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Brand Awareness – The 1st Step to your Success

Common sense tells us that shoppers are more likely to purchase from a company whose brand name they are familiar with.  And the numbers back up that sentiment.  Studies show that 59% of consumers prefer to buy a new product from a brand they are already aware of.

So with brand awareness so critical to a company’s success, investing in it should be a top priority for any business.

Today’s companies must earn consumers’ familiarity by reaching where they live, work, and play. This can be difficult in our digital world, where we are inundated with information from the moment we wake up and reach for our phones to the time we turn out the bedroom light.  Thus, to get your brand top-of-mind with your audience, its voice must be able to be heard through all the other digital noise.

Even just a slight familiarity with your brand can help a prospective customer choose your product over unknown competitors.  Because with familiarity comes comfort, and people are more comfortable purchasing from a brand they know.

In fact, research shows that consumers are more likely to click on a website from a brand they are familiar with and then more likely to buy from that same website.  Brand awareness increases click-through and conversion rates by as much as THREE times.

But building brand awareness doesn’t happen overnight. It will take time and effort before a consumer sees your logo or hears your jingle and instantly connects it with your business.  For that to happen, you must first start with creating clear and realistic marketing goals and build your brand around them. These goals might include creating slogans, logos, jingles, television, social media advertising, blog posts, print advertising, and product placement.

Because when it comes to building brand awareness, it helps to cast a wide net.  According to the Harvard Business Review, 73% of today’s consumers confirm they use more than one shopping channel.

And don’t forget to release your advertising with a high frequency.  Let as many people as you can know about what you have to offer, and then nurture those most interested in it.  For 75% of shoppers say they are more likely to purchase from a company that knows their name and purchase history.

But building strong brand familiarity starts with pre-awareness.  At this stage, the customer is unfamiliar with your brand but is introduced to it through the various marketing tools mentioned above.  One particularly effective, cost-effective, and measurable way to build brand awareness is by employing social media influencers to promote your brand.  With their large, targeted, and devoted audiences, influencers do the work to get your brand’s name seen by the customers you want to reach.

Once the stage of actual awareness is reached, customers looking to buy are likely to land on and stick with your brand when doing their pre-purchase research.  And when it comes to that all-important decision time, your brand’s goods and services stand a great chance of being the ones they buy.

All in all, building brand familiarity is perhaps the most fundamental goal of any marketing plan.  Because it must be conquered before any other purposes can be met.  And in the process of creating that brand presence in the marketplace, companies must build an inherent emotional connection to their product, with a sense of value and accessibility for the customer.

But there is no resting easy once brand awareness is achieved.  Consistent and regular engagement with your audience is needed to KEEP your business at the top of consumers’ minds.

Because before sales, before lead generation, brand awareness is THE first step to your success.

Categorized: Blog, Marketing