Brand awareness is an important part of attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. But what exactly is brand awareness? And what can you do to increase your own brand awareness?
Brand awareness is the process of creating an image in people’s minds as they relate to your company, product or service. Brand awareness can be achieved through social media, advertising and more—the important thing is that you have a strong market presence so customers know who you are!
Here are five ways to establish brand awareness:
1. Partner with influencers
Influencers are people who have a large following on social media and partnering up is a great way to raise your brand awareness.
Maybe you blog about food, influencers within your niche might be your favorite chefs or food critics. Building a relationship with them and then collaborating means you’re gaining access to their audience, as well as introducing your own audience to a new person.
When partnering, make sure that the collab is beneficial for both of you!
Influencer marketing is a great way to build brand awareness, especially if you don’t have much of a budget for traditional advertising methods like TV commercials or billboards.
2. Consistently create valuable content
It’s one of those annyong bits of advice, but consistency really will make a difference. You should create content that your target audience finds useful and interesting and you should be doing it regularly.
Content takes many forms—blogs, videos, podcasts, social posts— and all great content should have one thing in common: it’s unique and valuable! Creating content based on your unique audience’s needs, and your unique genius, will resonate the best with your audience. So when you’re consistently creating this content, you’re staying top of mind with your audience.
Also, according to research by HubSpot, people are more likely to share visual information (like videos) than text-based posts, so it’s a good idea to diversify the content you create.
3. Keep your branding the same across channels
Your brand is more than just a logo and tagline – it’s the set of values, characteristics and beliefs that your customers can identify with and associate with your and your business.
The key to building a brand is to be consistent across all of your marketing so that people can see that you are the same company no matter where they encounter you or what kind of content they see from you.
If you have an inconsistent message across different social media platforms, for example, it will make it difficult for customers to recognize who you are or understand what kind of business relationship with them is possible (if any at all). To help ensure consistency…
- Use consistent text formatting across platforms
- Keep your visual elements the same throughout all channels (such as font styles and color schemes)
- Maintain the same verbiage and language
4. Tell your brand story
Who you are, and what you are, as a brand matters to your audience when it comes to building brand awareness.
These days your audience WANTS to know your story, so tell it! Sharing your story builds connection and familiarity – all things that are important when trying to increase your brand awareness.
How to tell your brand story –
- Know your main point before you get going – what is the point of sharing the story? Creating an emotional connection? Entertain? Inform?
- Remember it’s a story. Just like your favorite book or movie, a compelling story has a beginning, middle, end and keeps the audience engaged throughout.
- Tell your story with authenticity and vulnerability. Like any good origin story, if it’s told from a place of total transparency, the greater the connection will be with your audience.
- Break it up and share bits and pieces. If your story is a long one, make it a series or share pieces along the way as is relevant.
5. Contribute & engage within your communities
Builidng brand awareness can start right where you already are.
Think of the communities and networks you are already a part of – how can you start engaging more and showing up within those groups? What content can you contribute that will boost your brand and also add value to the overall community?
Creating a name and visibility for yourself within a community is an easy way to not only increase brand awareness but establish your position as an authority.
Increasing your brand awareness is an important part of building your business – especially in today’s digital world.
Brand awareness is the first step in creating a brand identity you can be proud, build community around and find success with!
To build your brand’s reach, focus on creating valuable content that people want to read, partner with influencers in your networks, sharing a compelling brand story, keeping your brand consistent across all channels and contributing within your existing communities.
And if you’re ready for more marketing support with no BS, join my free email community – The Content Collective. You’ll get a value packed, use-it-now newsletter twice a month and early access to my digital products and workshops! Click here to join us!
