Whether you’re a startup business or you’re well established, brand awareness is central to your organization’s success. 89% of marketers state that brand awareness is the main priority in their campaigns. If you don’t work on brand awareness your customers won’t recognize your company.
As a result, your customers will turn to your competitors for products and services. However, trying to increase brand awareness can be a difficult endeavor. To assist you, we’ve provided eight sneaky ways you can boost brand awareness that will help you reach your business goals.
What is Brand Awareness?
Brand awareness refers to the extent to which a consumer is familiar with a product or service. With a brand awareness campaign, consumers can differentiate your products and services from your competitors.
For example, when you think of buying a soda, what brand comes to mind first? Some may say Coca-Cola whereas others may choose Pepsi. If you build brand awareness in a customer’s mind it’s one of the steps to promoting and developing a product.
Why Brand Awareness is Important
The reason why brand awareness is important is that it’s key to enticing consumers to do online searches of your brand name. Additionally, it has a major impact on purchase decisions when there are multiple choices offered to the consumer.
A study shows that 62% of US consumers prefer to buy their first product from a brand they’re familiar with as opposed to switching to a new brand. This is known as brand equity which describes the value of having a well-known brand name.
When you have excellent brand awareness you’ll experience the following benefits:
- – Higher profits
- – A boost in sales
- – More influence in your industry
- – Expanded audience
- – Increased website traffic
- – Lead cultivation
Easy Ways to Boost Brand Awareness
Now that you know what brand awareness is and what it does, how do you implement it into your marketing strategy? Most organizations only utilize one or two brand awareness strategies but there are many that you can include in your campaign. Here are tips to get you started.
1. Influencer Marketing
Consumers love getting recommendations from experts and people they’re familiar with. One of the easiest ways to promote your brand is through influencer marketing. However, to achieve brand awareness through an influencer you should choose someone who has a large following in your industry.
On the other hand, you can also choose to work with micro-influencers because they create the most relatable content. Although micro-influencers don’t have a massive following they’re more authentic so consumers trust them more.
2. Consider An Offline Approach
In the digital age, businesses may only focus on marketing their brand on social media or their website. But offline marketing is still relevant and an excellent way for more people to see your brand.
For example, putting up a billboard next to a busy highway is an excellent way to get more consumers to see your brand. Or you could put up posters in malls or office blocks. Add a QR code to your poster that leads potential customers to your website landing page or social media platforms.
3. Social Media Competitions
Another sneaky way to boost brand awareness is through social media competitions. Create a like and share competition where consumers have to send the competition to friends and family for votes. This method not only boosts brand awareness but also increases your social media engagements.
4. Referral Programs
49% of US consumers state that their friends and family are their main source of brand awareness. This makes referral programs extremely effective for boosting brand awareness. For example, in 2008 Dropbox added a refer a friend feature to their platform that grew their customer base by a whopping 3900%.
You can use the same promotion technique by giving your consumers something in return such as:
- – A discount voucher
- – Free products
- – Free access to events
The more your information is referred by a consumer the more people will see your branding and become familiarized with it.
5. Branded Infographics
Creating bright, colorful and aesthetically pleasing infographics is one of the ways companies promote their brands. Try creating an infographic on a topic you want to educate your viewers about. Add recognizable branding to your content and make it shareable. This way, people will start seeing your branding and content in all the right places.
6. Make An Appearances
The best way to reach people is by attending events, festivals, concerts and even podcasts. Set up a stand so you can provide samples of your products, hand out free branded goods and talk to potential customers. At these appearances hand out branded business cards, flyers or pamphlets so people can search for your business online or refer your company to others.
7. Features in Publications
Getting featured in publications requires you to improve your authority in your industry. If you want to be considered for an industry publication then you need to create and post a steady stream of valuable content.
To achieve getting featured in a publication, write high-quality blogs and post them on your website and social media pages. The best place to feature a blog and get recognized is through LinkedIn.
8. Turn Employees into Brand Ambassadors
Do you want more people to see and recognize your branding without paying for advertising? Then turn your employees into brand ambassadors by:
- – Branding their cars
- – Adding logos to uniforms
- – Branding business cards
- – Adding logos to bags, wallets or pens they use
Furthermore, employees can create a professional account on LinkedIn or Facebook to share and promote products, events or services to their followers.
Final Thoughts
For startup companies, it can be difficult to establish your brand in a market. If you don’t know where to start then let Daveron Networking assist you. Our team of experts will help you boost your brand awareness so customers never forget your business!
If you want to surpass your competitors and create a recognizable brand then schedule a call with Daveron Networking. Together we can develop a campaign so your brand will be etched in the minds of your consumers for years to come.
Ready to grow your business? Speak to our growth experts and learn how to expand your customer base, drive revenue growth, and optimize your business operations.