Brand awareness is key to success in business, but it can also be challenging for a business to get noticed. This is particularly true when you are operating in a competitive marketplace and against companies that are well-established. So, what are some strategies that you can use to increase brand awareness? There are a handful of methods to try, and combining a few of these together will get your business noticed. In turn, this will help you to attract new customers, become more competitive, and reach higher levels of success. Interested? Keep reading to discover how you can increase brand awareness for your business.
SEO
First, you must ensure that you are using SEO to improve your ranking on search engine results lists. Consumers turn to search engines when they need any kind of product or service, so appearing close to the top of search engine results lists can make a huge difference to brand awareness and generate more traffic for your site. Sites listed near the top are also deemed more credible, so it is also important for your brand reputation. For the best results, it is worth using the services of an experienced SEO agency that will help you climb through the rankings and get noticed.
PPC
SEO is essential and one of the best ways to increase brand awareness, but it can take a while for results to show. Therefore, it is smart to combine SEO with PPC, which can provide instant results once your ad goes live. PPC ads allow you to appear in the sponsored section of search engine results lists, which will immediately boost your visibility and increase traffic to your website. Sponsored results are not as credible as organic search, so combining PPC and SEO together can provide the best of both worlds and give you results in the short and long term.
Content
They say that content is king, and this is because it can bring a range of benefits to your business. Generating a steady stream of content can increase your visibility online, provide additional value to your target market, showcase your expertise, and improve your search engine ranking as a few benefits. To succeed with content, you need to create content that will appeal to your target market, so you need to have a strong understanding of this group and then create content that will engage, entertain and/or help your target market. You should also be using a range of content for variation and to engage your followers, such as:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Infographics
- Podcasts
Guest Blogging
Leading on from this, guest blogging is an effective way to increase brand awareness and boost your credibility. This involves creating content for a blog (ideally one favorited by your target market) and allows you to reach a large audience and create more traffic to your website through backlinks. If you can publish content in a blog that is respected and credible, it could make a big difference to your brand reputation and help you start competing at a much higher level.
Influencer Marketing
Similarly, influencer marketing is a highly effective way to increase brand awareness and one of the biggest marketing trends of the last few years. Consumers (specifically younger generations) increasingly rely on social media influencers to recommend brands to use, and influencers can have enormous global followings. This means that getting an influencer to recommend your brand and products//services can help you quickly reach an enormous audience and find people you might have never reached. In addition to this, influencer marketing helps you to build brand credibility very quickly, and this will always help you to succeed.
Social Media
Learning how to use social media to increase brand awareness and engage your target market is also important. You do not want to spam your followers and be overly promotional, so instead, you should view social media as a tool for increasing brand awareness and creating a community for your target market. You can do this by sharing interesting and relevant content (both your own and content you discover) and participating in online discussions. You can also run targeted ad campaigns on social media as a way to boost your visibility and attract new customers to your business. It might be helpful to look at some of the most successful companies in your industry and how they use social media for inspiration.
Social Media Competition
One of the best ways to increase brand awareness through the use of social media is through a social media competition. Like and share competitions can work with a snowball effect as they will encourage people to share your post, making it visible to each person's entire network online. This will then compound and grow and should help you to reach a huge global audience. The key is to make the competition desirable enough that people will want to join, and the cost of the prize should pay for itself in new customers and increased brand awareness. This is a common strategy used by new startups looking to build up a large following quickly but can also work well for more established brands and businesses in all industries.
Networking
Of course, networking is also an effective way to increase brand awareness. This is a traditional strategy to use but one that remains highly effective. You should be looking to networking in person as much as possible as this is how you create meaningful connections with others, so attending industry events, networking events, seminars, and any other kind of event is worthwhile - make sure that you brush up on your networking skills and always carry business cards to distribute. You can also network online as a way to build a large, global following. Social media is also an excellent tool for maintaining relationships over time. Networking could be a great way to meet other business leaders, investors, potential customers, and other stakeholders for the business.
Strategic Alliance
Following this, a strategic alliance can be a smart way to get your brand name out there and reach new markets. Essentially, this involves striking up a mutually beneficial arrangement with another business to cross-promote one another's brand. The key is to find a company with the same target market as you but not a direct competitor so that you are not taking customers away from one another. For example, if you are a digital marketing agency, you could establish an alliance with a web design company and promote each other's services. You could even offer discounts to customers that come from the other business as a way to incentivize using your business.
Vehicle Wraps
Increasing brand awareness is all about visibility, but this is not confined to the internet. You also want to make sure that you are visible out in public, especially if you are a business that targets those in the local community. One of the best ways to do this is with a vehicle wrap. What is a vehicle wrap? This is digitally printed vinyl that can cover the entire vehicle or just a part of it. This allows you to turn your company or personal vehicle into a moving advertisement for your business. When you are out and about, you will drive past hundreds of people, allowing you to promote your business and increase brand awareness. Research shows that driving around a major city like Bristol would mean that people see your brand up to 3000 times an hour, so you will certainly increase brand awareness with this strategy! Of course, the key to success with the advertising strategy is to create an eye-catching design that will catch people's attention as you drive by or when you are parked (as well as include contact details and social media information).
Print Advertising
Leading on from this, you should also use other forms of print media to raise brand awareness in your local area. Billboards, posters, and flyers are traditional offline forms of marketing, but all strategies that can deliver results, particularly if you are targeting people in the local area. As above, design is key to success with print advertising, so you should work with experts that will be able to create eye-catching adverts that will appeal to your target market.
PR
Finally, you should be engaging in PR activities to increase brand awareness and establish your brand as a thought leader in the industry. You should strike up relationships with media in the local area and provide interviews for positive coverage. You can also create your own press releases as a way to get your name out there and develop a positive reputation.
These are the most effective ways to increase brand awareness; combining these strategies could help you reach new heights with your business. Brand awareness is critical to success, but standing out and getting noticed can be challenging, especially when operating in a competitive marketplace. Hopefully, this guide will allow you to become more competitive and attract new customers to your business.
