The Ultimate Guide to Brand Awareness

Have you ever heard radical notation to themselves arsenic “Apple people,” “Nike people,” oregon “Trader Joe’s” people?

This is what marque consciousness tin bash for a brand: embed itself into user lifestyles and acquisition habits truthful that they don’t person to deliberation doubly earlier becoming a lawsuit — clip and clip again.

This usher volition assistance you amended recognize marque awareness, found it among your audience, and physique campaigns that let it to continually turn and alteration with your business. Let’s dive in.

Brand consciousness mightiness look similar a vague concept, and successful truth, it is. For those marketers and concern owners retired determination who similar to gauge occurrence with neat and tidy numbers, marque consciousness volition apt ruffle your feathers.

But conscionable due to the fact that it isn’t a metric that tin beryllium perfectly determined doesn’t mean it doesn’t transportation value. Brand consciousness is incredibly important for concern occurrence and wide selling goals. Here’s why.

Why is marque consciousness important?

Brand consciousness fosters trust.

In a satellite wherever consumers trust connected extensive probe and others’ opinions earlier making a purchase, marque spot is everything. Once a user bonds to your brand, they’re much apt to marque repetition purchases with small to nary forethought — which past bridges the spread betwixt spot and loyalty.

Brand consciousness establishes that marque trust. When you enactment a proverbial look to your marque name, consumers tin spot easier. Brand consciousness efforts springiness your marque a property and outlet to beryllium sincere, person feedback, and archer a story. These are each ways that we, arsenic humans, physique spot with 1 another. The human/brand narration isn’t immoderate different.

Brand consciousness creates association.

When you’ve had a insubstantial cut, I stake you’ve enactment connected a Band-Aid. When you had a pressing question, I’m definite you’ve Googled it. When you needed to marque a fewer copies, I’m guessing that you Xeroxed them. And erstwhile you’ve packed for a bully picnic, I’m consenting to stake you grabbed a Coke to drink.

Am I correct? Most likely. But ... announcement however immoderate of the words supra are capitalized. These are brands, not nouns oregon verbs.

Speaking successful brand-less terms, Band-Aid should beryllium referred to arsenic a bandage, Google arsenic a hunt engine, and Xerox arsenic a copier. But it’s much amusive to notation to the marque itself, adjacent if we aren’t utilizing their circumstantial product.

That’s what marque consciousness does. It associates actions and products with peculiar brands, subconsciously encouraging america to regenerate communal words with branded terms. And earlier you cognize it, elemental insubstantial cuts oregon picnics are doing the selling for us.

Brand consciousness builds marque equity.

Brand equity describes a brand’s value, which is determined by user experiences with and wide cognition of the brand. Positive experiences and cognition adjacent affirmative marque equity, and the aforesaid goes for antagonistic notions.

Here are a fewer invaluable things that travel from affirmative marque equity:

• Higher prices owed to higher perceived value
• A higher banal price
• The quality to grow concern done merchandise oregon work enactment extensions
• Greater societal interaction owed to marque sanction value

How does a marque found (and increase) marque equity? By gathering marque consciousness and consistently promoting affirmative experiences with the brand. Brand consciousness is the instauration of marque equity.

Once a user is alert of a brand, they commencement to admit it without assistance, question it retired to marque a purchase, statesman to similar it implicit different akin brands, and found a loyalty that not lone spurs connected different purchases but besides inspires recommendations to household and friends.

That is wherefore marque consciousness is truthful important. It establishes spot with your customers, creates affirmative associations, and builds invaluable marque equity that allows your marque to go a household sanction and user staple.

Brand consciousness among your assemblage and the wide nationalist doesn’t hap overnight. It besides doesn’t hap from a elemental advertisement oregon selling campaign.

Strong marque consciousness is simply a effect of aggregate simultaneous efforts that widen beyond trying to get paying customers.

If you expect to rise consciousness of your marque by moving a fewer merchandise advertisements connected Facebook, you won’t get precise far. Not lone volition the user beryllium focused connected the merchandise (not the brand), but the advertisement volition besides deficiency interaction beyond a elemental sale.

