81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying from it. That means that today, getting people to buy from your company requires them to be aware of your brand and what you represent.
But even though 89% of marketers claim that improving brand awareness is a top priority, many businesses don’t have a comprehensive strategy for getting more people to become aware of their brand.
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The good news is that there are many approaches for boosting brand awareness, even if you’re starting a new business and don’t have any presence in your market right now. By taking a broad approach to your brand-boosting efforts, you can get in front of your best buyers and achieve consistent growth.
Below, let’s explore the most effective strategies for increasing brand awareness you should know.
What is Brand Awareness and Why is It Important
Brand awareness measures how familiar your target audience is with your brand. It encompasses the recognition of brand elements such as the name and the logo, but also includes the qualities of your brand like the voice, values, core ideas, product types, and more.
Even though there isn’t a single metric that can accurately measure brand awareness, it’s generally defined as the market presence in the eyes of an audience. Companies with a high brand awareness in their market enjoy an advantage over the competition because buyers typically trust brands they recognize, trust, and can relate to.
But why is brand awareness important? Here are a few reasons:
- Stay Top-of-Mind With Your Audience. A big part of building a successful brand is developing a loyal following that buys from you consistently. When your brand has strong brand awareness, people will be more likely to buy from you than the competition when they need your products.
- Develop Trust. Trust is a crucial factor in building relationships with customers. By increasing your brand awareness, you can make your prospects and current customers more aware of your brand and its reputation, resulting in easier sales.
- Reduce Price Sensitivity. Price sensitivity measures how much your buyers consider price changes when deciding whether to buy. And by increasing your brand awareness and building trust with your audience, you can reduce their price sensitivity, making your buyers more willing to pay a premium price to work with a company they like.
- Build Brand Equity. Your brand equity is the value that your brand creates through positive customer experiences and the overall perception of your company. By raising brand awareness and becoming associated with positive experiences, you will be able to charge more, expand your business, and rely on word-of-mouth for organic growth.
7 Ways to Increase Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness is not something you can expect to happen quickly. It takes time to get in front of people in your audience enough times for them to notice you. And then, you have to provide great experiences that form positive associations around your brand.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of proven strategies for building brand awareness that leading brands use with great success.
SEO for Brand Awareness
81% of retail shoppers conduct an online search before making a purchase, and the brands that show up at the top of the results page are the most likely to be recognized and chosen.
Having a strong SEO presence not only provides a virtually endless stream of traffic for your website but also acts as an authority signal in your industry. When people see that your brand is one of the first results for their query, it forms an initial impression that your brand must be one of the top choices.
Over time, being visible among the top results in your market will lead to most of your audience becoming aware of your brand and what it represents. And that’s a big part of getting them to remember your brand when they are ready to buy.
Leverage Content Marketing
Content plays a central role in building brand awareness for your business. On one hand, it’s essential when creating an SEO strategy that gets your website ranked for competitive keywords in your niche. But at the same time, content is the perfect way to tell your brand’s story, educate your prospects, and build a strong relationship with your audience.
In addition to leveraging content for brand awareness and SEO, it’s crucial to focus on bottom-of-the-funnel keywords and content strategy. This involves creating targeted content that addresses the specific needs and concerns of prospects who are on the verge of making a purchase decision.
By crafting detailed case studies, product comparisons, user testimonials, and in-depth FAQs, you can effectively guide these potential customers toward a confident purchase. This type of content not only supports informed decision-making but also enhances the overall product experience, fostering trust and loyalty.
You can create content to build a bigger following on social media, get your message shared by other brands, and address questions and concerns your customers have. Creating informative content can help not only boost your brand awareness but provide a better product experience for your customers in the process.
Utilize Influencer Marketing
There’s a reason why influencer marketing has become such a popular online marketing strategy. The new generation of buyers base a lot of their buying decisions on recommendations from their favorite influencers, so getting them to run a promotion of your products can bring an instant influx of sales and a great ROI.
But beyond that, influencer marketing is an incredibly powerful tool for building brand awareness. Social media provides the perfect platform for influencers to talk about your product, brand, and core values. That can enhance the benefits that your company can offer to customers and form strong associations that will serve you for a long time after the promotion is over.
Email Signatures for Brand Awareness
Email is an indispensable part of running a business. Whether it’s communicating with business partners or building relationships with prospects, your team will likely spend a significant part of their day sending emails that help your company grow.
And because of that, email signatures are a great tool not just for building your personal brand but also for raising brand awareness on a company level. By adding branding elements to your employee signatures, you can provide a more consistent brand experience to the recipients of your emails and make your logo, company name, and even your best offers highlighted in every email you send out.
It’s also possible to utilize eye-catching email signature designs and banners that showcase offers or new content, which can make a big difference in your brand awareness and visibility over the thousands of email communications your company is likely having.
Podcasts
Podcasts are projected to have about 100 million listeners in the United States by 2024. And because such a big part of the population is tuning into podcasts regularly, they offer the perfect opportunity to reach segments of your target audience that might not be aware of your brand and products.
For example, you can go on a podcast and talk about your brand’s vision and the values that it’s built on. You can also provide helpful advice your target customers are looking for, building authority and trust that can translate into more sales for your business.
Finally, when you go on podcasts to represent your brand, you show a more human side to your business and can inject personality into what your company stands for, which is an integral part of what draws people to a brand.
Referral Programs
One of the most effective ways of building brand awareness and trust for your company is to get your current customers to vouch for you. But even though word-of-mouth marketing can happen organically, savvy businesses utilize referral programs to incentivize happy customers to spread your brand’s message to their friends and family.
By having your customers become ambassadors for your brand, you can get your brand an authority boost and reach new people who haven’t heard about your company before. When the recommendation comes from someone people know and trust, it provides a huge credibility boost for your brand, which breaks down most of the objections people might have when considering whether to purchase.
Social Media Marketing
Most companies today have at least a limited social media presence. But few understand the full potential that a comprehensive social media marketing strategy has for getting your brand in front of your best buyers. When you use social media effectively, you can build a distinct image that separates you from the competition and nurture relationships with customers through personal interactions.
By giving your brand a personality that shines through in your content and gets people to respond, you can also leverage the viral growth social media engagement can generate. And that will expand your reach and put your brand on the map for others who might be interested.
When building a social media marketing strategy for branding, you want your messaging and visuals to be consistent. Each social media platform requires a nuanced approach, but your voice should remain consistent throughout to avoid confusion and get people to recognize your company immediately after seeing a post.
Bottom Line
Getting your brand noticed by your audience is a complicated process. But by using the list of strategies above, you can create momentum for your brand online and get more people to recognize and trust you.
Whether you build brand authority through high-quality content and SEO, leverage influencers to showcase your products and introduce your brand or use email to display branding and share your best offers, each approach can offer something different and play a vital role in your company’s growth.
Bio:
Helga Zabalkanska is a CMO at Newoldstamp (500 Startups backed) and MySignature. She has over 10 years of experience in digital marketing with a data-driven approach. Helga is a startup enthusiast and SaaS lover.