Making a business a brand: building brand awareness
Creating a memorable and impactful brand is one of the best ways to set your business up for long-term success. In a perfect world this sounds great, but how do we actually build something memorable? Creating a memorable business starts with building strong brand awareness.
Simply put, brand awareness is how familiar or distinctive your brand is to your target audience in society. The more recognizable your brand colours, products, and slogans are, the more people will want to associate with your brand identity and support your business.
Ready to take your brand awareness to new heights? Let’s dive into some of the best ways to build strong brand awareness for your business!
Build a unique brand
The first step to building brand awareness is to create a recognizable and unique brand. Building a brand requires taking a deep dive into why your business exists and using this as a foundation to decide on your brand voice, aesthetic, values, goals, and more. Start by asking yourself what your business does best and what sets you apart from your competitors. The more authentic your brand is, the more memorable your business will be to your audience- which in turn, will help increase your overall brand awareness.
Add value outside of your product/services
If you want to create long-term brand awareness, you’ll need to create value beyond the products or services you sell to your audience. The best way to do this is by looking for ways to educate, inform, or entertain your target audience! You may start a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel where you or your team share expert knowledge related to your industry. Just remember, adding value shouldn’t strictly be focused on creating sales, but on creating relationships and community among your audience.
Give back
Brand awareness doesn’t always have to be built through social media and online forms of communication. You can just as effectively communicate the message behind your brand through word of mouth and community contribution. Consider sponsoring a local event or donating a portion of your business proceeds to charity! This will show your audience that your core values are at the forefront of your business and actions- increasing interest and buzz in the business behind the cause.
Host a social media giveaway
A social media giveaway is a short-term form of promotion that counts on using a contest prize in exchange for action from your followers (liking, commenting, sharing). Hosting a giveaway can help you build brand awareness by increasing your social media reach and engagement, generating new leads, and more.
Try to choose a prize based on the interests of your target audience in order to create more buzz around your business and services! Giveaways are a great way to build brand awareness because you’re taking the interests of your audience and using them as an incentive to support your business (join a mailing list, like, follow, comment, etc).
Offer freebies
Whether you’re offering a free sample of your products or a short free trial of your services, freebies are a great way to give potential customers a taste of what you offer and create buzz and excitement around your business. Freebies also allow you to explore and reach new audiences of people that otherwise wouldn’t have considered purchasing from your business but may fall in love with your services or products through a free trial!
Reviews
Never underestimate the power of a good review! When you can, ask clients and customers to write a review of their experience working with you or using your products. One of the easiest ways to help decide whether a business is worth the purchase is through a review section. Reviews help your brand build a good reputation in your industry among customers and competitors.
Looking to motivate customers to write reviews? Try using an incentive in exchange for their review! For example, you may send a follow-up email asking for a review in exchange for 10% off your next purchase.
What’s next?
When you think about it, brand awareness is all around us in society. When we think ketchup, we think Heinz. When we see logos and know the brand behind them, this is all part of strong brand awareness. Now that you’ve learned about the different ways to shape this process, you know it doesn’t happen overnight.
One of the best ways to support your business and create a memorable brand is through solid marketing, branding, and social media strategy. If you’re ready to take the pressure of web design and marketing off your to-do list, our services at Daly Media are available to help you. Contact us today to get started and learn more about our services.
