The Importance of Brand Awareness

In Online Marketing

When it comes to marketing, brand awareness is one of the most useful tools to building a brand’s success. But in the digital age, where marketing online is a necessity, it can be a difficult trick to master. Brand awareness is the degree to which customers recognize a brand by its name or logo. If you can manage to stand out from the crowd, you’re giving your brand the best chance for success.

In this article, we’ll be looking at how important brand awareness is when marketing online, and some different techniques you can try to increase brand awareness.

The Importance of Brand Awareness

In large parts thanks to social media, consumers are now bombarded by an increasing number of options. So, when it comes to trying out new brands, word of mouth and recommendations from others go a long way to helping consumers make these decisions.

In order to increase the chances that it’s your brand that’s making the rounds on social media, there needs to be a level of trust between the brand and the consumer. Consumers who trust your brand and your products will speak about it online, recommend you to their friends and this trust will soon turn into an increase in loyal consumers.

Brand awareness is vital in creating this trust. When brands are easily recognizable, it becomes easier for customers to trust. In many cases, the brands with the highest brand awareness are the ones most trusted by consumers.

And to this end, having a brand that is different and distinct from the competition goes a long way toward creating that awareness. You want your brand to be the first that people think of when searching for new products.

So how do we build that trust? How do we create that brand awareness?

The Power of Social Media

In the world of online marketing, social media is King. With society’s increasing reliance on social media for news and communication, having a strong presence on social media has become incredibly important.

But it’s more than just having a social media account; how you use it is vital. In order to create that all important trust with consumers, it’s important that you interact with them. Making a conscious effort to respond to consumers, comment on posts where your brand is featured, goes a long way to building brand awareness. It shows that your brand is trustworthy, accessible and that you care about your customers.

When using social media, make content that is shareable. Having content that consumers are able to interact with and share helps spread your brand via word of mouth. And if there’s one thing consumers trust above all else, its recommendations from friends and family.

The whole point of social media is to be social. Interactivity is an important part of any brand awareness campaign. Campaigns where your target audience can interact with you and you with them are the ones that stick. Those are the brands that consumers remember.

Doing things like rewarding consumers for interacting with your products or sharing your brand are important. Things like giveaways that reward customers for tagging friends in a post, or campaigns that involve customers posting creative ways in which they use your products. These are all ways to make your brand stand out from the crowd, make them memorable to your target audience and simultaneously reward customers for interaction.

And standing out in a sea of other brands is, obviously, key.

Standing Apart From the Crowd

Having a brand in and of itself is important, more than just advertising or posting to social media. Having a strong brand that stands apart from others in your field, one that is recognizable and familiar to your target audience, is an important way to build trust.

To that end, utilizing the power of the narrative is a great way to build both trust and awareness. How was your company started? Where is it going? Where did the name come from? Helping your target audience understand these things helps them view you as more than just a company. It gives your brand a personality.

So too does having a unique logo or unique branding. A large part of brand awareness is having consumers be able to recognize and name your brand at the sight of your logo. This may not be the most important step, but once you’ve got your brand out there, having a logo consumers will recognize is just another tool to keep your brand at the forefront of their minds.

Being Responsive

Now, a part of this has already been covered when speaking about the importance of using social media. Respond to customers who interact with your brand, share user generated content, and your brand will be much more easily remembered.

But being responsive goes beyond that. If customers have an issue with your products, you best believe they will be loud about it. Feedback—both positive and negative—via social media will be a constant. And while it may seem overwhelming, it’s important you respond.

Building brand awareness requires an ability to monitor the different channels you’re using for your awareness campaign. It requires knowing how to efficiently and competently deal with negative feedback while encouraging positivity.

And That’s a Wrap

So, what have we learned throughout all this? When it comes to brand awareness, knowing how to effectively and interactively use social media is of the utmost importance. Use it correctly, get your brand out there, and the consumers will do the marketing for you.

You want your brand to be trusted, to be visible, in a sea of other brands fighting to be heard. You need your target audience to think of your brand above all others, to recognize your brand by name or by a distinct logo. You want potential customers to be aware of your brand when they need it most.

To do that, consistent use of social media is key.