Brand awareness is a lifeline for a small business. This means that customers recognize and trust the company. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a marketing campaign to get noticed worldwide. Instead. Entrepreneurs and business owners should focus on the details and use the Internet. Reliably using the follow seven tips will help a business make its way worldwide.
What Is Brand Awareness?
Brand awareness is about customers knowing your name. Strong brand awareness means your brand is synonymous with your product or service.
For example, when you think of an adhesive bandage, you probably think of bandage. You’ve probably never called them “adhesive bandages” in your life. This is waterproof of the power of brand awareness.
This concept is not reserved for multi-million dollar companies. Strong brand awareness works regardless of the size of your business. Every multi-million dollar company has come from humbler roots, and brand awareness has played a vital role in this growth.
The same principles apply to your business, and you must get the most out of it.
The Importance of Brand Awareness
Cumulative brand awareness is the primary goal of social marketers. But why? It all goes back to the Band-Aid sample. If your brand becomes a household name, people think and talk about you.
This adds a level of familiarity between you and your customers. More importantly, it creates the same level of knowledge with potential customers looking for a product you are known for. Would you instead buy a use car from a strange or a close friend? Assuming it’s the same car, you’re probably going with a friend.
It’s basically a word association game. When customer hear the name of a brand, their knowledge will immediately lead them to think of its defining characteristics. Ancient spice? Funny and strange ads. McDonalds? Fast, cheap, and convenient. Your brand? It depends on you and your brand awareness efforts.
8 Ways to Build Brand Awareness
If you want to build strong brand awareness in a global, national, or local market, you’ve come to the right place: you’re around to learn 20 techniques that will help you shape brand awareness.
1. Utilize Brand Partnerships
Brand companies are one of the best ways to establish local brand consciousness. In this method, you work with a commercial, school, or sports team to promote a local event.
You can provide them with money, materials, uniforms, or even a venue for their event. In return, they will announce that their company sponsored the event. This can be done via banners or advertisements or by including your business name in the event title.
2. Use Car Wraps
Car wraps are an old-school method that continues today. This is when you cover a car with your logo, business information, and name. This may be your vehicle or your company vehicle. If your packaging looks interesting enough, you might even attract people who want to wrap their cars with your brand.
Think of wrapped cars as moving billboards. In traffic, people will become familiar with your brand. Just make sure your drivers are doing an excellent job on the road.
3. Start Some Controversy
This idea isn’t for everyone, but controversy is a sure way to get attention. By stirring up rumors, some may turn to your business for more information.
Be sure to carefully consider any controversial statement or position before making it public; You don’t want to attract negative press and lose business.
Consider taking a progressive or forward-thinking stance on an issue within your industry. People love talking about new and revolutionary ideas, so this can give you a quick way to put your brand in the spotlight.
4. Offer Freemium Content
Freemium content is giving away a portion of your final product. For example, Continuous Contact has a robust email promotion program and offers freemium content. You can use a free trial of their program and explore some of its features.
This helps convert leads while building brand awareness. Freemium content should contain your branding and links to your site to drive business.
5. Start a Referral Program
Referral programs are gaining ground lately. The idea is to incentivize current customers to refer new customers. The best method would be to provide a corporate gift or two-way incentive.
New and old customers get something free, a good discount, extra benefits, or a gift card. Not only does it build your customer base, but it also helps in the organic growth of your business.
Maybe your car wash business offers 50% off a standard wash through a referral program. Existing customers and their acquaintances get a good deal, and you’ll gain new customers in return.
6. Tell Your Story
Remember, the idea here is to connect with current and potential customers. You want to come across as a person, not a business.
If you make your brand story compelling, people will connect with you. This story can be told in the local news, incorporated into your brand, posted about, or advertised.
A story about who you are and how you started your company will add personalization to your brand.
7. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging works on several different levels. First, get your name out there. People will discover your brand in places they didn’t expect. It also gives you the option to link to your website. This increases traffic, makes SEO easier, and improves brand awareness.
If readers think they are being sold something, they are less likely to occupy with your post or commend it to others.
Write something stimulating that shows your industry knowledge and why you deserve to be the brand of choice for your offer.
8. Start a Podcast
Another way to get your name out there and show off your industry knowledge is through a podcast. This should be at least tangentially related to your company’s offerings.
Again, your content shouldn’t be too commercial: consumers won’t listen to or endorse your podcast if it doesn’t provide them with helpful information or entertainment.
At the very least, a decent podcast will drive traffic to your site, draw more attention to your business, and improve brand awareness.
How Long Does It Take to Establish Brand Awareness?
Founding brand awareness takes time. The exact time frame will vary greatly depending on your business, your goals, and the effort you put into it.
The bottom line is that you must be consistent and patient during this process. Don’t get discouraged even if you don’t see any immediate progress. It may take days, weeks, months, or years to have strong brand awareness.
If you are impatient with your technique, you will probably show it to clients. Taking an unhurried and controlled approach to building brand awareness is as important as your chosen method.
How to build brand awareness
You can put your business name on every billboard in town, but most business owners don’t have the budget for expensive advertising. Additionally, greater exposure does not necessarily equate to greater brand awareness. For more straightforward yet effective ways to build brand awareness, you may want to:
- Create a custom hashtag for Instagram.
- Participate in or sponsor local events.
- Post frequently on social media using your brand voice.
- Display ads on the Google Display Network.
In addition to the Kleenex and Dunkin Donuts examples above, here are a few other companies with high brand awareness.
- Coca Cola
- Johnson et Johnson
- Visa
- Nike
To effectively execute your strategy, identify ways to measure your brand awareness so you can make necessary adjustments and improvements along the way.
Conclusion
At this point, you have many different tactics to try. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so go slowly and try various methods to discover what works best for you and your business. Constant Contact’s expert marketing advisors can explain these ideas in more detail if you have any questions.
