Brand awareness is the possibility that consumers have a level of familiarity and knowledge about your brand. Firstly, a brand is represented by distinctive logos, symbols, colours, text and images. These characteristics are pivotal for achieving brand recognition and brand recall which helps consumers associate your brand with the specific product or service. Brand recognition refers to the consumer's ability to identify the brand characteristics (e.g. logo and packaging) without being exposed to the company's name. Whereas brand recall refers to the consumer's ability to identify the brand name that is associated with a particular product or service category. Your target market must first be aware of your brand prior to them proceeding to purchase. Having a simple name and logo with one or two colours (like Coca-Cola) is key to a unique and memorable brand.
A brand awareness example: Friend A asked friend B to go to the shop to buy her a particular type of washing powder that has "red packaging and a circle logo". Without mentioning the brand name, friend B was able to correctly recall the washing powder friend A wanted as there were no other brands on the shelf with those distinct characteristics.
In any B2B or B2C industry, increasing brand awareness must be a primary marketing objective as a way to generate more sales. In most cases (in particularly for small or new brands), building awareness can take a considerable amount of time, yet it is a worthwhile investment for achieving success in the long-term. A starting point can be to communicate the brand's value to your desired audience which will help create word of mouth. Your target audience must understand what your brand represents, how your product or service can satisfy their needs and how your brand differs from your competitors in the market. Once a consumer has this type of brand knowledge it is probable your product or service will be immediately recalled in a purchase situation.
There are several promotional tools which can be used for your brand awareness strategy.
Traditional methods of marketing tools like TV, magazines, radio and brochures have been used for many years, yet are becoming less popular given the high cost and little return that is achieved. Nowadays more and more companies are implementing a digital marketing strategy as a cost-effective way to reach a larger audience and are achieving greater return. Three common and successful online marketing tools that are used to build brand awareness include search engine optimisation (SEO), social media and inbound marketing.
SEO is a fundamental online marketing tool and strategy used to generate organic traffic to your website in order to achieve a higher ranking in Google search results and other search engines. Meta descriptions, titles and keywords and keyword phrases form the core components of SEO which help improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic. Download our free guide - Getting Started With SEO: 5 Elements To Optimise to help build your online presence.
Social media is an effective tool for creating brand awareness given the sheer number of online users around the world. There are numerous social networking sites which can be used to reach the intended audience. The purpose is to initiate engagement among your audience by posting relevant updates that will be of interest or useful to the receiver. Each platform serves a different purpose and audience, therefore it is important to adopt the right social media tool that aligns with your company’s marketing objectives. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are the most popular social media tools used for B2B and B2C marketing due to the large user base.
Inbound marketing is an online marketing tool used to generate more leads. The lead generation technique is used for building brand awareness and attracting the right prospects to your website. This is achieved through content marketing, social media marketing and SEO. It is the process of presenting educational content that addresses questions for which your prospects/potential customers are searching and to help them make informed purchase decisions. The inbound process brings together various types of tools such as blogs, SEO, eNewsletters and eBooks into one effective and highly measurable online strategy. Download The 18 Greatest Online Lead Generation Tips, Tricks and Ideas guide to discover what crucial elements are needed to make lead generation happen as well as recommended online channels for achieving optimal brand exposure.
Adopting all three brand awareness strategies provides the opportunity to generate more leads and sales. The tools will also allow significant amount of brand exposure and will help you to remain top of mind so your brand is recalled first when a consumer is thinking of a particular industry or category.
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