Do you go to copy something or do Xerox when you need one? Do you request a Coke or a cola when placing your drink order at a fast-food restaurant? Let’s say you cut yourself. Do you search for a Band-Aid or a plastic bandage? Those are the ways to increase brand awareness practiced by those companies.
These are the pinnacle of brand recognition and are referred to as proprietary eponyms. These companies are now so well-known that they have taken the place of generic names for comparable goods in our language. Being a proprietary eponym is essentially the highest level of brand recognition for a product or brand (sorry, Pepsi).
Even if your small company may not be able to do this, there are still plenty of other ways to increase brand recognition. We’re going to provide you the tools to achieve that in this article.
Tips To Increase Brand Awareness
1. Establish A Dependable Brand Image
If you want to be remembered by prospective customers and find ways to increase brand awareness, you must have a strong brand. Businesses may make sure that their target audience is aware of their identity and values by creating a distinctive and identifiable brand identity. Using consistent images across all platforms is one of the finest strategies to build a powerful brand identity.
This implies that everything from your business cards to your website should have the same colors, typefaces, and logo. Maintaining consistency can assist your target audience in recognizing your unified style. For instance? Google’s uniform color scheme and logo design unify all of its products. It’s a terrific idea to create a brand book to define your aesthetic and style.
2. Tell A Story
Though it goes a little beyond your brand’s voice and values, this ties to some of the things we’ve previously discussed. The story of your brand and how it came to be is known as your brand story. An entrepreneur’s brand narrative may be that they saw a need in their day job and came up with a solution to address it.
Your goal statement and history may be used to create your brand narrative for a bigger company. All brands have a backstory. But telling that narrative is the key to building brand recognition. Through customer interactions or by highlighting significant turning points in your development, for instance, you may use storytelling to highlight your brand story.
For instance, Harley-Davidson publishes The Enthusiast magazine, which has information about new models and equipment, riding advice, and rider anecdotes. They also post rider tales on their social media platforms.
3. Provide Value That Goes Beyond Your Product
Adding value beyond your product is a crucial answer to how to increase brand awareness. Consider how you can amuse, educate, or inform. Do you or your group possess specialist knowledge? Avoid keeping it to yourself! Use a newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast, or blog to share your expertise.
Direct sales should not be the goal of this. Rather, this is a brand awareness and relationship-building strategy that gives people additional chances to learn about your company.
Patagonia, for instance, makes movies that complement their narrative and brand values. Although their items are featured in the movies, no hard push is made. The films themselves are valuable. “We are a collective of storytellers who make films on behalf of our home planet,” reads the portal where the movies are streamed.
4. Create Shareable Content
This somewhat relates to the previous two concepts; however, in this case, our emphasis is on producing easily shared material. You can take action to increase the discoverability and shareability of your material, even if it’s not always easy to forecast what will go viral. First and foremost, you should adhere to basic practices for social media optimization, such as publishing often and at the appropriate times.
However, make stuff that your fans will want to share as well. This supports the notion that your content should provide value rather than always aiming to close a deal. Consider including a call to action that recommends tagging a friend or sharing your resources. Social sharing buttons on your blog and website may also assist in generating social proof by making your material simple to share.
5. Participate In Your Community
Not all brand development takes place on the internet. By making tangible contributions to your community, such as supporting events, making corporate gifts, or encouraging staff members to volunteer, you may build brand recognition.
This might be as significant as sponsoring a significant event, such as the Honda Celebration of Light, Vancouver’s yearly fireworks contest. Or it can be as easy as donating something to a local fundraiser’s silent auction.
6. Referral Programs
When customers are aware that they will receive an extra benefit or reward, they are far more likely to recommend your product or service to others. As one of the ways to increase brand awareness, offering incentives can encourage existing customers to actively promote your brand, creating a cycle of growth fueled by word-of-mouth.
A standout example of how referral schemes can significantly boost a company’s development is Dropbox. The cloud storage platform implemented an innovative referral program where current customers received 500 MB of extra storage for every friend they referred, with the potential to earn up to 16 GB of additional space. This referral strategy was particularly effective for Dropbox during its early stages as a startup.
It motivated users to share the service with others, exponentially increasing sign-ups without the need for costly traditional advertising campaigns. By leveraging customer referrals, Dropbox was able to grow rapidly, gaining millions of users while saving a substantial amount on marketing expenses. The success of this program highlights the power of incentives in fostering customer engagement and driving business expansion.
