Brand awareness is the process of getting your brand noticed by your target market or the broad group of people that may be interested in your company. It’s safe to say that you’re not the only company in your industry, and because of this, you’ll need to make sure that your business stands out amongst the competition. This is why creating brand awareness is important, and here are four ways to get your business noticed.
#1: Blogs/Guest Posting
Having a blog on your business website is a great way to increase brand awareness and drive sales by employing SEO (search engine optimization) marketing techniques. SEO is the process of using keywords and phrases to get your content seen on the first page of results on a search engine. Research common keywords that relate to your industry (i.e., words and phrases used by your target audience), and use these words and phrases to create blog posts for your website. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t overstuff your content with keywords and phrases— this has the opposite effect on improving your ranking.
If you don’t have a blog on your website, you can benefit from pitching blog posts to other websites. Many times these other websites will allow you to link your website in your blog post, for a fee of course. You’ll also want to use SEO marketing techniques when guest posting.
#2: Referral Programs
If you already have a strong group of loyal customers, consider starting an affiliate or referral program for them to be a part of. The simplest way to do this is to offer your loyal customers a discounted price or a free GWP (gift with purchase) every time they refer a friend or family member to your website to make a purchase. This encourages your current customers to spread the word about your company, and the incentive(s) they receive encourages them to keep shopping with you.
An affiliate program is more of an ongoing incentive. Your affiliates receive a custom link (that still goes directly to your website) that they can share with friends and family, and on their social media profiles. Every time someone makes a purchase from your website through their custom link, they earn a small commission from that purchase. This allows your affiliates to be a part of your company while increasing brand awareness.
#3: Promotional Merchandise
Another way to reward your loyal customers is with promotional merchandise. For example, your free GWP can be a promotional T-shirt, keychain, water bottle, or hat that your customers can use/wear— while also creating brand awareness every time someone sees them with that piece of merchandise. When creating/ordering promotional merchandise, make sure that your company name and logo are visible on the item and that it can be rubbed/washed off easily— especially if it’s a regularly used item, like a cigarette lighter, ink pen, or coffee mug.
For best results with promotional merchandise, offer items that the majority of your customers use (such as a phone case for their smartphone), or items specific to what you sell. For example, not all of your customers may be coffee drinkers— unless you’re a company that sells coffee beans/grounds. In this case, coffee mugs and tumblers are the perfect promotional items.
#4: Social Media
Finally, make sure you’re active on at least one social media platform. Over two billion people use social media, so it’s one of the biggest tools you have at your disposal to help you create brand awareness. The top social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter all offer tools that can help you market your business.
Also, make sure that you’re creating meaningful content appropriate to the social media platform you’re using. Photographs, infographics, and other types of pictures work great on Instagram and Facebook, whereas short videos are best for Instagram and TikTok. You should also keep in mind the demographics of your customers, which will give insight into which social media platform(s) they’re more likely to use.
Creating brand awareness is an ongoing process for most businesses until they reach a national or even international level. Along with creating brand awareness, you still have to market to those who are already familiar with your brand. Marketing itself is a long continuous process, but there are many methods and strategies that you can use to continue attracting new customers and retaining your current customers.
