Brand Awareness: this short article explains Brand Awareness in a practical way. Next to what it is (definition), this articel also highlights why it’s important, an example and how it can be measures (tools, tips and techniques). Enjoy reading!
Brand Awareness: this short article explains Brand Awareness in a practical way. Next to what it is (definition), this articel also highlights why it’s important, an example and how it can be measures (tools, tips and techniques). Enjoy reading!
Brand awareness, or brand recognition, is one of the most important considerations for consumers in the purchasing process. It is the ability of a brand to evoke recognition among consumers and plays an important role in brand management and brand leadership.
It is not about the consumer remembering the name of the brand, but rather that the consumer remembers enough distinctive features of the brand to make a purchase at a later stage.
Building a strong brand identity is therefore very important. A tool that can help with this is Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism. Read more about brand identity in the article about the Brand Pyramid.
Creating brand recognition is one of the most important objectives when it comes to advertising a product or brand.
Brand awareness means as much as brand familiarity or recognition. It comprises the degree of recognition by a consumer of a product or brand by the name of that brand.
Brands and products that enjoy a high level of awareness often generate much more sales than brands that do not. The reason for this is simple: consumers are more likely to buy something they know than an unknown product.
A well-known example of this can be found in the soft drink industry. Without mentioning the brand name, almost everyone thinks of the same brand when they hear the word cola. It is therefore not surprising that most people go for this brand in the supermarket, where they are confronted with several brands of cola.
This high level of brand awareness makes it difficult for competitors to enter the market and capture market share.
Measuring brand awareness is difficult and divides marketers. Some find it a useless exercise consisting of nothing more than collecting vanity statistics.
Others consider it one of the strongest motivators for consumers to buy something and argue that it is a crucial metric. Without knowing how strong a brand is, it is also difficult to improve the metrics.
There are a number of ways in which one can say something about brand awareness.
Existing customers of a brand may be asked how they heard about a brand. That gives insight into the ways in which your brand is permeating the masses of consumers.
Website traffic data also provides insight into the level of brand awareness. Google Analytics accurately reflects how many people come to a particular page. The tool also specifies how these people come to your site: direct traffic, organic search traffic, social media referrals, etc.
By monitoring this in the long term, brands get an indication of how their (online) reputation is changing.
Monitoring a brand’s activity on social media is arguably one of the most effective ways to measure brand awareness. People are talking about their favorite brands and products on social media.
Following these posts is also known as social listening. In this way, the consumer’s thoughts can be defined organically.
This is also an advantage over traditional forms of research, such as questionnaires. Here people generally don’t give natural answers, but feel somewhat compelled to say something about their experiences with a brand.
Expanding brand awareness through a strategy is the same as a link building strategy: the best strategy is an organic strategy.
This means that marketing does not undertake any additional activities to gain additional fame, but relies on the natural spread and increase in popularity of the brand.
Nevertheless, it is certainly advisable at an early stage of a brand to carry out some activities for brand awareness. Below are some tips that can help with this.
A guest blog is a common way to gain brand awareness with relatively little effort. This only applies to a brand in the early stages. A big brand benefits little from a guest blog post.
Co-marketing happens when another brand or medium carries out marketing initiatives on your behalf. This is a great way to build awareness as you are taking advantage of another brand’s audience. It can be a challenge to find a suitable party that is willing to cooperate.
Advertising continues to be a great way to work on expanding your brand awareness in an unobtrusive way.
Provide enough recognition points that are connected to your brand. Use a certain style in your content marketing, use a fixed color palette or repeat certain catchy slogans.
