Is your brand recognizable? When potential customers see your logo and work, do they immediately know it’s yours? Brand awareness is simply how familiar your potential customers are with your brand, its products, and its values. Think of big-name brands like Google and McDonalds. You can be driving down the road, see that yellow M, and immediately associate that M with burgers and fries. Whether you love McDonalds, or despise it, you can’t deny, it has great brand awareness all over the globe. And take Google as another example, when you want to know something, what do you say? “Google it!” Even if you’re using another search engine or source, ‘Google’ has become its own verb.
How does this relate to your business?
You may not need the world to eat your burgers or use your search engine, but you need your audience to buy your product, and that is where brand awareness comes in. If your potential customers don’t know your brand, and don’t associate it with your products, how can they buy it?
Why is brand awareness important?
Think for a moment about your brand. Is it outgoing and loud? Is it reserved and professional? Whoever your brand is, your customers need to know and trust it. Brand awareness is one of the strongest motivators of brand trust. When a customer consistently sees your brand and knows what you sell, they are more likely to trust your product. Genuine content and customer interactions increase your brand’s awareness which directly increases your sales. At the most basic level: people buy from brands they know and trust, and that means your brand awareness drives sales.
Ways to Increase Brand Awareness
Increasing your brand awareness is not a one and done situation, it’s a consistent, evolving process to listen and respond to your audience. Here are a few actionable ways you can increase your brand awareness:
Social Media
Social media is the epitome of digital brand awareness. Content, campaigns, ads, and customer interactions all happening in one place. Here are a few specific ways you can leverage social media to increase brand awareness:
- Targeted, Paid Ads: These ads are usually through third party hosts, whether that be Google or Facebook or Instagram is up to you. Digital ads on social platforms tend to be low cost with high flexibility. Targeted ads are especially great for special promotions!
- Consistent Content: Consistency is key! Your content should be consistent in timing, relevancy, quality, and design. Consistent content means your audience is regularly seeing and interacting with your brand.
- User-Generated Content: Let your customers be your voice. Create a branded hashtag and then re-post when other users tag and talk about your brand. Additionally, consider running a contest in relation to your product or service. Do you sell paint? Run a simple social media contest and have users submit their art created with your products.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO helps make your website and content more accessible on the web. It includes up to date summaries, descriptions, and key phrases that help search engines find, categorize, and offer your website to potential customers.
Community Involvement
Be visible in your community. Sponsor events or partner with local non-profits to demonstrate your commitment to your community and build trust with your neighbors and audiences.
Blog
Establish yourself as an expert in your field. Make sure people know you do what you do best. Write a weekly article that’s relevant to your customers and showcases your knowledge of your products and how they can be used.
If all of this is sounding daunting to you, don’t worry, that is why we’re here. From audience research to content creation to brand trust, we can tell your story and help your business grow. Give us a call and let us build your brand awareness (936) 637-7593.