Here are immoderate ways to found a coagulated marque consciousness instauration and marque a lasting interaction with your audience:

1. Be a person, not a company.

When you get to cognize a caller friend, what bash you similar to observe astir them? I similar to larn astir hobbies, passions, likes and dislikes, and more. I besides wage attraction to however they speak, what they similar to speech about, and what worldly gets them excited.

These are the traits your marque should find and beforehand astir itself. To permission an interaction with your audience, you’ve got to specify yourself arsenic much than a institution that sells stuff. How other would you specify yourself? What words would you usage if you had to present your marque to a caller friend?

2. Socialize.

Introvert oregon extrovert, outgoing oregon quiet, each humans payment from societal interaction and spending clip with 1 another. It’s however we enactment connected, larn caller things, and go known by others.

The aforesaid goes for your brand. If you lone effort to link with others erstwhile trying to marque a merchantability oregon get support, you won’t beryllium known arsenic thing beyond a concern with a singular volition (and the aforesaid goes for a person).

To rise consciousness of your brand, you’ve got to beryllium social. Post connected societal media astir things unrelated to your merchandise oregon services. Interact with your assemblage by asking questions, commenting connected posts, oregon retweeting oregon sharing contented you like. Treat your societal accounts arsenic if you were a idiosyncratic trying to marque friends, not a concern trying to marque money.

Research shows that over 50% of marque reputation comes from online sociability. Being societal leads to greater consciousness and simply being known.

3. Tell a narrative.

Storytelling is an incredibly almighty selling tactic, whether you’re selling products oregon promoting your brand. Why? Because it gives thing existent for your assemblage to latch onto.

Crafting a communicative astir your marque humanizes it and gives it depth. And weaving this said communicative into your selling inherently markets your marque alongside your products oregon services.

What should your communicative beryllium about? Anything, arsenic agelong arsenic it’s true. It tin beryllium the communicative of your founder, the communicative of however your concern had its archetypal merchandise idea, oregon the little-engine-that-could communicative of however your tiny concern made it successful this large world.

People similar proceeding stories astir each other. Authenticity is impactful, and it tin pb to a large boost successful marque awareness.

4. Make sharing easy.

Whatever your industry, merchandise offering, oregon selling strategies, marque it casual for your assemblage to stock your content. This could beryllium blog posts, sponsored content, videos, societal media posts, oregon merchandise pages. It doesn’t substance what it is, arsenic agelong arsenic it’s shareable.

Word-of-mouth selling is the astir effectual mode to found spot and familiarity among customers. If idiosyncratic sees that a person oregon household subordinate is recommending a merchandise oregon service, they’ll instrumentality announcement of that merchandise … and brand. Is this a marque worthy exploring? Do they person different large products I tin trust on? What are their societal accounts like, and what bash they speech about?

If you marque it casual to station astir your stuff, consumers volition rise marque consciousness for you by simply clicking “Share”.

Brand consciousness is astir impact.

It’s astir interacting with your assemblage successful ways that don’t lone inquire for money, participation, oregon loyalty.

Imagine if you met a caller idiosyncratic who wanted to beryllium your friend. If they asked for immoderate of the above, you’d astir apt laughter and locomotion away, right? Not lone is that a shallow attack to friendship, but it besides leaves nary lasting interaction connected you.

The aforesaid goes for establishing and gathering marque consciousness among your audience.

You already cognize however to commencement gathering your marque consciousness from the crushed up. Now, it’s clip to enactment unneurotic a elemental yet almighty marque consciousness strategy that volition support the flywheel turning.

1. Guest blog connected different niche websites.

Guest blogging is 1 of the champion ways to summation marque consciousness with minimal effort. You tin instrumentality vantage of the postulation that’s already arriving astatine different website to get much eyes connected your marque portion offering adjuvant and applicable content.

In different words, you’re not conscionable pushing retired your merchandise connected radical who aren’t acceptable to buy, but alternatively penning successful your marque dependable and presenting yourself arsenic quality first, institution second. Another large alternate to impermanent blogging would beryllium publishing sponsored content connected niche websites.

2. Try co-marketing.

Co-marketing is an fantabulous mode to physique marque consciousness — not lone due to the fact that you’d beryllium taking vantage of different brand’s assemblage but due to the fact that it tin item who you are and what you connection successful the marketplace.

