Brand awareness is a crucial aspect of establishing a new business and getting recognized. It is important that the consumer knows about your brand and that it stands out among others. Consumer browsing can help them find new products, whether it’s online or in store. However, when someone starts shopping they may look at specific brands they know, and might overlook brands they don’t. Establishing a brand that communicates value to the consumer will build trust and will be the beginning of being a brand people look for, recognize and buy.
What is brand awareness?
For a business to be successful, it must create a high brand awareness for their business. Brand awareness definition is simply, being able to recognize a company’s name or logo and what they are about. Knowing a company’s name or logo is the first step in a customers’ purchasing journey. The consumer will typically go for a brand that they recognize to offer value in whatever product or service they are looking for. But how then do we get recognized?
Brand recognition is crucial because it instills trust in potential customers. When people are familiar with a brand, they’re more likely to trust its products and services. Brands with a high awareness of their products generally outperform those with less. So, businesses need to invest in marketing and advertising initiatives that will help them increase their brand awareness.
One way to do this is by utilizing social media platforms. These channels provide businesses with a way to reach a large number of people quickly and efficiently. Additionally, social media platforms allow businesses to create engaging content that will capture the attention of their target audience.
Another way to increase brand awareness is search engine optimization (SEO). By optimizing their website and content for search engines, businesses can ensure that their site appears near the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO will help more people see their company’s website and learn about their products and services.
Brand awareness is essential because it helps businesses connect with potential customers. By creating a solid brand identity and increasing awareness of their products and services, companies can position themselves for success in the marketplace.
The importance of brand awareness
Why is brand awareness important? When it comes to your business, you want to be sure that you are doing everything in your power to insure that your brand is recognizable. You want people to see and recognize your logo and instantly know what you offer.
If people cannot recognize your brand, they won’t be able to associate your product with the services or products you offer. Not being recognized can lead to many missed opportunities and cost you more money in the long run.
That’s why it’s vital to ensure that you work to create strong brand recognition. A strong brand insures that your logo is easily recognizable, that your branding is consistent across all of your platforms, and that you are using effective marketing techniques to get the word out about your business.
When it comes to branding, there are a lot of different things that you need to take into account. But, if you can get people to recognize your brand, you will be able to generate more sales and grow your business much faster. So how do you build a solid brand awareness?
What Are Brand Awareness Campaigns?
A brand awareness campaign is a marketing technique to acquaint potential customers with a product or service. Unlike other marketing strategies that may focus on the likelihood of increased sales up front, brand awareness campaigns are more concerned with communicating the value and promoting the product for the longevity of the business.
Measuring the effectiveness of such a campaign can be difficult, but there are various ways to do so.
One way to measure the success of a brand awareness campaign is to look at how much it has increased public recognition of the product or service. You can increase public recognition through surveys or focus groups that ask questions about the product or company.
Tracking website visits, social media followers, and other engagement metrics can also give an idea of how successful the campaign is.
Ultimately, the brand awareness campaign’s success depends on how well it accomplishes its goals. If the goal is to increase awareness of the product or service, then any increase in recognition would be considered a success. On the other hand, if the goal is to increase sales, developing a measurement of brand awareness to tie actual sales figures would be more appropriate.
By establishing clear and understandable campaign goals, it becomes easier to determine whether or not it is successful.
Levels of Brand Awareness
When attempting to create brand awareness in a new market, it’s essential to consider how you can reach potential consumers. There are several effective methods to promote brand awareness and we will cover several ones in this article:
The Power of Native Advertising
Native advertising is a form designed to match the structure and function of the platform on which it appears. Native advertising looks like an editorial or organic piece of content, unlike a traditional advertisement.
The reason native advertising is such an effective tool for creating brand awareness is that it allows brands to target consumers in a particular way. Native ads are within the content users are already consuming, meaning they are more likely to pay attention to them. In addition, native ads are less intrusive than traditional advertisements and don’t disrupt the user’s experience on the website or app.
Several platforms offer native advertising, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and LinkedIn. However, each platform provides a slightly different version of native advertising. Understanding the differences between these platforms is essential to creating the most effective campaign possible.
- Facebook Native Advertising: Facebook offers sponsored posts and promoted stories. Sponsored posts appear in the user’s newsfeed and look like any other post from friends or family. Promoted stories are ads that appear in the right-hand column of the user’s newsfeed and look like regular stories from their connections.
