Not only do you need to be different from the competition, but you must also learn to create a lasting relationship of trust with your customers to build a successful online business. When most of your business is online, it can be more difficult to reach discerning customers who have an entire worldwide web of other firms and products to choose from. Let’s discuss a few tried and tested methods of spreading online brand awareness and taking your business to the next level.
What is Brand Awareness, and Why is it Important?
Brand awareness is the level to which customers and potential customers recognize your product or service. When you have achieved great brand awareness, the general public knows what your business does when they see your logo. Companies with great brand awareness see customers choosing their company over the competition, see more clicks on social media posts and ads, and often come up on the first page of search engine results. The better your brand awareness is, the less you will need to spend on advertising and marketing, and your customer growth will be more organic.
How Does Digital Marketing Increase Brand Awareness?
Digital marketing gets your company name and voice out there on the internet. Email marketing, social media posts, and blog articles are great ways to reach out to your existing and potential customer base. The more you communicate with them, the faster you will see your business and brand awareness grow.
How to Build Online Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness was harder when TV, radio, and billboard advertising were the only options. Building online brand awareness can be as easy as creating the right Instagram hashtag, participating in local or national events, posting regularly on social media sites, and even using search engines to run targeted ads. It’s essential to make sure you are using the right areas of the internet to build your brand. Focus on advertising and building partnerships with other businesses and influencers who reflect positively on your business, and keep track of your current brand awareness to see any gaps immediately.
Tips to Increase Brand Awareness
There are so many ways to use the internet to build brand awareness; it’s difficult to know where to start. So let’s take a look at a list of ways successful online businesses use brand awareness to grow and prosper.
- Create a referral program to reward returning customers or encourage new customers
- Include guest content on your site or social media page, or contribute as an expert to other sites and blogs
- Use video and infographics to simplify your message and entertainingly tell your story.
- Create a brand story that focuses on elements other than your product, like your internal company focus on leadership development, a topic sure to spark interest with most customers and employees in every industry
- Create local partnerships with other businesses to ensure you capture your share of a potentially extra-loyal local market, like partnering with reputable sites like USPS Shipping Calculator, with a great deal of existing brand awareness
- Do periodic giveaways to give customers a chance to try out your product, or make use of social media influencers who will give your product a positive and well-written review.
- Organize a social media contest to encourage customers to visit your page and interact with your brand
- Learn to make use of SEO strategies and brush up on your writing skills to reach more customers with more compelling and entertaining content
- Create a unique and recognizable personality for your company and your product or service to help customers build a more personal relationship with your brand and business
How Do You Measure Brand Awareness?
You’ll want to start measuring brand awareness by tracking all the clicks, shares, or website traffic and linking it directly to the strategy that brought the customer to you. For example, is email marketing the best use of your time, or are you getting more customer engagement through social media platform posts, videos, or images? Many social media sites have free analytics you can take advantage of, while there is a massive amount of free or inexpensive analytics software out there for beginners. No matter how you choose to track, you’ll want to continuously monitor your marketing campaigns to ensure that your audience is engaged.
Building brand awareness might seem complex, but it should be easy to see where you succeed and fail, even with many moving parts. So take your time and track your progress carefully to ensure that you are meeting your goals, and don’t be afraid to pivot to a new method or strategy if you see that things aren’t working.