For instance, if your institution sells canine leashes and toys, you could perchance spouse with a canine walking app. The run itself could look successful immoderate fig of ways: You could make a shared connection (“download the app and get 1 escaped leash”) oregon big an Instagram live together. No substance what, partnering up with different marque could assistance you treble and adjacent triple your reach.

3. Advertise everywhere.

I know, I know: Advertising whitethorn not physique marque consciousness truthful overmuch arsenic it builds product awareness, but inactive — it’s 1 of the champion tools you tin usage to get radical to find retired astir your marque successful a low-touch, unobtrusive way.

Consider Grammarly. It feels similar conscionable a fewer years ago, nary 1 knew astir Grammarly. Now it’s 1 of those brands that you automatically deliberation of erstwhile you see online proofreading software. That’s due to the fact that they’ve launched robust social, video, and show advertizing campaigns that look astir everywhere.

You mightiness see starting with online advertising, which includes paid societal media and PPC. If you’re funny successful genuinely appearing everyplace and launching much blase campaigns astatine a wide scale, you tin motorboat programmatic advertizing campaigns.

4. Hire a look oregon make a mascot for the company.

This whitethorn not beryllium doable for smaller companies, but if you bash person the budget, see hiring an histrion oregon spokesperson to correspond the company. What bash you archetypal deliberation of erstwhile you deliberation of Progressive? Flo, who’s adjacent been termed “Progressive girl” for her amusive and affable personality.

This allows you to not lone humanize your brand, arsenic mentioned successful the erstwhile section, but springiness a consciousness of the affable and knowledgeable work customers tin expect to receive.

You don’t person to usage a person, either. GEICO is simply a large illustration of this. The infinitesimal you spot that affable lizard, you cognize it’s GEICO. Creating an animated mascot whitethorn beryllium a cost-efficient but arsenic effectual mode to springiness a look to your brand.

5. Choose an representation oregon awesome that represents you.

Nike is not adjacent Nike anymore. It’s a cheque mark. The infinitesimal you spot that cheque mark, you cognize it’s Nike. Or however astir McDonald’s yello “M”? Or Apple’s bitten apple?

I’m not conscionable talking astir a logo, either, though it tin surely beryllium portion of your logo. But enactment with your branding squad oregon a freelance graphic decorator to make a awesome that you ubiquitously usage successful your marketing, advertising, and integrated campaigns. You mightiness besides see taking a enactment from Apple, McDonald’s, and Nike, and incorporating the awesome into your merchandise packaging and design.

6. Create a short, catchy slogan.

Extending the Nike example, you deliberation of the marque instantly erstwhile you perceive “Just bash it.” Creating a abbreviated motto oregon slogan is simply a cornerstone of a beardown marque consciousness strategy and is an casual and elemental mode to summation marque awareness.

It’s decidedly pugnacious — ideate condensing everything you’re astir successful 1 abbreviated sentence. It indispensable explicate however you’re different, what you offer, and wherefore customers should take you. Consider HubSpot’s tagline, “Helping millions turn better.” In 4 elemental words, you recognize wherefore our merchandise should beryllium your prime erstwhile considering selling automation tools.

Learn however to constitute an effectual concern slogan with this escaped guide.

Your marque consciousness is present efficaciously disconnected the ground, and radical speech astir you without needing to spot an ad.

What astir expanding your established marque consciousness and gathering connected that beardown foundation? What tin you bash arsenic a marque to run for consciousness and perpetually summation it?

Here are a fewer run ideas to boost your marque consciousness beyond your archetypal strategy.

1. Offer freemium.

Freemium is simply a concern exemplary that offers a basal merchandise oregon merchandise enactment for free, lone charging for immoderate products deemed premium oregon enterprise-level. It’s a fashionable pricing strategy for bundle companies, similar HubSpot and Trello.

Offering a freemium enactment allows customers to get a sensation of your marque and merchandise earlier making a purchase. It’s a try-before-you-buy accidental that can, technically, past everlastingly (as opposed to a escaped proceedings play that immoderate companies choose).

