Brand awareness is the number of people who know about and recognize the brand of a given company. High brand awareness is often referred to as a “buzzworthy” or “trending” brand.
It is the level of trust that your target audience has for your brand and it’s important to establish this level of trust to effectively promote and market your products and services.
Businesses should consider brand awareness as a vital metric to achieve their goals. It’s not a metric that can be easily determined, but it’s still incredibly important for achieving success.
Why is brand awareness important?
In today’s world, consumers rely on their opinions before making a purchase. Having a strong brand reputation is important, as it can help persuade buyers to purchase from you without a second thought. Brand awareness helps build trust. It sets the stage for your brand to be authentic and engaging, and it allows consumers to feel more confident about their purchases.
Moreover, brand awareness creates an association. When you’ve got a paper cut, I’m sure you put on a Band-Aid to protect it. When you have a pressing issue or questions, I’m sure you Google it.
Am I right? Maybe.
But did you notice the capitalized words mentioned above? These are brands. Band-aid should be referred to as a bandage and Google as a search engine.
Brand awareness is the process of associating certain products or actions with a particular brand. It then prompts us to behave in a certain way, which is very similar to how we would typically act if we were marketing ourselves.
However, brand equity is a measure of a brand’s worth relative to its overall perception. The key component is the consumer’s perception of the brand. A positive brand equity boost can create higher prices, better margins, greater social impact, and more business opportunities. A lot of these are intangibles that come from having a great brand.
But how can brand awareness increase brand equity? Brand awareness is the building block of brand equity. It can be achieved by building a positive image and increasing social media presence through engaging in positive experiences.
A brand’s recognition begins once a consumer has identified it and is ready to make a purchase. This activates a consumer’s loyalty and helps them avoid making similar purchases. They start to follow its lead and adopt its values.
That’s why brand awareness is the cornerstone of any company’s marketing campaign. It establishes trust and builds positive associations with its consumers.
How to build brand awareness
Brand awareness does not happen overnight. It can take time and effort to establish a strong brand image among your audience and the public and it can be achieved through various efforts that extend beyond just trying to get paid customers.
There are many ways to build brand awareness and influence the target audience such as:
Be a person not a business nor a company
“People want to work with a person, not a company” – S. Truett Cathy.
When it comes to meeting new friends, what do you like to learn about them? I like to get to know people by asking what they like to do and what their interests are, hobbies, passions, etc… New friendships give people a chance to get to know each other better. It allows them to connect with like-minded individuals and to discover them more. Thus, this is very beneficial for businesses as they can use these traits to their advantage.
Your brand should know its audience to stand out from the crowd and leave an impact. Therefore, to be successful, you should have a defined identity that people can trust and connect with.
Be Sociable
Social contact is what makes us happy and successful. It’s how we connect with others and grow as individuals whether we are introverts or extroverts, outgoing or quiet.
Your brand is the same. For instance, if you only try to connect with people who are looking for support, then you won’t be known for anything beyond that.
To raise awareness, you’ve got to be social. You can be on social media platforms. Be active and engage with your audience in ways that are both effective and engaging as well as by sharing content that’s related to your brand.
Sociability is the main component that influences a brand’s reputation and being social also leads to greater awareness and is simply known.
Tell stories
Storytelling is a powerful marketing technique that draws people in. It gives them something real to latch on to and boosts your brand awareness and sales.
Creating a compelling narrative around your brand is what makes it stand out and what makes it valuable to marketers. Your story should be about something that matters to you, and it should be true. It can be about how your business started, or how you turned a small idea into a big business. This allows the audience to connect with the brand and feel like they’re part of something bigger. Stories are powerful, and they can help boost a brand’s awareness.
Let sharing be easy
Content creation is an integral part of any marketing campaign or strategy. It can be as simple as creating a blog post, creating social media content, or developing a product or service specific to your audience. The content that people consume should be easy to share. Having a good product or service should be one of the first things that they look for when they decide to buy a new one.
That’s why word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing technique that can help build trust and familiarity between customers. It works by identifying a good brand and recommending a great product or service because a brand should make it so that its customers can easily share their feedback about the products and services they offer with a simple “Share” button. This is the easiest way to increase the company’s brand awareness.
Let it sync: Brand awareness is about impact.
This process is about engaging with your audience in ways that are both fun and relevant to them. Imagine if someone asked you to be their friend. You would probably laugh and walk away. This is a shallow and disrespectful approach to friendship. The same goes for building and creating brand awareness among your audience.
How to grow brand awareness
Your brand is now off the grown and widely known, and people talk about you without having to see an ad. What can you do to keep it up and expand it?
Create free content
Creating content is a must-have for any brand and it’s easier than ever! With the rise of the internet, consumers can now easily find answers to their most pressing questions.
A content strategy is a fun way to promote your brand, build a strong foundation and share your opinions on various issues. It also allows you to show off your personality and position on issues.
Although written content is important, however, you can also produce other types of content, such as videos, infographics, and podcasts.
It can also be found in other forms of media, such as sponsored content, and guest posting. These types of platforms allow you to create content that is both unique and engaging. Yet, not creating content is like missing out on various opportunities to connect with the audience. Through the content, the brand can create an authentic connection with the target audience.
Doing active social media marketing on multiple networks is a fool’s-trick. If you’re focused on one particular platform, then don’t try to do it on all of them. There are plenty of ways to get started, but focusing on one network will allow you to get the most out of it.
Offer freemium
Freemium is a pricing model that gives a basic product or service for free, it is a type of product or service that gives consumers the ability to buy it for free, but the brand’s watermark is never shown on public-facing parts of the product.
It works like this: You only charge for products that are considered premium or enterprise-level.
