A guide to building brand awareness

When measuring the growth and success of a brand, one always considers how easily customers identify the brand apart from its competitors. However, being at the top of the mind of customers is not easy, especially when there are many players in the market. Therefore, even when you can’t adequately measure brand awareness, it still holds much value. 

Brand awareness can be understood as the degree of customer recognition of a brand or its product. Therefore, companies with a high brand awareness score enjoy increased credibility and customer loyalty, amongst many other benefits. In today’s digital age, it becomes all the more important for brands to be on the top of the game of brand awareness.

Why is brand awareness a paramount factor?

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• Brand awareness encourages trust

People have become more aware of their choices and purchases and rely on others’ opinions before deciding. But with the right level of brand trust, they will not think twice before buying from the brand. Finally, when this trust is achieved, the customer bonds with your company and becomes your loyal customer. 

With time and trust, your brand can achieve the maximum level of brand awareness. However, it also becomes essential to maintain that same quality and sincerity towards your customers. Accepting feedback is one of the primary ways of establishing trust.

• Brand awareness builds brand equity

Brand equity is the brand’s value, consisting of the customers’ experiences and overall brand perception. With good brand equity, the following things can be achieved by the brand:

• Higher prices due to higher value
• Higher stock price
• Top reach of the business through their products
• Higher social impact due to the value attached to the brand

Brand awareness and brand equity go hand—in—hand. Only when the consumer is aware of a product or a brand will they then set out to purchase by thinking of it to be better than the other brands. Brand awareness steadily increases trust and equity, making the brand and its products a household name. 

How to measure brand awareness for your brand and products?

Brand awareness is one of the trickiest key performance indicators to track. But unfortunately, one cannot put a definite numeric value to its effectiveness or measure ROI. However, the following ways can help you measure brand awareness:

• Analyze growth in direct traffic

Using web analytics, you can easily track the direct traffic on your website. By measuring the same over a while, you will be able to track brand awareness. Good market research software can help you monitor the market and your audience sooner than predicted. 

As more people become aware of your brand, higher opportunities are available for them to enter your brand name in the search bar. Therefore, it is always recommended to analyze direct traffic compared to other time period. Additionally, examine the bounce rate too. Over time, the percentage of other traffic should increase, and the bounce rate should reduce. 

• Track your earned media value

Free media, or earned media, is the coverage you get on social media platforms without paying for it. Social media tracking tools can help you discover the mention rate of your brand on different media channels. If you assign any monetary value to these mentions, you will also be able to evaluate the ROI.

• Compare earned media value with your competitors

 Brand awareness is as much of a race with other brands as it is with your own. The earned media value you make is the value of your brand without any added marketing methods. But, when you track your performance compared to your competitors, you will be able to change direction and focus on different things before it’s too late.

• Track the success of your backlinks

Track the rate of backlinks that you have organically gained. Additionally, measure the backlinks gained through any extra marketing and PR strategies. If your organic backlink rate is high, your website has been established as a reputed source of information on search results. 

However, if the backlink rate is low, your target audience hasn’t found you yet. Therefore, you will have to put in more effort to position your brand in the market, for which extensive brand promotion is needed. All added actions will contribute to more brand awareness.

• Measure social media activities

Increasing brand awareness can be best done through social media channels for any new product. Your social media followers indicate how aware your brand is in the market—the more the number, the better the brand awareness. 

Apart from followers, your posts, likes, and shares indicate the awareness and engagement associated with your brand. Valuable content pieces that are shared on social media help in gaining reach. Social media platforms are your best bet in increasing brand awareness. 

• Use Google Trends data

The Google Trend competitive analysis tool is a helpful tool that can measure brand awareness. It scans all over the internet and checks for mentions of your brand. Then, over time, you can check if these brand mentions increase or decrease and make necessary changes. 

However, the limitation of this tool is that it cannot accurately track those brands that have generic names or are already associated with something else. Nevertheless, you can use the results of this tool to measure your success in comparison with your competitors. 

• Launch a brand survey

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Surveys happen to be one of the best ways to measure brand awareness. Select your group, i.e., your target audience, and ask them relevant questions to test their awareness concerning your brand. To get the most results, conduct online surveys that only reach your target group but also newer audiences. 

How to get a good brand awareness score for your new product?

There are six simple strategies that you can integrate into your marketing strategy to get a good brand awareness score every time you launch a new product:

• Add character to your brand

To achieve high brand awareness, you need to have a strong brand image. The most successful brands in the markets have a unique character that differentiates them from their competitors. The characterization of your brand should be in sync with your target audience’s tastes and preferences. 

• Produce high—quality content 

Content marketing goes a long way in generating awareness about the brand. Before launching the new product, increase the volume of content pieces related to it to garner interest amongst your target group. When you launch your product, you can enjoy the better engagement and more consumers than anticipated. 

• Get influencers on your marketing bandwagon

Influencers are a more cost-effective and highly influential method for marketing. Get influencers to create content related to the product you’re about to introduce. Your network will considerably increase once you have established a connection with audiences through people they look up to. 

• Create more video content

Video content generates higher results than any form of content. Digital media algorithms support and promote more video content. Therefore, video marketing will help you capture your target audience’s attention and make them look out for new launches. 

• Emphasize offline marketing campaigns

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Traditional methods of marketing still hold relevance. Billboards, posters, brochures, and more have the power to establish a brand image in the market and reel in more customers. Therefore, it is essential to promote your new product on traditional forms of marketing than just online platforms. 

• Sponsor events

Sponsoring events such as concerts and exhibitions is a great way to introduce your new product to the world. In addition, you can build brand and product awareness with qualified people by associating with an event that matches your brand’s personality. 

Brand awareness in a nutshell

Brand awareness is a tangible concept that further influences all your marketing efforts. Being consistent with the strategies you use and the steps you take, you can build a high brand awareness score for your brand and everything else linked to it. It indeed demands hard work but pays off successfully in the end. 

By B Naomi Grace