A guide to Brand Awareness
Wondering what brand awareness can do for a brand? It can embed itself into consumer lifestyles and buying habits. Put plainly your clients won’t have to think twice before becoming a customer.
What is brand awareness?
Awareness represents how familiar your target audience is with your brand. Also, it shows how well they recognize it. Especially in the early stages of a brand, establishing brand awareness is extremely valuable when marketing and promoting your company and products.
Brand awareness might seem like a vague concept, and in truth, it is. For those marketers and business owners out there who like to count success with numbers, brand awareness will likely ruffle your feathers. It’s not about numbers, it’s about perception.
But just because it isn’t a number or metric that can be accurately determined doesn’t mean it is not valuable. Brand awareness is important for business success and overall marketing goals. Wondering why? Let’s talk about it, Shall we?
Brand Awareness Creates Trust
In a world where consumers rely on google research and others’ opinions before making a purchase, brand trust is everything. Once a consumer bonds to your brand, they’re more likely to buy from you.
Brand awareness essentially equals brand trust. When you put a proverbial face to your brand name, consumers can trust easier. Brand awareness efforts give your brand a personality and help you seem sincere, receive feedback, and tell a story. These are all ways that we, as humans, build trust and relationships with one another. The human/brand relationship isn’t any different.
Brand Awareness Creates Association
When you had a question or wanted to find something, I’m sure you’ve Googled it. In the same way, after a fulfilling meal, I bet you grabbed a Coke to drink. Am I correct? I am. But … notice how some of the words above are capitalized. These are brands, not nouns or verbs.
Speaking in brand-less terms, Google should be referred to as a search engine, and Coke as a soft drink. That’s what brand awareness does. It associates actions and products with particular brands, subconsciously urging us to replace common words with branded terms.
Brand Awareness Builds Brand Equity
Brand equity essentially is a brand’s value. It is determined by consumer experiences with and overall perception of the brand. Positive experiences + perception = positive brand equity. It’s the same with negative experiences!
Valuable things that come from positive brand equity?
- Higher prices due to the higher perceived value
- The ability to expand business through product or services
- Greater social impact due to brand name value
How does a brand establish (and increase) brand equity? By building brand awareness and consistently promoting positive experiences with the brand. Brand awareness is the foundation of brand equity no matter how big or small each brand is.
How to Establish Brand Awareness
Still, wondering why awareness is so important? It establishes trust with your customers, creates positive associations, and builds invaluable brand equity that allows your brand to become a household name and consumer staple. Brand awareness among your audience and the general public doesn’t happen overnight. It also doesn’t happen from a simple advertisement or marketing campaign.
Strong brand awareness is a result of multiple efforts that extend beyond trying to get paying customers. If you expect to raise awareness of your brand by running a few product advertisements on Facebook, you won’t get very far. Not only will the consumer be focused on the product and not the brand, and the ad will also lack impact beyond a simple sale.
Here are some ways to establish a solid brand awareness foundation and make a lasting impact with your audience:
Be a Person, Not a Company
When you get to know a new friend, what do you like to discover about them? I like to learn about hobbies, favorite books and movies, worst moments, and more. I also pay attention to how they speak, the things they talk about, and what gets them excited.
These are the traits your brand should determine and promote itself. To leave an impact with your audience, you’ve got to define yourself as more than a company that sells stuff. How else would you define yourself? What words would you use if you had to introduce your brand to a new friend? Essentially what drives you (apart from money)?
Socialize
Introvert or extrovert, all humans benefit from social contact and spending time with one another. It’s how we stay connected and learn new things.
The same goes for your brand. If you only attempt to connect with others when trying to make a sale or get support, you won’t be known as anything beyond business with a singular intention (and the same goes for a person).
To raise awareness of your brand, you’ve got to be social. Post on social media about things unrelated to your services. Interact with your audience by asking questions, commenting on posts, or retweeting or sharing content you like. Treat your social accounts as if you were a person trying to make friends, not a business trying to make money.
A great brand reputation comes from online sociability. Being social leads to being known.
Tell a Narrative
Storytelling is an incredibly powerful marketing tactic, whether you’re marketing products or promoting your brand. Why? Because it gives something real for your audience to latch onto. Crafting a narrative around your brand humanizes it and gives it depth.
Anything can be your narrative, as long as it’s true. It can be the narrative of your founder or the tale of how your business had its first product idea. Do you know what’s impactful and can lead to a big boost in brand awareness? Authenticity.
Make Sharing Easy
Make it easy for your audience to share your content. This could be blog posts, sponsored content, videos, social media posts, or memes. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s shareable.
Word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective way to establish trust and familiarity among customers. When someone sees that a friend or family member is recommending a product or service, they’ll take notice of that product … and brand.
Brand awareness is about impact.
It’s about interacting with your audience in ways that don’t only ask for money, participation, or loyalty.
Imagine if you met a new person who wanted to be your friend. If they asked for any of the above, you’d probably laugh and walk away, right? Not only is that a shallow approach to friendship, but it also leaves no lasting impact on you.
The same goes for establishing brand awareness among your audience.
Want to know more about How to Increase Awareness, having a major impact on your marketing efforts, consumer perception, and revenue? I can help!
Let’s built a loyal audience that recognises your brand among competitors, chooses your products, and recommends their friends and family do the same!
