Five tips for building brand awareness
Chances to engage with potential customers are precious. If your brand strategy is different on different digital channels, throughout media and communications then people won’t be able to decode what your brand is all about and you may lose the opportunity to convert that potential customer.
Think Coca Cola - possibly history’s greatest example of brand awareness. Whether or not you even like the stuff, chances are you know exactly how Coca-Cola’s logo looks, how it’s glass bottle is shaped, and that it’s the preferred drink of Santa Claus.
All that said, Coca-Cola might not be the best branding role model to compare your business to but you get the idea it’s about more than just a logo.
Now while we don’t have the monster marketing budget of a drinks giant we can build brand awareness and a brand identity that wins hearts with a bit of effort.
So what is brand awareness and identity?
Brand awareness is the process a business uses to cultivate recognition of their products and services through messaging, design, social media, ads, and more.
Brand identity is what people think about when they think about a brand. A strong brand identity stirs up feelings and emotions about a brand, connects and converts providing confidence to your potential and existing customers.
Tip #1 Identify what makes you different
The first step of building a brand identity is identifying a trait (or traits) that sets you apart from your competition. You go head-to-head with your competition on price, search visibility, ad space, and so on. So if possible, don’t go head-to-head on brand awareness. Instead, find something that makes your business unique and make that the cornerstone of your brand strategy.
To do: Think about what makes you unique from your competitors? What do clients that advocate for you say about your business? Find that something that makes your business stand out.
Tip #2 Be consistent with branding across channels
There’s a reason people talk about “building” a brand because it’s a continual effort. However consistency if nothing else is key to ensuring your brand has a voice in the marketplace.
Brand awareness requires consistent messaging. And crafting a consistent message requires keeping your digital channels harmonised. So make sure that no matter where you reach that audience — website, social, newsletter, email etc. — your message is consistent. That way, each time they engage with you, it’ll reinforce what you’re all about.
To do: Think of the touch points in your business where clients come in contact with your brand and how you can use these touch points to connect and re-inforce your identity.
Tip #3 Be positive
There are so many reasons that people might not buy or engage a service from you. Don’t let negativity be one of them. Build positivity into your brand strategy to increase the chances that people feel good about you, your products and services.
Tip #4 Tell your story
People like people. On your website, throughout your brand communications tell your story. On a website the “About us” page is prime real estate for brand awareness. Tell people about yourself, your company, your team, your values. Give them a reason to connect. Then tell them through your social channels too.
To do: Go back to basics. Review your Mission, Vision and Values and create your story. How did you start the company? What has the company achieved?
Tip #5 Use your logo, brand name, and URL to strengthen your brand identity every chance you get
You can reinforce brand awareness every time someone mentions your brand, punches in your URL, or sees your logo. Make sure you put your best foot forward every time.
These are all part of your brand, so take advantage!
Tauranga Accountants; Grace Team Accounting we understand your time is precious. That's why we've put together our Business Toolbox resources and blogs to work as a useful resource and library of information.
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