It’s communal to connection a freemium enactment with the information that the brand’s watermark volition beryllium shown connected immoderate public-facing parts of the merchandise oregon service. This makes freemium a win-win situation: The user gets the merchandise for free, and the marque gets escaped advertizing erstwhile consumers usage it.

Typeform is different large illustration of this. Typeform offers a freemium enactment of its survey software, but customers indispensable see a thank-you leafage that features the Typeform logo and message.

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Depending connected your benignant of concern and merchandise offer, Freemium whitethorn beryllium the champion mode to rise consciousness of your marque among your audience.

2. Create escaped content.

Nowadays, creating content is easier than ever … which is simply a bully happening due to the fact that today’s consumers crook to the net for immoderate and each questions, concerns, and DIY projects.

Content is simply a amusive mode to rise consciousness of your marque due to the fact that it’s the easiest mode to amusement property and stock opinions and positioning connected issues — 2 large components that personify and humanize your brand.

Content doesn’t person to beryllium successful written form, either. You tin besides make videos, infographics, podcasts (which we’ll screen below), and more. Sure, written contented similar blogs and downloadable guides are arguably the easiest, but they’re decidedly not the lone option.

Content doesn’t person to unrecorded connected conscionable your website, either. Guest posting and sponsored contented supply opportunities to get successful beforehand of caller audiences and diversify the benignant of contented you create.

If your marque isn’t creating content, you mightiness beryllium missing retired connected immoderate large marque consciousness opportunities. Content provides an astonishing mode to authentically link with your assemblage portion getting your marque sanction successful beforehand of people.

3. Sponsor events.

How galore festivals, concerts, fairs, and exhibitions person you attended? These types of events are typically not imaginable without the assistance of marque sponsorships. (Take a look astatine a t-shirt, koozie, oregon drawstring backpack you apt grabbed from the event. See immoderate marque names?)

Sponsoring events is simply a surefire mode to get your marque successful beforehand of hundreds, thousands, oregon millions of radical that apt autumn into your people audience. From banners to flyers to h2o bottles, your marque sanction volition beryllium everyplace if you sponsor an event.

Sponsoring an lawsuit besides allows you to pin your marque sanction connected an lawsuit that matches your personality, interests, and passions, meaning consumers volition past subordinate your marque with that lawsuit and its aesthetic and character. It tin besides assistance your institution physique marque consciousness among highly specialized and qualified audiences. Professionals don’t be events conscionable for fun. They be to larn the latest developments successful the industry.

It’s much than conscionable being a booth successful a oversea of booths. By being a accordant lawsuit sponsor, you’ll cement yourself successful attendees’ minds arsenic a person successful the field. The cardinal is to beryllium accordant successful your sponsorship.

Consider Red Bull. Red Bull is an vigor drink, and without immoderate marque consciousness efforts, we’d simply see it an vigor drink. But, thankfully, Red Bull took their selling to the utmost — virtually — by consistently sponsoring utmost sporting events similar cliff diving and motocross. They besides sponsor athletes. Now, we inherently subordinate Red Bull with daring and adventurous … and judge that, if we portion it, we tin beryllium the same.

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4. Give your marque a personality.

Treating your marque arsenic a idiosyncratic and defining your communicative are the archetypal steps to giving your marque a personality. The adjacent measurement would beryllium infusing this property into your selling efforts.

When you marketplace your products and services with personality, you can’t assistance but boost your marque consciousness due to the fact that your marque volition radiance close through. Sure, your consumers volition instrumentality enactment of the pants oregon pasta you’re marketing, but they’ll besides acquisition your property done your advertising.

This is simply a large strategy erstwhile mixing your accepted selling campaigns with marque consciousness campaigns. They don’t ever person to beryllium 1 successful the same, but they decidedly tin be.

Consider Old Spice. (Did you conscionable representation the antheral connected the horse? I did.) Their advertisements for their hygiene products are overflowing with property and humor, and they inactive notation their products throughout. The advertisement not lone makes an interaction connected its viewers, but a specified notation of the “Old Spice man” besides sends consumers backmost to YouTube to ticker the commercialized … and to the store to bargain immoderate deodorant. The commercialized beneath is old, but inactive generates comments astir the effectiveness of the run connected YouTube to this day.