- Twitter Native Advertising: Twitter offers sponsored tweets and promoted accounts. Sponsored tweets appear at the top of the user’s timeline and look like any other tweet from friends or family. Promoted accounts appear in the “Whom to follow” section on the user’s home page and look like any other account from their connections.
- Google Native Advertising: Google offers sponsored links and promoted articles. Sponsored links are ads that appear at the top of the search results page and look like a normal link from Google’s search results. Promoted articles appear in the “Sponsored Links” section at the top of Google’s search results page and have the same formatting as any other article from Google’s search results.
- LinkedIn Native Advertising: LinkedIn offers sponsored updates and promoted profiles. Sponsored updates appear in the user’s newsfeed and look like any other update from their connections. Promoted profiles appear in the “Whom to follow” section on the user’s home page and look like any other profile from their connections.
Develop a solid audience persona
In modern times personalized service has an enormous significance. It starts by developing a solid audience persona; this gives you an accurate idea of the kind of customer that needs your product or services. Achieve a balance between your value proposition and customer needs.
Because companies differ in their target markets, contacting experts to implement your marketing plan is often helpful. By looking at the most crucial information about the people you serve, you can tailor the message to your customer’s pain points. Amazon and Netflix nailed personalized services, offering consumers personalized services for their specific requirements.
Improve brand visibility
One way to improve visibility is to launch your service as a closed beta version. Research has shown that over 60% of millennials are creative buyers because of their fear of missing out (FOMO). This statistic can work in your favor if you can create an urgency, exclusivity and closeout date for launching a new feature, product or service your business offers. An example of this method was used by Evernote. Evernote, was initially available in beta mode for several months – encouraging users to sign up for this new software. The campaign worked, with more than 115,000 signing-ups in less than three months.
Using referrals
Marketing experts say the referral marketing program boosted sign-ins by 60%. An example of a company that is doing referral program right is Dropbox. You likely know how Dropbox uses a referral program; the shared file system is hugely popular because its primary goal is to share your files with those you know and do business with. Its users can easily share their information through social media and email. Sharing would help you save on Dropbox’s new storage for each signup. This method promotes more usage.
Think about your product and services. How can you create a referral program that would fit your business model? That would be natural and simple for your customers to promote and share with their network
Unique Selling point
There are many companies with good examples of brand awareness that sell well because of their uniqueness in messaging or product. Some are great and recognized by many. What’s the difference between Nespresso and Clooneys? Or Corona beer that never gave up its name during the Coronavirus pandemic?
Or what about Dove becoming the voice of body acceptance.
In 2004, Dove began a radical and revolutionary campaign focusing exclusively on body acceptance. The brand ad aimed to show ordinary women with standard bodies instead of airbrushed models.
Although its long-running marketing campaigns have suffered some failures, such as the backfired bottles, the message is unquestioned. Dove has positioned itself as the leading voice of global body image confidence and self-esteem.
Finding your unique selling point doesn’t have to be difficult or require tons of money. It just needs some creativity and consistency to stand out.
15 Ways how to build brand awareness
How can we start building brand awareness around our business? Let’s start by looking through these fifteen types of brand awareness.
1. Employee Brand Ambassador Program
We prefer to follow a genuine person on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn rather than their businesses. We like to feel connected to people on an individual level. Personal social media for brand awareness works for brands where you are promoting the individual. Such as celebrities or influences in industries such as health and fitness as an example. However, for products and services that are not around a person professional social platforms are best.
Rather than, forcing your employees to share company post on personal social profiles we can pivot to have them post on professional profiles such as LinkedIn. Using employee incentives to share on LinkedIn would increase engagement and be most rewarding for your teams. Every time a person comments on or shares anything important in their professional profile about your company, you increase the brand exposure in a more organic and engaging way.
2. Influencer Marketing
A lot of people love to receive advice from others, especially if that person has an expert field. Influencers can provide the most effective and cost-effective way to get a targeted audience for relatively small prices, depending upon the reach of the influencer.
It is not advisable to think micro-influencers are less effective in your situation. It depends on their audience’s influence on your product’s decision-making process. A survey has shown that 60% of consumers age between 18 & 24 will buy something from influencers.
