When ordering a drink in a restaurant, how many times have you asked for a Coke instead of Cola?
We have seen people calling bandages ‘BAND-AID’ all the time, even though it's just a brand name.
Have you ever wondered how these brands managed to turn their usual product terms into proprietary eponyms?
In marketing, this is called 'brand awareness'
We agree that creating brand awareness like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Microsoft isn't as easy as it may sound.
Especially if you run a small business, it may take you several decades, centuries, or maybe forever to earn a reputation like these brands, but that also doesn't mean you don't try.
Remember, if you want to grow your brand, you have to make an effort to get it noticed and recognized. According to research, social marketer's top priority these days is to improve brand awareness.
To make things easier, we have created this all-inclusive brand awareness guide to help you make your brand shine in an ecommerce world.
What Is Brand Awareness?
Brand awareness represents the level of familiarity your potential customers have with your brand.
The greater the brand awareness, the more familiar your audience will be with your brand message, logo, and offers.
What do you think when you hear the term 'Apple'? Fruit or cutting-edge tech gadgets?
Brand awareness is essential for business growth.
While you may not be able to gain a noticeable advantage at the initial stages of your brand development cycle, it would still contribute to the process and help you positively spread the word about your brand.
Brand Awareness VS Brand Recognition
Brand awareness is a broad concept. Everything from your brand message to colors, logo, and voice counts here.
To grow your business, you have to ensure that every element remains consistent throughout your marketing materials.
But how can you determine that your brand awareness strategy is bringing you results?
That's where brand recognition steps in.
By definition, brand recognition is when your brand becomes synonymous with what it offers.
- Please Google the Gluten-free restaurant near our location
- Please pass me a BandAid as my hand got injured
- We're getting late. Please call 'Uber'
These brands have successfully managed to achieve brand recognition for their business.
Research indicates that more than 82% of consumers prefer a brand they're familiar with, even if it is not ranked on the top pages of Google.
Now, what does that indicate?
Brand awareness builds trust.
Without building trust, your company will have a hard time generating revenues or sales.
A well-designed brand awareness strategy is the first step toward building a strong brand identity.
Brand Awareness Strategy Explained
A brand awareness strategy comprises different marketing tactics that enable a brand to spread awareness about its offers in its target market.
There are several steps involved in the process of creating a brand awareness strategy for your business.
The process begins by knowing your target audience and their needs. The next step is to conduct a competitor analysis to determine how your competitors have positioned their products in the market.
Based on this data, you can devise a set of strategies to increase brand awareness and achieve recognition.
Why Having A Solid Brand Awareness Strategy Is Crucial For Your Business Success?
Top Of Mind Awareness
Brand awareness efforts eventually lead to top-of-mind awareness.
What is top-of-mind awareness?
This is when your customers think of your brand first for their needs. Sure, good product quality and excellent customer service also increase your chances of having repeat exposure and building awareness. But once you get on the track, the world is yours.
Builds Loyalty
It is a huge success for your brand if a customer sees your product on a store shelf and recognizes it.
Take your example. When you want to buy anything from a store, and you see a range of products in front of you, do you pick the ones you're seeing for the first time or go with the options you're already familiar with?
If you chose to go with the latter, you're not alone.
The sense of familiarity leads to brand recognition, which forms the basis for trust and brand loyalty.
Improves Brand Recognition
Businesses create a brand awareness strategy in the hope of earning brand recognition. Brand recognition is when your customer starts considering your product as the sole option for their needs.
Promotes Expansion
It becomes easier for you to expand your business and add more products to your range when you successfully create awareness for your brand.
A well-crafted brand awareness strategy that plays to your strengths will become an asset for your brand.
Brand Equity
Your office building and equipment are physical assets of your brand. But nothing compares to brand equity when it comes to increasing awareness for your brand.
That goes without saying that when more people identify your business as a brand, it automatically increases your odds of generating more profits.
Attracts New Talent
Increasing brand awareness will not only help your brand influence your potential customer's buying decision but also enables you to attract new talent.
It's no surprise that businesses that master the art of brand marketing will get acknowledged by industry experts and potential job candidates.
This enables you to hire the best available people working in your area of expertise.
That goes without saying that investing in top-notch employees can do wonders for your brand.
Improves Profit
Customers are willing to pay a premium price for products they buy from their favorite brands.
Picture that: You have two pairs of sneakers in front of you with more or less similar pricing. One pair comes with Nike labeling, while the other one comes with no branding at all.
Both pairs look great. What would you choose for yourself?
