Having a hard time getting people to recognize your brand? If demand for your brand is low, then you need to shift your marketing strategies to increase your brand awareness.
In this blog, Danny Conlon, VP of Product and Marketing at Ignite Visibility, will provide six strategies for improving your brand awareness that will help attract the attention you deserve.
What You’ll Learn
- What is Brand Awareness?
- Why is Brand Awareness Important?
- Signs You Need to Improve Your Brand Awareness Strategy
- How to Measure Brand Awareness
- 6 Strategies to Increase Brand Awareness
- Common Brand Awareness Mistakes to Avoid
- Future Trends in Brand Awareness
What Is Brand Awareness?
Simply put, brand awareness is how familiar the general public is with your brand. The more people are aware of your brand, the more opportunities you have to make a sale.
There are two types of brand awareness: unaided and aided.
Unaided brand awareness, also known as brand recall, occurs when people remember your brand without being prompted. For example, when someone thinks, “I want a salad and breadsticks for dinner,” Olive Garden might come to mind.
Aided brand awareness happens when a consumer is reminded of your brand, like when a consumer is scanning a cereal aisle and recognizes Corn Flakes.
When consumers are thinking about what product or service to buy, they’re going to go with the brands they know first. You want to position yourself to be that brand.
My Expert Opinion on Brand Awareness
To maximize the effectiveness of your overall marketing strategy, there has to be enough demand and awareness around your brand.
Brand awareness campaigns are not only vital for new brands, but also remain critical throughout the entire lifecycle of any brand. These campaigns ensure that demand continues to grow and adapt alongside the evolving consumer market.
Additionally, brand awareness campaigns contribute to your brand equity, the value derived from consumer perception and recognition of your brand. Strong brand equity can lead to higher customer loyalty and can also help brands withstand market fluctuations more effectively.
Action Item: Analyze your current brand awareness and demand to determine how much effort needs to be shifted to brand awareness campaigns. Here are two quick ways to do this:
- In SEMRush: Check your percentage of branded to non-branded keywords, and compare the ratio against your competitors. Who has more branded keyword demand?
- In Search Console: Look at your query report and see how many impressions and clicks are coming from queries with your brand name in it.
Why is Brand Awareness Important?
Let’s dive even further into why brand awareness is so important to achieve success and grow.
1. It Builds Trust and Credibility
The more familiar consumers are with your brand, the more likely they are to trust it. It also enhances your credibility because well-known brands are seen as trustworthy, meaning that customers are more likely to make a purchase or recommend you to a friend.
2. It Increases Market Share
The more well-known you are, the more of a competitive edge you have. Brands with strong reputations often lead their market category. When consumers are familiar with your brand, you don’t have to fight as hard to be noticed as lesser-known brands do.
3. It Supports Customer Acquisition
Familiar brands are more likely to attract new customers. When people are aware of your brand, they are more likely to share their satisfaction, attracting new customers, and helping to further strengthen your brand awareness in your market.
4. It Enhances Brand Loyalty
Brand awareness is just the beginning. As more people become aware of your brand, you’re more likely to build strong brand loyalty amongst your customers. Consumers tend to stick with brands they are familiar with, so not only will your brand loyalty be strong but your customer retention rates will be high, too.
5. It Supports Your Marketing Efforts
Recognized brands’ marketing campaigns tend to go further because people pay more attention to the things they are already familiar with. It also ends up reducing your marketing costs overall because, when marketing campaigns work so well, you don’t have to do as many of them.
6. It Facilitates New Product Launches
New products benefit when you can leverage your existing reputation. Launching new products under a recognized brand is simply easier than coming out of the woodwork.
7. It Increases Brand Equity
The higher your brand awareness, the more valuable your brand is. When it comes time to solicit new investors or shareholders, the brand with more equity is going to win every time. Recognized brands are a safer investment than new, unrecognized ones.
8. It Supports Business Expansion
Strong brand awareness makes it easier for you to break into new markets, which aids in market expansion. When it’s easier to break into new markets, it’s also easier to diversify your product line.
9. It Improves Customer Perception
Consistent brand recognition can go a long way toward improving a brand’s reputation. A strong reputation also improves a customer’s perception of the brand and encourages positive associations.
10. It Enables Competitive Pricing
Brands with high brand awareness are able to convert that into a premium pricing structure. Consumers will be less sensitive to higher prices when paying for a name-brand product with a strong reputation.
Think of Coca-Cola versus a store-brand cola. Consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a can of Coke because it’s a well-known brand.
11. It Promotes Social Proof
Brand awareness can also create a bandwagon effect. It signifies popularity and creates a demand amongst your target audience. Recognized brands benefit from social proof and validation.
