A recent survey finds that 46% of U.S. consumers would pay more for brands they trust.
You might have the best product, the most attentive customer support team, and even the best prices—but your competitors still leave you in the dust.
Why?
A lack of brand awareness.
People like buying from companies they recognize. It makes them feel secure and confident in their decision. That’s why a top-notch brand awareness strategy is a must for your business.
But building brand awareness takes effort. If you don’t know where to begin or what to do next, we’ve got nine helpful strategies below to help you reach new audiences.
9 effective strategies to raise brand awareness
Many marketing functions are concrete: Blogs, emails, advertising campaigns, and social media posts are tangible and easily understood. Brand awareness? That’s a little more abstract.
Understanding the factors that contribute to brand recognition is key to developing an effective brand awareness strategy. Below are nine ways your marketing team can address these factors to boost brand recognition.
1. Launch a content marketing campaign
Valuable content that educates and engages your target audience promotes brand-building in several ways.
Anytime you create content, you use your brand’s voice. As your audience digests the content, they absorb the feel and tone of your voice and get to know your brand better.
Next, your company can showcase its expertise by sharing informative blog posts, quizzes, e-books, and infographics. By setting yourself apart as a thought-leading problem-solver, current and new customers begin trusting your brand.
And let’s not forget video content! Video content is quickly becoming the preferred method of sharing information online. A recent study by Wyzowl finds that 91% of consumers want to see more videos from brands in 2023. Incorporating video marketing into your overall content marketing campaign strategies can potentially expose a lot more people to your brand!
2. Improve your brand’s social media presence
Don’t underestimate the impact of your company’s social media efforts on your brand. Social media networks are a great way to connect with your audience, share information, promote your brand, and answer questions should be a key piece of your overall marketing strategy.
Social media shares ensure that your content is viewed by an audience not directly following you, exposing your company to new potential customers. Customers sharing your content with their online communities can help you grow your organic reach—even in spite of annoying algorithm adjustments.
Target the channels where your customer demographic spends the most time. Consider surveying your current customers on which platforms they visit most, and focus your efforts on those networks.
Use a content calendar to lay out what you’re posting, when, and to which social media channels. Do some research on relevant hashtags to further your posts’ reach. You can start by looking at the ones your biggest competitors use.
Additionally, branding your links with a service like Bitly makes your content appear more trustworthy. According to our research, it can drive as much as 17% more clicks than generic links.
Take time to thoughtfully construct posts that grab your audience’s attention. Avoid only posting “salesy” product pushes, as it does little to build rapport and establish relationships.
Most importantly, be sure to post consistently, respond quickly, and always keep your brand identity in mind while creating your messaging.
3. Collaborate with social media influencers
Social media influencers are powerful mouthpieces for all types of brands.
Consumers rely on influencer recommendations more frequently, and many respond to influencer marketing better than other, more traditional advertising campaigns.
Choosing the right social media influencer for your specific brand is essential. Think carefully about who uses your brand. Also, consider your budget. The most popular influencers (like sports figures and celebrities) can charge a steep fee. Fortunately, those with smaller followings (micro-influencers) are much more affordable.
There should be an authentic connection between the influencer you choose and your brand. Find an influencer who closely aligns with your company’s goals and values, as they will be the most assistance with getting your brand in front of the right audience.
From there, narrow down a list of names and approach them for partnerships. There are even services that can assist with the process, like Popular Pays or GRIN. Once you pinpoint a social media influencer who would resonate with your potential customers, hire them for your brand awareness campaign.
4. Target branded keywords using SEO techniques
One of the more difficult ways to promote brand awareness is by tailoring your content for search engine optimization (SEO). While SEO may feel overwhelming, it’s simple to apply and crucial to a brand’s online exposure. SEO keywords make your material more visible to search engines such as Google, increasing the likelihood of appearing on top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Finding keywords and phrases that include your brand name is at the heart of brand awareness SEO. Use tools like Semrush or the Google Keyword Planner to identify the words and phrases that closely relate to your company, product, or service—be sure to include the key terms your biggest competitors use!
There are also tools you can use to help you create content with the most relevant keywords.
After you find the right keywords, create different types of content around them. Include specific keywords throughout your article’s headline, body, and URL slug. The more mentions you have, the easier it is for Google’s search engine to find your content.
SEO keyword research can be a deep dive. So, if you have the resources, we recommend hiring an SEO agency to help you perfect your optimization process.Looking for more ways to benefit your marketing efforts with optimization strategies? Check out our resource: 5 Ways To Treat Your Business With Branded Links.
5. Use paid advertising
Social media platforms know companies use their online presence to increase brand recognition. That’s why they offer brand awareness advertising.
While organic reach is arguably the best way to connect with your audience, paid ads can increase visibility for your brand and forge new relationships.
Pinpoint social media networks where your target audience spends the most time (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). You can also invest in Google Adwords to get your brand in front of people who are searching for keywords relevant to your brand.
Promoting posts with links to some of your high-quality content or placing ads about a new product or service helps build your brand identity and a loyal audience.