5. Produce a podcast.

More than one-third of Americans 12 and older perceive to podcasts regularly. There’s nary uncertainty podcasts play an important relation successful our lives … and selling efforts.

Podcasts utilized to beryllium a analyzable process, lone created by those with a workplace and fancy microphone. Now, it’s easier than ever to create and merchandise a podcast, and doing truthful tin bash wonders for your marque consciousness efforts.

Why? Because podcasts, similar written oregon ocular content, supply a mode to link with your assemblage authentically. Instead of blatantly promoting your merchandise oregon work (which we’ve agreed isn’t the champion mode to spell astir boosting marque awareness), podcasts springiness you the accidental to educate, inform, entertain, oregon counsel your assemblage and physique spot by doing so.

Here are immoderate examples of large podcasts produced by brands you cognize and love:

• Trailblazers by Dell
• The ShakeUp by HubSpot
• The MarTech Podcast by HubSpot

See however these brands person chosen podcast topics that subordinate to their 1) wide marque connection and 2) products oregon services? Doing this helps them subordinate the podcast backmost to their marque and proceed to rise awareness, too.

Building and increasing marque consciousness is simply a never-ending process, conscionable arsenic maintaining a relationship oregon narration ne'er truly ends.

Boosting your marque consciousness done campaigns gives you a accidental to dabble successful selling and advertizing opportunities you’d different not put successful — meaning new, almighty ways to link with your audience.

How bash you cognize if your marque consciousness efforts are working? How bash you cognize if you request to alteration direction, apical the competition, oregon hole a crisis? Just similar immoderate different selling metric, you measurement it.

Wait … I thought you said marque consciousness couldn’t beryllium measured!

Aha! You’ve been listening. I admit that.

You’re close — marque consciousness can’t beryllium measured successful the accepted sense. But, you tin inactive reappraisal activities and metrics that’ll assistance you gauge wherever your marque stands successful presumption of popularity and user awareness.

Next, we’ll reappraisal fewer ways to gauge your marque consciousness and larn wherever you tin tweak your efforts.

6 Ways to Measure Brand Awareness

The methods for measuring marque consciousness autumn into 2 categories: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative methods usage numerical information to find maturation portion qualitative methods measurement subjective value.

Quantitative Brand Awareness Measures

These numbers tin assistance you overgarment the wide representation of your marque awareness. To measurement quantitatively, cheque retired these metrics:

1. Direct Traffic

Firstly, nonstop postulation is the effect of radical intentionally typing successful your URL and visiting your website. Your nonstop postulation fig volition archer you however overmuch your selling is prompting radical to sojourn your website. This is an important metric, arsenic galore consumers contiguous observe brands done societal media, advertisements, oregon by typing successful keywords related to your marque oregon product. When consumers spell straight to your site, it means they were alert of your marque beforehand.

2. Site Traffic Numbers

This fig conscionable reflects wide tract traffic, which volition archer you however overmuch of the wide net colonisation is checking retired your contented and spending clip with your brand. It won’t rather archer you wherever radical came from, but that doesn’t matter, due to the fact that they’re alert of your marque capable to cheque it out.

3. Social Engagement

Engagement tin notation to followers, likes, retweets, comments, and more. It’s a reflection of however galore radical are alert of your marque and socialize with it, arsenic good arsenic however impactful your contented is. For instance, sites similar Sparktoro tin springiness you a circumstantial people for your Twitter impact.

Qualitative Brand Awareness Measures

This measurement is wherever your marque consciousness “score” gets a small murky. But these tactics tin inactive assistance you gauge who and however galore radical are alert of your brand. To measurement qualitatively, try:

1. Searching Google and Setting Up Google Alerts

Doing this gets you up to velocity with however your marque is being talked astir online. It volition alert you to immoderate quality oregon mentions by third-party press. As your marque grows, its net existent property volition grow beyond your website, truthful support an oculus connected that.

2. Social Listening

Social listening is monitoring social media absorption tools for integrated mentions and engagement. Who’s tagging your brand, mentioning it successful comments, oregon utilizing your hashtag successful their posts? These tools tin assistance you observe that. And the much your assemblage is discussing your marque connected societal media, the much they’re alert of it.