Like it or not, social media can strongly influence consumers.
Think of Stanley, for example. The company has had a pretty solid reputation for years, known for its durable and rugged outdoor gear. But the more people started talking about it on social media, the higher its demand rose. Now, people are camping out for new product drops and paying premium prices for their tumblers.
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As you can see, brand awareness is important for several reasons, but the bottom line is that the more the public recognizes your brand, the more likely they are to choose you.
Signs You Need to Improve Your Brand Awareness Strategy
Not sure how strong your brand awareness is or if it’s affecting your bottom line? Here are some things to look for:
- Low Website Traffic: If people aren’t coming to your website willingly, it could be a sign that your brand awareness is weak.
- Poor Social Media Engagement: A low follower count or poor engagement is a sign that people aren’t interested or aware of your brand.
- Weak Brand Recall and Recognition: If you send out a survey, will consumers recognize your brand name? If not, you should work on increasing your visibility.
- Low Share of Voice (SOV): How often is your brand mentioned in the media, on blogs, or consumer forums? Is it more than your competitors?
- Minimal Search Volume: Using tools like Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner, monitor the number of times people search for your branded keywords. If it’s low, it could be a sign that you need to improve your visibility.
- Low Referral Traffic: Not receiving quality backlinks, leads, or referral traffic is a sign that people aren’t aware of your brand.
- Poor Brand-Related Campaign Performance: How are your marketing campaigns performing? It could be due to the copy or the graphics, but your brand awareness could also be an issue, as most people will engage with campaigns for brands they know and love.
- Customer Feedback and Reviews: If your customer feedback mentions that your customers mainly learn of your brand by chance, it’s a good sign that you need to improve your brand visibility.
- Market Research Reports: Third parties in all industries perform market research reports. If your brand isn’t mentioned in these reports, it’s a problem.
- Sales and Growth Metrics: Slow sales, low new customer acquisition, and low growth metrics are all indicators that your brand visibility needs to be improved.
How to Measure Brand Awareness
Luckily, measuring brand awareness isn’t super difficult, but it will require work. Here are some of the best ways to secure the brand awareness metrics you need to see if your marketing is working.
Surveys and Questionnaires
Consumer surveys and questionnaires provide valuable insight into how people feel about your brand. Consider things like aided recall surveys, unaided recall surveys, and brand perception surveys to poll consumers on how they feel about brand attributes like quality, trustworthiness, and value.
Social Media Metrics
Tracking social media mentions, hashtags, and engagement will help you see how much your brand awareness is rising among specific audiences.
Website Traffic
The more direct traffic your website receives, the better. To measure your external visibility, also track search traffic, paid ad traffic, and referral traffic.
Google Trends
Use Google Trends to track your search volume over time. Compare your volume to your competitors to see where you stand on market share.
Media Mentions
Measuring your press mentions, articles, and features will help you evaluate the impact of your public relations efforts. If they are low, brainstorm ways to improve your mentions.
Share of Voice (SOV)
Social listening platforms can provide valuable information and insight into how the public views your brand. Monitor and analyze discussions on industry forums and blogs to get a real sense of what your audience thinks of your brand.
Customer Feedback
Don’t underestimate the value of online reviews and Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys to gauge your brand’s performance in terms of customer awareness and satisfaction.
6 Strategies to Increase Brand Awareness
Now that you know what it is, why it’s important, and how to measure it, let’s talk about how to increase brand awareness using strategies that work.
1. Use Content Marketing
Creating valuable and shareable content is one of the most impactful ways to boost your brand visibility and awareness. Focus on reaching your target audience through media such as blogs, infographics, videos, and podcasts. You can also look into guest posting and influencer collaborations to raise your visibility even more.
2. Reach Your Audience with Social Media Marketing
There’s no denying that social media is still powerful. To get the most out of your social media marketing strategy, be sure to post consistently on the platforms where your audience is hanging out the most.
However, it doesn’t end with posting. Don’t forget to engage with your audience! Respond to comments, mentions, and messages. Use hashtags, stories, and live videos to expand your reach even further.
3. Combine SEO and PPC Strategies
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are a great way to expand your reach and connect with new audiences. Optimize your website with on-site and off-site SEO, including brand-related keywords, long-tail keywords, and other white-hat SEO tactics.
Once your content is optimized, run PPC campaigns to increase your visibility and drive more traffic to your content.
4. Rely On Public Relations (PR)
Don’t be afraid to connect with others! Increase your digital PR by building relationships with media outlets, influencers, and others in your industry. Take part in events and sponsorships for exposure. Always write and distribute press releases to share these sponsorships and other news about great things happening in your company.