Read More: 8 Brand Management Software
7. Offer Freebies
Freebies are adored by everybody. One effective strategy to persuade skeptics to test your goods is to give them something for free. Additionally, it helps generate internet talk about your business. Offering a complimentary sample, trial, or “freemium” business model encourages consumers to visit your website and raises brand exposure.
What distinguishes a free trial from a freemium model? Offering all or a portion of your standard product or service for free for a certain period of time—typically seven, fourteen, or thirty days—is known as a free trial. Offering a basic version of your product for free eternally with the option to upgrade to a paid plan for more sophisticated features is known as a freemium business model.
8. Host Social Media Contests
Making it easy for customers to experience your product or service is an answer to how to increase brand awareness. One effective way to achieve this is through giveaways, which provide potential customers with an opportunity to sample your offerings for free. While free items are an integral part of the strategy, the focus here is on using social media-based giveaways to generate buzz and expand your reach.
Social competitions, especially those that employ the “tag-a-friend” entry format, are highly effective in attracting new followers and increasing engagement. When participants are encouraged to tag their friends, they not only spread awareness of your brand but also expand the reach of your promotional efforts to their networks.
This approach is particularly powerful because it leverages the trust and connections within participants’ social circles, allowing you to engage a broader audience. To take things a step further, collaborating with other brands or content creators can significantly amplify your campaign.
By partnering with influencers or like-minded companies, you can tap into their established followings, expanding your audience even more. This strategy not only drives new followers but also fosters a sense of community and excitement around your brand, which is crucial for long-term recognition and growth.
9. Social Media Marketing
It is a fool’s errand to attempt active social media marketing on every social network since the number of them keeps growing. Don’t be scared to focus most of your efforts on a select few sites if that’s the network that will perform best for your company.
Sites with a lot of photos, for instance, may concentrate on Pinterest and Instagram. While small firms in creative sectors (like craft marketing) may succeed on Instagram, B2B corporations often do better on Twitter. Recognize the networks that your audiences frequent and concentrate on them.
Save your best efforts for the social media platforms you know work, but don’t completely give up on the others. Uncertain about your core network? Investigate statistics to determine the source of your referral traffic.
Why Brand Awareness Matters
Brand awareness is the foundation of a successful business strategy. It refers to how familiar potential customers are with your brand, products, or services. Building strong brand awareness is crucial because it directly impacts your ability to attract and retain customers. When consumers are aware of your brand, they are more likely to choose your products over competitors, especially if they’ve had positive experiences or heard favorable reviews.
One of the primary reasons brand awareness matters is that it establishes trust and credibility. Consumers are more inclined to buy from brands they recognize and trust. By consistently appearing in front of your target audience through various marketing channels, your brand becomes synonymous with quality and reliability. Over time, this familiarity breeds confidence, making customers feel comfortable purchasing from you.
Brand awareness also plays a key role in customer loyalty. When customers feel connected to a brand, they are more likely to return and even advocate for it, helping you expand your customer base through word-of-mouth referrals. Strong brand awareness helps ensure that your brand is top of mind when consumers are ready to make a purchase decision.
Furthermore, with recognizable ways to increase brand awareness, businesses can reduce the cost of customer acquisition. When customers already know and trust your brand, they are more likely to seek it out, reducing the need for extensive advertising efforts. In conclusion, building brand awareness is essential for growth, trust, and customer loyalty, providing businesses with a competitive edge in the market.
FAQ
Q: How much time does it take to increase brand recognition?
A: The size and reach of your target market, your marketing budget, and your marketing tactics are some of the variables that affect it. However, you may begin to see benefits in a matter of months if your brand awareness campaign is well-designed and carried out.
Q: What impact does social media have on brand recognition?
A: When social media marketing is done correctly, brand recognition is the natural result. Your business may establish a connection with your target audience and expand your social media presence to a wider demographic by posting and engaging with content regularly.
Q: How does one go about creating brand awareness?
A: Over time, a variety of factors influence how a consumer views a brand. By providing a consistent message and experience across all touchpoints, businesses establish their brands. To make your brand memorable, which is essential for increasing brand recognition, you must be consistent—that is, repeat your message and experience.