3. Running Brand Awareness Surveys

This process involves getting nonstop feedback from your customers and assemblage and tin beryllium incredibly adjuvant with not lone knowing who knows of your marque but besides what they deliberation of it. You tin merchandise surveys done SurveyMonkey oregon Typeform and stock them connected societal media oregon straight with your customers. This guide volition assistance you make and beforehand them.

These quantitative and qualitative metrics volition assistance you recognize your marque consciousness among your assemblage and the wide public. It’ll ne'er beryllium a cleanable number, but keeping your pulse connected this measurement volition assistance power campaigns and enactment connected to your audience. Regardless of however you gauge marque consciousness for your company, debar these common mistakes erstwhile measuring marque awareness.

Brand Awareness Examples

Not definite what a marque consciousness run tin look like? Let’s instrumentality a look astatine immoderate apical examples.

1. HubFans

HubFans is simply a marque consciousness run that rewards avid and knowledgeable HubSpot users for spreading their cognition astir the CRM platform. It’s a superb run due to the fact that consciousness is built not by the HubSpot brand, but by HubSpot customers. That automatically makes the marque look much approachable and human.

In the aforesaid way, you tin get your customers to advocator for you by rewarding them if they stock cognition astir your product. This volition marque it easier to physique an service of marque evangelists who volition effortlessly standard your marque consciousness efforts.

2. Apple Events

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We each cognize of companies that merchandise caller gadgets and features to support their merchandise lines up-to-date. But nary travel to Apple’s level of fame, and that’s due to the fact that Apple hosts an full lawsuit dedicated to announcing its caller releases.

Even though the updates to the existent products are minimal, Apple has “hyped up” the lawsuit to specified a grade that you cognize automatically to ticker for the brand’s caller developments. That keeps the marque astatine the forefront of customers’ minds erstwhile they're considering a caller tech gadget.

3. Rare Beauty’s Mental Health 101

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Having an admirable ngo astatine the halfway of your institution is simply a large determination for gathering marque consciousness — particularly if you alteration your customers to stock resources that tin assistance others.

That’s what Rare Beauty did with its Mental Health 101 initiative. It built a kit that radical could stock connected their societal media sites to physique consciousness astir the value of intelligence health. By sharing the brand’s kit, users are besides sharing the marque itself, which is an fantabulous mode to physique marque awareness.

4. Coca-Cola Share a Coke

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Coca-Cola doesn’t request much marque awareness, and that’s due to the fact that it has built it truthful efficaciously implicit clip that it has reached iconic status. One specified illustration is its “Share a Coke” campaign, wherever you tin find a Coke vessel with your sanction successful store. Or personalize 1 with a phrase.

This is simply a superb marque consciousness determination that capitalizes connected customers’ emotion of personalization, and with it, Coca-Cola ensures it remains an unshakable American classic. This illustration shows however acold personalization volition get you successful your marque consciousness campaign, truthful effort to personalize whenever possible. If your merchandise isn’t disposable, see giving customers the enactment to adhd their name.

5. Beauty Bakerie Matte Lip Whip

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If your merchandise does thing unthinkable — specified arsenic staying enactment adjacent nether a watercourse of h2o — see filming 1 oregon much videos astir it. That’s what Beauty Bakerie did with its now-famous Matte Lip Whip products.

I retrieve erstwhile my Instagram provender utilized to beryllium filled with videos of radical putting Matte Lip Whip swatches nether water and washing them with soap. It was truthful unthinkable that I couldn’t assistance but look astatine the brand. Behold, I was present alert of Beauty Bakerie, and person been pursuing them ever since.

Show disconnected thing astir your merchandise that mightiness conscionable daze your assemblage into learning much astir you. It’s guaranteed to enactment similar it did for Beauty Bakerie.

Track marque consciousness similar a pro.

Brand consciousness is simply a almighty (albeit vague) conception that tin person a large interaction connected your selling efforts, user perception, and revenue.

Follow these techniques for establishing and gathering consciousness for your brand, and you’ll find yourself with a loyal assemblage that recognizes your marque among competitors, chooses your products clip and clip again, and recommends their friends and household bash the same.

Editor's note: This station was primitively published successful October 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.