Before we even realize it, we have often replaced verbs and nouns in our daily life with products. So, instead of “searching online”, we say we will “Google it!” When we want a cola, we ask for a Coke. When we get a cut, we look for a Band-aid. 

Strong branding works in subtle ways to create brand awareness. High brand awareness helps a brand to stand out in a crowded marketplace and makes it more likely that consumers will choose it over competitors. Brand awareness is an important aspect of brand equity and helps to build brand loyalty and reputation over time.

What is brand awareness?

Brand awareness refers to the extent to which a brand is recognized by consumers and is associated with a particular product or service. The key aspects of brand awareness are:

• Recognition: How well consumers recognize a brand's logo, slogan, and other distinctive elements.
• Association: The extent to which consumers associate a brand with a particular product or service.
• Recall: The ability of consumers to recall a brand when they think of a particular product or service category.
• Loyalty: The level of consumer loyalty and preference for a particular brand over others.
• Perceived quality: Consumers' perceptions of the quality of a brand and its products or services.
• Mindshare: The extent to which a brand occupies consumers' thoughts and considerations when making purchasing decisions.

Brands must have a sound brand awareness strategy to ensure that their target audience knows their brand and has a positive image of the brand.

Why is brand awareness important?

Brand awareness is critical since it is the first stage in the marketing funnel and lays the groundwork for eventually acquiring consumers. People's capacity to recall and recognize your company is referred to as brand awareness. There are various reasons why building and increasing brand awareness is crucial.

• Increased sales: High brand awareness often leads to increased sales as consumers are more likely to purchase products or services that they recognize and trust.
• Competitive advantage: A well-established brand can provide a competitive advantage over others in the same market, making it easier to attract and retain customers.
• Higher margins: Brands with high awareness often command higher prices and margins, as consumers are willing to pay more for a product they recognize and trust.
• Customer loyalty: High brand awareness can lead to customer loyalty, as consumers are more likely to choose a familiar brand over a lesser-known competitor.
• Better crisis management: In the event of a crisis, a strong brand can provide a buffer and help to mitigate damage to a company's reputation.
• Easier market entry: Establishing brand awareness makes it easier for a company to enter new markets, as consumers are more likely to trust a familiar brand.

Overall, brand awareness is an important component of a company's overall brand strategy and can have a significant impact on its success in the marketplace.

10 brand awareness KPIs to watch

Brand awareness KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics used to measure the success of a brand awareness campaign and monitor the effectiveness of a brand's marketing efforts. Some common brand awareness KPIs include:

1. Reach: The number of people who have been exposed to a brand's message or advertising.
2. Brand recognition: The percentage of consumers who recognize a brand when presented with its logo, slogan, or other distinctive elements.
3. Recall: The percentage of consumers who can recall a brand when asked about a particular product or service category.
4. Awareness lift: The increase in brand recognition or recall because of a marketing campaign.
5. Net promoter score (NPS): A measure of customer loyalty and the likelihood that a customer will recommend a brand to others.
6. Social media engagement: The level of engagement with a brand on social media, including likes, shares, comments, and followers.
7. Website traffic: The number of visitors to a brand's website and the duration of their visits.
8. Sales conversion: The number of consumers who purchase being exposed to a brand's message or advertising.
9. Search engine visibility: The ranking of a brand's website on search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords.
10. Customer satisfaction: A measure of how well a brand is meeting the needs and expectations of its customers. This can be measured through customer surveys, reviews, and feedback.

These KPIs provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of a brand's marketing efforts and can be used to make data-driven decisions to improve brand awareness and overall marketing strategy.

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10 tips to improve brand awareness

Here are 10 tips on how to build brand awareness. 

#1. Focus on visual content.

With reduced attention spans, you can't rely entirely on long-form blogs to raise brand recognition. Visual content has a far greater effect and may help your company reach new people. Using visual material to acquire followers, engagement, and leads is no longer an option; it is a need.

A brand may develop visual content for its target audience in a variety of ways. If this is your first time generating visual material, you can begin by making extensive infographics. Including photos, graphs, and GIFs in blog entries improves readability.

Infographics are a visually appealing approach to presenting intriguing marketing data and statistics. These content powerhouses are frequently shared widely, making them an excellent tool for brand growth and thought leadership.