3. Effective SEO and Content Marketing
SEO may sound intimidating but is easily implemented – especially in the context of where the website can boost its visibility online. You have a way of getting your website found and displayed in Google searches. How can I get better rankings on google by adding keywords? SEO is an extremely balanced approach.
Tell me what bubble bathing is all about. You sell the goods. You could start your SEO around the keyword ‘buy bubble bath,’ but increasing the popularity of your business goes beyond simply promoting your product.
People interested in a product such as yours often ask more questions than, “How should I buy bubble baths?” Writing content is also essential to the other question, and eventually your name appears in your first search result for the question. How do competitors rank their content for a particular keyword?
You can use tools like SEMrush or ahrefs to identify the opportunities.
4. Referral programs
About 39% of Americans believe their family is the best brand ambassador in the world. It’s a proven fact that referral programs work. PayPal and Dropbox were not merely industry giants: they knew the secret to grow more brand recognition was a hidden secret.
Take Dropbox. They launched this feature for friends on their site in 2008. Its client base increased from 3800% to 9905%. Despite this tremendous rise, they have gotten more customers through the referral service.
Using word-of-mouth marketing can improve your company’s credibility and promote your products. 49% of Americans believe family and friends provide the most brand visibility. A referral service increases the number of people who know you and your credibility with the public – their family.
Most firms offer a referral program, such as the Alala Activewear Company. They offer customers a 20% discount when you refer a friend who also receives a 20% discount. The consumer will enjoy all the benefits of interacting with the company’s friends.
5. Social Media Marketing
Simply posting on social networks won’t boost your reputation in any way. Social Media has a significant impact on branding – if you use it as intended, in a jovial manner. Leave your site and interact with content that your friends have shared with others.
It can quickly help you get people on Facebook to find your name. Extras on an excellent presentation of information, and the list is extensive.
6. Global Brand
Taking a global approach to spreading your brand. Using your brand on everything, tastefully of course. Packaging, bags, promotional materials, mailers, and anything you can think of that would be of value to your audience. We all have seen the smile that arrives with every Amazon package, we recognize that unique trait to be the Amazon brand. Consider your own brand when shipping a tangible product to your customers or potential clients. That personalization adds a unique touch that resonates with the person receiving it and will help remember your business next time they are considering a product or service in your niche.
Unique is also possible in the case of businesses whose websites are exclusive. Make your brand visible throughout your client journey, including through the signature of emails.
7. Brand Infographics
If you’ve provided free content to your customers as a business expert, then introducing your name on the web doesn’t help your business. Instead, create an infographic for your subject. Add a name that is readily identifiable to share it with others.
Sharing is critical to reaching a wider audience. Sharing means people can help you get more views of your content from users who are not your following, and they build the organic reach in response to algorithmic problems.
Organic reach applies notably on Facebook, where algorithms prefer to share a picture of friends or family to a post by an individual company. Infographics have become an essential shareable format.
Infographics are visually engaging and easy for readers. Remember, the brain can process visual information about an individual 60x faster than plain text, and 94 percent of blogs using visual content received more views and engagement from viewers.
8. Brand Voice
Brands must maintain consistency. Neither color nor brand usage is the same, nor is the communication. Your customers will instantly be familiar with your brand even if your name is missing.
Advertising Week reports that building a brand identity helps your business become recognizable to customers. Your company’s voice can be humorous, emotional, intelligent, or profound. The use of different colors can create memorable brands.
Take a look at Dollar Shave Club. The three most successful brand voices made strong brand voices and are the best examples. Your voice will be important in terms of market awareness.
A clear voice that reaches out to a specific target group is key to your success in promoting the product.
9. Expand Social Circle
Has your social media popularity dropped, or is it still good content? Find some new social media channels your brand has never seen before, such as clubs and Pinterest.
You can meet thousands of people who lost interest on Instagram or Facebook years ago and still have a passion for a brand like yours.
10. Business Partnerships
Partnership marketing is one way for local businesses to reach new audiences while increasing brand exposure. Many companies overlap with their ideal customer linked to each other. Try collaborating to give customers value.
11. Guest Appearances
Another great way to leverage someone’s audience is to present in a webinar, podcast, Instagram question, and answer, or blog. If you pick an excellent partner, your audience will want to know more. This works both ways, you can feature businesses or products that are well establish or have a great following or presence. They will typically let their audience know where they can find them and mention your business. Giving you free PR in the process.