Paid advertising that builds brand awareness should be part of your overall social media marketing budget. Depending on your budget, you can set aside a few hundred or several thousand dollars for paid ad marketing.
6. Start a referral program
The SaaSquatch State of Referral Marketing Report finds that referred customers are 18% more loyal, spend 13.2% more, and have 16% higher lifetime values than non-referred customers.
Rewarding loyal customers and encouraging them to become your best advocates is a great way to increase awareness through word-of-mouth marketing. Offering a dollar amount in credit, a percent discount on their next purchase, a gift card, points, or other benefits can compel happy customers to tell their friends and family about your brand.
A referral program not only expands your reach and brand recognition but also breeds trust among your new customers because you were referred to them by a trusted source, their friends and family.
7. Take part in brand partnerships
Another savvy strategy to increase brand awareness is to partner up with companies that share your brand values. Research other brands your target audience follows and engages with.
While you won’t want to partner with direct competitors, look for brands offering products and services adjacent to yours. For example, if your business sells designer dog toys, a gourmet dog treat brand may be a great partnership: Your products don’t directly compete, but your target audiences likely have a lot of overlap.
Collaboration with another brand does more than just combine the reach of both enterprises (although that’s a big benefit in its own right). It develops trust among both audiences—creating brand awareness for both companies.
8. Offer free trials for products or services
Giveaways take away the financial risk and create a memorable experience for the recipient. Providing customers with a taste of what you have to offer without requiring them to make a financial commitment will foster trust and increase brand awareness.
For example, you may decide to offer a free trial of your subscription-based service. Your target audience members may recognize your name, but providing them access to your offerings (even if it’s limited) can increase awareness. After all, how can someone fully understand who you are if they haven’t had the opportunity to use your service?
9. Host or sponsor an event
Participating in, or organizing, events that would interest your target audience is another way to forge a highly recognized, strong brand. Having your company’s name attached will expose you to more potential buyers, whether it’s an in-person event like a tradeshow or lunch-and-learn or an online webinar or training session.
This is especially true if the sponsorship includes your company name and logo on all the advertising materials. And, since the event is something your buyers find valuable (why else would they attend?), involving your company in sponsorships typically results in positive recognition.
Start by looking at events that professional networks or other groups are hosting to see where you could join. Or, find an industry professional and approach them about partnering with your company for a customer-facing event.
How brand awareness is measured
Many factors influence how you measure brand awareness, including your goals and objectives, audience habits, and distribution methods. Here are some valuable metrics to gauge your brand awareness strategy’s effectiveness.
Brand impressions
The number of times your campaign’s material is displayed is measured in impressions. Impressions don’t reflect how many individuals viewed or spent time reviewing your material, so marketers need to use additional analytics to measure their efforts to build brand awareness.
Website traffic
Website traffic indicates the number of visitors who have found your site through both organic or paid advertising sources. If traffic grows over time, particularly shortly after a campaign launches, it indicates an increase in brand awareness.
Social media engagement
It’s critical to track social media analytics while increasing brand exposure organically via sponsored solutions like native advertisements and influencer collaborations. Brand reach, impressions, likes, shares, comments, clicks, followers, mentions, and hashtags are all examples of measuring social media engagement.
Social network analytics show how the public discourse around your brand is developing.
Search volume data
Assessing the search traffic surrounding your business and industry keywords helps you know how to increase brand awareness on a search engine like Google. Search volume data indicates how many potential consumers are looking for your company’s name, goods, or similar solutions. You can use this information to create more focused keywords and improve marketing efforts.
Brand-awareness surveys
Brand awareness surveys are a simple and easy way to learn about your target consumers by chatting with them and obtaining qualitative feedback. They create a one-on-one relationship with audiences, making them feel heard and valued while your company gathers data that helps measure your branding benchmarks (and guides your improvement efforts).
Earned media
Third-party publicity, like “mentions” in articles, social media tags, and blog comments, are examples of earned media. This metric shows you who’s talking about your brand, what they’re saying, and when they’re saying it.
External links
Link management is a great approach to assessing brand awareness. This can also help you locate broken links and misspelled words on your website so you don’t miss out on crucial opportunities due to loss of credibility. A link shortener service with link tracking capabilities can reduce the time it takes to do this.
Tracking key metrics
Always analyze these figures to learn more about how your brand is being viewed.
- Clicks: The total number of visitors that visited your website after clicking on your content.
- Average cost-per-click (CPC): The median fee per click.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The number of visitors that clicked on your campaign’s content.
- Cost-per-thousand (CPM): The amount you pay per one thousand impressions of your campaign.
The fastest way to increase brand awareness
Brand awareness must be carefully cultivated and nurtured. Done right, it will reward you with widespread recognition, tons of word-of-mouth referrals, and a healthy bottom-line increase.
Finding the best tools to help your marketing team create, execute, and measure brand awareness campaigns sets your company up for success. Bitly helps you grow your brand with short links and provides you with robust link-tracking metrics. Find the plan that’s right for your business and get started for free today!