Person watching customer trends online.
Brand recognition does something for a business that marketers strive for. It automatically links a product, solution or company to the wishes or needs of the consumer. Thinking of kid-friendly movies and vacations will bring Disney to mind. Or you call Subway right away when you and your coworkers need a quick sandwich for lunch.
With brand recognition comes trust and credibility. Your target audience is very confident that they are getting the product or service they expect. And the more satisfied your business is and engages your customer base, the more they will continue to buy from you.
When that happens, your company can become the consumer’s favorite brand and give the public something to talk about. Hopefully, customers will even be excited about your offering so that others will begin to experience its value. But how can your company improve its exposure and build brand equity? Here are some ways to get started.
1. Make connections
At first glance, consumers buy products and services. But among superficial transactions, there is often an emotional or personal connection between customer and brand identity. Audiences can resonate with or idealize a company’s values or messages. They may want to be like the qualities of the brand and associate with the image or someone who represents the company.
It is up to companies to tap into those wishes after they have been identified. Building online communities around common interests and aspirations is a way to associate a brand’s qualities and values with the identity of its audience members. By connecting and communicating with your target market in this way, you are also saying that you are interested in more than just selling products.
No one wants to deal with pushy or pushy sales tactics. These usually create resistance or cause leads to run the other way. You will build a better reputation if you focus on authentic and helpful outreach as a growth marketing strategy or campaign. People will come to know your company as more than a transactional provider of products or services.
2. Collaborate with Influencers
Influencers with similar audiences and posts can help create a buzz for a brand. By joining forces with influencers, you increase your reach by introducing more people to the name of your company and what you do. Influencers don’t necessarily have celebrity status, but they are digital content creators that audiences follow and resonate with.
Some influencers have many followers, while others are micro-influencers with smaller but meaningful numbers. You may find working with a micro-influencer more effective if it’s a good fit for you. It just makes more sense to partner with someone whose content and message are recognizable and will reach your intended audience. In other words, the size of an influencer’s following is not the most important consideration.
Businesses are beginning to realize the power of influencer marketing as younger generations are harder to reach with traditional advertising. Therefore, brands are expected to spend $15 billion on influencer marketing by the end of 2022. Popular social media platforms are places to find influencers for potential partnerships. But so are less obvious sites and digital spaces that cater to specialized interests such as sports and cooking.
3. Become a thought leader
You may have heard the expression “Content is king”. One reason why sayings still make sense is because of the annual revenue that content marketing generates. Data suggests those will reach revenue $66 billion in 2022, a figure expected to double by 2026.
When brands create and publish content online, it is a way for audiences to discover it. That content can be landing pages, blog posts, webinars, videos, or podcasts. While an overarching goal of content marketing is to convert leads into sales, it does so through thought leadership. The idea is to create and share information that audiences will find engaging and useful.
At the same time, that content boosts brand awareness by highlighting how a company is responding to consumer needs. Content marketing can work in B2C and B2B spaces. However, it does require frequent monitoring and fine-tuning. Certain techniques and tools help with this. Search engine optimization targets specific audiences based on the information they are looking for. Web analytics can reveal whether SEO and content strategies are working or needing a boost.
4. Tap into current consumer behavior and trends
Companies that pay attention to what’s happening in the overall market tend to stay in touch with consumer needs. Awareness of trends and shifts in target audience behavior can also identify potential business opportunities. Suppose another company discontinues a product or no longer supports a feature that specific market segments use. A competing brand could see this as an opportunity to develop an alternative solution to fill the gap. By doing so, this company can quickly increase its exposure and recognition as the new solution provider.
Monitoring markets, consumer behavior and trends can also lead to more subtle opportunities. This can be as simple as making shorter videos to match the decline in the average human attention span. Trend research could also indicate that consumers are becoming concerned about genetically modified ingredients in their food. In response, food manufacturers could create organic alternatives to favorite brands or develop new organic products from scratch.
These promotions give current customers a reason to remain loyal and potentially increase the reach and exposure of the companies within other segments. For example, food manufacturers can secure shelf space in organic or natural supermarkets instead of just regular supermarkets. These brands will now reach additional niche segments.
Promote brand recognition
Brand recognition and awareness takes customers through the physical or virtual door of a company. In the past, a few ads on TV and radio may have done the job. But in saturated markets and with skeptical audiences, traditional advertising is not enough.
Fewer sales tactics, such as building online communities and promoting thought leadership, reach audiences by personifying and humanizing brands. Your company increases brand awareness by making connections between who you are and who your customer is. By identifying with your brand, your target audience will see it as more than just a commercial alternative.
