While brand awareness campaigns can be extremely rewarding, remember that they only yield your desired results if your product and service quality has been established. Besides offering top-notch products and services, the quality of your customer service should also be nothing less than first-rate.
However, it can be tricky to measure brand awareness, particularly its return on investment (ROI), since the initiative falls into the top-of-funnel (ToFu) marketing. ToFu marketing hones in on the awareness stage of a buyer’s journey.
But what is brand awareness, exactly?
What Is Brand Awareness
Brand awareness refers to the familiarity your target audience has with your brand. Startups or businesses in their early stages highly benefit from campaigns focused on brand reputation and awareness, bringing their offerings to the fore and making themselves known to potential customers.
Brand Awareness vs. Brand Recognition vs. Brand Recall
Brand recognition and brand recall fall under the umbrella of brand awareness.
• Brand recognition is a customer’s ability to recognize or identify a brand through branded visual or aural cues, even without hearing the specific brand name.
• Brand recall is a customer’s ability to recall a brand with minimal prompts, indicating a deeper connection between a brand and its customers. For instance, certain products or categories trigger a brand recall, such as: “sportswear” to “Nike.”
Now, let’s go over why a brand awareness strategy is crucial to success.
Why It Matters To Increase Brand Awareness
The Benefits of a Brand Awareness Strategy
In the marketing funnel, brand awareness is the very first stage and lays the groundwork for attracting and converting consumers. Running brand awareness campaigns can be likened to casting a wide net; you let as many people know about your presence and offerings.
• Brand awareness targets top-of-mind awareness. People will quickly grow accustomed to your brand when they’re aware of it.
• Brand awareness equals brand trust. Marketers use brand awareness to share a brand’s personality and story, cultivating customer trust.
• Brand awareness leads to brand associations. The best example of a high-level brand association is the branded phrase “Google it.”
Let’s go ahead and name some strategies on how to build brand awareness for you to implement.
How To Build Brand Awareness
Online Reputation Management Tips To Increase Brand Awareness
Here are simple yet impactful online reputation management techniques which convert into a brand awareness strategy.
1. Develop a Brand Style Guide
Crafting a brand style guide is essential before you launch other online reputation management strategies. A brand style guide would serve as a rule book on how your business should be represented, from the messaging to the look and feel of your brand. Following a brand style guide is fundamental to maintaining brand consistency.
Apart from your logo and color palette, your brand style guide should include your brand’s mission and vision, transforming them into your ‘style.’ You should also specify your brand tone of voice.
2. Tell a Brand Story and Tap Into Emotions
A brand story recalls previous events that sparked the beginning of your brand while reiterating that narrative as the relentless pursuit behind your company’s operations. With a brand story, you evoke emotions from your audience, helping them not only be aware of your brand but also recall and set you apart from the competition.
In your brand story, you must echo your “why” or your goal as a brand. Highlight consumer problems your offerings have solved and how you’ve been giving back to your community.
3. Claim Your Business Listings on Top Directories
Securing your business listings on top directories allows you to have control over what people see when they search for your brand online. Moreover, you can provide accurate business information such as your address, contact information and operating hours through your listings. Some directories allow you to add photos and videos.
When you claim your business citation, be meticulous about every piece of information you provide. And prioritize directories like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, Better Business Bureau and Nextdoor.
4. Churn Out Shareable Content Across Channels
When you invest in producing shareable content, you essentially let your content do the talking for you. Content marketing should result in a ripple effect when done right. For instance, if your posts get shared, you expand your reach to the network of people who share your content. So add social buttons to your site’s blog pages.
To further increase brand awareness through online reputation management, you can also treat online reviews, which are user-generated content (UGC), as shareable content; highlight them on your posts.
5. Run Paid Brand Awareness Campaigns
Every social media platform offers ad solutions that help businesses with brand awareness, particularly the ad objective: brand awareness. But depending on the platform, the name of the objective could vary between ‘Brand Awareness,’ ‘Awareness,’ or ‘Reach.’ The objective puts your brand in front of relevant people.
When you run brand awareness ads, take it as an opportunity to promote highly relevant and engaging content. This way, you can double your efforts with the possibility of users sharing your content.
6. Partner With Influencers or Content Creators
Brands utilize influencer marketing techniques to promote their products and services. This involves getting endorsements from content creators or influencers through an exchange deal. Instagram used to be the main playground of influencers, but since the rise of short-form videos, YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos have dominated.
When you partner with an influencer, make sure they’re relevant to your audience, or they have a following that resembles your target demographic. Otherwise, the partnership wouldn’t be fruitful.
Other tips to enhance brand reputation and awareness:
• Explore complementary partnerships with local brands.
• Give back to your community with corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Key Metrics To Measure Brand Awareness
We mentioned how it could be tricky to measure brand awareness ROI since it focuses on the very beginning of a buyer’s journey. Brand awareness does not equate to a single quantifiable measure, so here are key metrics to help you have a pulse on your campaigns’ performance.
• Unique visitors on your website
• Engagements on social media
• Brand impressions
• Branded search volume
• Brand reputation survey results
Related article: Key brand awareness metrics you need to measure
Brand Awareness Campaign Examples
But what’s better than taking it from successful brands? Here are two brand awareness campaign examples to inspire you.
UNIQLO
The Japanese clothing brand, UNIQLO, partnered with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City (NYC). Through a weekly event called “UNIQLO NYC Nights,” the Japanese apparel house sponsors free entry to MoMA every Friday evening. The free admission is exclusive to NYC residents. Since the brand is primarily popular in the Asian scene, the partnership allows them to not only make themselves known but also appeal to its Western market.
Evernote
Evernote software was first released as a four-month closed Beta. Customers had to sign up and send invitations through their social networks to gain access, generating buzz for the brand. By the end of the Beta period of four months, Evernote gained 125,000 signups — which is fairly significant for a newcomer. As such, you can try this approach by organizing invite-only product launches or limited service promotions to facilitate demand with a sense of exclusivity.
Spark Interest in Your Brand With Reputation Management
If you want to learn more about how online reputation management can spur awareness of your brand, Rize Reviews can help. Rize Reviews is a team of brand reputation experts offering the following services:
• Review monitoring services to discover what people are saying about your brand.
• Review response services to stay in control of your brand’s narrative in the face of criticism.
• Reputation management software to streamline your processes with automation.
• White-label solutions for businesses with specific demands.
Reach out to our team for a free demo.
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