12. Strong Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns encompass more then just the direct call to action. When building out the campaigns, think of the awareness stage. Here we aim to identify the problem, but we also want to brand ourselves as the solution for the problem.
When people think of an issue that relates to our solution we want to be the top of their mind.
13. Start a Podcast
As you strive for greater brand awareness of your brand, the longer it will take for customers to come to know you, recommend you, and possibly become customers. Make podcast writing fun.
For example: for a fitness firm, you can Interview the athlete to help change the lives of others. Have I got beauty brands? Get an understanding of how to make different serum and cosmetic products.
14. Guest Blogging
Branding is essential because the ability to grow and build an audience can take only a limited amount of profit off of these resources. Here’s where guest blogging takes place. Guest blogging is a method to create posts for widespread publication.
15. Organic Social Media Presence
One of its most significant stops will likely be on organic social media. Do people want to share your posts with their friends? In the past, it was just about creating content with good value that would attract a following. Now it’s branding yourself along with the company while providing value to help with an issue.
Those who do not want to follow you on social media are most likely not interested or not ready.
How can I increase my brand awareness?
Brand recognition does not happen overnight. You will not achieve results with just a simple advertising campaign—strong brand awareness results from several simultaneous efforts to increase customer retention.
If you hope to promote your product only on Facebook, you won’t be going far enough. The consumers will focus more on product than on brand, the advertisements may have little effect beyond a single sale. Establishing a recognizable brand is your goal for repeated customers and sales. So how can I establish brand recognition in my target markets?
Storytelling
Stories and storylines are incredibly compelling marketing tactics. What’s the point of this? Because everyone remembers stories, its a method of how we learn new things. Storytelling shows your audience what you’re about and something to remember you by.
Creating an original narrative for your brand is the only way to do that. Incorporating the above into your marketing inevitably promotes your brand alongside your goods or services.
Tell me the topic of the story. All right. The story is your story about your founder. Tell me the story of what your company did before your first products came out. Or maybe a story about how you were able to make your small company successful in this world. Everyone likes telling stories about one another.
Socialize
Everyone can enjoy the benefits of chatting in social settings. It keeps us connected, helps us learn, and be known to others. It is also applicable to our brand.
If you are not connecting with other people while trying to sell or get support, then you will not become known and will have a harder time getting your brand recognized.
It would be best if you socialized to make your company visible to others. Post to Facebook or Twitter and other social networks. Make contact with your audience with comments on posts, tweeting, or sending out a statement.
Make sharing easy
Tell us what your marketing strategy is so your audience can share it. It may involve blogs, sponsorship content, videos, social media articles, and product pages. Whatever you want, it’s all shared. Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best methods for increasing customer confidence.
If a person sees a friend/family member recommends something, the customer will notice the brand. Are there any brands worth investigating? Are these products perfect for you? What do people think of themselves?
Be a person, not a company.
How can I discover new friends? What are your hobbies? I also watch how they speak, how they like to discuss, and what is exciting to them. It is these things a brand needs to define or advertise about itself.
It is essential to describe yourself as more than a business selling items. How can we express our brand to our customers?
How does brand awareness increase sales?
When it comes to brand awareness, it’s no secret that it can lead to an increase in sales. But how exactly does this happen? And why is it so crucial for businesses?
There are a few key reasons why brand awareness is so vital for businesses. First of all, when customers are aware of your brand, they’re more likely to trust it and be more likely to buy from you.
Additionally, brand awareness can help you to stand out from your competitors and can help you to build a loyal customer base.
Brand awareness is also essential because it can help you create a strong business identity. When customers are aware of your brand, they’ll see it as more than just a name or a logo – they’ll see it as an extension of themselves.
They’ll be more likely to stick with you when times get tough and will be more likely to recommend you to their friends and family.
In Conclusion
Brand awareness is essential to any business, and it’s more important than ever to ensure your target audience knows about your company. With so much competition online, it can be difficult for brands to stand out from the crowd. However, by utilizing consumer browsing habits and understanding how people are likely to shop online, your brand can be in a better position to succeed. Sign up for our newsletter today to learn more about how you can improve your brand awareness and drive sales.
