Your brand, like all others, has competitors. Also like you, other brands spend a good portion of their time, energy, and resources establishing and then maintaining an edge over competitors. Unfortunately there isn’t a lone thing that you can do to outperform your competition. There is patchwork of tools and actions that can be used, and brand awareness is one of the most important tools at your disposal.
Brand Awareness Importance
Let’s take a look at what “brand awareness” is and why it’s important.
You’ve certainly noticed that with lower barriers to entry for many industries it can feel like it’s more difficult to stand out amongst the competition. There are more content channels for presenting your brand than ever and the varieties and options of these channels continues to grow. Also, the choices of today’s consumer are almost unlimited. Audiences today are often multi-tasking. For example, watching a movie through a streaming service while also checking email and social media updates on a smartphone.
It can be challenging to get people to pay attention today. For that same reason it’s important to establish and build brand awareness. Unlike in the past, you can’t rely on people seeing your brand whenever and wherever you advertise. Now brands need to be recognized and remembered so they can be recalled once a consumer needs the service or product being offered.
Creating Brand Awareness
Differentiation
The first and most important step to take to crate brand awareness is to differentiate yourself from the competition. What makes you different in the minds of consumers is what will make your brand memorable.
How you differentiate yourself will depend on the type of brand you are. Some brands might be innovators in an industry that is being disrupted. For others it might be a “cool factor”. Other brands might emphasize their long history of well-made or well-constructed products. For some brands its a commitment to the environment and sustainability.
The key to differentiation is thinking about what aspects of your brand attributes will get people talking about your brand. Ask yourself this; if a customer recommends your brand to a friend, what is the reason for the recommendation?
Be Seen Everywhere
After you’ve established your differentiator, it’s time to be seen. You need to present your brand in multiple channels. For some channels you will know where your target audience will see you, but it also pays to experiment so be aware of all the channels available to you.
For example, a way some brands project their presence everywhere is by teasing or previewing an upcoming product release on social media channels to encourage sign ups and for customers to add the item to their wishlist. This generates excitement and it also gets the attention of bloggers and media outlets.
Using a strategy like what’s described above gets your brand seen in social media channels, the audiences of blogs and the social media channel of each blog, and if picked up by media outlets possibly on TV, podcasts, or vlogs.
Invest in SEO
SEO is a channel for building brand awareness? This is probably a surprise to most people, but it is a channel for increasing brand awareness. People use Google or other search engines to answer their questions or locate a product or service. If your brand can have visibility and also provide value to users using a search engine, then the likelihood of people remembering your brand increases. The increase is present, even if a user doesn’t convert into a customer during the first visit to your website.
Avoid These Common Brand Awareness Mistakes
There are some common traps that brands fall into when trying to raise brand awareness. We are sharing a few of the most common to keep in mind as you continue to build your brand awareness.
Not Enough Content
You might be surprised by just how many brands think publishing a little bit of content here and there is enough to do the job. Certainly we’re not advocating for quantity over quality. A successful brand today needs to balance both quantity and quality. Today’s audiences and potential customers are “always on”, and repetitive exposure will give you the edge you need when someone needs your brand’s product or service. Use evergreen content to cover topics with long-term relevance.
Wrong Platforms
You might remember that earlier in this post we recommended trying different platforms and experimenting with many channels. As you experiment it’ll become clear that some channels outperform others, and that some platforms are just not right for your brand.
Always be on the lookout for new opportunities to connect with audiences, especially in new places. However, take the time to refine your presence and use of channels. Don’t waste valuable resources and time on channels or platforms that aren’t generating a return.
Giving The Wrong Impression
Sometimes a brand is just making the wrong impression. Understanding how and audience perceives your brand is vital to the future success of your brand. Ask yourself if your audience perceives your brand in the same way you wish. If the perception is straying from what you want others to see your brand representing, then it’s time to devise a new content strategy to address those misconceptions.
Wrapping It Up
As the channels increase there will of course be an increase in the competition for the attention of the consumer. This combined with more and more companies seeking attention means that a brand cannot sit idly within a single channel to sufficiently raise brand awareness. it just won’t be enough.
Investment in building the awareness of a brand is the key to success in the modern media landscape. To be successful brands should select strong differentiating factors to emphasize, generate quality content, and have a volume of content that allows for continuous presence in the channels relevant to the brand.
Let’s Talk About Your Brand
shane@3catslabs.com | Call +65-3159-4231
Share
