Personal branding plays a key role in modern business. It helps to stand out among competitors, as well as to build trusting relationships with customers and partners. If customers know a company, they prefer it more often than competitors. Therefore, investing in a brand awareness campaign is very important at any stage of business development. Today we’re going to talk about brand awareness and how to measure and improve it.
What is Brand Awareness in Marketing?
Brand awareness is a marketing term that indicates the degree to which the target audience is familiar with the company. Brands with high recognition are often called “trendy,” “notable,” or simply “popular.” Making the company known is of great importance in its promotion at almost all stages of business development.
Some consider brand recognition to be a relative and vague concept. For marketers and entrepreneurs who prefer to measure success with concrete numbers, it can be difficult to quantify results of a brand and company awareness campaign. However, the fact that this indicator cannot be unequivocally measured does not diminish its importance in the least.
Why Work on Increasing Brand Awareness?
In a world where consumers research the market thoroughly before making a choice and make decisions based on reviews and recommendations, trust in a company is key. When users learn about your brand and associate it with quality, it becomes easier for them to make purchasing decisions. That is, the recognition of a trademark strengthens trust in it.
In general, businesses must set themselves the goal of increasing brand awareness in order to:
- draw users’ attention to their product;
- create a sense of trust in consumers;
- maintain stability in a competitive environment;
- to establish its value in people’s minds;
- attract investments and business partners.
The level of recognition is an indicator of the effectiveness of marketing efforts. According to Teqblaze experts, if this indicator does not increase, it is necessary to review the promotion strategy. It is also important that customers associate your company with positive impressions.
Stages of Brand Recognition
To understand what level your company is at, we suggest you familiarize yourself with the 4 stages of its development, as well as how to measure brand awareness.
i. Absolute obscurity
At this level, consumers are completely unfamiliar with the brand and have no idea about the products or services the company offers. This level is typical for new brands that have just appeared on the market.
ii. Recognition with a hint
At this stage, consumers can recall the brand when they have some cues (such as the logo, corporate colors, slogan, packaging, and other associations with the product). Without external reminders, consumers do not come to the brand. This level of recognition is most often characteristic of small companies. Such an associative connection can also arise when choosing inexpensive goods.
iii. Spontaneous recognition
This stage is evidenced by the fact that consumers can identify the brand without external prompts and reminders. The name of a trademark is associated with specific goods or services. This level of recognition is most often characteristic of large companies.
iv. Top of Mind (High-End Brand)
At this level of recognition, consumers associate an entire category of products with a particular brand, and the company name often becomes generic for those products. For example, there are many manufacturers of copiers, but consumers can name only one – Xerox. It works similarly to the name of a search engine or an electric car.
How do We Increase Brand Awareness?
Increasing the visibility of the company among the audience is not an instantaneous process. This result cannot be achieved just by conducting an ordinary advertising campaign. Long-term impact on CA requires many simultaneous steps that go beyond simply trying to attract customers.
So that your efforts do not go in vain, remember the following principles of conducting a brand recognition campaign:
- Act as an individual, not a company. Just as we take an interest in the life and personality of a new friend, your brand must define its characteristics and promote them. You should position yourself as something more than a company that sells goods or services. Try to present your brand as you would recommend it to a new friend.
- Make contacts. Active exchange of information with the audience is an important factor. Communicating on social networks, answering questions, commenting, and sharing content can significantly increase the visibility of a company.
- Tell the story. Storytelling is a powerful marketing method. It makes the brand much more human and adds depth to it. It can be a story about the founder, the origin of the product idea, or about the success story of the business.
- Make sharing information easier. Make it easy for your audience to share content. Word-of-mouth marketing, where people spread the word about a brand to others, is one of the most effective ways to build trust with customers.
Experts from Teqblaze emphasize that if you are wondering how to increase brand awareness, remember that it is not just about sales, but more about building long-term relationships with customers.
Mistakes in work on increasing brand recognition on the Internet
Unfortunately, there are cases when a company works very hard and tries to solve the question of how to increase brand recognition, but at the same time, makes mistakes. Such problematic situations include situations when:
- strive for a sharp increase in recognition and set unrealistic goals for marketers;
- trying to attract celebrities to advertise the company at the initial stage of promotion;
- act mechanically. Sometimes brand posts look lifeless.
We hope that our tips will help you avoid mistakes.
Final Words
Success in increasing brand awareness requires companies to combine innovative strategies and targeted actions. The use of digital media and social platforms, the creation of unique content, active participation in communities, and partnerships will be key success factors. At the same time, it is necessary to remember about the constant improvement of the product or service, which will allow to maintain and develop the trust of consumers. The introduction of innovative solutions, the creation of an emotionally receptive image, and the constant monitoring and analysis of results will help the brand to occupy an important position in the market in the future.
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