Offering a free trial is a great way to introduce new customers to your brand and product before they make a purchase. It can be a long-term investment that can be easily forgotten.
Typeform is another great example of this.
Create a strong brand personality
Treating your brand as a person is the first step towards creating a personality. This step will help you define and communicate with your audience.
When it comes to marketing, having a personality is key to boosting your brand awareness. It’s like having a great sense of humor and making your consumers feel like they’re getting something from you. Just as people have a personal make-up composed of traits and characteristics, products also have human-like characteristics and personalities. Brand personality is a type of brand that relates to the various characteristics and traits of humans: It could relate to age, socio-graphic characteristics, psychographic, etc,… Furthermore, it is a great way to mix traditional marketing campaigns with more brand awareness campaigns.
Sponsor events
How many festivals and events have you attended? Without the help of sponsors, these types of events would not be possible. You can see the various brands that have partnered with these events on the t-shirts and string backpacks that you buy from there.
Sponsorship events are a great way to build your brand awareness and reach thousands of people. Aside from banners, flyers, and bottles, your brand name will be everywhere. sponsoring an event helps build your brand’s reach.
It allows you to connect with consumers and build a brand reputation through an event that matches your interests and personality and will cement your image as a leader in the field and make attendees think of you as a more influential figure.
Take a look at Red Bull. Without a brand awareness campaign, Red Bull would not be considered an energy drink. Instead, they took their marketing to the extreme by sponsoring extreme sporting events, such as cliff diving and motocross.
Do some podcasts
A survey according to The Infinite Dial 2020 from Edison Research and Triton Digital revealed that more than a third of Americans aged 12 and older regularly listen to podcasts. They’re also a vital part of our lives and marketing efforts.
Building and growing brand awareness is a never-ending process. Just as maintaining a relationship or friendship is never-ending, so is building a brand. Instead of just trying to promote a product or service, podcasts are a way to connect with people through engaging content. They provide a way to connect with them authentically.
Before today, creating a podcast was a complicated process that required manual work and investment in equipment such as a studio or a microphone.
Brand awareness strategy
Creating awareness is one of the most important steps that a flourishing business can take to build its brand reputation and its strong foundation. There are various ways to boost this aspect of a company’s operation.
Use co-marketing
Co-marketing is a great way to build brand awareness. It allows you to connect with another brand’s audience and highlight what you offer in the marketplace.
If your company sells hair and beauty products, then you could potentially reach out to a haircare app to create a campaign that gives users free masks or hair oil, you can host an Instagram live together or post a shared offer (“download the application and get your free hair oil”). Thus, partnering up with another business can surely help you triple your reach.
Create brand mascot
If you have the budget, then hiring a spokesperson or actor may be a good idea. Just make sure that they have the right personality and can represent the company.
This section shows how your brand can be humanized by offering a sense of friendly and knowledgeable service.
Choose a symbol that represents you
You know that checkmark when you see it. Nike is no longer just a shoe company. It’s also a checkmark. When you see the company’s logo, you know it’s Nike. The same goes for the bitten apple.
It’s not just a logo, but it’s also a symbol that you can use in many different ways. Work with a graphic designer or branding team to create one for yourself that’s ubiquitous in your marketing and advertising campaigns.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to increase brand awareness without having to spend a lot of time or resources. It works by taking advantage of the traffic that’s already arriving at another website and getting more eyeballs without being cluttered.
Instead of just pushing out a product, guest blogging is about presenting yourself as a human being first and communicating your brand voice. This is a great alternative to traditional marketing.
Create catchy slogans
McDonald’s slogan, “I’m lovin’ it,” or Nike’s “just do it” instantly identifies the brand as a leader in the industry. Creating a short slogan or motto is a simple and effective way to increase your brand awareness.
Imagine writing a short sentence that explains why you’re different from the rest. Yes, it’s hard. It must also explain why your product or service is the best fit for your customers. Therefore, creating a compelling and unique statement that explains how you stand out and why people should use you is CRUCIAL.
How to measure brand awareness
How do you know if your campaign is working? Just like other marketing metrics, you measure it, and having the right strategies in place is not enough. You also need to measure the success of the program or initiative you’re working on to see if it’s yielding the desired results.
However, brand awareness can’t be measured traditionally:
Quantitative Brand Awareness Measures:
These are the key metrics that help measure your brand awareness:
- Direct traffic: First of all, direct traffic refers to the people who visit your site after typing in your website’s URL. It is a vital metric that tells you how much of your marketing is being used to attract visitors.
- Site traffic number: It is the total number of people who visited your site during a given period. It tells you how much of the general population is checking out content and interacting with your brand.
- Social Engagement: Engagement is the number of people who are aware of your brand and are interacting with it in various ways.
Qualitative Brand Awareness Measures:
Brand awareness is a bit murky here. But, it can still help you gauge how many people are aware of the brand.
- Searching Google: Set up Google Alerts to get notified about any news or mentions about your brand that is happening online. As your brand grows, it will expand beyond the website.
- Social listening: Social listening is a tool that helps monitor the organic mentions of your social media campaign. By analyzing the conversations around your brand, it can help identify areas of improvement.
- Brand awareness surveys: Surveys are very helpful for businesses to get feedback from their customers and audience. They can be created and shared on social media platforms.
Through these metrics, quantitative and qualitative, you will be able to measure the level of brand awareness among your target audience. It will also help inform campaigns, stay connected to the public and keep track of how your audience is reacting to your messages.
To sum things up
Brand awareness is a powerful marketing concept that can have a huge impact on a company’s bottom line.
Building awareness for your brand is an essential part of any successful marketing campaign. It will help build a loyal following that will regularly pick up on your products and services.
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