5. Test Out Partnerships and Collaborations
Create partnerships with other complementary brands to take advantage of co-marketing efforts and opportunities. Running joining promotions, webinars, contests, cross-promotions, and influencer partnerships will expand your reach and introduce your brand to new audiences.
6. Get In Your Customer’s Inbox with Email Marketing
Don’t sleep on email marketing! Building a strong email list is still one of the most valuable and effective ways to increase brand awareness and build strong relationships with your audience. Use your list to craft engaging and personalized email campaigns, keeping your audience informed and engaged with your brand and your activities.
Common Brand Awareness Mistakes to Avoid
Building brand awareness doesn’t come without mistakes. Here are some of the most common mistakes brands make when jumping into awareness marketing.
Ignoring the Target Audience
What you’re saying won’t make a difference if you aren’t speaking to the right people. Be sure to do your research to understand your audience, what they like, and what they’re interested in. Trying to appeal to everyone will often result in your brand not connecting with anyone.
Inconsistent Branding
Logos, fonts, and brand colors make a difference! Using the same visual attributes will help your audience recognize and connect with your content. They will learn what to expect from you and look forward to your content.
Overlooking the Importance of Content Quality
Nothing kills a brand quicker than poor content! Skip low-quality, irrelevant, or unengaging content and focus on only creating valuable content that either educates, engages, or entertains your audience.
Neglecting Social Media Engagement
Social media is all about connection. You can’t form a connection with a one-way relationship. Be sure to respond to comments and messages from your consumers.
In addition to responding to comments, listen to and act on feedback. Instead of viewing all feedback as a negative attack on your brand, view it as an opportunity for improvement and growth.
Focusing Solely on Short-Term Goals
Brand awareness is a long game. Don’t neglect your long-term strategy for quick wins and short-term results. Aim for sustainability over fleeting recognition.
Not Measuring Campaign Performance
Crafting a great campaign is one thing but don’t forget to measure its performance! Keep track of your brand awareness metrics, spend time analyzing your numbers to see what worked and what didn’t, and identify what can be improved.
Over-Reliance on a Single Channel
If you want to reach a bigger audience, you have to diversify your marketing. Don’t rely too heavily on one platform. It can limit your reach and effectiveness.
Instead, use a diverse mix of platforms and tactics, including social media, email marketing, and content marketing, to build a resilient brand strategy, reach more people, and introduce your brand to a larger audience.
Skipping Competitor Analysis
It can be tempting to “stay in your lane,” but you need to pay attention to your blind spots. Analyze your competitors’ strategies to see what you can tweak in your own. Stay away from simply copying their strategy, though. Copycat strategies are rarely successful.
Overlooking the Customer Experience
All the brand awareness in the world means nothing if your customers are enjoying their experience. Don’t ignore your user experience or your feedback. Addressing and improving these things can help to negate negative word-of-mouth and improve brand loyalty.
Future Trends in Brand Awareness
Steadily increasing your brand awareness means staying on top of industry trends. Let’s examine some of the upcoming trends that could affect your strategy.
AI and Automation
Like every other industry, AI is making a difference in this one, too. Chatbots and virtual assistants are making it easier to improve customer service and boost engagement.
Don’t be afraid to leverage marketing automation tools, like email and SMS delivery bots, to deliver customized and timely messages to your audience.
Personalization at Scale
Use advanced data analytics to create more customized and personalized marketing campaigns. Dynamic content can adjust to each user’s individual preferences and behaviors, creating a more customized and unique experience.
Influencer Marketing
Instead of attempting to connect with large-scale influencers, aim toward micro and nano influencers with super-engaged audiences. These smaller-scale influencers can make a bigger impact on your targeted audience.
Building ongoing relationships with them will be a more authentic representation than one-off campaigns. Viewers love user-generated content! When your audience can see that you are trying to make connections with popular influencers in their specific niche, they will be more likely to trust your brand.
Social Commerce
Social platforms are making it easier for users to shop directly from their apps. Look into Shoppable Posts and Live Shopping Events to engage your audiences, drive sales, and facilitate seamless purchasing.
Boost Your Brand Awareness With Ignite Visibility
Successful brands are recognizable brands.
The strategies above will help you build a favorable and recognizable brand that will last for years to come.
If you are unsure how to improve your brand awareness, are struggling with brand visibility, or are unsure where to start with implementing content marketing, let Ignite Visibility help!
Our team of digital marketing experts helps businesses across the country develop strong social media marketing strategies, improve their content marketing, and analyze the correct data to make impactful decisions.
Are you ready to increase your brand awareness? Let’s get started. Request your free proposal today!
