Seven essential steps to building brand awareness

When dipping my toes into a subject that’s foreign to me, I find it extremely helpful to put myself in the shoes of the consumer. After all, we are consumers day in and out. As a new, existing, or 100 year old company, brand awareness continues to be a driving force for the success of a business. Brand awareness and perception drives customer loyalty, which in turn increases your revenue.

Think about a time when you’ve had a need for something specific that you intended on purchasing. That could be a meal, a weight loss app, a finance solution for your business, internet services, or maybe even a car or house. When researching for the solution you desire, you come across a variety of advertisements, products, imagery, and pages of relevant websites related to your need. You’ll likely do your due diligence and do some research, seeing if any of the brands are recognizable to you. You’ll browse through reviews, judge the various brands based on their website’s ease of use, visual attractiveness, and simplicity. You might even call/visit the brand, and have a conversation with a sales associate of sorts, helping you drive home that decision to utilize the brand you’ve chosen. And just like that, you’ve made your decision on who to partner with. 

“Think about brands like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Uber—all of these brands have the top-brand equity of their classes due to extremely powerful and consistent brand awareness campaigns. ”

In this specific scenario, out of all business related tactics, marketing efforts, and sales efficiencies, the brand awareness piece drives the most consistent loyalty to your business. Brand awareness is defined as the extent of which a consumer recognizes your brand by its qualities, imagery, goods and/or services. Think about brands like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Uber - all of these brands have the top-brand equity of their classes due to extremely powerful and consistent brand awareness campaigns. And, once you reach the top, becoming the “Kleenex” of tissues, it raises the bar for your competition. 

As a new business, you should be sold on the idea of brand awareness as your number one strategy. In a world filled with thousands upon thousands of similar brands, products, and services, how does one compete for that top consumer associate and loyalty slot? We have some tips below to help guide your brand in the right direction whether you’re a new or existing business.

awareness takes time 

As frustrating as it might seem, it’s important to recognize that it’s extremely rare for a brand to go viral and rise to the top of their class in one day. Even if you do go viral due to an incredible campaign launch, you’ve taken one step up the stairway of brand awareness. Be patient in this process, and continue to do what you do best. 

it’s about what you do, not what you sell 

The reality is that all great brands that have strong brand equity are likable companies, with likeable people, who have offered more to society than others. There is competition for a reason - what you’re selling isn’t the hard part, it’s how to gain loyal customers. Ask yourself these questions: Are your sales and customer service representatives offering a consistent experience that boasts your brands differences in the market? Are you giving back to your community? Are you listening to your customers concerns, and consistently making changes accordingly? Are you making a difference in your customers' lives? Make sure you’re a customer driven and focused organization at all times. 

have a memorable brand voice. 

Do you have a mission statement, company values, and slogan? If not, it’s imperative to work with your marketing team, or hire a talented agency (like ours!) to develop this messaging for you. You might be an eco-conscious clothing brand that only makes clothing out of recycled plastic from the ocean, but if this messaging isn’t clear throughout your brand strategy, you’ve completely missed the mark. Keep your messaging catchy, clever, short and to the point. It should stand out, and leave an impact on your audience. 

maintain a strong social presence 

Utilize social media, and try to maintain a very strong content balance of what you’re actually selling, and your brand itself. Boast incredible customer success stories. If it wows you and your team, it will likely impress consumers. Be likable, come off as a companion to your audience. Make business friends with other big brands and share their content. Oh, and always make your content easy to share. 

have an event strategy 

Whether you’re targeting your local community or the entire world, it’s important to boast your brand at popular, relevant events. As a consumer, I can’t tell you how often I notice a brand over and over at events, and eventually, I will try that brand because their logo is imprinted in my mind. It somewhat tricks consumers into trusting the brand without ever even truly trying their products or services. Team up with non-profit and fundraising events that make sense with your company’s values. There is still power in visual representation, and that’s not going away any time soon.

people like free things 

I don’t think this concept will ever die. Good thing, because all brands should be taking advantage of free marketing. Write blogs, create downloadable PDFs and files that are relevant for your customers, teach them something through a video, let them sign up for a free online webinar—the sky's the limit here. You could and really should consider giving them something physical for free, whether it be product samples and/or services. Hey—some brands even run on donation-only profitability. 

don’t forget the basics

We’ve talked about a lot of different ways to engage consumers and increase brand loyalty and recognition. But slapping your logo and brand on a large poster at an event is only as good as your logo itself. Your brand’s logo, name, and slogan are the very first representations of your company. Your logo should represent your personality, your company mission, and your target audience effectively. Fonts, colors, tones, and sizing all contribute to the balance of your design, and can truly make or break your brand. It’s extremely important to spend the right amount of time, money and resources in this department to ensure your logo, slogan, and even name isn’t standing in the way of your brand awareness goals. 

You have a head start—so get out there and plan out some incredible campaigns to boost your brand awareness! Feeling overwhelmed? Click here to reach out to us at Reverie Creative. We’d love to help you take your brand to the next level.