You can use software solutions like digital asset management systems or workflow management tools to organize your assets and projects and create consistent visual experiences for your audience. 

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#2. Make tutorials and how-to’s for your audience.

Brand awareness campaigns should not seem pushy or aggressive. Overbearing marketing can be perceived as annoying by customers.

A better approach is to adopt a customer-focused strategy. Prioritizing the needs of your customers by providing helpful guidance and instruction is more effective. Showcasing how your products or services can be used in unique ways is a good way to demonstrate their value.

Using methods such as creating YouTube videos, sending out email courses on relevant subjects, and creating Instagram Guidebooks can help expand your company's reach to a wider audience.

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#3. Stay in touch using newsletters.

"Out of sight, out of mind" holds a lot of weight when it comes to creating brand awareness. This is a reality of conducting business online: if you don't continuously remind your target audience of your presence and activity, they will forget about you and turn to your competitors. If you fail to maintain regular contact with your customers and target market, you will lose business.

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#4. Write a blog.

Blogging is one effective way to establish credibility and build a relationship with your target audience. By creating a blog that provides informative, entertaining, and educational content, you can help your audience get to know, like, and trust you. The secret to a successful blog is consistency. By regularly posting high-quality content that offers value to your target audience, you can develop a loyal following.

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#5. Create and launch a podcast.

By creating free podcasts, you can enhance your status as an expert and reach a wider audience. Another advantage of hosting your show is that after recording, you can easily upload it to your blog or website.

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#6. Use consistent branding in marketing collateral.

This suggestion may seem straightforward but is frequently neglected. Maintain consistency in your branding by using the same profile picture and logo across your blog, email signature, newsletter header, and all other forms of online communication. This requires strong workflow automation. 

Using online proofing tools and brand asset management solutions, teams can efficiently build consistent marketing collateral. This will make it easier for your target audience to recognize and remember your brand.

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#7. Make good use of SEO.

Content marketing is more than just providing content; it is also about increasing visitors to your website or physical business. SEO (search engine optimization) is the key to driving organic traffic to your website (which accounts for between 51 and 73 percent of all traffic, depending on the industry). SEO determines your content's rank so that when a user performs a query, the search engine returns the information with the highest rank first. Because visitors frequently select a link towards the top of the search results page, appearing near the top increases traffic to your site.

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#8. Invest in influencer marketing.

Influencers are the leaders of social media, just as Hollywood A-list celebrities are in traditional advertising. But, unlike mainstream celebrities, influencers have a closer and more personal connection with their followers, making them an asset in your brand awareness campaign.

There are various methods of working with influencers. You can compensate them for sponsored posts on their platform or join forces with them to launch a new product.

For instance, Dunkin' Donuts teamed up with Charli D'Amelio to release a special drink named "The Charli." Fans of the TikTok star, who boasts over 115 million followers, eagerly rushed to try it out.

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#9. Invite others for guest content.

Another excellent strategy to make your business noticed on the internet is to provide relevant, visually appealing material for other bloggers to post. Despite what some may say, guest writing is still a strong strategy to make your brand known in your business.

However, ordinary material will not be enough; you must get a guest to write high-quality content. If you create memorable, quality content, you will be introduced to new audiences and leave a lasting impact.

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#10. Build your unique personality.

Giving your company a humorous, distinctive brand identity is a definite approach to enhancing brand recognition. Being outrageous may make your brand incredibly memorable if you operate in an area where a little bit of humor or personality is suitable.

Old Spice, Poopouri, and Dollar Shave Club are just a few examples of companies that use humor and comedy in their marketing advertising.

If humor does not go well with your branding, you can also use other traits to give your brand its personality and design the appropriate brand awareness campaign. 

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Conclusion

Asset management solutions can centralize, organize, and streamline access and distribution of digital assets such as images, videos, audio, and text content, which can improve brand awareness. Integrated digital asset management systems, along with brand compliance software, can provide consistent brand messaging, efficient content distribution, improved searchability, and insights and analytics, ultimately leading to better brand recognition and impact

To know more about how Artwork Flow’s brand asset management solution can help your creative team, get started with a free trial today or book a quick demo for a personalized walkthrough from one of our experts. 

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