It goes without saying what brand awareness translates into in today’s world: online presence. In today’s times, the way you present your brand online is tantamount to having a meeting with a customer.
Creating an online brand presence allows you to capture the attention of the audience and increase both brand awareness and customer engagement. You want your brand to become so well-known that it replaces the generic terms for similar products. Here we present you seven tips to help you expand and strengthen your digital brand presence.
1. Referral Programs
One of the most effective means to increase both brand awareness and your customer base without having to spend a lot is by designing referral programs.
Although statistics vary, a study by social media software Lithium revealed that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising while about only 8% trust brands today. Undoubtedly, you need more people talking about your brand. Now it is upon you whether you hope for it to magically happen or you encourage word-of-mouth recommendations by running one or more referral programs.
You may reward your current customers with a free or discounted product you provide to receive referrals. Moreover, you don’t necessarily have to target your potential customers; you can even target people who will influence the decisions of your prospective customers, rewarding them with gift cards or cash. Users are likely to recommend your product or service to others when they know they’ll receive an added perk.
Dropbox is an excellent example of how referral programs can boost your business. It gives users 500 MB of extra storage space for every friend they refer (up to 16 GB). During its nascent stages, this referral program helped Dropbox generate countless referrals and saved it from spending millions of dollars on advertising.
2. Impressive Guest Content
As much as it is important to create content for your own blog, it is also essential to deliver high-quality guest content. Creating top-notch guest content is a powerful way to etch your name in your industry, put yourself in front of responsive, interested readers, and build brand awareness. When you guest post around the web, your brand gains popularity not only for its quality content but also for your willingness to share knowledge with the community.
However, merely offering sensible and detailed advice throughout the piece doesn’t suffice; you should also answer questions in the comments section of the post.
Guest blogging is also a wonderful way to gain an advantage over your competitors who solely rely on paid media because people are more likely to respond to content than a banner ad.
The best part about it is that it is 100% free; the only cost you need to pay is in the form of time you spend on generating content ideas and writing posts. Plus, it lets you tap into the authority of an existing website, reach the right audience and win over thousands of readers with a single blog post.
3. Consistent Image and Content
For you branding to be extraordinary, the message it sends needs to be consistent. Every single message you put out into the world – from the content on your website to advertisements to flyers – must reinforce your core values. The
The goal is to create a consistent brand experience across all marketing avenues. Without that, it would be next to impossible to create a meaningful connection with your audience and raise brand awareness.
For instance, the subject matter Red Bull focuses on – pushing the boundaries of adventure – compliments its brand image. If a brand like Microsoft uses similar content, would it get the same results? Obviously not. It is very unlikely that inconsistent content gives your brand recognition or trust a boost.
Therefore, rather than sending a generic message to the entire audience, focus on communicating a valuable and authentic message. Make sure the content you deliver matches your brand tone, feel and subject matter, and creates a consistent brand experience for your company.
4. A Brilliant Logo Design
Surprisingly, with a memorable, eye-catching and responsive logo, you can also increase your brand awareness. Your logo gives your clients a visual identity that they can easily identify with, thereby creating a visual relationship and increasing brand awareness. For instance, McDonalds, Nike and Starbucks logos are instantly recognizable even though they don’t feature the name of their company within the logo.
Your logo, therefore, should be professional-looking and verstaile. If you’re on a shoestring budget and want a logo designed that doesn’t cost a fortune, you may hire a professional logo design company in Dallas . Or you may even choose to make one yourself using tools available online.
5. Influencer Marketing to Target Audience on a Larger Scale
When it comes to reaching out to your target audience and building awareness, the importance of connecting with social media influencers cannot be downplayed. Social media influencers or people with popular social media profiles have the ideal audience’s attention on a relatively large scale. Their lifestyle choices and opinions mostly influence young millennials and gen Z-ers.
According to statistics, nearly 81% of brands using influencer marketing have found it to be effective. This is one of the significant reasons why social media teams have been investing in influencer marketing campaigns since the past couple of years, and it has proven to be very lucrative.
Micro-influencers – influencers having a follower base of up to 10,000 – have 22.2 times more weekly recommendations on products than an average consumer. Additionally, a study reveals that about 87% of responders are likely to follow the recommendations made by Micro-Influencers.
So look for the most popular influencers in your niche and try to establish a relationship with them rather than merely asking for favors. It is always a good idea to be mutually beneficial to each other.
6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Improve Your Brand’s Rankings
Attaining the top spots in the search engines for major keywords in your industry is one of the most efficient ways to bring your company to the forefront.
The higher the search rankings, the more credible the brand becomes in the eyes of the consumer. However, your results will depend on a number of different factors, including how saturated your industry is.
Search engines play a significant role in driving organic traffic, thereby increasing brand awareness. The most important thing you shouldn’t neglect is keyword selection of your campaign upon which your brand’s search ranking depends. So a good way to build brand awareness is by building your campaign around a variety of keywords. Make sure you cover all aspects of your market — focus on keywords that belong to your industry, accommodate local search and also through brand-specific search phrases. Use analytics to evaluate the impact the strategy has on your brand.
Whenever consumers spot your brand in the search results, they will go to your page to find more detailed information. And if they like what they see on your page, they might as well turn into customers.
There are two types of
- Off-page
SEO : Off-pageSEO is influenced by page rank, links, bounce rate, and more. - On-page
SEO : On-pageSEO depends on factors such as keyword research content quality, and HTML.
7. Interaction with Your Audience
If you want to build brand awareness, you need to interact with your followers regularly. So instead of simply using fact-based content, try to tell them a great story. Use vivid emotional elements in your stories to show people what your brand is all about and what it truly represents.
Whenever you engage with your audience, inject a little personal touch. Try using texts, trending hashtags, language and emojis that’s popular among them.
Setting up social surveys and polls is a remarkable idea to collect valid information about your audience’s likes, preferences and dislikes. Not only is this a fun way to gather data but also an efficient way to gain valuable insights about your customers.
8. Leveraging Video Marketing
If you want to maximize brand awareness of your brand, especially when it is relatively new, you must exploit all channels to promote your brand. For this purpose, you can leverage the powerful medium of video.
Video is one of the most effective tools that sets the tone of your brand while also helping meet other marketing goals, such as improved product understanding and better conversion rate. Plus, it is more memorable, more engaging, and more popular among consumers than any other type of content. 76% of businesses say video has helped them increase sales. Or that 80% of marketers say video has increased time spent on their website
Decide how you want to position your product. Communicate a feature that makes your product unique; in other words, establish your unique selling proposition (USP). This allows your customers to understand the problem that you solve in addition to the value offered by your brand.