Nike, right? Why? Even though both look great and Nike is slightly pricier than the other pair, people would be willing to go for it as they are familiar with the brand.
So the factor of brand awareness directly impacts your profit margins.
Increased Brand Awareness = More Credibility = More Revenues
Now that you know what brand awareness is and why it is critical for your business's success, it is time to explore nine brand awareness strategy ideas to earn the attention of your potential customers.
How To Grow Your Brand: 9 Brand Awareness Strategy Ideas To Earn Attention
1. Leverage Guest Blogging
While your brand needs to have a dedicated blog where you can constantly share content and engage with your customers, building a repo this way can take months or even years.
That's where guest blogging comes in. Guest blogging is something that requires you to write content for other high-DA websites. It is a quick way of building credibility, which isn't possible when you solely rely on your blog.
For guest posting, the first step is to find high-DA websites/blogs/publications in your niche that accept guest post submissions.
The next step is to reach out to them. Craft an email with 2-3 title recommendations and a request to include your site link in the author's bio or article.
Upon acceptance, you can submit your content based on the site's submission guidelines.
Guest posting allows you to reach out to wider audiences (quality traffic), which can play a critical role in getting your site acknowledged.
2. Prove Your Expertise By Creating Compelling Content
Another proven brand awareness idea to grow your business is creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.
People admire brands that are willing to go the extra mile to provide value to their customers. Sharing compelling content is one of the ways you can prove your expertise and build trust.
As they say, content is king. So don't risk this strategy if you doubt your writing or research skills. Outsource this task to someone knowledgeable about the field, and you'll witness great results in no time.
3. Increase Your Site Visibility By Improving SEO
Users trust brands that are ranked higher on SERPs. So the best brand awareness strategy to get your brand noticed is by getting it ranked better in search results.
For this, you have to implement the best SEO practices for ecommerce.
Research keywords with higher search volume and low competition to optimize your brand awareness strategy. Infuse informational keywords into your content to better target your audience's interests.
There are many online tools available to help you out with the process.
While keyword research and implementation are an integral part of the best SEO practices, you must not overstuff your content with keywords.
Remember, your priority should be to write for people and not for search engines.
Here's our guide on how to use SEO for your branding.
4. Maximize Your Social Media Presence
Social media provides businesses with an opportunity to target their ideal customers and create brand awareness. Sadly, many established brands use social media because they know customers expect it.
That lends a great opportunity for your business to benefit from your social media presence and create awareness.
Update content on your social profiles regularly and keep your customers informed about your ongoing offers. It's also critical to conduct market research and create buyer personas before integrating your social media strategy with your brand awareness plan.
5. Collaborate With Other Known Brands
Collaborating with other like-minded brands can do wonders for your brand awareness strategy.
When you partner with other brands, you will get a chance to expand your reach and inherit the reputation of a well-known brand.
6. Create Shareable Infographics
Gone are the days when your customers were willing to spend hours and hours reading your long-form content. Today, they expect a concise yet informational illustration of data your brand collects.
Yes, you guessed that right. We're talking about infographics.
Infographics are a visual representation of data that enables readers to analyze and explore statistics without going through tons of content.
The good thing about infographics is that they are shareable on different platforms, including your social media profiles. That means, that when you use infographics as part of your brand-building tactic, it enables you to gain more likes and social shares.
7. Introduce Referral Programs
According to 49% of US customers, friends and family are the best sources of brand awareness.
Starting a referral marketing campaign will help your brand benefit from word-of-mouth marketing that can go a long way when done right.
A referral program helps you reach out to wider audiences and also enables you to receive referrals from people who're already your loyal customers.
8. Start A Podcast
Creating brand awareness is an ongoing process. The more value you add to your customer's experience, the more likely they're to remember their journey.
Podcasts are getting momentum these days because of their ability to increase brand exposure.
You can also benefit from this often overlooked yet emerging marketing trend by starting your business podcast.
Get as creative as you can. Think out of the box and create podcasts that add value to the listeners' lives.
Check out Debutify Podcast and use it as your example.
9. Know Your Audience And Offer Solutions Accordingly
You cannot create brand awareness without knowing your target audience and their needs.
After knowing the needs and wants of your ideal customers, the next step is devising tailored solutions that fit their needs.
Take the example of Netflix and Amazon here. Both brands have leveraged personalization to offer their buyers a targeted service. Needless to say, they have witnessed great returns in a short time.
The concept of brand awareness revolves around creating personalized strategies that cater directly to your customer's desires. Take a cue from this post and create a brand awareness strategy that converts.
