the way your support team answers the phone, even the price of your products. For that coffee roaster I mentioned earlier, they fixed the bag seal, but they also changed their checkout email to stop saying “thank you for your purchase” and started saying “can’t wait to hear how your morning brew goes!” They even added a tiny sticker in every bag that said “tag us in your pour-over—we’ll repost our favorite one.” Small stuff, right? But that adds up. Perception is built in 1000 tiny moments, not one big Super Bowl ad. I’ve had a clothing client that was seen as “fast fashion that falls apart”—they fixed their stitching, started using recycled fabric, but the big shift was when they changed their return policy to free, no-questions-asked returns. That one move made people think “oh, they actually stand behind their stuff” way more than any billboard did.
Wait, let’s talk about avoiding the biggest trap here: trying to please everyone. I see it all the time—brands think if they tweak their messaging a little, they’ll get the Gen Z crowd, the boomers, the everyone. No. When you try to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing to anyone. Let’s say you’re a plant-based burger brand, and right now people think “weird, health food for vegans.” You don’t need to make your burger taste like a beef burger to win over casual meat eaters. You make it taste like a juicy burger—great for everyone, and if you just so happen to be plant-based, that’s a bonus. That’s what creates a loyal core that will defend you, and once you have that, perception shifts on its own. Your loyal fans will tell their friends, post about you, when they say “yeah, that plant-based burger is fire,” people don’t call them a weirdo—they go try it. I had a small craft brewery that used to be seen as “too expensive for basic beer.” They stopped making cheap, budget beers to “appeal to everyone” and doubled down on small-batch, experimental IPAs that their regulars loved. Suddenly, people stopped complaining about the price—they were proud to bring friends, and outsiders started seeing them as a cool, local spot, not a overpriced snob bar. Pick your lane, nail it, and the people who care will follow.
And here’s the part that makes all this worth it: changing brand perception isn’t just good for sales. It builds long-term loyalty. When a brand shifts how people see them, it’s not a quick fix—it’s a relationship. That skincare client I worked with? A year after we started, their repeat customer rate was up 35%, and they even landed a partnership with a popular clean beauty influencer that only works with brands they actually love—no paid shills, just real fans. That’s the stuff that sticks. Perception doesn’t change when you post one viral Reel. It changes when every single time someone interacts with your brand, you show up as the kind of company they want to be loyal to.
Now, let’s talk about what we do here—wait, I’m the brand supplier you need to talk to. I don’t do generic marketing plans. I dig into the messy stuff: the customer tickets, the social comments, the tiny little pain points no one’s naming. I work with all kinds of brands—small startups that feel like no one takes them seriously, established names that lost their edge, even nonprofits that need to stop being seen as “the one that begs for money.” The secret I’ve learned over 10 years in this is that changing perception isn’t about making people think differently. It’s about aligning what you actually do with what people actually want to see. It’s quiet, it’s consistent, and when you do it right, it turns customers into your biggest fans.
Other Escalator Parts If your brand is stuck—if you’re tired of being written off, if sales are flat, if you just can’t shake that old label, hit me up. We can hop on a quick call, no sales pitch, no fancy jargon, just talk through what’s actually going on with your customers. I’ll help you figure out the specific, small steps you need to take to shift how people see you, no random viral campaigns, no empty promises. At the end of the day, perception is just a story people tell about your brand. We just make that story one you’re proud of.
References
- Keller, K.L. (2019). Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity (5th ed.). Pearson Education.
- Trusov, M., Bucklin, R.E., & Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of Word-of-Mouth Versus Traditional Marketing: Findings from an Internet Social Networking Site. Journal of Marketing, 73(5), 90–102.
- Chen, Y., & Xie, J. (2008). Online Consumer Review: Word-of-Mouth as a New Element of Marketing Communication Mix. Management Science, 54(3), 477–491.
- Barger, V.A., & Labrecque, L.I. (2013). The Impact of Social Media on Brand Perception and Purchase Intent. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 290–299.
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